This was a terrible broadside, the worst any American ship had felt in the whole war. Every shot hit the _Saratoga_ and tore through her timbers, sending splinters flying like hail. So frightful was the shock that nearly half the crew were thrown to the deck. About forty of them did not get up again; they were either killed or wounded. A few broadsides like that would have ended the fight, for it would have left the _Saratoga_ without men. On both sides now the cannon roared and the shots flew, but the British guns were the best and the Americans had the worst of it. The commodore was knocked down twice. The last time he was hit with the head of a man that had been shot off and came whirling through the air. "The commodore is killed!" cried the men; but in a trice he was up again, and aiming and firing one of his own guns. This dreadful work went on for two hours. All that time the two biggest British vessels were pelting the _Saratoga_, and the other American ships were not helping her much. Red-hot shots were fired, which set her on fire more than once. At the end MacDonough had not a single gun left to fire back. It looked as if all was up with the Americans, all of whose ships were being battered by the enemy. But Commodore MacDonough was not yet at the end of his plans. He now cut loose his stern anchor and bade his men pull on the rope that led to the bow anchor. In a minute the ship began to swing round. Soon she had a new side turned to the foe. Not a gun had been fired on this side. When the British captain saw what the Americans were doing he tried the same thing. But it did not work as well with him. The _Confiance_ began to swing round, but when she got her stern turned to the Americans she stuck fast. Pull and haul as they might, the sailors could not move her another inch. Here was a splendid chance for the men on the _Saratoga_. They poured their broadsides into the stern of the _Confiance_ and raked her from end to end, while her position was a helpless one. The men fled from the guns. The ship was being torn into splinters. No hope for her was left. She could not fire a gun. Her captain was dead, but her lieutenant saw that all was over, and down came her flag. Then the _Saratoga_ turned on the brig _Linnet_ and served her in the same fashion. That ended the battle. The two sloops had surrendered before, the gunboats were driven away by the _Ticonderoga_, and the hard fight was done. Once more the Americans were victors. Perry had won one lake. MacDonough had won another. And that was not the whole of it. For as soon as the American soldiers saw the British flag down and the Stars and Stripes still afloat, they set up a shout that rang back from the Vermont hills. Sir George Prevost, though he had an army of veterans twice as strong as the American army of militia, broke camp and sneaked away under cover of a storm. CHAPTER XIX FOUR NAVAL HEROES IN ONE CHAPTER