The Fort: A Novel of the Revolutionary War - xaviantvision

Chapter Nine"Where the devil is Revere?" Lovell asked. He had asked the question a dozen times in the two days since he had captured the heights ofMajabigwaduce and each time there had been increasing irritation in his usually calm voice. "Has he attended a single council of war?""He likes to sleep aboard the Samuel," William Todd said."Sleep? It's broad daylight!" That was an exaggeration, for it was only a few minutes since the sun had lit the eastern fog bright."I believe," Todd said carefully, "that he finds his quarters aboard the Samuel more amenable to his comfort." He was polishing his spectacles on theskirt of his coat and his face looked strangely vulnerable without them."We're not here for comfort," Lovell said."Indeed we are not, sir," Todd said."And his men?""They sleep on the Samuel too, sir," Todd said, carefully hooking the cleaned spectacles over his ears."It won't do," Lovell exploded, "it will not do!""Indeed it will not, General," Major Todd agreed, then hesitated. Fog made the treetops vague and inhibited the gunners on Cross Island and aboardthe British ships so that a kind of quiet enveloped Majabigwaduce. Smoke drifted among the trees from the campfires on which troops boiled water fortea. "If you approve, sir," Todd said carefully, watching Lovell pacing up and down in front of the crude shelter made of branches and sod that was hissleeping quarters, "I could advert to Colonel Revere's absence in the daily orders?""You can advert?" Lovell asked curtly. He stopped his pacing and turned to glare at the major. "Advert?""You could issue a requirement in the daily orders that the colonel and his men must sleep ashore?" Todd suggested. He doubted Lovell would agree,because any such order would be recognized throughout the army as a very public reprimand."A very good idea," Lovell said, "an excellent notion. Do it. And draft me a letter to the colonel as well!"Before Lovell could change his mind Peleg Wadsworth came to the clearing. The younger general was wearing a greatcoat buttoned against the dawnchill. "Good morning!" he greeted Lovell and Todd cheerfully."An ill-fitting coat, General," Major Todd observed with ponderous amusement."It belonged to my father, Major. He was a big man.""Did you know Revere sleeps aboard his ship?" Lovell demanded indignantly."I did know, sir," Wadsworth said, "but I thought he had your permission.""He has no such thing. We're not here on a pleasure cruise! You want tea?" Lovell waved towards the fire where his servant crouched by a pot. "Thewater must have boiled.""I'd appreciate a word first, sir?""Of course, of course. In private?""If you please, sir." Wadsworth said and the two generals walked a few paces west to where the trees thinned and from where they could gaze over thefog-haunted waters of Penobscot Bay. The topmasts of the transport ships appeared above the lowest and densest layer of fog like splinters in asnowbank. "What would happen if we all slept aboard our ships, eh?" Lovell asked, still indignant."I did mention the matter to Colonel Revere," Wadsworth said."You did?""Yesterday, sir. I said he should move his quarters ashore.""And his response?"Fury, Wadsworth thought. Revere had responded like a man insulted. "The guns can't fire at night," he had spat at Wadsworth, "so why man them atnight? I know how to command my regiment!" Wadsworth chided himself for having let the matter slide, but at this moment he had a greater concern. "Thecolonel disagreed with me, sir," he said tonelessly, "but I wished to speak of something else.""Of course, yes, whatever is on your mind." Lovell frowned towards the topmasts. "Sleeping aboard his ship!"Wadsworth looked south to where the fog now lay like a great river of whiteness between the hills bordering the Penobscot River. "Should the enemysend reinforcements, sir'" he began."They'll come upriver, certainly," Lovell interjected, following Wadsworth's gaze."And discover our fleet, sir," Wadsworth continued."Of course they would, yes," Lovell said as if the point was not very important."Sir," Wadsworth was urgent now. "If the enemy come in force they'll be among our fleet like wolves in a flock. Might I urge a precaution?""A precaution," Lovell repeated as if the word was unfamiliar."Permit me to explore upriver, sir," Wadsworth said, pointing north to where the Penobscot River flowed into the wider bay. "Let me find and fortify aplace to which we can retreat if the enemy comes. Young Fletcher knows the upper river. He tells me it narrows, sir, and twists between high banks. If itwas necessary, sir, we could take the fleet upriver and shelter behind a bluff. A cannon emplacement at the river bend will check any enemy pursuit.""Find and fortify, eh?" Lovell said, more to buy time than as a coherent response. He turned and stared into the northern fog. "You'd make a fort?""I would certainly emplace some guns, sir.""In earthworks?""The batteries must be made defensible. The enemy will surely bring troops.""If they come," Lovell said dubiously."It's prudent, sir, to prepare for the least desirable eventuality."Lovell grimaced, then placed a fatherly hand on Wadsworth's shoulder. "You worry too much, Wadsworth. That's a good thing! We should be worriedabout eventualities." He nodded sagely. "But I do assure you we shall capture the fort long before any more redcoats arrive." He saw Wadsworth wasabout to speak so hurried on. "You'd require men to make an emplacement and we cannot afford to detach men to dig a fort we may never need! Weshall require every man we have to make the assault once the commodore agrees to enter the harbor.""If he agrees," Wadsworth said drily."Oh, he will, I'm sure he will. Haven't you seen? The enemy's been driven back yet again! It's only a matter of time now!""Driven back?" Wadsworth asked."The sentries say so," Lovell exulted, "indeed they do." Mowat's three ships, constantly battered by Colonel Revere's cannon on Cross Island, hadmoved still farther eastwards during the night. Their topmasts, hung with the British flags, were all that were presently visible and the sentries on Dyce'sHead reckoned that those topmasts were now almost a mile away from the harbor entrance. "The commodore doesn't have to fight his way into theharbor now," Lovell said happily, "because we've driven them away. By God, we have! Almost the whole harbor belongs to us now!""But even if the commodore doesn't enter the harbor, sir'" Wadsworth began."Oh, I know!" the older man interrupted. "You think we can take the fort without the navy's help, but we can't, Wadsworth, we can't." Lovell repeated all hisold arguments, how the British ships would bombard the attacking troops and how the British marines would reinforce the garrison, and Wadsworthnodded politely though he believed none of it. He watched Lovell's earnest face. The man was eminent now, a landowner, a selectman, a churchwarden,and a legislator, but the schoolmaster in Wadsworth was trying to imagine Solomon Lovell as a boy, and he conjured an image of a big, clumsy lad who