"Yes, that's it exactly. It's what the English call the Right of Search. If we sailed on so that we should be in range of that British ship, supposing she is a British one and a man-of-war, and she happened to be short-handed in her crew, she would stop us and send a boat on board to search for British deserters. Any man in our crew who was suspected of being British would be liable to be carried away to serve on the king's ship. "And the beggars are not at all particular about it, either," he continued; "they'll pick out men who were born in America, and perhaps have never been to sea before in all their lives, and say they recognize them as British deserters. They might pick out you and your mate David and carry you off in spite of all your protests. They've done it many a time, and as our captain doesn't want to lose any of his crew, he's trying to avoid that fellow by steering away. "There are hundreds of Americans serving to-day in the king's ships," said Haines, "who were impressed and carried away without the least reason or excuse, except that the British captain who overhauled them wanted more men and was determined to have them. "I'll tell you more about this matter some other time," said Haines, as he turned and walked away from me. While the conversation was going on, and it was much longer than I have given it here, I had paid no attention to the other ship. As soon as Haines left me I looked over the rail and saw that our pursuer was coming nearer to us. She was a fast sailer, and besides she had the weather gauge of the Washington, and that was a considerable advantage. She continued to gain, though we spread every sail and did our best to get away. When she was within about two miles of us she fired a gun as a signal to us to heave to. We paid no attention to her signal, but continued on our way with every inch of canvas spread that could draw. A stern chase is a long chase; all day long we ran and they ran after us. It was pretty well along in the afternoon when the stranger fired her gun, and both ships were doing their best, the one to escape, and the other to overhaul. It was a little before sunset when the British vessel, for she had hung out her colors and revealed her nationality, had reached a point within shooting distance. She fired another gun with a blank cartridge, to which we paid no attention, as before. Then she fired a gun which had a shot in it, and the shot whistled past us, a little high in the air, but barely missing our sails. Our captain, who had been pacing the deck furiously, gave the order to heave to; he realized that his pursuer would endeavor to sink the Washington unless we complied with her very emphatic request to stop. The stranger came up and hove to within little more than a hundred yards of us. Then she hailed us, saying,-- "What ship is that?"