When we came out of the cockpit dense clouds of pungent smoke hid everything from view; it was difficult to distinguish objects ten feet away on our own decks, and I was thankful for the obscurity.
I knew, however, that on every hand were the dead and the dying; that the brig which had looked so neat and trim less than an hour previous, was torn and splintered, every plank dyed crimson by the blood of the brave men who had defended her so nobly, and that all the ships of the enemy’s squadron were pouring into her a deadly fire!
“Where is the Niagara?” I asked of Alec, shrieking the question in his ear, otherwise he might not have heard it amid that thunderous din, and from out of the smoke came the voice of a grievously wounded sailor:—
“The cowards are hanging back, even though they were the first to get the order for close action. When the smoke lifted a few minutes ago I saw the brig almost out of range, using her heavy guns as if at target practice.”
Alec, uttering a cry of mingled sorrow and anger, ran aft, I keeping close at his heels, and he had no more than gained the quarterdeck when a splintered fragment of our starboard rail struck him on the shoulder, literally tearing the clothes from his back.
I sprang forward quickly, believing him to be wounded; but the commodore was ahead of me, and for an instant he ceased to observe what was going on around us in his anxiety for the lad.
“I’m not hurt, Oliver dear,” Alec said with a smile; but the sudden pallor of his face told that the shock had been a severe one. “It’s not the nearest call for a wound that I have had,” he added, showing his hat, through which had passed two musket-balls.
“I don’t ask you to be less brave, brother mine, for now is the time when every man must hold his life cheaply; but you should be sufficiently cautious not to expose yourself unnecessarily.”
“I came to ask why the commander of the Niagara had not obeyed orders? It is said she lays at long range while we are so sorely pressed.”
“I cannot answer your question, lad,” the commodore replied bitterly. “Elliott is no coward, and yet he has given us but little support. Richard Dobbins, go forward and ascertain how much damage the Lawrence has sustained in that quarter.”