m her,' said a
voice behind. It was the commander himself, who was now in full uniform,
and wore a belt with four pistols stuck around it.

"There is no use in denying it,--the English prepared for action like
brave fellows, and soon cleared the deck of everything in the way of the
guns. But what use was it? In less than an hour the 'Creole' worked to
windward, and opened a fire from her long guns to which the other could
make no reply. There they came plumping in,--some into the hull, some
splintering through the bulwarks, and some crashing away through the
rigging; and all the crew could do was to repair the mischief the
distant cannonade was making.

"'It's a cowardly way your countrymen come into action, after all,' said
the lieutenant, as he watched the shot hopping and skipping along the
water to leeward. 'With four times our strength, they don't bear down
and encourage us.'

"As he spoke, a shot cut the peak halyards in two, and down came the
spar with a crash, carrying with it in its fall that ensign they 're so
proud of. It was all we could do, prisoners as we were, not to cheer at
this; but the faces around us did not encourage us to such a course, and
we sat silently watching them.

"The moment the accident happened, twenty stout fellows were clambering
up the rigging, and as many more engaged to repair the mischief. But
suddenly the commander whispered something to the lieutenant; the
men were called down again, and the craft was let fall off the wind,
trailing the sails and the tangled rigging over her sides.

"'And the prisoners, sir?' said the lieutenant, at the close of
something I could not hear.

"'Send them below,' was the short reply.

"'We cannot; the space between decks is crowded to suffocation. But here
she comes.' And, as he spoke, the frigate came bearing down in gallant
style, her whole deck swarming with men.

"'Down, men, down!' whispered the lieutenant, and he dropped on his
knee behind the bulwark, and motioned to the rest to kneel. And I now
perceived that every sailor had a drawn cutlass in his hand and pistols
in his belt, as he lay crouching on the deck.

"The frigate was now so close, I could hear the commands of the officers
on the quarterdeck, and the words 'Bas les branles'--the signal to
board--passed from mouth to mouth. The next instant, she closed on us,
and showed her tall sides towering above us.

"'Now, men!' cried the commander of the 'Fawn,' 'now, forward! 'All