ss of the
_Maine_.

As soon as the Spanish ships came out, the _Gloucester_ dashed at them,
like a wasp trying to sting an ox. She steamed right across the mouth of
the harbor until she almost touched one of the great Spanish ships, all
the time firing away like mad at its iron sides.

The brave Wainwright saw two little boats coming out behind these big
ones. These were what are called torpedo-boats.

Do you know what this means? A torpedo-boat is little, but it can dart
through the water with the speed of the wind. And it carries
torpedoes--iron cases filled with dynamite--which it can shoot out
against the great warships. One of these could tear a gaping hole in the
side of a battleship and send it, with all on board, to the bottom. A
torpedo-boat is the rattlesnake of the sea. It is little, but it is
deadly.

But Lieutenant Wainwright and the men of the _Gloucester_ were not
afraid of the _Furor_ and the _Pluton_, the Spanish torpedo-boats. As
soon as they saw these boats they drove their little vessel toward them
at full speed. The _Gloucester_ came under the fire of one of the
Spanish forts, but she did not mind that any more than if boys were
throwing oyster-shells at her.

Out from her guns came a torrent of balls like water from a pump. But
the water drops were made of iron, and hit hard. The _Furor_ and
_Pluton_ tried to fire back, but their men could not stand that iron
rain. For twenty minutes it kept on, and then all was over with the
torpedo-boats. They tried to run ashore, but down to the bottom they
both went. Of all their men only about two dozen were picked up alive.
The rest sank to the bottom of the bay.

Thus Wainwright and his little yacht avenged the _Maine_, and the
dreadful tragedy in Havana harbor was paid for in Santiago Bay.

CHAPTER XXVII

THE GREAT VICTORY OF MANILA BAY

DEWEY DESTROYS A FLEET WITHOUT LOSING A MAN

GEORGE DEWEY was a Green Mountain boy, a son of the Vermont hills. Many
good stories are told of his schoolboy days, and when he grew up to be a
man everybody that knew him said that he was a fine fellow, who would
make his mark. And they were right about him, though he had to wait a
long time for the chance to show what he would do.

Dewey was sent to the Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland, and when the
Civil War began he was a lieutenant in the navy. He was with Farragut on
the Mississippi, and did some gallant deeds on that great river.

When the war