should be obliged to haul down his flag to save the lives of his brave
crew.

But lo! the wind changed to a quarter favorable to the _Hornet_, and it
lasted throughout the night and the next day. The _Hornet_ drew steadily
away from the British ship of the line _Cornwallis_, as she proved to
be, and made her way at a leisurely speed to the United States.




CHAPTER XIII.

Captains Carden and Decatur--Cruise of the _Macedonian_--Battle with the
Frigate _United States_--Decatur's Chivalry.


Before the war broke out between England and the United States the naval
officers naturally were on the best of terms with one another. They
exchanged visits, had dinners together and talked in the most friendly
terms over the relations of their respective countries. Brave men always
feel thus, and no matter how fiercely they have been fighting, they
become friends again as soon as peace is declared.

You have already been told considerable about Stephen Decatur, one of
the bravest and most chivalrous men that ever drew a sword. At the
breaking out of the War of 1812 he was given command of the frigate
_United States_, of 44 guns, built in 1798, and one of the finest in the
American navy. While lying at Norfolk, some months before war was
declared, the British frigate _Macedonian_, of about the same strength,