Crash! roar! Loudly the volleys rang out, and yells of pain and rage went up from the lips of the redcoats struck by the bullets.
And then to the rattle of the musketry was added the boom-boom of the field-pieces.
CHAPTER XXIII
The Siege
Doubtless the patriots would have been able to keep the redcoats from putting out the fire, and it would have burned the stockade-wall and perhaps the fort, but a thunder-storm came up just as the affair was at its height, and a heavy rain beating down on the fire, put it out.
The patriots, realizing that it would be useless to try to set the fort afire when the wood was wet, returned to their encampment, and made themselves as comfortable as they could for the night.
Next morning work was resumed, but no very rapid progress was made. They kept pounding the stockade-wall with six-pound cannon balls, but they did not seem to make much impression. Nor did General Greene deem it wise to try to storm the fort, for the structure was too strong to break through, and the wall was too high to scale.
It began to look as if the siege was to be a long one, and the patriots settled down to take it as easy as possible, and make a thorough job of the affair. They were determined that they would capture the fort sooner or later.
When the siege had been going on four or five days, a patriot settler came to the encampment, and told General Greene that a British force was coming to reinforce Fort Ninety-Six, and it was about fifty miles distant, and coming from the coast. General Sumpter had sent the patriot to warn General Greene.
The general called a council of the members of his staff, and then they questioned the patriot closely.
“How long will it take the British to reach here?” asked General Greene.