"The first day a battery of two guns was destroyed, a block house and
the laboratory were blown up, and the garrison were compelled to keep
within the fort. All that night the British threw shells and the scene
was a terrible one indeed, especially for the poor fellows inside the
fort.

"The next morning, about sunrise, they saw thirty armed boats coming
against them, and that night the heavy floating battery was brought to
bear upon the fort. The next morning it opened with terrible effect, yet
they endured it, and made the enemy suffer so much from their fire that
they began to think seriously of giving up the contest, when one of the
men in the fort deserted to them, and his tale of the weakness of the
garrison inspiring the British with renewed hope of conquest they
prepared for a more general and vigorous assault.

"At daylight on the 15th two men-of-war, the _Iris_ and the _Somerset_,
passed up the channel in front of the fort on Mud Island. Two
others--the _Vigilant_ and a hulk with three twenty-four
pounders--passed through the narrow channel on the west side and were
placed in a position to act in concert with the batteries of Province
Island in enfilading the American works.

"At ten o'clock all was silent, and doubtless our men were awaiting the
coming onslaught with intense anxiety, when a signal bugle sounded and
instantly all the ships and batteries poured a storm of shot and shell
from the mouths of their many guns upon the devoted little garrison."

"Oh, how dreadful!" sighed Grace. "Could they stand it, papa?"

"They endured it with astonishing courage," replied the captain, "while