imple manner of Mark Woolston had misled them, and they had
actually flattered themselves with obtaining all they wanted without a
struggle. At first, the anger of the admiral threatened some treacherous
violence on the spot, but the crews of the two boats were so nearly
equal, that prudence, if not good faith, admonished him of the necessity
of respecting the truce. The parties separated, however, with
denunciations, nay maledictions, on the part of the strangers, the
colonists remaining quiet in demeanor, but firm.

The time taken for the two boats to return to their respective points of
departure was but short; and scarcely was that of the stranger arrived
alongside of its vessel, ere the ship fired a gun. This was the signal
of war, the shot of that first gun falling directly in the battery,
where it took off the hand of a Kannaka, besides doing some other
damage. This was not a very favourable omen, but the governor encouraged
his people, and to work both sides went, trying who could do the other
the most harm. The cannonading was lively and well sustained, though it
was not like one of the present time, when shot are hollow, and a gun is
chambered and, not unfrequently, has a muzzle almost as large as the
open end of a flour-barrel, and a breech as big as a hogshead. At the
commencement-of this century a long twelve-pounder was considered a
smart piece, and was thought very capable of doing a good deal of
mischief. The main battery of the ship was composed of guns of that
description, while one of the brigs carried eight nines, and the other
fourteen sixes. As the ship mounted altogether thirty, if not
thirty-two, guns, this left the governor to contend with batteries that
had in them at least twenty-six pieces, as opposed to his own two. A
couple of lively guns, nevertheless, well-served and properly mounted,
behind good earthen banks, are quite equal to several times their number
on board ship. Notwithstanding the success of the first shot of the
pirates, this truth soon became sufficiently apparent, and the vessels
found themselves getting the worst of it. The governor, himself, or
Captain Betts pointed every gun that was fired in the battery, and they
seldom failed to make their marks on the hulls of the enemy. On the
other hand, the shot of the shipping was either buried in the mounds of
the battery, or passed over its low parapets. Not a man was hurt ashore,
at the end of an hour's struggle, with the exceptio