At the Edge of Honor by Robert N. Macomber

Author:Robert N. Macomber [Macomber, Robert N.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Naval Fiction, Historical Fiction, Civil War, Robert Macomber, Honor Series, Florida Fiction, Key West
ISBN: 9781561645206
Publisher: Ingram Distribution
Published: 2012-07-20T04:00:00+00:00

All three men raised their coconut-shell cups of palm wine and drank. Vanding, still nervous about acting without orders, went along with the other two and put on a brave show of confidence, which started Cornell and Wake laughing. By the time Mrs. Cornell had come back into the room, all three men were laughing over the ironic improbability of their situation. There they were—a sailor, a refugee, and a soldier on a jungle island grandly sipping palm wine out of coconut cups and toasting to the imminent defeat of the enemy by a band of ragged civilian refugees. The tension of the preceding weeks disappeared in the camaraderie and preposterousness of the moment.

The palm wine jug managed to last several hours into the night, and by the time Wake was walked back to the beach where Sommer lay sleeping in the dinghy, the three men had become well aware of each other’s histories. For the first time in a long time, Wake felt positive about the future.

Two days later the Honduras left to go further up the coast to Tampa, leaving the Forty-seventh’s soldiers on the island. Wake had taken his sloop each day through the islands of the area, looking for Rebels and/or information on their whereabouts. At sunset on the second day, with Rosalie anchored off Useppa, Rork called out that a steamer was coming round an adjacent island. It was the tug Honeysuckle, come up from Key West. As the ship came closer, Wake could see her decks crowded with blue coats.

Half an hour later he was on board the anchored steam tug and speaking with a volunteer lieutenant from the Florida Rangers company at Key West. General Woodbury at Key West had sent another twenty refugee militia men who had volunteered to serve the Union. These men, assembled from up and down the Florida Keys, were to be under the command of Captain Cornell and to commence operations as soon as possible. Vanding and the regulars of the Forty-seventh would be under Cornell’s direction also. Wake thanked the lieutenant and hastened ashore to give the good news to his compatriots.

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