But the navy of the United States might as well have chased a cannon
ball. The mental pressure became tremendous. Spectators had hardly drawn
a breath when the miracle was hull down. The American love of audacity
and speed struggled mightily for the moment with American patriotism.
The moral sense of the people could not prevent a murmur of admiration
when the _Lightning_, with eight millions of national gold aboard, in
less than nine minutes was but a speck. A bend of the river, and the
mysterious, courtly and successful pirate was gone.