It was well that he had sailed the seas long enough to be cautious; for the lugger, having flown her English colours until she came within half pistol shot distance, suddenly hauled them down, and ran up the Spanish flag at the mizzen, and the French ensign, topped with a red flag, the signal of no quarter, at the main. In the same moment, without hail or summoning gun, a broadside roared out, followed by a rattling volley of small arms, by which her commander doubtless thought to shake the nerve of the Falmouth men, and by one sudden blow to win an opportunity of boarding. He was mistaken in his men, and he had forgotten the “Cornwallis’” stern guns. Her broadside came crashing into him before the smoke of the first discharges had blown away, and Captain Anthony was perfectly awake to the manœuvre his enemy was contemplating. He saw the lugger making sail; he understood full well that she was bearing down to grapple him on the starboard quarter. His couple of 12–pounder carronades were double-shotted, and as the lugger sheered up under the stern of the “Cornwallis” she got such a storm of grape and canister along her decks as took the heart out of her for boarding; while as she fell away in some confusion the Packet’s starboard guns came to bear, and were discharged at short range with terrible effect. This was the decisive moment of the action, and the event was never afterwards doubtful, though the fight was by no means over. The lugger sheered off to a safer distance, and commenced a heavy cannonade which did much injury to the “Cornwallis,” dismounting one of the stern guns which had served her so well, wounding three men seriously, and almost crippling her in sails and rigging. The enemy, however, either suffered more, or did not realize how effective her fire had been; for she showed no inclination to come to close quarters again, and after about an hour hauled off, and stood away to the southward, leaving the Packetsmen to enjoy their triumph. Somewhat earlier than this, namely on May 28th, 1807, the “Duke of Marlborough” was in the neighbourhood of Barbados, when the look-out at her masthead reported a schooner in sight running before the wind a few miles away to the southward. Captain Bull was not on board, and the Packet was in charge of Mr. James, the master, an officer whose growing reputation both as a navigator and in action already marked him as destined for an independent command. Mr. James was well aware of the great probability that any strange vessel encountered in that situation was an enemy; and he made his preparations without loss of time. It was half-past four in the afternoon when the schooner was sighted. By five o’clock the decks were cleared, the boarding nettings triced up, the arms served out, the mail brought on deck, the guns loaded, and the men were at their quarters, cheerful and confident.