This reminded Howard of what he had forgotten,--that he had come, not to make love, but to conduct his fair prisoner and her two pretty attendants, Rose and Cicely, to a place of security, which he now proceeded to do. They were accordingly conducted between-decks, amid a tremendous uproar, for in one quarter Dick Selby was hoisting up shot and powder from the magazine, in another, boxes, chests, and bulkheads were going down, and hammocks being triced up, while the shrill whistle of the boatswain, the swearing and noise of the seamen, made the place terrible to them; and from the lower deck they descended by a ladder and the light of a lantern into a dreary and Cimmerian gulf, from which arose the combined odours of bilge and rancid beef, stale cheese, tarry ropes, and other agreeable perfumes, such as usually pervade the region of the cockpit. And there, in a curtained and cushioned berth, below the water-line, he left them to their prayers, and with a sigh ascended to the maindeck of the _Harry_; and then his spirit rose as he breathed more freely. "Dick Selby,--up with the battle-lanterns, and beat to quarters!" said he: "John o'Lynne, make sail on the ship; see, the _Cressi_ will first engage these petulant Scots; stand to your culverins, my lads fore and aft, if you would not brook a Scottish prison, oatmeal, and iron fetters, before we see merry England again!" And bravely every man in the good ship _Harry_ stood by his gun, and drew tighter the buckles of his helmet and girdle. CHAPTER XLIII. THE BATTLE OF THE MAY. "He ha' brass within and steel without, With beams on his top-castle strong; And eighteen pieces of ordnance, He carries on each side along. And he hath a pinnace dight, St. Andrew's cross is his guide; The pinnace beareth nine score men, And fifteen guns on each side." _Sir Andro Burton_