The Charlotte hauled into the wind, while the Marguerite eased off and ran to leeward to escape falling into the jaws of the frigate. The frigate followed the schooner; and in order to encourage her I put out drags at the Marguerite's sides so as to hold her back sufficiently to enable the frigate to gain on us. We were about four miles apart when this performance began, and to all appearances the frigate gained half a mile an hour on the schooner. Thus we ran away to leeward, while the Charlotte was hauling into the wind and getting more and more out of harm's way every minute. Before sunset she was barely a speck on the horizon, and away to windward; the frigate was within about two miles of the Marguerite, too far off to do any damage with her guns. I took in one of the drags, and thus enabled the schooner to increase her speed; but I didn't do it until feeling sure there was no possible chance of the frigate turning to follow the Charlotte. As the sun went down and night began stealing over the water, the distance was about the same as it had been for an hour; the frigate was gaining a little, but not much. I thought it best to humor the captain, and so kept the other drag in place till night had fallen completely, and neither ship was any longer visible to the other. Then I took off the last drag and changed our course. We steered by the stars, not keeping any light in the binnacle; and I gave orders that every glim should be dowsed, and not a spark of fire visible on any part of the schooner during the night. When morning came, the frigate was nowhere in sight. I flattered myself that I had tricked her neatly and saved my very valuable prize from recapture. So it proved, as the Charlotte turned up at the place fixed for our meeting; and in due time I reached New York with my prize, and had the pleasure of seeing her safely anchored not far from the Battery, and the Marguerite lying near her. And what added to my pleasure was the fact that the Hyacinth was at anchor close by; and one of the first men to come on board was my old friend, David Taylor! He had just arrived from a successful cruise, and was in the best of spirits. His prizes were all good ones, though none of them was equal in value to my Indiaman, whose cargo was one of the best ever brought into New York. I told him of the trick that I played on the frigate, and it amused him very much. Then he told how he had an experience of very much the same kind, and I will give it in his words as nearly as I remember them.