Still undaunted, and excited by the example of their brave admiral, the British sailors fought on. At length a shot swept across the quarter-deck, on which the admiral was standing. He was seen to fall. His right leg was shattered by it. Immediately he was carried below. He urged the surgeons to dress the wound as rapidly as they could, and then being placed in his cradle, he directed himself to be brought once more on the deck. There, in spite of the agony he was suffering, he continued to give his orders. One of the last he issued was to direct the other captains to "keep the line and behave like men." Great was his grief, vexation, and rage, when the recreant captains came on board and declared that enough had been done, and that it would be dangerous to follow the enemy. In vain the old admiral pleaded with them. They persisted that by so doing they would ensure the destruction of their ships and crews. Wounded and sick at heart he had at length to yield to them, and he issued the order for the squadron to return to Jamaica. Here the brave old admiral was carried on shore, and shortly afterwards died of the wound he had received. The captains who had refused to support him were tried by a court-martial, and two of them were carried home and shot on the decks of their ships, as soon as they arrived in an English port. To return to John Deane. Soon after the "Breda" reached Port Royal, as she was likely to remain there for some time, and he was anxious for active employment, he got re-appointed to the "Venus," which was sent to cruise for the protection of British commerce. As soon as the frigate was clear of the island, a bright look-out was kept for the French privateers or any other of the enemy's vessels. The frigate had been cruising for a week or more, and had already got some distance from Jamaica, having during the time captured several small vessels, some of which had been destroyed and others sent to Port Royal, when one forenoon a large ship was descried to leeward. All sail was crowded in chase, and as the frigate had the advantage of the wind, the stranger being almost becalmed, she soon came up with her. As soon as the breeze reached the stranger, without hoisting her colours, she made all sail in an attempt to escape. Various opinions were offered as to her character. Some thought she was a Spanish galleon, though how she should have come thus far north was a question not easily answered. Others believed she was a large French merchantman, and some pronounced her to be a privateer. She was a fast craft, at all events, for as soon as she felt the breeze she slipped through the water at a rate which made it doubtful whether the "Venus" would come up with her. This made the English still more anxious for her capture, as, in the first place, if a merchantman, she was likely to have a rich cargo on board, and at all events she might be converted into a useful cruiser.