own blood.

"Ready t' jump in hell fer thet ol' rag any day," said he, as we
all cheered him.

Each grabbed a tatter of the good flag, pressing hard upon D'ri,
and put it to his lips and kissed it proudly. Then we marched up
and down, D'ri waving it above us--a bloody squad as ever walked,
shouting loudly. D'ri had begun to weaken with loss of blood, so I
coaxed him to go below with me.

The battle was over; a Yankee band was playing near by.

"Perry is coming! Perry is coming!" we heard them shouting above.

A feeble cry that had in it pride and joy and inextinguishable
devotion passed many a fevered lip in the cockpit.

There were those near who had won a better peace, and they lay as a
man that listens to what were now the merest vanity.

Perry came, when the sun was low, with a number of British
officers, and received their surrender on his own bloody deck. I
remember, as they stood by the ruined bulwarks and looked down upon
tokens of wreck and slaughter, a dog began howling dismally in the
cockpit.