“Exactly,” broke in the officer eagerly, “if those guns can be spiked to-night, I am likely to secure the delay I need. Now the question is, can it be done? Are those cannon under guard?”
“I think not,” his visitor replied. “The British camp is so close to the foot of the hill, and as you are not supposed to know that the guns are on its summit, they have not deemed such a precaution necessary.”
“It is worth trying,” the commander said half to himself. “If I can only find a man who is willing to undertake the job,” and again he relapsed into deep thought.
“I will undertake it, general.”
“You?”
“Yes. I believe I can do it without much risk. Once I climbed that hill from this side, just for the pleasure of saying I had accomplished the feat. I am sure I can do it again. Give me the implements needed; say nothing to any one, and I will make the attempt. Two cries of a night-hawk from the south edge of the mountain, twice repeated, will be token that I have succeeded. Three cries, unrepeated, is that I have failed. There will be time for you to slip away with your men if I am obliged to report a failure.”
During several minutes they discussed the matter, General St. Clair offering to send others to perform the task, and the lad insisting that he be allowed to try it. In the end the officer yielded, and, with a hammer and files in his pockets, the young scout left the fortress.
There was no difficulty in gaining the steep side of the mountain. It was there the hazardous work began. For some moments Ira studied the rocks as best he could in the darkness. Finally he gave an exclamation of delight. He was certain he had hit upon the place where he began his ascent several months previous.
Up the cliff, using hands and feet in every crevice he could find, grasping narrow ledge, or projecting root as he came to them, stopping to rest at intervals, he clambered slowly on. A half-hour passed, and then the toiler’s efforts were rewarded. He gained a ledge from which he found safe footing to the summit.
Drawing a deep breath of relief, he sped noiselessly to the opposite side. Finding the guns unguarded, he commenced the work which he believed meant so much to his friends in the fort. Wrapping a bit of cloth about a file, and placing his folded handkerchief over the top to deaden the sound, he drove it into the touch-hole of the nearest cannon.