once prepared for
action, and as soon as all was ready she shortened sail to allow the
frigate to come up, greatly to the Frenchmen's surprise probably. The
latter began firing as soon as her guns could reach the corvette. "Let
not a shot be returned till I give the order, lads," cried Ripley; "we
must throw none away." He waited till his carronades would tell with
effect. "Now give it them, lads," he shouted.

The heavy shot crashed against the side of the frigate in a way which
astonished the Frenchmen. With wonderful rapidity the guns were run in,
loaded, and again sent forth their death-dealing shower of iron, this
time tearing through the frigate's upper bulwarks, sweeping across her
quarterdeck and wounding her masts. "Hurrah! we have knocked away her
wheel," cried Bonham, who had sprung into the mizen rigging to ascertain
the effect of the last broadside; "she's ours, if we are smart with our
guns."

The Frenchmen had just fired a broadside which had killed three of the
"Vestal's" crew, knocked one of her boats to pieces, and done other
damage, but had not materially injured her running rigging. Firing
another broadside in return, Pearce saw that by wearing sharp round he
could pass under the stem of the frigate, and at the same time bring a
fresh broadside to bear on her. The manoeuvre was rapidly executed, the
effect was very great on board the enemy. The crew were seen to be
hurrying to and fro as if in dread of some event about to occur. It was
next seen that all sail was being made on the frigate. The men had
deserted their guns. The British seamen plied the enemy with their
carronades with still greater energy. The great masses of iron were
hauled in and out as if they had been made of wood. Their only fear was
that their antagonist would escape them. More sail was made on the
corvette to keep up with him. To prevent the corvette from following,
the Frenchmen again returned to their guns, and the frigate suddenly
hauling up let fly her broadside. Pearce saw the manoeuvre about to be
executed, and was just in time to haul up also to save the "Vestal" from
being raked. The frigate's shot, accompanied by a shower of musketry,
came tearing on board. Hitherto one officer and four men had been
killed on board the "Vestal," and six wounded, including the master
slightly--a heavy loss out of a sloop's complement, but Pearce saw
victory within his grasp, and resolved to persevere. The last broad