otton, with a whir, is hurled on its errand of destruction. The eye
can distinguish the aerial torpedo as it soars to the height of its
trajectory, and then majestically and swiftly steals down toward its
helpless prey. Will it explode? It strikes the water a few yards from
the target, but the looked-for explosion does not follow; the fuse has
failed. The next minute every gun of the enemy is trained upon this
terrible weapon, knowing that if the shell is again let loose their
ships will be like chaff before this tremendous power. The enemy is now
confident of victory. Signals go up on the flag-ship, and in a very few
minutes the old formation is resumed, and once again they head for the
harbor.

The firing becomes hot and furious; broadside after broadside belches
forth from the enemy's steel sides; a few shells go wide into the city,
and dense columns of black smoke from the buildings set on fire lend a
more awesome aspect to the picture depicted.

The observers at the mining-station are nervous with the suppressed
excitement within them. The ships of the enemy plot on their chart only
eight hundred yards away from their mines. Will it be their fortune to
decide the fate of the Golden City? The ships still advance. Soon they
will be over the mines. A pressure of the key under the hand will
discharge tons of the hidden explosive.

But the enemy has stopped. What does this foretell? Five hundred yards
from the mines the ships are nearly motionless in the troubled sea
lashed to foam by the ploughing of so much steel.

All the batteries are now doing splendid work. Explosion follows
explosion on board the intruding ships. Two cruisers are unmanageable
and on fire; they drift onto the rocks almost within a stone's throw of
one of the batteries. Suddenly torpedoes shoot from the bow tubes of the
leading ships, and a few moments afterward tremendous columns of water
are seen to rise from the bay, and the next second the sound of a mighty
discharge reaches the expectant ears of the defenders of the Gate. The
officer at the mining-key knows from the spark that jumps across under
his hand that the enemy has countermined and the harbor is clear. The
struggle has come to such close quarters that the rapid-fire and machine
gun fire lends its sharp cracking report to the dull roar of the heavy
guns.

But the foe has stopped too long! The mortar battery on Lobos has gotten
his range. Suddenly with a whir a column of smoke rises