one when the stranger opened again.
A second time the guns of the "President" were run out, and again they
began their cannonade. The stranger was soon silenced again; and
Commodore Rodgers hailed, that he might learn the name of his
adversary. In answer came a voice from the other vessel,--

"We are his Majesty's ship ----." A gust of wind carried away the
name, and Rodgers was still in doubt as to whom he had been fighting.
Hoisting a number of bright lights in her rigging, that the stranger
might know her whereabouts, the "President" stood off and on during
the night, ready to give aid to the disabled ship in case of need.

[Illustration: Commodore Rodgers Hails.]

At early dawn every officer was on deck, anxious to learn the fate of
their foe of the night before. Far in the distance they could see a
ship, whose broken cordage and evident disorder showed her to have
been the other party to the fight. A boat from the "President" visited
the stranger, to learn her name and to proffer aid in repairing the
damages received in the action. The ship proved to be the British
sloop-of-war "Little Belt;" and her captain stated that she was much
damaged in her masts, sails, rigging, and hull, and had been cut
several times between wind and water. He declined the proffered aid,
however, and sailed away to Halifax, the nearest British naval
station. Commodore Rodgers took the "President" to the nearest
American port.

When the "President" reached home, and the news of her exploit became
known, the exultation of the people was great, and their commendations
of Rodgers loud. "At last," they cried, "we have taught England a
lesson. The insult to the 'Chesapeake' is now avenged." Rodgers
protested that he had been forced unwillingly into the combat, but his
admirers insisted that he had left port with the intention of humbling
the pride of some British ship. Indeed, the letter of an officer on
the "President," printed in "The New York Herald" at the time, rather
supported this theory. "By the officers who came from Washington,"
wrote this gentleman, "we learn that we are sent in pursuit of a
British frigate, who had impressed a passenger from a coaster.
Yesterday, while beating down the bay, we spoke a brig coming up, who
informed us that she saw the British frigate the day before off the
very place where we now are; but she is not now in sight. We have made
the most complete preparations for battle. Every one wishes it. She is