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The Union lost her captain and first lieutenant during the first few minutes of the renewed encounter, her mainmast came down by the board, having been struck, fair and square, by one of the Covadonga's 70-pounder shells, and all her small boats were in a few minutes utterly destroyed by the storm of shot from the gunboat's gatling-guns.
The gunboat's engines were stopped and the two vessels drifted together side by side, while a party with axes set to work to clear away the wreckage. "Why on earth don't you look where you're going?" the Commander bawled at the junkmaster. "Yah me ping wi taow!" howled the Chinaman, which, being interpreted, means, "You tailless son of a devil," the greatest possible insult.
"I don't see a sign of motion on the stranger's decks." "Load again with solid shot, then," directed the gunboat's young commander. "This time hit her square in the fore-rigging." "I'll step below and sight the piece myself," replied Ensign Fullerton. A few moments later the executive officer reported the port bow gun in readiness for service. "Fire whenever you are ready, Mr.
"You'll have your wish, sir, as long as I'm alive," Jack answered, turning and lifting his hat in simple yet eloquent salute to the Flag waving at the gunboat's stern. All this time Hal Hastings stood by the deck wheel, one hand occasionally straying to the engine room signal buttons, as he kept the "Benson" just about a hundred feet from the gunboat and nearly abeam.
"The boat and men shall be ready at once, sir," replied the gunboat's commander, hastening from the room. Grimly the three officers comprising the board rose and hooked their swords to their belts, for they were going on an official visit. Nor was any time lost. Jack Benson and Lieutenant Danvers were ordered to accompany the members of the board.
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