to be so honeycombed with rust that it would have been madness to attempt
to fire them, this young officer suggested that they should be bound round
with rope just like the handle of a cricket bat. This suggestion was
adopted, and they were therefore able to pour in the broadside that
crippled the lugger and brought her sails down, leaving her helpless under
the musketry fire of the troops. In the second place, when the ship was
being pounded by the other privateer without being able to make any reply,
and must shortly have either sunk or surrendered, this young officer
suggested to one of the captains that the lugger, lying helpless
alongside, should be boarded, and her guns turned on the brig, a
suggestion that led not only to the saving of the ship, but the capture of
the brig itself.

"Lastly, when the French frigate hove in sight, the troops were
transferred to the two prizes, and were about to make off, in which case
one of them would almost certainly have been captured. He suggested that
they should hoist French colours, and that both should be set to work to
transfer some of the stores from the ship to the privateers. This
suggestion was adopted, with the result that on the frigate approaching,
and seeing, as was supposed, two French privateers engaged in rifling a
prize, she continued on her way without troubling herself further about
them. Sir Arthur Wellesley issued a most laudatory notice of Mr.
O'Connor's conduct in general orders."

Most of those present remembered seeing the order, now that it was
mentioned, and the general, turning to Terence, who was colouring scarlet
with embarrassment and confusion, said, kindly:

"You see, we have got at it after all, Mr. O'Connor. I am glad that it
came from another source, for I do not suppose that we should have got all