But Nicolls would not listen. "To-morrow," he said, "I will speak
with you at Manhattan."
"Friends will be welcome," replied the messenger, "if they come,
in friendly fashion."
"I shall come with my ships and my soldiers," answered Nicolls.
"Hoist the white flag of peace on the fort, and then something may
be considered."
When this answer was known terror seized the town. Women and children
came to implore the Governor with tears to submit.
He would not listen to them. Like the fierce old lion he was he
knit his brows and stamped with his wooden leg. "I would rather be
carried a corpse to my grave than give in," he cried.
But he alone had any desire to fight. For in the whole fort there
was not enough powder to last one day, from the river front there
was absolutely no protection, and on the north there was only a
rickety fence three or four feet high. There was little food within
the fort, and not a single well. So all the chief inhabitants wrote
a letter to the Governor begging him to give in.
"You know, in your own conscience," they said, "that your fortress
is incapable of making head three days against so powerful an enemy.
And (God help us) whether we turn us for assistance to the north,
or to the south, to the east or to the west 'tis all in vain! On
all sides are we encompassed and hemmed in by our enemies.
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