oard broadside
bearing full upon the entrance!

"There she is!" exclaimed a dozen eager voices in chorus; and, while the
words were still upon our lips, eight jets of flame burst from her side,
followed by eight wreaths of whirling white smoke that instantly
commingled, forming a curtain that completely hid her long low black
hull from us, and as a shower of grape came hurtling about our ears I
saw a big black flag go slowly soaring up to her main truck!

"A self-confessed pirate, by the Piper!" exclaimed Fred Gascoigne, who
had calmly crawled out from under the bow-sheets of my boat when we were
half-way between the frigate and the shore. "Now--"

"Give way, men!" shouted Gadsby, springing to his feet in the
stern-sheets of the launch, and waving his sword above his head. "Give
way, and get alongside before they can fire again. Gunners, fire slap
at his bulwarks, and we'll board in the smoke. Marines, fire in through
the open ports. Hurrah, lads, put your backs into it!"

At that moment, as the smoke of the brigantine's broadside thinned away
and permitted us again to catch a glimpse of her hull, I noticed a
peculiarity about the craft that seemed to offer us a very important
advantage; her captain had, in fact, committed the same oversight as the
Frenchman in Pleher Bay, and I instantly hailed:

"Launch ahoy! Do you notice, Mr Gadsby, that she has no nettings
triced up on her port side? Apparently they are making certain that we
intend to go alongside on her starboard side, and--"

"By Jove! Yes, you are right, Delamere," answered Gadsby. "We will
board her on the port side. First cutter on the port quarter; second
cutter on her port bow. Keep up your fire, marines. Now, gunners, as
soon as you are ready, blaze away!"

The three boat-guns spoke at almost the same instant, and so close were
we now to our quarry that our grape-shot literally tore her starboard
bulwarks to pieces, and a terrific outburst of shrieks and yells that
instantly followed upon the discharge bore eloquent evidence to the
terrible havoc that it had wrought among her crew. The moment that we
had fired the boats separated, the first cutter making a wide sweep to
port in order to pass under the brigantine's counter, while we sheered
away to starboard to get under her bows, the launch passing outside of
us in order to get a fair run for the brigantine's waist.

Another minute and we were all alongside and hooked on, and then bega