Kings Pinnacle (25 page)

Alex knew that he was onto
something, but he had no idea what it was or how to capitalize on
it. The girl could not have gone far. He knew that he could
probably find her again if he wanted to.

The night wore on without
anyone else trying to cross the bridge, and soon the sun was
beginning to lighten the eastern sky. Alex was still thinking about
the girl when a disturbance brought him out of his reverie. One of
his men ran up to him and asked him to go with him to the bridge.
When Alex arrived at the bridge, he found that his men were on high
alert because a large body of men was approaching the bridge from
the north. As soon as the advance guard approached the bridge and
was near enough to be within hailing distance, the Longhunter
challenged them.

“Halt, who goes there!”
shouted the Longhunter.

“It’s General Sullivan’s
Fifth Pennsylvania Rifles!” shouted one of the advancing
riflemen.

“What’s the password?”
replied the Longhunter.

“
Victory or Death,”
answered the rifleman.

“Advance and be recognized,”
said the Longhunter.

General Sullivan himself
soon arrived at the bridge and relieved Alex and his men from
holding it.

“
My men can take over
holding the bridge,” said the general.

“I thought General Ewing was
supposed to relieve me,” said Alex.

“The bad weather prevented
General Ewing from making the crossing. He and his troops are stuck
on the west bank. I was unopposed on the River Road from north of
Trenton all the way to this bridge. I intend to leave a detachment
of men here to hold the bridge to cut off the enemy’s escape. I
will attack the Hessians from the south at the same time Washington
and the main army attacks them from the north,” said General
Sullivan.

“You don’t mind if my men
and I join in on the fun, do you General?” asked Alex.

“
Be my guest,” replied the
general.

Alex mounted up his troops
and positioned them on the eastern flank of General Sullivan’s
troops. Together they rode toward Trenton, back along the same
River Road that General Sullivan had traveled to arrive at the
bridge.

* * * *

Robert and Hugh

“
Robber, don’t ye think we
are getting out a wee bit far in front o’ the main army?” asked
Hugh.

The main body of General
Washington’s army was stalled on the north side of Trenton after
encountering cannon fire from the Hessians. Robert and Hugh, along
with Big Mike Finn and three other men, were trying to capture
those Hessian cannons. They had run ahead of the main body of
troops at a trot, moving toward the cannons as fast as they could.
The six patriots soon closed with the Hessian troops guarding the
cannons. After a brief struggle, they captured the cannons by
killing the guards and driving off the Hessian cannoneers. The six
soldiers then turned the cannons around and began firing them at
the retreating Hessians.

As soon as General
Washington saw that Robert, Hugh, Big Mike, and the three other
soldiers had captured the cannons, he ordered his army to resume
their advance toward the Hessians. The six men were having a tough
time holding the cannons and keeping them in action against the
Hessians, who were determined to get them back. The struggle had
been reduced from gunpowder to bayonets and finally to knife
fighting and hand-to-hand combat.

The Hessians mounted a
counterattack on the cannons using twelve men who rushed the cannon
positions in an attempt to retake them. Robert, Hugh and their
comrades were outnumbered two to one and were sorely pressed
fighting off the Hessians. Big Mike and Hugh were holding their own
against three times their number in hand-to-hand combat. Hugh was
powerful in hand-to-hand struggles, and Big Mike was almost his
match, but much more compact and efficient in his movements. They
made a great fighting team as they fought side-by-side near the
front of the small force.

“Hugh, do ye think these
bloody Prussians have had enough yet?” asked the panting Big
Mike.

“Nae, lad, they act like
they’re just getting started,” replied Hugh.

* * * *

Alex

Alex, the Longhunter and
his cavalrymen were riding north at a trot along the River Road
just west of Trenton when they heard the sounds of battle coming
from the streets inside the town. Alex turned his horse east toward
the battle sounds and his men followed. He began to pick up the
pace as he neared the heart of the battle, and by the time he could
see the fighting, he and his men were riding at a
gallop.

Alex saw from horseback that
a few of the American troops had captured some Hessian cannons on
King Street on the north side of Trenton. Alex could also see that
the Hessians were mounting a counterattack on the cannon position.
It looked like the Hessians were just about to retake their cannons
from the six Americans who had captured them. Alex bent low over
his horse’s neck and galloped at full speed toward the mounting
melee. When Alex got close enough to the fighters around the
cannons, he leapt from his saddle head first, directly into the
mass of attacking Hessians troops, taking six of them to the ground
with him. The collision knocked the breath out of Alex and badly
injured a number of the Hessians. Alex’s leap into the foray had
broken their fighting spirit and stopped the Hessian
counterattack.

That was all that the six
patriots needed to drive off or kill the rest of the attacking
Hessians. Alex’s men arrived at the battle right behind him to help
the Americans clean out any of the remaining Hessians from around
the cannons.

“Who was that daft lad who
jumped off his horse at full speed right into the middle of the
Hessians?” Hugh asked no one in particular.

“That daft lad would be me,”
said Alex as he finally caught his breath and got up off the ground
to stand up and face the surprised Hugh.

“Alex, lad, I thought that
looked like it might have been ye when I caught a glimpse oot o’
the corner o’ me eye, just by the way ye rode,” shouted Hugh,
embracing Alex in a bear hug with a huge grin.

“Robber, come here and look
see at the March Hare that I found,” shouted Hugh motioning for
Robert to come over and join him.

“Alex, lad it is good to see
you again, finally. We looked for you as soon as we arrived in
America, but could find no trace of you,” said Robert.

“It is good to see you,
too,” said Alex, “but there’ll be time to discuss all that and
catch up later. Let’s see if we can finish this battle
first.”

With that, the three
brothers grabbed their rifles and charged into the main body of the
Hessians like madmen. The rest of the battle went badly for the
Hessians. The attack from the north by General Washington and the
simultaneous attack from the south by General Sullivan was more
than the Hessians could withstand. They tried to retreat over the
Assunpink Creek Bridge, but were blocked by the detachment that
General Sullivan had left there. So they were finally funneled into
an orchard just outside Trenton. They were quickly surrounded
there, and having no other options, they were forced to
surrender.

Colonel Rahl had been
mortally wounded during the battle and died later that day at his
headquarters in Trenton. It was a complete victory for General
Washington and the Americans. With a number of his troops still
stranded on the west bank of the Delaware River, Washington knew
that he couldn’t hold Trenton or immediately attack any of the
other British outposts in New Jersey. So he moved all his troops
back across the river into Pennsylvania. They took their prisoners
and captured supplies with them back to their winter camp on the
west bank of the Delaware.

* * * *

Samuel

“
Did you give my message
to Colonel Rahl and tell him it was from the Prophet?” asked
Samuel, standing in the young woman’s tent with the tent flap
closed and his hands on his hips.

“Yes I did, sir,” Molly
lied.

“Did he have any comments or
send a message to me in return?”

“He did not,
Sir.”

“Are you sure that you gave
him the message just as I told it to you?”

“Yes, sir, I gave him the
message word for word.”

“It’s odd how he was taken
unawares by the surprise attack and was totally unprepared if, as
you claim, you delivered the message that I gave you.”

“I wouldn’t know anything
about that, sir.”

Samuel moved close to Molly,
grabbed her by the front of her dress and pulled her close to him,
slapping her face so hard that her head snapped around and her
cheek immediately turned bright red. He then pulled her even closer
to him, with his lips close to her ear and her reddened
cheek.

“
If I find out that you
are lying to me, I will see to it that you and your sister die a
slow death,” growled Samuel into the girl’s ear.

“Please, sir, I have told
you the truth,” sobbed Molly.

Samuel shoved the girl to
her back onto her cot as he stepped closer to the cot in order to
stand over her.

“Well, all the men are
celebrating the victory over the Hessians. I might as well
celebrate it with you. Get yer clothes off,” commanded
Samuel.

* * * *

Alex

“
Alex, it really is good
to see ye even if you’re still a skinny wee runt of a hare,” said
the smiling Hugh, making a meaty hand grab for Alex, who easily
dodged it.

“I’m glad to see you, and
Robert, too,” said Alex, nodding to Robert who nodded
back.

The brothers were back in
camp, gathered in the tent Alex still shared with Ellison McCoy,
and taking the opportunity to catch up with each other after years
of separation.

“Have you heard from father
or anyone else back in Scotland?” asked Alex.

“Nae, lad, we’ve nae heard
anything from the auld sod,” said Hugh, shaking his
head.

“What have ye been doing in
America since ye arrived on the Ocean Monarch?” asked
Hugh.

Alex gave them a short
summary of his life and adventures since he had been in America,
giving only a brief reference to Martha and his role in saving her
life. He mentioned his run-in with Big Mike on the docks in
Philadelphia when he first arrived in America, but he didn’t hold a
grudge against Big Mike. Robert and Hugh then gave Alex a short
summary of their life and adventures since leaving Scotland. Hugh,
of course, did the most of the talking.

“I want you and Robert and
Big Mike to join my group, the First Continental Cavalry,” said
Alex, when the brothers had finished bringing each other up to
date.

“Weel, Robber’s and my
enlistment in the Second Mass is up at the end of the year. That’s
just two days from now, since today is December 29, 1776. I think
that we can join up with ye on January first, Alex,” said
Hugh.

“
How much does it pay?”
asked the grinning Hugh.

Alex grinned back, looked at
Robert, and smiled at Hugh’s joke.

“I would feel much better
with you and Robert with me. General Washington thinks that the
British are going to counterattack us. He has received intelligence
that a large British force is making its way south toward Princeton
even now. We are going to deploy our army in a defensive position
on the south bank of the Assunpink Creek and try to stop them
there, just south of Trenton,” said Alex.

They were interrupted by a
soldier who stuck his head into the tent where the three brothers
were talking to tell them that General Washington had called an
assembly of the entire Continental Army at a field near the camp.
The three brothers filed out of the tent and joined the streams of
men who were walking to the parade ground to form up with their
units.

The entire army was standing
in formation in the field when General Washington rode out in front
of them on his white charger. He cut a very dashing figure in his
blue uniform and the men looked at him, eager to hear what he had
to say.

“I know that most of your
enlistments are up at the end of this year, two days from today,
but we are faced with a grave threat from the British Army. We must
keep what we have gained and not forfeit it because of the lack of
men. If you will stay and fight with me for one more month, I will
pay a bounty of ten pounds to each and every man who stays and
fights. All men who will stay for one more month, cock your
firelock and step forward to show me that you will fight,” said
General Washington.

Not a man stepped forward,
so General Washington let the uncomfortable silence drag on for a
while as he sat on his charger, facing the men and making eye
contact with several of them. When the silence became insufferable,
General Washington continued speaking from atop his
horse.

“My brave fellows, you have
done all I asked you to do, and more than could be reasonably
expected. But your country is at stake, your wives, your houses and
all that you hold dear. You have worn yourselves out and with
fatigue and hardships, but we know not how to spare you. If you
will consent to stay only one month longer, you will render that
service to the cause of liberty and to your country, which you
probably never can do under any other circumstances," pleaded
General Washington, who paused and waited for any men to step
forward.