eatening, iron muzzles appeared, and, at a
second command, the whole eight blazed forth, and their contents,
consisting of round-shot with a charge of grape on top of each, went
hurtling through the air in the direction of the boats. The aim was
excellent, the shot flashing up the water all round the boats; but, so
far as I could see, not a man among either of their crews was touched.
I heard Mendouca cheer his men on, urging them to stretch out, and get
so close to the ship, that by the time that the guns were again loaded,
it would be impossible to depress the muzzles sufficiently to hit the
boats; and the men responded with the nearest approach to a cheer that,
I suppose, a Spaniard can give, pulling manfully the while. The ship's
crew were, however, too quick for them, and managed to give them another
broadside just before the boats got within the critical limit where it
would have been impossible to touch them; and this time the discharge
was very much more effective, a round-shot striking Mendouca's own boat
square on the stem just at the water-line, destroying her bows and
tearing several feet of her keel away, while the accompanying charge of
grape bowled over three of her men and shattered Mendouca's left arm at
the elbow. The crews of the other two boats suffered nearly as badly,
one of them losing three men, while the other lost one man killed and
five more or less severely wounded, besides having to stop and pick up
Mendouca and his crew, his boat sinking almost immediately.

I thought that this severe punishment would have sufficed the Spaniards,
and that they would have abandoned the attack, and so, I imagine,
thought the skipper of the ship, for while they were in this perilous
predicament, he magnanimously withheld his fire, giving them an
opportunity to retire without further loss. And so they would, in all
probability, had Mendouca been a born Spaniard. But, renegade as he
was, the British blood in his veins still told, and, despite the anguish
of his terrible wound, he no sooner found himself in the boat that
picked him up than his voice again rang out almost as loudly and clearly
as before, still urging his men to press forward, and reminding them
that they were fighting for their lives, or--what was the same thing--
food and water. It was probably this reminder that turned the scale
among the waverers, for at the mention of the word "water" they again
seized their oars, and with a yell gave way