An interesting little story showing somewhat of sailors’ superstitions is told of Lieutenant John B. Nicholson, who brought the _Epervier_ into port. He was transferred to the little sixteen-gun brig _Siren_, of which Lieutenant George Parker was commander, and she was sent to cruise on the coast of Africa. Off the Canaries Parker died, and after putting his body into a coffin it was put overboard with the usual funeral services. The coffin sank out of sight, but as soon as the brig filled away on her course the coffin came to the surface, where it floated like a cork. Knowing that this event, though due entirely to the carpenter’s failure to properly weight the coffin, was regarded as an ill omen by the seamen, Lieutenant Nicholson, who was now captain by right of succession, called the men to the capstan and let them decide whether to continue the cruise, or return to port. They decided, with cheers, to cruise on. For a time everything seemed to go well. An English frigate was dodged by hanging out false lights on a raft of casks. Two English merchantmen were taken and destroyed, but in the Senegal River another one escaped after the brig had given her a broadside, and about two months after leaving home the _Siren_ fell in with the British liner _Medway_. Anchors, cables, guns, and shot were thrown overboard, but she was taken after all. It was a disastrous cruise. CHAPTER IV MYSTERY OF THE LAST WASP A TYPICAL NEW ENGLAND YANKEE CREW--YOUTHFUL HAYMAKERS AND WOOD-CHOPPERS--SEA-SICK FOR A WEEK--FROM FLAILS TO CUTLASSES, FROM PITCHFORKS TO BOARDING-PIKES, FROM A NIGHT-WATCH AT A DEER-LICK TO A NIGHT BATTLE WITH THE BRITISH--AFTER BRITISH COMMERCE IN BRITISH IN-SHORE WATERS--MET BY THE BRITISH SLOOP-OF-WAR _REINDEER_--MAGNIFICENT PLUCK OF THE BRITISH CAPTAIN WITH A CREW THAT WAS “THE PRIDE OF PLYMOUTH”--SHOT TO PIECES IN EIGHTEEN MINUTES--A LINER THAT COULD NOT CATCH HER--WONDERFUL NIGHT BATTLE WITH THE _AVON_--SHOOTING MEN FROM THE ENEMY’S TOPS AS RACCOONS ARE SHOT FROM TREE-TOPS--THE ENEMY’S WATER-LINE LOCATED BY DRIFTING FOAM--NOT CAPTURED BUT DESTROYED--THE MYSTERY. Well-manned, but ill-fated at the last, were all the Yankee _Wasps_. They were swift of wing for their day, and the pain of their stings still rankles. But the first, the little Baltimore clipper of eight guns, was burned at Philadelphia to keep her out of the hands of the British invaders. The second, she that deluged the decks of the British brig _Frolic_ with blood, was captured by a British liner, and then with a British crew sailed from port and never returned. The story of the third shall now be told.