"What in the world am I to do?" he asked, after a moment.
"I don"t see that there is but one thing," said the other.
"Take them back to Havana and let them be sent from there?" asked the captain.
"No," said the lieutenant, quietly. "That will not do; for the government has pledged its word that they shall be on the ships by daybreak. To make haste is very important."
"But what else?"
"Give them your small boat."
"Carramba! I haven"t got but one! And how will I ever get it back?"
The lieutenant was puzzled for a moment.
But suddenly he hit on a daring scheme.
"Captain," he said, "my orders are from General Blanco himself. He charged me above all things to see these people safe at once, even if I had to go out to the ships with them. I don"t see that there is but one thing we can do."
"What is it?"
"We will have to hoist a flag of truce and take them out on this vessel."
The captain started.
"Can we trust the Americans?" he gasped.
"They are expecting us," said the lieutenant quietly.
And then for a minute the captain was silent; when he spoke it was to the man at the wheel.
"Steer us out to the Yankee fleet," he said. "It will have to be done, and run up that white flag."
Perhaps ten minutes after that the blockading squadron sighted a Spanish gunboat coming toward them with a flag of truce.
The New York steamed to meet it; and the vessel came alongside and without a word of explanation the two prisoners were sent aboard.
Clif and Bessie both gazed longingly at the n.o.ble-hearted lieutenant as he stood on the deck and watched them leave. Their look said plainer than words, "Come with us!"
But he only shook his head; and when he saw the two disappear upon the deck of the big cruiser, and when the gunboat was well on her way back to sh.o.r.e he turned with a slight groan and went below.
Clif and Bessie wondered with anxiety and sorrow what would be his fate.
They dreaded for him the worst tortures of Castle Morro, but the heroic Spaniard escaped that--in a way that Clif learned a few days later.
CHAPTER XXII.
CUTTING A CABLE.
The cadet"s report was soon made. Under ordinary circ.u.mstances he would have been ordered to report back to the Uncas, but that stanch little gunboat was then miles beyond the western horizon. Moreover, the admiral had other work for the cadet.
As to Miss Stuart; there was a parting between her and Clif that was such as should be between acknowledged lovers, but it was a parting of the most decided kind, for his duty lay in the war, hers on land. She was sent to Key West on a cruiser that was then leaving the squadron to recoal.
What the young man and the girl said to each other cannot concern us here, for we have now to do with Faraday"s experience as a sailor. His love affair had to await the events of war, and so may the story of it.
Clif"s next service began on the morning following his escape. A small boat left the flagship and headed for Point Rubalcava on the Cuban coast. It was bent upon a dangerous mission; so hazardous, in fact, that volunteers had been called for to man the boat.
The first one to offer his services had been Clif Faraday. There was no lack of followers among the brave American tars. Fifty offered themselves a moment after the cadet stepped forward, and the task was to select from them twelve men to form the boat"s crew.
"It is necessary to cut the cable as a war measure," said Rear Admiral Sampson, when the selection had been made. "You will proceed cautiously toward sh.o.r.e and grapple for the cable. If you find it, cut it. If not, you must go ash.o.r.e and locate the landing place of the wire. Are you ready for the service?"
"Ay, ay, sir!" came the ready response.
Rear Admiral Sampson looked upon the brave, eager faces of the men for a moment with evident satisfaction.
"There is danger of discovery, and attack from the sh.o.r.e batteries," he added. "Success will depend upon your quickness and skill."
The men well knew the danger that lay before them, but there was no sign of faltering upon their faces. Rather, there was an eagerness for instant action that was not lost upon the commanding officer.
"Then go!" he exclaimed, heartily.
The boat was lowered, and quietly set out upon its mission.
It was in charge of a lieutenant, and Clif Faraday, in recognition of his being the first to volunteer, was placed beside him in the stern to steer the boat through the rough waters.
It was still dark, though the eastern sky gave promise of the near approach of day. The time had been selected to enable the boat to near the sh.o.r.e without great danger of detection in the dim light. But by the time they should succeed in grappling the cable there would be sufficient light to enable them to complete their task.
"All seems quiet on sh.o.r.e," said Clif, after a time, to the lieutenant, as they both peered forward at the coast line now looming up before them. "The Spaniards don"t seem to be looking for us."
"True," responded the lieutenant. "It looks that way. But you can"t sometimes always tell. They may have a surprise for us."
"If they don"t shoot any straighter than they have been doing," said Clif with a laugh, "they"ll never touch us."
"That"s true, too," a.s.sented the lieutenant. "But still you must remember----"
"The Maine!" interrupted Clif.
"Yes, remember the Maine! But, as I was saying, these fellows might possibly aim at something else beside our boat and hit us accidentally.
At any rate, I hope they don"t see us. We are not out to capture a fort armed as we are with nothing but revolvers, and in this open boat we would be an easy prey to decent marksmanship."
"Still, the boys like action," said Clif.
"We may have plenty of it yet," replied the lieutenant, with a suspicion of uneasiness in his tone.