taken
on board the "Essex;" and the "Nocton" was sent to the United States
under the charge of a prize-crew. Before she could make a port, she
fell in with a British man-of-war, and was captured after a few hours'
chase.

Two days after parting with the "Nocton," the "Essex" hove in sight of
the Island of Fernando Noronha, off the coast of Brazil. For a time
the frigate abandoned her warlike character, battened down her ports,
housed her guns, hid her large crew between decks, and sailed into the
little harbor looking like a large but peaceable British merchantman.
An officer clad in plain clothes went ashore, and, meeting the
governor, stated that the ship was the "Fanny" of London, bound for
Rio Janeiro. During the conversation, the governor remarked that His
British Majesty's ships, the "Acosta" forty-four, and the "Morgiana"
twenty, had but recently sailed from the port, and had left a letter
for Sir James Yeo, requesting that it be forwarded to England as soon
as possible. With this news, the lieutenant returned to the ship. On
hearing his report, Porter at once surmised that the letter might have
been left for him by Commodore Bainbridge; and he at once sent the
officer back, bearing the message that the "Fanny" was soon going to
London, and her captain would see the letter delivered to Sir James
Yeo, in person. The unsuspecting governor accordingly delivered up the
epistle, and it was soon in Porter's hands. The note read as
follows:--

My Dear Mediterranean Friend,--Probably you may stop here.
Don't attempt to water: it is attended with too many
difficulties. I learned, before I left _England_, that you
were bound to Brazil coast. If so, perhaps we may meet at
St. Salvador or at Rio Janeiro. I should be happy to meet
and converse on our old affairs of captivity. Recollect our
secret in those times.

Your friend of His Majesty's ship "Acosta,"
KERR.
Sir JAMES YEO of His British Majesty's ship "Southampton."

Porter read and pondered over this perplexing letter. He felt sure
that the letter was from Bainbridge; and in the allusion to St.
Salvador and Rio Janeiro, he perceived the commodore's wish for a
rendezvous at one of those places. But what could be the secret of the
times of captivity? Suddenly a thought struck him. Might there not be
something written in sympathetic ink? Hurriedly