HE BEGAN TO THROW THE GRENADES
Then he began to throw the grenades. There were but few men upon the deck of the Englishman, as has been said before, the musketry fire having driven most of them below; the grenades cleared these few away like magic; and then Ethan began to throw his explosives into the hatches. As fate would have it some loose powder upon the lower gun deck of the Serapis caught, and an instant later a sheet of flame went up, followed by the roar of a terrific explosion. A panic seized the crew of the Englishman; they rushed upon the deck throwing down their arms and crying for quarter.
Ethan came down the ratlines of the Serapis like a flash, just as Richard Dale swung himself from a broken brace upon the quarter-deck, and the English captain with his own hands hauled down his flag.
“Have you struck?” asked the gallant first officer of the Richard.
“I have,” answered Captain Pearson.
No sooner had the words been spoken than a man with a blood-stained bandage swathed about his head sprang upon deck; he had a sword in his hand and his fierce face was black with powder smoke and smeared with blood.
“The officer below inquires if the enemy has surrendered,” he said to Captain Pearson.
“Report to him that it is I who have surrendered,” returned Pearson, bitterly.
“You!” exclaimed the man. “Why, in a few more broadsides they are ours. A prisoner just crawled through a port and says that they are sinking.”