The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1898-06-02

they could in protecting the men in
the small boats as they worked, and
| tow them back to the ships in case
| the men should be so disabled as to
be unable to use the oars.
With steady nerves and strong
arms the sailors pulled directly in
shore toward the cable house On
they went until they could see the
faces of the Spanish soldiers peering
out from behind the buildings and
over the rifle pits. They knew it was
only a matter of minutes when fire
would be opened upon them. But
the regular swing of the oars did not
falter.
At last point within 100 feet of
the cablehouse was reached. They
were within 200 feet of the rifle pits
where the Spaniards were lying ready
to open fire upon the boats. Lieu
tenant Winslow stood up in the boat
and gave the command for the men
to throw out the anchor and begin
graphing for the cable. The water
was clear as glass. The bright morn
ing sunlight penetrated it, and every
object upon the bottom was clearly
seen. Calmly as if trolling for fish
the men bent over the boats and be-
| gan to work with the graphing
looks. All this time the men on the
| Nashville. Marblehead and Window
stood at their guns ready to rain shot
and shell upon the shore the moment
the first puff of smoke was seen to
come from the rifle pits.
The First Shot.
The men in the boats worked on
steadily and in silence. Lieutenant
Winslow urged them to work speed
lily telling them that any moment
volley might come. They made no
reply, but bent to their work. At
last one of the graphing hooks
caught something few inches below
the soft white sand, and the arms of
two strong sailors soon brought the
cable into view. Then came the first
shot. 1t was just a flash, sharp
snap, singing over the heads of the
sailors and a splash in the water be-
yond. There.was no white puff from
the shot. The Spaniards were using
smokeless powder 1t was the signal
for the opening of a deadly fire upon
the men in the boats. 1t was prompt
ly answered by the guns on the ships
out in the bay A hurricane of shells
shrieked and Missed above the heads
of the sailors in the boats and tore to
fragments the earth where the Span
lards were crouching and hiding
Again and again the guns roared
from the ships. Again and again
the great clouds of dust and debris
flew skyward on the shore. Another
mighty crash from the Nashville and
the cable-house flew into the air,
torn into -numberless fragments
Another crash from the Marblehead
and the blockhouse was in ruins.
Then this iron storm from the sea
swung around and swept the hillsides
1t shattered the rocks and trees. 1t
plowed great burrows in the soft sand
1t drove throng of panic-stricken
men scurrying to shelter. Then it
lowered again like the rays of a
mighty searchlight and raked and
riddled the rifle pits. What marks
manship. The terrible fire pouring
in upon the rifle pits passed only a
few feet above the sailors working in
the boats. Who but Yankee gunners
could do that-would do it-and who
but Yankee sailors would work on
like heroes under such blast fur
mace of destruction?
A Fatal Pause.
At the time heavy sea was rolling,
and the miscalculation of a fraction
of an inch or the fraction of a second
would have slaughtered the men in
the boats. But there was a moments
pause in the awful believing from the
ships, and that moment was the fatal
one.
Snap, snap, crash, from hundred
different points came the fire from
the Spanish rifles, and eight brave
men sank down in the boats. Two
were dead and six were wounded.
But the Spaniards were too late.
Already one cable had been hauled up
and $50 feet cut out of it. This was
the cable that ran to Battabano and
connected with Havana. 1t was
slow, laborious work. The heavy
cables had to be hauled up across the
1 I1sr1falell boats and then by slow degrees
the tough steel wires were hacked
off with axes, chisels and saws.
After the volley had been fired by
the Spaniards, the men transferred
the dead and wounded to another
boat and began looking for the other
cable, which ran east to Santiago.
This was soon found, and again I'M
der the canopy of shot and shell from
the ships they worked bravely on