I sat in silence beside him, till his first
burst of grief was over, and then I endeavoured calmly and coolly to
reason with him on the subject, and to persuade him, by all the
arguments I could think of, that he had no cause to reproach himself
with what had happened).

"It is kindly meant of you, Mr. Stewart (said he, mournfully shaking
his head), kindly meant, but in vain! I know that I was only acting
in self-defence--that it was life against life--that I was perfectly
justified, in the eyes of men, in taking the life of him who would have
taken mine--but I cannot drive that last despairing look from my memory.
I feel as if my brother's blood were crying out against my soul. O my
poor Harry! would that the blow had fallen on my head instead of
thine!--would that I had had time to tell thee how fondly I loved thee,
how freely I forgave thee!

But I beg pardon, Mr. Stewart;--I must go on with my tale. Ten of the
pirates were lying dead on the deck, and five of our poor fellows; the
bodies of the former were immediately thrown overboard, and the others
were laid side by side amidships, till we could find time to give them
Christian burial. Our last lucky shot had prevented the pirate from
carrying the other part of his scheme into effect: the moon was now
shining out full and clear, and by her light we saw that her throat
halyards had been shot away, and her main-sail was flapping over the
quarter; there were hands aloft, reaving new halyards, and busily
employed about the mast-head, as if it were crippled. "We have had
fighting enough for one bout," said Captain Rose; "we must run for it
now." Our main-top-gallant mast was hanging over the side, and our sails
were riddled with the schooner's shot; she had evidently been firing
high, to disable us, that she might carry us by boarding. We clapped on
all the sail we could, served out grog to the men, and lay down at our
quarters. We were not suffered to remain at peace long: the moment the
schooner perceived our intention, she edged away after us, and having
repaired her damage, set her main-sail again; and, as the wind was still
light, with the assistance of her remaining sweeps, came crawling up
again in-shore of us. "Scoundrels!" muttered the captain, "they will
stick to us like leeches as long as there is a drop of blood left on
board."

Again we saw the flash of her gun, and the smoke curling white in the
moonbeam. The shot told with fatal effect; our main-top-sa