A second shot followed before the Belvidera could reply.
The American was superior in gunning, and every shot told.
A third shot from the President broke off the muzzle of one of the Belvidera's stern-chasers, while another shot crashed into the stern of the chase, killing two men and wounding several others.
The men on the Belvidera were now all excitement.
Captain Byron bit his lips in anger.
He had sighted the guns himself, but had done no damage to the American.
He ordered two long eighteen-pounders on the main deck to the stern, and two thirty-two-pound carronades on the quarter deck.
With these he kept up an incessant fire, many shots being effective.
The rigging of the President was cut in many places, and one midshipman was killed.
While the excitement was at its height a young midshipman on the President, a boy whose years could not have exceeded ten, performed a most daring feat.