The sea had gone down , and the wind was steady and kept the sails quiet ; so that there was a great stillness in the ship , in which I made sure I heard the sound of muttering voices . A little after , and there came a clash of steel upon the deck , by which I knew they were dealing out the cutlasses and one had been let fall ; and after that , silence again . I do not know if I was what you call afraid ; but my heart beat like a bird 's , both quick and little ; and there was a dimness came before my eyes which I continually rubbed away , and which continually returned . As for hope , I had none ; but only a darkness of despair and a sort of anger against all the world that made me long to sell my life as dear as I was able . I tried to pray , I remember , but that same hurry of my mind , like a man running , would not suffer me to think upon the words ; and my chief wish was to have the thing begin and be done with it . It came all of a sudden when it did , with a rush of feet and a roar , and then a shout from Alan , and a sound of blows and some one crying out as if hurt . I looked back over my shoulder , and saw Mr. Shuan in the doorway , crossing blades with Alan . `` That 's him that killed the boy ! '' I cried . `` Look to your window ! '' said Alan ; and as I turned back to my place , I saw him pass his sword through the mate 's body . It was none too soon for me to look to my own part ; for my head was scarce back at the window , before five men , carrying a spare yard for a battering-ram , ran past me and took post to drive the door in . I had never fired with a pistol in my life , and not often with a gun ; far less against a fellow-creature . But it was now or never ; and just as they swang the yard , I cried out : `` Take that ! '' and shot into their midst . I must have hit one of them , for he sang out and gave back a step , and the rest stopped as if a little disconcerted . Before they had time to recover , I sent another ball over their heads ; and at my third shot -LRB- which went as wide as the second -RRB- the whole party threw down the yard and ran for it . Then I looked round again into the deck-house . The whole place was full of the smoke of my own firing , just as my ears seemed to be burst with the noise of the shots . But there was Alan , standing as before ; only now his sword was running blood to the hilt , and himself so swelled with triumph and fallen into so fine an attitude , that he looked to be invincible .
Right before him on the floor was Mr. XXXXX , on his hands and knees ; the blood was pouring from his mouth , and he was sinking slowly lower , with a terrible , white face ; and just as I looked , some of those from behind caught hold of him by the heels and dragged him bodily out of the round-house .
Alan Shuan battering-ram cutlasses deck-house dimness hilt noise second third