Though the damage he had received was considerable, there was nothing as yet, he conceived, sufficiently serious to make him haul off. Still he could not help wishing to see the flag of the fort come down, comparatively slight as was the damage he had received from its guns. Having destroyed the vessel he had chased, he might without any discredit haul off, considering the immense superiority of the force opposed to him; but Jack Rogers was not a man to haul down his flag, or get out of a fight, as long as he had a stick standing; and his spirit animating his officers and crew, the _Tornado_ kept blazing away, throwing shells into the fort, and firing shot, as he could bring his guns to bear at the three steamers. They had now, however, drawn considerably nearer than they had hitherto ventured to approach, and there seemed considerable likelihood of Dicky Duffs apprehensions being fulfilled. Jack now looked at the three vessels, now at the fort. "It might be done," he said, turning to Higson, "if the fort were stormed, and its guns turned against the steamers." "I would undertake it," said Higson; "but with its own garrison and the crew of the vessel which has just been burnt, it would be a hard job." "I would ask no one to lead it but myself," said Jack; "I will leave you to fight the vessel in the meantime; should I be killed, I give you orders to retire, for with a diminished crew you would have little prospect of doing more than has already been accomplished." "I do not advise you to command the expedition," said Higson; "you know me, and that I am not likely to be stopped by any ordinary hazard." Jack, without answering, still kept eyeing the shore, looking out for a place where his boats might land. "There's a steamer in the offing, sir, standing in for the bay," said Archie, coming up to him. "Another enemy," exclaimed Higson; "we shall have enough of them." "We'll tackle them, notwithstanding," answered Jack; "they show no inclination, however, to come to close quarters." Another shot from the enemy struck the _Tornado_. "The commander is just a little o'er brave," observed Dicky Duff to Billy Blueblazes; "we've got terrible odds against us." "He knows what he is about, and he'll manage to lick them all, one after another, depend on that," said Billy. "I don't exactly see how he's going to do that," said Dicky. "If we could but tackle one at a time it would be fairer, and we should have a better chance of licking them." "That's just what they don't want to give us," said Billy. "Another steamer coming in from the southward, sir," said Archie, who had been looking out. "Friend or foe?" observed Jack to Higson; "if the latter, we must stand out and meet her, and leave the three vessels in the bay till we can come back and settle with them."