schooner _Severito_ by the U. S. S. _Dolphin_.

The rioting in Spain was not abated; martial law was proclaimed in
Catalonia.

_May 10._ The steamer _Gussie_ sailed from Tampa, Florida, with two
companies of the First Infantry, and munitions and supplies for Cuban
insurgents.

Rioting in Spain was the report by cable; in Alicante the mob sacked and
burned a bonded warehouse.

_May 11._ Running from Cienfuegos, Cuba, at daybreak on the morning of May
11th, were three telegraph cables. The fleet in the neighbourhood
consisted of the cruiser _Marblehead_, which had been on the station three
weeks, the gunboat _Nashville_, which had been there two weeks, and the
converted revenue cutter _Windom_, which had arrived two days before. The
station had been a quiet one, except for a few brushes with some Spanish
gunboats, which occasionally ventured a very little way out of Cienfuegos
Harbour. They had last appeared on the tenth, but had retreated, as usual,
when fired on.

Commander McCalla of the _Marblehead_, ranking officer, instructed
Lieutenant Anderson to call for volunteers to cut the cable early on the
morning of the eleventh. Anderson issued the call on both the cruiser and
the gunboat, and three times the desired number of men offered to serve.
No one relented, even after repeated warnings that the service was
especially dangerous.

"I want you men to understand," Anderson said, "that you are not ordered
to do this work, and are not obliged to."

The men nearly tumbled over one another in their eagerness to be selected.
In the end, the officer had simply the choice of the entire crew of the
two ships.

A cutter containing twelve men, and a steam launch containing six, were
manned from each ship, and a guard of marines and men to man the 1-pounder
guns of the launches, were put on board. In the meantime the _Marblehead_
had taken a position one thousand yards offshore opposite the Colorado
Point lighthouse, which is on the east side of the narrow entrance to
Cienfuegos Harbour, just east of the cable landing, and, with the
_Nashville_ a little farther to the west, had begun shelling the beach.

The shore there is low, and covered with a dense growth of high grass and
reeds. The lighthouse stood on an elevation, behind which, as well as
hidden in the long grass, were known to be a large number of rifle-pits,
some masked machine guns, and 1-pounders. These the Spaniards deserted as
fast as the ships' fire reac