utters to be dropped
under the schooner's stern, and whilst this was being done the springs
were veered away and hauled upon until the schooner was brought
broadside-on to her former consorts, now her antagonists. This done our
lads went to the guns, double-shotted them, and succeeded in delivering
an awfully destructive raking broadside fore and aft along the decks of
both the brig and the brigantine. The frightful outcries and the
confusion which ensued on board these craft assured us that our fire had
wrought a tremendous amount of execution among the men crowding their
decks; but they were too wise to give us an opportunity to repeat the
dose. Their springs were promptly manned, and by the time that the
schooner's batteries were again loaded our antagonists had brought their
broadsides to bear upon us.

Once more was our double-shotted broadside hurled upon the foe, and
then, before our lads had time to run-in their guns, we received the
combined fire of the brig and the brigantine in return. Through the
sharp ringing explosion of our antagonists' nine-pounders we distinctly
heard the crashing of the shot through the schooner's timbers, and
then--O God! I shall never forget it--the piercing shrieks and groans
of mortal agony which uprose beneath our feet! Not a man of us upon the
schooner's decks was injured by that terrible double broadside; for the
Spaniards, resolved to sink the craft, had depressed the muzzles of
their guns and sent their shot through the schooner's sides just above
the water-line on the one side and out through her bottom on the other,
regardless of the fact that _the vessel's hold was packed full of
slaves_. The slaughter which resulted among these unhappy creatures,
thus closely huddled together, I must leave to the reader's
imagination--it was simply indescribable.

For a moment all hands of us on board the schooner were struck dumb and
motionless with horror at this act of cowardice and wanton barbarity;
then, with a yell of righteous fury our lads turned again to their guns,
which thenceforward were loaded and fired independently, and as rapidly
as possible. The slavers on their part were not behindhand in alacrity,
and presently we received another broadside from the brig, closely
followed by one from the brigantine, the guns being in both cases aimed
as before, with similar murderous results, and with a repetition of
those heart-rending shrieks of agony and despair.

"My God!