return on deck to work their guns, as they would have been swept by the
musketry of the _Sea-horse__.

Half an hour later Terence was ordered to go below to see how they were
getting on in the hold.

Terence did so. Some lanterns had been lighted there, and he found that
four men had been killed and a dozen or so wounded by the enemy's shot,
the greater portion of which, however, had gone over their heads. The
carpenter, assisted by some of the non-commissioned officers, was busy
plugging holes that had been made in her between wind and water, and had
fairly succeeded, as but four or five shots had struck so low, the enemy's
object being not to sink, but to capture the vessel. As he passed up
through the main deck to report, Terence saw that the destruction here was
great indeed. The woodwork of the cabins had been knocked into fragments,
there was a great gaping hole in the stern, and it seemed to him that
before long the vessel would be knocked to pieces. He returned to the
deck, and reported the state of things.

"It looks bad," the major said to O'Driscol. "This is but half an hour's
work, and when the fellows come to the conclusion that they cannot make us
strike, they will aim lower, and there will be nothing to do but to choose
between sinking and hauling down our flag."

After delivering his report, Terence went to the side of the ship and
looked down on the lugger. The attraction of the ship had drawn her closer
to it, and she was but a few feet away. A thought struck him, and he went
to O'Grady.

"Look here, O'Grady," he said, "that fellow will smash us up altogether if