"They must start for the raft at once."
"Instantly, sir."
To lower the boats and man them does not take long on board a man-of-war. Every man knows his place, and the operation proceeds like clock work.
In a few minutes they were flying over the water towards the raft. Very soon they saw it was crowded with people. Some of them raised their hands as they saw the boats draw near.
"Poor souls!" said Dan Daly. "It"s shipwrecked they are, an" starvin"
too."
"Well, it won"t take many minutes to remedy that, Dan."
"Pull hard, lads!" cried Mr. Robson. "Every minute counts in a case like this."
What a sight met the eyes of the blue jackets.
Half of the occupants of the raft were dead men. The survivors seemed to be, many of them, at the point of death. Very few had strength enough to rise even to a sitting position.
"No time for talking, lads," said Lieutenant Robson. "Get them back to the ship at once."
"And the dead, sir?"
"Throw them over. It"s all that can be done."
Some stimulants had been taken with the boats, and by the time that the Brooklyn was reached one of the men had recovered sufficiently to talk.
The others were carried below and given at once into the hands of the surgeon.
"You have suffered very much," said Captain Miles, kindly.
"Yes, but our troubles are over at last."
"You feel strong enough to talk?"
"Yes, captain. I"m the mate of the Mary Parker, a fruit ship bound from Rio Janeiro to New Orleans. We were attacked by the Spaniards, and our ship was captured."
"What was done with it?"
"The cargo--that is, the valuable part of it--was taken by the Spaniard, and our ship was sunk."
"And how came you on the water?"
"Oh, that is a terrible story. The Spaniards would not take us on board.
The captain said that he had too many mouths to feed as it was."
"The wretch!"
"Wait. Many of the Spanish officers proposed that we should be sunk with the ship. It would save time, they said. Sometimes I think it would have been better if they had carried out their intention, for my poor comrades suffered torments before they died."
"It was merciless!"
"Then these men held a conference. After a lot of talk they came to a decision. It was decided that the carpenter should rig out a raft in a hasty fashion, and that we were to be put aboard it. And so we were.
They sent us adrift on a few timbers without a bite to eat, or one drop of water."
CHAPTER VIII.
YOUNG GLORY ON THE NASHVILLE--AT SAN JUAN DE PORTO RICO.
Captain Miles was aghast.
The officers of the Brooklyn who had drawn close to listen, were loud in their expressions of indignation.
"The brutes! the inhuman brutes!" said the skipper. "And these are the men for whom some misguided people feel pity."
"An object lesson like this," said the lieutenant-commander, "shows how much pity they deserve."
"As we left the Spaniard," continued the mate of the Mary Parker, "the wretches on board hooted and jeered at us. We heard some of them propose that they should have some rifle practice on us, but this was rejected, because it was too merciful a death. Five days we pa.s.sed beneath a burning sun, suffering cruel thirst and hunger. Of twenty men who went on the raft, but nine remain."
"Poor creatures!"
Captain Miles was silent. The horrors to which he had listened had affected him deeply, it was some moments before he spoke.
"Tell me, if you can, the name of the ship that captured you."
"It was a Spanish cruiser, the Cristobal Colon."
"The Cristobal Colon! That name will stick in my memory, my friend, until I have revenged you and your shipmates. Do you think it"s likely that the Spanish cruiser is in these waters now?"
"Yes, I heard enough while I was aboard of her to make me think so. Her mission is to prey on American commerce."
"We will catch her."
"It"s not easy. She does her work, then dashes into the harbor of San Juan and finds safety."
"We shall find a way, never fear."
The treatment of the American sailors by the Spaniards had roused the men"s pa.s.sions to the boiling point. The Cristobal Colon would have a bad time if the two ships came to close quarters.
For three days the Brooklyn cruised around Porto Rico. Not a sign did she see of the enemy.
"Faith, we"ll never have a sight of her."
"How"s that, Dan?"
"She knows we"re around. It"s one of their Spanish fishin" vessels has seen us, and that"s enough. It"s out of San Juan she"ll not be comin"."