CHAPTER XXIII
The Siege
Doubtless the patriots would have been able to keep the redcoats fromputting out the fire, and it would have burned the stockade-wall andperhaps the fort, but a thunder-storm came up just as the affair was atits height, and a heavy rain beating down on the fire, put it out.
The patriots, realizing that it would be useless to try to set the fortafire when the wood was wet, returned to their encampment, and madethemselves as comfortable as they could for the night.
Next morning work was resumed, but no very rapid progress was made. Theykept pounding the stockade-wall with six-pound cannon balls, but theydid not seem to make much impression. Nor did General Greene deem itwise to try to storm the fort, for the structure was too strong to breakthrough, and the wall was too high to scale.
It began to look as if the siege was to be a long one, and the patriotssettled down to take it as easy as possible, and make a thorough job ofthe affair. They were determined that they would capture the fort sooneror later.
When the siege had been going on four or five days, a patriot settlercame to the encampment, and told General Greene that a British force wascoming to reinforce Fort Ninety-Six, and it was about fifty milesdistant, and coming from the coast. General Sumpter had sent the patriotto warn General Greene.
The general called a council of the members of his staff, and then theyquestioned the patriot closely.
"How long will it take the British to reach here?" asked General Greene.
"About three days, I think," was the reply.
"And how strong a force is it?"
"The man that brought the news to General Sumpter said there was aboutfive hundred soldiers in the force."
"That number, in addition to the force that Major Cruger already has inthe fort will make his army too strong for us," said General Greene.
"We must capture the fort before the reinforcements get here," saidCaptain Morgan.
"Yes, so we must," agreed the general. "That is, if we can."
"We are weakening the stockade-walls," said another officer. "I believethat in another day of pounding the wall with six-pound shots we will beable to make an opening, and then we can storm the works."
"We will try to force our way into the enemy's works, anyhow," saidGeneral Greene. "We will get to work early in the morning, and keep atwork till we succeed."
The patriots were up early next morning, and soon after breakfast thebombardment of the fort with the six-pounders was begun, and was kept upsteadily throughout the day, but when evening came the wall still stoodfirm.
The patriots began to believe that they would not be able to break downthe wall and get at the enemy.
Still, they were determined, and next day they worked as hard as ever,but when evening came the wall still stood firm. The patriots weredisappointed, but made preparations to continue the work asenergetically as ever on the morrow.
After an early breakfast next morning, they went at it, and kept thefield-pieces busy till noon, and then as the wall still withstood thefire from the six-pounders, General Greene began figuring on stormingthe fort anyway.
"The British reinforcements may get here this afternoon," he said, "andwe haven't much time in which to work. We must try to effect an entranceat the point where we have been trying to cause a breach with thefield-pieces."
The other officers agreed with him, and so about the middle of theafternoon an attempt was made to storm the enemy's works. For a whilethere was a desperate battle, and the patriots came very near effectingan entrance, but finally they were repulsed, and had to retreat to theedge of the forest.
It was now getting along toward evening, and the dead and woundedpatriots were removed under a flag of truce, the dead being buried andthe wounded taken care of.
Dick Dare had gone to General Greene as soon as the patriot force hadretreated, and he suggested that he should go and reconnoiter and see ifthe British reinforcements were anywhere near, and the general had toldhim to go ahead.
"That is a good idea," he said. "The British may be near here now."
Dick set out, and made his way eastward at a rapid pace, and kept onwardtill nightfall, when he stopped at a farmhouse and asked if any redcoatshad been seen in that vicinity.
The settler said no, and Dick went on his way, but when night came, hehad not seen any signs of the British.
"They are not far away, I am certain," was his thought. "Well, I'll keepon till I get them located. They will be in camp, likely, somewhere nearhere."
A few minutes later he caught sight of the glimmer of a campfire in thedistance, and he advanced slowly and cautiously, and when about onehundred and fifty yards from the camp, he paused and stood there, gazingat the scene with interest.
It was the British force, sure enough, and when he had sized it upclosely, he decided that there was nearer one thousand men than fivehundred.
"Our force could not hope to capture Fort Ninety-Six after this forcegets there," he murmured. "And this force will reach there easily bynoon to-morrow."
Having sized up the British force, Dick turned and made his way back inthe direction of the patriot encampment, reaching there about half-pastten o'clock. He went direct to the tent occupied by General Greene, andfound the general still up.
"I found the encampment of the British, sir," said Dick, afterexchanging greetings.
"Ah, indeed. How far from here is the encampment, Dick?"
"About ten or twelve miles."
"How strong a force have they?" was the next question.
"There is nearer one thousand men than five hundred, sir."
"Ah. Then the force is stronger than the messenger thought."
"Yes, sir."
The general asked a number of questions, all of which Dick answered, andthen the youth went to the quarters occupied by his company, and toldTom and Ben about the British.
"That means that we will have a big battle to-morrow," said Tom, hisvoice trembling with eagerness.
"Likely," said Dick.
"But they will outnumber us greatly," said Ben.
"Yes," said Dick, "but we will make a strong fight, and if we couldmanage to capture the fort before the reinforcements get here, I believewe could hold it."
"I wish we could capture the fort," said Tom.
Then they lay down and were soon sound asleep.
CHAPTER XXIV
Lively Work
The patriot force was up very early next morning, and had eatenbreakfast before daylight, and as soon as they could see, they began theattack on Fort Ninety-Six.
They fired with the field-pieces as rapidly as possible, and about themiddle of the forenoon they charged upon the fort and made anotherattempt to force an entrance, but the British fought desperately, andthe patriot force was driven back.
And soon afterward word was brought by a messenger that had been sent tokeep watch for the coming British reinforcements, to the effect that theforce in question was close at hand.
It would be useless to try to attack the fort again, and so GeneralGreene ordered that they advance, take up as strong a position aspossible, and resist with persistence the approaching force of British.
The patriot soldiers made their way to the top of a sort of ridge abouthalf a mile east of Fort Ninety-Six, and here they stationed themselvesbehind trees and awaited the coming of the enemy.
Presently they caught sight of the redcoats approaching, but it was seena few moments later that it was only an advance guard. The redcoats hadheard the sound of the battle, and were cautious, and had sent areconnoitering party ahead, so as to avoid an ambush.
The patriots, knowing they would be discovered before the main forcereached the spot, opened fire on the party as soon as it came in range,and several of the redcoats were dropped, dead or wounded.
The rest beat a hasty retreat, and rejoined the main force, and report
edthe presence of the patriot force at the top of the ridge. The partycame to a stop, and the officers held a council.
Two or three of the officers were for making an attack, but the othersthought differently, and so it was decided to make a detour and goaround the patriots.
This was done, but the patriots learned of the movement, through Dick,who had followed the reconnoitering party and kept watch on the British,and the patriots managed to reach a point from which they could fire onthe British as they passed, and killed and wounded a few.
The redcoats returned the fire, but did not stop to show fight. Theykept onward at as fast a pace as possible, until they reached the fort,which they entered, and they received a hearty welcome from MajorCruger, who had begun to think that he would have to surrender the fort.
The patriots went into camp about a mile from Fort Ninety-Six, and itwas decided to wait and see what the British would do.
"I believe that we could hold this position, here on the top of thisridge," said General Greene. "And I am in favor of staying and givingthem one battle, at any rate."
The other officers agreed with him in his view of the matter, and sothey put in the rest of the day, strengthening their position bythrowing up earthworks.
When this had been finished, the patriots settled down to take it easyand await some move on the part of the British.
Dick and Tom and Ben were stationed near the fort, to keep watch andreport any move the enemy might make, and General Greene felt that hisforce would be able to make a good showing, as the patriot youths wouldsend him word if the British emerged and started to come toward the campof the patriots.
No such move was made that day, however, nor during the night, and thepatriots had an opportunity to get rested up, after their hard workduring the siege. It was a privilege appreciated by both officers andmen.
Next morning, however, the British came forth from the fort, and beganto advance toward the point where the patriot force had taken up itsposition.
They advanced slowly, and Dick sent word by Tom that the redcoats werecoming, and General Greene began making ready to receive the enemy.
Dick and Ben moved back slowly, till they came to the patriot position,and then they informed General Greene of the nearness of the British,who put in an appearance a few minutes later.
The British made an attack, advancing swiftly and firing as they came.They charged up the slope, toward the patriot position, but thepatriots, crouching in the ditch, with the earthwork before them, werein a protected position, and as soon as the redcoats were within range,they opened fire.
The battle was on, and a lively battle it was, for a while. The rattleof the musketry and pistols was loud, and the yells of pain from thewounded British soldiers added to the din. The patriots were not injuredmuch, because the bullets from the enemy's weapons did not penetrate theearthworks.
The British made a desperate attempt to enter the encampment and capturethe patriot force, but they failed, and finally retreated, taking theirdead and wounded with them.
The patriots were very well satisfied with the result of the battle, butthey realized that they might not be successful again, and so GeneralGreene called a council and asked the officers if they did not think itbest to begin a retreat.
The officers said they favored retreating, as the British were now toostrong for them, and so that evening, after supper was over and thesoldiers had rested a while, they broke camp and started on the marchtoward the east.
They marched onward till about midnight, and then they stopped and wentinto camp. They were far enough away from the British, so that they didnot fear an attack, but there might be Indians around, though hardly instrong enough force to make much trouble.
The patriots did not break camp next morning till rather late, and theyhad just got started, when a British force was seen approaching from thedirection of Fort Ninety-Six.
"They are coming in pursuit," said General Greene.
This was indeed the case, and during that day there was almost aconstant exchange of shots between the British and the patriots.
A large party of Indians put in an appearance, also, and aided theBritish in hindering the marching of the patriots as much as possible.
The redskins were so good at concealing themselves behind trees that itwas difficult to injure them, and they did considerable damage.
That night the patriot force went into camp on the top of a knoll andmade its position as strong as possible. Double the usual number ofsentinels were stationed, and it would not be possible for the Britishto take them by surprise.
The British did not make an attack that night, however, but insteadencircled the encampment of the patriots, and when morning came, thepatriots found that they could not proceed, unless they fought their waythrough the British lines.
What to do was the question. If they remained, they would probablysooner or later be captured, as the British force was more than twice asstrong as their own, and to try to break through the enemy's lines wouldbe to cause the loss of many patriot lives.
It was decided, at a council, to remain on the knoll and hold theBritish in check as long as possible.
"If we can get word to General Sumpter, he will come to our assistance,"said General Greene, and he summoned Dick Dare and asked him if he werewilling to make the attempt to slip through the British lines, afternightfall, that evening, and carry a message to General Sumpter.
As the readers of the Dare Boys stories know, and as they will see byreading the next volume, entitled, "The Dare Boys With La Fayette," DickDare was always ready to attempt any feat, no matter how dangerous, ifit would benefit the patriot cause, so now he said promptly that hewould make the attempt.
The British did not make a strong attack, that day, but contentedthemselves with firing at the patriots whenever they caught sight ofone. The patriots returned the fire, and thus the day passed, andevening came.
And as soon as it was dark, Dick Dare started on his perilousexpedition, and worked his way slowly and cautiously through the Britishlines. He had selected the weakest point of the line for his attempt,and he succeeded in getting through, though he was discovered by asentinel as he was hastening away, and was fired at. He ran swiftly,however, and although he was pursued, he managed to escape in thedarkness.
He had received instructions as to the whereabouts of Sumpter, from theman that had brought the news of the coming of the British force, and sohe did not have a great deal of difficulty in finding Sumpter.
When Dick told Sumpter that the patriot force under General Greene wassurrounded by a superior force of British and that he needed assistance,Sumpter said that he would go to the assistance of the patriot party atonce.
He set out, with his force, consisting of about five hundred men, andreached the vicinity of the encampment of the patriot force about themiddle of the afternoon of the next day.
He advanced and attacked the British with great energy, and they, takenby surprise, were thrown into great disorder. Then the patriot force onthe knoll charged out upon the British, and added to the confusion, andfor a while there raged about as fierce a battle as one would expect tosee.
The British tried to rally and hold their ground, but could not do so,and finally they broke and fled at the top of their speed, pursued bythe patriots, who were glad to turn the tables on the British.
The British continued on in the direction of Fort Ninety-Six, and itseemed evident that they did not intend to linger in the vicinity of thepatriots, now that they had a strong force.
Generals Greene and Sumpter held a council, and after considerablediscussion, decided not to follow the enemy and try to capture FortNinety-Six.
Instead they joined forces and went to another part of South Carolina,where the redcoats and Indians were causing the patriot settlers a lotof trouble, and made it so hot for the British and Tories and Indiansthat they were glad to cease operations and head in the direction ofFort Ninety-Six.
The patriots were well satisfi
ed with their work. They had stopped mostof the work of plundering by redcoats, Tories and Indians, and wereready to start to make it lively for other gangs of Tories and Indians,in other parts of the country.
Dick and Tom Dare, and Ben Foster, having gotten through the campaignwithout being wounded, were well pleased with their part in thecampaign, and were eager for further adventures.
"I like the excitement of battling with the British," said Tom, as theysat in camp, at evening, and talked of the exciting adventures they hadgone through in the past few weeks. "I hope we will soon get started onanother series of adventures just as exciting."
"I don't like fighting for the sake of the excitement of the fight,"said Dick; "but I am always glad to be fighting when it is to be for thebenefit and good of the patriot Cause."
"That is the way I look at the matter," said Ben. "I shall be glad whenthe war ends, so far as I am concerned."
"And so shall I," said Dick.
"Sure an' it's mesilf thot loikes foightin' as well as the nixt wan,"said Tim Murphy. "But Oi'll be willin' to settle down an' take it aisywhin the war is over."
"Yah, und dot is der vay I loog at id," said Fritz Schmockenburg.
"Well, there will likely be a lot of fighting yet, before the war isended," said Tom.
"There will be considerable fighting in the next few months, likely,"said Dick.
And he was right. The war did not end till more than a year later, whenthe British were defeated at Yorktown.
THE END
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