er."

"Mr Swinburne, sir!" replied I; "the brig will, in all probability, be
in action soon, and his services as a gunner will be required."

"Well, then, Mr Hilton may go. Beat to quarters. Where is Mr
Webster?"[1] The second lieutenant was close to us, and he was ordered
to take the duty during my absence.

I jumped into the pinnace, and shoved off; ten other boats from the
_Acasta_ and the other men-of-war were pulling in the same direction,
and I joined them. The gun-boats had now opened fire upon the convoy
astern, and were sweeping out to capture them, dividing themselves into
two parts, and pulling towards different portions of the convoy. In half
an hour we were within gunshot of the nearest, which directed its fire
at us; but the lieutenant of the _Acasta_, who commanded the detachment,
ordered us to lie on our oars for a minute, while he divided his force
in three divisions, of four boats each, with instructions that we should
each oppose a division of two gun-boats, by pulling to the outermost
vessel of the convoy, and securing ourselves as much as possible from
the fire, by remaining under her lee, and be in readiness to take them
by boarding, if they approached to capture any of our vessels.

This was well arranged. I had the command of one division, for the first
lieutenants had not been sent away from the _Isis_ and _Reindeer_, and
having inquired which of the divisions of gun-boats I was to oppose, I
pulled for them. In the meantime, we observed that the two praams, and
two gun-boats, which had remained behind us, and had been firing at the
_Racehorse_, had also divided--one praam attacking the _Acasta_, the two
gun-boats playing upon the _Isis_, and the other praam engaging the
_Rattlesnake _and _Reindeer_; the latter vessel being in a line with us,
and about half a mile further out, so that she could not return any
effectual fire, or, indeed, receive much damage. The _Rattlesnake_ had
the worst of it, the fire of the praam being chiefly directed to her. At
the distance chosen by the enemy, the frigate's guns reached, but the
other men-of-war, having only two long guns, were not able to return the
fire but with their two, the carronades being useless.

One of the praams mounted ten guns, and the other eight. The last was
opposed to the _Rattlesnake_, and the fire was kept up very smartly,
particularly by the _Acasta_ and the enemy. In about a quarter of an
hour I arrived with my division close to th