The remainder of the men refused to serve the other guns, and thus the _Bonhomme Richard_ was deprived of the services of her heaviest battery, in addition to the serious loss in dead and wounded.
Captain Jones forged ahead, crossing his enemy's bow, while the latter came up on his port quarter.

They were within a biscuit's toss of each other, wrapped in dense smoke, lit up by the jets of flame which were continuous.

Mingled with the terrific booming was the spiteful rattle of musketry from the tops and yells and cries of the wounded.

The decks of the _Bonhomme Richard_ were slippery with blood, which increased until the men, as they ran to and fro, splashed in it, like children playing in a mud puddle, and it was the same on the _Serapis_.

It found its outlet through the scuppers and crimsoned the deep blue of the ocean.
[Illustration: FIGHT BETWEEN "BONHOMME RICHARD" AND "SERAPIS."] Some of the shots from the _Serapis_ pierced the _Bonhomme Richard_ under the water line, causing her to leak badly.