Vincent that the castle guns began to play upon the
two grappling warriors of the sea. The British sea-captain fought and
commanded with "a calmness peculiar to himself" and his example
secured order and discipline even in the thickest of the fight, when
the mainsail was set on fire. He was magnificent in action.

So the unequal struggle kept on. By half-past ten the _King George_
had been so severely damaged aloft that she could not have escaped if
she had tried. All the braces were shot away; the foremast was quite
disabled; and the mainmast was badly splintered. Battered, torn, and
distressed she kept banging away at the great, towering Spaniard;
while the big fellow ceased her fire somewhat, and ever now and again
let go a broadside, like the blow from the mouth of a huge whale. It
sounded like, _Chu-spow!_

[Illustration: ACTION BETWEEN THE "GLORIOSO" AND THE "KING GEORGE" AND
"PRINCE FREDERICK" UNDER GEORGE WALKER.]

But hurrah! hurrah! The _Prince Frederick_ had at last caught the
breeze, and came bouncing by, her little pennons fluttering like so
many silk stockings on a clothes-line.

"Are you all well?" shouted her commander, as he neared the splintered
_King George_. "You look as if you're sinking."

Captain Walker came to the rail with the speaking-trumpet in his hand.

"One killed and fifteen wounded," he answered. "Now sail after that
Spanish villain and take her, in revenge for all the damage that she
has done me. She's a treasure ship."

"All right," Captain Dottin called back, and he kept on after the
_Glorioso_, which was now rapidly drawing away.

By the bright moonlight it could be seen that the _Duke_ and the
_Prince George_ were also approaching. And, when they came close
enough to the maimed and battered _King George_, her captain called to
them, "to keep on after the Spaniard, and catch the rascal." They
continued on their way, and, at daybreak the three vessels could be
seen, through the glass, as they closed in upon the Spanish game-cock
from three sides. "She'll be ours before nightfall," said Captain
Walker, chuckling.

The headmost ship, apparently the _Duke_ under Captain Dottin, could
now be seen to hotly engage the _Glorioso_, which greatly displeased
the captain of the dismantled _King George_.

"Dottin will fire away all of his cartridges," said he, turning to a
few of his officers, who clustered around him. "He will shoot them all
off at too great a distance, and will afte