"If it has a chance? What do you mean by those words?" he asked.
"We've got to put that boat out of action."
"Sink it?"
"No, if we sank it they might raise it again and have the cannon ready for action again in a few hours. We've got to burn the boat and then the cannon will be warped and twisted so they can't fix it short of a foundry."
"But we can't get at the boat."
"It must be done or this fort will surely be taken to-morrow. You know what that means."
Major Braithwaite groaned. He had a vision of his own wife and children, but he thought of the others, too.
"How?" he asked.
Henry talked to him earnestly, but the Major shook his head.
"Too dangerous!" he said. "You would all be lost. I cannot sanction such an enterprise. The fort cannot spare good men, nor could I let you go in this way to your death."