By this time both vessels were on fire in several places. Half the men on both ships had been killed or disabled. The leaks in the _Richard's_ hold had multiplied, she was much deeper in the sea; while the mainmast of the _Serapis_ hung in splinters and threatened to go by the board at any moment. Now, to the surprise of everybody, the cowardly Landais, with the _Alliance_, once more put in an appearance. This time he fired several broadsides into both combatants, seeming to take as much delight in hitting one as the other. As before, the man who surely could not have been sane, put his helm over and sailed away--very luckily for the last time. While he was making off, a gunner on the _Richard_, thinking the ship was sinking, called loudly for quarter. No sooner were the words out of his mouth than Paul Jones sprang forward and felled him with the butt end of his pistol. "Do you want quarter?" called Captain Pearson. "No," roared Paul Jones; "you are the one to ask that!" And he purposely sent a pistol shot whistling close to the British captain's ears. As if to make matters worse at this trying moment, the master-at-arms on the _Richard_, also thinking the ship sinking, opened the hatches and released nearly two hundred British prisoners, taken from prizes, who began to swarm on deck in the greatest confusion! It was a moment to try the resourcefulness of the quickest intellect. Paul Jones hesitated just a moment, then he thundered at the prisoners to man the pumps or he would fill them full of lead. They obeyed like dumb-driven sheep. As the water in the hold of the sinking ship began to pour over her bulwarks into the sea again, the men on the _Richard_ resumed the battle with new vigor. Paul Jones had given orders to drop hand-grenades from the rigging down into the hold of the _Serapis_, through her main hatchway, which was open. By this same means the enemy had been set afire at various times before. Now, at an opportune moment, a hand-grenade fell among a pile of cartridges strung out on the deck of the _Serapis_. A terrific explosion occurred, killing many of her men. It was an opportunity too good to let go. With a shout, the dashing John Mayrant, cleared the bulwarks of the enemy ship at the head of a yelling throng of Americans and French, and the next moment a terrific hand-to-hand struggle with cutlass and pistol was being waged. [Illustration: BOARDING THE SERAPIS _From a rare print_] Seeing his men falling back, Captain Pearson knew that he was a defeated man, and struck his colors to save those of his crew still alive. The capture of the British frigate came none too soon, for the old shot-torn _Bon Homme Richard_ was settling fast. By the combined efforts of crew and prisoners, the fire in both ships was extinguished. Then all bent their efforts to removing the wounded and prisoners from the _Richard_ to the _Serapis_, together with ammunition and other valuables.