From thence it went across the hills to the town of Ponze.

Thus, anyone approaching the Old House had first to pass the barrier and get inside the palisade.
At each barrier there was a cottage and a guard-room, though, as a matter of fact, the watch was kept in peaceful times even more carelessly than at the inner gates of the wall about the House itself.
Much the same plan, with local variations, was pursued on the other estates of the province, though the stockade at the Old House was remarkable for the care and skill with which it had been constructed.
Part of the duty of the watchman on the roof was to keep an eye on the barriers, which he could see from his elevated position.
In case of an incursion of gipsies, or any danger, the guard at the barrier was supposed to at once close the gate, blow a horn, and exhibit a flag.

Upon hearing the horn or observing the flag, the warder on the roof raised the alarm, and assistance was sent.

Such was the system, but as no attack had taken place for some years the discipline had grown lax.
After crossing on the stepping-stones Oliver and Felix were soon under the stockade which ran high above them, and was apparently as difficult to get out of as to get into.

By the strict law of the estate, any person who left the stockade except by the public barrier rendered himself liable to the lash or imprisonment.