"Arrest him!" commanded General Yozarro, speaking directly to Colonel
Carlos Del Valle, his chief of staff, standing next to the American;
"put him in irons."
The officer addressed reached out his hand to lay on the shoulder of
Jack Starland, who, at that instant, recalled the knockout blow he had
given Cadet Hillman of the First Class, one memorable spring morning
at old Fort Putnam, West Point. It was the same lightning-like stroke
which crashed into the face of the colonel and sent him staggering and
toppling back to the opposite side of the cabin. Then, whipping out
his revolver, Starland backed from the cabin, ran down the steps to
the bow of the boat, and before any one suspected his purpose, shouted
to his own executive officer:
"Captain Winton, I am betrayed! Open fire, and sink this tug!"
Then he wheeled about and with leveled weapon, added:
"I will kill the first man who attempts to lay a finger on me!"
General Yozarro and his officers showed more promptitude than would
have been expected. Seeing that a conflict was inevitable, they set
out to win by their own quickness. Their armament was heavier than
that of the American yacht,--that is to say, though his pieces carried
smaller missiles, he had two of them, while that of the _Warrenia_ was
a brass saluting twelve-pounder.
The port gun was slewed around and pointed at the other craft, now
within twenty-five yards, and in a twinkling it bore fairly.
"Fire!" shouted the excited General, too savage to regard the usual
preliminaries.
Major Starland shuddered, for he saw the gun seemingly directed true
and knew it must do great destruction on his yacht. The gunner snapped
the lanyard, but a dull click followed and there was no discharge.
General Yozarro uttered an oath and Captain Ortega called from the
pilot house:
"That is the one which was not loaded!"
Jack Starland had forgotten the fact in the flurry of the moment. He
smiled and looked across at his own boat. Captain Winton did not throw
away a second. He signalled to the engine room, quickly veered, and
the brass twelve-pounder was pointed fairly at the tug. Meantime, by
working frantically, the gunners quickly loaded the piece on the
Atlamalcan craft and swung it around to bear on the other.
"Look out for the Major!" called Captain Winton; "he is standing at
the front."
While the native gunners were awaiting the critical second, there was
a white puff, a red belch of flame, and a thunderous report rolled
over the river and against the shores. A smashing sound, the
splintering of wood and a number of yells followed, the ball having
torn its way through the cabin and splashed into the river beyond.
In this crisis, General Yozarro displayed unexpected coolness. General
Bambos hurriedly sagged down behind the pile of wood at the front, as
if mortally hurt, but he was merely taking precautions against
becoming so.
"Quick!" roared General Yozarro; "sink their boat!"
The haste was unwise, for the gunners were not wholly lacking in
skill, but they were flustered by the furious orders of their brutal
chief, and fired sooner than they intended. It would have seemed
that with so brief a distance separating the combatants a miss was
impossible; but the heavy missile only grazed the foremast, dropping
somewhere among the trees on the southern shore.
"Hurrah!" shouted the delighted Major, swinging his hat; "let the good
work go on! Keep it up! The Stars and Stripes forever!"
Colonel Del Valle had recovered from the fierce blow that sent him
spinning across the cabin and was aflame with anger. He, too, had a
revolver, and, heedless of the wild turmoil and confusion, in which a
half dozen were injured by the flying splinters, he sneaked forward
toward the hurrahing American. He raised his hand tremulous with fury,
and sighting as well as he could through his watery, bloody eyes, let
fly.
The crack of the weapon amid the tumult caused Major Starland to turn
like a flash. He saw he had forgotten himself, and that in all
probability he had a fight on his hands.
"I don't want to kill you, Colonel, but you need a lesson."
The officer was backing away, when at the flash of the other weapon,
he uttered a howl and skurried into the cabin with his right arm
dangling useless. The American saw his pistol fall, and darting
forward, picked it up. He now had two revolvers, and with only a
single empty chamber in each. He backed against the pile of wood, to
prevent any one getting behind him, and confronted the mob. Moreover,
it was necessary that his friends should see where he was in order to
avoid harming him.
A gun on each boat had been fired, and it now became a race as to
which could reload and fire again. The American won, because of a
slight advantage at the start. No attempt was made on the tugboat
to bring the second piece into action. The captains of each craft
displayed admirable skill. Captain Winton tried to keep out of range
of his enemy, but Captain Ortega swung around so as to hold him in
direct line all the time.
Starland's mate and one of his seamen were handling the cannon on the
yacht. The latter had served at Manila and knew his business. As cool
as if taking part in the naval maneuvers, he waited until sure the
second shot would do the business. Without giving heed to the crew
striving desperately to bring the other gun to bear, he crouched till
the gun was pointed exactly right and then blazed away.
He had aimed at the screw of the tugboat and he struck it so fairly
that the stem snapped off and the blades dropped to the bottom of the
river. This was at the suggestion of the mate, who, not wishing to
kill any one, only sought to put the other craft out of action.
It was done. The tug was as helpless as a log, but not until Captain
Ortega called from the pilot house, making known the nature of the
disaster, did General Yozarro understand the mortal injury his navy
had received.
"Bully!" shouted the Major; "put the next shot through her boiler!
Don't mind me! I can swim and don't care for a little thing like being
blown up!"
General Bambos heard the terrifying news and climbed tremblingly to
his feet.
"Don't let them fire again! We shall all be killed!"
"Only one thing can save you," replied the Major aglow with the light
of triumphant battle; "run up the white flag! The next shot will send
you to kingdom come!"
It was General Yozarro, who, catching the panic, whipped out his white
silken handkerchief, and standing within arm's length of his prisoner,
excitedly fluttered it aloft.
"Cease firing!" commanded Major Starland; "they have surrendered!"