first boatload having gone a longer route. A reef near the beach threw the
men out, and they stumbled through the water up to their breasts. When
they reached dry land they immediately went into the bush to form a
picket-line. Two horses had been forced to swim ashore, when suddenly a
rifle-shot, followed by continuous sharp firing, warned the men that the
enemy had been in waiting.

"The captain of the transport signalled the war-ships, and the _Manning_
fired into the woods beyond our picket-line. Shrapnel hissed through the
air like hot iron plunged in water. The _Wasp_ opened with her small guns.
The cannonade began at 3.15 and lasted a quarter of an hour; then our
pickets appeared, the ships circled around, and, being told by Captain
O'Connor, who had come from shore with the clothing torn from one leg,
where the Spaniards were, a hundred shots more were fired in that
direction.

"'Anybody hurt, captain?' some one asked.

"'None of our men, but we shot twelve Spaniards,' he shouted back.

"The soldiers on board the _Gussie_ heard the news without a word, but
learning where the enemy were situated, gathered aft on the upper deck,
and sent volleys toward the spot.

"The pickets returned to the bush. Several crept along the beach, but the
Spaniards had drawn back. It was decided that the soldiers should reembark
on the _Gussie_, and that the guides take the horses, seek the insurgents,
and make a new appointment. They rode off to the westward, and disappeared
around a point.

"'Say,' shouted a man from Company G after them, 'you forgot your
grindstone.'"

_May 12._ On Thursday morning, May 12th, the gunboat _Wilmington_ stood in
close to the coast, off the town of Cardenas, with her crew at quarters.

She had come for a specific purpose, which was to avenge the _Winslow_,
and not until she was within range of the gunboats that had decoyed the
_Winslow_ did she slacken speed. Then the masked battery, which had opened
on the American boat with such deadly effect, was covered by the
_Wilmington's_ guns.

There were no preliminaries. The war-vessel was there to teach the
Spaniards of Cardenas a lesson, and set about the task without delay.

The town is three miles distant from the gulf entrance to the harbour,
therefore no time need be wasted in warning non-combatants, for they were
in little or no danger.

During two weeks troops had been gathering near about Cardenas to protect
it against American invasion;