After making some slight repairs, Bainbridge returned to take
possession of his prize, but, to his surprise, found a jack still
floating over the helpless hulk. It was merely a bit of bravado,
however; for, as the "Constitution" ranged up alongside, the jack was
hauled down.

[Illustration: In The Cross-trees.]

The "Java" proved to be a rich prize. She was one of the best of the
English frigates, and had just been especially fitted up for the
accommodation of the governor-general of Bombay and his staff, all of
whom were then on board. This added to the regular number of officers
and crew more than one hundred prisoners, mostly of high rank in
British military and social circles.

The boarding officer found the ship so badly cut up that to save her
was impossible. Her loss in men, including her captain Henry Lambert,
and five midshipmen, was forty-eight, together with one hundred and
five wounded, among whom were many officers. The "Constitution" had
suffered much less severely, having but twelve killed and twenty
wounded. The ship herself was but little damaged; her chief injury
being the loss of her wheel, which was immediately replaced by that of
the "Java."

Capt. Bainbridge now found himself a great distance from home, with a
disabled ship filled with prisoners, many of whom were wounded. Even
had the wreck of the "Java" been less complete, it would have been
hazardous to attempt to take her back to the United States through the
West India waters that swarmed with British vessels. No course was
open save to take the prisoners aboard the "Constitution," and set the
torch to the disabled hulk.

To do this was a work of no little difficulty. The storm of lead and
iron that had swept across the decks of the British frigate had left
intact not one of the boats that hung from the davits. The
"Constitution" had fared better; but, even with her, the case was
desperate, for the British cannonade had left her but two serviceable
boats. To transfer from the sinking ship to the victorious frigate
nearly five hundred men, over a hundred of whom were wounded, was a
serious task when the means of transfer were thus limited.

Three days the "Constitution" lay by her defeated enemy, and hour
after hour the boats plied between the two ships. The first to be
moved were the wounded. Tackle was rigged over the side of the "Java;"
and the mangled sufferers, securely lashed in their hammocks, were
gently lowered into the waiting