登陆注册
14922300000081

第81章

"I doubt not that with the help of our Lady we shall do our part,"said the King. "Hold her straight, master-shipman, as I have told you."Now the two vessels were within arrow flight, and the bolts from the crossbowmen pattered upon the English ship. These short thick devil's darts were everywhere humming like great wasps through the air, crashing against the bulwarks, beating upon the deck, ringing loudly. on the armor of the knights, or with a soft muffled thud sinking to the socket in a victim.

The bowmen along either side of the Philippa had stood motionless waiting for their orders, but now there was a sharp shout from their leader, and every string twanged together. The air was full of their harping, together with the swish of the arrows, the long-drawn keening of the bowmen and the short deep bark of the under-officers. "Steady, steady! Loose steady! Shoot wholly together! Twelve score paces! Ten score! Now eight! Shoot wholly together!" Their gruff shouts broke through the high shrill cry like the deep roar of a wave through the howl of the wind.

As the two great ships hurtled together the Spaniard turned away a few points so that the blow should be a glancing one. None the less it was terrific. A dozen men in the tops of the carack were balancing a huge stone with the intention of dropping it over on the English deck. With a scream of horror they saw the mast cracking beneath them. Over it went, slowly at first, then faster, until with a crash it came down on its side, sending them flying like stones from a sling far out into the sea. A swath of crushed bodies lay across the deck where the mast had fallen. But the English ship had not escaped unscathed. Her mast held, it is true, but the mighty shock not only stretched every man flat upon the deck, but had shaken a score of those who lined her sides into the sea. One bowman was hurled from the top, and his body fell with a dreadful crash at the very side of the prostrate King upon the forecastle. Many were thrown down with broken arms and legs from the high castles at either end into the waist of the ship.

Worst of all, the seams had been opened by the crash and the water was gushing in at a dozen places.

But these were men of experience and of discipline, men who had already fought together by sea and by land, so that each knew his place and his duty. Those who could staggered to their feet and helped up a score or more of knights who were rolling and clashing in the scuppers unable to rise for the weight of their armor. The bowmen formed up as before. The seamen ran to the gaping seams with oakum and with tar. In ten minutes order had been restored and the Philippa, though shaken and weakened, was ready for battle once more. The King was glaring round him like a wounded boar.

"Grapple my ship with that," he cried, pointing to the crippled Spaniard, "for I would have possession of her!"But already the breeze had carried them past it, and a dozen Spanish ships were bearing down full upon them.

"We cannot win back to her, lest we show our flank to these others," said the shipman.

"Let her go, her way!" cried the knights. "You shall have better than her.""By Saint George! you speak the truth," said the King, for she is ours when we have time to take her. These also seem very worthy ships which are drawing up to us, and I pray you, master-shipman, that you will have a tilt with the nearest."A great carack was within a bowshot of them and crossing their bows. Bunce looked up at his mast, and he saw that already it was shaken and drooping. Another blow and it would be over the side and his ship a helpless log upon the water. He jammed his helm round therefore, and ran his ship alongside the Spaniard, throwing out his hooks and iron chains as he did so.

They, no less eager, grappled the Philippa both fore and aft, and the two vessels, linked tightly together, surged slowly over the long blue rollers. Over their bulwarks hung a cloud of men locked together in a desperate struggle, sometimes surging forward on to the deck of the Spaniard, sometimes recoiling back on to the King's ship, reeling this way and that, with the swords flickering like silver flames above them, while the long-drawn cry of rage and agony swelled up like a wolf's howl to the calm blue heaven above them.

But now ship after ship of the English had come up, each throwing its iron over the nearest Spaniard and striving to board her high red sides. Twenty ships were drifting in furious single combat after the manner of the Philippa, until the whole surface of the sea was covered with a succession of these desperate duels. The dismasted carack, which the King's ship had left behind it, had been carried by the Earl of Suffolk's Christopher, and the water was dotted with the heads of her crew. An English ship had been sunk by a huge stone discharged from an engine, and her men also were struggling in the waves, none having leisure to lend them a hand. A second English ship was caught between two of the Spanish vessels and overwhelmed by a rush of boarders so that not a man of her was left alive. On the other hand, Mowbray and Audley had each taken the caracks which were opposed to them, and the battle in the center, after swaying this way and that, was turning now in favor of the Islanders.

同类推荐
  • 妇女双名记

    妇女双名记

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 修丹妙用至理论

    修丹妙用至理论

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 中庸直指补注

    中庸直指补注

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • THE AGE OF INNOCENCE

    THE AGE OF INNOCENCE

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 蓋平縣志

    蓋平縣志

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
热门推荐
  • 帝落花:等爱千年

    帝落花:等爱千年

    帝落花盛开时,落羽却无心打理。穿着一身红衣,站在桃花纷飞的园地。她,君家一位不受宠的公主。本应过问无忧的生活,但却因帝王之家,而变得冷血,残忍。他的出现,却渐渐融化了她的心。为此,她等了他千年。但最终等到的,却是一个经历了永生永世的他。其实,他与她本是一对神仙。只是来人间渡情劫。
  • 凤逆九天:重生之废柴逆天大小姐

    凤逆九天:重生之废柴逆天大小姐

    是谁,在黑夜中奏响华丽的乐曲,收割着一个又一个罪恶的生命,姐妹的背叛又如何,异世重生又如何?!看她在异界之中展示最真实的自己,创造自己的传奇
  • 长言

    长言

    她的存在本身就是一个错误,可是她偏偏要逆天而行直到她听见有个人对她说,“你只是我爱的那个长言,那个我值得用一生去守护的人。”但是后来,那个人却站到了她的对面,用冰冷陌生的语气对她说,“你不是长言,我的长言已经死了。”
  • 那由夕

    那由夕

    简介,懒人不需要!!!因为我要平衡全球的油价,所以这本书只能不定期更新了。。。。你们懂的ps:本书不定期更新。我发4,绝对不会烂尾。。。。
  • 淡定的人生不焦虑

    淡定的人生不焦虑

    淡定的心态能够帮助人们坦然地面对眼前的一切困难,让人们清楚地认识到自己到底需要的是什么,不会再为一些无谓的事情变得焦虑不安。淡定是一种态度,更是一种气度,一种海纳百川的气度。一个淡定的人,一定是一个心胸宽广的人,是一个能够从容地面对生活中的种种诱惑,能够控制自我欲望的人。淡定其实也是一种心情,是一种自我感受到的愉快心情。在这忙碌的世界里,生活的焦虑、工作的压力、家庭的担忧常常让我们变得苦恼与烦躁。欲望无止境,欲壑终难填,一味追名逐利之人是难以拥有幸福的。
  • 冥主天下

    冥主天下

    【前世因!种下后世果!】金牌杀手-情无血,刺杀任务中牺牲,成为冥界千年游魂,一朝重生人间,成为相府嫡女沐染晴,只想平淡度一生,却因母亲失踪、身世之谜、各方势力暗杀,只得重出江湖,再现风姿。兜兜转转,命运逃不过天意的牵绊,一切皆是有因必有果!有果必有因!一界之主仙魂落凡间,历经两世生死再度为人,自立为王,驭仙兽,炼仙丹,修法力,只为保护自己在乎的亲人。奈何前世身份尊贵,千年灭绝之战,六界之主擅自开启毁灭之术,遭上古尊神惩罚,贬去尊贵之位,废去生身法力,贬入不同的地域历劫。奈何仙骨不剃,终有一日,披荆斩棘,再立昔日辉煌!噬魔卷土重来,六界再次陷入一片混乱,六界之主是否还会选择当年一样的老路。
  • 秘境乐园

    秘境乐园

    陈儒的世界改变了,成为了一个叫做“秘境乐园”的地方,本应该死亡的他,却诡异的醒在噩梦之前,再来一次的他,能否拯救自己与其他人?
  • 十三勇者传记

    十三勇者传记

    13勇者,乱世浮沉,虚伪,谎言,那是谁的温柔,暖了一世?然而那又谁的虚伪?谁在说谎?谁在隐瞒着真实?谁在那黑暗之中哭泣?谁又在那神殿之下祈愿?推理群穿,魔王附体一剑灭世文,不到结局,没有真相。
  • 梦回高中

    梦回高中

    醒来后,发现自己处在高一的课堂上。难道我从高中到大学的时光全是梦。接下来发生的事却和梦里的剧情一模一样。既然这样,那我就改变遗憾吧。
  • 封主

    封主

    天地分七界,七界本同根。却为一日分,从古乱至今。遇阻七界乱,封主定乾坤!正与邪,爱与怨,痛与恨,究竟如何。情与义,忠与孝,江山与她,为阻人之三难啊!他,是为修真大陆第一府的府主嫡孙,身世显赫,天赋异禀,却性格惫懒,又为寻的那心中的自由以及有朝一日得道万人的敬仰,从而踏上了修行路。他,是为他同父异母的哥哥,同样的身世显赫,但却因母亲的缘故年仅十四岁便为府人所遗弃,是为弃子,从此立志与生身之地势不两立,就此踏上了之修行路。她,身世神秘坎坷,性格高傲,冷淡,从小便要做一名赴汤蹈火的战士,年少时冰冷的脸庞曾一次次刺痛他心中最柔弱的地方,他曾立誓要一生带着她浪迹天涯,后来他却变为弃子,那曾经的誓言成了二人心中的坚守。而他的弟弟却又为其容颜所动......修行路,修行路,世间本应无此路,却为世事踏此路。世艰苦,世艰苦,世间本应无艰苦,奈何天不怜人苦。情难断,情难断,天下唯有情难断,断情更复何所断!