struck its
claw at the junction of the toes with the leg, and entered my shoulder.
The resistance it met was so tough that it saved my shoulder from being
shattered; except for that, the hurt must have proved serious, but it
did not bother me at all."

The Admiral, still loosely holding the weapon in his hand, turned his
faded eyes toward the window and gazed out over the snow. Those eyes
seemed to look backward over the vista of forty, fifty, sixty, seventy,
eighty years, and must have recalled the many stirring scenes in which
he had taken part, as well as the faces of the brave fellows, like
himself, who had gone from earth long ago, leaving him alone. Then the
old veteran, still erect and with the fires of patriotism glowing in his
brave heart, softly murmured:

"I have been more fortunate than I deserve; strange that I should be the
only one left, but it cannot be for long."

And yet he lived for seven more years. Then, when a scirrhus cancer
appeared on his tongue, a skilful surgeon told him it could be easily
removed and need cause him no trouble.

"Oh," said the Admiral, who was then past ninety, "I've lived long
enough; let it alone."

He died a few months later, and, as has been stated, was in his
ninety-second year.

CHAPTER XVIII.

Captures Made After the Signing of the Treaty of Peace--The
Privateers--Exploit of the _General Armstrong_--Its Far-Reaching Result.

The treaty of peace between Great Britain and the United States was
signed December 24, 1814, at the city of Ghent, in Belgium. Had the
submarine telegraph been known at that time, or had we possessed our
ocean greyhounds, a good deal of blood-shed would have been saved, and
the most important victory of the whole war would not have been gained.
General Jackson won his famous triumph at New Orleans--still celebrated
in all parts of the country--January 8, 1815; the _President_ was
captured by a British fleet, January 15; Captain Stewart captured the
_Cyane_ and _Levant_, February 20; the _Hornet_ took the _Penguin_,
March 23, and the _Peacock_ captured the _Nautilus_, in a distant part
of the world, June 30. That was the last of hostilities between the two
countries, and let us pray that it will be the last for all time to
come.

In the account of the naval exploits of the War of 1812, I have confined
myself to those of the regular cruisers of the United States, but in no
other war in which we were engaged did the privateers pla