. At the same
moment another shot came from the schooner, badly wounding our main-
topmast above the cap, and the breeze reaching us almost immediately
afterward, the spar went over the side, dragging down the mizzen topmast
and the fore-topgallant-mast with it. The result of all this was that
while the schooner broached to and rode by the wreck of her foremast as
to a sea anchor, _La Mouette_ fell broad off and refused to come to the
wind again; consequently the distance between the two vessels rapidly
widened until both were out of range, and the firing ceased.

Thus ended the fight; and I presume that the two craft soon passed out
of sight of each other and did not again meet, during that voyage at
least, for there was no more firing from _La Mouette_ while I remained
aboard her. But what transpired during the rest of the voyage I was
destined to know very little about, for scarcely had the firing ceased
when Captain Tourville, thin, weak, and emaciated, crept up on the poop.
He had a pistol in his hand, and no sooner did his gaze fall on me than
he levelled the weapon at me and fired it point-blank.

Fortunately for me, the man's hand was so unsteady that the ball flew
wide; but the report brought the mates and half-a-dozen men to us with a
rush to see what was the matter.

"Take that young scoundrel," exclaimed Tourville, pointing at me with a
finger that trembled with rage as much as with weakness, "put his hands
and his feet in irons, heave him down on the ballast, and leave him
there until I give you further instructions."

CHAPTER FIFTEEN.

IN THE HANDS OF SAVAGES.

The order was promptly obeyed; and in a few minutes I found myself,
heavily ironed, in the pitchy darkness of the lower hold, squatted
disconsolately upon the bed of shingle which constituted the ballast of
the vessel.

And what a situation for a young fellow of less than twenty years of age
to be in! The ship of which I had been placed in command lost--
foundered in mid-ocean, and, only too probably, all hands lost with her.
Our fate would never be known; it would be concluded that one of the
mysterious disasters that so frequently befall the seaman had overtaken
us; we should be given up as lost; and there would be an end of us all,
so far as our fellow-men were concerned. For whatever hopes I might
once have entertained of escaping from this accursed ship, I had none
now.

That Tourville would not be satisfied with anything sho