"I wish the captain would give the order," responded Tempest, who was acting as second lieutenant.
"By Washington, but you shall see some fighting!" exclaimed Captain Hull, as he saw that the Englishman was preparing to board the Constitution.
The bugle blared from the quarterdeck of the Guerriere, and the boarders sprang from their guns and seized their heavy cutlasses and boarding-caps.
But Hull had ordered the boarding-bugle to sound, and by the side of his vessel there appeared an equal number of well-armed men.
Captain Dacres saw the kind of reception he would meet with, and so ordered his men back to their guns.
The vessels were so close together that pistols were freely used.
The topmen fired down at the deck of the opposing ship and picked off many a brave man.
Captain Dacres was slightly wounded by a pistol shot fired by John Tempest.
The thunder of the big guns could not down the cries of pain and anger which arose from the throats of the wounded men.
The air was filled with the ceaseless rattle of musketry, the roar of cannon, the cracking of pistol shots, and the cries of the injured.