hout being discovered. But head-winds and calms
delayed the "Sally," and on her fourth day out she was sighted by the
British frigate "Tenedos." The "Sally" was not an imposing craft, and
under ordinary circumstances she might have been allowed to proceed
unmolested; but on this occasion a number of the oaken knees for the
new war-vessel were piled on the deck, and the British captain could
clearly make out, through his glasses, that the "Sally" was laden with
contraband of war. Accordingly, he set out in hot pursuit, in the full
expectation of overhauling the audacious coaster. Capt. Fernald,
however, had no idea of letting his schooner fall into the hands of
the British. He was a wily old skipper, and knew every nook and corner
of the Maine and New Hampshire coasts better than he knew the streets
of his native village. Apparently unmoved by the pursuit of the
man-of-war, he stood at the tiller, and, beyond ordering his crew to
shake out the reefs in the sails, seemed to make no great attempt to
elude the enemy. But soon the crew noticed that the skipper was taking
his schooner rather dangerously close to the shore; and a cry came
from a sailor on the bow, that the "Sally" was ploughing through the
kelp, and would soon be on the rocks.

"No matter," sung out the captain; "just heave over a few of them
knees, and I guess she'll float clear."

Overboard went a dozen heavy timbers, and the "Sally" sailed smoothly
on over the rocks. Then the captain glanced back over his shoulder,
and chuckled slyly as the majestic frigate, following closely in his
track, brought up all of a sudden on the rocks, and was quickly left a
fixture by the receding tide. The exasperated Englishman sent two
eighteen-pound shot skipping over the water after the "Sally," but
without effect. One shot buried itself in the sand of the beach; and
Capt. Fernald, after picking up the knees that had been thrown
overboard, coolly went ashore, dug up the ball, and carried it away as
a trophy. He reached his moorings at the navy-yard safely, and was
warmly greeted by Commodore Hull, who asked if the "Sally" had been
fired upon; and, on being presented with the eighteen-pound shot for a
token, exclaimed, "You are a good fellow, and stand fire well."

The "Tenedos" came not so luckily out of the adventure. By the time a
flood tide lifted her clear of the reef, the jagged points of the
rocks had pierced her hull, so that she leaked badly, and was forced
to go