Many recoiled, but their leaders, shouting to them
that the guns were discharged, and there were but a dozen men there,
led them on again.
Charlie leaped upon the edge of the parapet, and shouted:
"If you attack us, we will blow up the magazine. I have but to lift my
hand, and the magazine will be fired."
The boldest of the assailants were paralysed by the threat. Confusion
reigned throughout the fortress. The fleet kept up their fire with
great vigour; judging, by the feebleness of the reply, that something
unusual must be happening within the walls. The gunners, disheartened
by finding their pieces useless, and unable to extract the wooden
plugs, while Charlie's men continued to ply them with grape, left
their guns and, with the greater portion of the garrison, disorganized
and panic stricken, retired into shelter.
A shell from the ships, falling on to a thatched building, set it on
fire. The flames rapidly spread, and soon all the small huts occupied
by the garrison were in flames. The explosion of a magazine added to
the terror of the garrison, and the greater portion of them, with the
women and children, ran down to the water; and, taking boats,
attempted to cross to Fort Goa, on the mainland.
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