When he saw it he blasted forth a long oath. Her foretop had been carried away; even now it was being tossed overboard, along with cut trailing rigging. And a section of counter had been stove in, splintering the first two oars. It was probably one of the men on those oars who had cried out. Rodgers yelled:
"I don't want her dismasted; I want her hulled! Lower your sights!"
The guns boomed forth again. The "Montgomery's" oars dipped regularly; she was coming inexorably onward, over the rippling silvery river. Rodgers could hear the boatswain's voice calling the strokes. Suddenly he saw she was going to come about to deliver her first broadside; then she would present a better target.
"Hold your fire," he growled.
The "Montgomery" came about. Her ten starboard six-pounders let fly; at the same moment the "Triton" fired. Before Rodgers could see what the "Triton's" guns had done he was more than aware of what the "Montgomery" had accomplished. One stern cannon was knocked from its carriage, and a stem port smashed in; blood marked the deck.
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But the "Montgomery" had been hit badly. Heavy shot had ploughed across the afterdeck and through the roundhouse. She'd been hit below the water fore. She had staggered under the blows.
Barney had jumped down from the binnacle head. He was amidships now, directing the firing and the helmsman. "Hard aport! Wait till the aftermost guns bear!"
The matchsticks flared noisily, sizzling. The crews bent over the gunsights; the "Montgomery" came about and as she did another roar of British cannon tried to stop the maneuver.
The "Montgomery" shook. She shuddered from stem to stern, like a mortally wounded thing. Splinters flew, ploughed up from decks and bulwarks; a spar crashed to the deck alongside of Barney; he leaned down and tossed it overboard, sailing it over the heads of the rowers. The guns fired; he watched through the smoke; they found their target. Barney raised his voice. When the smoke cleared he gave a shout of triumph. Another of the "Triton's" guns had been hit; it had spun around crazily, and a whole section of her counter had been stove in.
"You'll make mincemeat of her, lads," yelled Barney. But worse punishment was coming and he knew it. The rifle fire had begun now. In between the heavier guns the peppering sound of the muskets kept up a staccato tattoo of deadly sound. The men stationed on the pumps below were working frantically to keep the water from rising so fast in the wells; the wounded were being dragged from the decks to partial safety. All this while the "Montgomery" was making straight for the enemy.
Barney jumped up to the binnacle head again. The distance between the two ships was narrowing fast now. They would make it; he was sure of it; they would make it. The "Montgomery's" fore guns spoke as fast as they could be loaded, fired and reloaded. Another broadside should do the work.
"Hard astarboard!"
The musket fire rained like hail onto the decks. Joshua, standing at the rail, concentrated only on his aim. They were drawing nearer and nearer, splintered oars rising and falling. He could not see that astern other rowgalleys were following in their wake. He did not hear the wild crazy cheers that came from shore. He heard Barney's voice, but he was not conscious of what he said. He only knew to load and fire and reload, and to do his own job as fast and as accurately as possible. He aimed at the heads of the men he could see.
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The mizzen crashed to the deck alongside of him. Someone cleared it away. Joshua reloaded and fired at the white cap on a man on the frigate's deck. The "Triton's" last shot hit the "Montgomery" fore. Tangles of mast and rigging hit the deck, her bowsprit was torn off like a splinter. Then the "Montgomery's" starboard guns fired with deadly result. The last stern cannon on the "Triton" spun crazily. Her last heavy shot had been fired.
The deck was slanting under Joshua's feet. Now Barney himself had taken a wounded gunner's place. The "Montgomery," listing badly to port, was brought around to bring the starboard guns to bear upon the stern quarters of the "Triton." Her broadside crashed in the enemy counter, spewed across her afterdecks.
"Direct your men's fire to the enemy quarterdecks and tops, Mr. Harris," called Barney. The first officer had taken the wheel; the helmsman was being borne below. The surgeon appeared, ran fore to Barney.
"Sir!" he cried. "I've forty wounded!"
Barney spoke to two gunners; they raced after the surgeon. Two more followed them, and alongside the longboat was drawing up in a hail of bullets that came from the "Triton." They swarmed aboard, as Barney directed them fore to take position for boarding. Only twenty feet separated the two vessels.
The "Montgomery's" starboard guns had been reloaded. Once more they fired; tilted upward of necessity, they hurled their cannon balls at the enemy's stem. Joshua kept on loading and firing. They were close enough now.
"Your targets are heads and chests," he yelled.
There was now no cheering from ashore; no time for either combatant to waste time in jeers. The Americans ashore could see the other rowgalleys creeping nearer and nearer to the "Montgomery's" sinking stern. Her incredibly gallant action was leading them like a magnet to the quarry she had readied. And her splintered oars still dipped as she narrowed the distance between her and the "Triton."
Joshua didn't see the irons swing out and bite deep into the "Triton." The deck now slanted badly, and he braced himself. It was slippery with blood. A man slipped down to deck beside him and lay still. Joshua dropped to his knees on the sloping deck and turned him over. He had been killed instantly. Over the sound of the fire of small arms then came Barney's voice. "Boarders!"
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Joshua realized suddenly that more men were surging onto the "Montgomery's" deck, as she formed a frail wooden pathway to the "Triton." She was kept afloat now only by the irons that held her to the frigate; she would never sail again. But now she served like a bridge to enemy decks. Joshua yelled to his men to cover the boarding. He seized a cutlass and ran fore.
The rigging and tangled foreyards and shrouds were massed with men. At their head was Barney, climbing fast, a pistol in each hand and his cutlass held in his teeth. He was the first over the side onto the "Triton's" deck, leaping down, both pistols blazing fire. Then he used the murderous cutlass, as he and the twenty men first on the decks cut a swathe for the others to follow. By the time Joshua dropped to the "Triton's" decks, Barney was at the rail. Joshua rushed forward, swung over the rail and dropped down amidships at the same time Barney did. Behind them came more.
From the shore, the people could see that the galleys were discharging men as they raced across the sinking "Montgomery" to the "Triton." They saw victory being slowly gained as the fighting surged forward on the frigate's decks, as the British slow^ly retreated, as the Americans swarmed upward into the rigging to pick off one by one the men perched up there who were firing down upon their number. The boldest of them did this, climbing upward in the face of fire to bring down the topmen, to sway high in the shrouds to silence the enemy rifle fire from aloft.
Inch by inch the decks were gained. Joshua, at Barney's side, fought his way forward with him. He knew he had been hit, but he could keep swinging the cutlass. Then suddenly he realized he and Barney were looking across a few feet of cleared deck, fating a knot of men at the forecastle rail.