t ten o'clock sharp the _Oquendo_ was apparently still fore and aft, but
within five minutes she wavered and lagged, and a little later, flag-ship
though she was, she put her helm to port, as her consorts had done, and
fled for life to the beach.

"The _Texas_ was coming with unflagging speed astern, and off to the east
could be seen the flag-ship of Admiral Sampson racing as never before to
get a shot in at the finish. An auxiliary had been sent by Commodore
Schley to call her, and it had met her coming at the call of the guns of
the Spanish fleet. She had overhauled and passed the _Indiana_ long since,
and was well-nigh abreast of the _Texas_. So the _Oregon_, in order to vie
with the _New York_ in the last of the mighty race, abandoned the
_Oquendo_ to her fate and stretched away after the _Cristobal Colon_.

"Some of the crew who looked back saw the _Texas_ bring to near the
_Oquendo_, and then the sea trembled under the impulse of a tremendous
explosion on board the doomed Spaniard, while a vast volume of smoke
filled with splintered wreck rose in the air. Had they been near enough
they would have heard the crew of the _Texas_ start in to cheer, and have
heard as well the voice of Captain Philip say, as he raised his hand to
check it:

"'Don't cheer; the poor devils are dying.'

"Only a man fit to command could have had that thought.

"The battle was well-nigh over. But one ship of the Spanish squadron
remained, and she was now in the last desperate struggle, the flurry of a
monster of the deep. Her officers peered with frowning brows through
gilded glasses at the _Brooklyn_ forging ahead far off their port bow; at
the _Oregon_ within range off the port quarter; at the _New York_ just
getting the range with her beautiful 8-inch rifles astern. They shivered
in unison with the quivering hulk as shot after shot struck home. They
screamed at their crews and stamped and fumed. At the guns their crews
worked with drunken desperation, but down in the stoke-hole the firemen
plied their shovels with a will and a skill that formed the most
surprising feature of the Spanish side of the battle. Because of them this
was a race worthy of the American mettle, for it put to the full test the
powers of the men of the three ships in chase.

"In the open sea they might have led the Yankees for an hour or more
beyond, but the strategy of Schley had cut them off, and yet it was not
until 1.15 o'clock--three hours and three-quarter