hat the galley was discovered, Gervaise shouted down
to the slaves to row their hardest, and told the pilot to steer for the
ship farthest to the east. She was some four or five hundred yards from
her nearest consort, and the same distance separated that vessel from
the third craft.

"We shall have time to carry her, Ralph, before the others come to her
assistance, and they will only arrive one at a time. If we were to lie
alongside the middle craft, which is probably that of the chief, as it
is she that has the light burning, we might have the other two upon us
before we had done with her, for she is evidently the largest, and most
likely the strongest handed, of them."

The leader of the pirates evidently saw that there was no chance of
evading the fight. A flag was run up to the masthead of his ship, and
the three vessels began to endeavour to turn, so as to meet the galley.
The operation, however, took some time. In the confusion, orders were
misunderstood, and instead of all the slaves on one side rowing whilst
those on the other side backed, all order was lost, and long before the
craft for which the galley was making had got round, the latter was upon
her.

"Shall I ram her, Sir Gervaise?" the pilot asked.

"No; we might damage ourselves; besides, I do not want to sink her.
Sheer away the oars on one side!"

The galley carried eight guns--three on each side of the poop, and two
forward; and these had been loaded with small pieces of iron. A few
shots had been fired by the pirates, but, owing to the confusion that
prevailed on board, the guns were discharged so hurriedly that the shot
either flew overhead or passed wide of the galley. Excited as the young
knights were, and eager for the fray, a general laugh broke out as the
galley swept along by the pirate ship, breaking many of her oars, and
hurling all the slaves who manned them backwards off their benches. A
moment later the guns poured their iron contents among the pirates who
clustered thickly on the forecastle and poop, and as the vessels grated
together the knights sprang on board the corsair.

The members of the English langue had each been provided with short
pieces of rope, and before joining their companions in the fray they
lashed the vessels together, side by side. The fight was a very short
one. France and Auvergne, led by Ralph Harcourt, boarded at the bow, the
other five langues at the poop; and so impetuous was their onset that
the pirates