-mere matter of course.

I now observed that we had not yet done with the supposed Russian. We
had merely run astern out of range of her guns, but not beyond the range
of our large swivel. In a few minutes it was ready. The captain
sighted the gun, and gave the word "Fire!"

The ship quivered with the shock, and so large was the ball that I could
distinctly trace its flight. It fell short a few yards. "So, so,"
muttered the captain. "The next will do its work."

He was right. The next ball struck the rails that ran round the poop,
carried away the binnacle, and raked the upper deck from stern to stem.
I could see it quite plainly with the glass.

"Hurrah!" shouted some of the crew.

"Silence, you babies," growled the captain; "time enough to crow when
our work's done."

The men who had cheered fell back abashed. I noticed that they were
chiefly the younger men of the crew, whose countenances were not yet
utterly unhumanised by crime.

"Load."

"Ready."

"Fire!"

Again the huge iron mass sprang from the cannon's mouth, and rushed
along its deadly track. It struck the top of a wave, and bounding up
passed through the sails and cordage of the Russian, cutting one or two
of the lighter spars, and also the main topsail halyards, which caused
the yard to come rattling down, and rendered the sail useless. Seeing
this, the pirate captain ordered sail to be reduced in order to keep at
a sufficient distance astern to render the guns of the chase useless.
Every shot from our gun now told with terrible effect. We could see the
splinters fly as every ball entered the ship's stern, or swept her deck,
or crashed through her rigging. Presently she turned her broadside to
us.

"She don't mean to waste her ammunition, surely," remarked the captain,
with a sneer.

She did not mean to do so. She evidently meant to turn the tables by
bearing suddenly down on us, and, if possible, give us a broadside
before we could get out of range. The captain saw the intention
instantly, and thwarted it.

"Up your helm! Square the yards! Look alive there!"

We fell off, and were soon running before the wind, with the swivel gun
thundering over our stern, as it had formerly thundered over our bows.
The Russian fired a broadside, and lay-to. Every ball fell short of us.
We also lay-to, and now the fire was kept up steadily. The ship's fate
was sealed. Those on board evidently thought so, for the colours which
had hithe