"
"And faith ye'll come to a desperate end, if ye thry to carry that ship
by the board," interrupted Terrence.
Fernando mustered three hundred men and, ascertaining there were boats
to take them to the _Xenophon_, was about to give the orders to march
to the water, when, suddenly, volley after volley of muskets and pistols
rang out from the ship. The Americans had passed from the works and were
drawn up on the sands. When they heard the firing at the _Xenophon_,
they came to a halt, to guess and wonder at the cause.
It was decided to march the men by a round-about course to the
promontory and embark in boats for the ship. By doing this, they could
come upon the vessel from the side opposite to the fort, and effect a
more complete surprise. Two dozen bold fishermen were entrusted to take
the boats along the rocky shore to the point of embarkation. The night
was quite dark, and, the water rough, so it required great skill to
accomplish this difficult feat.
Fernando and his troops had gained the neck of land reaching to the
promontory, and, fearing that the enemy might have landed a force there,
and that they would be drawn into an ambuscade, he halted his troops in
a dense growth of wood and left them with Lieutenant Willard, while he,
with Sukey, Terrence and Job, crept forward to reconnoitre. They had
almost reached the promontory, and, convinced that there was no one in
ambush, were about to return to the main force, when suddenly an object
presented itself to their eyes, which absolutely rooted them to the
spot.
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