the _Vixen_. We got each of our extra boilers into operation until we were
going a good fifteen knots, and we were overhauling the advance somewhat.

"The _Oregon_ and _Brooklyn_ kept well up, and soon the _Oregon_ began to
fire, and we could see the _Cristobal Colon_ gradually edge inshore, so
that we knew the game was up and the victory complete; soon she headed in,
and went under one of the points which come down from the mountains, which
here (some sixty miles west of Santiago) are close at the water's edge,
and are the highest (seventy-eight hundred feet) in Cuba. We hurried
forward and soon saw she had hauled her flag down, and was ashore.

"The _Brooklyn_ had sent a boat, and Cook, who had gone in it, came
alongside on his return, and stated he had received their surrender,
stating he was not empowered to make any condition as to personal effects,
etc., as to which they seemed anxious.

"I then went on board and arranged things, the admiral allowing them, of
course, to take with them all their personal belongings, so while we were
dividing them up among the ships (525 men) along came the _Resolute_,
reporting having been chased by a Spanish armoured ship, so we put all the
prisoners in her. This was a long job.

"The thing was to save the _Cristobal Colon_, as she is one of the finest
modern ships of her class. We hurried a prize-crew aboard from the
_Oregon_, closed all water-tight doors, as she was evidently leaking
somewhere, but for all we could do she settled down on the beach after
floating with the rising tide. It was a great pity, but the rascally
engineers' force had opened all the valves connecting with the sea, and we
could not get at them.

"We finally, after eight hours of hard work, left her in charge of the
_Texas_ and _Oregon_, and are now steaming back to our post off Santiago.
The failure to save the _Colon_ was too bad. It is possible to do so, of
course, with the assistance of a wrecking company, but she was practically
in an undamaged condition. She had one man killed and twenty-five wounded.

"I am only too thankful we did not get ashore this morning. Poor
Higginson, who was down at Guantanamo coaling, will be full of grief, as
also Watson, in the _Newark_.

"I had forgotten to mention that day before yesterday we bombarded the
forts very heavily, knocking off a good deal of the poor old Morro, and
bringing down the flagstaff and the flag which was so proudly flaunted in
our eyes for m