eginning of June saw the opening of the first regular campaign of the
war, and it is eminently proper the operations around and about Santiago
de Cuba be told in a continuous narrative, rather than with any further
attempt at giving the news from the various parts of the world in
chronological order.

Therefore such events, aside from the Santiago campaign, as are worthy a
place in history, will be set down in regular sequence after certain deeds
of the boys of '98 have been related in such detail as is warranted by the
heroism displayed.

CHAPTER VIII.

HOBSON AND THE MERRIMAC.

_May 29._ The blockading fleet, under command of Commodore Schley, off
Santiago de Cuba, was composed of the _Brooklyn_, _Iowa_, _Massachusetts_,
_Texas_, _New Orleans_, _Marblehead_, and _Vixen_.

At about midnight on May 29th the officer of the deck on board the _Texas_
saw, by aid of his night-glass, two low-lying, swiftly-running steamers
stealing out of Santiago Harbour, and keeping well within the shadows of
the land.

As soon as might be thereafter the war-vessel's search-lights were turned
full on, and at the same moment the sleeping crew were awakened.

It was known beyond a question that the Spanish fleet under Admiral
Cervera was hidden within the harbour, not daring to come boldly out while
the blockading squadron was so strong, and the first thought of men as
well as officers, when these stealthily moving vessels were sighted, was
that the Spaniards were making a desperate effort to escape from the trap
they had voluntarily entered.

The search-lights of the _Texas_ revealed the fact that the two strangers
were torpedo-boats, and a heavy fire was opened upon them instantly.

With the report of the first gun the call to quarters was sounded on all
the other ships, and a dozen rays of blinding light flashed here and there
across the entrance to the harbour, until the waters were so brilliantly
illumined that the smallest craft in which mariner ever set sail could not
have come out unobserved.

The same report which aroused the squadron told the Spaniards that their
purpose was no longer a secret, and the two torpedo-boats were headed for
the _Brooklyn_ and the _Texas_, running at full speed in the hope of
discharging their tubes before the fire should become too heavy.

The enemy had not calculated, however, upon such a warm and immediate
reception. It was