away we went on board her fore and aft, being
perhaps a second ahead of the brig's crew, who actually had the
hardihood to attempt to board _us_. We were stoutly met by as motley,
and, at the same time, as ruffianly a set of men as it has ever been my
lot to encounter; and a most desperate struggle forthwith ensued.
Captain Vernon of course took care to be first on board; but I stuck
close to his coat-tails, and almost the first individual we encountered
was no less a personage than our old acquaintance Monsieur Le Breton
himself. He pressed fiercely forward and at once crossed swords with
the skipper, who exchanged two or three passes with him; but the two
were soon separated by the surging crowd of combatants, and then I found
myself face to face with him. I was by no means a skilled swordsman,
and to tell the truth felt somewhat nervous for a moment as his blade
jarred and rasped upon mine. By great good fortune, however, I
succeeded in parrying his first thrust, and the next instant--how it
happened I could not possibly say--he reeled backwards with my sword-
blade right through his body. Leaving him dying, as I thought, on deck,
I immediately pressed forward after the skipper, and for a few minutes
was kept pretty busy, first with one antagonist and then another.
Finally, after a fiercely maintained struggle of some twelve minutes or
so, the brig's crew began to give way before our own lads, until,
finding themselves hemmed in on all sides, they flung down their arms
and begged for quarter, which was of course given them. Upon this,
seeing that the skipper and Smellie were both safe, I turned to go
below, thinking that I should perhaps discover poor Austin in durance
vile in one of the state-rooms. I descended the cabin staircase, and
was about to pass into the saloon when I happened to catch sight, out of
the corner of my eye, of some dark object moving in an obscure corner
under the staircase. Turning to take a more direct look at it I to my
great surprise discovered it to be Monsieur Le Breton, who, instead of
being dead as I had quite imagined he must be, was alive, and,
seemingly, not very much the worse for his wound. He carried a pistol
in his hand, and was in the very act of lowering himself down through a
trap in the flooring when I grasped him by the collar and invited him to
explain his intentions. He quietly allowed me to drag him out of the
opening, rose to his feet, and then suddenly closed wi