mong the
wondering Rough Riders he slipped wearily from his foam-flecked horse,
shouting huskily but exultantly as he did so:

"Sampson has destroyed the Spanish fleet! Not a ship escaped! I know,
for I saw the whole fight!"

"Hurrah!" "Hooray!" "Whoop-ee!" "Wow, wow, wow!" howled the Riders,
as in their wild jubilation they danced, hugged each other, and flung
things in the air. Then they raised Ridge high on their shoulders and
bore him as proudly aloft as though he alone had achieved the wonderful
victory of which he brought the news. Indeed, they seemed to believe
that but for his presence with the American ships things might perhaps
have gone differently, and Rollo Van Kyp only voiced the general
sentiment when he said:

"Lucky thing for Sampson that he had at least one 'Terror' along to see
that the scrap was conducted according to rules. How I wish, though,
that the _Nun_ had got here in time to take part in that fight, for she
can outfoot the old _Corsair_--_Gloucester_, I mean--almost two to one.
If she had only been on hand I believe she would have captured one of
these little fellows alive, before he had a chance to make the beach."

"The who?" asked Ridge, in perplexity, for the latter part of this
remark had been addressed to him alone.

"The _Nun_. _Gray Nun_ is her whole name. My yacht--used to be the
_Royal Flush_, you know. I offered her to the government as a gift, to
be converted into a war-ship. But they wouldn't accept her. So I
changed her name, and turned her over to the Red Cross people, to use
as long as they had need of her. Don't know, though, as they took me
up, for we left about that time, and I haven't heard since."

"But they did!" exclaimed Ridge. "And she reached Siboney to-day, for
I saw her there not more than two hours ago, flying a Red Cross flag,
and crowded with nurses."

"Good enough!" cried Rollo. "That is almost as fine news as the other.
The old _Flush_ must feel funny, though, all cluttered up with nurses,
for that isn't exactly the kind of a crowd she has been used to. Same
time, if my steward carried out the orders I wired him, she must be
loaded to the muzzle with good things to eat and drink, for I told him
to fill her up with the best to be had in New York City. So if any of
the fellows are hankering for a change of grub, all they've got to do
is to catch a fever or a Mauser bullet, and apply for a berth on the
Nun. For my own part I prefer hard