urn with
him, for she was unwilling to leave poor Mistress Pearson to the danger
to which she would be exposed should the village be stormed, as it was
too likely to be. At length, however, she yielded to her and Jack's
united entreaties, and returned to the rock with Deane. By the time
they reached it, the other English vessels had almost come up with their
crippled consort, and a considerable flotilla of boats was seen
collecting round them. The pirates meantime, having warped their vessel
into the harbour, had placed her across its mouth, so that her guns
pointed directly down towards an enemy approaching in that direction. A
considerable number of the people were also engaged on shore in throwing
up breastworks at various points likely to be assailed. Guns were being
brought down from the stores and from the other vessels up the harbour,
and every effort was being made which desperate men could think of to
defend the place. The English seemed to guess what the pirates were
about by the rapidity of their movements, for not a moment was lost
after the vessels had met, before the boats began to pull at a rapid
rate towards the mouth of the harbour. There were twelve boats in all,
carrying a considerable body of men. The ships at the same time stood
in as close as they could venture, to cover the attack with their guns.

Between the rock on which Deane and Elizabeth stood, was a sandy bay,
affording tolerably safe landing. This spot the pirates seemed to have
overlooked, though the English were evidently aware of it, for while one
party of boats pulled towards the mouth of the harbour, another,
suddenly leaving the main body, made a dash towards the bay, for the
purpose of landing before the pirates discovered it and were prepared to
resist them. On came five boats at a rapid rate, the water foaming at
their bows, as their crews urged them through it. Deane could with
difficulty resist the temptation of hurrying forward to meet them, but
he could not leave Elizabeth, nor could he place her in the danger to
which she would be exposed had he carried her with him. As soon as the
ships came close enough they opened their fire at the hastily thrown up
forts at the harbour's mouth, while the flotilla of boats dashed forward
for the purpose of storming them before the enemy had recovered from the
effects of the cannonading. The pirates, however, had been too long
accustomed to desperate fighting of all sorts to be