Page:Leaves of Grass (1860).djvu/86

78 Did you learn who won by the light of the moon and
 * stars?

Our foe was no skulk in his ship, I tell you, His was the English pluck—and there is no tougher
 * or truer, and never was, and never will be;

Along the lowered eve he came, horribly raking us.

We closed with him—the yards entangled—the
 * cannon touched,

My captain lashed fast with his own hands.

We had received some eighteen-pound shots under
 * the water,

On our lower-gun-deck two large pieces had burst at
 * the first fire, killing all around, and blowing up
 * overhead.

Ten o'clock at night, and the full moon shining, and
 * the leaks on the gain, and five feet of water
 * reported,

The master-at-arms loosing the prisoners confined in
 * the after-hold, to give them a chance for
 * themselves.

The transit to and from the magazine was now
 * stopped by the sentinels,

They saw so many strange faces, they did not know
 * whom to trust.

Our frigate was afire, The other asked if we demanded quarter? If our colors were struck, and the fighting done?