The schooner then sailed down the river, reaching the mouth on August 15th. On account of a high sea, to cross the bar that night would be a dangerous undertaking, and the vessel was therefore anchored until morning. During the night, the wind freshened so much that the spray dashed into the cabin where Captain Perry was sleeping. In the morning he awoke with a cold chill and symptoms of yellow fever. Every effort was made to reach the _John Adams_ as soon as possible. Captain Perry grew rapidly worse. In the intense heat, his little schooner cabin was most uncomfortable. The winds were unfavorable and the progress of the little vessel was slow. When within a mile of the _John Adams_, Captain Perry died. This was on his thirty-fourth birthday, August 23, 1819. He was buried on the island of Trinidad with military honors, and the _John Adams_ brought back the sad news to the United States. His death was regarded as a national calamity. The government sent a war vessel to bring his body home. He was finally laid to rest at Newport, where a granite monument marks his grave. The feelings of his fellow officers were well expressed by Stephen Decatur. Upon hearing of Perry's death, he said: "Sir! The American navy has lost its brightest ornament!" THE STORY OF ADMIRAL FARRAGUT [Illustration: D.E. Farragut] THE STORY OF ADMIRAL FARRAGUT. I.--CHILDHOOD. On July 5, 1801, in a rude cabin in Eastern Tennessee, David Glasgow Farragut was born. It was a wild and lonely place. For miles around the little farm, nothing could be seen but woods. Few sounds could be heard save the singing of birds and sometimes the cries of wild beasts. There was already one child in the family, a boy, whose name was William. George Farragut, the father, was a brave man. He was a Spaniard, and had come to America during the Revolutionary War. He was a lover of liberty, and for that reason he had taken up arms with the colonists to help them win their independence from England. After the close of the war, he had married a hardy frontier girl, and had come to this wild place to make his home. His life on the little clearing in the backwoods was one of toil and frequent hardships. Every day he was busy chopping down trees, planting crops, or hunting in the great forest. The young wife, Elizabeth, was also busy, keeping her house and spinning and making the clothes for herself, her husband, and her children. Little David Farragut grew strong very fast. He and William had no playmates, but they liked to run about under the trees. They could not go far from the cabin, however, as there were both wild beasts and Indians in the woods. Sometimes the father would be away for several days, hunting wild game for the family to eat. At such times, the mother and children would be left alone.