Another burst in the coal bunks and cluttered up the engine room.

Death and destruction raged on every hand, and still the terrible _Kearsarge_ kept working nearer, the dearest wish of Winslow being to get to close quarters.
The ships had described seven circles about each other and were starting on the eighth, when Winslow, all alive and eagerness, saw the _Alabama_ set her fore trysail and two jibs and start for shore.

That meant that it was all up with her, and her captain's only hope now was to get into the harbor of Cherbourg.

Winslow ran across her bow and was on the point of raking her, when the _Alabama's_ flag came down.

Uncertain whether this was an accident, and suspecting a ruse by which the enemy expected to reach shore, now only two miles off, Winslow stopped firing, but held himself ready to open again.