mong the wounded men; and one man jumped upon a
thwart and waved his hat to the brig, evidently as a signal of distress.
Her captain had of course been watching us all this time, and seemed to
have conjectured that his people were getting the worst of it, for we
now saw that he had a second boat in the water; and on taking a look at
the brig through the glass, we observed that he had a tackle on his
main-yard-arm, with which he was hoisting out a gun to put into the
boat.

"It is time we were off once more, Bob," I remarked, as soon as I saw
this; "so another shot at our friends here, and then we'll fill away."

The boat was very much disabled, and appeared to be sinking gradually,
notwithstanding their efforts to keep her afloat, for they were now
baling rapidly;--but I thought it best to make sure of her, so once more
loaded and fired.

The shell passed through her stern this time also, and exploded; there
was a shrill scream from more than one agonised throat, and the baling
and pulling ceased altogether; every man in her was wounded, if not
killed outright.

Satisfied with our work of destruction, and not particularly caring to
expose ourselves to the fire of the gun in the other boat, which was no
doubt much heavier than our own toy of a weapon, we filled away; and I
once more swayed up the spinnaker forward, desiring Bob to keep just
sufficiently away to permit of our balloon canvas fully drawing, but no
more.

As soon as I had got the spinnaker set, I took the glass and had a good
look at the boat we had beaten off. She was nearly full of water, her
gunwale being but an inch or two above the surface.

I saw three or four figures rouse themselves on board her, and
recommence baling feebly; but their efforts were useless; she sank lower
and lower, and at length rolled heavily bottom upwards, throwing her
wounded crew into the water.

Almost immediately there was a furious splashing, and by the aid of the
glass I distinctly saw the dorsal fins of several sharks darting here
and there among them, whilst over the glassy surface of the water a
shriek or two came faintly towards us.

In less than a minute all was over with the miserable wretches; the
voracious sharks made short work of it with them, tearing living and
dead alike to pieces in their eagerness to obtain a share of the prey.

At the moment that this tragic scene was enacting, the second boat was
about half-way between the brig and those to whose