ade ready. "We may wing that fellow yet," said Commodore Schley, as he
commanded Captain Clark to try a big thirteen-inch shell. "Remember the
Maine" was flung out on a pennant from the mast-head of the _Oregon_,
and at 8,500 yards she began to send her 1,000-pound shots shrieking
over the _Brooklyn_ after the flying Spaniard. One threw tons of water
on board the fugitive, and the _Brooklyn_ a few minutes later with
eight-inch guns began to pelt her sides. Everyone expected a game fight
from the proud and splendid _Colon_ with her smokeless powder and
rapid-fire guns; but all were surprised when, after a feeble resistance,
at 1.15 o'clock her captain struck his colors and ran his ship ashore
sixty miles from Santiago, opening her sea-valves to sink her after she
had surrendered.

Victory was at last complete. As the _Brooklyn_ and _Oregon_ moved upon
the prey word of the surrender was sent below, and naked men poured out
of the fire-rooms, black with smoke and dirt and glistening with
perspiration, but wild with joy. Commodore Schley gazed down at the
grimy, gruesome, joyous firemen with glistening eyes suspicious of
tears, and said, in a husky voice, eloquent with emotion, "_Those are
the fellows who made this day_." Then he signaled--"The enemy has
surrendered." The _Texas_, five miles to the east, repeated the signal
to Admiral Sampson some miles further away, coming at top speed of the
_New York_. Next the commodore signaled the admiral--"_A glorious
victory has been achieved. Details communicated later_." And then, to
all the ships, "_This is a great day for our country_," all of which
were repeated by the _Texas_ to the ships further east. The cheering was
wild. Such a scene was never, perhaps, witnessed upon the ocean. Admiral
Sampson arrived before the _Colon_ sank, and placing the great nose of
the _New York_ against that vessel pushed her into shallow water, where
she sank, but was not entirely submerged. Thus perished from the earth
the bulk of the sea power of Spain.

The Spanish losses were 1,800 men killed, wounded, and made prisoners,
and six ships destroyed or sunk, the property loss being about
$12,000,000. The American loss was one man killed and three wounded, all
from the _Brooklyn_, a result little short of a miracle from the fact
that the _Brooklyn_ was hit thirty-six times, and nearly all the ships
were struck more than once.

The prisoners were treated with the utmost courtesy. Many of them wer