“See him!” added Tom, glancing at the officer in command. “Isn’t he a darling? See how he does it! That man ought to be a commodore. See that! There comes the second cutter; and there goes the third cutter,--she is going to board her over the starn, while we take her on for’ard.” “Give way, my men!” said Mr. Granger in a deep, energetic tone, which seemed to electrify the muscles of the oarsmen. “All ready there, forward! Steady! Avast pulling!” he added, as the first cutter darted in under the port-bow of the steamer. “All ready, my darling!” said Tom Longstone in a low, encouraging tone; for he seemed to feel that it was part of his duty to keep up Jack’s courage during this trying ordeal. Our sailor-boy, however, needed no such stimulus. He was fully alive to the duty of the hour,--anxious to honor his flag, and distinguish himself. He had been in one slight brush with the rebels, and was fully prepared for the desperate work before him. “Boarders away!” cried Mr. Granger. “Boarders away!” shouted Mr. McBride, in the second cutter on the starboard bow, at the same instant. The rebels on the deck of the Wizard were in readiness to repel boarders; and the first gallant tar who leaped on board fell back with a ball through his heart. The second was pierced with a bayonet; but he was followed by Tom Longstone, whose cutlass cleft the skull of the rebel who disputed his passage. “Lay ’em aboard, my lads! Sweep the decks!” shouted Mr. Granger, as he gained a footing upon the forecastle of the Wizard. Jack Somers was by the side of Tom; but he had scarcely reached the deck before he saw a rebel bayonet darting towards his heart. Turning it aside with a blow of his cutlass, he fired his pistol, and the man dropped. “No pistols! Don’t fire a pistol!” exclaimed Mr. Granger, turning round to see who had done so. “You will hit our own men on the starboard side!” When the commander turned, a rebel soldier rushed upon him. He had lost his gun in the affray; and he sprang at the throat of Mr. Granger, evidently with the intention of wrenching his sword from his grasp. Jack saw the movement, and received the soldier upon the point of his cutlass, and beat him back. The soldiers on board fought with desperate energy; but the determination of the seamen drove them back towards the stern of the steamer, where, by this time, the boarding-party from the third cutter had gained the deck. They saw their fate, if they persisted; and one by one they surrendered to the victors, and the Wizard was in possession of the cutters’ men. “Are you hurt, my dear?” demanded Tom Longstone when the fighting was finished. “Not a bit, Tom. How is it with you?” “Nothing to speak of, my lad: only a slash in the hand with a bayonet. The bloody rebel had near-a’most harpooned me like a dolphin, when I caught the tool in my hand,” replied Tom, as he exhibited the wounded member. “Got a handkercher, Jack?”