Ram; being the tale of one Ramillies Anstruther, 1704-55 ..

by Taylor, Winchcombe

  Oglethorpe rose, eyes hard. "Colonel Anstmther, we're at war and you're my subordinate. I forbid so crazed a plan. If you must risk your life, you'll do it in the King's service."

  "I'll do as I will, damn ye, and you won't stop me!" Ram flared. Instantly each man's hand went to his sword. It was Ram's which dropped first. "James, I spoke wildly. But don't ye see if I settle this baron I'll help our cause. He's the web's center, snaring fools like Wall and Mazzique into betraying us. He's an arch plotter and likely was as far back as Belgrade, when he murdered my father."

  Oglethorpe took him by the shoulders. "Old friend, we've both been sick with grief. Let's be soldiers again. There's little I can do till I know what Admiral Vernon intends. He's already blown up Porto Bello's defenses in Panama and he's damaged the great fortress at Cartagena. He's now at Jamaica, awaiting an army from home. If he takes the Havana, mayhap I can again attack Augustine and make all Florida ours.

  "If you crave present action, I'll issue letters of marque for that fine schooner. Combine duty with profit and away to learn if Cuba's prepared against the admiral. And once the Dons are beat, Ram, I'll help ye root out your enemy, though he were hiding in the dungeons of the Madrid Inquisition itself. Till then you're my spy officer." "I'll do it!" For the first time in weeks a wan smile lighted Ram's gaunt face. How Peg-Leg would pirouette on his wooden stump now he was to be a privateersman!

  Ten days out from Tybee Roads, the Lass, twelve guns, thirty crew, made her first capture. It was only an unarmed pink, blown off its course from Cuba to St. Augustine with sugar, molasses and flour, but its sale would bring a profit. Since it had come from the Bay of Nipe in eastern Cuba, Ram believed its captain when he swore that he knew nothing of militar}' preparations at the Havana.

  Putting a prize crew aboard, therefore, the Lass made for Nassau, on New Providence Island, where she watered. No one there knew anything about Admiral Vernon or what the Spaniards might be

  doing; so south toward Cuba itself, though keeping well offshore to avoid the more heavily armed guar da costa ships on patrol.

  But days of such idle cruising set Ram's raw nerves screaming. Action! he prayed—action in which he could forget the past. In his urgency, he considered going ashore in disguise and reaching the Havana, there to learn the situation for himself. He wanted especially to know how his agents fared, though he suspected that most of them were already imprisoned. ilso he might learn if del Lago was still there or, if not, where he'd gone.

  Then fantastically good luck. The schooner captured another small prize, a sloop, manned by four seamen from a guarda costa and its original three Carib Indian crewmen, and chained in its hold was Saul Tomson, one of Ram's agents. A factor of the English South Sea Company, he'd been under surveillance since the war's outbreak; but when he found his compatriots gradually being rounded up as spies, he'd tried to escape to Jamaica in this sloop, only to be taken by the guarda costa. He was being returned to Cuba for trial and inevitable execution when the Lass had taken the sloop.

  Yes, he said, flat-bottomed boats were being built, and several regiments had arrived from Old Spain, bringing many cannon and munitions. If Vernon attacked Cuba he'd get a hot reception; if he didn't, the Spaniards intended invading Georgia.

  Baron del Lago, the old Irishman with the fine daughter and her son? They'd returned to Spain long since, he was sure. "Thank God ye saved me, Colonel, else the Inquisition would have had me!"

  That his enemy had left the New World fed Ram's frustration anew; but the other information was so vital he knew James must hear of it swiftly. If Vernon failed, all the southern colonies would feel the Spaniards' might.

  He landed at Frederica to report to Oglethorpe, and the Lass sailed again without him, for the general had a new mission ashore for him. British prestige had fallen low among the Creeks since the Augustine siege and, James pointed out, "You've been fortunate in dealing with these simple people. Old Tomochichi loved you and Toonahowi calls you brother. So go, regain their loyalty. Above all, keep the French from turning them against us."

  It was just the task Ram needed, since it provided an opiate of

  sheer physical drudgery. During the ensuing months he roved deep into Indian country; he smoked peace pipes in Uchee and Cherokee towns, even in those of the Choctaws, where more than once his mere presence thwarted French traders from leading them against the British.

  Then urgent word from Oglethorpe: The army sent out to Vernon had met disaster. Instead of attacking Cuba, the admiral had again sailed for Cartagena, believing the troops would easily take the fortress, which barred the way across Panama to the rich Spanish cities on the Pacific. But blunders had cost thousands of lives, so that now an attack against the Havana was impossible. Freed from danger, the Spaniards were pouring reinforcements into Augustine, whence already they were making forays into Georgia. Could Ram bring tribes who could retaliate?

  No vermilion-and-black brave ever welcomed a war call so eagerly. At last the chance to strike, to lose oneself in deeds! Often with Creeks alone, sometimes with a few of his rangers added, Ram hovered around Augustine, laying ambushes, cutting off small enemy parties, driving off the scrawny cattle. He even resented having occasionally to report to Oglethorpe at Frederica.

  "As commander I welcome your daring, as a friend I deplore it," the general told him, after he'd returned from one especially desperate action. "You're no ensign, seeking to gain my notice, but my most trusted officer, who must take command should aught happen to me. Now you must become the colonel again and help me plan our defenses. Vernon's left us only two warships, though transports and store ships reach Augustine daily. Invasion's sure, yet Carolina refuses to send me a single man. Help me to save it and ourselves."

  Ram obeyed, though unwillingly. Luckily, Peg-Leg and other pri-vateersmen were damaging the Dons at sea; though they in turn had their own sea wolves, taking and sinking even up to Virginia.

  The regiment was now strengthened by a Grenadier Company, raised in England by Captain Horton, and Planter Mark Carr had formed a company of boatmen, or marines, in Virginia and the northern colonies to man the small craft Oglethorpe was accumulating to protect the inland way.

  Late in June, George Dunbar, aboard a schooner oflF the west shire of Cumberland Island, reported that fourteen enemy half-gal-

  leys had tried to land troops there but had been beaten off by Fort William and the schooner itself.

  "If William falls, the inland way's open through Cumberland Sound," Oglethorpe groaned, and sent off the Grenadier Company by water to reinforce it. Soon he himself followed with more regulars in his scout boat and a smaller consort, while Ensign Tolson, in a larger boat, brought up the rear.

  And Ram? He was raging with impatience because he could not follow in turn. But only the night before the Lass had limped in for repairs, having lost several men killed and wounded in a heavy engagement wherein she'd been hit hard by shot in her hull and rigging. Even though men had swarmed over her, patching and strengthening, she'd been unable to sail with the rest. But at last Peg-Leg reported all was ready. Ram took some of his rangers and a dozen Creeks aboard with him, and she set sail.

  "Fourteen craft ye say, sir?" Peg-Leg grunted from the wheel. "And us only four. Long odds, but we've knowed worse, hey. Colonel?"

  "Only three, till we catch up," Ram corrected, his blood surging. "In God's name, cram on more sail, lest we're too late!"

  He went into the waist, putting a Creek with each gun crew. Though unskilled, they could help the seamen with the tackles and to run out the pieces after reloading. He posted his rangers as marksmen or to repel boarders should the fighting be close.

  A distant gun boomed: Oglethorpe's scout boat, far in the lead, had engaged the enemy! As gunfire increased. Ram went forward and peered through his glass. Several half-galleys were entering Cumberland Sound from seaward and attacking Oglethorpe's boats.

  'Yellow-bellied bastard!" he raged incredulously, for Tolson had turned toward
the mainland and was rowing into a creek's mouth. Ram shouted for Peg-Leg to turn a point to starboard and, as the schooner began to swing, snatched the glowing match from the bow chaser's gunner. A trifle more . . . Now! He touched the match to the vent and the nine-pound ball raised a splash alongside Tolson's craft.

  "That'll lam 'em!" the gunner grinned, taking back his match while his crew began swabbing out the piece. "What's come over them soldiers? Skeered to follow the general?"

  "I've a mind to sink the bastards!" Ram snarled. But now Oglethorpe's boats and their attackers were hidden in a solid bank of gunsmoke; so he hurried aft. "More sail! If the general's lost, all's lost!"

  Peg-Leg worked the Lass to leeward, then bore around. A ball whooshed through the rigging, another sent up a waterspout to starboard. Then she drove full into the flash-lighted smoke and almost at once a high-sided hull loomed ahead. Peg-Leg spun the wheel hard and the schooner answered, so that she swung parallel with the enemy, with scant feet to spare.

  "Fire!" Ram yelled, and the five starboard guns belched. At so close a range the shots must have struck hard and low, but there was no chance to observe through the thick pall, and both vessels continued on their way. The schooner's bowsprit, however, struck the next Spaniard on the larboard side and drove like an arrow into a gun port, where it snapped off. Ram knew his starboard battery could only bear obliquely, but ordered it to fire. It was answered instantly by heavier metal. Men near him were smashed down and a gun was ripped from its truck and crushed a Creek's legs.

  In the few chaotic moments while Peg-Leg was trying to free his broken bowsprit. Ram ordered his rangers to shoot any "Double-damn'd Don" who showed himself. Then something landed on the deck near him and exploded with a blinding flash, knocking him down.

  He lay stunned, powder smoke filling his lungs. He could feel no wound, yet had no strength to rise. A vagrant breeze parted the smoke cloud and he saw the afterdeck of the enemy towering above. Men were peering over its rail, their arms raised to toss more grenades.

  His gaze riveted upon one Spaniard's face and, as if goad-pricked, he sprang up, drawing a pistol.

  "Del Lagol"

  Briefly they stared into each other's eyes. Ram fired and the baron disappeared, only, however, to reappear with a musket. Ram raced toward the bows, praying the vessels were still locked. But already the Lass had drifted free.

  He screamed futile curses. Yet when sanity returned, he knew only a terrible elation. He's back! We'll meet again!

  Abruptly the schooner was in bright sunlight. She had sailed clean

  through the whole Spanish squadron, and ahead lay Oglethorpe's boats. Joining forces, they sought an inlet and counted losses: the general's had been miraculously few. But aboard the Lass two gun crews were wiped out, the injured Creek was dead and two rangers wounded; while she herself was holed between wind and water, her canvas torn, her rigging cut, and she needed an entire new bowsprit.

  Leaving Peg-Leg to effect repairs. Ram took his rangers and Creeks ashore to Oglethorpe, who sent some off to observe the squadron's further movements and ordered the rest to help Fort St. Andrew's garrison evacuate guns and stores and concentrate all at Fort William, in readiness for further attacks.

  Later, a ranger reported the Spaniards were returning southward, but hugging the mainland to avoid the forts' guns. Ram watched the vessels drawing level. Three were low in the water, obviously hard hit, and a fourth showed damage to spars and rigging.

  You Irish cutthroat, don't escape me by drowning! Ram prayed.

  But none had sunk when the squadron disappeared from sight.

  Next morning, the British craft sailed back to Frederica, where they were greeted as if from the grave. For Tolson, after hiding in the creek during the whole action, had brought back the tale that he'd seen the general's scout boat sunk by broadsides from every enemy vessel, as had been the other boat and the Lass.

  "Save I've sympathy for his poor wife, I'd have him shot!" Oglethorpe exploded. "But court-martial and cashier him I will!"

  As stunned as Major Heron and the rest. Ram expostulated; "Were he my own brother, I'd shoot him. He's a King's officer, yet I've small boys at Shoreacres who shame him in courage."

  "Perhaps they'll need to," was the heavy reply. "This was but a reconnaissance. If our warships don't arrive soon, we're like to face a great armada alone, and if we're beat the Spaniards have nothing to stop 'em until Charles Town and beyond."

  On July 5, the main Spanish fleet, thirty-six strong, entered St. Simon's Sound. The Lass, the commandeered merchantman Success, the guard sloops and the shore batteries punished the invaders heavily; but, numbers telling, the armada passed on into the south mouth of the Altamaha. Now bypassed, Oglethorpe ordered his battered vessels off by seaward to Charles Town for repairs, spiked

  the land guns and withdrew the garrison of St. Simon's Fort, which enemy troops occupied.

  Ram, with his own rangers, the Highland rangers and foot company, and Toonahowi's Yamacraws, covered the retreat north, though constantly striking back at the Timucuas and Yamasees of the enemy's vanguard.

  And now, early on the seventh, Oglethorpe, back at Frederica, sent word he would bring four regular platoons to reinforce Ram, who must take a good position and make a stand.

  Ram chose a spot where the marsh precluded his being outflanked from the east, while the undergrowth-choked woods forbade a thrust from the west. He could be attacked only from a path which allowed only three men to march abreast.

  At his order his men vanished into the brush or behind moss-draped oaks, while all mounts were hurried to the rear by the horse-holders. He himself, though well hidden, had a good view of the path, and rearward he could already see Oglethorpe advancing with the regulars. Let del Lago be with the Dons' advance! he begged.

  Two Timucuas appeared. Unaware they were already in the trap, they halted to put ears to the ground. Hearing the distant thud of marching feet—Oglethorpe's platoons—they signaled to those behind and were joined by a Spanish officer and several axmen, who began to widen the path—probably for guns.

  Another five minutes and the net's filled! Ram estimated. But he was foiled by an impatient ambusher shooting too soon.

  "Give fire!" He leaped into the open. Instantly the woods vomited death. Stunned Spanish officers tried to rally their men; but to add to the disaster, Oglethorpe arrived with the regulars.

  It was soon over: the vanguard commander was a prisoner, and of the 200 axmen, Yamasees, Timucuas and Spaniards, three-quarters were either dead or captive.

  Exultant, Oglethorpe considered sending for the rest of the regiment and marching against the Spaniards' main body and their camp. "We've no chance in the open," Ram objected. "Not with eight hundred against their five thousand! Let's take 'em piecemeal. We've cut up one detachment. Let's trap the next. It must come, for they daren't stay back there supine, lest our warships arrive." So it was decided to set a second but larger ambush farther back.

  Ram knew just the place; where the path crossed open ground, with woods on three sides and a wide marsh on the fourth.

  "Even if they scent us out, it'll cost them heavy," he said, counting on most of the Spanish not being forest-wise.

  Oglethorpe agreed and decided that with one platoon he would escort the prisoners on to Fort Frederica. At the site of the new ambush, he took Ram aside. "No recklessness, I beg. Rather than risk defeat, fall back to the fort and we'll make our last fight there. Pray God Carolina relents or our warships arrive!"

  He marched off, and Ram made his dispositions. The regulars commanded the open from one side, the rangers and Highlanders from the others, and all from perfect cover. Tlie Yamacraws scouted rearward to observe the enemy's movements.

  Ram's head ached and his skin was dry, presaging another fever bout. But his spirits soared when, in midafternoon, the Yamacraws reported another enemy force, about four hundred strong, was advancing, accompanied by pack animals.

  In confirmation came the d
istant tapping of a drum, and soon the shufHe of marching feet and the jangle of equipment. The leading files came into view; tall, white grenadiers. Behind followed part of the Negro regiment; well-built men who knew that in action they must fight or flee, but never surrender.

  Ram was estimating how much of the detachment he could trap when, incredibly, the Halt was drummed! The files closed up in the open ground and the sweating, heavily equipped men piled arms and fell out, to sit or lie wearily on the wet grass. Pack horses were brought up and cooking pots and rations unloaded.

  It was a pack animal that gave the warning. Evidently scenting the ranger's mounts, it snorted and reared to break away to them. A horse-wise Spaniard, comprehending, shouted an order that sent many of the resting men toward their piled arms.

  "Remember Moosa!" some hidden Scot blared, and the massacre began. Young Will Mackintosh's clan slogan blended with the Yamacraws' whoops and the solid cheer from the regulars, who fired by platoons.

  But there were cool heads among the Spaniards. Though men were falling fast, officers beat the unharmed into formation and soon vol-

  ley was answered by volley. Powder smoke formed such thick clouds that only blurred tongues of flame from muskets provided targets.

  Ram dashed out amid the whistling balls, trying to locate the enemy's main point of resistance. Finding it, he was groping toward the regulars to direct their fire when some among them shouted that they were outflanked; that they must retreat.

  "No! Damn you, no!" he raged. But already officers were ordering them to form column and retire. "Stand fast, you pigeon-livered bastards, stand fast!" He collided with Lieutenant Sutherland. "Who gave the Retire? Re-form at once!"

  "You yourself, sir!" the youngster protested. "I heard distinct. 'Anstruther here! Retreat, we're outflanked!'"

  Sutherland vanished into the thinning smoke, bellowing orders.

  Ram was bewildered. With victory sure, treachery again! Some Spaniard—surely! Del Lago? He understood English and likely knew Ram was with the rear guard.