uld not again
venture to attack them. Steadily the boats fired away. "Hurrah!
hurrah! hurrah!" A loud cheer ran through the line. A shot had entered
the house of Tappis, Kosoko's prime minister, and set it on fire. He
was one of the most determined supporters of the slave-trade, and the
chief instigator of the first attack on the boats of the squadron. Soon
after the gun in a battery below his house was capsized, while the men
working it were driven out by a well-directed rocket sent among them.
House after house now caught fire. Most of the non-combatants had
before this fled, the rest were next seen hurriedly making their escape
with cries of terror and dismay. Still the garrison, with a bravery
worthy of a better cause, held out. The firing on both sides became
more rapid, but the English redoubled their exertions. Showers of shot,
and shell, and rockets were flying into the devoted town. Suddenly a
fearful roar was heard. Earth and stones, and fragments of timber mixed
with human forms, were seen to rise up into the air. One of the enemy's
chief magazines had exploded. From that moment the conflagration
extended more rapidly and fiercely than before, till the whole city
appeared to be in a blaze, the flames rising up in ruddy pyramids and
supporting a dark canopy overhead--a fit funeral pall for those who had
fallen in the strife. There could be no longer any doubt that the fate
of Lagos was decided. A broad creek ran through part of the town. This
stopped the flames. Kosoko's house was still standing. A boat was
directed especially to destroy it; but the commander of the expedition,
influenced by truly Christian motives, resolved, before doing more
injury to the town, to give Kosoko an opportunity of capitulating. The
next day was Sunday. He resolved, should the blacks commit no act of
hostility, to make it also a day of rest. Recalling all the boats, he
sent in therefore a flag of truce, by a friendly chief, to Kosoko,
allowing him till Monday morning to consider his proposals. Once more,
therefore, on Saturday evening, the squadron retired from before the
town; but very different were the feelings of those engaged from what
they had been on Friday. Now success appeared certain, then a heavy
loss and defeat had been the termination of their day's labour. Still,
as the three midshipmen met on board Jack's boat, their conversation was
far sadder than it was wont to be. So probably was that of