ht be kept always toward the enemy, he awaited a second
attack. At midnight the enemy were seen advancing again, this time
with fourteen barges and about five hundred men. While the flotilla
was still at long range, the Americans opened fire upon them with the
heavy "Long Tom;" and, as they came nearer, the full battery of long
nine-pounders took up the fight. The carnage in the advancing boats
was terrible; but the plucky Englishmen pushed on, meeting the
privateer's fire with volleys of musketry and carronades. Despite the
American fire, the British succeeded in getting under the bow and
quarter of the "Armstrong," and strove manfully to board; while the
Americans fought no less bravely to keep them back. The attack became
a furious hand-to-hand battle. From behind the boarding-nettings the
Americans thrust pikes, and fired pistols and muskets, at their
assailants, who, mounted on each other's shoulders, were hacking
fiercely at the nettings which kept them from gaining the schooner's
deck. The few that managed to clamber on the taffrail of the
"Armstrong" were thrust through and through with pikes, and hurled,
thus horribly impaled, into the sea. The fighting was fiercest and
deadliest on the quarter; for there were most of the enemy's boats,
and there Capt. Reid led the defence in person. So hot was the
reception met by the British at this point, that they drew off in
dismay, despairing of ever gaining the privateer's deck. Hardly did
Reid see the enemy thus foiled on the quarter, when a chorus of
British cheers from the forecastle, mingled with yells of rage, told
that the enemy had succeeded in effecting a lodgement there. Calling
his men about him, the gallant captain dashed forward and was soon in
the front rank of the defenders, dealing furious blows with his
cutlass, and crying out, "Come on, my lads, and we'll drive them into
the sea." The leadership of an officer was all that the sailors
needed. The three lieutenants on the forecastle had been killed or
disabled, else the enemy had never come aboard. With Reid to cheer
them on, the sailors rallied, and with a steady advance drove the
British back into their boats. The disheartened enemy did not return
to the attack, but returned to their ships, leaving behind two boats
captured and two sunk. Their loss in the attack was thirty-four killed
and eighty-six wounded. On the privateer were two killed and seven
wounded.

[Illustration: Privateersmen at Home.]

B