caught sight of the interlopers; and the cry
was raised, "A stranger!" The Americans tugged at their oars, and were
soon lost to sight; but, not being pursued, returned, and accompanied
their foes up the bay, and even anchored with the flotilla at a point
above the "Constellation." The enemy, finding the Americans constantly
on the watch, abandoned their designs on the ship, and vowed that
Capt. Stewart must be a Scotchman, as he could never be caught
napping. Some days later, an officer, sent with a flag of truce to the
British fleet, vastly chagrined the officers there by repeating their
remarks overheard by the guard-boat officers who joined the British
flotilla in the dark. These three escapes confirmed the reputation
borne by the "Constellation," as a "lucky ship;" and although she
remained pent up in port throughout the war, doing nothing for her
country, her luck was unquestioned in the minds of the sailors. With
her they classed the "Constitution" and "Enterprise," while the
"Chesapeake" and "President" were branded as unlucky. Certainly the
career of these ships in the War of 1812 went far to confirm the
superstitious belief of the sailors.

In the course of the next two months, Chesapeake Bay was the scene of
two gallant adventures, in which American privateersmen were opposed
to the British sailors. On Feb. 8, the privateer schooner "Lottery"
was standing down the bay under easy sail, out-bound on a voyage to
Bombay. The schooner was one of the clipper-built craft, for which
Baltimore ship-builders were famous the world over. Her battery
consisted of six twelve-pounder carronades, and her crew numbered
twenty-five men. Near the point at which the noble bay opens into the
Atlantic ocean, a narrow sheet of water extends into the Virginia
shore, winding in sinuous courses several miles inland. This is known
as Lynnhaven Bay; and on its placid surface there lay, on the morning
of the "Lottery's" appearance, four powerful frigates flying the
British flag. From their tops the approaching schooner could be seen
across the low-lying neck of land that separated the smaller bay from
the main body of water. The cry of "Sail, ho!" roused the fleet to
sudden activity; and an expedition of two hundred men was quickly
organized to proceed against the privateer. Fortune seemed to favor
the British; for hardly had the boats left the fleet, when the fresh
breeze died away, and the schooner was left at the mercy of the boats,