re Ned was curiously
studying the work of the 32-pound shot at the stern. The senor leaned
over the side and did the same for a long moment before he remarked:

"We have had a narrow escape. A few feet lower, and that shot would have
let the water in. Fifty feet forward, and it would have touched off the
gunpowder. As it is, our voyage is ended, and I shall know, in an hour
or two, whether or not I am to be shot in the morning."

CHAPTER IV.

COMPLETELY STRANDED

"There don't seem to be any Mexican warships in the harbor," said Ned to
the senor, as they looked landward from the deck of their badly mauled
bark. "There isn't one in sight to come out after that sloop."

"There are two good reasons for it," growled the senor, gloomily. "One
is that there isn't any harbor here. Nothing but an open roadstead,
exposed to all the storms that come, so that to anchor off Vera Cruz is
to run a fair chance of being wrecked. The other is that my unfortunate
country has no navy. There isn't a Mexican vessel afloat that would care
to go out after a Yankee man-of-war. We are not yet a nation, and I'm
half-afraid we never will be. This war may do something for us. There
they come! I shall know very soon now."

As he spoke, he pointed at several boats which were pulling out toward
the _Goshawk._ Some of them appeared to come from the wharves of the
city, but one, which was nearer, was evidently from the castle, and it
was in this that the senor took the deepest interest. Besides its
half-dozen of oarsmen, it contained a tall man in a gorgeous uniform,
and it was only a minute or so before Zuroaga exclaimed:

"Yes, that is Colonel Guerra himself. I am glad he is all alone!"

The bark was now drifting pretty rapidly landward, under such canvas as
she had left, and the _Portsmouth_ was safely out of range of the
Mexican guns, which were throwing away an occasional shot at her. She
had not been touched by one of them, and she had the honor of being the
first United States ship to try her batteries upon the renowned old
Spanish fortress. It was, indeed, a well-built fortification, and it
carried many guns, most of which had been brought over long ago from the
foundries of old Spain. It did not stand upon the main shore, but on an
island about half a mile out, and it therefore seemed unassailable,
except from the sea or by heavy siege-guns on the shore. It had been one
of the last places surrendered when the Spanish government