hesapeake's" cannon.

Instantly Lawrence ordered the boarders to be called on deck, and he was
ready to put himself at their head and dash on board the "Shannon." He
was slightly wounded, but he did not care for that. But now came another
misfortune. The man who should have called the boarders to action by the
roll of the drum was not on duty, and the bugler was ordered to sound
the call. He was so frightened by this awful fight that he ran and hid
himself, and when he was pulled out from his retreat, he had not breath
enough to blow his bugle. Some of the men were sent below to shout for
the boarders and call them on deck,--a very slow procedure at such a
time; but before any of them arrived, the brave Lawrence was stretched
upon the deck by a musket ball.

The captain of the "Chesapeake" was not immediately killed, but he was
mortally wounded; and when he was carried below, he showed that, near
death as he was, he was still the bravest man on board. He thought
nothing of himself, he thought only of his country and his ship; and his
last orders were, "Don't give up the ship. Fight her till she sinks."

But it was not much use trying to fight the "Shannon" any longer; there
were no officers on the deck of the "Chesapeake," except two midshipmen,
and the British captain saw that he had a good chance to board his
enemy. So his crew were soon clambering over the sides of the American
vessel. Some wounded officers rushed up from below to help repel this
attack. Many of the American sailors fought bravely even at these great
odds; but some of the crew, especially the Portuguese, basely deserted
their comrades and hurried below. The fight on the deck of the
"Chesapeake" was not a long one; and very soon the stars and stripes
were hauled down from her masthead, and the British colors hoisted in
their place.

So ended the great duel between the "Chesapeake" and the "Shannon," and
the last words of the brave Lawrence were never forgotten. "Don't give
up the ship" became the watchword of the navy.

After this bloody sea fight, which lasted only fifteen minutes, but in
which nearly two hundred and fifty men were killed and wounded, the
"Shannon" sailed away for Halifax, taking with her the "Chesapeake,"
with the dead body of its brave commander on board. When the two vessels
entered the harbor, Lawrence lay upon the quarter-deck, wrapped in the
great flag of the "Chesapeake," while all the men on the British vessels
in the ha