"I'm glad to have seen it," said Faith somewhat tremulously, when the
salvo was over. "It gives one some idea of what it might be if that
fortress were really firing for business. Just think how dreadful!"
"But do tell me," cried her sister, "how can trees and shrubs grow so
luxuriantly on that rocky soil, and what keeps the houses from blowing
off some of those steep cliffs? Do you know, I never supposed there
were any houses, before. I thought, from the pictures, that the rock
went straight up out of the water, with the fort stuck on top, like a
thimble on a big chocolate caramel. But here's a regular town."
Mr. Lawrence laughed.
"It's odd, the ideas we get of places till we see them! To be sure,
the rock is nearly perpendicular to the north and east, but here, as
you see, it makes a long slope to the water's edge, and the cliff is
broken into many elevations. Of course, you'll go ashore and take a
closer look at it all?"
"Yes, father's going with us. We'll be here quite a while to take on
coal, and he wants us to see the galleries, and the signal-station."
"And I want to see the tailless monkeys," added Dwight, as he joined
them. "We'll have a procession to brag of, for nearly everybody's
going ashore. Mr. Malcolm's to lead the van with the children, he
says, and Mrs. Campbell is to close up the rear of his section, while
mother follows with ours. They've been laughing about it over there.
Ah, there's Bess beckoning! Be sure and join us, girls.
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