h, with fuses alight, and ready to touch off
the cannon at the slightest sign of discovery. All was still upon the
towering deck of the war-vessel and the little lights twinkled at her
bow.

But what was that?

Suddenly a voice came through the darkness.

"Who goes there?"

No answer came but the dip of the oars in unison.

"Who goes there? Answer, or I fire!"

Again the slow beat of the oars and nothing more.

_Crash!_

A musket spoke from the jutting bow in front of the sloop and a bullet
struck in the foremast of the staunch attacker, with a resounding
z-i-n-n-g!

"We're discovered," whispered Talbot. "Pull for your lives, men, and
punch her like a battering-ram. When we've cut through the netting,
let every fellow dash upon her decks, and fight for every inch you
can."

As he ceased speaking, the bow of the sloop struck the roping
stretched around the man-o'-warsman, and a ripping and tearing was
plainly heard above the crash of small arms, the shouts of men, and
the rumble of hawsers. Two cannon spoke from the side of the
Englishman, and, as their roar echoed across the still ocean, the
guns of the _Jasamine_ belched forth their answer.

[Illustration: "TALBOT, HIMSELF, AT THE HEAD OF HIS ENTIRE CREW, CAME
LEAPING ACROSS THE SIDE."]

The anchor attached to the bowsprit had done what was desired. It tore
a great hole in the stout netting, ripped open a breach sufficiently
wide for entrance to the deck, and, as the cannon grumbled and spat at
the sloop,--the bowsprit was black with jack-tars scrambling for an
opportunity to board the Britisher.

"Now, men," shouted Major Talbot, above the din. "Swing our craft
sideways! Let go the port guns, and then let every mother's son rush
the foe! And your cry must be, 'Death and no quarter!'"

As he ceased, the good _Jasamine_ was forced sideways into the
man-o'-warsman, and, propelled by the current, drifted against her
with tremendous force, crushing the remaining nets as she did so. A
few of the Americans were already on the deck in a terrific struggle
with the half-sleepy English seamen, but--in a moment--Talbot,
himself, at the head of his entire crew, came leaping across the side.

Now was a scene of carnage. The cutlasses of both Yankee tar and
British, were doing awful execution, and pistols were cracking like
hail upon the roof. Back, back, went the English before the vigorous
assault of the stormers, and, as the deck was now piled with the dead