his face to the foe, dying as honorable a death as ever a brave
man died in fighting against odds for the flag of his country. As
he fell the American officers passed the word to board. With wild
cheers the fighting sailormen sprang forward, sweeping the wreck
of the British force before them, and in a minute the Reindeer
was in their possession. All of her officers, and nearly two
thirds of the crew, were killed or wounded; but they had proved
themselves as skilful as they were brave, and twenty-six of the
Americans had been killed or wounded.

The Wasp set fire to her prize, and after retiring to a French
port to refit, came out again to cruise. For some time she met no
antagonist of her own size with which to wage war, and she had to
exercise the sharpest vigilance to escape capture. Late one
September afternoon, when she could see ships of war all around
her, she selected one which was isolated from the others, and
decided to run alongside her and try to sink her after nightfall.
Accordingly she set her sails in pursuit, and drew steadily
toward her antagonist, a big eighteen-gun brig, the Avon, a ship
more powerful than the Reindeer. The Avon kept signaling to two
other British war vessels which were in sight--one an
eighteen-gun brig and the other a twenty-gun ship; they were so
close that the Wasp was afraid they would interfere before the
combat could be ended. Nevertheless, Blakeley persevered, and
made his attack with equal skill and daring. It was after dark
when he ran alongside his opponent, and they began forthwith to
exchange furious broadsides. As the ships plunged and wallowed in
the seas, the Americans could see the clusters of topmen in the
rigging of their opponent, but they knew nothing of the vessel's
name or of her force, save only so far as they felt it. The