"What seems to be the matter, Mr. Martin? Are we likely to have a brush?"
"O no," answered the latter; "a few rebels have taken possession of the battery from which we drove them yesterday, and are trying to pick some of us off. Did you see 'Nuisance' when he came out of his room? He ran like a streak, but came very near being winged, for a ball struck the deck not six inches from him."
At this moment the captain appeared, and went into the pilot-house, that he might investigate matters without running the risk of being struck by the bullets. He had scarcely closed the door, when a ball carried away the latch. Had he been a moment later, he would certainly have been killed.
"A close shave," said he, with a laugh. Then raising one of the windows of the pilot-house, he shouted, "On deck, there!"
"Ay, ay, sir," answered Mr. Martin.
"Get under cover as quickly as possible; and, Mr. Nelson, see if you can throw a few shells among those fellows, and drive them out of there."
It was not an easy task to get under cover, for, the moment they showed themselves, the bullets whistled about them like hail-stones. But, after dodging from one stanchion to another, using even the sky-lights for concealment, they succeeded in reaching the main-deck, where they were safe. Frank ran into the turret, while Mr. Martin and the quarter-master dived down the hatchway, and ran up into the pilot-house.
"Turn out, you first division, and cast loose that No. 2 gun," shouted Frank, as he reached the gun-deck, where the crew were still sleeping soundly in their hammocks. "Turn out lively, lads."
The men at once sprang out of their comfortable beds, and, as soon as the deck was cleared of the hammocks, the gun was cast loose. A moment afterward, a hundred-pound shot plunged into the battery, raising a cloud of dust; but the rebels had seen the flash of the gun in time to throw themselves behind the embankment and escape.