有声英语少儿童话故事 顽童故事 斯莱特山的雪堡 第10章

Onthe following Wednesday the siege was renewed. I forget whether it was on thatafternoon or the next that we lost Fort Slatter; but lose it we did, with muchvaluable ammunition and several men. After a series of desperate assaults, weforced General Ames to capitulate; and he, in turn, made the place too hot tohold us. So from day to day the tide of battle surged to and fro, sometimesfavoring our arms, and sometimes those of the enemy.

GeneralAmes handled his men with great skill; his deadliest foe could not deny that.Once he outgeneralled our commander in the following manner: He massed hisgunners on our left and opened a brisk fire, under cover of which a singlecompany (six men) advanced on that angle of the fort. Our reserves on the rightrushed over to defend the threatened point. Meanwhile, four companies of theenemy’s scalers made a detour round the foot of the hill, and dashed into FortSlatter without opposition. At the same moment General Ames’s gunners closed inon our left, and there we were between two fires. Of course we had to vacatethe fort. A cloud rested on General Harris’s military reputation until hissuperior tactics enabled him to dispossess the enemy.