ward cut at his antagonist's head, with such tremendous force that
the skipper's guard was fairly beaten down, and had not his adversary's
cutlass turned its edge he would, in all probability, have been cloven
to the chin; as it was, he received a heavy blow on the head with the
back of the weapon which partially stunned him, and placed him
completely at the French captain's mercy.

The cutlass was instantly raised to repeat the stroke, when, in an agony
of apprehension at the imminent danger which threatened the man who had
shown me so much kindness, I drew a pistol from my belt, and, thrusting
its muzzle into the Frenchman's face, pulled the trigger. The man flung
up his arms and fell backwards dead, his distorted features, all blood-
bespattered, presenting a hideous sight which haunted me for many a day
afterwards. The sight of blood is said to madden some animals, and I am
sure it maddened me, for, furious with excitement, I forthwith dashed
headlong into the thickest of the _melee_, quite regardless of
consequences, using with such savage freedom a cutlass which I snatched
out of the hand of a wounded man, that the French recoiled on every side
with looks of dismay, while our own men, pressing forward with renewed
vigour, at length drove the enemy back to their own ship.

"Hurrah, lads! after them!" I exclaimed, far too excited to give a
thought to the singularity of a newly-made midshipman presuming to
assume the leadership in the presence of his superiors. Our men caught
my enthusiasm, responding with a ringing cheer; and after them we went,
helter-skelter, so rapidly that English and French tumbled over the
bulwarks together. There was a momentary effort on the part of the
French to make a stand on reaching their own deck; but they were, as a
crew, now thoroughly demoralised, and our lads, their blood at last
completely roused, gave them no time to rally, but cut down every man
who offered the slightest opposition. Seeing that their case was
hopeless, the French crew flung down their arms and cried for quarter,
and in less than two minutes from the instant of boarding, we found
ourselves masters of the "Sans-Culotte" privateer, mounting eight long
8-pounders and four 12-pound carronades, and with a crew originally of
eighty-one men, of whom nine were killed and twenty wounded; our own
loss being one man killed and one wounded. The action lasted three
hours, and proved to be the first engagement of the wa