ect was tremendous; a hole ten or twelve feet wide was torn in her
bow, and the ship was swept from end to end by balls and splinters, and
the shrieks and groans that arose from her told that the execution was
heavy. It was evident that the battle was already half-won as far as she
was concerned. There was not room enough in the little inlet for her to
manoeuvre in the light wind so as to bring her broadside to bear on the
_Furious_, and another crashing broadside from the latter vessel completed
her discomfiture. The other vessel now came up by her side, but she had
been disabled by the fort, and her helm would not act. Her captain at once
lowered her boats and tried to get her head round, but these were smashed
up by the fire of the _Furious_, and the two vessels lay together side by
side, helpless to reply in any efficient way to the incessant fire kept up
upon them. The Frenchmen did all that was possible for brave men to do in
the circumstances, but their position was hopeless, and after suffering
terribly for ten minutes, one after the other hauled down their flag.

A tremendous burst of cheering broke from the _Furious_. She had lost but
two men killed and four or five wounded by the bullets of the French
topmen. She had also been struck twice by balls from the bow-chaser of the
second ship; but this was the extent of her damage, while the loss of life
on board the French frigates had been frightful. Some sixty men had been
killed and eighty wounded on the first ship, while thirty were killed and
still more wounded in the boats of the second vessel.

Captain Harker went on board the captures to receive the swords of their
commanders.

"You have done your best, gentlemen," he said; "no one in the
circumstances could have done more. Had there been ten of you instead of
two the result must have been the same. If your boats had got in and seen
the situation you would have understood that the position was an
impossible one. There was no room in here for manoeuvring, and even had one
of you not been damaged by the shot from that little battery of ours, your
position would have been practically unchanged, and you could not possibly
have brought your broadsides to bear upon us."

The French captains, who were much mortified by the disaster, bowed
silently.

"It is the fortune of war, sir," one of them said, "and certainly we could
not have anticipated that you would be so wonderfully placed for defence.
I agree with