s slightly in the rear, and the _Nashville_ to the
westward.

All were cleared for action. Suddenly smoke was seen rising on the western
horizon, and the _Nashville_, because of her position, put on all steam in
that direction. Twenty minutes later she fired two shots across the bow of
the coming steamer, which promptly hove to. She was the _Argonauta_.
Ensign Keunzli was sent with a prize-crew of nine to take possession of
her.

Learning that Spanish soldiers were on board, word was given to send them
to the _Nashville_ immediately as prisoners of war, and when this had been
done arrangements were made to transfer the passengers and non-combatants
to the shore. The women and children were placed in the first boat, and
under cover of a flag of truce were soon bound toward the entrance to
Cienfuegos. A second crew took the other passengers and landed them about
noon.

The _Argonauta_ had on board Colonel Corijo of the Third Spanish Cavalry,
his first lieutenant, sergeant-major, seven other lieutenants, and ten
privates and non-commissioned officers. The steamer also carried a large
cargo of arms and Mauser ammunition. She was bound from Satabanao, Spain,
for Cienfuegos, stopping at Port Louis, Trinidad, and Manzanillo.

Half an hour later the _Eagle_ hoisted a signal conveying the intelligence
that she had been fired upon by Spanish boats coming out of the river. She
immediately returned the fire with the 6-pounders, and held her ground
until the _Marblehead_ came up. Both vessels then fired broadside after
broadside up the entrance to the river.

The boats coming down were two torpedo-boats and one torpedo-boat
destroyer. After twenty minutes of firing by the _Eagle_, during the last
five of which the _Marblehead_ participated, the Spanish vessels ceased
firing.

_April 29._ A cablegram from St. Vincent, Cape Verde, reported the
departure from that port of the Spanish squadron, consisting of the
first-class cruisers _Vizcaya_, _Almirante Oquendo_, _Infanta Maria
Teresa_, and _Cristobal Colon_, and the three torpedo-boat destroyers
_Furor_, _Terror_, and _Pluton_, bound westward, probably for Porto Rico.

_April 30._ The American schooner _Ann Louisa Lockwood_ was taken by the
Spaniards off Mole St. Nicolas.

The capture of a small Spanish schooner, the _Mascota_, near Havana, by
the torpedo-boat _Foote_, closed the record of the month of April.

Anxiously awaiting some word from Manila were the people of the U