the ocean or at the
Bermudas, were disposed to shirk their duty, though their officers held
them well up to the work.

One of the brave officers who had done the boarders a good deal of
mischief fell at a pistol shot from Mr. Amblen; this loss of his
leadership caused a sensible giving way on the part of his division, and
his men began to fall back. The other officers, including the captain,
who fought with a heavy cutlass, held out for a short time longer; but
Christy saw that it was slaughter.

The captain of the Arran was the next to go down, though he was not
killed. This event practically ended the contest for the deck of the
steamer. The boarders crowded upon the crew and drove them to the bow of
the vessel, where they yielded the deck, and submitted to the excess of
numbers.

"Don't butcher my men!" cried the captain of the Arran, raising himself
partially from his place where he had fallen. "I surrender, for we are
outnumbered two to one."

But the fighting had ceased forward. Mr. Baskirk was as earnest to save
any further slaughter as he had been to win the fight. Christy came on
board of the prize, not greatly elated at the victory, for it had been a
very unequal affair as to numbers. The Arran was captured; that was all
that could be said of it. She had been bravely defended; and the "honors
were even," though the fortunes of the day were against the Arran and
her ship's company.

"Allow me to introduce myself as the commander of the United States
steamer Bronx," said Christy, approaching the fallen captain of the
Arran. "I sincerely hope that you are not seriously injured, sir."

"Who under the canopy are you?" demanded the commander of the prize,
as he looked at the young officer with something like contempt in his
expression.

"I have just informed you who under the canopy I am," replied Christy,
not pleased with the manner of the other. "To be a little more definite,
I am Captain Christopher Passford, commander of the United States
steamer Bronx, of which the Arran appears to be a prize."

"The captain!" exclaimed the fallen man. "You are nothing but a boy!"

"But I am old enough to try to be a gentleman. You are evidently old
enough to be my father, though I have no comments to make," added
Christy.

"I beg your pardon, Captain Passford," said the captain of the Arran,
attempting to rise from the deck, in which he was assisted by Christy
and by Mr. Baskirk, who had just come aft. "I beg you