om behind the lighthouse could not be answered
so well from the launches, and the encouraged Spaniards fired all the
oftener.

Man after man in the boats was hit, but none let a sound escape him. Like
silent machines they worked, grimly hacking and tearing at the third
cable. During half an hour they laboured, but the fire from behind the
lighthouse was too deadly, and, reluctantly, at Lieutenant Anderson's
signal, the cable was dropped and the boats retreated.

The work had lasted two hours and a half.

The _Windom_, which had laid out of range with a collier, was now ordered
in, and the surgeon called to attend the wounded. The _Windom_ was
signalled to shell the lighthouse, which had not been fired on before,
according to the usages of international law. It had been used as a
shelter by the Spaniards. The revenue cutter's rapid-fire guns riddled the
structure in short order, and soon a shell from the 4-inch gun, which was
in charge of Lieut. R. O. Crisp, struck it fair, exploded, and toppled it
over.

With the collapse of their protection the Spaniards broke and ran again,
the screaming shrapnel bursting all around them.

At the fall of the lighthouse the _Marblehead_ signalled, "Well done," and
then a moment later, "Cease firing."

The only man killed instantly was a marine named Eagan. A sailor from one
of the boats died of his wounds on the same day. Commander Maynard of the
_Nashville_ was grazed across the chest, and Lieutenant Winslow was
wounded in the hand.

The list of casualties resulting from this display of heroism was two
killed, two fatally and four badly wounded. The Spanish loss could not be
ascertained, but it must necessarily have been heavy.

[Illustration: U. S. S. CHICAGO.]

CHAPTER VI.

CARDENAS AND SAN JUAN.

_May 11._ The Spanish batteries in Cardenas Harbour were silenced on May
11th, and at the same time there was a display of heroism, on the part of
American sailors, such as has never been surpassed.

A plan of action having been decided upon, the _Wilmington_ arrived at the
blockading station from Key West on the morning of the eleventh. She found
there, off Piedras Bay, the cruiser _Machias_, the torpedo-boat _Winslow_,
and the revenue cutter _Hudson_, which last carried two 6-pounders.
Shortly after noon the _Wilmington_, _Winslow_, and _Hudson_ moved into
the inner harbour of Cardenas, and prepared to d