Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1898-07-02
Victor Blue.
CNew York Times)

tenant Iluc just returned AFTER uetOur
OF seventy statute miles observation of
mo h4rhOr Of Santiago de Cuba. He re-
ports Spanish fleet is ali there. '-Samp-
soa.
Victor Blue, What a name 1t is
For deed of old renown--
How 10 stirs the blood, how the fancy
And brushes the cobwebs down!
Why. YOU see the flag. its stars and
striDes,
You hear the bugles play,
And YOU know some deed OF desperate
Has come to blaze the way!
Admiral Sampson paced his deck,
with troubled brow and eye,
While the lights Of Santiago fared
Altar against the sky!
He knew that there. in the inner bay,
Ia 4 fancied safe retreat.
The Spanish Admiral. close and snug,
Had taken his hunted fleet.
But which were the ships and where they
sWgI,C
Tar back in Ire winding strait.
Was a little point he wanted 10 fix
For the pending joint debate!
= light came into the AdmiraIs eye
HIS clouded brow grew free
rs he said 10 HIS orderly waiting there
"Sen6 Lieutenant Blue TO me-
u the shadow that night a little craft
Slipp'd of from the fiagships side,
Ind, turning, steered for the Cuban
Borne in on the Garth tide
And Victor Blue was there alone.
Serene and well content
RcjOicel at heart TO be off again
ON the Spanish fox's scent.
Ifc cut the brush-he forged the swamp
I'm d tracNless wide detour-
But the hills. TO the rear of the 'leaguer'd
town,
Were his box and compass sure.
lie heard the sudden clatter Of hoofs-
He crouched I'm the tr0pic grass
Then he saw two sabred and booted Dons,
With a strange oath, come and pass!
on thro' the rank thick underbrush
lie cut and burrowd his way
TIL ne caught thro the tall palmetto
trees.
a CLEAN of the distant bay;
Higher he climb'd-and higher still
lie crept 10 the towering knoll
When 10. beneath him the harbOr lay
Like a long indented bowl!
"Ah. this is the feast we long have
sought
.Iy trusty glass and l.
And a handsomcr scene is not, ween,
'TwlAt the Cuban earth and sky
For there-yes, there, good lens they
CeIyera and all his craft.
Well hidden within the winding strait,
Well guarded fore and aft.
"BIt little ne knows we two are here
with four good eyes ablaZe.
Marking his anchorage. long and well,
And his fine Castilian ways!
"Ah. there is the Reina Mercedes now
Wlth her two torpedo-boats-
And q half mile away, to the lee OF the
The grim Viscaya floats;
"JIer broadside holds-she fondly thinks
The entrances. east and west
or the narrow straits and the harbor
That the Yankee cells infest!
"Thcre-there to the north. at the other
door.
see the blue-curl'd rings
And mark where cher guns for action
Almirante Oquende swings
"And "A half mile TO the northeast there
oven pluck these pretty geese
see the Cristobal Colon ride
And the trim Maria Therese!
"Ah. that viii do good friend OF mine.
You've done a turn--Im bound
That I'll not forget when were In yon
feet.
And the honors are going round"
Need I tell the rest ?-how the news came
bacl.
To Sampson and gallant Schley;
How Blue had focused Cervera's fleet
With his Own-and his good friends
eve?
How he came thro' the perils of instant
death
The death Of the hangman's moose
Unrayelling quite, with his double sight
The Spanish Admirafs ruse?
How he told the names Of the hiding
ships
In tine GAYS Of TIC winding strait.
Ana settled a doubtful point or TWO
Foo tfte DfuQiug iOint debate