uns were exploding at each
instant, the cloud of smoke was both thickening and extending, fire was
flashing in the semi-obscurity of its volumes, shot were rending the
wood and cutting the rigging, and the piercing shrieks of agony, only so
much the more appalling by being extorted from the stern and resolute,
blended their thrilling accompaniments. Men seemed to be converted into
demons, and yet there was a lofty and stubborn resolution to conquer
mingled with all, that ennobled the strife and rendered it heroic. The
broadsides that were delivered in succession down the line, as ship
after ship of the rear division reached her station, however, proclaimed
that Monsieur des Prez had imitated Sir Gervaise's mode of closing, the
only one by means of which the leading vessel could escape destruction,
and that the English were completely doubled on. At this moment, the
sail-trimmers of the Plantagenet handled their braces. The first pull
was the last. No sooner were the ropes started, than the fore-top-mast
went over the bows, dragging after it the main with all its hamper, the
mizzen snapping like a pipe-stem, at the cap. By this cruel accident,
the result of many injuries to shrouds, back-stays, and spars, the
situation of the Plantagenet became worse than ever; for, not only was
the wreck to be partially cleared, at least, to fight many of the
larboard guns, but the command of the ship was, in a great measure,
lost, in the centre of one of the most infernal _melees_ that ever
accompanied a combat at sea.

At no time does the trained seaman ever appear so great, as when he
meets sudden misfortunes with the steadiness and quiet which it is a
material part of the _morale_ of discipline to inculcate. Greenly was
full of ardour for the assault, and was thinking of the best mode of
running foul of his adversary, when this calamity occurred; but the
masts were hardly down, when he changed all his thoughts to a new
current, and called out to the sail-trimmers to "lay over, and clear the
wreck."

Sir Gervaise, too, met with a sudden and violent check to the current of
his feelings. He had collected his Bowlderos, and was giving his
instructions as to the manner in which they were to follow, and keep
near his person, in the expected hand-to-hand encounter, when the heavy
rushing of the air, and the swoop of the mass from above, announced what
had occurred. Turning to the men, he calmly ordered them to aid in
getting rid of the i