, and then
the _Avon_ had enough. She was riddled as the _Reindeer_ had been. But
the _Wasp_ did not take possession; for before a boat could be sent on
board, the two comrades of the _Avon_ came in sight.

The _Wasp_, after her battle with the _Avon_, could not fight two more,
so she sailed away and left them to attend to their consort. They could
not save her. The _Wasp_ had stung too deeply for that. The water poured
in faster than the men of all three ships could pump it out, and at one
o'clock in the morning down plunged the _Avon's_ bow in the water, up
went her stern in the air, and with a mighty surge she sank to rise no
more. But the gallant _Wasp_ had ended her work. She took some more
prizes, but the sea, to whose depths she had sent the _Reindeer_ and
_Avon_, took her also. She was seen in October, and that was the last
that human eyes ever saw of her.

CHAPTER XV

CAPTAIN LAWRENCE DIES FOR THE FLAG

HIS WORDS, "DO NOT GIVE UP THE SHIP," BECOME THE FAMOUS MOTTO OF THE
AMERICAN NAVY

THE United States navy had its _Hornet_ as well as its _Wasps_. And they
were well named, for they were all able to sting. The captain of the
_Hornet_ was a noble seaman named James Lawrence, who had been a
midshipman in the war with Tripoli. In the War of 1812 he was captain in
succession of the _Vixen_, the _Wasp_, the _Argus_, and the _Hornet_.

The _Hornet_ was a sloop-of-war. I have told you what that means. She
had three masts, and carried square sails like a ship, but she was
called a sloop on account of her size. She had eighteen short guns and
two long ones. The short guns threw thirty-two pound and the long ones
twelve pound balls.

Of course you have not forgotten the fight of the _Constitution_ with
the _Java_. When the _Constitution_ went south to Brazil at that time
the _Hornet_ went with her, but they soon parted.

In one of the harbors of Brazil Captain Lawrence saw a British ship as
big as the _Hornet_. He waited outside for her, but she would not come
out. He had found a coward of a captain, and he locked him up in that
harbor for two months.

Then he got tired and left. Soon after he came across the _Peacock_, a
British man-of-war brig. The _Peacock_ was as large as the _Hornet_ and
its captain was as full of fight as Captain Lawrence. He was the kind of
man that our bold Lawrence was hunting for. When two men feel that way,
a fight is usually not far off. That was the way now. Soon the guns