"
"Then you were in the fight of the 2nd of June?"
"Ay; and in that of the 31st of July, which was harder still."
"Tell me all about it, John."
"Lor' bless you, sir, there is nothing to tell as far as I was
concerned. I was at one of the guns on the upper deck, but I might as
well have been down below for anything I saw of it. It was just load
and fire, load and fire. Sometimes, through the clouds of smoke, one
caught a sight of the Dutchman one was firing at; more often one
didn't. There was no time for looking about, I can tell you, and if
there had been time there was nothing to see. It was like being in a
big thunderstorm, with thunderbolts falling all round you, and a
smashing and a grinding and a ripping that would have made your hair
stand on end if you had only had time to think of it. But we hadn't
time. It was 'Now then, my hearties, blaze away! Keep it up, lads!
The Dutchmen have pretty near had enough of it!' And then, at last,
'They are running, lads. Run in your guns, and tend the sails.' And
then a cheer as loud as we could give--which wasn't much, I can tell
you, for we were spent with labour, and half choked with powder, and
our tongues parched up with thirst."
"How many ships had you?"
"We had ninety-five war-ships, and five fire-ships, so the game was
an equal one. They had Tromp and De Ruyter to command them, and we
had Monk and Deane. Both Admirals were on board our ship, and in the
very first broadside the Dutch fired a chain-shot, and pretty well
cut Admiral Deane in two.
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