part of her men, and was then compelled to surrender to a Dutch
vessel of considerably greater strength that came up and joined the
others. The English loss was, considering the duration of the fight,
extremely small, amounting to but 250 killed, and 340 wounded. Among
the killed were the Earl of Marlborough, the Earl of Portland, who
was present as a Volunteer, Rear-Admiral Sampson, and Vice-Admiral
Lawson, the latter of whom died after the fight, from his wounds.

The pursuit of the Dutch was continued for some hours, and then
terminated abruptly, owing to a Member of Parliament named Brounker,
who was in the suite of the Duke of York, giving the captain of the
_Royal Charles_ orders, which he falsely stated emanated from the
Duke, for the pursuit to be abandoned. For this he was afterwards
expelled the House of Commons, and was ordered to be impeached, but
after a time the matter was suffered to drop.

As soon as the battle was over Cyril was taken down to a hammock
below. He was just dozing off to sleep when Sydney came to him.

"I am sorry to disturb you, Cyril, but an officer tells me that a man
who is mortally wounded wishes to speak to you; and from his
description I think it is the fellow you call Black Dick. I thought
it right to tell you, but I don't think you are fit to go to see
him."

"I will go," Cyril said, "if you will lend me your arm. I should like
to hear what the poor wretch has to say."

"He lies just below; the hatchway is but a few yards distant."