Exmouth, whom he had left a mild elderly man,
quite changed; he was now "all fightful, as a
fierce lion which had been chained in a cage
and then set at liberty." All he said was,
"Never mind, we shall see now."

Then he turned to the officers, and said sternly,
"Be ready!" The seamen were standing at each
gun, with the matches or the strings of the
locks in their hands, anxiously waiting for the
word "Fire!" The dogs of war were straining
at the slip; the volcano was ready to break
forth.

The great sea-birds, with outstretched pinions,
glided past the Moorish batteries, where the
Algerines stood astonished at the English
audacity and fearlessness. The Queen Charlotte
gallantly let go her anchors at a quarter to
three o'clock, within eighty yards of the Mole-
Head Batteries, but finding there were only
two feet of water under the keel, the cable
was let go for twenty yards more. The sailors
gave three cheers when Lord Exmouth took up
his position, and in such a masterly style that no
more than four or five guns from the mole
could bear on their ship, though it was exposed
to musketry and to all the other batteries. The
other vessels moved also to their stations with
admirable precision and coolness.

The great three-deckers being higher than
the Moorish batteries, the Arabs and Turks
leaped up on the parapets to see our fleet
advance. Inside the mole there seemed
great confusion. They had trusted to intimidation,
and had not expected so rapid, close, and
daring an attack. They had not even loaded
their guns until almost all the fleet had passed
the batteries. There was a profound silence,
and Lord Exmouth began to expect a full
compliance to all his demands was forthcoming,
when, at a few minutes before three, a gun
flashed and a spirt of fire came from the Eastern
Battery at the Impregnable, which, with the
Superb and Albion, were slow sailers, and lagged
behind. The warning shot was to prevent them
from coming in and joining the squadron. Lord
Exmouth, the instant he saw the smoke of the
gun, and before he heard the report, cried out
with great alacrity,

"That will do. Fire, my fine fellows!"

Before the words were well spoken, a tremendous
broadside was fired by the Queen Charlotte;
it was followed by two other ships within six
minutes. The other vessels gave tongue at the
same moment. The Algerines afterwards said it
was like "hell opening on them." Down into
the dark narrow steep streets, in among the
blind walls, in the pillared fountain-courts, at
mosque doors, and in palace orange-gardens, the
shells rolled and hissed, splitting and splintering,
and scattering death as their jagged iron flew
about in showers. That first bursting fire killed
or wounded more than five hundred Moors.
Before the discharge, crowds of soldiers were
gathered in many conspicuous places; when the
smoke passed, the survivors were seen crawling
away under the walls like dogs, on their feet and
hands. The smoke of the guns hid the sun and
darkened the sky. The batteries of Algiers — the
Mole, the Fish-Market, and the Lighthouse,
replied quickly and angrily.

Nothing could surpass the jovial daring of our
sailors, or the hearty way in which they worked the
heavy lower-deck guns. In some cases, when the
wadding failed, the brave fellows cut off the breasts
of their blue jackets and rammed them down the
cannon. Even the seamen's wives on board the
Severn helped their husbands, by passing shot and
powder. No sailor showed fatigue, or
manifested a doubt of the result. The longer the
bombardment lasted, the more cheerful and hearty
the men grew, keeping up the fire with increasing
fury. Lord Exmouth several times wished to
cease firing for a short time, in order to make
observations, but it was with great difficulty he
could make the seamen stop even for a moment.
Every time an Algerine frigate broke into flame,
or a battery " caved in," our men gave a
tremendous cheer.

On the main and foretops of the Queen
Charlotte, Salamé says there were two twelve-
pounders, which " worked into" the Algerine
batteries a deadly hailstorm of two hundred and
eighty musket-balls at each discharge. These
showers of lead swept off all the Arabs from the
parapets, and from the Dey's upper rows of guns.

The Leander, to use a phrase of the Ring,
"got it hot," being ripped, torn, and badly
cut up by the twenty guns mounted on
the fish-market gate, on whose arches and battlements
the vessel's guns produced little effect.
The Impregnable was also dreadfully punished
by the Eastern Battery: losing seventy-three
seamen, and having one hundred and thirty-seven
torn, lacerated, and otherwise wounded.

Of this stage of the battle Lord Exmouth
himself writes with more vigour and feeling
than is usual in despatches. "Thus commenced,"
he says, "a fire as animated and well supported,
I believe, as was ever witnessed, from a quarter
before three until nine, without intermission,
and which did not cease altogether until half-
past eleven. Never did the British flag
receive, on any occasion, more zealous and
honourable support. To look further on the
line than immediately round me was perfectly
impossible, but, so well grounded was my
confidence in the gallant officers I had the honour
to command, that my mind was kept perfectly
free to attend to other objects, and I knew them
to be in their stations only by the destructive
effect of their fire upon the walls and batteries to
which they were opposed. I had about this
time the satisfaction of seeing Vice-Admiral
Van Cappellan's flag in the station I had assigned
to him, and soon after, at intervals, the
remainder of his frigates, keeping up a well-
supported fire on the flanking batteries he had
offered to cover us from, as it had not been in
my power, from want of room, to bring him in
the front of the wall. After sunset I received
a message from Rear-Admiral Milne, conveying
to me the severe loss the Impregnable was
sustaining, having then one hundred and fifty
killed and wounded, and requesting I would, if