Chapters 3 and 4 Summary

In France, Commodore Henri Lassan reviews his command of the garrison forces at the Teste de Buch. He is aware that the fortress is a sturdy redoubt but also knows that he is so undermanned that he can only defend the fortress from sea or by land—a combined assault could not be defended against. He gathers local information, trying to determine whether the British will attack by land or sea and believes rather tenuously that an attack by sea is more likely. Lassan also confers with Cornelius Killick, an American privateer—the Americans are allied with France against Britain. Killick is the captain who carried out the raid that so enraged Bampfylde in Chapter One. Killick believes the British will attack by sea but admits to his near-complete ignorance regarding land warfare—at sea he is a...