Heavy timber braces, the outer ends of which were let into mud-sills set in trenches dug thirty feet outside the dam, were sunk into the stringer, and the work of filling in with earth on the inside was begun.

In two weeks the work was finished; the whole dam had been raised and strengthened, the floodgates were closed, and the pond began slowly to fill up.
In the mean time the saw-mill machinery had been bought, the frame for the saw-mill had been cut and raised, and Mr.March, having finished the repairs on the house, was busy setting up the machinery and putting it in order.
By the middle of February, or six weeks after the Elmers had landed in Wakulla, their influence had become very decidedly felt in the community.

With their building, fencing, ploughing, and clearing, they had given employment to most of the working population of the place, and had put more money into circulation than had been seen there at any one time for years.

Their house was now as neat and pretty as any in the county.

The ten-acre field in front was ploughed, fenced, and planted, half in corn and half--no, not with orange-trees, but half was set out with young cabbage-plants; a homely crop, but one which Mr.
Elmer had been advised would bring in good returns.