came the cannon balls, hurtling through sails and
rigging, rending through thick timbers, and sending splinters flying
right and left. Men fell dead and blood ran in streams, but still came
the heralds of death.

We must tell the same story of this fight as of the fight with the
_Guerriere_. The British did not know how to aim their guns and the
Americans did. The British had no sights on their cannon and the
Americans had. That was why, all through the war, the British lost so
heavily and the Americans so little. The British shot went wild and the
American balls flew straight to their mark.

You know what must come from that. After while, off went the _Java's_
bowsprit, as if it had been chopped off with a great knife. Five minutes
later her foremast was cut in two and came tumbling down. Then the main
topmast crashed down from above. Last of all, her mizzen-mast was cut
short off by the plunging shot, and fell over the side. The well-aimed
American balls had cut through her great spars, as you might cut through
a willow stick, and she was dismantled as the _Guerriere_ had been.

The loud "hurrahs" of the Yankee sailors proved enough to call the dead
to life. At any rate, a wounded man, whom everyone thought dead, opened
his eyes and asked what they were cheering about.

"The enemy has struck," he was told.

The dying tar lifted himself on one arm, and waved the other round his
head, and gave three feeble cheers. With the last one he fell back dead.

But the _Java's_ flag was not down for good. As the _Constitution_ came
up with all masts standing and sails set, the British flag was raised to
the stump of the mizzen-mast. When he saw this, Bainbridge wore his
ship to give her another broadside, and then down came her flag for
good. She had received all the battering she could stand. In fact, the
_Constitution_ had lost only 34 men, killed and wounded, while the Java
had lost 150 men. The _Constitution_ was sound and whole; the _Java_ had
only her mainmast left and was full of yawning rents. _Old Ironsides_
had a new feather in her cap.

Like the _Guerriere_, the _Java_ was hurt past help. It was impossible
to take her home; so on the last day of 1812, the torch was put to her
ragged timbers and the flames took hold. Quickly they made their way
through the ruined ship. About three o'clock in the afternoon they
reached her magazine, and with a mighty roar the wreck of the British
ship was torn into fragments. To