largest boat, which pulled
towards the stern. "Another, Fred--"

At this moment a withering volley was poured upon the boat, and a savage
yell of agony followed, while the rowers--who remained unhurt--paused
for an instant as if paralysed. Next instant they recovered, and
another stroke would have brought them almost alongside, when Captain
Ellice pointed the little carronade and fired. There was a terrific
crash, the gun recoiled violently to the other side of the deck, and the
pirate boat sank, leaving the sea covered with dead and wounded men. A
number, however, who seemed to bear charmed lives, seized their
cutlasses with their teeth, and swam boldly for the ship. This
incident, unfortunately, attracted too much of the attention of the
crew, and, ere they could prevent it, another boat reached the bow of
the ship, the crew of which sprang up the side like cats, formed on the
forecastle, and poured a volley upon the men.

"Follow me, lads," shouted the captain, as he sprang forward like a
tiger. The first man he reached fell by a ball from his pistol; in
another moment the opposing parties met in a hand-to-hand conflict.
Meanwhile Fred, having been deeply impressed with the effect of the shot
from the little carronade, succeeded in raising and reloading it. He
had scarcely accomplished this when one of the boats reached the
larboard quarter, and two of the men sprang up the side. Fred observed
them, and felled the first with a handspike before he reached the deck,
but the pirate who instantly followed, would have killed him, had he not
been observed by the second mate, who had prevented several of the men
from joining in the melee on the forecastle, in order to meet such an
emergency as this. Rushing to the rescue with his party, he drove the
pirates back into the boat, which was immediately pulled towards the
bow, where the other two boats were now grappling and discharging their
crews on the forecastle. Although the men of the West-Indiaman fought
with desperate courage, they could not stand before the increasing
numbers of pirates, who now crowded the forepart of the ship in a dense
mass. Gradually they were beaten back, and at length were brought to
bay on the quarter-deck.

"Help, Father!" cried Fred, pushing through the struggling crowd,
"here's the carronade ready loaded."

"Ha! boy, well done!" cried the captain, seizing the gun, and, with the
help of Buzzby, who never left his side, dragging