Four of the elder men were told off at once to superintend the placing of the more movable household goods of the village in wagons, which were to set out at daybreak with the cattle and families.
"Now," Malcolm said, "I want the rest to bring mattocks and shovels and to accompany me along the road.

There is one spot which I marked as I came along as being specially suited for defence." This was about half a mile away, and as darkness had now set in the men lighted torches, and with their implements followed him.

At the spot which he had selected there was for the distance of a hundred yards a thick growth of underwood bordering the track on either side.

Across the road, at the end of the passage nearest to the farm, Malcolm directed ten of the men to dig a pit twelve feet wide and eight feet deep.

The rest of the men he set to work to cut nearly through the trunks of the trees standing nearest the road until they were ready to fall.
Ten trees were so treated, five on either side of the road.