"But I have got only a skeleton of the facts yet, and now I should like to hear the whole story in detail," said Captain Ringgold.
Scott took a paper from his pocket, the one he had drawn off of the situation of the two steamers in Khrysoko Bay, with the position of the ledge, the trend of the shore, and some of the soundings as he had taken them from the chart. He had marked the course of the Maud in all the movements she had made, and also of the Fatimé, giving the position of each vessel at the moment of the collision.
He began his recital with the pointing out of the places of each steamer as soon as the pirate came into the bay. The visit of her boat to the little steamer followed, and the marshalling of the five members of the ship's company armed with the repeating-rifles. The interview with Mazagan was as minutely stated as though a skilled reporter of a newspaper had taken it down.
"That was the most amazing, presumptuous, groundless, and insane demand that one person could make upon another," interposed the commander. "It was sheer piracy!"
Scott had so viewed it, and he proceeded with his narrative. Captain Ringgold had vacated his chair at the desk, on which the captain of the Maud had placed his diagram, and pointed out everything as he spoke. The attempted escape by the supposed channel near the shore was dwelt upon at some length, in order to enable the young captain to prove that he had done his best to avoid a collision with the enemy.
The first shots the Fatimé had fired at the Maud, though they had fallen far short of the mark, were mentioned so as to give them their full effect; and Captain Ringgold declared that they were a sufficient declaration of war.
"Only one avenue of escape was open to me," continued Captain Scott, "and that was directly across the bow of the enemy. If I remained where I was the Fatimé could come in with the rising of the tide, and sink the Maud at her leisure. Then the pirate fired the shot from her starboard gun which passed through the galley, and began to swing to, so as to bring her port gun to bear on the Maud.
"I won't deny that the shot which went through our upper works made me mad; but I feared that the next one might go through our boiler or engine, and then it would have been all over with us. I determined to prevent such a disaster if I could. I had ordered the hands to use the rifles; but most of the crew concealed themselves under the top-gallant forecastle. I shifted the helm, and drove the little steamer's bow square into the broadside of the Fatimé, just abaft her fore chains.
"It seemed to me from the feeling that she was going to bore her way through the pirate craft, and I rang to stop and back her. I gave the speed bell as soon as she began to go astern, and the Maud went clear, as I was afraid she would not."
The picking up of Mazagan after the Fatimé had gone down, and the visit of the boat from the shore, were given in detail, and the narrative was completed.