Every man went to his post, and almost in less time than it takes me to tell it, the yards were braced around, the sails were filling, and the ship was hauling away from her disagreeable neighbor. The Britishers in the boat alongside discovered what we were about, and the officer yelled out,-- "What are you doing there? Heave-to, or I'll sink you!" "Heave-to yourself, soon's you like!" replied our captain; and then, leaning over the side, he added, "you'd better cast off and go home to your mother!" The language that his Majesty's officer used in reply I will not repeat. It was more forcible than elegant, and if oaths could have sunk the Washington she would soon have been at the bottom of the sea. After a few minutes' practice with his lungs in this way, the officer came to his senses and cast off. There was no danger that he would not reach his ship safely, as there was no heavy sea running, and she had several lights visible, in addition to the fact that the darkness was not yet such as to hide her from sight. Of course our maneuver was discovered, but not until a few minutes after we made it. Those few minutes were precious, as they enabled us to increase materially the distance between the ships, and it lessened in the same degree the chances of being hit by the shots which they now sent after us. We paid no attention to the firing, but spread every stitch of canvas to enable us to get away. In half an hour the other vessel was completely out of sight by reason of the darkness; and we argued that when we were unable to make her out she could not see us. We took a course midway between the one on which we were sailing when we espied the stranger, and the one to which we changed; by that means we hoped to throw her quite off our track. Not a light was allowed anywhere, not even in the binnacle, the steering being done mainly by the stars. Three or four times during the night the captain darkened the ports, and made a small light in his cabin, to look at the compass which hung over the dinner-table and make sure that we were running on the proper course. We looked around very anxiously in the morning, and were gratified to discover that our late acquaintance had disappeared somewhere beyond the horizon. She was out of sight, but not out of mind; in fact, she was the sole topic of conversation, and we all fell to wondering what she would do with us if she should overhaul us again. "One thing her skipper would do," said Haines, "he'd keel-haul our captain for getting his officer drunk." "Ay, that he would," said Herne, "and I don't envy the position of that officer when he got back to his ship, and had to acknowledge that he was the victim of a Yankee trick." "Another thing he'd do," said one of the sailors, "he'd take off about two-thirds of the Washington's crew, and leave us so short-handed that we'd have a hard time getting to port."