Fighting through the scrub is only slightly easier, at least the ground is firm. The sun rises bright and warm in a stark blue sky. You set off to round the hill’s southern side. With your continued slashing through the six foot tall weeds, sweat and dirt cling to your flesh. You find nothing out of the ordinary until you make it all the way around to the central section of the north slope early in the afternoon. There below a stone ledge about twenty feet above is a crumbling cliff of sand and gravel. It is about 120 yards long. The loose rubble spills into the bog. Beyond that, it takes another hour to return where you started mapping the hill’s perimeter. In all the hill is roughly 300 yards from east to west, 200 from north to south.

You fight your way up the slope through the scrub from there. When you reach the top, you have an excellent view to the east. Even at the height of about sixty feet, the tremendous trees of the swamp surrounding this island tower above in the distance. Weeds still choke the flat hilltop, but only about four feet tall. Nothing is visible except the black stone mounds rising out of the weeds ten or twelve feet high. The group skirts the rim of the hill, still wary for traps, still watching for signs of passage. You make the circuit in about two hours. No sign of beast or man, no paths found. It is late afternoon as you stand before one of the rock mounds. Other than being obviously piled by someone, the black basalt rocks are unremarkable. It will take some time to chart the many mounds’ configuration. You estimate that the fort is can be reached in about an hour if you follow your trail back to it. There are about three hours of daylight remaining.