If they shoot, lie down behind the gunwale.
You mustn't shoot till we come to close quarters.

Then take good aim, and make your fire tell.

A single wasted bullet may cost us our lives.
Above all, keep perfectly cool.

We've work to do that needs coolness as well as determination." The boats drew rapidly nearer and nearer the point of meeting, and Sam saw that he would succeed in passing it first, but narrowly, he thought.
"We'll beat them, boys," he said.

"The sea is rough, and they can't do much at long range, and they won't get more than one shot close to us." At that moment the men in the British boat fired a volley, after the manner which was in vogue with British troops at that day.