send his vessel to the bottom, even as the _Maine_ had
been sent.

Then, so near the _Raleigh_ as to send a flood across her decks, another
spouting of water, another dull roar, and the much vaunted mines of the
Spaniards in Manila Bay had been exploded.

[Illustration: U. S. S. BALTIMORE.]

The roar and crackle of the enemy's guns still continued, yet Dewey
withheld the order which every man was now most eager to hear.

The Spanish gunners were getting the range; the shells which had passed
over our fleet now fell close about them; the tension among officers and
men was terrible. They wondered how much longer the commodore would
restrain them from firing. The heat was rapidly becoming intense. The
guns' crews began to throw off their clothes. Soon they wore nothing but
their trousers, and perspiration fairly ran from their bodies.

Still the word was not given to fire, though the ships steadily steamed on
and drew nearer the fort. Orders were given by the officers in low voices,
but they were perfectly audible, so great was the silence which was broken
only by the throbbing of the engines. The men hugged their posts ready to
open fire at the word.

A huge shell from Cavite hissed through the air and came directly for the
_Olympia_. High over the smoke-stack it burst with a mighty snap.
Commodore Dewey did not raise his eyes. He simply turned, made a motion to
a boatswain's mate who stood near the after 5-inch gun. With a voice of
thunder the man bellowed an order along the decks.

"Remember the _Maine_!" yelled a chorus of five hundred gallant sailors.
Below decks in the engine-rooms the cry was taken up, a cry of defiance
and revenge. Up in the turrets resounded the words, and the threatening
notes were swept across the bay to the other ships.

"Remember the _Maine_!"

In that strange cry was loosed the pent-up wrath of hundreds of American
sailors who resented the cowardly death of their comrades. It bespoke the
terrible vengeance that was about to be dealt out to the defenders of a
detestable flag.

"You may fire when you are ready, Gridley," was Commodore Dewey's quiet
remark to the captain of the _Olympia_, who was still in the
conning-tower.

The _Olympia's_ 8-inch gun in the forward turret belched forth, and an
instant later was run up the signal to the ships astern:

"Fire as convenient."

The other vessels in the squadron followed the example set by the
_Olympia_. The big 8-inch guns of the