st Indies with the two ships in sight under convoy. He further
informed us that his name was Van Halst, and that at the beginning of
the action he had been third lieutenant, whereas, in consequence of the
heavy loss inflicted by our raking broadsides, he was now the ship's
commanding officer.

Indeed, it appeared that our fire had been fearfully destructive, for in
addition to the damage that had been apparent from the _Europa's_ decks,
we now beheld dismounted guns, shattered, blood-splashed bulwarks, cut
rigging hanging everywhere in bights, and shot-scored decks cumbered
with dead and dying men--a veritable shambles. Mynheer Van Halst could
not tell us the precise extent of the ship's losses in killed and
wounded, for there had been no time thus far to ascertain it. The sound
members of the crew were still busily engaged in the terrible task of
separating the wounded from the slain, and conveying the former below to
be attended to by the surgeon; but he told us that she had begun the
action with a complement of three hundred and ten officers and men, and
that he believed, from what he had seen, quite half of them must have
been put _hors de combat_.

Now that the fight was over and his ship taken, poor Van Halst began to
show signs of the stress and strain of the engagement; he gradually
turned ghastly pale; his lips quivered from time to time to such an
extent that, for the few seconds during which the paroxysm lasted, he
was scarcely able to articulate. He staggered as he stood talking to
us, and at length Percival, who could ill afford to waste time in
conversation, gently led him into the handsome cabin under the poop,
deposited him on a sofa, found a decanter of brandy and gave him a good
stiff dose to revive him, and left him there, with a kindly injunction
that he was not to attempt to move until he, Percival, returned.

Having thus disposed, for the time being, of our principal prisoner
without, as we hoped, hurting his feelings, the third lieutenant and I
took rapid stock of the condition of our prize, Percival mentioning such
items of information as he wished to have reported to the skipper, while
I jotted them down in my pocket-book, together with such other notes as
I believed might be found of interest. Thus, we examined the boats and
found three of them absolutely intact, while a fourth could be rendered
serviceable in about half-an-hour by the carpenter--our shot having
taken effect for the most