n around, slid back on the man, swift
as the blow of an axe. The man, driven against the side of the ship, was
lost. The whole crew cried out with horror.

But the old passenger, till this moment motionless, darted forth more
quickly than any of this wildly swift rapidity. He seized a package of
counterfeit assignats, and, at the risk of being crushed, succeeded in
throwing it between the wheels of the carronade. This decisive and
perilous movement could not have been made with more exactness and
precision by a man trained in all the exercises described in Durosel's
"Manual of Gun Practice at Sea."

The package had the effect of a clog. A pebble may stop a log, the branch
of a tree turn aside an avalanche. The carronade stumbled. The gunner,
taking advantage of this critical opportunity, plunged his iron bar
between the spokes of one of the hind wheels. The cannon stopped. It
leaned forward. The man, using the bar as a lever, held it in equilibrium.
The heavy mass was overthrown, with the crash of a falling bell, and the
man, rushing with all his might, dripping with perspiration, passed the
slipnoose around the bronze neck of the subdued monster.

It was ended. The man had conquered. The ant had control over the
mastodon; the pygmy had taken the thunderbolt prisoner.

The mariners and sailors clapped their hands.

The whole crew rushed forward with cables and chains, and in an instant
the cannon was secured.

The gunner saluted the passenger.

"Sir," he said, "you have saved my life."

The old man had resumed his impassive attitude, and made no reply.

The man had conquered, but the cannon might be said to have conquered as
well. Immediate shipwreck had been avoided, but the corvette was not
saved. The damage to the vessel seemed beyond repair. There were five
breaches in her sides, one, very large, in the bow; twenty of the thirty
carronades lay useless in their frames. The one which had just been
captured and chained again was disabled; the screw of the cascabel was
sprung, and consequently leveling the gun made impossible. The battery was
reduced to nine pieces. The ship was leaking. It was necessary to repair
the damages at once, and to work the pumps.

The gun-deck, now that one could look over it, was frightful to behold.
The inside of an infuriated elephant's cage would not be more completely
demolished.

However great might be the necessity of escaping observation, the
necessity of immediate safety