them, and firing his
pistols right and left at them to bring them to order. Jack ran a great
risk of being shot in the _melee_, either by friends or foes. Oh, how
he wished that the former knew the state of affairs inside the fort, and
would make a dash at that moment and get into it! It was high tide, and
the water covered the mudbanks. The favourable moment was however lost,
and by the fierce energy of the little old Spaniard the defenders of the
fort were driven back to their guns. Jack pretended to be very busy
loading his. He had managed to get in a shot during the confusion, and
one of the blacks next rammed in the powder and put another shot in
after it. "All right! now blaze away, my hearty!" he sang out. He had
piled up a good quantity of powder over the touch-hole, so there was an
abundance of smoke, and the negro whom he addressed fully believed that
the gun had gone off.

"Now more powder and shot, old boy," cried Jack; "ram away!"

Jack's gun was not likely to hurt his friends, but had the old Spaniard
seen his tricks, he would very likely have had another bullet fired at
him. Fortunately the old fellow was too much engaged. The whole fort
was full of smoke, and the defenders, having got over their first alarm
at the rockets, were blazing away with all their might. Jack caught
sight of the boats for an instant, separating on either hand so as to
avoid the direct fire from the fort, and then he heard in another minute
that true hearty British cheer, which has so often struck terror into
the hearts of England's enemies. On either flank there came pouring
into the fort a fresh flight of rockets, and almost the next instant
Jack saw the boats' bows run stem on to the mudbank, which almost
surrounded the fort. In vain the seamen endeavoured to shove the boats
over it--they stuck fast. Jack shouted as loud as he could, in hopes
that his voice might be heard, for he caught a glimpse of Alick Murray
in one of the boats and Paddy Adair in another, using every effort to
get up to the stockade. Perhaps they heard him, for he saw them leap
overboard, followed by their men, with the intention clearly of wading
up to the stockade, ignorant of course of the deep ditch between them
and it. Jack felt sure that they would be shot down by the blacks if
they made the attempt. He could restrain himself no longer, but ran
towards them, shouting out, "Back, back! you can't get in that way!"
Whether they heard hi