be done?"

"Why," said I, "I think you had better take the wounded into the launch,
and proceed with her, just as she is, as quickly as possible to the
schooner. Turn the wounded over to Sanderson, stow your booty in the
hold, hoist in the launch, and then make sail for the mouth of the
lagoon, where I hope to fall in with you in the felucca. I shall only
be able to spare you six hands to pull the boat, but that will not
greatly matter, as I think you are not likely to be interfered with
during your passage to the schooner; and I do not wish to start short-
handed, as we may possibly have a little more fighting to do on our way
down the lagoon. Now, hurry away as fast as you can, please; those two
small craft which you so gallantly took are not worth the trouble of
carrying away; I shall therefore fire them and then get under way
forthwith."

The painful task of moving the wounded was then undertaken; and it was
most distressing to see how severe our loss had been. Out of a total of
thirty-six, all told, which had left the schooner in the boats, five
only had escaped uninjured--Courtenay and I had both been hurt, though
nothing to speak of--nine were killed, and thirteen so severely wounded
as to be unfit for duty.

Having at length seen the launch fairly under weigh for the schooner, I
sent Fidd away with four hands in the gig to fire our two smaller
prizes--a task which was soon accomplished, as the vessels were lying
alongside each other. The felucca's canvas was then loosed, her anchor
was roused up to her bows, and we got under weigh.

We had not proceeded further than a couple of miles down the lagoon
before--as I had quite expected--we came upon a battery constructed upon
a small projecting spit; which battery, had we been passing _up_ instead
of _down_ the lagoon, could have raked us fore and aft for at least
twenty minutes, and peppered us with grape for another ten, without our
being able to fire a single shot in return. This battery was a hastily
constructed affair of sods, and it mounted only one gun, but that gun
was a long eighteen; and had we removed the chain barrier which formed
the first obstruction, and persevered in our original attempt to pass up
the lagoon, there can be no doubt that this gun would have destroyed the
schooner and all hands. The people who manned the battery could not
possibly have failed to hear the firing that had been going on at the
head of the lagoon; but they seeme