inbridge warded off the danger;
and the fight continued broadside to broadside. The firing on both
sides was rapid and well directed. After half an hour of fighting, the
"Constitution" was seriously crippled by a round shot, which carried
away her wheel, and wounded Bainbridge by driving a small copper bolt
deep into his thigh. For a moment it seemed as though the American
ship was lost. Having no control over the rudder, her head fell off,
her sails flapped idly against the spars, and the enemy was fast
coming into an advantageous position. But, though wounded, the
indomitable Yankee captain was equal to the occasion. Tackle was
rigged upon the rudder-post between decks, and a crew of jackies
detailed to work the improvised helm. The helmsmen were far out of
earshot of the quarter-deck: so a line of midshipmen was formed from
the quarter-deck to the spot where the sailors tugged at the
steering-lines.

"Hard-a-port!" Bainbridge would shout from his station on the
quarter-deck.

[Illustration: Marines Picking Off The Enemy.]

"Hard-a-port! Hard-a-port!" came the quick responses, as the
midshipmen passed the word along. And so the ship was steered; and,
notwithstanding the loss of her wheel, fairly out-manoeuvred her
antagonist. The first raking broadside was delivered by the
"Constitution," and did terrible execution along the gun-deck of the
English ship. The two ships then ran before the wind, exchanging
broadsides at a distance of half pistol-shot. At this game the
American was clearly winning: so the Englishman determined to close
and board, in the dashing, fearless way that had made the tars of
Great Britain the terror of all maritime peoples. The frigate bore
down on the "Constitution," and struck her on the quarter; the long
jib-boom tearing its way through the rigging of the American ship.
But, while this movement was being executed, the American gunners had
not been idle; and the results of their labors were very evident, in
the rigging of the "Java." Her jib-boom and bowsprit were so shattered
by shot, that they were on the point of giving way; and, as the ships
met, the mizzen-mast fell, crashing through forecastle and main-deck,
crushing officers and sailors beneath it in the fall, and hurling the
topmen into the ocean to drown. The "Constitution" shot ahead, but
soon wore and lay yard-arm to yard-arm with her foe. For some minutes
the battle raged with desperation. A dense sulphurous smoke hung about
t