tinguished, they began to
play with terrific effect into the bows of the French frigate. Her
foremast was immediately shot away; her mizen-mast was seen to fall.
Still her crew, getting their quarterdeck guns trained aft, fought on;
but what were they to the "Blanche's" heavy guns, which mercilessly
raked her, the shot entering her bow and tearing up her deck fore and
aft, sweeping away numbers of her crew at each discharge. "If those
Mounseers are not made of iron, they'll not stand this battering much
longer," cried Dick Rogers, who was working one of the after-guns.
Pearce was standing near him. The space between the decks was filled
with smoke, though which the twinkling light of the lanterns could
scarcely penetrate, the flashes at each discharge showing the men,
begrimed with powder, with sponge and rammers ready to load, or with
their tackles to run in their guns. A cheer from the deck told them
that the Frenchman's remaining mast had fallen, and now another and
another that the foe had struck. The "Pique" was totally dismasted; the
"Blanche" had but her foremast standing. Every boat was knocked to
pieces, and how to get on board the prize, still towed by the hawser,
was the question. "The hawser must form our bridge," cried Mr Mime,
the second lieutenant of the ship, springing on to it, followed by
Pearce, Rogers, and several men. Their weight brought the rope down
into the water. For some distance they had to swim till they could
climb up by it on board. What havoc and destruction a few short hours
had wrought. Of a crew not far short of thee hundred men, one-third lay
dead or wounded, the deck covered with gore and the wrecks of the masts
and spars; guns lay dismounted, bulwarks knocked away, all telling the
tale of the bravery and hardihood of both the combatants. When the sun
arose there lay the victor and the conquered almost equally helpless.
Such was one of the scenes through which young Ripley fought his way
upwards, and gained a name and fame.

VOLUME THREE, CHAPTER THREE.

The person who is constantly keeping his eye on the reward he aims at is
very likely to stumble and fall, and never to reach it. He, on the
contrary, who thinks only how he can best perform his duty will be
upheld and encouraged, and very probably obtain a higher reward than any
at which he might have aspired. Pearce Ripley found this to be true in
his case. Duty was his leading star. It never occurred to him to