“Is that bow-gun ready?” demanded the governor.

“Ay, ay, sir; all ready.”

“Fire, but elevate well—­we will only frighten them, at first.  We betide them, if they resist.”

Betts did fire, and to the astonishment of everybody, the brig returned a broadside!  But resistance ceased with this one act of energy, if it could be so termed.  Although five guns were actually fired, and nearly simultaneously, no aim was even attempted.  The shot all flew off at a tangent from the position of the ship; and no harm was done to any but the savages themselves, of whom three or four were injured by the recoils.  From the moment the noise and smoke were produced, everything like order ceased on board the brig, which was filled with savages.  The vessel broached to, and the sails caught aback.  All this time, the Rancocus was steadily drawing nearer, with an intent to board; but, unwilling to expose his people, most of whom were unpractised in strife, in a hand-to-hand conflict with ferocious savages, the governor ordered a gun loaded with grape to be discharged into the brig.  This decided the affair at once.  Half a dozen were killed or wounded; some ran below; a few took refuge in the top; but most, without the slightest hesitation, jumped overboard.  To the surprise of all who saw them, the men in the water began to swim directly to windward; a circumstance which indicated that either land or canoes were to be found in that quarter of the ocean.  Seeing the state of things on board the brig, Mark luffed up under her counter, and laid her aboard.  In a minute, he and twenty chosen men were on her decks; in another, the vessels were again clear of each other, and the Mermaid under command.

No sooner did the governor discharge his duties as a seaman, than he passed below.  In the cabin he found Mr. Saunders, (or Captain Saunders, as he was called by the colonists,) bound hand and foot.  His steward was in the same situation, and Bigelow was found, also a prisoner, in the steerage.  These were all the colonists on board, and all but two who had been on board, when the vessel was taken.

Captain Saunders could tell the governor very little more than he saw with his own eyes.  One fact of importance, however, he could and did communicate, which was this:  Instead of being to windward of the crater, as Mark supposed, he was to leeward of it; the currents no doubt having set the ship to the westward faster than had been thought.  Rancocus Island would have been made by sunset, had the ship stood on in the course she was steering when she made the Mermaid.