come up till the day was gained. And I need not tell you, lads, we
ourselves and other British seamen have dared and done a thousand things
much more desperate than our attempting to beat off such a craft as that
one out there, though she may have five times as many hands aboard as we
have, and twice as many guns."

"Hurrah, that's just like him!" cried True Blue, turning to his
shipmates; "and I say, Mynheer, you'll fight, won't you?" he added,
seizing the Dutchman's hand and wringing it heartily.

"Ya, va! I'll stick by you brave Anglish lads," answered the Dutchman.

The Dane made a similar reply, though somewhat less cordial, to Tom's
appeal, and then all the crew, having given three hearty cheers, set
about getting their prize ready for action.

All the firearms were brought on deck and carefully loaded, and so were
the guns, and each man girded a trusty cutlass to his side and stuck his
belt full of pistols; and then Paul had all the hammocks brought on
deck, and lashed upright inside the bulwarks, so as to serve as a screen
to the men working the guns.

The prize had all this time been kept running on under full sail to the
westward, and as the stranger was steering the same course, the distance
between the two had not been decreased, the latter evidently being under
the impression that the prize was a friend.

Suddenly, though it was blowing fresh, she made more sail, put up her
helm, and bore down on the prize. Paul stood steadily on with the
French flag flying, till the enemy was within musket range; then down
came the tricolour and the British ensign flew out at the peak.

"Now, lads, as we've got the flag we all love to fight under aloft, give
it them!" he shouted, and, putting his helm down, he brought his
broadside to bear on the bows of the advancing stranger. Every one of
the raking shot told among the crowd of men who clustered on her deck.
Wild shrieks and cries arose; and now her helm being put down, she
ranged up on the beam of the prize, with the intention of boarding.

Paul, however, who saw their intention, told Harry Hartland, who was at
the helm, to keep away a little, so as to avoid actual contact; and in
the meantime all the guns were again fired, within ten yards' distance,
directly at the schooner. Hitherto, strange as it may appear, not an
Englishman had been hit, while some dozen or more of the enemy had been
struck down. Still the privateer had greatly the advantage in poin