s cut away wreckage!" shouted Captain Kemp. "We're all right.
She won't dare come any nearer. Hurrah!"

It was a deep, thunderous roar from the castle which had called out that
apparently untimely hurrah. It was the voice of a 64-pounder gun from
the nearest rampart, and the shot it sent fell within ten feet of the
_Portsmouth's_ bows.

"Hullo!" exclaimed her captain, more angrily than ever. "We've run in
almost to pointblank range of those heavy guns. About! About!
Lieutenant, we must get out of this."

"All right, sir," was anxiously responded. "It isn't worth while to risk
any more shot of that size--not for all there's likely to be under the
hatches of that wretched bark. I think we barked her, anyhow."

He may have meant that for a kind of small joke, but she had been worse
hurt than he could know, for one 32-pounder shot had shattered her
stern, barely missing her sternpost and rudder gearing, and she was no
longer the trim and seaworthy vessel that she had been. One more heavy
gun had sounded from the seaward battery of the castle, but her garrison
had been in a genuinely Mexican condition of unreadiness, and it was
several minutes before they could bring up more ammunition and make
further use of their really excellent artillery. During those minutes,
the _Portsmouth_ had ample opportunity given her to swing around and
sweep swiftly out of danger. She had barely escaped paying dearly for
her pursuit of the _Goshawk._ Her satisfaction, however, consisted only
in part of the damage she had done to the bark, for, in getting around,
she had let drive her entire larboard broadside. It was a waste of
ammunition, certainly, but no Yankee man-of-war commander would ever
have forgiven himself if he had failed to make a good reply to a shot
from the Castle of San Juan de Ulua. Moreover, the sloop's gunners were
ready to swear solemnly that every ball they had sent had hit the fort.

The excitement on board the _Goshhawk_ had been at fever heat, but it was
now diminishing rapidly, for she did not contain a man who was not well
pleased to see the _Portsmouth_ give the matter up. All signs of mutiny
disappeared, of course, for there was no more duty of a military
character to be required of the men. The bark was soon set free of her
wreckage, and prepared to make her way in still further, under the
protection of the fort batteries. Captain Kemp was too busy for any kind
of conversation, and Senor Zuroaga came aft, to whe