Chapter 8 YOUNG GLORY ON THE NASHVILLE-AT SAN JUAN DE PORTO RICO.

Captain Miles was aghast.

The officers of the Brooklyn who had drawn close to listen, were loud in their expressions of indignation.

"The brutes! the inhuman brutes!" said the skipper. "And these are the men for whom some misguided people feel pity."

"An object lesson like this," said the lieutenant-commander, "shows how much pity they deserve."

"As we left the Spaniard," continued the mate of the Mary Parker, "the wretches on board hooted and jeered at us. We heard some of them propose that they should have some rifle practice on us, but this was rejected, because it was too merciful a death. Five days we passed beneath a burning sun, suffering cruel thirst and hunger. Of twenty men who went on the raft, but nine remain."

"Poor creatures!"

Captain Miles was silent. The horrors to which he had listened had affected him deeply, it was some moments before he spoke.

"Tell me, if you can, the name of the ship that captured you."

"It was a Spanish cruiser, the Cristobal Colon."

"The Cristobal Colon! That name will stick in my memory, my friend, until I have revenged you and your shipmates. Do you think it's likely that the Spanish cruiser is in these waters now?"

"Yes, I heard enough while I was aboard of her to make me think so. Her mission is to prey on American commerce."

"We will catch her."

"It's not easy. She does her work, then dashes into the harbor of San Juan and finds safety."

"We shall find a way, never fear."

The treatment of the American sailors by the Spaniards had roused the men's passions to the boiling point. The Cristobal Colon would have a bad time if the two ships came to close quarters.

For three days the Brooklyn cruised around Porto Rico. Not a sign did she see of the enemy.

"Faith, we'll never have a sight of her."

"How's that, Dan?"

"She knows we're around. It's one of their Spanish fishin' vessels has seen us, and that's enough. It's out of San Juan she'll not be comin'."

Captain Miles thought the same as Dan, but he determined to remain, because even if he could not get near enough to the Cristobal Colon to attack her, yet he was able by remaining, to prevent the Spanish cruiser from leaving the port in order to prey on American commerce.

The next day a ship was sighted.

She evidently recognized the Brooklyn, for she flew the Stars and Stripes in a very short time.

"One of ours, boys!" cried a sailor, "and I know her, too."

"You do?"

"Yes. She's a gun-boat. She's the Nashville, and I was aboard her for two years."

"A good boat, Bill?"

"A very smart craft."

It was not long before the captains of the Nashville and the Brooklyn were exchanging compliments. The skipper of the gun-boat came aboard the cruiser, and a long conference took place.

"So you'd heard of the Cristobal Colon, then?" said Captain Miles.

"Yes," answered Captain Long, of the gun-boat. "It was on her account I was ordered here. Admiral Jackson thought I might be able to help you. More than one ship has arrived in the gulf reporting a severe chase. She's doing great damage as a commerce destroyer, and the admiral says she must be checked."

"It's all very well for Admiral Jackson to talk that way," said Captain Miles, impatiently; "but just let him come here. He wouldn't be able to do any more than I'm doing."

"Of course, if she won't stir outside of San Juan it's difficult for us to act."

"Yes."

"What's to be done? A ship-load of wretches like that should not be at large. They're no better than wild beasts."

"I can't venture in shore."

"But I can, Captain Miles. My boat's very light draft. Supposing I have a look in at San Juan? I may find out something."

"A good idea, but be careful. The Cristobal Colon's a fast boat, and if she caught you, well, you know where you'd be, at the bottom of the sea in a very few minutes."

"I shall be cautious. My scheme will be to try and lure the Spaniards out of port."

"Ha! Ha! Try, by all means, but the fish won't always bite."

"You can do something for me."

"What?"

"Spare me twenty men. That is, if you're not short-handed. I am."

"I can lend you twenty, but they won't like it at all, for they're all spoiling for a fight with this Spaniard, and they want to be here when the fun begins."

"But I must have them."

"Very well. Mr. Robson!"

"Yes, sir."

"Twenty men wanted for the Nashville. We can spare them, and Captain Long is short-handed."

"Now," laughed Captain Long, "give me a fair selection, Mr. Robson. No cripple, mind."

"All our men are up to the mark."

"Good! The sooner you can send them aboard the better, for I want to start."

Lieutenant Robson lost no time. He had twenty men paraded on deck. Amongst them happened to be Young Glory and Dan Daly.

Lieutenant Robson passed his eye along them.

"If he doesn't like them," he said to himself, "he's hard to please."

In truth he would be, for a finer body of men never stepped the deck of a ship.

"What's up?" whispered one of the men.

"Shure, it's some fightin' for us!"

"Hope so, Dan."

"My men," said Lieutenant Robson, "the duty you are to be placed on, is not given to you because you have displeased the captain. On the contrary. But someone has to do it, and you have been chosen."

The men's faces fell at this speech.

"Yes, you are lent to the Nashville. You will go aboard at once, and my last word is-but I know it's unnecessary-that you will show your new skipper what the men of the Brooklyn can do."

The men were instantly dismissed. It took them a few minutes to collect their belongings, during which they received much sympathy from their comrades.

"You'll miss this fight, Young Glory."

"Don't talk about it," replied Young Glory, hotly. "It's enough to send a man crazy!"

"Shure, it's like desertin', I feel!"

"Do. There's no one to stop you, Dan, and it's very easy. You have only to step over the ship's sides into the mouth of the shark who's waiting there for you."

But Dan was too mad to reply.

He and his comrades very soon found themselves on the Nashville.

The first person they met aboard was Captain Long, whom they had not seen when he paid his visit to Captain Miles on the Brooklyn.

"Young Glory and Dan Daly!" cried Captain Long. "Well, this is a surprise. I can't complain now that they've sent me a poor lot of men."

Captain Long was a lieutenant of the Indiana, the first battle ship on which Young Glory had served during the war. He was only a young man, but he had on so many occasions displayed such conspicuous bravery, that he had been promoted to the rank of captain and placed in command of the gun-boat.

"It might be worse, Dan," said Young Glory.

"Why?"

"Because wherever Captain Long is there's fighting. That's a dead sure thing, and I wouldn't be surprised but what we'll have enough of it."

"Faith, an' it's plased I am to see an ould face."

"Old! Captain Long's young."

"Arrah! ye're a tasin' lad. It's yerself knows what I mane."

The Brooklyn had faded from sight now. The Nashville was running towards San Juan. The gun-boat did not mean to enter the harbor, but simply to cruise about in the hope that something might be seen of the Spanish cruiser.

One night the weather was very thick.

It was quite possible for a ship to leave the port without being seen, or even heard, for the waves stifled any sound she might have made.

Towards morning the weather cleared.

Young Glory was on watch duty and Captain Long happened to be near him.

"Can I have a word with you, sir?"

"Surely?"

"Well, sir, I may be mistaken, but I feel positive that the Cristobal Colon went out of port during the night."

"How do you make that out? You saw nothing."

"No, sir."

"And heard nothing?"

"Very little. But this is what happened. I was looking over the ship's sides during the night, and a little after midnight, when the fog was thickest, there was a great rush of water towards our boat. The waves rose high, almost to the deck. What caused that? I said to myself, and there was only one explanation."

"Well?"

"It was the wash from a big steamer. I've no doubt of it."

"You have spoken of this?"

"Certainly, sir. It was my duty. I drew the attention of the officer of the watch to this, and he said he thought it was a tidal wave."

"And you did not agree with him?"

"No, sir."

"Young Glory, I think your theory is the correct one. It seems reasonable. That boat's waited for thick weather so as to give us the slip. I must know."

"How, sir?"

"Why, if she's not in San Juan I must notify the Brooklyn at once, so that she may look after her; we don't want any more ships destroyed."

Captain Long lost not a moment.

All hands were called instantly.

The Nashville's course was changed, and she steered straight for the harbor of San Juan.

The men were all excited now. It was a desperate mission upon which they were bound, and they knew it. The enterprise affected men differently. Some of the sailors looked stern and determined. Dan Daly smiled the first time for a week.

As for Young Glory, he was in his element.

The Nashville had now entered the harbor, quite regardless of the guns or the forts. Captain Long held these antiquated weapons in contempt.

Rapidly his eye scanned the horizon.

"Young Glory was right," he exclaimed; "the Cristobal Colon has sailed from Porto Rico."

He ordered the ship put about, and the Nashville was once more steaming towards the ocean, when a startling sight met all eyes.

The Cristobal Colon hove in view. She was steaming into the harbor, coming towards the Nashville.

Everyone knew what it meant. There was no possibility of escape. The Spaniard barred the way to the ocean, and there was no passing her.

Cruiser against gun-boat! That was the situation.

It was to be a fight against odds!

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