ear enough to see that
she had caught a Tartar; for the vessel was the French frigate "La
Vengeance," mounting fifty-two guns. Although a more powerful vessel
than the American, she continued her flight; while the gallant
Truxton, caring nothing for the odds against him, kept on in hot
pursuit. All the remainder of that day, and until noon of the next,
the chase continued, with but little change in the position of the
ships. "A stern chase is a long chase," thought the jackies on the
"Constellation;" but they were not discouraged, and only crowded on
the more sail. On the afternoon of the second day, the American began
to gain rapidly; and by eight at night the two ships were within
speaking distance of each other. Truxton mounted the rail, and shouted
through a speaking-trumpet, "What ship is that?" The only answer was a
shot from the stern-port of the Frenchman, and the fight was opened.

It was then growing dark, though the faint glow of the long tropic
twilight still lingered on the western horizon. Above the towering
masts of the two great frigates, the stars gleamed with a brilliancy
seldom seen in more northern latitudes. As the ships rushed through
the water, the waves broke against the bows, and fell back in masses
of phosphorescent light; while the wakes of the vessels could be
traced far back into the darkness,--two parallel paths of light, that
glowed and sparkled like the milky way that spanned the starry sky
above.

Side by side the two frigates ploughed through the water. The creaking
of their cordage, and the rushing of the wind through the rigging,
mingled with the thunder of the cannonade, which, though slow, and
made up of single reports, when the "Constellation" was confined to
the use of her bow-chasers, soon rose to thunderous broadsides as the
two ships came side to side. As the twilight died away, the two
contestants were enveloped in almost total darkness, save for the
fitful flashes of the cannon, and the red glare of the battle-lanterns
that hung from the shrouds. The gunners had for a target nothing but a
black, shapeless mass, that could be seen rushing through the waves
some hundreds of yards away. But this did not prevent fearful
execution being done on both sides. For five hours the two ships kept
up the running fight. The ponderous eighteen and forty-two pound shot
of the enemy crashed into the "Constellation," or swept her decks,
doing dreadful damage. The deck was strewn with dead an