Author of "Paul Revere," "The Young Ambassador," "The First Shot for Liberty," "The Young Guardsman," etc. [Illustration: BOYS OF LIBERTY LIBRARY] Philadelphia David McKay, Publisher 610 South Washington Square Copyright, 1892 By Norman L. Munro The Cruise of the "Lively Bee" THE CRUISE OF THE "LIVELY BEE." CONTENTS CHAPTER I. DECLARATION OF WAR. CHAPTER II. THE DEPARTURE. CHAPTER III. THE LIEUTENANT'S STORY. CHAPTER IV. THE CHALLENGE. CHAPTER V. THE CHASE. CHAPTER VI. STORM AT SEA. CHAPTER VII. THE ESSEX. CHAPTER VIII. SCENTING MUTINY. CHAPTER IX. A BRUSH WITH THE ENEMY. CHAPTER X. PREPARING FOR ACTION. CHAPTER XI. THE FIGHT AT SEA CHAPTER XII. ON THE VERGE OF SUCCESS. CHAPTER XIII. THE RETURN OF THE CONQUEROR. CHAPTER XIV. THE LIVELY BEE'S PLUCK. CHAPTER XV. THE WASP'S STING. CHAPTER XVI. THE MERCHANT CAPTAIN'S CARGO. CHAPTER XVII. A RICH PRIZE. CHAPTER XVIII. A STRANGE SAIL. CHAPTER XIX. BOB, THE POWDER-MONKEY. CHAPTER XX. THE MONARCH'S DOOM. CHAPTER XXI. HOMEWARD BOUND. CHAPTER XXII. JACK'S REQUEST. CHAPTER XXIII. THE STORY OF THE FIGHT. CHAPTER XXIV. MARRIAGE AT SEA. CHAPTER XXV. THE BALL AT THE WHITE HOUSE. CHAPTER XXVI. THE MARRIAGE AT THE WHITE HOUSE. CHAPTER XXVII. AN UNEXPECTED PLEASURE. CHAPTER XXVIII. THE CONSTITUTION'S GREAT VICTORY. CHAPTER XXIX. A LESSON IN MILITARY LAW. CHAPTER XXX. BOB'S GOOD ANGEL. CHAPTER XXXI. THE REGINA, OF TORQUAY. CHAPTER XXXII. HOW BOB KEPT HIS OATH. CHAPTER XXXIII. THE MUTINY QUELLED. CHAPTER XXXIV. VERNON'S SUCCESS. CHAPTER XXXV. THE END OF THE LIVELY BEE. CHAPTER I. DECLARATION OF WAR. There was a large crowd on the Battery in New York City one hot day in June in the year eighteen-hundred-and-twelve. Every one was talking and every one was looking out across the waters of the harbor. There were pale, anxious faces in that crowd, and side by side with them were the flushed cheeks of men and boys whose hearts were fired with patriotic zeal. Women were looking at their husbands, and young girls' hearts were throbbing with painful excitement as they saw the enthusiasm of their sweethearts. "War, did you say?" "Ay, ay, the President has aroused at last, and old England shall be taught another and a final lesson." It was true. President James Madison had signed the Declaration of War against Great Britain. War! There were many in that crowd who remembered 1783; there stood the man who, in his boyhood's days, had climbed the flagpole and torn down the Union Jack of England, and in its place had hoisted the Star Spangled Banner. Many whose hair was now turning gray had shouldered the musket and had marched with Washington from victory to victory. The war had ended when the British evacuated the city, but America was not free and independent. England held the supremacy of the seas.