done what we could below, the captain called us all on deck to
examine into the state of the boats, and to see if any of them were fit
to carry us to the nearest shore. A glance showed us their condition.
The spars which had fallen from aloft, and the shot of the enemy, had
done them no little damage, and the villainous pirates, before leaving
us, had stove in their sides and hove the oars overboard, to prevent any
of us who might survive from making use of them. I felt my heart sink
within me when I saw this, but none of us gave way to despair. It is
not the habit of British seamen, while a spark of life remains in them,
to do so. The long-boat was in the best condition, but with our yards
gone we could not hoist her out, even had we had all the crew fit for
the work, so that we were obliged to content ourselves with trying to
patch up the jolly-boat, which we might launch over the side.

The carpenter was among the killed, so that had the pirates left us all
his tools, we could not have repaired the boat properly, and the captain
therefore ordered us to set to work to cover her over with tarred
canvas, and to strengthen her with a framework inside. Thus prepared,
there were some hopes that she might be able to float us, provided the
weather did not grow worse.

While the captain and old Cole, with the more experienced hands, were
patching up the boat, he sent La Motte and me to try and find a
spy-glass in the cabin. After some search we discovered one and took it
to him. He watched the pirate brig through it attentively. "Hurra, my
lads, she'll not come back!" he exclaimed. "She's standing under all
sail to the eastward, and soon will be hull down." This announcement
gave us all additional spirits to proceed with our work. La Motte and I
were next sent to get up some mattresses from below on which to put the
wounded men; we also bound up their hurts as well as we could, and kept
handing them round water, for they seemed to suffer more from thirst
than anything else.

My own wound hurt me a good deal, but while I was actively employed for
the good of others, I scarcely thought about it. I found that much
progress was being made with the boat. There was plenty of canvas, and
a cask of Stockholm tar was found. After paying both the boat and a
piece of canvas sufficiently large to cover her over with the tar, the
canvas was passed under her keel and fastened inside the gunwale on
either side. It went, of