winkle with fire and mischief.

He soon observed that the two prows, wincing under his fire, were edging
for the shore. With that reckless resolution, therefore, to which all
true heroes give way at times--not excepting Nelson himself--he resolved
to run them down.

The recklessness of this consisted in the fact that his vessel was not a
"ram," but built of comparatively thin plates. The necessity for it lay
in the certainty that a few minutes more would enable the prows to gain
shallow water and escape.

"Besides," thought the captain to himself, as he walked up and down the
bridge with his hands in his pockets, while bullets whistled round his
head, "even a _thin_ plate can stand a good strain when struck end-on.
Never venture, never win!"

Giving the order "full-speed" to the engineer, and "port your helm a
little--steady" to the man at the wheel, the captain quietly awaited the
result.

The result was most effective. The gun-boat went at the prow like a
war-horse; her sharp bow struck one of the pirate vessels fair amidships
and cut her in two pieces, launching her crew and captives into the sea!

She then backed astern, and made for the other prow, but she, laying to
heart the fate of her companion, made for the shore as fast as possible.
It was in vain. The gun-boat ran into her and sank her immediately,
but so nearly had they succeeded in their intention, that there were
only six inches of water under the steamer's keel when she backed out.

"Lower the boats," shouted the captain, the instant his object had been
accomplished; and it was not a moment too soon, for the sea all round
was alive with human beings, some of whom evidently waited to be picked
up, while others swam vigorously for the shore. In a short time, about
a hundred men were rescued, most of whom were slaves--only ten being
pirates. There was no difficulty in distinguishing between pirates and
slaves, because the latter wore the "rattan" round their necks, in
addition to which their spitting on the pirates, and furiously abusing
them for past cruelty, and their falling down and kissing the feet of
their deliverers, made the distinction abundantly clear.

Most of the other pirates gained the shore, but we may here finally
dismiss them, and relieve the reader's mind by stating that they were
afterwards hunted down and slain to a man by the natives of that
district, who entertained a deadly, and very natural hatred of them,
having suffe