Had he been of their own origin, they would not have placed so much credence in the rumour; but coming as he did of an ancient Irish family, although he had been in jail for killing, the traditional respect for the word of a gentleman influenced them.

When a man like Ferens, on the one hand, and the mutineer whose fingers had been mutilated by Dyck in the Channel, on the other--when these agreed to bend themselves to the rule of a usurper, some idea of Calhoun's power may be got.
On this day, with the glimmer of land in the far distance, the charges of all the guns were renewed.

Also word was passed that at any moment the ship must be cleared for action.

Down in the cockpit the tables were got ready by the surgeon and the loblolly-boys; the magazines were opened, and the guards were put on duty.
Orders were issued that none should be allowed to escape active share in the coming battle; that none should retreat to the orlop deck or the lower deck; that the boys should carry the cartridge-cases handed to them from the magazine under the cover of their coats, running hard to the guns.

The twenty-four-pounders-the largest guns in use at the time-the eighteen-pounders, and the twelve-pounder guns were all in good order.
The bags of iron balls called grape-shot-the worst of all--varying in size from sixteen to nine balls in a bag, were prepared.