“Report to him that it is I who have surrendered,” returned Pearson, bitterly. “You!” exclaimed the man. “Why, in a few more broadsides they are ours. A prisoner just crawled through a port and says that they are sinking.” Captain Pearson cast a swift glance at the seamen of the Richard, who were now leaping upon his deck; but he drooped his head with a groan when he saw that he was powerless. “The Serapis has struck,” said Dale to the man with the bandaged head. “Pass the word below.” “Very well, sir,” said the man. Ethan was watching this man curiously, and when he turned to spring below he found the young American confronting him with ready cutlass. “Mr. Dale said pass the word,” said Ethan, sternly. “You need not bother about going below in person.” That it had been the man’s intention to tell his officer to continue the fight was clear from the baffled look which he gave Ethan. The latter then stepped close to him and continued in a low voice, “And another thing--I would very much like to have the paper which you took that night upon the by-road to London, Master Dirk Hatfield.” At the sound of his name, the highwayman made a sudden forward leap and cut desperately at Ethan; but the young American’s guard was up and he caught the descending blade upon his own; then with a twist of the wrist he disarmed his opponent and held his point at his throat. By this time the decks of the Serapis swarmed with American seamen. Longsword pinned the highwayman’s arms at his sides, while Ethan’s eager hands sought out the much desired dispatch. At length he drew it from an inner pocket and held it up with a cry of triumph. John Paul Jones, who stood near, turned upon the boy as he heard the cry. “What have you there?” he asked. “The dispatch,” exclaimed Ethan joyfully. “Here is the highwayman of whom I spoke to you,” pointing to Hatfield, “and he still had it in his possession.” “Fortune still follows you,” cried Jones as he took the paper which the lad held out to him. “And misfortune seems to follow me,” spoke the knight of the road as they led him away among the other prisoners. “There is ten thousand pounds gone to pot.” The crew of the Serapis was disarmed and imprisoned below. Then, as the shattered Richard threatened to sink at any moment, the prisoners and wounded were hastily distributed between the Pallas and the captured Englishman; the American commander and his crew shifting to the latter ship which, though badly crippled in the rigging, was still seaworthy. The Richard’s own crew and some from the Pallas strove at the pumps to keep out the inrushing water from the doomed vessel; but their efforts were of no avail, and on the morning of the twenty-fifth their officers called them away. As the last man was going over the side into Lieutenant Dale’s boat, Ethan Carlyle swarmed up the damaged shrouds of the American ship. “Come back,” shouted Dale. “She is going down.”