, for the immediate result was that the vessel of the enemy which
had hit them was partially disabled--her foretopmast and flying jibboom
having been shot away.

The _Waterwitch_ instantly resumed her course and while Bill Bowls was
busily employed in assisting to reload his gun, he could see that the
two Frenchmen were close on their lee bow.

Passing to windward of the two frigates, which were named respectively
_La Gloire_ and the _St. Denis_, Captain Ward received a broadside from
the latter, without replying to it, until he had crossed her bow within
musket range, when he delivered a broadside which raked her from stem to
stern. He then wore ship, and, passing between the two, fired his
starboard broadside into the _Gloire_, and, almost immediately after,
his port broadside into the _St. Denis_.

The effect on the two ships was tremendous.

Their sails and rigging were terribly cut up, and several of the yards
came rattling down on their decks. The _Gloire_, in particular, had her
rudder damaged. Seeing this, and knowing that in her crippled state she
could do him no further damage, Captain Ward passed on, sailed round the
stern of the _St. Denis_, and, when within six yards of her, sent a
broadside right in at her cabin windows. Then he ranged alongside and
kept up a tremendous fire.

The Frenchmen stuck to their guns admirably, but the British fired
quicker. At such close quarters every shot told on both sides. The din
and crash of such heavy artillery was terrific; and it soon became
almost impossible to see what was going on for smoke.

Up to this point, although many of the men in the _Waterwitch_ had been
killed or wounded, only one of those who manned the gun at which Bill
Bowls served had been hit.

"It's too hot to last long," observed Flinn, as he thrust home a ball
and drew out the ramrod; "run her out, boys."

The men obeyed, and were in the act of pulling at the tackle, when a
shot from the enemy struck the gun on the muzzle, tore it from its
fastenings, and hurled it to the other side of the deck.

Strange to say, only one of the men who worked it was hurt by the gun;
but in its passage across the deck it knocked down and killed three men,
and jammed one of the guns on the other side in such a way that it
became for a time unserviceable. Ben Bolter and his comrades were
making desperate efforts to clear the wreck, when they heard a shout on
deck for the boarders. The bowsprit of the