THE SAVING SHOT.
Little or nothing could be done by Captain Stevens that night. His men
were exhausted, and threw themselves down anywhere and everywhere. The
proprietor of the tavern took Fernando, Sukey, Terrence and Lieutenant
Willard of the marines to his house, where they were furnished beds and
slept soundly.
The morning of September 14, 1814, came. Fernando, at his request, was
awakened early, and with Lieutenant Willard went out to examine the fort
and artillery. It was scarcely daylight when they mounted the works and
gazed off the bay. They could not see as far as Duck and Mud Islands,
and sat down upon the gun carriages to await the rising of the sun.
A hundred stalwart Marylanders came from their houses with axes, picks
and shovels, ready to resume work on the redoubt.
"Lieutenant Willard." said Fernando, "your judgment is perhaps better
than mine. Will you give these men direction in regard to the works?"
Lieutenant Willard mounted the earthworks and walked along the entire
line, closely inspecting them and directing the improvement of what was
already quite a formidable fortification.
The guns were next examined and changed so as to more completely sweep
the bay. While the lieutenant was doing this, Fernando, with three or
four fishermen went down to the water with a glass to take a look for
the _Xenophon_. She could be seen still anchored off Mud Island.
"The vind be strong off shore," said Tris Penrose the Cornish fisherman.
"Aw, she cannot sail in the teeth o' it."
"How far is it to Mud Island?" asked Fernando.
"It be about five mile," the fisherman answered.
"I am going out to that headland!" he said pointing to the rocky
promontory.
"It be dangerous, Capen; the ship's big guns, they reach to the
headland;" but Fernando insisted on being rowed to the headland, and
four fishermen, including Tris Penrose, took him to it in a boat. The
memories this early morning visit awoke in his breast are indescribable.
Years seemed to have been rolled back, and he was once more with
Morgianna, within the pale of hope. Ascending the promontory, he saw the
_Xenophon_ lying at anchor not over three or four miles away. Two boats
loaded down with marines put off from the ship and rowed to the point
of land half a mile away. There they landed, formed, and marched to
reinforce Matson on the neck of the peninsula. Three hundred men and two
small cannon were now on land.
Fernando went back, convinced that for some hours at least the attack
would be delayed. Lieutenant Willard was working with a will to
strengthen the redoubt. Bomb-proof apartments were made for the women
and children. They were still uncertain of the fate of Baltimore, and
knew that the whole coast was threatened by the British fleet.
While sitting at breakfast, Fernando received a note from Captain Lane
informing him that a sudden attack of rheumatism prevented him from
leaving his bed, and asked him to call at the house if he wished to
consult him. Never in his life was Fernando more glad to receive a
summons, and never did he so dread answering it.
"I am foolish!" he thought. "She cares nothing for me. She has told me
as much, and she cannot have changed her mind. I will go, but as the
commandant and not as a supplicant--or lover."
Fernando was in the uniform of a captain of infantry of 1812, the
handsomest uniform ever adopted by the American army. His dark blue
coat, buttoned to his chin, his sash, his belt and gilt sword, his
chapeau-bras with flowing plume, set off his manly form.
Fernando, as he ascended the path to the house, did not dream that he
was heroic or fine-looking.
When he reached the house, he paused a moment on the piazza, just as he
had on that evening five years before, to school his rebellious heart.
To his knock a servant answered, and he was hurried up to the room of
Captain Lane. At every corner he expected Morgianna; but she did not
appear. Perhaps she was with her father; but no, the captain was alone.
"It's too bad, Captain Stevens," the old sea-dog declared. "Here I am
with this infernal rheumatism holding me down like an anchor, when we
are threatened with a squall."
"Don't trouble yourself, captain," said Fernando. "I fancy there are
young men enough to fight our battles."
"But one likes to have a hand in such affairs, you know."
"Certainly, but don't worry yourself. The wind is still off shore, and
the bay is so narrow that, unless they get out a warp, they cannot haul
in the _Xenophon_."
"I have wondered they did not do that before," said the old sailor. "It
could be done."
"Perhaps they have some other plan. They landed a hundred more men this
morning."
"They can't be going to make a land attack."
"No, the land forces are to cut off retreat."
"It's that infernal Matson--Lieutenant Matson--curse him! He is the son
of my friend; but I say curse him, for all that!" cried the old sea-dog,
his face expressing mingled rage and agony.
"Is he in command?" asked Fernando. Before either could speak, a light
tread warned Fernando that a third person had entered the room. He
started to his feet and, turning about, bowed to Morgianna.
"Captain Stevens, I am proud to welcome you back to Mariana; but I am
sorry it could not have been under other circumstances." She was
beautiful--more beautiful than when he left; but there was not expressed
by either voice, eye, or flushed cheek any symptom of a more tender
regard than friendship. Fernando had so schooled himself, that, as he
took her hand, he said in a most commonplace manner:
"I was sent here, Miss Lane. I am a soldier, and wherever duty calls, I
go, be it pleasant or unpleasant."
Morgianna was not prepared for this. The cool, off-hand manner seemed to
hardly indicate the respect of friendship. Her face grew deathly pale
for a moment, and she almost ceased breathing; but she gained her
self-control, and, in a tone as commonplace and cool as his own, hoped
he was well and that he would not be killed in the coming struggle. The
coming struggle with the _Xenophon_ was nothing compared to his present
struggle. Fernando still loved Morgianna. Five years had only added to
the intensity of his love; but he had once made a simpleton of himself,
and he determined not to do so again. Thus two hungry souls, thirsting
for each other's love, acted the cold part of casual acquaintances.
Could the veil have been lifted, could the barriers have been broken
down, what misery might have been spared! but it is ever thus. Humanity
is contradictory and the heart's impulses are held in check.
"Miss Lane, this house cannot be a safe place in the coming struggle,"
said Fernando. "We have prepared bomb-proof shelters for the women and
children, and I hope you will accept refuge in one."
She said something about her father.
"He shall be cared for. I hope you will let me send a sergeant with a
dozen men to convey you both to a place of safety."
She assented, and he left. Her face was still white, her chin was
quivering, and her eyes were growing moist.
"What's the matter, Morgianna?" asked Captain Lane.
She did not venture an answer, but running to her own room, fell weeping
on the couch.
"After five long years, to return so changed--so cold--oh, God, this
punishment is greater than I can bear!" she sobbed.
By the middle of the afternoon, the wind changed slightly, shifting to
the northeast, and some activity was evinced on board the _Xenophon_.
Fernando thought longer delay was dangerous. Captain Lane and his
daughter, with all other women and children, were conveyed to the
bomb-proof houses, which had been constructed for them. He was so busy
all that day, that he only caught an occasional glimpse of Morgianna.
When night came, the _Xenophon_ had left her moorings, and Fernando
predicted she would be brought in broadside to begin the cannonade at
daybreak. He retired to his bed at eleven o'clock and at four Lieutenant
Willard came to him and said: "Captain, the wind has shifted due east."
"How is the night?"
"Dark and cloudy."
"Can anything be seen of the _Xenophon_?"
"No."
"Send a dozen men to the promontory and build a fire. The light would
show her to us."
A dozen bold fishermen, who knew the coast well, went out in their
boats, hugging the rocky shore until the promontory was gained, and
gathering up great heaps of driftwood on the edge of the bluff, set it
on fire, and pulled back.
As the flames shot up, they revealed the _Xenophon_ slowly and carefully
feeling her way into the bay. Not a shot was fired, for she was
still far away.
Thus the night wore on. Day began to dawn slowly, and as the first light
fell on bay and sea it revealed the dread enemy lying like a monster
sea-bird in the bay, not a mile away.
The _Xenophon_ was in no hurry to commence. She had her prey so that
there was no possible chance of escape, and the officers and men ate
breakfast and walked about the deck, talking and joking on the work
before them. Through a powerful glass, which Captain Lane furnished him,
Fernando recognized Captain Snipes standing on the quarter deck,
smoking a cigar.
Fernando had the guns loaded and shotted. They were sighted and ready
when the _Xenophon_ should take the initiative.
"Say, Capen, dat Britisher doan git dis chile no more," said Job. "I
can't find my real massa, but, by golly, I've saved up fifty dollars to
buy a new one, 'fore I go for to be a Britisher agin."
Before Fernando could answer, Sukey came running along the breastwork
and said:
"Fernando! Fernando--he is there! Captain Snipes is aboard that ship!"
Sukey's face was deathly white, and his fingers convulsively clutched
the air as if grasping at an imaginary throat.
Fernando was standing on the parapet, when a wreath of smoke curled up
from the ship's side, followed by the boom of a heavy gun, and a ball
came whizzing through the air, and struck the breastwork.
It was nine minutes after ten o'clock when the first shot was fired.
This shot was the signal for a broadside, and a shower of balls with
three or four shells came screaming through the air striking the walls
of the fort, or exploding over it. One of the shells buried itself in
the sand but a few feet from Fernando, and burst, scattering sand and
gravel over him.
"Fire!" cried Fernando, without moving from his position.
Immediately the thirty-two pounder and four smaller guns belched forth
fire and thunder. Fernando watched the effect through the glass. The
thirty-two went wild, and the shots from the smaller pieces fell short.
He turned and gave some instructions to the gunners, while a shell came
screaming over his head and burst a short distance away, killing one of
the marines.
"Fernando, there ain't no need of you standing up there!" cried Sukey.
"You ain't in the game, till we get near enough to use rifles."
"Divil a bit will the blackguards iver come near enough for that," cried
Terrence, boldly mounting the breastwork. "Captain, lave me have a
squint through yer glass," and Terrence, assuming a liberty which he
only could, took the glass from his hand. The screaming shell and
whistling shot continued to come from the _Xenophon_. "Faith, thim bees
buzz nicely round a fellow's ears," added Terrence.
Fernando seized his glass, when the thirty-two was again sighted and
fixed it on the ship. As the heavy boom shook the earth, he saw a great
splash of water twelve feet from the bow.
"Let some one else train the gun," he cried. "You miss the mark."
All appeals to Fernando to come down from his dangerous position were
unavailing. His anxiety to pierce the _Xenophon_ with the thirty-two
kept him on the parapet directing the gunners, while balls and shells
shrieked about him. Job tried three shots; but only one did any injury,
and that was some insignificant damage to the rigging. Fernando saw at
once their disadvantage.
"Oh, if we only had one experienced gunner, he would drive the ship
from the harbor," he thought.
Lieutenant Willard tried three or four shots, and one struck the bow.
With glass in hand, Fernando remained on the earthworks, watching the
effect of their balls and giving orders to the gunners, while balls and
shells flew screaming around him. One shell exploded near the embrasure
of one of the smaller guns killing one and wounding four. As yet, they
had not touched one of the enemy, and the young commandant was
chagrined, anxious and annoyed. He lost his temper and raved at the
gunners, who were doing their best. They lacked science.
His brave riflemen stood under the earthworks, grasping their guns which
were useless now, while they lamented that the Britons were not
in range.
Officers, citizens and even privates implored Fernando to come down. A
shell exploded in the air, and a piece grazed his shoulder, yet he kept
his place on the rampart. Terrence Malone, who could see no reason for
courting death, had sought shelter behind a gun carriage. Fernando's
anxiety and mortification increased as he witnessed the repeated
failures of his gunners to hull the _Xenophon_. Amid smoke, dust and
whizzing missiles, he kept his post. The thunder of guns, the whizzing
balls, and shrieking shells were unheard in his great anxiety to defeat
the British.
Suddenly a hand clutched his arm, and a silvery voice, which he
recognized in an instant, cried:
"This is folly! Come down--come down from this certain death!"
"Morgianna, you here!" he cried. "For Heaven's sake, go to the
bomb-proof shelter. You must not expose yourself here."
"I will not go a step until you come from the rampart." 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. Fernando's
riflemen had been waiting for this, and, with wild yells, they leaped
the redoubts, deployed along the stone fences and houses and picked off
the redcoats so rapidly, that they fled pell mell to their own works,
glad to escape the bullets of those unerring riflemen.
The cannonade kept up until long after midnight. The sky was ablaze with
circling shells, and the headlands reverberated with ten
thousand echoes.
All the guns in the fort save the thirty-two were silent, for the
smaller cannon at that range were useless. The soldiers in the fort lay
on their arms, and Fernando slept none. With anxious face he went the
rounds of the fort, occasionally watching through an embrasure the ship
beyond and the circling shells. During the night, three more of their
number were killed and six wounded, while as yet they had done the
enemy no hurt.
Shortly after midnight, the firing grew slower and an hour later ceased
altogether. Morning dawned slowly, and the flag still floated over the
badly battered fort. A sullen, gloomy silence had fallen over the
officers and men. They watched the enemy, who at daylight began to warp
the ship in a little nearer, that her guns might be more effective.
Fernando was silent and his brow dark. There seemed but one thing
possible and that was defeat. Reinforcements need not be expected.
The _Xenophon_ came a little nearer to shore, then let go her anchors
again and lay broadside to the fort. It was quite evident that she was
afraid to come too close, lest some blundering shot would strike her.
All of a sudden, a sheet of flame and cloud of smoke from her side
concealed the ship from view, and balls once more rained about the fort.
The fire this day was more destructive than on the preceding. One house
within the enclosure was completely battered down. The church which had
been converted into a hospital was set on fire. Fernando discovered it
in flames and ran thither to hurry out the wounded. Entering the burning
building, through which a shell went screaming, he was horror-stricken
and amazed to find Morgianna at one of the bunks, binding up the wounds
of a sufferer.
"Morgianna, Morgianna!" he cried, "why do you risk your life here?"
"There is suffering and death here!" she answered. "Am I better than
those who risk their lives for me?"
"Morgianna, you must not, yours is no common life--" he began. In the
excitement of the moment he almost forgot himself. She was about to
answer, when he said, "Noble woman! do not, for Heaven's sake, run
needless danger."
They hurried the wounded from the burning building. Another house, lower
down the hill, was also on fire. It was so near to the great gun, that
the heat almost blistered the men who worked it, and for awhile their
magazine was in great peril.
The soldiers did all in their power to extinguish the flames; but both
church and house burned to the ground.
Night came once more, and the Americans were reduced to the sorest
straits. Soon after dark, the cannonading ceased and a silence of death
fell over the fort, broken only by the groans of some poor, wounded
fellow. The people within the fort went about talking in whispers. Three
bodies, which they had not had time to bury, lay, stark and silent under
the shed, and there were nine fresh graves on the hillside. In
addition, more than thirty of the defenders were disabled from wounds.
Captain Stevens, Sukey, Terrence and Lieutenant Willard were holding a
consultation in a room of the old tavern. Lieutenant Willard said:
"Captain Stevens, there is no other alternative, we must surrender. To
hold out longer is murder. If we had a few competent gunners we might
drive her away, but with our inexperienced men, we are wasting
ammunition and life to resist."
"There is one chance," said Fernando. "Perhaps we could carry the ship
by the board."
"By the board! divil a bit!" put in Terrence. "Why they'd sink us all
before we could get within a hundred yards of the plagued ship."
Sukey, remembering that Captain Snipes, his avowed enemy, was on board
the _Xenophon_, was eager to make the effort to carry her by the board.
"It will be a desperate undertaking," said Lieutenant Willard. "If we
had sailors instead of riflemen it might be done very easily; but it is
a desperate chance; yet we are in a desperate situation."
"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. At about twenty or thirty yards distant, where but the moment
before the long line of horizon terminated the view, there now stood a
strange figure, which might be six and might be twelve feet in height.
It had evidently risen up out of the ground and was floating in the air,
as there seemed to be nothing to connect it with the earth. There was a
body of spotless white, an obscure mass which might be a head, and two
long, white, straight arms, spread apart like a cross. This strange
creature was advancing toward them.
"Oh, golly! massa, look ye dar! dat am a ghost!" whispered the darkey.
"A banshee, begorra!" said Terrence.
Fernando was impressed that the strange vision was the result of some
English trickery, while Sukey, cocking his gun, declared:
"If it's mortal, I'll soon make it immortal."
"Hold, Sukey!" whispered Fernando, "let us see what it is before you
fire."
"Golly! massa, it am comin' dis way!"
Fernando could see that the object, with its strange incongruous head,
its long arms, of which it now seemed to have three or four, was
advancing toward them over the uneven ground; and he gave the order to
fall back until they were nearer the troops.
When within about one hundred paces, Fernando made a stand and cried:
"Halt!"
This was the first word uttered loud enough to reach the strange
four-armed, one-headed, but legless spectre. It produced a wonderful
effect, for the odd figure wheeled about and started off at something
like a run. Sukey brought his gun to his shoulder and fired.
The report of the gun was the signal for the riflemen under Lieutenant
Willard to charge, and all gave chase to the spectre.
"Don't fire another shot!" cried Fernando. The spectre had not gone a
hundred paces, before it stumbled over a loose stone and fell. In a
moment, Terrence Malone had seized it and cried:
"Huzzah! boys, I've caught the divil himsilf."
The spectre proved to be a very material like person in the form of a
tall sailor with a white jacket and cap and blue trousers. His
superabundance of arms could be accounted for by the long, white oar,
which he had been carrying on his shoulder, and which he explained was
his only weapon, offensive or defensive.
"Where are you from?" asked Fernando.
"I am from his majesty's frigate _Xenophon_," he answered.
"Are you a deserter?" asked Fernando.
"Yes, sir; I am an American by birth, and will die before I raise my
hand against my country. To-day, because I refused to work at the guns,
I was arrested, to be flogged in the morning, hung or shot at the
pleasure of Captain Snipes."
"I believe I know that voice--" began Captain Stevens.
"Holy golly! it am Massa St. Mark!" yelled a voice behind them, and Job
tore his way through the crowd and, flinging his arms about the sailor,
cried: "Massa St. Mark! Massa St. Mark! am it you?"
"Faith, it's the best gunner in the British navy!" cried Terrence.
Fernando had no trouble in recognizing in the stranger the gentlemanly
gunner of the _Macedonian_, who had saved him from being flogged.
Terrence, Fernando, Job and Sukey crowded about the newcomer and for a
moment plied him with questions. He explained that, having slipped his
handcuffs, he rushed on deck, seized the oar, which he still carried,
knocked down two sentries and leaped overboard. They fired a hundred
shots at him; but, being an excellent swimmer, and the night being dark,
he managed to escape. Lying on his back, holding to the oar, he watched
for the flash of their guns and pistols, and, when they fired, ducked
his head under the water.
The appearance of Mr. Hugh St. Mark naturally caused another
consultation. He discouraged their desperate attempt to carry the ship
by the board, and Fernando, after sending six fishermen to the headland
to acquaint their companions there with the change, marched with his
force back to the fort. An hour later the others came.
When day dawned, the _Xenophon_ renewed her cannonading. Mr. Hugh St.
Mark was given charge of the thirty-two, and after carefully measuring
the distance with an experienced eye, he weighed the powder and loaded
the gun. Fernando watched the flight of the first ball, which went
whizzing over the leeward rail across the deck and out at the opposite
port into the sea. The second shot cut some of the rigging. The British
supposed those two shots accidents, but after the third, they were
convinced that there was an experienced hand at the gun.
Fernando, in his anxiety to mark the effect of the third shot, forgot
his promise to Morgianna and, with the glass in hand, mounted the
rampart. The heavy boom of the cannon shook sea and shore. There was no
need of a glass to mark the effects. The ball crashed through from side
to side sending the splinters flying in every direction. A wild cheer
rose from the fort, and Fernando saw five or six carried below the deck,
while one of the guns was dismounted and useless. In a few seconds the
great gun was again loaded. This, time the ball crashed through the
hull. The fifth shot struck the mizzenmast about four feet above deck,
and cut it almost away.
"Victory is ours!" cried Fernando, waving his sword in the air.
"Hurrah for ould Ireland and the United States foriver!" shouted
Terrence, leaping on the embankment, and dancing a jig. But the
_Xenophon_ had not given up the contest yet. She continued to fire her
balls and shells with murderous intent until the balls from St. Mark's
direction had cut her mainmast down. It fell over on the lee side
dragging with it the fore mainstay and crippling the rigging to such an
extent that Captain Snipes began to fear he could not get his vessel out
of the harbor. The weight of the mainmast hanging over the side of the
vessel was so great that the vessel heeled over to leeward. A dozen
carpenters with axes flew to cut away the wreck and the ship
righted herself.
While others were rejoicing, Hugh St. Mark was busy sending ball after
ball crashing into the _Xenophon_ as if he had many old scores to
settle. Sukey, who stood by his side, said:
"Mr. St. Mark, don't hit the captain--leave him for me."
The wind and tide bore the _Xenophon_ to the mouth of the harbor just
beyond the point of Duck Island, where she was temporarily safe from the
balls of the avenging thirty-two.
It soon became evident that the land force under Lieutenant Matson
intended to march to the point of land, embark, and return to the ship.
Fernando determined to spoil their plan. He mustered two hundred and
fifty of his soldiers, marines and militia and started to head them off.
Lieutenant Willard was left alone in charge of the fort.
A villager who knew a nearer route guided them by it to a pass between
two hills, where the Britons would be compelled to march. Sukey and
Terrence were sent forward to reconnoitre, and as they came in sight of
the narrow valley surrounded by hills they saw the head of the column of
redcoats coming, their banner upheld to the breeze. Terrence wheeling
about, ran with all speed back to the advancing soldiers, and cried:
"Come on, me boys! it's a divil's own time we'll have of it in the
valley, all to ourselves."
"Halt! fix bayonets!" commanded Fernando. In a moment, the gleaming
bayonets were on each gun. "Forward!--Double--Quick!"
The soldiers, at a run, dashed into the valley just as the British
appeared, two volleys delivered in quick succession and they were at it
steel to steel. Fernando, bareheaded, engaged a stout Briton in a
hand-to-hand struggle, which a quick thrust from Sukey's bayonet ended.
Next, Captain Stevens found himself hotly engaged with his old enemy
Lieutenant Matson. Their blades flashed angrily for a moment, but as the
lieutenant's men threw down their arms and begged for quarters, he
realized the folly of resisting longer and yielded. His stubborn pride
made the struggle hard. He offered his sword to his victor, which he
politely declined.
"Keep your sword, lieutenant," said Fernando. "Though you are my enemy,
I trust you have not forgotten that you are a gentleman."
"I trust not."
"You shall be paroled as soon as we reach the fort."
The Britons stacked their arms, and marched in double file under a guard
to the fort. Oxen and carts were sent out for the arms and two pieces of
artillery which were brought into the fort.
Silent and majestic as an uncrowned prince, seeming neither elated nor
depressed by the victory, stood the gunner Hugh St. Mark by the side of
the old thirty-two, with which he had fired the shots that saved
the fort.
He was tall, straight, broad-shouldered, with hair once chestnut, but
now almost gray. His age might be anywhere between forty and fifty
years. So calm, majestic and mysterious did he seem, as, with folded
arms, he stood gazing unconcernedly about him, that Fernando was
constrained to ask himself:
"Who is he?"