He was to board on the starboard hand of the enemy, and he was working nearer to her all the time.

Mr.Ambleton the gunner had greatly improved his practice, and the commander was obliged to check his enthusiasm, or there would have been nothing left of the Arran in half an hour more.

Christy considered the final result as fully assured, for he did not believe the present enemy was any more heavily manned than her consort had been, and he could throw double her force upon her deck as soon as the two steamers were in position to do so.
"Are you doing all you can in the engine room, Mr.Sampson ?" asked Christy, pausing at the engine hatch.
"Everything, Captain Passford, and I think we must be making sixteen knots," replied the chief engineer.
"Is Mr.Bockburn on duty ?" "He is, sir; and if he were a Connecticut Yankee he could not do any better, or appear to be any more interested." "He seems to be entirely impartial; all he wants is his pay, and he is as willing to be on one side as the other if he only gets it," said Christy.

"Has any damage been done to the engine ?" "None at all, sir; a shot from one of those broadside guns went through the side, and passed just over the top of one of the boilers," replied the engineer.

"Bockburn plugged the shot hole very skilfully, and said it would not be possible for a shot to come in low enough to hit the boilers.