Knickerbocker's History of New York, Complete eBook
Washington Irving
The good Peter reeled with the blow, and turning up
his eyes, beheld a thousands suns, beside moons and
stars, dancing about the firmament; at length, missing
his footing, by reason of his wooden leg, down he came
on his seat of honor with a crash which shook the
surrounding hills, and might have wrecked his frame
had he not been received into a cushion softer than
velvet, which Providence or Minerva, or St. Nicholas,
or some kindly cow, had benevolently prepared for
his reception.
The furious Risingh, in despite of the maxim, cherished
by all true knights, that “fair play is a jewel,”
hastened to take advantage of the hero’s fall;
but, as he stooped to give a fatal blow, Peter Stuyvesant
dealt him a thwack over the sconce with his wooden
leg, which set a chime of bells ringing triple bob
majors in his cerebellum. The bewildered Swede
staggered with the blow, and the wary Peter seizing
a pocket-pistol which lay hard by, discharged it full
at the head of the reeling Risingh. Let not my
reader mistake; it was not a murderous weapon loaded
with powder and ball, but a little sturdy stone pottle
charged to the muzzle with a double dram of true Dutch
courage, which the knowing Antony Van Corlear carried
about him by way of replenishing his valor, and which
had dropped from his wallet during his furious encounter
with the drummer. The hideous weapon sang through
the air, and true to its course, as was the fragment
of a rock discharged at Hector by bully Ajax, encountered
the head of the gigantic Swede with matchless violence.
This heaven-directed blow decided the battle.
The ponderous pericranium of General Jan Risingh sank
upon his breast; his knees tottered under him; a death-like
torpor seized upon his frame, and he tumbled to the
earth with such violence that old Pluto started with
affright, lest he should have broken through the roof
of his infernal palace.
His fall was the signal of defeat and victory; the
Swedes gave way, the Dutch pressed forward; the former
took to their heels, the latter hotly pursued.
Some entered with them pell mell through the sallyport,
others stormed the bastion, and others scrambled over
the curtain. Thus in a little while the fortress
of Fort Christina, which, like another Troy, had stood
a siege of full ten hours, was carried by assault,
without the loss of a single man on either side.
Victory, in the likeness of a gigantic ox-fly, sat
perched on the cocked hat of the gallant Stuyvesant;
and it was declared by all the writers whom he hired
to write the history of his expedition that on this
memorable day he gained a sufficient quantity of glory
to immortalize a dozen of the greatest heroes in Christendom!
