hether they were Spanish or Portuguese; for the two ensigns--at that
period--were very similar.

The sea-warriors drifted along, eyeing each other, for about an hour,
when the stranger ran in her lower deck-guns and closed her
port-holes.

"She's a treasure ship," cried a sailor. "And she won't fight if she
can avoid it!"

Walker turned to his officers and asked,

"Gentlemen, shall we fight her?"

"Aye! Aye!" came from all. "She's afraid of us!"

The vessel, in fact, was a treasure ship which had been recently
chased by some English men-of-war and had already landed her treasure,
to the value of about one million sterling (about $5,000,000). A
slight breeze sprang up, at about five in the afternoon, and the big
ship kept on her course; the gamey _King George_ following, while the
white sails of the _Prince Frederick_ were far astern, as the breeze
had not yet struck her. So they swashed along, the Englishmen anxious
for a fight, and a chance to overhaul the supposed treasure which the
stranger was carrying. At eight o'clock the _King George_ was struck
by a favorable puff of wind, and came quite close to the seventy-four.
It was time for battle.

"What ship is that?" hailed Captain Walker, in the Portuguese tongue.
He was cleared for action and his men were all lying down at their
quarters. There was no answer to his challenge.

"What ship is that?" he asked again; this time in English.

A voice came back,--also in English,

"And what ship may you be?"

"The _King George_."

_Crash! B-oo-m!_

A thundering broadside belched from the side of the seventy-four,
dismounting two guns on the port side of the _King George_, and
bringing the main topsail yard crashing to the deck. It was now bright
moonlight, and in its radiance the flag of the stranger was seen to
blow straight out, disclosing her nationality to be Spanish. She was
the _Glorioso_: a strong and powerful vessel, ably officered and ably
manned. She towered above the little _King George_ like a
church-spire, and her broadsides now sputtered with great regularity.

_Crash! Crash! Crash!_

The sprightly little _King George_ kept after the big warship like a
sword-fish chasing a whale. She drew so close that some burning wads
from the Spanish guns set fire to her mainsail. Continually hoping
that the _Prince Frederick_ would come up, the gallant Walker hammered
away at the _Glorioso_ with furious precision, and drove her so near
the rocks off Cape