The men came hurrying up the ladders, all excited and angry at being disturbed.
They heard the regular dip of the oars, but the fog was too dense for the _Lively Bee_ to be seen.
The crew of the _Caroline_, armed with pistols and cutlasses, awaited the enemy.
The cannon were of little or no use, for it was only a waste of effort to fire at random, and the _Lively Bee_ was hidden from view.
Captain Vernon knew that the _Poietiers_ was very close, and so the less noise made the better.
He had said: "Use no pistols if you can help." And the men answered in their cheery way: "Ay, ay, sir!"
When the privateer was within a few yards of the English brig her tall spars were for the first time visible.
A fusillade of pistol shots rattled through the rigging, but did no serious damage.
The privateersmen crouched below the bulwarks of their taut little schooner until her bow passed over the waist of the brig.
Then, with a ringing cheer, these daring men sprang up and made a simultaneous leap into the _Caroline's_ rigging.
They swarmed to her deck like a crowd of wasps, bent on stinging their victims to death.
The sharp clang of steel was drowned at times by the groans of the wounded, the quick crack of the pistols only seemed like an accompaniment to the clashing of the cutlasses.
The Englishmen were driven back, not by weight of numbers, but partly because they were taken unawares, and most of them aroused from slumber.
But in prowess the crew of the privateer had also the advantage.
They were born fighters, and every blow was given with intent to kill.
Captain Carter had fought furiously, but had been wounded fatally by a cutlass blow from John Tempest.
Nearly all the crew of the _Caroline_ lay on the deck, with wounds great or small.
It was a dismal sight, as the privateersmen moved around with lanterns looking at the faces of the dead and dying.
"Can there be any one below?" asked Tempest.
"I thought I heard a cry, sir," answered Scarron.
"Not likely that same, sir, asking your pardon for being so bold, but women don't go to sea at times like these."
"Ay, ay, sir; it is a great prize we have made."
"That's what I'd like to know, sir; it will be hard work, for she must be a hundred and fifty ton heavier than the _Lively Bee_."