fell upon
Flanger the moment he lighted in the bottom of the cutter.

The prisoner was disposed to make further resistance, but two men fell
upon him and made him fast to one of the thwarts. The leader of the
party, as he appeared to be from the first, could do no further
mischief, and the lieutenant gave his attention to the others on board
of the sloop. The dignified gentleman, who was dressed in black clothes,
though they had suffered not a little from contact with grease and tar,
had seated himself in the standing room. He looked like a man of many
sorrows, and his expression indicated that he was suffering from some
cause not apparent.

There were nine men left in the standing room, including the gentleman
in black; they were coarse and rough-looking persons, and not one of
them appeared to be the social peer of him who had condemned the firing
upon the boat. The skipper remained at the tiller of the boat, and he
looked as though he might have negro blood in his veins, though he was
not black, and probably was an octoroon. He said nothing and did
nothing, and had not used a musket when the others fired. He behaved as
though he intended to be entirely neutral. A few drops of negro blood in
his veins was enough to condemn him to inferiority with the rude fellows
on board of the sloop, though his complexion was lighter than that of
any of his companions.

"Vincent, pass one half of the men on board of the cutter," said Mr.
Pennant, when he had looked over the boat and the men on board of it.

The quartermaster obeyed the order, and four of the party were placed
in the bow and stern sheets of the cutter. Six oarsmen were directed
to take their places on the thwarts. The lieutenant retained his place
in the stern sheets, which he had not left during the affray or the
conference. Three seamen, with a pistol in one hand and a cutlass in the
other, were directed to remain on board of the sloop; but the party had
been disarmed, and their muskets were in the bottom of the cutter, and
they were not likely to attempt any resistance. The painter of the sloop
was made fast to the stern of the Bronx's boat, and Mr. Pennant gave the
order for the crew to give way.

It had been a battle on a small scale, but the victory had been won, and
the cutter was towing her prize in the direction of the gunboat. The
lieutenant's first care was to attend to Hilton, the stroke oarsman who
had been wounded in the affair. He placed him in a