“No volunteers and we haven’t found anything of military value. Other than the crossroads.”
“I see, no volunteers. Hhmm. Your defensive dispositions are completed? I didn’t see any as I walked into the town.”
“The men are using the buildings for fighting positions. A full perimeter is set up. Didn’t you get my messages? I sent men back to you twice today with a report of our situation and asking for the time of your advance here. I’ve been waiting for a reply.”
“No messages arrived from you at any time. I would know, of course, as the staff lieutenant to the adjutant. And, of course, there will be no advance today. Possibly the day after tomorrow, which would make it Wednesday, if we can get all of our equipment and men ashore tomorrow in your navy boats. We will need a day, once everything is ashore, to get organized properly for a march into the interior. And, it goes without saying, if the equipment and baggage are not on land and organized by Wednesday, then it will be unfortunately delayed until the following day.
“I must say the transport from the ships to the shore has been somewhat less efficient than we had hoped for. Some problem about tides and shallow water has stopped your colleagues, Lieutenant. The major is most distressed about how the colonel will view this disruption.”
Wake was no longer stunned. Now he was angry. Staring at Hammersley, he heard the wind outside arrive with an abrupt whooshing sound, bending the trees and rustling the hut’s roof and walls. Sand and loose sticks blew past the open window as the sky outside grew even darker, making the inside of the trader’s hut sinister and gloomy. The force of the wind rose and lowered and then rose even higher in strength. The malevolence of the gusts matched the outrage in Wake’s mind at the pomposity of Hammersley. The gust gained even more velocity until the sound of it in the trees was a constant wail and rain started to pelt the building and the ground, thudding like bullets as a piece of thatch flew by the window from a nearby dwelling.
Lightning struck very near, sending a jolt through the crossroads as the ground itself vibrated. Thunder, no longer a distant rumble but now a constant barrage of massive noise, surrounded them, making speaking in conversational tones impossible.
Wake raised his voice above the din. “Hammersley, have you ever seen battle? Are you and your regiment completely new at this?”
The superior mien on the mask of Hammersley’s face cracked at that comment, but he recovered in quick order and replied with an even tone. “I and the 195th have not yet had the honor of seeing the elephant, as they say in the great newspapers. Our sister New York regiments have known that moment in Virginia, but we have only been in service for four months. We were hoping to get a taste of it at Port Royal but were only in South Carolina for a week when the army called for our help in Florida. Needed our regiment down here to assist in the various invasions the army is conducting right now on the peninsula. I feel certain that we will conduct ourselves with honor if that elephant, as they say, does appear, Lieutenant.”
Again Wake didn’t know what to say in response to the attitude of the man, who was a supposed leader of men about to go into battle. But Hammersley wasn’t done.
“Don’t you worry, the army is here close by in force for your support. But I really doubt if the Rebel renegade militia is anywhere around here. There won’t be any enemy force in strength. No elephant for any of us, sailor or soldier, to see I fear, Lieutenant Wake.”
McDougall touched Wake’s elbow and leaned over to say something. “Our lads, Captain. If the lieutenant here knows nothing of them, they must not have made it to the camp. The Rebs might have got ’em, sir.”
Wake’s mind was swirling with possibilities, made all the more chaotic by the incessant crashing of thunder around them. He struggled to remain calm with the man in front of him.
“Lieutenant Hammersley, did you see the sailors patrolling the road and swamp as you walked here?”
“Why yes, I did meet a young naval officer and some sailors on the road. Have you lost some of your men, Lieutenant Wake?”
Wake sat down on the chair again as McDougall remembered the seaman standing in the corner watching the exchange in wide-eyed wonder and dismissed him back to his post.
“Yes, Hammersley. The men I sent to you are missing and I can only deduce the Rebs have got them.” McDougall looked at Wake but said nothing. Wake registered the expression on the petty officer’s face and sighed. “And they may have captured our plan of dispositions from the message I sent to you.”
Hammersley pouted his mouth and rubbed his chin. “I see. This is most distressing. The major and colonel will not take kindly to this development, at all.”
Standing up again, Wake directed McDougall to send four men and a petty officer to escort Lieutenant Hammersley to the beach camp. Enroute he was to find Robbins and tell him to bring his detail to Claresville immediately. McDougall, looking grim, strode out of the hut shouting for Hilderbrandt. Wake turned back to the army lieutenant.
“Hammersley, you don’t have the faintest notion of what we have here. The sailors have done your job for you and secured an inland position when the soldiers were sitting around trying to unpack their dress uniforms. If we hadn’t done that, your regiment would have been bottled up at that camp at the far end of that swamp road and never gotten further than a hundred feet from the beach.”
Hammersley started to speak, a perturbed sneer on his face. Wake’s courtesy had left him though
