had been hurt, although there was a good
deal of screaming among the women, while several of the children, in the
process of being hustled below by their parents, started crying
vigorously. Meanwhile Miss Hartley, after pausing a moment to stare in
astonishment at the splintered bulwarks and the riddled sails, calmly
descended the poop ladder and made her way into the cabin.

"Well," exclaimed Chips, "swamp me if that ain't the rummiest go as ever
I seen! That junk's a pirate junk, Mr Troubridge, neither more nor
less; and in my opinion t'other one's no better. Look at that, sir;
there she goes in stays! Tell ye what, sir, they means to get us in
between 'em if they can!"

"Upon my word, Chips, I believe you are right!" said I, as the more
distant of the two junks swept up into the wind, preparatory to going
round on the other tack. "And if they should succeed it will be a
pretty poor lookout for all hands aboard this ship! Have we any arms of
any description, do you know, with which to defend ourselves?"

"I'm sure I don't know, Mr Troubridge," answered the carpenter in tones
of great concern. "I haven't seen none. But there may be a few
muskets, or some'at of that sort, stowed away somewheres down below, for
all that I knows. If there is, I dare say the bosun'll know where to
lay his hands upon 'em."

"Then the best thing that you can do will be to go down and call the
boatswain, and put the question to-- ah, here he is!" as Polson's head
showed above the poop ladder. "Come up here, Polson!" I exclaimed;
"you are just the man we want. That junk astern of us has just treated
us to a broadside of langrage, and Chips's opinion of the pair of them
is that they are a couple of piratical craft. Have we any firearms of
any kind aboard with which to defend the ship, or must we run for it?"

"I believe that there's a case of two dozen muskets and some ammunition
down in a little bit of a magazine abaft the lazarette," answered
Polson; "and I fancies that there's a few round shot for them two six-
pounders of ours. Shall I go down and have a look, Mr Troubridge?"

"Yes, certainly," said I; "and be quick about it too, Polson. To be
perfectly frank with you, I don't half like the look of things. That
junk that has just tacked is looking up a good point higher than we are,
and unless we happen to have the heels of her, I fancy that we are in
for a warm time."

The boatswain waited to hear no more, but scuttl