n below, and cease
the use of the broadside guns, for the garrison were on the barbette,
sheltered by their earth-works, where the guns could not reach them,
so high was their position.

With the aid of his speaking trumpet he gave the same order to Mr.
Camden on board of the Sphinx; but he had hardly uttered the command
before his left leg gave way under him, and he sunk to the floor of the
bridge. A ball had struck him in the thigh, and he could feel the blood
flowing down his limb. He grasped the rail of the bridge, and drew
himself up. There he stood like a statue, supporting himself with his
well arm, till the Bronx had passed out of musket-shot range.

"Good heavens!" exclaimed the first lieutenant, as he came out from his
shelter. "You are wounded again!"

"I must give up now, I fear," replied Christy feebly; and then he
fainted.

[Illustration: Christy Receives a Second Wound.--Page 358.]

He was carried to his stateroom by his officers, and the doctor examined
his last wound. He was restored to consciousness, but he looked like
death itself beneath the ruddy brown of his weather-beaten face.

"You will take the command now, Mr. Flint," said he when he saw the
executive officer watching him with the most intense interest. "What do
you think of it, Dr. Connelly?" he asked, turning to the surgeon.

"Severe, but not dangerous," answered the doctor. "The ball did not
touch the bone, but it ploughed deep through the flesh. You were
fortunate in having plenty of meat on your bones."

Dave was the most assiduous of nurses, and had no little skill in
attending to the wants of the sick. The young commander was made
comfortable in a few hours, and Mr. Flint came below to see him at
the end of an hour when he had performed his most pressing duties. He
reported that Mr. Pennant's wound was slight, and did not disable him.
Eight seamen in all had been wounded, and one of them was likely to die
of his injury.

"But we have done our work well, Captain Passford, and I don't believe
that one-half the garrison of that fort are fit for duty at this
moment," added the first lieutenant.

"But that was a splendid fellow who commanded there," continued Christy
with admiration. "If his guns had not been taken away from him, and his
force reduced to a handful of men, we should have had to wait for the
Sphinx to come out of the bay; and it might have been three weeks or a
month before she concluded to do so."

"We have da