ore than a month.

"We did this at the request of the army, as a demonstration while they
attacked. They did not, however, make the attack, as it turned out.

"These bombardments are very unsatisfactory; one reads lurid accounts of
them in the papers, but nothing really is gained unless we strike the guns
themselves, and this we have not done.

"As we steamed by to-day in close range, our friends of the western
battery, who paid a great deal of attention to us yesterday, banged away
at us in fine style, and a number of shells burst around us. Finally, when
I had them entirely off my mind and was paying attention only to the
torpedo-boat destroyers, came a tremendous screech, and everybody on the
forecastle dodged. It was their last; it fell about two hundred yards to
our right. We did not reply as we came along. I thought it a waste of
material, and thought they might have their amusement so long as they did
no damage.

"There--the engines have stopped and we are back at Santiago; it is 4.30,
and I shall turn in again for a final nap. The captain of the _Colon_ is
occupying my room; very nice fellow, about fifty-six, indeed, as are most
Spanish naval officers, who, as a Cuban officer said to me, are the flower
of the Spanish blood.

"We also have a general and his aid-de-camp, whom we took in the _Colon_,
a nice old boy and very chirpy. The captain, of course, takes the loss of
his ship to heart very much, but the general and his aid seem as cheerful
as possible. I suppose they think 'it's none of their funeral.'

"I stored the general in Staunton's room, Staunton going to Santiago in a
torpedo-boat to send the news.

"We have got off our Spanish friends, and are now loafing. It is a great
relief to feel that there is nothing to look after to-night.

"This goes in the _St. Louis_, so I hope you will have it before many
days, and I hope, too, it won't be long before I get to see you. I think
this terrific defeat must go far toward ending things."

CHAPTER XIII.

THE SURRENDER OF SANTIAGO.

With the victory at El Caney and San Juan Hill fresh in their minds, the
American people believed that the war was well-nigh at an end. Information
that Spain had sued for peace was hourly expected.

There was much to be done, however, before the enemy was willing to admit
himself beaten. The city of Santiago yet remained in the hands of the
Spaniards, Man