firing was fast and furious, but the British shot with bad aim,
while the skilled American gunners hulled their opponent at
almost every discharge. In a very few minutes the Avon was in a
sinking condition, and she struck her flag and cried for quarter,
having lost forty or fifty men, while but three of the Americans
had fallen. Before the Wasp could take possession of her
opponent, however, the two war vessels to which the Avon had been
signaling came up. One of them fired at the Wasp, and as the
latter could not fight two new foes, she ran off easily before
the wind. Neither of her new antagonists followed her, devoting
themselves to picking up the crew of the sinking Avon.

It would be hard to find a braver feat more skilfully performed
than this; for Captain Blakeley, with hostile foes all round him,
had closed with and sunk one antagonist not greatly his inferior
in force, suffering hardly any loss himself, while two of her
friends were coming to her help.

Both before and after this the Wasp cruised hither and thither
making prizes. Once she came across a convoy of ships bearing
arms and munitions to Wellington's army, under the care of a
great two-decker. Hovering about, the swift sloop evaded the
two-decker's movements, and actually cut out and captured one of
the transports she was guarding, making her escape unharmed. Then
she sailed for the high seas. She made several other prizes, and
on October 9 spoke a Swedish brig.

This was the last that was ever heard of the gallant Wasp. She
never again appeared, and no trace of any of those aboard her was
ever found. Whether she was wrecked on some desert coast, whether