Things were going well, he thought, then instantly scolded himself for succumbing to such a moment of complacency. It was always just when a man thought things were going best that something resoundingly unpleasant happened. Nothing but superstition, of course. Still—
KAAAAAAAA-BOOOOOOOM!
The explosion wasn’t really as ear shattering as it seemed at the time, he realized later. It was the total unexpectedness of the sound which made it seem that way. That, and the towering column of white water and mud that erupted from the Trave as the thirty-four-gun Falken seemed to leap halfway out of the river. Then the 300-ton ship sagged back, masts folding in on one another as her back broke. Even as Overgaard watched, the shattered ship settled to the bottom with only the very top of her stern galleries still above water. Two of the guard boats pulled frantically toward the wreck to rescue anyone they could. Overgaard doubted that they would find many to save, between the icy temperature of the water and the fact that so few sailors ever learned to swim.
For a moment, the captain-admiral was certain Falken’s magazine must somehow have exploded. But, no. There’d been no visible flash. That explosion hadn’t come from inside the ship—it had come from underneath her. But how—?
The Americans! It had to be those uncanny allies of Gustavus! But how could even they have contrived something like this? No diver could survive long enough in water this cold to place a charge beneath a ship. And even if someone could have, fusing such charges was always a delicate and dangerous business. Certainly not something to be attempted in the middle of a dark, foggy night!
For the first time, Overgaard found himself truly believing the wilder tales about the American marvels. And as he did, it suddenly occurred to him that if the Americans could do it once, there was no reason they couldn’t do it more than—
KAAAAAAAA-BOOOOOOOM!
It was one of the transports this time, he noted almost numbly. The ship went down even more rapidly than Falken had, and this time Overgaard could hear the terrified screams of at least some of her crew.
The captain-admiral shook himself out of his momentary stupor with a venomous curse. Was he going to just stand here while the American devils blew up one of his ships after another? He started to bellow orders, then made himself stop as he heard the thunderous patter of hundreds of feet. Other voices were shouting orders, axes were thudding on anchor cables, and windlasses creaked and groaned as the entire Danish fleet began frantically preparing to get underway.
KAAAAAAAA-BOOOOOOOM!
Yet another transport collapsed in on herself in a folding curtain of white foam and river-bottom mud. Overgaard cursed more venomously even than before as he recognized the precise timing between explosions. They were marching through his fleet as steadily as some demonic metronome. They had to get clear of whatever the Americans had left in this stretch of the river! And, he told himself grimly, it was already obvious that they wouldn’t be able to come back. Not, at least, until they knew exactly what the Americans had done to them and how to make sure it couldn’t be done again!
More and more of his ships were getting underway, cutting their cables in desperation and allowing themselves to be carried by the current more than the weak and fitful breeze. His own flagship was moving slowly, but steadily, and—
KAAAAAAAA-BOOOOOOOM!
He gritted his teeth as a fourth explosion ripped through the river water. But this time it wasn’t one of Overgaard’s ships, and he laughed with a sort of hysterical glee as he realized it was Martignac’s flagship. He watched the arrogant French nobleman’s ship settling rapidly while an entire flotilla of small craft hurried toward her to take off any survivors.
Overgaard turned his back upon her, wondering how many other ships—and how many of those his—would be killed before they could get free. Perhaps there wouldn’t be many more. Perhaps it was only that one stretch of the river, and once they escaped from it everything would be—
KAAAAAAAA-BOOOOOOOM!
“Think we used enough dynamite there, Butch?” Al Morton asked his brother with a huge grin as the carefully placed charge’s timer detonated it and sent a fifth Danish ship to the bottom.