The Alabama flew through the water with the freshening breeze, flinging the spray over her sharp bows, and stretching to her task as though she herself were conscious of the work before her, and eager in chase.

But the strange sail was almost, if not quite, as fast as herself, and her position so far to windward gave her an immense advantage.

The day, too, was wearing on, and the sky beginning to cloud over, giving every token of a dark if not a stormy night.

If the chase could only hold on her course till dusk she was safe, and already the hopes of another prize were beginning to fade, and the anxious speculators on the forecastle were expecting the order to up helm and relinquish the chase.
On the quarter-deck, too, the idea was gaining ground that the affair was hopeless, and that it was not worth while to keep the ship longer from her course.

But the Alabama was not given to letting a chance slip, and before finally abandoning the pursuit it was determined to try the effect of a shot or two upon the nerves of the stranger.