e man-of-war, and hands
were seen going aloft to repair some damage which it had caused.

The pirates cheered when they saw that the shot had taken effect,
"Hurrah! hurrah! Fire away again, Silva; fire away!" they shouted.
Thus encouraged, he continued firing as fast as the guns could be
loaded. Shot after shot was discharged. Still the pursuer came on as
proudly and gallantly as before. Now and then a shot was fired from her
bow chasers; but the difficulty of taking anything like an aim in such a
sea was very great, and they generally flew excessively wide of their
mark. Silva, indeed, after the first shot, had but little to boast of
as a marksman. His anger seemed to rise. He looked with a fierce
glance at our pursuer. Both the guns were loaded. He stooped down to
one and fired; then, scarcely looking up to watch the result, he went to
the other. The schooner was sinking into a sea; as she rose to the
summit of the next, a shot left the muzzle of the gun. Away it winged
its flight above the foaming ocean. Now the pirates cheered more
lustily than ever. Good cause had they. As if by magic, the wide cloud
of canvas which had lately towered above the deck of the corvette seemed
dissolved in air. The race is not always to the swift, nor does Fortune
always favour the best cause. The pirate's shot had cut the corvette's
fore-topmast completely in two, and we could see it with its tangled
mass of spars, and sails, and rigging hanging over the bows, and still
further stopping the ship's way.

"Now we may shorten sail," sang out Captain Bruno. "Aloft, my lads;
quick about it." The men needed not to be told of the importance of
haste. They flew aloft, and soon handed the top-gallant-sails, and took
two reefs in the topsails. Relieved of the vast weight which had been
pressing on her, and almost driving her over, the schooner now flew much
more easily over the seas, and with scarcely diminished speed.

We kept watching the corvette. She, of course, could carry sail on her
main-mast, but it took some time to clear away the wreck of the
fore-topmast, and to set up the fore-stay, which had been carried away.
This it was necessary to do before sail could be set on the
main-topmast. All this work occupied some time, and enabled the
schooner to get far ahead. Night, too, was coming on. The weather
promised to be very thick. The pirate's chance of escape was very
considerable. Our hearts sank within us as w