spot where the
boats could land their men--the wreck moored close in limiting the
space. And it turned out as Syd had imagined: the boats--three--came as
close in as the submerged rocks would allow, and they were still out of
sight when the defenders heard a shout, and first one and then another
rowed into sight, making for the landing-place. Then came the third,
as, thinking it a pity to have to give so terrible an order, Syd shouted
"Fire!" with the result that the closely-packed charge from the first
gun went right through one boat, leaving her crew struggling in the
water; and the shot from the second gun completely tore off the bows of
the third boat, but not until her crew was so near land that they were
able to pilot the boat a few yards farther before she sank, her men
literally tumbling one over the other into the deck-less hull of the
water-logged wreck.

The other boat got up to the pier in safety after her crew had held out
oars and boat-hooks to their drowning comrades, and so all got to shore;
the rush and beating of the water, and its churning up by the grape-shot
having scattered the sharks for the moment.

All this gave the occupants of the battery more time than they had
anticipated, and this was utilised in reloading, which was almost
completed, when there was a word of command, a shout; and armed with
cutlass, pistol, and boarding-pike, the Frenchmen dashed up gallantly to
the wall, some stopping back to fire at the defenders, who were,
however, too well sheltered to be hurt.

"Be ready with your arms, my lads," cried Syd, as he recalled stories of
fights he had heard his father relate.

"Ay, ay, sir."

"Throw them back as fast as they get up."

"Ay, ay, sir!" came again heartily; but the enemies' heads did not
appear above the edge, and though the loud buzzing and shouting of
orders came up, there was no adversary.

It was not the men's fault, for they were at the bottom of a vast
natural wall, which towered up from fifteen to twenty feet, and so
smooth that there was not the slightest foothold to enable them to
climb.

The officer who had come up to it before with a flag of truce had in his
excitement omitted to notice the difficulty, and consequently neither
rope nor spar had been brought; and though the men clambered and shouted
and made brave efforts to mount upon each other's shoulders, fortunately
for them they were not able to get up far enough to be sent down with a
cut on the h