The Fort: A Novel of the Revolutionary War - xaviantvision

Wadsworth trained the telescope on Fort George. At first he misaimed the tubes and was amazed that the fort looked so small, then he took his eyefrom the glass and saw that a new fort was being constructed and it was that second work he was seeing. The new fort, much smaller than Fort George,lay on the ridge to the east of the larger work. He trained the telescope again and saw blue-coated naval officers while the men digging the soil were notin any kind of uniform. "Sailors," he said aloud."Sailors?""They're making a new redoubt. Why?""They're making a refuge," Carnes said."A refuge?""If their ships are defeated the crews will go ashore. That's where they'll go.""Why not go to the main fort?""Because McLean wants an outwork," Carnes said. "Look at the fort, sir."Wadsworth edged the telescope westwards. Trees and houses skidded past the lens, then he steadied the glass to examine Fort George. "Bless me,"he said.He was gazing at the fort's eastern wall which was hidden to anyone on the high ground to the west. And that eastern curtain wall was unfinished. It wasstill low. Wadworth could see no cannon there, only a shallow ridge of earth that he supposed was fronted by a ditch, but the important thing, the thing thatmade his hopes rise and his heart beat faster, was that the wall was still low enough to be easily scaled. He lowered the glass's aim, examining the villagewith its cornfields, thickets, barns, and orchards. If he could reach that low ground then he reckoned he could conceal his men from both the ships and thefort. They could assemble out of sight, then attack that low wall. The impudent flag above the fort might yet be pulled down."McLean knows he's vulnerable from the east," Carnes said, "and that new redoubt protects him. He'll put cannon there.""Or he will when it's finished," Wadsworth said, and it was clear the new redoubt was far from completion. We should attack from the east, he thought,because that was where the British were weak.Wadsworth aimed the telescope towards Dyce's Head, but the British ships obstructed his view and he could see nothing of the ambush, if indeed ithad been sprung. No powder smoke showed in the sky above the abandoned battery. Wadsworth edged the telescope right again to stare across the loweastern tail of Majabigwaduce's peninsula. He was looking at the land north of the peninsula. He stared for a long time, then gave the glass back toCarnes. "Look there," he pointed. "There's a meadow at the waterside. You can just see a house above it. It's the only house I can see there."Carnes trained the glass. "I can see it.""The house belongs to a man called Westcot. General Lovell wants a battery up there too, but will its guns reach the British ships?""Eighteen-pounder shot will," Carnes said, "but it's too far for anything smaller. Must be a mile and a half, so you'll need your eighteens.""General Lovell insists the ships must be defeated," Wadsworth explained, "and the only way we can do that is by sinking them with gunfire.""Or by taking our ships in," Carnes said."Will that happen?"Carnes smiled. "The commodore is so high above me, sir, that I never hear a word he says. But if you weaken the British ships? I think in the end he'llgo in." He swung the glass to examine the sloops. "That shoreward sloop? She hasn't stopped pumping her bilges from the day we arrived. She'll sinkfast enough.""Then we'll build the batteries," Wadsworth said, "and hope we can riddle them with round shot.""And General Lovell's right about one thing, sir," Carnes said. "You do need to get rid of the ships.""The ships will surrender if we capture the fort," Wadsworth said."No doubt they will," Carnes said, "but if a British relief fleet arrives, sir, then we want all our ships inside the harbor."Because then the tables would be turned and it would be the British who would have to fight their way through cannon-fire to attack the harbor, but only ifthe harbor belonged to the rebels, and the only way that the Americans could capture the harbor was by storming the fort.It was all so simple, Wadsworth thought, so very simple, and yet Lovell and the commodore were making it so complicated.Wadsworth and Carnes were rowed back to the beach beneath Majabigwaduce's bluff. As the longboat threaded the anchored warships Wadsworthstared south towards the sea-reach, south to where the reinforcements, either British or American, would arrive.And the river was empty."I do believe," McLean was staring south through a telescope, "that is my friend, Brigadier Wadsworth." He was gazing at two men, one in a green coat,who were on the harbor's southern shore. "I doubt they're taking the air. You think they're contemplating new batteries?""It would be sensible of them, sir," Lieutenant Moore answered."I'm sure Mowat's seen them, but I'll let him know." McLean lowered the glass and turned westwards. "If the rascals dare to build a battery on the harborshore we'll lead them a merry dance. And what steps are those rogues doing?" He pointed down towards the abandoned Half Moon Battery where ascore of rebels appeared to be digging a ditch. It was difficult to see, because Jacob Dyce's house, barn, and cornfield were partly in the way."May I, sir?" Moore asked, holding a hand for the telescope."Of course. Your eyes are younger than mine."Moore stared at the men. "They're not working particularly hard, sir," he said, after watching for a while. Six men were digging, the others were loungingamidst the wreckage of the battery."So what are they doing?""Making the battery defensible, sir?""And if they wanted to do that," McLean asked, "why not send a hundred men? Two hundred! Three! Throw up a wall fast. Why send so few men?"Moore did not reply because he did not know the answer. McLean took the glass back and used the lieutenant's shoulder as a rest. He took a swift lookat the lackadaisical work-party, then raised the telescope to stare at the trees on Dyce's Head. "Ah," he said after a while."Ah, sir?""There are a score of men on the high ground. They're not usually there. They're watching and waiting." He collapsed the telescope's tubes. "I dobelieve, Lieutenant, that our enemy has prepared a trap for us."Moore smiled. "Really, sir?""What are those fellows watching? They can't be there to watch a ditch being dug!" McLean frowned as he gazed westwards. A rebel cannon-ball flewoverhead. The sound of the guns was now so normal that he scarcely noticed it, though he took careful note of the effect of the rebel gunfire, most of whichwas wasted and it amused McLean that Captain Fielding was so offended by that. As an artilleryman the English captain expected better of the enemygunners, though McLean was delighted that the rebel cannoneers were being so wasteful. If they had spent an extra minute laying each gun they couldhave demolished most of Fort George's western wall by now, but they seemed content to fire blind. So what were those men doing on Dyce's Head? Theywere plainly staring towards the fort, but to see what? And why were there so few men at the Half Moon Battery? "They're there to draw us out," McLeandecided."The ditch-diggers?""They want us to attack them," McLean said, "and why would they want that?""Because they have more men there?"McLean nodded. He reckoned half of warfare was reading the enemy's mind, a skill that was now ingrained in the Scotsman. He had fought in Flandersand in Portugal, he had spent a lifetime watching his enemies and learning to translate their every small movement, and to translate what he saw in theknowledge that very often those movements were calculated to deceive. At first, when the rebels had arrived, McLean had been puzzled by theseenemies. They had so nearly captured the fort, then they had decided on a siege instead of a storm, and he had worried about what cleverness that tacticconcealed, but now he was almost certain that there was no cleverness at all. His enemy was simply cautious, and the best way to keep him cautious wasto hurt him. "We're being invited to dance to a rebel tune, Lieutenant.""And we decline the honor, sir?""Oh good Lord, no, no! Not at all!" McLean said, enjoying himself. "Somewhere down there is a much larger body of the enemy. I think we must take thefloor with them!""If we do, sir, then might'""You want to dance?" McLean interrupted Moore. "Of course, Lieutenant." It was time to let Moore off the leash, the general decided. The young manstill blamed himself, and rightly, for his brave stupidity on the day when the rebels had captured the high ground, but it was time Moore was offeredredemption for that mistake. "You'll go with Captain Caffrae," McLean said, "and you shall dance."