Stewart knew that his only chance was to get away before they shut him in, for the experience of the _Essex_ at Valparaiso proved that the neutrality of no port would protect an American cruiser.
Accordingly, he lost no time in getting to sea, leaving with the utmost haste and signalling to the _Cyane_ and _Levant_ to follow.

They obeyed, and were handled with such skill that all got to sea, with the squadron in hot pursuit.

The chase was continued for a long time, with the remarkable result that both the _Constitution_ and _Cyane_ safely reached Boston, while the _Levant_ was recaptured--a small reward for the exertions of the British squadron.
Maclay says: "In this brilliant cruise Captain Stewart proved himself an officer of rare ability.

His action with the _Cyane_ and _Levant_, and his masterly escape from the British squadron, called for all the qualities of a great commander, while his unhesitating attack on what appeared, in the heavy weather, to be two frigates, the beautiful style in which the _Constitution_ was put through the most difficult manoeuvres, and the neatness with which he captured a superior force, have ranked him as one of the most remarkable naval officers of his day.
Congress awarded him a sword and gold medal." It happened one day, when I was talking with Admiral Stewart at his home, that he showed me a Toledo sword which had been presented to him by the King of Spain, because of his rescue of a Spanish ship, drifting helplessly in mid ocean, with the captain and all the crew dead or prostrated by yellow fever.
The blade of the weapon, although quite plain and ordinary looking, of course was very valuable, but the hilt was so rough and crude that I expressed my surprise.
"I supposed that when a king makes a present of a sword," I said, "that the hilt is generally of a more costly pattern than that." "So it is," replied Stewart, accepting it from me and playfully making a few lightning-like passes in the air just to show that he had not forgotten how to handle the weapon; "that was a very handsome sword when it came to me, and I could not accept it until authorized by Congress.
During my fight with the _Cyane_ and _Levant_ I was walking back and forth with this sword under my arm, the hilt slightly projecting in front of my chest, when a grapeshot slipped it off, as it grazed me.

The hilt which it now has was put there by my gunner." "Were you ever wounded in battle ?" I asked.