" 162
Building the Boat 174
The United States Frigate "Monongahela" 183
"Queer Old Stick, That!" Said the Commodore 188
And the Pitch Hot 208
The Stern Chase 217
"His Right Arm Poised with Clenched Hand Aloft," Etc. 256
The Old Water-Logged Launch 280
"Now Captain Brand Knew What Was Coming" 294

PART I.

CHAPTER I.

SPREADING THE STRANDS.

"Shout three times three, like Ocean's surges,
Join, brothers, join, the toast with me;
Here's to the wind of life, which urges
The ship with swelling waves o'er sea!"

"Masters, I can not spin a yarn
Twice laid with words of silken stuff.
A fact's a fact; and ye may larn
The rights o' this, though wild and rough
My words may loom. 'Tis your consarn,
Not mine, to understand. Enough--"

It was in the year of our Lord eighteen hundred and five, and in the
River Garonne, where a large, wholesome merchant brig lay placidly on
the broad and shining water. The fair city of Bordeaux, with its great
mass of yellow-tinted buildings, towers, and churches, rose from the
river's banks, and the din and bustle of the great mart came faintly to
the ear. The sails of the brig were loosed, the crew were hauling home
the sheets and hoisting the top-sails with the clear, hearty songs of
English sailors, while the anchor was under foot and the cable rubbing
with a taut strain against the vessel's bluff bows. At the gangway stood
a large, handsome seaman, bronzed by the sun and winds of about half a
century, dressed in a square-cut blue jacket and loose trowsers, talking
to the pilot--a brown little Frenchman, in coarse serge raiment and
large, clumsy sabots. The conversation between them was carried on
partly by signs, for, in answer to the pilot, the other threw his
stalwart arm aloft toward the folds of the spreading canvas, and nodded
his head.

"_Fort bien! vite donc! mon Capitaine_," said the pilot; "the tide is on
the ebb; let us go. Up anchor!"

"Ay, pilot!" replied the captain, pulling out his watch; "in ten
minutes. The ladies, you know, must have time to say 'good-by.' Isn't it
so, my pilot?"