"
"Are you the British commander?" he demanded.
"No," said the officer, "but I speak for him."
"Not to me by a damned sight, sir. Tell your commander that I will
hear what he has to say from his own mouth. No understrapper will
be recognized by me."
That ended the conference. The young officer, evidently indignant,
strode back to his line, and an hour later Hamilton himself
demanded the unconditional surrender of the fort and garrison.
"Fight for it," Helm stormed forth. "We are soldiers."
Hamilton held a confab with his officers, while his forces, under
cover of the town's cabins, were deploying so as to form a half
circle about the stockade. Some artillery appeared and was planted
directly opposite the gate, not three hundred yards distant. One
blast of that battery would, as Helm well knew, level a large part
of the stockade.
"S'posin' I hev' a cannon, too, seein' it's the fashion," said
Oncle Jazon. "I can't shoot much, but I might skeer 'em. This
little one'll do me."
He set his rifle against the wall and with Beverley's help rolled
one of the swivels alongside the guns already in position.
In a few minutes Hamilton returned under the white flag and
shouted:
"Upon what terms will you surrender?"
"All the honors of war," Helm firmly replied. "It's that or fight,
and I don't care a damn which!"
Hamilton half turned away, as if done with the parley, then facing
the fort again, said:
"Very well, sir, haul down your flag.
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