and made for the open sea. Her captain
had been struck by a piece of shell just as the battle closed; two
lieutenants were killed, seventy men were wounded, and eighty-eight
had been killed by the accurate shooting of the "Never-Say-Dies" under
Captain Fortunatus Wright: the invincible. It had been a gallant
battle, gallantly fought by both sides, and gallantly won.

Bold navigator Wright followed his crippled adversary for several
miles, then--seeing another French gun-boat threatening his convoy--he
returned to the merchant-ships which had accompanied him; sent them
back into Leghorn harbor; and followed, next day, with the proud, but
battered _Saint George_. It had been a glorious victory.

No sooner had the war-scarred Captain Wright let go his anchor chains
in the harbor of Leghorn than he realized that he had only just begun
to fight.

"Sapristi!" said an Italian official. "This pirate has deceived us!
This fellow was allowed but four guns upon his ship and he had twelve.
To the jail with this dog! To the prison with this cut-throat!
Sapristi!"

A boat soon rowed to the _Saint George_ and an order was delivered to
Captain Wright to the effect that he must bring his vessel into the
inner harbor, and, if he did not obey, she would be brought in by
Italian gun-boats. Wright--of course--refused. So two big Italian
warships sailed up upon either side of the _Saint George_, ran out
their guns, and cast anchor.

"I will not move for the entire Italian Government!" roared Captain
Fortunatus. "I will appeal to the British consul for protection, as
England is at war with France, not with Italy."

Now was a pretty how-de-do. The Italians were furious with the
stubborn privateersman for refusing to obey their orders, but, in
truth, the way that he had deceived them in smuggling the extra cannon
aboard--when under their own eyes--is what had roused their quick,
Tuscan tempers. They thought that they had been sharp--well--here was
a man who was even sharper than they, themselves. "Sapristi!" they
cried. "To the jail weeth heem!"

There was a terrific war of words between the British consul and the
officials of that snug, little town. Then, the problem was suddenly
solved, for, two powerful, English men-of-war dropped into the harbor:
the _Jersey_ of sixty guns, and the _Isis_ mounting fifty. The
authorities of Leghorn were told that they had orders from the Admiral
of the British, Mediterranean fleet, to convoy any En