d be commenced.

The last sands fell and no white flag appeared. Instantly the thunder
of a cannon echoed over the bay, and a storm of iron hail came
crashing upon the frail fort, killing and wounding a number of men.
Volley after volley succeeded without any intermission. Captain
Manning made no attempt to return the fire. He and his powerless
garrison hurried to places of safety, leaving the ramparts to be
ploughed up and the barracks to be battered down without any
resistance.

While this cannonade was going on, the Dutch Admirals manned their
boats with a land force of six hundred men, and they were disembarked
upon the shore of the island without encountering any foe. The little
band of English soldiers was powerless, and the Dutch inhabitants were
much more disposed to welcome their countrymen as deliverers than to
oppose them as enemies. These Dutch troops were armed with hand
grenades and such other weapons as were deemed necessary to take the
place by storm. Rapidly they marched through the fields to the Common,
now called the Park. It was, as we have mentioned, nearly a mile north
from the fort.

Here they formed in column to march upon the town, under their leader,
Captain Colve. The English commander, Captain Manning, sent three of
his subordinate officers, without any definite message, to Captain
Colve, to talk over the question of a capitulation. It would seem that
Captain Manning was quite incompetent for the post he occupied. He was
bewildered and knew not what to do. As his envoys had no proposals to
make, two of them were detained and held under the Dutch standard,
while the third, Captain Carr, was sent back to inform the English
commander that if in one quarter of an hour the place were not
surrendered, it would be taken by storm. In the meantime the troops
were put upon the march.

Captain Carr, aware of the indecision of Captain Manning and of the
personal peril he, as an Englishman, would encounter, with six hundred
Dutch soldiers sweeping the streets, burning with the desire to avenge
past wrongs, did not venture back into the town with his report, but
fled into the interior of the island. The troops pressed on to the
head of Broadway, where a trumpeter was sent forward to receive the
answer to the summons which it was supposed had been made. He speedily
returned, saying that the commander of the fort had, as yet, obtained
no answer from the commissioners he had sent to receive from the Dutc