sent us some details of it, for the Gazette tells us little enough,
beyond the ships taken and the names of gentlemen and officers
killed. Here, Nellie, do you read it. It seems a long epistle, and my
eyes are not as good as they were."

Nellie took the letter and read aloud:--

"'DEAR AND WORTHY SIR,--I did not think when I was so pleasantly
entertained at your house that it would befall me to become your
correspondent, but so it has happened, for, Sir Cyril being sorely
hurt, and in no state to tell you how the matter befell him--if
indeed his modesty would allow him, which I greatly doubt--it is
right that you should know how the business came about, and what
great credit Sir Cyril has gained for himself. In the heat of the
fight, when we were briskly engaged in exchanging broadsides with a
Dutchman of our own size, one of their fire-ships, coming unnoticed
through the smoke, slipped alongside of us, and, the flames breaking
out, would speedily have destroyed us, as indeed they went near
doing. The grapnels were briskly thrown over, but she had already
touched our sides, and the flames were blowing across us when Sir
Cyril, perceiving that she had still some way on her, sprang down on
to her deck and put over the helm. She was then a pillar of flame,
and the decks, which were plentifully besmeared with pitch, were all
in a blaze, save just round the tiller where her captain had stood to
steer her. It was verily a furnace, and it seemed impossible that one
could stand there for only half a minute and live. Everyone on board
was filled with astonishment, and the Prince called out loudly that
he had never seen a braver deed. As the fire-ship drew away from us,
we saw Sir Cyril fasten the helm down with a rope, and then, lowering
a bucket over, throw water on to it; then he threw off his helmet and