-and loaded down with
the treasure which he had taken. "Ah-ha!" cried the black-haired
navigator. "I am going to be King of the Indian waters."

Now came the most bloody and successful of his battles upon the broad
highway of the gleaming, southern ocean.

Taking command of the _La Confidence_ of twenty-six guns and two
hundred and fifty men, whom he found at the port of St. Thomas, he
again headed for the coast of British India; keen in the expectation
of striking a valuable prize. And his expectations were well
fulfilled.

In October, 1807, the welcome cry of "Sail Ho!" sounded from the
forward watch, when off the Sand Heads, and there upon the starboard
bow was a spot of white, which proved to be a Queen's East Indiaman,
with a crew of near four hundred. She carried forty guns.

There were double the number of cannon, there were double the number
of men, but Lafitte cried out:

"I came out to fight and I'm going to do it, comrades! You see before
you a vessel which is stronger than our own, but, with courage and
nerve, we can beat her. I will run our own ship close to the enemy.
You must lie down behind the protecting sides of our vessel until we
touch the stranger. Then--when I give the signal to board--let each
man seize a cutlass, a dirk, and two pistols, and strike down all that
oppose him. We _must_ and _can_ win!"

These stirring words were greeted by a wild and hilarious cheer.

Now, running upon the port tack, the _La Confidence_ bore down upon
the Britisher with the water boiling under her bows; while the
stranger luffed, and prepared for action. Shrill cries sounded from
her huge carcass as her guns were loaded and trained upon the
on-coming foe, while her masts began to swarm with sharpshooters eager
to pick off the ravenous sea-dogs from the Mauritius.

Suddenly a terrific roar sounded above the rattle of ropes and creak
of hawsers--and a broadside cut into the _La Confidence_ with keen
accuracy.

"Lie flat upon the deck," cried Lafitte, "and dodge the iron boys if
you can see 'em."

His men obeyed, and, as the missiles pounded into the broad sides of
their ship, the steersman ran her afoul of the Queen's East Indiaman.
When he did so, many sailors swarmed into the rigging, and from the
yards and tops threw bombs and grenades into the forecastle of the
enemy, so that death and terror made the Britishers abandon the
portion of their vessel near the mizzen-mast.

"Forty of the crew will now b