din of shrieks, yells, shouts, and imprecations--heard but very
imperfectly by us down below--immediately succeeded. A crash of
artillery, accompanied by the thud of shot against the ship's sides, and
the rending of timber overhead, told us that the pirate schooner had
promptly returned the broadside, and a slight but very perceptible
concussion a minute later indicated that she was alongside. A rattling
fire of musketry was immediately opened from the deck of the _Santa
Catalina_, to which the pirates replied with their pistols. Orders were
shouted on both sides, the sharp cries of the wounded, and the muffled
thud of their bodies falling to the deck, began to mingle with the
officers' shouts of encouragement and the fierce defiances of the men.
There was a rush, a confused trampling of feet, more pistol-shots, the
ring of steel upon steel, and a medley of human voices raised high in
the excitement of mortal combat which told us that the pirates were
boarding.

"There they are!" exclaimed Woodford, springing to his feet, his example
in this respect being followed by the whole of the men. "Now, what do
you say, Mr Lascelles, are we to go up and tackle them?"

"Not yet," said I; "I have pledged my word that we will not interfere
unless the pirates absolutely gain possession of the ship, and that
pledge must be scrupulously observed. By the way," I continued, as an
idea flashed through my brain, "I wish you all to understand, my lads,
that I am particularly anxious to secure the pirate captain alive, if
possible; and I will give fifty pounds to the man who effects his
capture. And I suppose I need not remind you that if we have to fight
at all it will be for our lives. Those fellows on deck are not likely
to give any quarter if they get the best of the tussle."

"Never fear, sir," answered Collins, one of the smartest of the crew;
"we'll give 'em a second taste of what they got from us away over there
in the lagoons."

"Ay, ay; we will. Trust us for that," etcetera, etcetera, murmured one
and another; and as I looked round at them standing there like hounds in
the leash, their eyes gleaming, their feet shuffling impatiently on the
deck, their cutlasses tightly grasped in their sinewy hands, their every
movement betraying their excitement and eagerness to join in the fray, I
felt that they most assuredly would.

Presently hasty footsteps were heard approaching, and in another moment
several of the _Santa Catal