delivered up to Ramagee Punt that very morning, and the English
excluded from all share of the prize.

I saw some messengers pass to and fro between the ships and the land,
but nothing seemed to come of it, and finally, about ten o'clock I saw
a signal run up on the _Talisman_, and immediately the side of every
ship drove forth a vast cloud of smoke across the water, and the air
was shaken by the discharge of at least three hundred guns.

Now the cowardice of the pirates was made manifest, for instead of
manning their own fleet, which might have given much trouble if well
handled, they left it exposed to the British fire, and withdrew behind
the walls of their fort, from which they made a feeble reply to the
broadsides of the squadron. The consequence was that before long one
of the shells from the fleet set fire to a large grab, and the whole
of the pirates' vessels, being made fast side by side, caught fire
together, and were burnt to the water's edge, amid a continual noise
of explosions every time the flames reached a loaded cannon or a
powder barrel. Thus was destroyed in a few hours a navy which had for
fifty years been the terror of the Malabar coast, and had preyed upon
the commerce of every nation trading in those seas.

So taken up was I in watching this scene of destruction that I did not
at first notice what was happening to the _Fair Maid_. Being anchored
some way off the other vessels, and further up towards the sand spit,
we escaped the damage that had been done to them, but now we attracted
the attention of the British Fleet, and those on board naturally
considering us as a prize captured by the pirates, one of the ships
began to open fire on us, and sent a ball clean through the deck.

Up to this time the crew had lain inactive, taking no part in the
fight. My cousin had gone ashore into the fort the night before,
taking a part of the ship's company with him, and had not returned.
The boatswain was left in command, with about twenty men under him,
and these now began to see that they were in a trap, being too few to
fight the ship to any purpose, while any attempt to land would expose
them to a destructive fire either from the fleet or from Mr. Clive's
troops, which would come along the sand spit to cut them off.

In this extremity old Muzzy took what was perhaps the boldest
resolution any man could have come to. He decided to set sail, and
pass right between the fort and the ships, running the gaun