while the thunder "shook the mighty deep" and the sulphurous smoke
rolled slowly upward and drifted through the rigging. Then again came a
minute or so of impressive stillness, while the crews of both looked
around to learn the results of the awful tempest of round shot, grape
and canister of which they had been the targets.

Sad work, indeed, had been done, for from each vessel rose the cries of
the wounded and dying--cries that inspired their companions to revenge
and caused them to hasten the reloading and firing of the cannon. But
unfortunately the _Bonhomme Richard_ suffered from her own guns as well
as from those of the enemy. On the lower gun deck was an improvised
battery of six 18-pounders, two of which burst, killing most of the men
at work there and tearing away the deck above them. The remainder of the
men refused to serve the other guns, and thus the _Bonhomme Richard_ was
deprived of the services of her heaviest battery, in addition to the
serious loss in dead and wounded.

Captain Jones forged ahead, crossing his enemy's bow, while the latter
came up on his port quarter. They were within a biscuit's toss of each
other, wrapped in dense smoke, lit up by the jets of flame which were
continuous. Mingled with the terrific booming was the spiteful rattle of
musketry from the tops and yells and cries of the wounded. The decks of
the _Bonhomme Richard_ were slippery with blood, which increased until
the men, as they ran to and fro, splashed in it, like children playing
in a mud puddle, and it was the same on the _Serapis_. It found its
outlet through the scuppers and crimsoned the deep blue of the ocean.

[Illustration: FIGHT BETWEEN "BONHOMME RICHARD" AND "SERAPIS."]

Some of the shots from the _Serapis_ pierced the _Bonhomme Richard_