Bid little time was allowed for the construction of the defences, and that little was only obtained in consequence of General Wills being unable to conceive it possible that Forster had abandoned so important a point as the bridge over the Ribble. He hesitated in attempting to pass it; he caused the whole ground in the neighbourhood to be carefully reconnoitred, fully believing that the hedges would be found lined with musketry, and his march was thus retarded nearly an hour. At length, however, the first men of his small army were seen from the tall house of Sir Henry Haughton; but, by that time, all was prepared to receive them. Four main barricades had been erected, with a number of smaller ones in different streets; the windows of the houses on each side, together with the lanes and inclosures, had been garnished with infantry as far as the smallness of the force would permit, and everything showed the determination of making a resolute defence. But the leaders of the insurrection had, strangely enough, determined to defend only what may be called the heart of the town; so that the barricades had not been pushed to the entrance of any one of the streets, and several narrow lanes gave the enemy an opportunity of penetrating some way, at least, into the place completely unmolested. Smeaton found the barricades nearly half completed when he re-entered the town. Following the example of the Earl of Derwentwater, he cast off his coat and laboured with the best to complete the defence which was being constructed in the main street, a little below the church. He could not refrain, however, while pausing for a moment to take rest, from expressing his surprise to old Brigadier Macintosh, who stood near, that the barricade had not been placed at the extreme end of the street towards Wigan. "If the enemy push forward," he said, "with anything like vigour, a third of the town will be in their hands in five minutes." "My good Lord," replied the old officer, somewhat sullenly, "even if you were right--which I think you are not--it is too late to mend the matter now. To defend the extreme ends of the streets, where there are so many narrow lanes and avenues, would require three times the force of foot I have at command." "This barricade, at all events," observed Smeaton, "might have been placed near the corner of that other street a hundred yards below--I mean just near the sign of the Ram there. It would then command both the approaches, and the flank could no more be turned there than here. If the enemy get possession of that tall house, they will gall us sorely." "Ah!" retorted the old officer, "young men are always wiser than their elders." And, turning away, he walked to the other end of the barricade. "Let him alone, Eskdale," said Lord Derwentwater. "He is as obstinate as an old pig, and gets perverse and sullen in proportion to difficulties and dangers."