The greatest and probably the only regret of midshipman Jarvis’s short life was that he had not joined the great frigate before she met and defeated the “Insurgente” the year before. He wanted to be in a great action. Nothing seemed to make him feel more of a man than when the long 18-pounders were fired in broadside at target-practice. If he had been but a boy, instead of an officer with a gold-laced cap and a dirk and all the dignities pertaining to those habiliments, he would have clapped his hands and shouted for sheer joy. But the eyes of his men were upon him, and so he stood watching the flight of the shots, and biting hard on his lips he kept his composure. Captain Truxton, ever mindful of his midshipmen, had disposed them in different parts of the ship with regard to their size and usefulness. The older ones had been given gun-divisions, while the youngsters were placed on the fo’c’s’le or in the tops, where they might be of assistance, but would more certainly be out of harm’s way. Such a thought was not suggested on the “Constellation.” If it had been, little Jarvis would probably have resigned immediately, or at the very least have burst into unmanly tears. As it was, he felt that his post aloft was as important as any on the ship, and he promised himself that if another Frenchman was sighted he would stay there whether the mast were up or down. So, on the 1st of February, 1800, just about a year after the capture of the “Insurgente,” while they were bowling along under easy sail, about fifteen miles off Basse Terre, a large sail, which appeared to be a French frigate, was sighted to the southward. Jarvis went aloft two ratlines at a time, his heart bounding with joy at the prospect of the chance of a fight. On assuring himself that she was a large ship, Captain Truxton immediately set all sail and took a course which soon brought her hull above the horizon and showed the Americans beyond a doubt that she was a ship-of-war of heavier metal than the “Constellation.” Nothing daunted, Truxton bore on his course until the gun-streaks of the other vessel could be plainly seen. Instead of showing the same desire to speak, the stranger held on, pointing a little off his course, as though anxious to avoid an encounter. But the breeze, which had been light, now died away altogether, and the sea became calm. There the two great vessels drifted in sight of each other all night and part of the following day, awaiting the wind which would enable them to close. Jarvis was in a fever of impatience. A half a dozen times he got permission from the officer of the deck, and with a telescope almost as long as himself, clambered up to the main-royal to report. There was but one opinion among the midshipmen who went aloft,--she was a Frenchman. She _could not_ be anything else.