The Fort: A Novel of the Revolutionary War - xaviantvision

Tyrannicide had also confirmed that McLean's works were far from completed and that the fort's guns were still not mounted. "God has been good to us,"Wadsworth said, "and the British are unprepared." He smiled at Fletcher. "Hello, young man, is that your boat tied alongside?""Yes, sir.""She looks a very trim craft," Wadsworth said, then stepped alongside the commodore. "General Lovell is determined to launch an assault thisafternoon," he told Saltonstall.Saltonstall grunted again."And we beg the favor of your marines, sir."Saltonstall grunted a third time and then, after a pause, called aloud, "Captain Welch!"The tall marine stalked across the deck. "Sir?""What kind of assault, General?" Saltonstall demanded."Straight at the bluff," Wadsworth said confidently."There's a battery of guns on the bluff," Saltonstall warned, then waved carelessly at Fletcher and Captain Brewer, "they know.""Six-pounders probably," Captain Brewer said, "but aimed southwards.""The guns face the harbor mouth, sir," James explained. "They don't point at the bay," he added."Then the guns shouldn't trouble us," Wadsworth said cheerfully. He paused as if expecting agreement from the commodore, but Saltonstall just gazedpast the brigadier, his long face somehow suggesting that he had better things to do than concern himself with Wadsworth's problems. "If your marinestake the right of the line," Wadsworth suggested.The commodore looked at Welch. "Well?""It would be an honor, sir," Welch said.Saltonstall nodded. "Then you can have my marines, Wadsworth," he said. "But take good care of them!" This was evidently a jest because thecommodore gave a brief bark of laughter."I'm most grateful," Wadsworth said heartily, "and General Lovell asked me to inquire, Commodore, whether you plan an attack on their shipping?"Wadsworth asked the question with the utmost tact."You want it both ways, Wadsworth?" the commodore demanded fiercely. "You want my marines to attack on land, but you'd deny me their service in anassault on the enemy shipping? So which do you want, land or sea?""I desire the cause of liberty to triumph," Wadsworth said, knowing he sounded pompous.Yet the words seemed to jar with the commodore who flinched, then looked at the three enemy sloops again. "They're the cork in a bottleneck," he said."Not much of a cork, you might think, but a damned tight bottle. I can destroy their ships, Wadsworth, but at what price, eh? Tell me that! What price? Halfour fleet?"Captain Brewer and James Fletcher had stepped back respectfully, as if leaving the two senior officers to their discussion, while Captain Welch stoodglowering beside the commodore. Wadsworth alone seemed at his ease. He smiled. "Three ships can do that much damage?" he inquired of Saltonstall."Not their damned ships, but their damned fort and their damned batteries," Saltonstall said. "I sail in there, Wadsworth, and my fleet is under their fort'sguns. We'll be pounded, man, pounded.""The fort hasn't mounted'" Captain Brewer began."I know how few guns they have!" Saltonstall turned angrily on Brewer, "but that was yesterday. How many more today? Do we know? We do not! Andhow many field guns are concealed in the village there? Do we know? We do not. And once inside that damned bottle I can't get out unless I have anebbing tide and an easterly wind. And no," he looked sourly at James Fletcher, "I am not minded to take my ship up a river where enemy field guns can bedeployed. So, General," he turned back to Peleg Wadsworth, "do you wish to explain to the Navy Board the loss of yet another Continental frigate?""What I wish, Commodore," Wadsworth still spoke respectfully, "is for the enemy marines to be aboard their ships and not waiting for us on land.""Ah, that's different," Saltonstall spoke grudgingly. "You want me to engage their shipping. Very well. But I won't take my fleet into that damned hole, youunderstand? We'll engage them from without the harbor.""And I'm certain that threat alone will keep the enemy marines where we wish them to be," Wadsworth said."Have you marked that chart for me?" Saltonstall turned on Captain Brewer."Not yet, sir.""Then do so. Very well, Wadsworth, I'll hammer the ships for you."Wadsworth stepped back, feeling rather as though he had waved a lit candle over an open barrel of gunpowder and had managed to survive withoutcausing an explosion. He smiled at James Fletcher. "Do I understand that you're familiar with Majabigwaduce, young man?" he asked."Bagaduce, sir? Yes, sir.""Then do me the honor of accompanying me. You too, Captain Welch? We must draw up orders."The Felicity was left tied to the Warren as James Fletcher was rowed with Wadsworth and Welch to the Sally, which, for the moment, acted as thearmy's headquarters. Wadsworth appraised James Fletcher and liked what he saw. "So, Mister Fletcher," he asked, "why are you here?""To fight, sir.""Good man!"The sun sparked off the water, it glittered. The expedition had come to Majabigwaduce and would go straight into battle.Brigadier McLean had ordered every civilian to stay in their home because, if the rebels came, he did not want unnecessary casualties. Now he stoodoutside the long storehouse that had been built within the half-finished walls of Fort George. The garrison's precious supplies were in the long woodenbuilding, all except the artillery's ammunition, which was buried in stone-lined pits just behind the unfinished ramparts. The union flag flapped noisily abovethe bastion nearest the harbor entrance. "I think the wind's rising," McLean remarked to Lieutenant John Moore."I believe it is, sir.""A wind to blow our enemy into the harbor," McLean said."Sir?" Moore sounded plaintive."I know what you desire, John," McLean said sympathetically."Please, sir."McLean paused as a sergeant bellowed at a private to extinguish his damned pipe. No smoking was allowed inside Fort George because the readymagazines were not properly finished, and the powder charges were protected from sparks and the weather by nothing more solid than number three sailcanvas. "You're our paymaster, Lieutenant," McLean said teasingly, "I can't afford to lose a good paymaster now, can I?""I'm a soldier, sir," Moore said stubbornly.McLean smiled, then relented. "Take twenty men. And take Sergeant McClure. Report to Captain Campbell, that's Archibald Campbell. And John?"John Moore, thus given permission to join the picquets on the bluff, turned a delighted face on the brigadier. "Sir?""The duke won't thank me if you die. Take care.""I'm immortal, sir," Moore said happily, "and thank you, sir."Moore ran and McLean turned to greet Major Dunlop, who was the senior officer of the 82nd and had replaced McLean as that battalion's commandingofficer for as long as McLean had heavier responsibilities. The wind was brisk enough to blow Major Dunlop's cocked hat from his head. "I'm sendingMoore to join the picquets on the bluff, Dunlop," McLean said as a sentry chased after the errant hat, "I hope you have no objection?""None at all," Dunlop said, "but I doubt he'll see any action there.""I doubt it too, but it'll keep the young puppy happy.""That it will," Dunlop agreed and the two men talked for a moment before the brigadier walked to the single twelve-pounder cannon that occupied thesouthwestern bastion of Fort George. The blue-coated men of the Royal Artillery stood as the general approached, but he waved them back down. Theirgun pointed towards the harbor mouth, its barrel aimed above the cannon in the Half Moon Battery, which was dug into the shoreline. McLean lookedacross Mowat's ships to where he could just make out a handful of the enemy's warships, though by far the largest part of the enemy's fleet was hiddenbeyond the bluff."Will they come today, sir?" an artillery sergeant asked."What's your name, Sergeant?""Lawrence, sir.""Well, Sergeant Lawrence, I fear I cannot tell you what the enemy will do, but if I were in their shoes I'd certainly make an assault today."Lawrence, a broad-faced man in his thirties, patted the cascabel of his long-barreled cannon. "We'll give them a proper English welcome, sir."