But I must say a good word for the gallant captain of the _Reindeer_. First, a musket ball hit him and went through the calves of both legs, but he kept on his feet. Then a grape-shot--an iron ball two inches thick--went through both his thighs. The brave seaman fell, but he rose to his feet again, drew his sword, and called his men to board the _Wasp_. He was trying to climb on board when a musket ball went through his head. "O God!" he cried, and fell dead. This fight was in the English Channel, where Blakeley was doing what John Paul Jones had done years before. Two months after the sinking of the _Reindeer_ the _Wasp_ had another fight. This time there were three British vessels, the _Avon_, the _Castilian_, and the _Tartarus_, all of them brig-sloops like the _Reindeer_. These vessels were scattered, chasing a privateer, and about nine o'clock at night the _Wasp_ came up with the _Avon_ alone. They hailed each other as ships do when they meet at sea. Then, when sure they were enemies, they began firing, as ships do also in time of war. For forty minutes the fight kept up, and then the _Avon_ had enough. She was riddled as the _Reindeer_ had been. But the _Wasp_ did not take possession; for before a boat could be sent on board, the two comrades of the _Avon_ came in sight. The _Wasp_, after her battle with the _Avon_, could not fight two more, so she sailed away and left them to attend to their consort. They could not save her. The _Wasp_ had stung too deeply for that. The water poured in faster than the men of all three ships could pump it out, and at one o'clock in the morning down plunged the _Avon's_ bow in the water, up went her stern in the air, and with a mighty surge she sank to rise no more. But the gallant _Wasp_ had ended her work. She took some more prizes, but the sea, to whose depths she had sent the _Reindeer_ and _Avon_, took her also. She was seen in October, and that was the last that human eyes ever saw of her. CHAPTER XV CAPTAIN LAWRENCE DIES FOR THE FLAG HIS WORDS, "DO NOT GIVE UP THE SHIP," BECOME THE FAMOUS MOTTO OF THE AMERICAN NAVY THE United States navy had its _Hornet_ as well as its _Wasps_. And they were well named, for they were all able to sting. The captain of the _Hornet_ was a noble seaman named James Lawrence, who had been a midshipman in the war with Tripoli. In the War of 1812 he was captain in succession of the _Vixen_, the _Wasp_, the _Argus_, and the _Hornet_. The _Hornet_ was a sloop-of-war. I have told you what that means. She had three masts, and carried square sails like a ship, but she was called a sloop on account of her size. She had eighteen short guns and two long ones. The short guns threw thirty-two pound and the long ones twelve pound balls. Of course you have not forgotten the fight of the _Constitution_ with the _Java_. When the _Constitution_ went south to Brazil at that time the _Hornet_ went with her, but they soon parted.