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an hour, was sufficient to notify all that news must have been

received of the whereabouts of the Dutch Fleet, and by the time the

captains returned to their ships the crews were all up and ready to

execute any order. At two o'clock day had begun to break, and soon

from the mastheads of several of the vessels the look-out shouted

that they could perceive the Dutch Fleet but four miles away. A

mighty cheer rose throughout the Fleet, and as it subsided a gun from

the _Royal Charles_ gave the order to weigh anchor, and a few

minutes later the three squadrons, in excellent order, sailed out to

meet the enemy.

They did not, however, advance directly towards them, but bore up

closely into the wind until they had gained the weather gauge of the

enemy. Having obtained this advantage, the Duke flew the signal to

engage. The Volunteers were all in their places on the poop, being

posted near the rail forward, that they might be able either to run

down the ladder to the waist and aid to repel boarders, or to spring

on to a Dutch ship should one come alongside, and also that the

afterpart of the poop, where Prince Rupert and the captain had taken

their places near the wheel, should be free. The Prince himself had

requested them so to station themselves.

"At other times, gentlemen, you are my good friends and comrades," he

said, "but, from the moment that the first gun fires, you are

soldiers under my orders; and I pray you take your station and remain

there until I call upon you for action, for my whole attention must

be given to the manoeuvring of the ship, and any movement or talking

near me might distract my thoughts. I shall strive to lay her

alongside of the biggest Dutchman I can pick out, and as soon as the

grapnels are thrown, and their sides grind together, you will have

the post of honour, and will lead the soldiers aboard her. Once among

the Dutchmen, you will know what to do without my telling you."

"'Tis a grand sight, truly, Cyril," Sydney said, in a low tone, as

the great fleets met each other.

"A grand sight, truly, Sydney, but a terrible one. I do not think I

shall mind when I am once at it, but at present I feel that, despite

my efforts, I am in a tremor, and that my knees shake as I never felt

them before."

"I am glad you feel like that, Cyril, for I feel much like it myself,

and began to be afraid that I had, without knowing it, been born a

coward. There goes the first gun."

As he spoke, a puff of white smoke spouted out from the bows of one

of the Dutch ships, and a moment later the whole of their leading

vessels opened fire. There was a rushing sound overhead, and a ball

passed through the main topsail of the _Henrietta_. No reply was

made by the English ships until they passed in between the Dutchmen;

then the _Henrietta_ poured her broadsides into the enemy on either

side of her, receiving theirs in return. There was a rending of wood,

and a quiver through the ship. One of the upper-deck-guns was knocked

off its carriage, crushing two of the men working it as it fell.

Several others were hurt with splinters, and the sails pierced with

holes. Again and again as she passed, did the _Henrietta_ exchange

broadsides with the Dutch vessels, until--the two fleets having

passed through each other--she bore up, and prepared to repeat the

manoeuvre.

"I feel all right now," Cyril said, "but I do wish I had something to

do instead of standing here useless. I quite envy the men there,

stripped to the waist, working the guns. There is that fellow Black

Dick, by the gun forward; he is a scoundrel, no doubt, but what

strength and power he has! I saw him put his shoulder under that gun

just now, and slew it across by sheer strength, so as to bear upon

the stern of the Dutchman. I noticed him and Robert looking up at me

just before the first gun was fired, and speaking together. I have no

doubt he would gladly have pointed the gun at me instead of at the

enemy, for he knows that, if I denounce him, he will get the due

reward of his crimes."

As soon as the ships were headed round they passed through the Dutch

as before, and this manoeuvre was several times repeated. Up to one

o'clock in the day no great advantage had been gained on either side.

Spars had been carried away; there were yawning gaps in the bulwarks;

portholes had been knocked into one, guns dismounted, and many

killed; but as yet no vessel on either side had been damaged to an

extent that obliged her to strike her flag, or to fall out of the

fighting line. There had been a pause after each encounter, in which

both fleets had occupied themselves in repairing damages, as far as

possible, reeving fresh ropes in place of those that had been shot

away, clearing the wreckage of fallen spars and yards, and carrying

the wounded below. Four of the Volunteers had been struck down--two

of them mortally wounded, but after the first passage through the

enemy's fleet, Prince Rupert had ordered them to arm themselves with

muskets from the racks, and to keep up a fire at the Dutch ships as

they passed, aiming specially at the man at the wheel. The order had

been a very welcome one, for, like Cyril, they had all felt

inactivity in such a scene to be a sore trial. They were now ranged

along on both sides of the poop.

At one o'clock Lord Sandwich signalled to the Blue Squadron to close

up together as they advanced, as before, against the enemy's line.

His position at the time was in the centre, and his squadron, sailing

close together, burst into the Dutch line before their ships could

make any similar disposition. Having thus broken it asunder, instead

of passing through it, the squadron separated, and the ships, turning

to port and starboard, each engaged an enemy. The other two squadrons

similarly ranged up among the Dutch, and the battle now became

furious all along the line. Fire-ships played an important part in

the battles of the time, and the thoughts of the captain of a ship

were not confined to struggles with a foe of equal size, but were

still more engrossed by the need for avoiding any fire-ship that

might direct its course towards him.

Cyril had now no time to give a thought as to what was passing

elsewhere. The _Henrietta_ had ranged up alongside a Dutch vessel of

equal size, and was exchanging broadsides with her. All round were

vessels engaged in an equally furious encounter. The roar of the guns

and the shouts of the seamen on both sides were deafening. One moment

the vessel reeled from the recoil of her own guns, the next she

quivered as the balls of the enemy crashed through her sides.

Suddenly, above the din, Cyril heard the voice of Prince Rupert sound

like a trumpet.

"Hatchets and pikes on the starboard quarter! Draw in the guns and

keep off this fire-ship."

Laying their muskets against the bulwarks, he and Sydney sprang to

the mizzen-mast, and each seized a hatchet from those ranged against

it. They then rushed to the starboard side, just as a small ship came

out through the cloud of smoke that hung thickly around them.

There was a shock as she struck the _Henrietta_, and then, as she

glided alongside, a dozen grapnels were thrown by men on her yards.

The instant they had done so, the men disappeared, sliding down the

ropes and running aft to their boat. Before the last leaped in he

stooped. A flash of fire ran along the deck, there was a series of

sharp explosions, and then a bright flame sprang up from the

hatchways, ran up the shrouds and ropes, that had been soaked with

oil and tar, and in a moment the sails were on fire. In spite of the

flames, a score of men sprang on to the rigging of the _Henrietta_

and cut the ropes of the grapnels, which, as yet--so quickly had the

explosion followed their throwing--had scarce begun to check the way

the fire-ship had on her as she came up.

Cyril, having cast over a grapnel that had fallen on the poop, looked

down on the fire-ship as she drifted along. The deck, which, like

everything else, had been smeared with tar, was in a blaze, but the

combustible had not been carried as far as the helm, where doubtless

the captain had stood to direct her course. A sudden thought struck

him. He ran along the poop until opposite the stern of the fire-ship,

climbed over the bulwark and leapt down on to the deck, some fifteen

feet below him. Then he seized the helm and jammed it hard down. The

fire-ship had still steerage way on her, and he saw her head at once

begin to turn away from the _Henrietta_; the movement was aided by

the latter's crew, who, with poles and oars, pushed her off.

The heat was terrific, but Cyril's helmet and breast-piece sheltered

him somewhat; yet though he shielded his face with his arm, he felt

that it would speedily become unbearable. His eye fell upon a coil of

rope at his feet. Snatching it up, he fastened it to the tiller and

then round a belaying-pin in the bulwark, caught up a bucket with a

rope attached, threw it over the side and soused its contents over

the tiller-rope, then, unbuckling the straps of his breast- and

back-pieces, he threw them off, cast his helmet on the deck,

blistering his hands as he did so, and leapt overboard. It was with a

delicious sense of coolness that he rose to the surface and looked

round. Hitherto he had been so scorched by the flame and smothered by

the smoke that it was with difficulty he had kept his attention upon

what he was doing, and would doubtless, in another minute, have

fallen senseless. The plunge into the sea seemed to restore his

faculties, and as he came up he looked eagerly to see how far success

had attended his efforts.

He saw with delight that the bow of the fire-ship was thirty or forty

feet distant from the side of the _Henrietta_ and her stern half

that distance. Two or three of the sails of the man-of-war had caught

fire, but a crowd of seamen were beating the flames out of two of

them while another, upon which the fire had got a better hold, was

being cut away from its yard. As he turned to swim to the side of the

_Henrietta_, three or four ropes fell close to him. He twisted one

of these round his body, and, a minute later, was hauled up into the

waist. He was saluted with a tremendous cheer, and was caught up by

three or four strong fellows, who, in spite of his remonstrances,

carried him up on to the poop. Prince Rupert was standing on the top

of the ladder.

"Nobly done, Sir Cyril!" he exclaimed. "You have assuredly saved the

_Henrietta_ and all our lives. A minute later, and we should have

been on fire beyond remedy. But I will speak more to you when we have

finished with the Dutchman on the other side."

CHAPTER XIV

HONOURABLE SCARS

During the time that the greater part of the crew of the _Henrietta_

had been occupied with the fire-ship, the enemy had redoubled their

efforts, and as the sailors returned to their guns, the mizzen-mast

fell with a crash. A minute later, a Dutch man-of-war ran alongside,

fired a broadside, and grappled. Then her crew, springing over the

bulwarks, poured on to the deck of the _Henrietta_. They were met

boldly by the soldiers, who had hitherto borne no part in the fight,

and who, enraged at the loss they had been compelled to suffer, fell

upon the enemy with fury. For a moment, however, the weight of

numbers of the Dutchmen bore them back, but the sailors, who had at

first been taken by surprise, snatched up their boarding pikes and

axes.

Prince Rupert, with the other officers and Volunteers, dashed into

the thick of the fray, and, step by step, the Dutchmen were driven

back, until they suddenly gave way and rushed back to their own ship.

The English would have followed them, but the Dutch who remained on

board their ship, seeing that the fight was going against their

friends, cut the ropes of the grapnels, and the ships drifted apart,

some of the last to leave the deck of the _Henrietta_ being forced

to jump into the sea. The cannonade was at once renewed on both

sides, but the Dutch had had enough of it--having lost very heavily

in men--and drew off from the action.

Cyril had joined in the fray. He had risen to his feet and drawn his

sword, but he found himself strangely weak. His hands were blistered

and swollen, his face was already so puffed that he could scarce see

out of his eyes; still, he had staggered down the steps to the waist,

and, recovering his strength from the excitement, threw himself into

the fray.

Scarce had he done so, when a sailor next to him fell heavily against

him, shot through the head by one of the Dutch soldiers. Cyril

staggered, and before he could recover himself, a Dutch sailor struck

at his head. He threw up his sword to guard the blow, but the guard

was beaten down as if it had been a reed. It sufficed, however,

slightly to turn the blow, which fell first on the side of the head,

and then, glancing down, inflicted a terrible wound on the shoulder.

He fell at once, unconscious, and, when he recovered his senses,

found himself laid out on the poop, where Sydney, assisted by two of

the other gentlemen, had carried him. His head and shoulder had

already been bandaged, the Prince having sent for his doctor to come

up from below to attend upon him.

The battle was raging with undiminished fury all round, but, for the

moment, the _Henrietta_ was not engaged, and her crew were occupied

in cutting away the wreckage of the mizzen-mast, and trying to repair

the more important of the damages that she had suffered. Carpenters

were lowered over the side, and were nailing pieces of wood over the

shot-holes near the water-line. Men swarmed aloft knotting and

splicing ropes and fishing damaged spars.

Sydney, who was standing a short distance away, at once came up to

him.

"How are you, Cyril?"

"My head sings, and my shoulder aches, but I shall do well enough.

Please get me lifted up on to that seat by the bulwark, so that I can

look over and see what is going on."

"I don't think you are strong enough to sit up, Cyril."