"I"ll swim for Cuba all the same," replied Hal steadily. "I"ll chance the sharks, for I am convinced that real danger threatens our friends."
"So bad as that, is it?" the officer exclaimed, lifting his eyebrows.
"Well, if you are set upon it, I"ll do a trifle for you, but it won"t be yet a while. We"re bound elsewhere, and will be cruising up the other side of the island. But when the chance comes you shall go, and you can trust Samuel K. Billing to help you."
The young American officer, whom Hal had first met beside the magazines on board the ill-fated _Maine_, and who had so miraculously escaped the disastrous results of the explosion, had not exaggerated matters when he declared that America was not ready for war.
True, her people, the nation as a whole, and the newspapers for the most part, had asked for war--nay, demanded it. Sympathy for the miserable people in the concentration camps had first stirred them into action, but the awful calamity on board the _Maine_, and the particular circ.u.mstances in which the explosion had occurred, had roused their anger and indignation. At their very door thousands of poor helpless people were dying of sheer starvation, and of the hundred and one diseases which follow inevitably where want and dest.i.tution have undermined the const.i.tution. That in itself was an offense against their feelings of humanity. And there was no error in this case, for no lying tales had reached their ears, but only the truth. They had not been told stories innumerable of awful misery existing in Cuba when such was not the case. No. There was no doubt that there was reason for intervention between oppressor and oppressed, and America had espoused the cause of the latter with great earnestness.
She had insisted on war, and had embarked upon it, as the reader knows.
But under what conditions? Her navy was one of which she was justly proud; her army, on the other hand, was far too small to undertake the task which America had set herself--namely, the expulsion of Spain from the Island of Cuba. Twenty-seven thousand officers and men were, roughly, the army of this great country; but, though few in numbers, they were, indeed, men to be proud of, for all were picked, and many were accomplished in that most important branch of war--scouting.
In addition, America possessed militia, though few of the battalions were in an efficient state; and the reason of this was that a reaction had followed the fierce civil war between North and South. There was no longer need for soldiering, and trade occupied the attention of the people instead. Had it been otherwise, the lads of the States are too much like our own to have done otherwise than throw their hearts and energy into the army, and fight for their country. And in this emergency they came to the fore with a zeal and impetuosity which warranted the statement of Hal"s naval friend, to wit, that the whole of the American nation was roused to enthusiasm.
The sons of the States came forward in their thousands. Those of the militia battalions who were still of the right age, and medically fit, volunteered for active service almost to a man, and within a very short s.p.a.ce of time America found herself with a hundred thousand men added to her regular army. The latter was sent down to the department of the South, to Tampa in Florida, and the remaining volunteers were transferred from the various departments into which the States are divided, to certain training camps, from which they were to be sent to Chickamauga in Tennessee, and from there, when efficient, to Tampa.
And now, having hinted at the manner in which the army of invasion was raised, we will turn to the navy, and to events in and around Cuba.
"There, sir, that"s just about where we are," said the American lieutenant, who had introduced himself as Samuel K. Billing, throwing himself back in his chair. "As I"ve hinted to you, the boys ash.o.r.e are drilling their boots off, and up to this it has been a naval war. On April the 21st hostilities commenced, and America made a haul, for we captured the _Cataluna_, with a cargo of mules, about to sail from New Orleans to Cuba. Then Admiral Sampson--that"s the commodore, you"ll understand--flew his signals, and out the fleet sailed from Key West. We steamed to sea with orders to blockade the coast of Cuba from Cardenas to Cienfuegos, that is right along east of Havana. Next day we fell in with the _Buenaventura_, and captured her, sending her along home with a prize crew aboard. That, sir, is all the news. Here we are, and here we shall stay till the troops are ready. Lucky for you both that we happened to put in an appearance! It was by the merest chance that we came cruising down this way."
No doubt it was remarkably fortunate for Hal and Gerald; but, though Santiago with the neighboring coast was, from this day, efficiently blockaded, the failure to carry the movement out before had allowed the _Montserrat_, a Spanish liner, to approach the southern part of the island, and land troops, ammunition, and stores at Cienfuegos, whence they were conveyed to Havana. Beyond this nothing of importance had occurred in the neighborhood, while thousands of miles away, in the Pacific Ocean, an American fleet lay at anchor in Mirs Bay, on the Chinese coast, ready to make an attack upon the Philippines, Spain"s stronghold in those waters. The fleet of which Spain boasted had gone to St. Vincent in the Cape Verde Islands, and awaited events there.
"And what will happen now?" asked Hal. "Are you likely to be sailing in close to Santiago? If you are, I shall take my chance and hop overboard.
Besides, I"d forgotten, there"s the launch. The commodore would allow us that."
"So he would, Marchant, and what would happen to you? Why, sir, that little tub would be sucked up by a Spanish gunboat before you could wink. And then----Phit! man, it would be all over with you! It is out of the question, and you"ll have to get the idea out of your mind for a time. In the first place, we"re not for cruisin" close in. We"re bound for Havana, and when we get there you will see some fun. There"s a talk of bombarding Matanzas, a coast town that comes next in size to Havana."
"Then you will have some fighting," said Hal. "I should like to be there."
"And so you shall, sir. You"re guests aboard this ship, and if you want to stay, say the word. The commodore is not the man to stop you."
"Thanks, very much," answered Hal. "Until I can see a chance of being landed near Santiago, I should certainly like to remain on this ship.
But why not attack Havana? It is the chief Spanish port."
"And get badly knocked about!" exclaimed the lieutenant. "George, man!
There are mines to be thought of, and, besides, where should we be if we got into the harbor? Fifty thousand Spanish troops would be confronting us. No, Marchant, it is not to be thought of."
No one could quarrel with this decision. Had America possessed the necessary land forces, an attack might have been attempted; but, even then, to try to enter a harbor over live mines would have been hazardous in the extreme.
Admiral Sampson, however, had decided to attack Matanzas, for it was necessary to do something to calm the clamor of the American public.
Almost two weeks had already pa.s.sed since the declaration of war, and no success had been achieved, save the capture of a few merchant vessels.
In consequence, the people of the States were roused to anger, for they had expected great things on the outbreak of war.
But, meanwhile, the ship upon which Hal and Gerald were receiving hospitality was steaming along the coast.
"It"ll be two days before we get right round," said Lieutenant Billing, "so I propose that you young fellows get some sort of togs. The tailor aboard will measure you for coats and things, and if we chaps weren"t able to dig out the unders, why, we wouldn"t be any good. As you stand you"ll do for the commodore to-night, for on active service there is no dressing for dinner. Come along with me, and I"ll see what the tailor man has to say."
Hal and Gerald did as they were asked, and were very glad that their naval friend had thought of it, for they were absolutely dest.i.tute of belongings when they escaped from Santiago. Naturally, their flight from prison, and their subsequent adventures, had not helped to improve their clothes, so that, when they stepped aboard the _New York_, it was coatless and bootless, and with only the remains of very dirty plantation suits. Indeed, Hal was more like a coal-heaver than anything, and the heat of the little stoke-hole had been so great that he had even discarded his shirt, and kept on only trousers and vest.
"New suit for two Britishers?" exclaimed the ship"s tailor, who was a typical Yankee. "Say, where on airth did yer get hold of them ere togs?
Oh, from the lieutenant? Wall, I"ll fix yer up as good. That aer the way. Hold yer arm out, so, and I"ll take yer measure."
He soon obtained all the necessary particulars, after which the lieutenant led Hal and Gerald to the _New York"s_ gunroom, where they were introduced to the other officers.
"Say, Mr. Marchant, sir," said one of them, "our friend here, the lieutenant, has got the better of us. How was it that you came to be aboard that old tank of a launch? Spin the yarn, like a good fellow, and we"ll feel obliged."
There was nothing for it but to recount again how they had escaped from the Morro Castle; and that same evening the commodore also insisted upon hearing all the particulars of their adventures, and probed Hal so astutely with questions that he drew from him the tale of Jose d"Arousta"s attack upon the hacienda, and the manner in which it had been foiled.
"You never let on about that, sir," said Samuel K. Billing reproachfully, "and the admiral has scored one. Say, Mr. Marchant, you seem unusually concerned about that Spaniard, and I don"t wonder at all, for he"s a low-down sort of beggar; but how did it happen that you first knocked up against him? Now, no hanging back, if you please, for if you don"t feel inclined to oblige me, there"s Admiral Sampson, who won"t let you off."
"Indeed, no. Come, Mr. Marchant, I trust you will give us the story,"
chimed in the commodore. "This Spaniard seems to have some special spite against you. If I remember rightly, he and his rascally accomplice would have shot you in cold blood when the hacienda was taken. What was the quarrel between you?"
Nothing loath, for the officers seemed genuinely interested, Hal told how Jose d"Arousta had first come across his path, and how, on three successive occasions, he had been able to thwart him.
"There"s luck, they say, in the number three," remarked the admiral.
"Young, sir, I consider that you have done very well, and that you have been ably helped by your friend. But luck may pull you through danger on one occasion, while on another it leaves you in the lurch. Pluck and strength of purpose are of far more use in difficulties, and when combined with luck make the issue less doubtful. So, you see, I take it that you both have a very good allowance of what we in the States call "grit." But for that I reckon you would have been shot this very morning, for how else could you have succeeded in escaping from the Morro Castle? As for that fellow of a Spaniard, I am not in the least surprised that you feel uneasy about him. Beware of the man, is the caution I would impress upon you. Three, I have said, is considered a lucky number. Take care when you run up against him for the fourth time, that he does not shoot you at sight. No amount of good fortune will preserve a man when a revolver is fired at point-blank range. But there, what am I doing? Giving advice to a youngster who, in spite of his few years, has seen more adventures than many a man of forty. You"ve been almighty spry, my lad, and will pull through, whatever the danger."
"You may put it at that," exclaimed the lieutenant, who seemed to have taken a particular fancy to Hal. "I can tell you, sir, that this young guest of ours is as smart and as full of pluck as they make them."
CHAPTER XVII
A BAPTISM OF FIRE
"This young guest of ours is as smart and as full of pluck as they make them."
These were the lieutenant"s words, and those who had the fortune to be acquainted with our hero could not deny their truth; for Hal looked a particularly capable and st.u.r.dy young fellow two days after boarding the _New York_.
"You look a regular sailor," said Gerald, with a laugh. "When I saw you walking the deck with our friend of yesterday, I took you for one of the officers."
"And that is what I should like to be," Hal answered briskly. "Have you given a thought to our position, old man?"
"No, I can"t say that I have. Everything seems very jolly, though."
"Yes, exactly; but we are guests aboard, doing nothing for our living."
"That"s the fortune of war. We could not help it," answered Gerald.
"No, but I have made up my mind to do something to repay this kindness.
The Spaniards began the quarrel, and three days ago I threw in my lot for good and all with America. Now, I said that I wanted to get to the hacienda, for my idea is to see that all is right there, and then to join the invading Yankees. Of course, if there is likely to be trouble near Eldorado, I shall stay; but, otherwise, I shall do all that I can for America. One who knows the country about Santiago should be useful."
"That I can quite understand," Gerald answered; "but how will you get ash.o.r.e?"
"I do not know, but something may turn up shortly," Hal replied hopefully.