the roar of our own guns almost knocks me senseless , the deck suddenly jumps and cracks me in the face and i can taste blood in my mouth from a split lip and the stinging gunpowder smoke blows back , curling low in thick coils and my eyes are burning and im choking and im coughing and gasping for air and through my blurred vision i see one of the tars on the nearest gun rise up and grab the wooden handspike to lever the breech so that the crouching gun captain can correct the elevation .