ve been unfair
to remind him of it.

Near sunset of the second day of this unique test of seamanship and
endurance, a rain squall swept toward the _Constitution_ and obscured
the ocean. Just before the violent gust struck the ship her seamen
scampered aloft and took in the upper sails. This was all that safety
required, but, seeing a chance to trick the enemy, Hull ordered the
lower sails double-reefed as though caught in a gale of wind. The
British ships hastily imitated him before they should be overtaken in
like manner and veered away from the chase. Veiled in the rain and dusk,
the _Constitution_ set all sail again and foamed at twelve knots on her
course toward a port of refuge. Though two of the British frigates were
in sight next morning, the _Constitution_ left them far astern and
reached Boston safely.

Seafaring New England was quick to recognize the merit of this escape.
Even the Federalists, who opposed and hampered the war by land, were
enthusiastic in praise of Captain Hull and his ship. They had outsailed
and outwitted the best of the British men-of-war on the American coast,
and a general feeling of hopelessness gave way to an ardent desire to
try anew the ordeal of battle. With this spirit firing his officers and
crew, Hull sailed again a few days later on a solitary cruise to the
eastward with the intention of vexing the enemy's merchant trade and
hopeful of finding a frigate willing to engage him in a duel. From
Newfoundland he cruised south until a Salem privateer spoke him on the
18th of August and reported a British warship close by. The
_Constitution_ searched until the afternoon of the next day and then
sighted her old friend, the _Guerriere_.

To retell the story of their fight in all the vanished sea lingo of that
day would bewilder the land-man and prove tedious to those familiar with
the subject. The boatswains piped the call, "all hands clear ship for
action"; the fife and drum beat to quarters; and four hundred men stood
by the tackles of the muzzle-loading guns with their clumsy wooden
carriages, or climbed into the tops to use their muskets or trim sail.
Decks were sanded to prevent slipping when blood flowed. Boys ran about
stacking the sacks of powder or distributing buckets of pistols ready
for the boarding parties. And against the masts the cutlasses and pikes
stood ready.

Captain John Dacres of the ill-fated _Guerriere_ was an English
gentleman as well as a gallant officer. But