The Cuban seemed in a fair way to continue his rhapsodies indefinitely, but Clif, having secured the papers for which he came, was now intent upon delivering them as soon as possible to the rear admiral.
He therefore intimated as much to the courier, and the latter took his departure.
Clif watched him disappear among the trees in the direction by which he had approached.
"Now, men," said he, addressing his companions, "to the boat. The New York will soon be back ready to receive us."
But they had not taken more than a few steps toward the sh.o.r.e when Clif suddenly stopped as if remembering something.
"Hold on just a minute!" he exclaimed. "That sh.e.l.l! I have special reasons for wanting to carry that along. It will take but a minute to find it."
As he started toward the ridge of earth beyond which he had thrown it, they were all startled to hear the sounds of musketry apparently near at hand. One volley was quickly followed by another.
Clif sprang upon the embankment for which he had started, and looked off beyond the clump of trees in the direction from which the sounds came.
He was in that position but a moment or two. A half-dozen reports in quick succession greeted his appearance--one bullet pa.s.sing through his cap.
He dropped on his feet to the ground beside his companions.
"The Spaniards!" he exclaimed, hurriedly. "At least a hundred of them.
From what I saw they were hurrying in this direction and not far away."
They were on the alert on the instant. The sounds that reached their ears told them unmistakably that the force of the enemy far outnumbered their own, and were rapidly approaching.
Should they await an attack or run for the boat?
CHAPTER XXV.
"IN THE NAME OF HUMANITY AND THE SAILORS OF THE MAINE!"
"They must have followed the courier in spite of his cleverness,"
exclaimed Clif. "And if they have tracked him, they know we are here.
The question is, shall we meet them here or take to the boat and run the risk of being shot down without a chance to defend ourselves? The danger is yours as well as mine. What do you say?"
But before the men could make reply a rousing cheer from the Spanish soldiers rang out upon the air.
The little band of Americans expected to see the forms of their enemies appear among the trees at every second in an impetuous charge upon them.
They had no doubt that the cheers were the signal for the attack.
But to their amazement the sounds of approaching steps died out. Clif"s practiced ear told him that the enemy had halted; but at the same time he recognized marks of enthusiasm among the Spanish forces.
What could it mean?
"Do they think they can scare us off by yelling at us?" exclaimed Clif, contemptuously. "They don"t know us, if they think so--that"s all!"
The group of Americans listened intently. There was no doubt of it, the Spaniards had halted after their vociferous cheers.
Clif decided to find out what it meant. If the Spaniards were preparing a surprise for him, he intended finding it out.
Cautiously he climbed upon the little rampart of earth and looked away beyond the trees where he had first seen the approach of the enemy. In the moonlight he could plainly distinguish the forms of the soldiers.
There were not as many as he had at first supposed--they numbered not more than fifty.
In the midst of them he recognized a figure that explained the cause of their mysterious conduct, and at the same time aroused his fighting instinct.
He quickly rejoined his companions, his eyes ablaze with the fire of combat.
"They have captured the courier," he explained to his waiting companions. "That was why they cheered so l.u.s.tily. A lot of jubilation over the capture of one man!"
"They don"t have such good luck very often," exclaimed one of the men.
"They fired enough shots to repulse a whole regiment of insurgents,"
exclaimed Clif, "but it was all for the benefit of this one mambesi. I don"t believe they saw me at all, but that bullet through my cap was one of their stray shots."
"But they must know we are here," exclaimed the men.
"I doubt it," replied Clif, "else why do they halt so near and not charge on us? Shall we force the fight and go to the rescue of our Cuban friend?"
"How many are there of them?" asked one of the men.
"Only about fifty."
"And there are eleven of us here! We can set them on the run! Let"s do it."
"We have done almost as much on other occasions," said Clif, "but now we are armed with only our revolvers. They are five to one."
"We have plenty of ammunition," spoke up the men, eagerly. "You know we took an extra supply."
"But there is another thing we must bear in mind," said Clif, who had been doing some quick thinking. "I"d like nothing better than to give them a lively tussle. But here are these important dispatches. They must not fall into Spanish hands. The New York will soon be due. If we delay we might miss her."
"That"s so," exclaimed the men. "But we can fire one volley at them anyhow."
"One volley would do no good. It would simply betray our presence.
Either we must fight to the end, or else sneak off to our boat before they discover us."
The idea of having a lot of the enemy so near at hand and not offering them battle, went against the grain of all of them. They were not deterred by the superior numbers of the Spaniards, but Clif"s words about the importance of seeing the dispatches safely in the rear admiral"s hand had some restraining effect upon their ardor.
Clif, with all his bravery, was naturally prudent, but was strongly tempted to make one effort to release the captive Cuban. He was their friend and ally, and in his heart Clif felt that if the captive were one of his own men, there would be no thought of hesitancy or delay.
"One minute," he said, after weighing both sides of the question, "I"ll take a look and see what they are doing."
He sprang upon the embankment and peered off toward the enemy. The main body of the troops were resting on their arms, apparently satisfied with the capture of the solitary Cuban.
Clif, however, could see that several of the soldiers were moving about from side to side, close to the ground, as though hunting for some object among the gra.s.s. Clif was puzzled to think what they could be seeking, but he felt convinced that the Spaniards had no idea of the near proximity of the Americans.
Everything seemed to prove that, and Clif was not slow to make up his mind. There was time yet for some quick action.