BOARDING THE CRUISER--THE LAST STAND.
"Mr. Tyler."
"Yes, sir."
"Listen. Young Glory proposes to run into the Spaniard and board her."
"Great Heaven!"
"It's the only way to save ourselves."
"Save ourselves, Young Glory! Do you know what you're talking about?"
"I generally do, sir."
"Then take note of this. The Cristobal Colon has a complement of five
hundred officers and men. What have we?"
"Two hundred."
"Exactly."
"And they are enough, sir."
"Mr. Tyler, it is not a question of whether we have enough, but what are
we to do. We shall be sunk for a certainty in a few minutes."
"Board the Spaniard, sir. Board her. I'm with you heart and soul. We'll
die fighting."
"No, we will live and triumph!"
As Young Glory said these words his eyes flashed fire, and his looks
more than his words brought hope to each of his officers.
Instantly the call for boarders was heard.
The two ships were nearing each other now, the Spaniard rapidly getting
into a commanding position. Those on board of the Cristobal Colon were
astounded at the action of the gun-boat. Here she was coming at the
cruiser as if with the intention of ramming her.
It seemed madness. What chance would such a small craft have against the
great Spanish cruiser?
The Spaniards were in high glee.
They anticipated an easy victory.
"The ship will be sunk in a few minutes," said Captain Moret, who
commanded the Spaniard, "and those American pigs with her."
"Pardon me, captain," said a lieutenant.
"Well."
"I wish to make a suggestion."
"Do so."
"If the ship is sunk, she is no use to us."
"Quite so."
"Whereas if we capture her, she will be a very valuable prize, in fact,
just the kind of a boat we want. Those men must know they have no
chance. Call on them to surrender. They are almost within earshot now.
Depend upon it if you offer them good treatment they will hand over
their boat, and think they've got out of the hole they're in very well."
"Caramba! lieutenant, but you speak well. Ho! there!"
The captain spoke English, and as there was a lull in the firing he was
able to make himself heard.
"Hold! there!"
"I hear you!"
It was Captain Long who answered.
"Strike your flag and surrender, and you shall be treated as prisoners
of war."
"Hear my answer?" exclaimed Captain Long, furiously.
Boom! Boom!
The guns of the Nashville poured in a broadside. That was the American
reply.
"Sink the dogs!" roared Captain Moret, savagely. "Sink them, they
deserve no better fate."
The last broadside of the Nashville had done some damage, but what could
not be seen for the clouds of smoke that obscured the view.
The two ships were close to each other now.
Boom! Boom!
The guns of the cruiser were replying now. Here the size of the
Nashville was her safeguard. She lay low in the water, and being so near
to the cruiser the shot of the latter passed over her decks. One of the
topmasts was carried away, and two men were crushed by its fall, so the
gun-boat got off lightly.
"Ready, men, ready."
Mr. Tyler, as executive officer stood ready to lead the boarders. Young
Glory and Dan Daly, burning with impatience, were near him.
Slowly, amid the smoke, the two ships drifted towards each other. Then
with a crash they met. Quick as lightning ladders were thrown from the
gun-boat on to the cruiser.
The men swarmed up the sides of the Cristobal Colon like cats.
Captain Moret was astounded. He had never dreamed that the Americans
would resort to such desperate tactics. Being completely surprised, he
had made no preparations to repel boarders, and such of his men who were
not at the guns were in the tops.
The result was that the blue jackets of the Nashville obtained a secure
footing on the cruiser's deck.
But Captain Moret was not idle.
"Sweep these dogs from the deck!" he cried, savagely.
Bang!
Dan fired and missed the captain by a hairbreadth.
"It's a more civil tongue in your head I'd have ye kapin'!" cried the
Irishman.
The Spaniards had formed to repel the attack now. By the hundred they
rushed on to the deck of the ship. From the tops Spanish riflemen kept
up a withering fire on the enemy.
Captain Long saw this. Instantly he put his riflemen at work.
With deadly aim the American riflemen fired. One by one the Spaniards
dropped dead in the tops, and those who did not, climbed down from their
elevated positions to seek a less dangerous spot.
A hand to hand fight was going on.
The Americans and Spaniards had met on the deck of the cruiser in a
fierce contest. Nothing was heard but the clash of steel, the firing of
pistols, and the shouts of the fighters.
The Spaniards were three to one, for the Americans had left a large part
of their force on the gun-boat. It was quite impossible to employ all
the blue jackets in the attack on the cruiser.
Young Glory was in the front of the battle, laying about him with his
cutlass. Mr. Tyler, leading the sailors, was fighting by his side. Dan
Daly was not far off, and Dan's quaint remarks could be heard above
everybody's voice.
The Spanish officers kept somewhat in the background, urging their men
to the attack, by every means in their power.
"Arrah! it's hidin' ye are!" shouted Dan. "It's here ye ought to be.
It's yer foine gold lace I'd be afther seein'!"
But even this invitation did not tempt the officers of the cruiser to
come to closer quarters.
One by one the men dropped. The enemy's loss was far the greater, but
they were able to sustain it better than the Americans.
Mr. Tyler saw this, and wished to end matters.
"Follow me!" he cried, bravely, turning to his men and waving his sword.
With a cheer, led by Young Glory, the blue jackets sprang forward and
dashed at the Spaniards. The latter, appalled by the fury of the attack
gave way.
But it was only for an instant. The Spanish officers struck their men
with the flat of their swords, compelling them to stand their ground.
More than one Spanish sailor was pistoled as an example to the others.
Like desperate men they rallied. On they came, bearing back the
Americans by force of numbers.
To the ground fell Mr. Tyler.
A dozen Spaniards rushed at him.
"Take him prisoner!" cried Captain Moret.
Young Glory and Dan Daly flew to the rescue.
By the time they had reached their leader he was on his feet again with
his face to the foe.
"Unhurt!" he cried, with a smile; "slipped, that was all!"
"An' that spalpeen slipped, too!" laughed Dan, as he cut a Spaniard down
with a furious blow from his cutlass.
Two men rushed at Dan to avenge their fallen comrade. Just at this
instant, as Young Glory was going to Dan's assistance, his sword slipped
from his grasp falling to the deck, some distance away.
If Dan was to be saved no time must be lost. Young Glory saw this, and
not an instant did he hesitate.
He flew at the nearest Spaniard, without a weapon, and seizing the man
by the neck, Young Glory hurled him furiously away. The man rolled over
and over on the deck, finally landing against one of the turrets, and
lying there unconscious from the force of the blow.
The Spaniards stood aghast at this exhibition of strength. By this time
Young Glory had obtained another cutlass, and Dan had relieved himself
of his remaining foe.
The fight became general again. Mr. Tyler was acting on the defensive
now. If he could only sustain the contest, he felt convinced that he
could tire out the Spaniards.
His men were shooting down the enemy rapidly, and, besides, the riflemen
on the Nashville were doing terrible damage.
All at once there was a lull.
The Spaniards called off their men. They got into shelter, and ceased to
attack the Americans.
"What does it mean?"
"Sir, it's enough they've had."
"Looks like it, Dan."
"It's givin' up they'll be in a minute."
"No," said Young Glory, decidedly.
"Why, what d'you mean?"
"I know what they're doing, sir. I heard the calls and caught some of
the orders given, and I understand them. We shall have the hottest time
of all."
"How so?"
"Captain Moret has rallied together all the men on the ship, every man
of them, and they'll come against us like an avalanche."
"They will sweep us from the ship!" cried Mr. Tyler, aghast at the
prospect.
Even Dan Daly was silent. For once the Irishman could not see a bit of
blue sky in the prospect.
"It's retreatin' we ought to be!" cried the Irishman.
"And have them attack our ship?"
"Faith, it's there I want to lure the spalpeens; we'd have an aisy mark
on the Nashville. Shure, sir," asked Dan in an injured tone, "it wasn't
afraid you thought I was?"
"No, no, Dan."
"Begorra, an' it's betther I feel. But where's Young Glory?"
"Young Glory! why, he's gone!"
"Gone!"
Yes, that was the fact. Young Glory had deserted in the thick of the
fight, and a blank look of despair came over every face when they saw
what had happened.
"Deserted! shown the white feather!" muttered Lieutenant Tyler. "I
couldn't have believed it of Young Glory."
"An' shure, if ye did, sir, ye'd be decavin' yourself," said Dan, hotly,
sticking up for his chum through thick and thin.
"But he's gone!" was the cry.
"Begorra! P'haps the poor lad's hurt. Faith, it's a Spanish bullet he
may have in him, worse luck. Fear and Young Glory can't be coupled
together, me lads. It's Dan Daly tells you so, an' it's himself that
knows."
"They're forming for the attack, my men."
"Yes, sir."
"Stand firm, lads."
"We will die where we stand."
"Hurrah!"
"That's the way to talk."
The men, desperate though their situation was, were as defiant as ever.
The blue jacket who proposed making terms with the enemy would have had
a very hot time. But to the credit of these sailors, it may be said,
that they were all heroes, and not a man amongst them knew what fear
meant.
Cutlass in hand, sternly they stood facing the foe.
"No quarter!" cried a Spanish officer. "We have offered it once, and
they replied with a broadside. Forward to the attack for your king and
country!"
Roused to a pitch of frenzy by this address, the Spaniards waved their
swords in the air. Then, in a close column, they thundered along the
deck to where the small, but devoted band of American blue jackets
awaited the attack.