True Blue had not far to stoop as he took the lanyard of the lock in his hand and looked carefully along the gun. The _Ruby_ had herself hauled up a little. For an instant there was a cessation of firing. Billy at that moment pulled the trigger. The Frenchmen were in the very act of bracing up the mizen-topsail-yard when the mizen-mast was seen to bend over to starboard, and, with a crash, to come toppling down overboard, shot away a few feet only above the deck. "You did it--you did it, Billy, my boy!" exclaimed Paul Pringle, almost beside himself with joy, seizing his godson in his arms and giving him a squeeze which would have pressed the breath out of a slighter body. "Who fired that last shot?" asked the Captain from aft. "True Blue, sir--Billy Freeborn!" cried Paul Pringle. "Hurrah! hurrah!" shouted the men at the gun. "Bravo! let him fire another, then," answered Captain Garland, not complaining of the irregularity of the proceeding. Not another word could have been heard, for both the _Ruby_ and the French frigate again began pounding away at each other. True Blue, with the encouragement he had received, stepped boldly up to the gun. The captain was Tom Marline, one of his assistant-guardians, and he was a favourite with all the rest, so that there was no feeling of jealousy excited against him. Again he looked along it. He waited his time till the smoke had cleared away a little, and then once more he fired. The shot hit--of that both Marline and Paul Pringle were certain, but what damage was done they could not determine. "I pitched it astern, not far from the wheel," observed True Blue quietly. "Maybe it hit the wheel--maybe not." Again the firing went on as before, and True Blue modestly returned to his powder tub. More than once he jumped up, anxious to have another pull at the lanyard of his gun. Paul, however, did not encourage this; he wisely considered that he had done enough to establish a reputation, which more shots would not have increased. Suddenly Paul struck his hands together with delight. "She is steering wildly! she is steering wildly!" he cried out. "True Blue, you did knock her wheel away--you did, boy. See what she's about!" The French frigate as he spoke paid off right before the wind, and presented her bows directly at the _Ruby_. In that position she received a raking broadside; but nothing could stop her--she was utterly without guidance, and on she came like a battering-ram directly at the beam of the _Ruby_. Captain Garland, so sudden was the movement, could accomplish no manoeuvre to avoid the collision. The French ship's jibboom, as she fell on board the English frigate, passed directly between her fore and mainmasts, and there she hung, while it pressed so hard against the already wounded mainmast that there appeared every prospect of the latter being carried away. Just before, a shot had struck the boatswain and brought him mortally wounded to the deck.