The chase had started about noon. By four o'clock the frigate was almost within gunshot. The heart of everybody except the commander was in the lower regions of his jacket. Paul Jones was serene enough; his confidence seemed not one whit lessened. Presently he displayed the reason for his attitude.
"Look," said he to his chief officer, as he handed him a glass; "do you not notice that his broadside guns are still unleashed? He thinks he can take us by firing his bow-chaser. What foolishness! Nothing would be easier than for us to bear away before the wind and run under his broadside."
Nearly every ounce of canvas on the Providence had been flung to the breeze. Still the Solebay drew closer.
"He should know who we are before we leave him," declared Paul Jones, with a grim smile. He uttered a quick order. The next moment the American colors fluttered out at the masthead.
To their surprise the Solebay acknowledged the courtesy by also running up the American emblem.
"He cannot deceive us by that," said Paul Jones. "His lines tell me as plain as day he is British. But wait; I shall show him something in a moment!"
He called out to the man at the wheel: "Give her a good full, Quartermaster!"
"A good full, sir!" came back the instant acknowledgment.
Paul Jones then ordered the studding-sails set. The next moment the helm was put about, and before the astonished crew on the Solebay knew what was happening, the American sloop ran directly under his broadside, and went off dead before the wind.
The British frigate came about in haste and confusion. But by the time she was under headway again, the American ship was far off, her newly-trimmed studding-sails bellying to the breeze and gaining speed at every leap and bound. Needless to say, the Solebay was now out of the running, a very crestfallen enemy. Such clever maneuvering her commander had never witnessed before.