It was sincerely hoped that in the settlement of this long unsettled question, Mr. Pierce would keep his black-pig at home.  The result proved the mistake:  war was declared.  And the day on which the great struggle would be decided ushered in upon a scene at once gloomy and ominous.  Mysterious and fleecing clouds now obscured the heavens, and again shadowed with their silvery mists the surface of the sullen stream.  A contest of mighty import was to be decided.  The hazard was great, but the point to be gained small indeed; and men moved along the busy streets whispering their strong misgivings.  Monster war-ships, with ponderous engines supplied, rode like sleeping demons upon the water’s leaden surface.  An hour of anxiety passed, a signal of war echoed forth, and murmured over the landscape like distant thunder coursing along the heavens.  Then the murmuring sound re-echoed, as if the battlements above had opened upon the earth and sea.  Soon Britannia’s wooden walls were seen veering into line and preparing for action; America’s ranged in the same order, waiting the dread moment.  Anxious eyes and thoughts strained in expectation of the bloody struggle; then the boatswain’s shrill whistle sounded forth, the leaden clouds overhead chased away, and bolder outlined became the figures of venerable Admirals, who, immersed in glittering uniforms, paced their quarter-decks.  Again the ominous mouths of fierce cannon suddenly protruded more savagely from the sides of the huge hulks, and the shrill whistle sounded; all was bustle and confusion—­eager thousands of both sexes crowded wharves lining the shore, and many struggled for space to stand upon while witnessing the terrible conflict.  Again all was hushed into stillness; in breathless suspense did excitement sit on every countenance, as if waiting for the signal flash soon to break forth and turn everything into a chaos.  A quarter-master was seen passing a speaking trumpet to the burly old British admiral, who, judging from his deportment, might have supplied the place of a rare curiosity in any cabinet of ancient relics.  With it in his hand the ancient veteran mounted a gun on the starboard quarter, and shouted forth the ominous sound:  ’I accept your challenge—­all ready?’ A terrible movement was now perceptible among the spectators on shore.

“’You ill-treated myself and officers while on shore a few days ago; and you shall pay the penalty of your insult.  I’ll lick you; I’ll be damned if I don’t,’ answered the American, saucily.

“’You’re spunk; but we’ll take a little of it out, by the way of reducing your pretensions—­that’s all.  Now, my good cousin, just look out for the shivering of your timbers.  I’m going to load with grape, a jolly mixture I shall slap right into you.’

“‘That’s e’en jist the medicine!’ rejoined the Yankee:  that’s jist what I’m going to load with; and if it won’t kill, we’ll take cogniac canister!  But old fellow, we’ll larn ye how the Britishers can’t take the spunk out of us Yankees:  s’pose ye come on board my craft, lay off yer old notions, and play the good fellow in the jolly free-and-easy way.  We’ll then consider the horrors of war; and see if the matter can’t be discussed in a different way atween decks.’