"How horrible!" she murmured. "Take me away; I cannot stand it!" He caught her in his arms; a little more, and she would have fainted.
"Good heavens!" he said. "In all my battles I never saw such a ship! What a frightful scene! They didn't get off without a fight," he added slowly. An officer, with head bound up in a handkerchief and his arm in a sling, was approaching them.
"Sir," said O'Neill, saluting the while, "I am the officer who escaped last night. I deliver myself up to-- Why, it's Stacey!" he cried, in great surprise, recognizing a brother officer of the Richard. "What do you here, man?"
"'Fore Gad, it's O'Neill!" cried the other. "Glad are we to see you, man. But this lady--this is no place for her."
"She goes with me," said O'Neill, briefly. "But you?"
"This is where I belong."
"And they have captured you, I suppose?"
"No; the ship is ours."
"And the old Richard?" cried O'Neill.
"Abandoned and sunk after the surrender," answered the young officer. "She was cut to pieces by the Serapis's fire, but we have this ship."