"He is gone," said Fernando when left alone near the big gun; "gone and not a word said about Morgianna. What will she say, what will she think, when she knows it is I who came to defend her?"
Fernando sighed and was very unhappy.
CHAPTER XVIII.
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.