The gunboats sent to the ships the roar of their artillery, and the ships sent back the chorus of thousands of cheering voices for every well-aimed shot.
Frank was in the rigging of the schooner, watching the fight, making drawings to send to his mother, and talking with his comrades, among whom Sinjin's glass passed from hand to hand.
"I tell ye, boys!" remarks Seth Tucket, "this is a leetle ahead of any game of bluff ever I took a hand in! The battery is about used up. S'pose you look at your—my—our watch, Frank, and see how often the darned rebels fire."
"Once in about ten minutes now," Frank informs him. "O! did you see that shell burst? Right over one of our gunboats!"
"She's aground," says Gray, with the glass. "She can neither use her guns nor get off! A little tug is going to help her."
"Bully for the tug!" says Jack Winch.
"Hurrah! hurrah!" ring the deafening plaudits from the ships.
"What is it?" is eagerly asked.
"The battery's flag-staff is shot away!" shouts Frank at the top of his voice. "Hooray!"
"Some think the flag has been hauled down, to surrender the fort, but it's a mistake," declares Gray. "See! up it goes again on a piece of the pole! And the guns are at it again."