Standing much
lower in the water than her opponent, none of her shot traversed the deck
of the _Sea-horse__, but they carried destruction among the cabins and
fittings of the deck below. As this, however, was entirely deserted, no
one was injured by the shot or flying fragments. The brig then took up her
position three or four hundred yards away, on the quarter of the
_Sea-horse__, and opened a steady fire against her.
To this the barque could make no reply, the fire of the muskets being
wholly ineffective at that distance. The lugger lay helpless alongside the
_Sea-horse__; the survivors of her crew had run below, and dared not
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.
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