age.
Lieutenant Beatty, who had brought a telescope on shore with him,
exclaimed:

"By Jove! those two little gun-boats have caught it hot. See, there is
one of them putting about, but the other seems to be drifting towards
the shore."

This was indeed the fact; she was slightly in advance of the other, and
was the principal target of the fire. The midshipman who commanded her,
and most of her crew, were killed, and before the few survivors could
recover themselves from the surprise into which they had been thrown by
the unexpected attack, the vessel had grounded. The heavy fire of
musketry continued, the guns again poured in their fire, and as escape
was impossible, the few men who remained alive at once hauled down their
flag and surrendered. The capture was a valuable one to the French. The
gun-boat carried a 32-pounder, and as Napoleon's heaviest guns were but
10-pounders, the cannon was invaluable.

As soon as its capture was known, some artillery horses were sent to the
port and transported it to the batteries, at which the French were
already hard at work. For the first day or two it was almost useless,
for, with the exception of a few shot taken with it, they had none that
would fit it; but as soon as the besieged began to fire they obtained an
ample supply of cannon balls, which were eagerly collected by the
soldiers, a small reward being paid for every shot that was brought in.
In a short time, however, the French were in a better position for
carrying on the siege with vigour, for as it became necessary to retain
the _Tigre_ and _Theseus_ to assist in the defence of the town, French
vessels were able to land artillery at Jaffa and other points, and they
had ere long an ample supply for their batteries.

"There is no doubt," Lieutenant Beatty said, "that that gun-boat has
been captured, and from her not attempting to go round and sail out as
her companion did, I am afraid that the crew must have been almost
annihilated by the enemy's fire. It was a very risky thing to send those
two small craft in alone, even though the place had not replied to their
fire, for even if the French had no guns, they might have had many
hundreds of men in the town, against whom the crew of those two boats
could have done nothing whatever. However, the loss is not serious
except in the matter of the crew. I don't suppose she carried more than
one gun."

"But even that is important," Edgar said, "for I know they have pretty
h