He was so near at the moment that neither of them could
effectively use his weapon. Robin therefore dashed the hilt of his
sword into the man's face and grappled with him. It was a most unequal
struggle, for the pirate was, as we have said, a huge fellow, while
Robin was small and slight. But there were several things in our hero's
favour. He was exceedingly tough and wonderfully strong for his size,
besides being active as a kitten and brave as a lion. The way that
Robin Wright wriggled in that big man's embrace, hammered his nose and
eyes with the iron hilt of his cutlass, stuck his knees into the pit of
his stomach, and assaulted his shins with the toes of boots, besides
twisting his left hand into his hair like a vice, was wonderful to
behold.

It was all Letta's doing! The more hopeless the struggle felt, the more
hapless did Letta's fate appear to Robin, and the more furious did the
spirit within rise above its disadvantages. In the whirl of the fight
the pirate's head chanced for one moment to be in proximity to a large
iron block. Robin observed it, threw all his soul and body into one
supreme effort, and launched his foe and himself against the block.
Both heads met it at the same moment, and the combatants rolled from
each other's grasp. The pirate was rendered insensible, but Robin,
probably because of being lighter, was only a little stunned.

Recovering in a moment, he sprang up, glanced round, observed that the
pirates were almost, if not quite, overpowered, and leaped over the
bulwarks. A few moments later and he had Letta in his arms. Just then
a pistol shot rang in the night air. The last of the pirates who was
overpowered chanced to use his fire-arm, though without success. It was
fortunate the fight was over, for, now that the alarm had been given,
they knew that their chance of escaping was greatly lessened.

"Cut the cable, Slagg. Out with a boat-hook, Johnson, ready to shove
off. I'll fetch Letta," cried Sam, springing to the side.

He was almost run down, as he spoke, by Robin with the child in his
arms.

"Ha! Robin--well done, my boy. Here, Letta, you understand the
language, tell the slaves below to out oars and pull for their lives.
It's their only chance."

The poor creatures, who were bound to the thwarts below deck, had been
listening with dull surprise to the fighting on deck--not that fighting
was by any means unusual in that vessel, but they must have known that
t