The pirate vessel could move about as it pleased, for it required but a few men to manage it, and so it kept out of the way of the Spanish guns, and its best marksmen, crouching close to the deck, fired and fired whenever a Spanish head was to be seen.
For five long hours this unequal contest was kept up.

It might have reminded one of a man with a slender rod and a long, delicate line, who had hooked a big salmon.

The man could not pull in the salmon, but, on the other hand, the salmon could not hurt the man, and in the course of time the big fish would be tired out, and the man would get out his landing-net and scoop him in.
Now Bartholemy thought he could scoop in the Spanish vessel.

So many of her men had been shot that the two crews would be more nearly equal.

So, boldly, he ran his vessel alongside the big ship and again boarded her.
Now there was another great fight on the decks.