A cannon-shot was his reply.
"Captain Ludlow," said the commodore, "we will teach that fellow good manners. Are your guns in order?"
"They are."
"We have been taught a lesson by Barron's mishap. Train the guns and be ready to fire."
With a speaking trumpet, the commodore once more hailed the sloop with:
"What sloop is that?"
This time he was greeted with a broadside.
"Fire!" cried the commodore, and the cannon of the President sent a broadside of heavy shot against the impudent stranger.
The conflict lasted only about ten minutes, when Captain Bingham, after losing eleven killed and twenty-one wounded, gave a satisfactory answer. The vessels parted company, the Little Belt sailing for Halifax for repairs.
It was in the year 1809 that the American brig Dover, one of the few of American merchant vessels which had managed to escape the ruin of Jefferson's embargo act, was sailing among the lesser Antilles. The master-captain Parson was a thorough seaman with a heart as big as an ox.