illy.
"If another shot comes in like that, we shall certainly go to the
bottom; and I am not quite sure what will happen even now, for the
commander has not told us to knock off firing. I wonder if he knows
what has happened? He is such a plucky fellow, however, that I suppose
he will go on fighting till the ship sinks below our feet."

The youngsters were somewhat relieved by seeing the carpenter and his
crew going below with the means for stopping the shot-hole; while Ben
Snatchblock, with a rope round his waist, allowed himself to be slung
overboard to reach the injury still more rapidly from the outside. He
had just performed his task, when another shot went right through the
forepart of the ship; happily, without hitting anyone, and the damage it
had caused was as quickly repaired as the other had been. Jack had
carried on the unequal contest for half an hour or more, when a third
steamer was seen gliding out of the river, and as she opened her fire,
it was soon discovered that her guns were heavier than those of either
of her consorts. The first shot she fired came crashing through the
_Tornado's_ side.

"I suppose we shall have to run for it now," cried Dicky.

"Not a bit of it," exclaimed Tom, who overheard him; "the commander
wouldn't be turned from his purpose, even if a dozen Russian steamers
came out on us, and we shall soon settle with our old friend--she has
not fired a shot for the last minute." As he was speaking, a thick
smoke rose from the afterpart of their antagonist, followed quickly by
bright flames, which darted upwards through the hatchway. Directly
afterwards a fire burst out in the forepart of the ship, and raged with
a fury which it was clear the crew were incapable of overcoming. Her
boats were lowered, and her people were seen dropping down into them
with a rapidity which showed that they had abandoned all hope of saving
their ship. As they could no longer offer any resistance, Jack humanely
ordered his crew to refrain from firing on them. He directed, however,
all his guns at the fort, for the purpose of silencing them before the
other vessels should come up to take a closer part in the action, which
he fully expected that they would do.

Though the damage he had received was considerable, there was nothing as
yet, he conceived, sufficiently serious to make him haul off. Still he
could not help wishing to see the flag of the fort come down,
comparatively slight as was the dam