" She clung to
him, and appealed so earnestly, the tears of anxiety and fear starting
from her eyes, while her white, pleading face was upturned to his, that
he could not deny her. All other appeals had been unheeded, but
Morgianna's he could not refuse.
A wild cheer went up from the Americans within the fort as Morgianna
descended from the redoubt with the daring captain. He hurried her away
to the bomb-shelter, where her father lay raging and fuming, because his
infirmity would not allow him to take part in the contest. Fernando
obtained a promise from Morgianna that she would not venture from the
shelter, by promising in return to keep off the redoubt.
The British shells were telling on the American fort. Though the walls
were strong and resisted their balls, several men had fallen beneath
their shells. Two solid shot and one shell struck Captain Lane's
elegant mansion on the hill, fired from spite, as the house was far
removed from the fort, and no one was near it. A cannon-ball entered the
great, broad bay window overlooking the sea, made a wreck of the
furniture in the parlor, crashed through the wall, shivering a tall
mirror and spreading havoc in the room beyond.
The siege continued all day long, and late in the afternoon, just one
hour before sunset, the redcoats appeared on the wooded hill back of the
town, and opened fire with two small pieces and muskets.
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