rancois_ into the side
of the Englishman. But, as the sailors scampered to the bulwarks with
cutlass and with dirk, a sheet of flame burst from the port-holes of
the drifting _Nonsuch_. She was afire.

"Luff! Luff!" cried the keen-eyed French mariner, and the _Francois_
drew away as the red flames curled upward with a cruel hiss.

With a swift turn the helm again spun over, under the quick hand of Du
Guay-Trouin, and the _Francois_ was jibed about in order to run under
the port bow of the Englishman.

"Hold, Captain!" cried a French Lieutenant. "We, ourselves, are
afire!"

As he spoke--a direful cloud of vapor rolled from the starboard
quarter.

"Alack!" answered the now furious Renee. "This puts an end to the
fighting of this day, and we'd soon have had the second Britisher. All
hands below and bucket out this fire!"

So, as night fell upon the rolling ocean, the _Falcon_ lay drifting
helplessly, while the _Nonsuch_ and the _Francois_ were burning like
two beacons upon a jutting headland.

As day broke, the _Francois_ filled away (for the fire had been
extinguished after an hour's toil) and ranged within striking distance
of the _Nonsuch_. A broadside belched from her starboard guns and an
answering roar came back from the cannon of the Englishman. The fore
and main masts of the _Nonsuch_ trembled for a moment--then tottered
and fell--while the gallant Captain, struck in the chest by a flying
piece of shell, fell dying upon the deck. Du Guay-Trouin again
attempted to board, at this moment, but the third mast was shaking and
he was forced to sheer off lest the tangle of yards and rigging should
fall and crush his vessel. He hung within hailing distance of the
crippled sea-warrior, and, seeing that his antagonist was now
helpless, cried out through his trumpet:

"Run up the white flag, or I'll give you a broadside that will sink
you."

No answering hail came from the deck of the battered _Nonsuch_, but
the piece of a torn, white shirt was soon fluttering from the tangled
rigging of the foremast. Thus the gallant Renee had defeated two
warships of equal strength, and had captured vessels with a rich and
valuable cargo. Now, don't you think that this fellow was a doughty
sea rover? And, although the English made many excuses, the fact still
remains that a single privateer had conquered double her own force in
a fair and open fight upon the high seas.

The sturdy _Francois_ could just barely drift into St. Mal