s still running away to
leeward.

Presently young Hinton, the midshipman whom I had sent below to
ascertain the extent of our casualties, came up to me with a list in his
hand which he had himself prepared, Saunders, the surgeon, being at that
moment far too busy to spare time for the making up of returns; and from
this list I learned the appalling news that, of our entire complement of
fifty-eight, all told, we had lost no less than seventeen killed, and
thirty-two more or less severely wounded, leaving only a poor paltry
nine of us untouched, of whom I was one. Fortunately, of the thirty-two
wounded only about half of them were hurt severely enough to be rendered
totally unfit for duty; but that was bad enough in all conscience, with
the ship dismantled and leaking, and something very like a gale
threatening.

I had just finished the perusal of young Hinton's list when Henderson
and the carpenter came up on deck, the former bringing with him the keys
of the magazine, which he had secured, in accordance with an order which
I had sent down below to him, while Mills was fresh from his examination
of the ship's interior. His report was anything but reassuring, for the
news he brought was to the effect that we had been hulled no less than
seventeen times, four of the shot that had hulled us being 32-pounders,
one of which and two of the pirate's 12-pounders had struck us between
wind and water. He added that he had plugged the holes as well as he
could, but that there was nearly three feet of water in the hold, that
the little ship was very severely strained, and that she was making
water at the rate of nearly eight inches an hour!

CHAPTER FOURTEEN.

THE END OF THE WASP.

It was clear that in the face of such a report as that, and the
threatening sky that frowned down upon us, it was not a moment in which
to indulge in thoughts of rest, however loudly our poor aching bodies
might clamour for it. There was much to be done to secure our own
safety and that of our injured and helpless comrades, and very little
time in which to do it; I therefore directed Pearce, the boatswain, to
pipe all hands to splice the main-brace; and when this had been done the
little band who were still capable of doing duty were divided into three
parties--one of which, under Henderson, was stationed at the pumps, with
orders to work at them until they sucked; while a second and much
smaller party, under the leadership and guidance of