ut yet. How's your arm, Jack?"
he called to the lad, who was in another boat.

"Feels pretty good, sir," was the reply. "Why?"

"And your head, Frank?" demanded Lord Hastings, paying no heed to Jack's
question.

"First rate, sir, doesn't hurt a bit."

"All right. Rifles ready, men. We'll swoop down on those fellows before
they are prepared to hold us off."

But already they had delayed too long to surround the pirates without a
fight. _The Vulture's_ boats were afloat now and were manned by the
crew; and from the distance the British could see they were all armed.

Lord Hastings gave his commands quickly.

"Mr. Templeton, make a short detour to the right," he commanded. "Take
them from the flank." He motioned to Edwards, who was steering the boat
next to his own. Edwards approached. "Climb in there and take command,
Frank," said Lord Hastings.

Frank did so quickly.

"Now make a detour to the left," Lord Hastings commanded. "I'll try and
hold them off here until you reach a proper position. Then we can bear
down on them from all sides."

The first shot of the battle came from the pirates and was fired by
Davis himself. A man in the bow of Lord Hastings' boat muttered an
imprecation and wrung his hand. The bullet had struck his left little
finger and carried the tip of it away.

"Hurt much, Price?" asked Lord Hastings.

"Not much, sir," was the quiet response. "May interfere with my shooting
a little though, sir."

"Fire when ready," Lord Hastings commanded his men.

He threw his rifle to his shoulder and it cracked viciously. A man in
the foremost pirate boat threw up his arms, sprang to his feet and
pitched into the sea head first.

"One less," Lord Hastings muttered to himself.

In the meantime, while Lord Hastings engaged the enemy, Frank and Jack
were nearing their respective positions. Jack came into action first,
sweeping down upon the enemy from the right.

The forces were about evenly divided, three boats to a side, but it
appeared that in men the pirates slightly outnumbered the British.

A man dropped in Jack's boat now, fatally wounded. The others did not
even pause, but returned the fire steadily. Another man in Jack's boat
dropped his rifle and fell back gasping. A pirate bullet found two
victims in Frank's boat and Lord Hastings now suffered the loss of
another.

But the enemy was paying for these victims. In the center pirate boat
three men were no longer able to handle a rifle, w