th a perfect tornado of
bullets, nails, jagged fragments of iron and what not upon the deck of
the devoted craft. When the smoke cleared away it was seen that the
oars were drooping motionless in the water, and that of all that great
crowd who a moment earlier stood upon her deck, scarcely a paltry dozen
still remained upright. That terrific storm of missiles had most
effectually done its work.

On the after deck but one solitary officer, clad in a complete suit of
splendid armour, and with the hilt of his broken sword in his hand,
stood among a heap of slain, and, seeing him, George sprang up on the
rail of the galleon and hailed him:

"Do you surrender, senor, _a buena guerra_?" he demanded.

"What else can I do, senor, seeing that you have slain the whole of my
crew with your infernal broadside?" he demanded. "Yes, senor," he
continued, "I surrender the ship, but I am disgraced for ever, and I
will not increase my humiliation by becoming your prisoner."

And therewith he calmly walked to the side of the galley and
deliberately sprang overboard, sinking instantly, of course.

The Cruise of the "Nonsuch" Buccaneer--by Harry Collingwood

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN.

HOW GEORGE FOUND HIS BROTHER.

"So much for Spanish pride!" muttered George to himself as he gazed
thoughtfully at the little ring of foam and the few bubbles which alone
marked the spot where the officer had disappeared. Then he stepped down
off the rail and gave orders for the galleon to be hove-to.

Next came the order to "Out boats"; and when four of them had been
lowered and brought to the gangway, George instructed Basset to take
command of one, the boatswain of another, the armourer of the third, and
announced his intention to himself command the fourth, leaving Dyer, the
pilot, in temporary command of the ship. Every man told off to go in
the boats of course went armed to the teeth, for the galley-slaves were
known to be, as a rule, desperate characters, and George was already
beginning to feel not a little puzzled as to how he was to deal with
this batch, now that he had them. A few strokes of the oars sufficed to
carry the boats alongside the galley, the long sweeps of which had
meanwhile been laid in, and in another moment the Englishmen had
scrambled up the craft's low sides and stood upon her deck.

She was a vessel of about forty tons measurement, very long and shallow
in proportion to her beam, with full deck forward and aft, and na