e gaff hung almost up and
down.

"Hurrah, lads!" I cried exultantly; "now we have her. See how she pays
off! She is bound to come to leeward now; she cannot help herself.
Down helm, Mr Willoughby, and let her go round. Stand by to give her
our starboard broadside as we cross her bows. Slap it right into the
eyes of her--Phew! that's a nasty one," as a shot from her 32-pounder
came along, smashing right through both our quarter-boats, cutting their
keels clean in half, tearing a great gap in the bottom planking of each,
filling the air in the immediate neighbourhood with splinters, and
whizzing so close past my head that the wind of it whipped my hat off
and overboard.

The two craft were now not more than a short half-mile distant, and fast
approaching each other, the pirate's loss of after-sail causing her to
fall broad off and come foaming down toward us, despite obvious efforts
to keep her to the wind, while we on our side were making the most
desperate efforts to get to windward and thus secure the advantage of
the weather-gage, which, in a sea-fight, often means so much. Conned by
Willoughby, who was acting master, the lively little _Wasp_ swept round
into the wind, fore-reaching magnificently in stays, and then paying
smartly off on the starboard tack; and as she did so our three starboard
pop-guns barked out, one after the other, and I saw the splinters fly
white as the shot struck, close together, about half-way between her
starboard hawse-pipe and her cathead, just at the precise moment when
she was dead end-on to us. The shot must have raked her from end to
end, and quite a small uproar of yells and shrieks that came floating
down from her to us on the wings of the freshening breeze told us that
they had wrought a very fair amount of execution on board her. But it
was evident that her captain knew his business, for the next moment
several hands sprang into her fore-rigging; her topsail, topgallantsail
and royal were clewed up and furled with exemplary celerity; her jib was
hauled down and stowed, and she was again brought to the wind, while
half-a-dozen hands swarmed aloft to her mainmast-head to clear away the
wreck of her topmast and to pass strops round the shattered stump, to
hook the peak-halliard blocks to, and enable them to sway away the peak
of the mainsail again. And all the while that this was doing they
maintained their fire upon us with the most ferocious energy, and alas!
with very dep