hem down, the pistol shots, at point blank
range, shattered their heads, but still they came on. The English
seamen cheered as they struck right and left with their short cutlasses,
and there on the main deck stood Dom Maxara, a long curved sabre in his
hand, dripping with blood, cheering on the men in a language they did
not understand. The boat which had boarded on the quarter was beaten
off, but joining the other the two had united their numbers, and some
fifty maddened and nearly naked pirates came pouring over the bows,
driving the crew before them.

Among the Malays, one tall, powerful fellow, nearly naked, seemed the
leader of the rest; shouting, gesticulating, and striking right and
left, he urged the assailants on. Once already had the crew been driven
back to the break of the quarter-deck, but, led on by Captain Weber, had
repulsed their enemies. Brandishing a jagged piece of broken spar, his
hat having fallen off, and a streak of blood on the forehead showing him
to be wounded, the old seaman fought like a tiger.

"Give it them, my lads, no quarter for the bloody pirates. Overboard
with them!" he shouted, as he dashed full at the leader of the Malays.

A furious combat again ensued, shouts, oaths, execrations, mingled with
the pistol shots. The groans of the wounded, the yells of the
combatants, changed what had been a quiet, peaceful scene into one of
riot and bloodshed.

Dona Isabel, it has been said, had retired into her cabin; a single lamp
was burning, and, perfectly unconscious of danger, she was preparing for
rest, when the heavy boom of the forecastle gun startled her, and then
the silence of the night seemed to be suddenly at an end, and the
shouts, yells, and groans told too terribly of what was going on above
her head. The cabin was deserted, the steward having joined the
combatants, and as she opened the door her father's voice was heard
cheering on the men in her own tongue. She recognised the soldier's
shout as the pirates were slowly driven back, while, alone and
frightened, she dropped on her knees in prayer. Suddenly a loud report
right over her head startled her still more; for a moment all was
silent, the yells and shouts ceasing as by magic, then a wild cheer from
the crew followed, and Isabel, unable to bear the terrible suspense,
rushed up the cabin hatchway. The stars were shining brightly, but the
brig's decks were slippery with blood. Her own boats had been veered
aster