REAR-ADMIRAL WINFIELD SCOTT SCHLEY.]

It had been just one month, to a day, since Hobson sunk the _Merrimac_
at the harbor's mouth to keep Cervera in, and for nearly one month and a
half the fleets of Schley and Sampson had lain, like watch-dogs before
the gate, without for one moment relaxing their vigilance. The quiet of
Sunday morning brooded over the scene. Even the winds seemed resting
from their labors and the sea lay smooth as glass. For two days before,
July 1st and 2d, the fleets had bombarded the forts of Santiago for the
fourth time, and all the ships, except the _Oregon_, had steam down so
low as to allow them a speed of only five knots an hour. At half-past
nine o'clock the bugler sounded the call to quarters, and the Jackies
appeared on deck rigged in their cleanest clothes for their regular
Sunday inspection. On board the _Texas_ the devout Captain Philip had
sounded the trumpet-call to religious services. In an instant a line of
smoke was seen coming out of the harbor by the watch on the _Iowa_, and
from that vessel's yard a signal was run up--"The enemy is escaping to
the westward." Simultaneously, from her bridge a six-pounder boomed on
the still air to draw the attention of the other ships to her
fluttering signal. On every vessel white masses were seen scrambling
forward. Jackies and firemen tumbled over one another rushing to their
stations. Officers jumped into the turrets through manholes, dressed in
their best uniforms, and captains rushed to their conning towers. There
was no time to waste--scarcely enough to get the battle-hatches screwed
on tight. Jingle, jingle, went the signal-bells in the engine-rooms, and
"Steam! Steam!" the captains cried through the tubes. Far below decks,
in 125 to 150 degrees of heat, naked men shoveled in the black coal and
forced drafts were put on.

One minute after the _Iowa_ fired her signal-gun she was moving toward
the harbor. From under the Castle of Morro came Admiral Cervera's
flagship, the _Infanta Maria Teresa_, followed by her sister armored
cruisers, _Almirante Oquendo_ and _Vizcaya_--so much alike that they
could not be distinguished at any distance. There was also the splendid
_Cristobal Colon_, and after them all the two fine torpedo-boat
destroyers, _Pluton_ and _Furor_. The _Teresa_ opened fire as she
sighted the American vessels, as did all of her companions, and the
forts from the heights belched forth at the same time. Countless geysers
around o