The Fort: A Novel of the Revolutionary War - xaviantvision

marsh. The rebels patrolled that ground. He had seen them there. Sometimes Captain Caffrae's company went to the same land and ambushed a rebelpatrol, or else mocked the Americans with fife music and jeers. This afternoon, though, the wood above the marsh seemed empty. The three crouched inthe brush and gazed west towards the enemy lines. To their right the trees were thinner, while ahead was a small clearing in which a spring bubbled. "Nota bloody soul here," Mackenzie grumbled."They come here," Jamie said. He was nineteen, with dark eyes, black hair, and a hunter's watchful face. "Watch up the slope," he told his brother, "wedon't want bloody Caffrae finding us."They waited. Birds, now as accustomed to the cannon-fire as the troops, sang harshly in the trees. A small animal, strangely striped, flitted across theclearing. Jamie Campbell stroked the stock of his musket. He loved his musket. He treated the stock with oil and boot-blacking so that the wood wassmooth like silk, and the caress of the weapon's dark curves put him in mind of the sergeant's widow in Halifax. He smiled."There!" his brother Robbie hissed.Four rebels had appeared at the clearing's far side. They were in dull brown coats, trews and hats, and festooned with belts, pouches, and bayonetscabbards. Three of the men carried two pails apiece, the fourth had a musket in his hands. They shambled to the spring where they stooped to fill theirbuckets."Now!" Jamie said, and the three muskets flamed loud. One of the men at the spring was thrown sideways, his blood a flicker of red in the gray rain.The fourth rebel shot back at the smoke among the trees, but Mackenzie and the Campbell brothers were already running away, whooping and laughing.It was sport. The general had forbidden it, and had threatened a dire punishment to any man who left the lines to take a shot at the enemy withoutpermission, but the young Scotsmen loved the risk. If the rebels would not come to them then they would go to the rebels, whatever the general wanted.Now all they needed to do was get back safe to the tents without being found.Then, tomorrow, do it again.Samuel Adams reached Major-General Horatio Gates's headquarters at Providence in Rhode Island late in the afternoon. Swollen clouds were heaping,and off to the west the thunder already grumbled. It was hot and humid and Adams was shown into a small parlor where, despite the open windows, nohint of wind brought relief. He wiped his face with a big spotted handkerchief. "Would you like tea, sir?" a pale lieutenant in Continental Army uniformasked."Ale," Samuel Adams said firmly."Ale, sir?""Ale," Samuel Adams said even more firmly."General Gates will be with you directly, sir," the lieutenant said distantly and, Adams suspected, inaccurately, then vanished into the nether regions ofthe house.The ale was brought. It was sour, but drinkable. Thunder sounded louder, though no rain fell and still no wind blew through the open sash windows.Adams wondered if he was hearing the sound of the siege guns pounding the British in Newport, but all reports said the attempts to evict that garrisonhad proven hopeless, and a moment later a distant flash of lightning confirmed that it was indeed thunder. A dog howled and a woman's voice was raisedin anger. Samuel Adams closed his eyes and dozed.He was woken by the sound of nailed boots on the wooden floor of the hallway. He sat upright just as Major-General Horatio Gates came into the parlor."You rode from Boston, Mister Adams?" the general boomed in greeting."Indeed I did."Despite the heat Gates had been wearing a greatcoat which he now threw to the lieutenant. "Tea," he said, "tea, tea, tea.""Very good, your honor," the lieutenant said."And tea for Mister Adams!""Ale!" Adams called in correction, but the lieutenant was already gone.Gates unstrapped the scabbarded sword he wore over his Continental Army uniform and slammed it onto a table heaped with paperwork. "How arematters in Boston, Adams?""We do the Lord's work," Adams said gently, though Gates entirely missed the irony. The general was a tall man a few years younger than SamuelAdams, who, after his long ride down the Boston Post Road, was feeling every one of his fifty-seven years. Gates glared at the papers resting under hissword. He was, Adams thought, an officer much given to glaring. The general was heavy-jowled with a powdered wig that was not quite large enough tohide his gray hairs. Sweat trickled from under the wig. "And how do you fare in this fair island?" Adams asked."Island?" Gates asked, looking suspiciously at his visitor. "Ah, Rhode Island. Damn silly name. It's all the fault of the French, Adams, the French. If thedamned French had kept their word we'd have evicted the enemy from Newport. But the French, damn their eyes, won't bring their ships. Damned fartcatchers,every last one of them.""Yet they are our valued allies.""So are the damned Spanish," Gates said disparagingly."As are the damned Spanish," Adams agreed."Fart-catchers and papists," Gates said, "what kind of allies are those, eh?" He sat opposite Adams, long booted legs sprawling on a faded rug. Mudand horse dung were caked on the soles of his boots. He steepled his fingers and stared at his visitor. "What brings you to Providence?" he asked. "No,don't tell me yet. On the table. Serve us." The last five words were addressed to the pale lieutenant who placed a tray on the table and then, in an awkwardsilence, poured two cups of tea. "You can go now," Gates said to the hapless lieutenant. "A man cannot live without tea," he declared to Adams."A blessing of the British empire?" Adams suggested mischievously."Thunder," Gates said, remarking on a clap that sounded loud and close, "but it won't get here. It'll die with the day." He sipped his tea noisily. "You hearmuch from Philadelphia?""Little you cannot read in the newsprints.""We're dillydallying," Gates said, "dillydallying, shilly-shallying, and lollygagging. We need a great deal more energy, Adams.""I am sure your honor is right," Adams said, taking his cue for the honorific from the lieutenant's mode of address. Gates was nicknamed "Granny,"though Adams thought that too kind for a man so touchy and sensible of his dignity. Granny had been born and raised in England and had served in theBritish Army for many years before a lack of money, slow promotion, and an ambitious wife had driven him to settle in Virginia. His undoubtedcompetence as an administrator had brought him high rank in the Continental Army, but it was no secret that Horatio Gates thought his rank should behigher still. He openly despised General Washington, believing that victory would only come when Major-General Horatio Gates was given command ofthe patriot armies. "And how would your honor suggest we campaign?" Adams asked."Well, it's no damned good sitting on your fat backside staring at the enemy in New York," Gates said energetically, "no damned good at all!"Adams gave a flutter of his hands that might have been construed as agreement. When he rested his hands on his lap again he saw the slight tremor inhis fingers. It would not go away. Age, he supposed, and sighed inwardly."The Congress must come to its senses," Gates declared."The Congress, of course, pays close heed to the sentiments of Massachusetts," Adams said, dangling a great fat carrot in front of Gates's greedymouth. The general wanted Massachusetts to demand George Washington's dismissal and the appointment of Horatio Gates as commander of theContinental Army."And you agree with me?" Gates asked."How could I possibly disagree with a man of your military experience, General?"Gates heard what he wanted to hear in that answer. He stood and poured himself more tea. "So the State of Massachusetts wants my help?" he asked."And I had not even stated my purpose," Adams said with feigned admiration."Not difficult to grasp, is it? You've sent your pillow-biters off to Penobscot Bay and they can't get the job done." He turned a scornful face on Adams."Sam Savage wrote to tell me the British had surrendered. Not true, eh?""Alas, not true," Adams said with a sigh. "The garrison appears to be a more difficult nut to crack than we had supposed.""McLean, right? A competent man. Not brilliant, but competent. You wish for more tea?""This is as sufficient as it is delicious," Adams said, touching a finger to the untasted cup."You sent your militia. How many?""General Lovell commands around a thousand men.""What does he want?""Regular troops."