It was built of massive logs, in the form of a hollow square, with an open court in the center, which was paved with stone.
The windows, which extended down to the floor, and which were used for ingress and egress quite as often as the doors, were protected by shutters made of heavy planks, and there were four loop-holes on each side of the house, showing that it had been intended to serve as a defense as well as a shelter.

Indeed, it looked more like a fortification than a dwelling.
The house was old, and had a history--an exciting one, too, as any one could have told after examining it closely.

The walls bore numerous scars, which had been made by bullets, and the trees surrounding the dwelling were marked in the same manner.

The grove had not always been as peaceful and quiet as we found it.

Its echoes had been awakened by the yells of infuriated men and the reports of hostile rifles, and the very sod upon which Frank sometimes stretched himself after dinner, to while away an hour with some favorite author, had been wet with blood.
When the house was built, there was not another human habitation within a circle of twenty miles.