o broadside. This continued until, the
brig's fore-topmast having been shot away, she broached-to and ran foul
of the brigantine, to which she promptly made herself fast by means of
her grappling irons. And the next moment the cessation of the gun fire,
the flashing of cutlass blades in the sun, and the popping of pistols
told us that the boarders were at work.

"Avast there with the long gun!" I cried. "Boarders, stand by! Mr
Keene, have the goodness to take charge. Stand by your halyards, men,
and be ready to settle away everything, fore and aft, as we range
alongside. Stand by also with your grappling irons. Mr Keene, we will
range up on the brigantine's port side."

"Oh, Dick, you might let me go with you, old chap; I've got my sword
sharpened and my pistols ready expressly for the purpose of boarding!"
pleaded Jack.

"Can't possibly, my dear boy," answered I. "Somebody must look after
the schooner, and you're that somebody; so please say no more about it.
Now, lads," I continued, "we must make short work of this business; for
if these craft lie alongside each other for ten minutes, in this sea,
they will grind each other to pieces, and we shall all go to the bottom
together. So strike, and strike hard, the moment that you find
yourselves on the enemy's decks. Mr Jones, tell off six men to remain
in the schooner with Mr Keene."

Five minutes later and we were within half a cable's-length of the
brigantine, on the decks of which a fierce and stubborn conflict was
still raging; and it appeared to me that the commodore and his party
were finding all their work cut out to avoid being driven back on the
deck of their own ship.

"Settle away fore and aft," I cried. "Main and fore halyards, peak and
throat; jib halyards, let go; man your downhauls; and then muster in the
waist, starboard side. Steady, Jack, starboard you may; steady, so.
Now stand by your grapnels--heave! Hurrah lads, follow me, and take
care that none of you drop between the two hulls!"

The next instant we were all leaping and scrambling, pell-mell, in over
the bulwarks of the brigantine and leaping down on her decks, which were
already slippery with blood and cumbered with killed and wounded.
Fortunately, by boarding on the brigantine's port side, as we did, we
took her crew in their rear, which so greatly disconcerted them--while
our appearance imparted fresh courage to the commodore's party--that
after vainly striving to stand aga