abandoned. The man-of-war's
boat, when it came up, was received with a shot from Long Tom, which
grazed its side, carried away four of the starboard oars, and just
missed dashing it to pieces by a mere hair's-breadth. At the same time
the sails of the schooner were shaken out and filled by the light
breeze, which, for nearly an hour, had been blowing off shore.

As the coming up of the gig and the large boat had occurred on that side
of the schooner that was farthest from the _Talisman_, those on board of
the latter vessel could not make out clearly what had occurred. That
the schooner was a pirate was now clearly evident, for the red griffin
and stripe were suddenly displayed as well as the blood-red flag; but
the first lieutenant did not dare to fire on her while the boats were so
near. He slipped the cable, however, and made instant sail on the ship,
and when he saw the large boat and the gig drop astern of the schooner--
the former in a disabled condition--he commenced firing as fast as he
could load; not doubting that his captain was in his own boat.

At such short range the shot flew around the pirate schooner like hail,
but she appeared to bear a charmed existence, for, although they
whistled between her spars and struck the sea all around her, very few
indeed did her serious damage. The shots from Long Tom, on the other
hand, were well aimed, and told with terrible effect on the hull and
rigging of the frigate. Gascoyne himself pointed the gun, and his
bright eye flashed, and a grim smile played on his lips as the shots
whistled round his head.

The pirate captain seemed to be possessed by a spirit of fierce and
reckless jovialty that day. His usual calm self-possessed demeanour
quite forsook him. He issued his orders in a voice of thunder and with
an air of what, for want of a better expression, we may term ferocious
heartiness. He generally executed these orders himself, hurling the men
violently out of his way as if he were indignant at their tardiness,
although they sprang to obey as actively as usual--indeed more so, for
they were overawed and somewhat alarmed by this unwonted conduct on the
part of their captain.

The fact was, that Gascoyne had for a long time past desired to give up
his course of life and amend his ways, but he discovered, as all wicked
men discover sooner or later, that while it is easy to plunge into evil
courses it is by no means easy--on the contrary it is extremely
diff