"Board her! graybeards and boys, idlers and all!" shouted Barnstable,
springing in advance of his crew--a powerful arm arrested the movement
of the dauntless seaman, and before he had time to recover himself, he
was drawn violently back to his own vessel by the irresistible grasp of
his cockswain.
"The fellow's in his flurry," said Tom, "and it wouldn't be wise to go
within reach of his flukes; but I'll just step ahead and give him a set
with my harpoon."
Without waiting for a reply, the cockswain reared his tall frame on the
bulwarks, and was in the attitude of stepping on board of his enemy,
when a sea separated the vessels, and he fell with a heavy dash of the
waters into the ocean. As twenty muskets and pistols were discharged at
the instant he appeared, the crew of the Ariel supposed his fall to be
occasioned by his wounds, and were rendered doubly fierce by the sight,
and the cry of their commander to:
"Revenge long Tom! board her! long Tom or death!"
They threw themselves forward in irresistible numbers, and forced a
passage, with much bloodshed, to the forecastle of the Alacrity. The
Englishman was overpowered, but still remained undaunted--he rallied his
crew, and bore up most gallantly to the fray. Thrusts of pikes and blows
of sabres were becoming close and deadly, while muskets and pistols were
constantly discharged by those who were kept at a distance by the
pressure of the throng of closer combatants.
Barnstable led his men in advance, and became a mark of peculiar
vengeance to his enemies, as they slowly yielded before his vigorous
assaults.
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