"Boom!" from the impolite pirates.
"Boom, boom, boom!" from the polite pirates.
"Let us go and sit behind that big coil of rope and watch," said the Good Wolf.
It was the coil of rope Blue Crest had hidden herself inside, and when Barty and the Good Wolf and Saturday sat on the floor of the deck behind it, she was so glad that she whistled Barty's little song to let him know that she was quite near him. But Barty could scarcely hear her because there was so much noise. Pirates were shouting, gunners were ramming cannon balls into cannons, and the polite pirate captain was yelling polite orders to his men. Barty was obliged to shout himself, just as he had been obliged to shout in the tropical storm.
"Do you think we shall win?" he called out, as loud as he could, to the Good Wolf.
"We have the best guns," the Good Wolf called back. "The polite pirates have taken good care of their guns instead of quarreling about who should clean them. Listen!"
"Boom! Boom!" came from the impolite pirates' ship.
"Boom! Boom! Boom! Bang! Crash!" answered the polite pirates' ship.
The crash was the splitting and tearing open of the side of the other ship. Barty jumped up at the sound of it.
"We've hit them! We've hit them!" he shouted.