Early on the morning of Nov. 2d, a sail was discovered and the Alabama immediately gave chase. The master of the fleeing stranger was not even reassured by the United States flag which flew from his pursuers' mast head, and made all haste to get out of the dangerous vicinity. He was overhauled about noon and a hint from the "Persuader," as the Blakely rifle had come to be called, induced him to heave to. The boarding officer found himself on the deck of the Levi Starbuck, a whaler expecting to spend two and a half years in the Pacific, and consequently supplied with an abundance of provisions, considerable quantities of which were transferred to the Alabama. New Bedford papers on board were only four days old, and contained the latest war news. On the morning of November 8th two sails were in sight, one of them a very large vessel. Master's Mate Evans, the oracle of the ship in the matter of the nationality of vessels, pronounced both of them Yankee. In this dilemma the chase of the smaller vessel, which had gone on during the greater part of the night, was abandoned, and attention concentrated upon the big ship. She made no effort to escape, evidently placing all faith in the lying United States flag which the Alabama showed her. Her master was dumbfounded when on nearer approach the stars and stripes dropped to the deck and were replaced by the colors of the Confederacy. The prize was an East India trader, the T. B. Wales, of Boston, homeward bound from Calcutta, with a cargo consisting principally of jute, linseed and 1,700 bags of saltpetre, the latter destined for the Northern powder mills. The ship had been five months on her voyage and her master had never heard of the Alabama. He had his wife on board and also an ex-United States consul returning homeward with his family consisting of his wife and three little daughters. The Wales was one of the most useful of the Alabama's captures. She yielded spars and rigging of the best quality. Her main yard proved to be of almost the exact length of the one which the cruiser had broken in the cyclone, and was taken aboard and afterward transferred to the place of the old one, which had been temporarily repaired. Eight able seamen were secured from her for the Alabama's crew, bringing the number up to 110 within half a score of a full complement. Semmes was on his good behavior, and evidently anxious to disprove the appellation of "pirate" which had been so constantly flung at him of late. Southern chivalry was at its best in the polite consideration with which he treated the ladies. Several of the officers were turned out of their staterooms to make room for them, a proceeding to which they submitted with apparent good grace. The Wales was burned. The Alabama now entered the calm belt about the tropic of Cancer, across which she proceeded by slow stages and dropped anchor in the harbor of Fort de France, in the French island of Martinique, on November 18th, 1862. CHAPTER IX.