A bullet whistled past the lad's head and he ducked instinctively. He emptied the second revolver into the mass of his foes and hurled the now useless weapon in their faces.
Then the Germans were upon him.
But Jack, who realized what would follow should the Germans gain control of the bridge, had urged his men to greater efforts, and these now fell upon the Germans from behind.
With absolute disregard for their own safety, and fighting side by side, Jack and the giant negro forced their way through the struggling mass. The negro wreaked terrible havoc with his deadly pair of brass knuckles, but Jack was giving an equally good account of himself with his two clubbed revolvers.
Two men sprang to the bridge. Frank met the first with a blow of his right fist and the man dropped back. The second made the bridge and Frank grappled with him. The two went down in a heap.
"To the bridge, Tom!" called Jack.
With a desperate effort the two broke through the mass of the enemy and leaped safely to the bridge. Four Germans piled forward with them.
Meantime Lord Hastings' force was so hardly pressed that he for the moment lost sight of the bridge. Under the volleys of the Germans who still stuck to the forecastle, the Americans and English threw themselves to the deck for what little shelter they could find. There they sniped off what numbers of the enemy they could.
Then the Germans who held the forecastle charged.
There was nothing for Lord Hastings to do now but order his men to their feet to meet this situation. At command, they leaped up quickly and presented a solid front to the foe.