FROM JULY 2STH TO AUGUST 20TH. 20I of all the other soldiers. A raagazine for furs only was also erected behind the house near the powder-magazine, leaving the loft free for stores ; and the rafters and ribs of the latter were bound with iron cramps, that they might be able to resist all attacks. Mac-Nab also intended to build a little wooden chapel, which had been included in Hobson's original plan of the factory ; but its erection was put off until the next summer. With what eager interest would the Lieutenant have once watched the progress of his establishment ! Had he been building on firm ground, with what delight would he have watched the houses, sheds, and magazines rising around him ! He remembered the scheme of crowning Cape Bathurst with a redoubt for the protection of Fort Hope with a sigh. The very name of the factory, *' Fort Hope,'* made his heart sink within him ; for should it not more truly be called " Fort Despair 1 " These various works took up the whole summer, and there was no time for ennui. The construction of the boat proceeded rapidly. Mac-Nab meant it to be of about thirty tons measurement, which would make it large enough to carry some twenty passengers several hundred miles in the fine season. The carpenter had been fortunate enough to find some bent pieces of wood, so that he was able quickly to form the first ribs of the vessel, and soon the stem and sternpost, fixed to the keel, were upon the dockyard at the foot of Cape Bathurst. Whilst the carpenters were busy with hatchets, saws, and adzes, the hunters were eagerly hunting the reindeer and Polar hares, which abounded near the fort. The Lieutenant, however, told Marbre and Sabine not to go far away, stating as a reason, that until the buildings were completed he did not wish to attract the notice of rivals. The truth was, he did not wish the changes which had taken place tp be noticed. One day Marbre inquired if it was not now time to go to Walruses' Bay, and get a fresh supply of morse-oil for burning, and Hobson replied rather hastily — " No, Marbre ; it would be useless." The Lieutenant knew only too well that Walruses' Bay was two hundred miles away, and that there were no morses to be hunted on the island. It must not be supposed that Hobson considered the situation desperate even now. He often assured Mrs Barnett, Madge, and Long that he was convinced the island would hold together until the
