hed them. As the enemy's fire slackened and
died out, the boats were ordered inshore.

They advanced in double column. The launches, under Lieutenant Anderson
and Ensign McGruder of the _Nashville_, went ahead with their
sharpshooters and gunners, looking eagerly for targets, while the cutters
were behind with the grappling-irons out, and the men peering into the
green water for a sight of the cables. At a distance of two hundred feet
from shore the launches stopped, and the cutters were sent ahead.

The first cable was picked up about ninety feet offshore. No sooner had
the work of cutting it been begun than the Spanish fire recommenced, the
soldiers skulking back to their deserted rifle-pits and rapid-fire guns
through the high grass. The launches replied and the fire from the ships
quickened, but although the Spanish volleys slackened momentarily, every
now and then they grew stronger.

The men in the boats cut a long piece out of the first cable, stowed it
away for safety, and then grappled for the next. Meantime the Spaniards
were firing low in an evident endeavour to sink the cutters, but many of
their shots fell short. The second cable was finally found, and the men
with the pipe-cutters went to work on it.

Several sailors were kept at the oars to hold the cutters in position, and
the first man wounded was one of these. No one else in the boat knew it,
however, till he fainted in his seat from loss of blood. Others took the
cue from this, and there was not a groan or a complaint from the two
boats, as the bullets, that were coming thicker and faster every minute,
began to bite flesh.

The men simply possessed themselves with heroic patience, and went on with
the work. They did not even have the satisfaction of returning the Spanish
fire, but the marines in the stern of the boat shot hard enough for all.

The second cable was finally cut, and the third, a smaller one, was
grappled and hoisted to the surface. The fire of the Spanish had reached
its maximum. It was estimated that one thousand rifles and guns were
speaking, and the men who handled them grew incautious, and exposed
themselves in groups here and there.

"Use shrapnel," came the signal, and can after can exploded over the
Spaniards, causing them to break and run to cover.

This cover was a sort of fortification behind the lighthouse, and to this
place they dragged a number of their machine guns, and again opened fire
on the cutter. The shots fr