"If you have got a boat that will swim send it ashore."
Nat looked over the side, the boat had been stove by a falling fragment; then he crossed to the prize, and found that one of the boats was uninjured. Four men were just getting into it, when Mr. Hill hailed again:
"Let them bring a rope with them, Mr. Glover; we will tow you over here."
The end of a hawser was put into the boat, and the men rowed with it to the battery.
"Mr. Glover!" the lieutenant again hailed.
"Yes, sir."
"I am sending the boat back again. I think that had they put a slow match in the magazine of the other brigantine it would have exploded before this. However, you had better remain where you are for a quarter of an hour, to be sure; then, before you move, board the brigantine and flood the magazine. Otherwise, as soon as you have left, some of these desperadoes might swim off to her and put a match there."
"Very well, sir, I will go at once if you like."
"No, there is no use running any unnecessary risk. You had better flood the schooner's magazine first."
"Ay, ay, sir."