The Fort: A Novel of the Revolutionary War - xaviantvision

Bethany clapped with the other spectators. The ensigns danced, their feet close but never touching the swords. The Gaelic song finished, McLeanindicated the defiant sword-dance could end and the boyish officers grinned as their audience applauded and the blades were retrieved. "To your posts,gentlemen," McLean said to his officers. "Ladies and gentlemen," he looked at the civilians, "I cannot foretell what will happen now, but if you stay in yourhomes I am confident you will be treated with a proper civility." He was not confident of that at all, but what else could he say? He turned to take one lastlook at the fleet. A splash and rumble of cable sounded clear across the water as the first ship dropped anchor. Its sails, loosened from the wind's grip,flapped wildly until men tamed the canvas onto the wide yards. A glint of light from the ship's afterdeck flashed bright in McLean's eyes and he knew arebel was examining the shore with a telescope. He turned away, going back to his unfinished fort.James Fletcher had spent the night on the Penobscot's eastern shore, the Felicity safe in a small cove. He watched the Massachusetts fleet appear fromthe south and he waited till the ships had almost reached Majabigwaduce before rowing out of the sheltered haven. Then the wind caught his mainsail andhe could ship the oars and run before the breeze to where the fleet was anchoring. The transports had gone farthest north, anchoring west of thepeninsula's bluff and, like the warships, well out of the range of any cannon the British might have ashore.Fletcher headed for the largest of the warships, reckoning that would be the commander's vessel, but long before he reached the Warren he wasintercepted by a guard boat manned by a dozen oarsmen and four green-jacketed marines. They hailed him and so he turned the Felicity into the windand waited for the longboat to reach him. "I've got news for the general," he called to the marine officer."You'll have to see the commodore," the marine insisted, and pointed to the Warren. Sailors on the frigate took the line Fletcher heaved, then he let thegaff fall and clambered up the frigate's side.He stood on deck where a young and nervous midshipman arrived to be his escort. "The commodore is busy, Mister Fletcher," he explained."I'm sure he is.""But he will want to see you.""I hope so!" James said cheerfully.The rebels' warships had anchored due west of the harbor mouth, which was filled by Captain Mowat's three sloops of war. Those sloops, anchoredfore and aft to keep their starboard broadsides pointed towards the bay, had their gunports open and were flying the blue ensign at their sterns while ateach masthead, three on each sloop, was the British flag. Twin pulses of white spurted rhythmically from the North's flank and Fletcher grinned. "Theynever stop pumping her," he said."Her?""The North." James pointed. "The sloop closest to Dyce's Head, see? I reckon the rats have chewed clean through her bottom."Ensign Fanning gazed solemnly at the enemy ship. "She's an old ship?" he guessed."Old and rotten," James said, "a pair of cannon-balls through that hull will turn her into firewood.""You live here?" Fanning asked."All my life."Commodore Saltonstall ducked out of his cabin door, followed by a man James Fletcher knew well. John Brewer was a captain in the local militia,though he was so short of recruits that he had few men to command. It had been to Captain Brewer that James Fletcher had sent his map and letter, andBrewer now smiled at seeing him. "You're welcome, young Fletcher!" Brewer gestured at the commodore. "This is Captain Saltonstall. I dare say youngJames here has news for you, sir.""I do, sir," James said eagerly.Saltonstall seemed unimpressed. He looked once at James Fletcher, then turned to the portside rail where he stood for a long time gazing at Mowat'sships through a telescope. "Mister Coningsby!" he snapped suddenly."Sir?" Midshipman Fanning responded."The bitter ends of number four's train-tackle look like a snake's honeymoon! See to it.""Aye aye, sir."Captain Brewer, a jovial man dressed in homespun and with an ancient broad-bladed cutlass strapped at his waist, grinned at Fletcher while Saltonstallcontinued to inspect the three ships that guarded the harbor's mouth. "What is your name?" the commodore inquired brusquely.James Fletcher decided the question was aimed at him. "James Fletcher, sir. I live in Bagaduce.""Then come here, James Fletcher of Bagaduce," Saltonstall demanded and James went to stand beside the commodore and, like him, gazedeastwards. To the left he could see the heavily wooded bluff that hid the fort from the commodore's view. Then came the three sloops with their combinedbroadsides of twenty-eight cannon and, just to their south, the guns on Cross Island. "You live here," Saltonstall said in a voice which suggested pity forsuch a fate, "and I see three sloops and a battery, what am I missing?""Another battery on Dyce's Head, sir," James said, pointing."Just as I told you, sir!" Brewer put in cheerfully.Saltonstall ignored the militia captain. "Of what strength?""I saw only three small guns being hauled up there, sir," James said."Six-pounders, probably," Brewer said."But they'll plunge their fire on us as we reach the harbor mouth," Saltonstall observed."Reckon that's what they're up there for, sir," James said, "and there's another battery on the harbor shore.""So three batteries and three sloops," Saltonstall said, collapsing the glass and turning to look at Fletcher. He did not seem to like what he saw. "Whatwater in the harbor?""What do you draw, sir?""Eleven feet, nine inches," Saltonstall said. He was still talking to James, but now fixed his gaze just past James's head to stare at the poopdeckcompanionway."Plenty of water for you, sir," James said with his customary cheerfulness."The tide?""Fifteen to eighteen feet, near enough," James said, "but even at low water you can pass her." He pointed to the Nautilus, the southernmost of Mowat'sships. "You can get past her, sir, with ten feet to spare, and once you're inside you've not a care in the world.""Get past her?" Saltonstall asked scornfully."Plenty of room, sir.""And a battery not a hundred paces away?" Saltonstall asked harshly, meaning the guns on Cross Island. Those guns were just visible and behind themwere tents for the gunners and a British flag high on a makeshift pole. "And once I am inside," he went on, "how the devil do I get out?""Get out?" James asked, disconcerted by the commodore's evident dislike of him."I take your advice," Saltonstall said sarcastically, "and I sail into Majabigwaduce, but once there I am under the guns of their fort, am I not? Andincapable of leaving?""Incapable, sir?" James said, nervous of the immaculate Saltonstall."For God's sake, you thickhead!" Saltonstall snapped. "Any fool can sail into that harbor, but how the devil do you sail out again? Answer me that!""You don't need to come out, sir," James said. The commodore was right, of course, that while it would be easy to use the prevailing wind to enter theharbor it would be a devilish business to tack out again, especially under fire from the fort's cannon."Oh, praise the Lord," Saltonstall said, "so I am just supposed to lie there, am I, allowing the shore batteries to reduce my ship to wreckage?""Lord love you, sir, no. You can sail on up into the Bagaduce River," James said. "Deep water there, sir, and long beyond the reach of any of their guns.""Must be thirty feet at low water up the river," Brewer put in."Twenty, anyway," James said."You seem to be damned knowing about the matter," Saltonstall turned on Captain Brewer."I live here," Brewer said."I am not going to risk my shipping in that damned hole," Saltonstall said firmly, then turned away again to gaze at the defenses."What damned hole, Commodore?" a bright voice interrupted.Saltonstall turned to look at Peleg Wadsworth who had just arrived on board the frigate. "Good morning, General," the commodore grunted.Brigadier Wadsworth looked happy. His concerns about the fitness of the militia had been dissipated by his first sight of the British defenses, which hadbeen visible from the Sally's deck as it sailed north. Wadsworth had gazed through a telescope at the fort above the settlement and he had seen that thewalls were pitifully low, confirming reports that the ramparts were unfinished. Two local men who had been brought to the fleet by marines from the