Their blades met, and so quick was the swordplay that none could follow it. In a few seconds both were wounded, the blood trickling down the lieutenant's face from a nick on the forehead. Then, quicker than words, Weaver escaped a sweeping blow from the scimitar by jumping nimbly backwards, and the next moment his blade had passed through the Moslem's shoulder.
With this, thinking the fight at an end, we began to cheer lustily; but our triumph was shortlived, for, ere the lieutenant could disengage his weapon, the corsair seized him round the waist and sprang with him into the sea.
We rushed to the side, but only a few bubbles came to the surface. Carried down by the weight of his armour, Weaver sank like a stone, and his implacable foe, holding on with a relentless grip, shared his fate.
However, there was no time for vain regrets, and all hands were set to work to repair the damage done by the fight. Our losses were heavy: besides the lieutenant, two midshipmen, the bos'n, and sixteen men were killed, and the purser and thirty-three men wounded.
On the Algerine all her crew were accounted for, not one surviving; while, in spite of our care, the losses amongst the galley slaves were fearful. A few stray shots and a shower of splinters had wrought destruction on these helpless chained-up wretches, and the gratitude of the survivors when we knocked their fetters off was touching to witness. There were Spaniards, Genoese, Venetians, French, and Dutch, negroes, and one Englishman, a man from Hull--twenty-three all told, most of whom were wounded.
The prize was badly shattered, but little damage was done near the waterline. The Gannet suffered hardly at all, the corsairs, being unprepared for resistance, having neglected to use their two pieces of brass ordnance.
The bodies of the dead were committed to the deep, the wounded attended to, and the decks cleaned of their ghastly stains, while a party of seamen were placed on board the prize to rig jury masts.
When I went down below, to clean the grime of the powder from my face and hands, I found that I had received a slight cut on the calf of my leg. How or when it was done I could not remember, but it was too trifling to be attended to by the surgeon, so I dressed it myself.
While thus engaged I was sent for by the captain, and on reporting myself he said:
"Master Wentworth, I have been fully satisfied with your conduct in the fight, and although you are young in years you have a man's head on your shoulders. You will now have your first command, for I propose to put you in charge of the prize with seven men to work her. You must keep in company with the Gannet till off the Barbary coast, where you will have to shape a course for Tangier, which now belongs to His Majesty King Charles. Should we be compelled to part company, I will rely on you to work the ship into that port. You can, of course, use a sextant?"