his deadly purpose, and a great fear for the English ship came
upon me, and I fell a-praying beneath my breath, for we carried a
weapon more terrible than any culverin that was ever cast, the
long, sharp ram below the water.

The English ship was now so near that I could see the yawning
muzzles of her guns, while her high, curving sides seemed to
tower over us. As I gazed, with my heart full of a pitiful fear
for her, I saw a head appear above her quarter-railing, a very
round head whereon was a mariner's red cap. Came a puff of
smoke, the sharp crack of a caliver, and one of the officers
beside Don Miguel threw up his hands and, twisting on his heels,
fell clashing in his armour. When I looked again for the red
cap, it was gone. But Don Miguel waited, silent and impassive as
ever. Suddenly he gestured with his hand, I saw the heave of the
steersmen's shoulders as they obeyed, while the air rang with
shouts of command as, the starboard oars holding water, the
larboard thrashed and churned amain and the great "Esmeralda"
galleass (turning thus well-nigh in her own length) drove
straight for the side of her foe.

Never had I seen it better done, and I set my teeth, waiting for
the grinding crash that was to send the English ship to the
bottom, but lo! her creaking yards were braced round, and, paying
off before the wind (which now blew strongly) she stood away upon
a course at right angles to her old, whereby both vessels were
running parallel as before. Yet it had been close, so very close
indeed that as we drove past her I heard the sickening crack of
our oars as they snapped off one after the other against her
side, tossing those that manned them in bloody, struggling heaps.