THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR." 286 the range. So she drew off and waited to try againwith more even chances.

They wereconcentrating their fire on the little Winslow, and as she reversed her engines and drewoff,replying withher twosmallone-pounder quick-firers, the enemy's shells were bursting and churning up the water close around her. The Wilmington brought her heavier guns into action and tried to silence the Spanish fire, whilethe Hudson,giving up all thought of the prizes, hurried back to the support of the Winslow. The Spaniards ceased firing for some minutes, and the Wilmington turned her guns upon the town. But suddenly the enemy's fire began again. The Winslow was hit in several places,deadand woundedmenstrewedher deck, and then a shell crashed on to and shattered her steering gear, and she lay crippled in the midst of the shower of shells,and was drifcing slowly towards the town, her guns still defiantly in action, though their small projectiles could do little harm.

Early on the followingWednesday,May nth, a smallsquadron of light-draft warships was concentrated for an attack on Cardenas, which, it was hoped, would avenge this first repulse. There were the gunboats Wilmington and Machias,the armed revenue-cutterHudson, and the torpedo boat Winslow. The Machias,which acted as flagship, led the way in through the outer reefs. There she parted company with her consorts, steaming to the eastward to attack a fortified Spanish barrack on Diana Key, an island on the north side of the main opening into Cardenas Bay. The three other ships worked their way into the bay by one of the minor channels,forit wasknown that the usual entrance to the harbour was mined. A Cuban pilot showed the wayin.

It was a calm, hot summer day, without a ripple on the water, and with a slight steamy hazein the air that made it difficult at times to "define distant objects. Presently the guns of theMachias wereheard in action, thoughit was only that evening that the other ships knew the precise result of her operations. She shelled the barracks on Diana Key so effectually- that the small Spanish garrison had to take to flight, evacuating at the same time a blockhouse on the end of the Key. An armed boat's crew, commandedby Ensign Willard, was sent ashore and hoisted the Stars andStripes on the abandoned blockhouse. It was the first hoisting ot the American flag on Cubansoil.

She was in such shallow water that the Wilmington would have run aground if she had tried to help her; so the light-draft revenuecruiser, the Hudson, stood in to rescue the Winslow. The only way to do it was to get a line to the Winslow and towher out of danger, and this had to be done under the close fire of the Spaniards,at little more than a mile'srange. To quote the narrative of one of theHudson's officers:— " The Spanish shells were hitting the water aboutus and flying overheadwith nervedestroying frequency. With the after-gun's crewready to handle the lines,the Hudson was steered for the Winslow,close enough to throw a line to her. As we forged ahead across her bow, the line was thrown. It fell short. Reversing the engines and putting the helm to starboard, the captain of the Hudson tried to back his vessel downto the Winslow,but, workingdirectly against her helm,theHudsonbacked around until she was bows on to the Winslow andmoving away from her. The water was so shallow that theHudson was almost unmanageable ;and now fate, in the garb of the regular afternoon sea-breeze, was setting the Hudson every moment nearer the shore and into a zone of moremurderousfire. Backward and forward, swerving this wayand that,theHudsonstruggled for more than twenty minutes at a task that each moment grew more hopeless. At last a fortunate sheer, a quick shift of the helm, the line was thrown,caught, the hawser bent on, and the two little craft started to draw away from their perilousposition."

Meanwhile the Wilmington, the Hudson,and the Winslow had steamed into the bay. At first they could see nothingof the Spanish gunboats— theLigera and her two consorts— which wereknown tobe somewherein the bay. The fact was, they were mooredin shelter behinda pier at one end of the town, inapositionwhere, whilstthey were almostcompletelyhidden,they could bring their guns to bear by firing across the top of it. At first they gave no sign of life, and the Winslow ran in close to the wharves, alongsideof which lay a crowd of coasting craft. It washoped thatin this way the Spanish gunboats would be tempted out from their hidingplace. The Wilmington lay in the middle of the bay, off the town, and the Hudson was heading for a couple of large square-riggedships, anchored apart from the rest, whichlooked as if they would be valuable prizes. Suddenly the flash and roar of guns from behind the pier showed where the Spaniards w-ere lurking. Butduring these anxiousminutes the Winslow