mosquitoes, under the sweltering
rays of a Southern sun.

{45} [Illustration: Defending the Palmetto Fort]

All this time, Sir Peter was doing his best to pound the fort down.
The fort trembled and shook, but it stood. Moultrie and his men, with
perfect coolness and with steady aim, made havoc of the war ships.
Colonel Moultrie prepared grog by the pailful, which, with a negro as
helper, he dipped out to the tired men at the guns.

"Take good aim, boys," he said, as he passed from gun to gun, "mind
the big ships, and don't waste the powder."

The mainmast of the flagship Bristol was hit nine times, and the
mizzenmast was struck by seven thirty-two-pound balls, and had to be
cut away. In short, the flagship was pierced so many times that she
would have sunk had not the wind been light and the water smooth.
While the battle raged in all its fury, the carpenters worked like
beavers to keep the vessel afloat.

{46} At one time a cannon ball shot off one of the cables, and the
ship swung round with the tide.

"Give it to her, boys!" shouts Moultrie, "now is your time!" and the
cannon balls rake the decks from stem to stern.

The captain of the flagship was struck twice, Lord Campbell was hurt,
and one hundred men were either killed or wounded. Once Sir Peter was
the only man left on the quarter-deck, and he himself was twice
wounded.

The other big ship, the Experiment, fared fully as hard as did the
flagship. The captain lost his right arm, and nearly a hundred of his
men were killed or wounded.

In fact, these two vessels were about to be left to their fate, when
suddenly the fire of the fort slackened.

"Fire once in ten minutes," orders Colonel Moultrie, for the supply
of powder is becoming dangerously small.

An aid from General Lee came running over to the fort. "When your
powder is gone, spike your guns and retreat," wrote the general.

Moultrie was not that kind of man.

Between three and five o'clock in the afternoon, the fire of the fort
almost stopped. The British thought the guns were silenced. Not a bit
of it! Even then a fresh supply of five hundred pounds of powder had
nearly reached the fort. It came from Governor Rutledge with a note,
saying, "Honor and victory, my {47} good sir, to you and your worthy
men with you. Don't make too free with your cannon. Keep cool and do
mischief."

How those men shouted when the powder came! Bang! bang! the cannon in
the fort thunder again. The British adm