e last cannon shot into the waves, a sailor
burst into his cabin with the intelligence that the men had prepared
to desert in the tenders.

"Carry me on deck!" roared the resolute captain. "I'll give these
cowards a piece of my mind."

Three sailors seized him and bore him aloft, where he remonstrated
with his men in the strongest language possible. In spite of this,
many clustered about one of the boats.

"The ship's a-sinking," cried one. "She won't stand up for an hour."

As he spoke, the welcome sound of, "Sail ho!" arose, above the wash
and roar of the angry water.

Sure enough, a ship was bearing down upon them, but, to the dismay of
all, she hastily hauled off again.

Captain Walker was astonished. "She thinks us an armed enemy," said
he. "Fire a gun, men, and cut the mizzen-mast in two, so that it falls
overboard. That will show the stranger that we're a friend in
distress."

His orders were immediately obeyed and the mast came ripping and
tearing over the side. A gun also roared, and the stranger, now
convinced that the ship was a friend, and not a foe, came bearing down
upon the crippled _Duke William_, to the rescue.

"She's one of our own convoy!" shouted a seaman, waving his hand
joyfully. And such she proved to be. Captain Walker had saved his crew
by his foresight and quickness of decision. Had he thrown all of his
cannon overboard he would have had no gun with which to hail the
stranger, and, had he not cut away his own mast, she would have gone
away, fearful that he was an enemy. Three cheers for the brave and
thoughtful Captain Walker! He reached England, at last, but he and his
men were in a sorry plight, for the vessel which had rescued them was
almost as unseaworthy as their own, which sank in a great whirl of
eddying foam, not half an hour after they had left her. Thus ended the
career of the good ship which had chased all of the pirates away from
the harbor of Charleston. A sad fate, indeed, for such a gallant
craft.

Captain Walker was not long idle, for he soon took charge of a
brigantine trading to the Baltic Sea, in spite of the fact that war
had been declared with France, and the privateers and gun-boats of
that nation hovered in his path, eager and anxious to secure some
English merchant vessel, as a prize.

"I see that these fellows mean to catch me, if they can," said the
keen-witted mariner. "So I intend to be ready for them if I do not
happen to be near an English man-of-wa