The crew were now on the alert, and an answering roll of the drum told the little schooner that the Britisher accepted the challenge.
It was perfectly safe to do so.
What chance had a little privateer against a trim, well-built war cruiser?
Tempest had the long gun loaded, and he took sight himself.
The Britisher ran up the Union Jack as a defiance, an act answered by the raising of the Stars and Stripes.
No one on board the cruiser had any idea that the privateer could carry so heavy a gun as a thirty-four-pounder.
The gun was ready, the match applied.
The Lively Bee quivered and shook, but that was all.
The shot tore through the rigging, plowing along the deck of the cruiser, and disabling or killing a dozen men.