And now from every English gun leaped roaring flame; the air was
full of shrieks and groans and the crash of splintering wood, and
through the eddying smoke I could see many of our soldiery that
lay in strange, contorted attitudes while others crawled, sobbing
on hands and knees; but on the scarlet-dropping rowing-benches I
dared not look.

Hotter waxed the fight, louder swelled the din and tumult with
the never-ceasing thunder of the guns; and amid it all Don Miguel
paced to and fro, impassive as always, the blade of his long
rapier gleaming here and there as he directed the fire.

Up rolled the smoke thicker and denser, but, ever and anon,
through some rift I might catch a glimpse of the scarred,
blackened side of the English ship, or the litter and confusion
of our decks. Twice shots ploughed up the planking hard by me,
and once my post itself was struck, so that for a moment I had
some hope of winning free of my bonds, yet struggle how I would I
could not move; the which filled me with a keen despair, for I
made no doubt (what with the smoke and tumult) I might have
plunged overboard unnoticed and belike have gained the English
ship.

Slowly and by degrees our fire slackened, one by one the guns
fell silent and in their place rose the more hateful sounds of
anguish. Now as I stood thus, my eyes smarting with burnt
powder, my ears yet ringing with the din, I grew aware how the
deck sloped in strange fashion; at first I paid small heed, yet
with every minute this slope became steeper, and with this