nimal sprang the lieutenant,
firing as he ran, and yelling to those on the hill to follow him.

With savage cries, and as eagerly as hounds in sight of a fox, the
Spaniards gave over their careful beating of every covert, and rushed
from all sides towards the scene of disturbance. Several of them
passed so close to Ridge that he could have touched them, but in their
blind haste they failed to notice him. In another moment they had
swept over the crest of the hill and were plunging down its farther
side. Before they reached the bottom, Ridge's wounded and terrified
horse burst from cover directly among the ambushed troops in the
ravine, by whom it was quickly killed. Then came the pursuers.

"Where is he? What have you done with him?" demanded Lieutenant
Navarro, excitedly.

"Who, senor?"

"The spy! The Americano!"

"We have seen no one, only this brute of a horse."

"But he was mounted on it. I saw him and fired. He fled in this
direction, and we pursued him."

"He must have been hit and fallen from the saddle."

"Then he is still close at hand," panted Major Alvarez, who had just
reached the scene, "and alive or dead we must find him. Scatter, men,
and search!" he added, fiercely, turning to the baffled soldiers of his
command, who were crowding confusedly behind him.

This command was never obeyed; for at that moment, with a shriek and a
roar, a shell from one of the American war-ships dropped into the
ravine, and burst among the startled Spaniards. Their presence had
been detected by the firing on the hillside, and with the range thus
obtained the Yankee gunners sent shell after shell with deadly
precision among the ambushed troops.

Completely demoralized by the awful effect of this fire, the Spaniards
broke from cover and fled, leaving a score of dead behind, and bearing
with them a desperately wounded officer. They carried him as far as
Sevilla, which place they did not reach until the following morning,
and where General Linares bent pityingly over him.

"Loyal and brave even unto death," he murmured. "For this last
faithful service to Spain you shall rank as Captain." Then, as the
closed eyes of the wounded man were opened with a look of recognition,
the General turned to those who had brought him, and said:

"He is too valuable to our cause, and too brave a Spaniard to die if we
can save his life. Therefore carry Captain Navarro to the hospital in
Santiago, and deliver my orders that