THE WORLD OF ICE. 21

seemed to bear charmed lives, seized their cutlasses
with their teeth, and swam boldly for the ship. This
incident, unfortunately, attracted too much of the
attention of the crew, and ere they could prevent it
another boat reached the bow of the ship, the erew of
which sprang up the side like cats, formed on the
forecastle, and poured a volley upon the men.

“ Follow me, lads!” shouted the captain, as he sprang
forward like a tiger. The first man he reached fell
by a ball from his pistol; in another moment the
opposing parties met in a hand-to-hand conflict,
Meanwhile Fred, having been deeply impressed with
the effect of the shot from the little carronade,
succeeded in raising and reloading it. He had
scarcely accomplished this when one of the boats
reached the larboard quarter, and two of the men
sprang up the side. Fred observed them, and felled
the first with a handspike before he reached the deck :
but the pirate who instantly followed would have
killed him had he not been observed by the second
mate, who had prevented several of the men from
joing in the mélée on the forecastle in order to
meet such an emergency as this. Rushing to the
rescue with his party, he drove the pirates back into
the boat, which was immediately pulled towards the
bow, where the other two boats were now grappling
and discharging their crews on the forecastle. Al-
though the men of the West Indiaman fought with
desperate courage, they could not stand before the
imereasing numbers of pirates who now crowded the