ur or more passed, and then,
through the thick gloom of night, the two strangers were seen drawing
near. As they ranged up, after passing her quarters and pouring in a
heavy fire, the _Hector_ opened her broadsides in return. Now they
sailed by, and first one and then the other crossed her bows, raking her
as they did so. Broadside after broadside was poured into her. Many of
her brave crew were struck down, some never to rise again. Still
Captain Bouchier, ably seconded by Captain O'Brien Drury, who was on his
passage to England, continued to defend the ship, though, from want of
hands, a complete broadside could never be fired.

Still the few strong, able-bodied seamen made up in activity in a great
measure for the paucity of their numbers, and for the weakness of the
rest. Paul, Abel, Tom, and Peter, and the rest literally flew about the
decks, and handled the guns as if they were quakers made of wood and not
of heavy metal.

The officers laboured like the men; their example encouraged the sick
and wounded, who slid out of their hammocks and seized the gun-tackles,
hauling at them with an energy which no one would have supposed they
possessed. Even the Americans and French, in the excitement of the
moment, seemed to forget that they were helping their late enemies, and
laboured like the rest, in spite of the showers of shot which came
crashing in on them. Still, exert themselves as they would, they knew
that the Frenchmen must have been aware, from their mode of firing, that
they were short of guns, because, having approached while it was yet
day, they had seen by her size that she was a seventy-four-gun ship.

The Captain and master stood by the helm, and frequently had to call the
men from the guns to trim sails, in order to alter the position of the
ship, and to avoid being raked by the French frigates, who, nimble in
their movements, again and again attempted to cross her bows and stern.
Frequently they succeeded, and their shot came tearing along her decks,
and ripping them up fore and aft, wounding the beams and knocking some
completely away. Still the British would not give in. Had there been
more men on board the _Hector_, the slaughter would have been much
greater. As it was, numbers were falling on every deck.

At length the discouraging cry arose that the Captain was desperately
wounded. At that moment his voice was heard exclaiming, loud above the
din of battle, "Never fear, my lads; my hea