Page:Leaves of Grass (1860).djvu/86

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78
Leaves of Grass.

Did you learn who won by the light of the moon and
stars?

230.Our foe was no skulk in his ship, I tell you,
His was the English pluck—and there is no tougher
or truer, and never was, and never will be;
Along the lowered eve he came, horribly raking us.

231.We closed with him—the yards entangled—the
cannon touched,
My captain lashed fast with his own hands.

232.We had received some eighteen-pound shots under
the water,
On our lower-gun-deck two large pieces had burst at
the first fire, killing all around, and blowing up
overhead.

233.Ten o'clock at night, and the full moon shining, and
the leaks on the gain, and five feet of water
reported,
The master-at-arms loosing the prisoners confined in
the after-hold, to give them a chance for
themselves.

234.The transit to and from the magazine was now
stopped by the sentinels,
They saw so many strange faces, they did not know
whom to trust.

235.Our frigate was afire,
The other asked if we demanded quarter?
If our colors were struck, and the fighting done?