Another minute and we were all alongside and hooked on, and then began a most terrific struggle; for the brigantine seemed crowded with men.  We had evidently taken them all a little by surprise, by boarding on her inshore side instead of that side which was presented to us upon entering the cove.  It was clear that, like the prize-crew of the Indiaman in Pleher Bay, they had never expected us to think of pulling round under her bows and stern, instead of dashing straight alongside; but of course it was a very easy matter for the pirates to cross the deck from one side to the other as soon as they discovered our intention; and this they did, lining her bulwarks from her head-rails to her taffrail, popping at us with muskets and pistols, thrusting at us with pikes and cutlasses, and hacking at our hands and heads as we endeavoured to climb her side and force our way over her bulwarks and in on deck.  But our lads were not to be daunted by any resistance, however desperate.  As we surged up alongside they dropped their oars, allowing them to slide overboard and tow by the lanyards, and drawing pistol and cutlass, leapt to their feet and, with a wild cheer, sprang on to the boats' gunwales and thence to any foothold that they could find, snapping their pistols in the faces of any who dared to show their heads above the rail; while the marines thrust their bayonets through the open ports into the legs of any individual who happened to be within their reach, thus disconcerting the aim of many an otherwise deadly stroke. For a few breathless seconds all was fire, smoke, and fury, pistols cracking, steel rasping upon steel, cheers, execrations, groans, the dull crunching sound of cutlasses sheering through muscle and bone, the heavy fall of the stricken on deck, the scuffling of feet, and shouts of defiance exchanged between the contending parties; then a few of us contrived to get in on deck, forcing back the pirates and making room for those who followed us, until all who were not too severely hurt to climb the ship's side were inboard.  There ensued a deadly hand-to-hand fight in which quarter was neither asked for nor given.  The pirates seemed to number about three times as many as ourselves, and were a truly desperate set of ruffians, fighting--as they well knew--with halters round their necks, and doubtless preferring to die in the heat of battle rather than perish ignominiously upon the scaffold.