Having divided the prisoners and separated the vessels, the Vengeance made all sail after the captured Fox. There was a fine smooth-water breeze, and the schooner, with every sail drawing, was making her way for the land, seeking to enter a deep bay, on whose western point Lieutenant Thornton knew there was a battery of four heavy guns. The Vengeance sailed under her enormous lugs and topsails like a witch, and yet so evenly and smoothly, that she created but little foam under her bows. Fast as the schooner certainly sailed, the Vengeance went two feet for her one. The crew of the Fox were in admiration of her speed, for just as the schooner came within reach of the battery, the Vengeance was close up with her. Nevertheless, the prize crew in the Fox opened fire upon them from her six-pounders; but Lieutenant Thornton, who could have done her considerable damage long before, did not return her fire, not wishing to injure the schooner; therefore, he at once ran alongside, and his men, being prepared, with a loud cheer, leaped down upon her deck, cutlass in hand. There were six or seven-and-twenty fierce privateer’s men on board the Fox, who received them with a volley from firearms; but our hero, followed closely by Bill Saunders, dashed in amongst the enraged enemy, driving them aft with a spirit and energy that staggered them. In the midst of the contest the English prisoners broke loose from below to the number of twenty, and with a loud cheer seized every available weapon, and attacked the enemy with a vigour and resolution that soon settled the affair. And the captain, having lost two of his crew and a dozen wounded, surrendered, just as the fort on the point opened fire; her first shot knocked the jib-boom of the schooner to atoms. By this time daylight dawned, and our hero at once ordered the two vessels to make sail from the shore. As the schooner hove round, a second shot knocked away her figure-head and part of her stern; but, a fresh wind blowing, she soon got out of range of the battery. Thornton had one or two slight cuts himself, and several of his men also; but none were seriously hurt. Our hero had a consultation with the mate of the Fox privateer, who, marvellously elated at the recapture of the schooner, was perfectly willing to do whatever Lieutenant Thornton considered most expedient. Our hero wished him to run the two vessels across Channel to Poole, from whence the Fox hailed, and surrender her to her owners, leaving the settlement of recapture to be arranged when he arrived in England. As to the prisoners, being more in number than the united crews, our hero had them all put into the boats of the Belle Poule, and, standing to the eastward of the battery, permitted them to pull for the shore—a proceeding that afterwards proved exceedingly injurious to our hero.