arbor's mouth, but he hoped to evade it by going out through a
circuitous channel. Unluckily, in thus attempting to avoid the enemy,
the "Franklin" ran aground, and there remained hard and fast in full
view of the enemy. He had as consort the privateer schooner "Lady
Washington," whose captain, seeing Mugford's dangerous predicament,
volunteered to remain near at hand and assist in the defence.

Mugford knew that his case was desperate, and made preparations for a
most determined resistance. Swinging his craft around, he mounted all
four of his guns on that side which commanded the channel in the
direction from which the enemy was expected. Boarding-nettings were
triced up, and strengthened with cables and cordage, to make an
effective barrier against the assaults of boarders. The men were
served with double rations of grog, and set to work sharpening the
cutlasses and spears, with which they were well provided. The work of
preparation was completed none too soon; for about nine o'clock
Mugford heard the rattle of oars in rowlocks, and saw boats gliding
towards the "Franklin" through the darkness.

"Boat ahoy!" he challenged. "Keep off, or I shall fire into you."

"Don't fire," was the response; "we are friends from Boston coming to
your aid."

"We want none of your aid," cried Mugford with an oath. Then, turning
to his crew, he shouted, "Let them have it, boys."

The roar of the cannon then mingled with the rattle of the musketry,
the cries of the wounded, and the shouts and curses of the combatants,
as the British strove to clamber up the sides of the "Franklin." Not
less than two hundred men were engaged on the side of the British, who
advanced to the fray in thirteen large barges, many of them carrying
swivel guns. Several boats dashed in close under the side of the
"Franklin," and their crews strove manfully to board, but were beaten
back by the Yankees, who rained cutlass blows upon them. The long
pikes with which the Americans were armed proved particularly
effective. "One man with that weapon is positive of having killed nine
of the enemy," says a newspaper of that day.

Unhappily, however, the heroic Mugford, while urging on his men to a
more vigorous resistance, was struck by a musket-ball, which inflicted
a mortal wound. At the moment the wound was received, he was reaching
out over the quarter to catch hold of the mast of one of the barges,
in the hope of upsetting her. As he fell to the deck, he calle