sh merchantman, which was then about half a mile
away, apparently paying no heed to the monsters of war.

A shot from one of the 4-pounders was sent across the stranger's bow, and
then, no attention having been paid to it, a 6-inch gun was discharged.
This last shot struck the water and bounded along the surface a mile or
more, sending up great clouds of spray.

The Spaniard wisely concluded to heave to, and within five minutes a boat
was lowered from the _Nashville_ to put on board the first prize a crew of
six men, under command of Ensign Magruder.

The captured vessel was the _Buena Ventura_, of 1,741 tons burthen; laden
with lumber, valued at eleven thousand dollars, and carrying a deck-load
of cattle.

The record of this first day of hostilities was not to end with one
capture.

Late in the afternoon, almost within gunshot of the Cuban shore, while the
United States fleet was standing toward Havana, with the _Mayflower_ a
mile or more in advance of the flag-ship _New York_, the merchant
steamship _Pedro_ hove in sight. The _Mayflower_ suddenly swung sharply to
the westward, and a moment later a string of butterfly flags went
fluttering to her masthead.

The _New York_ flung her answering pennant to the breeze, and, making
another signal to the fleet, which probably meant "Stay where you are
until I get back," swung her bow to the westward and went racing for the
game that the _Mayflower_ had sighted. The big cruiser dashed forward,
smoke trailing in dense masses from each of her three big funnels, a hill
of foam around her bow, and in her wake a swell like a tidal wave. It was
a winning pace, and a magnificent sight she presented as she dashed
through the choppy seas with never an undulation of her long, graceful
hull.

When she was well inshore a puff of smoke came from the bow of the
cruiser, followed by a dull report, then another and another, until four
shots had been sent from one of the small, rapid-fire guns. The Spanish
steamer, probably believing the pursuing craft carried no heavier guns,
was trying to keep at a safe distance until the friendly darkness of night
should hide her from view. During sixty seconds or more the big cruiser
held her course in silence, and then her entire bow was hidden from the
spectators in a swirl of white smoke as a main battery gun roared out its
demand.

The whizzing shell spoke plainly to the Spanish craft, and had hardly more
than flung up a column of water a hun