Each man sprang back to his station, and the process of reloading went on without delay.

The battle smoke from Number Six, which had filled our port for some time, cleared away just then, enabling us to see "Hay's" last shot strike squarely upon the outer line of earthworks of the Punta Gorda battery.
"Splendid shot, 'Hay'!" exclaimed our division officer, briefly.
"Bully, that's what it is--bully!" cried "Stump," patting the second captain upon the back.
"Hurray! it's knocked out a gun," reported "Dye," from nearer the port.
"I saw the piece keel over backward." There was no time for further comment.

When a gun's crew is firing at will, and the excitement of combat has taken possession of the individual members, the task in hand requires all one's attention.

We of Number Eight had suffered one delay, and we really felt that the lost time must be made up.
Personal impressions in battle have been described in prose and poem until the subject is hackneyed, but it may be of interest to note that the impressions experienced by the novices in naval warfare manning the "Yankee," during the bombardment of Santiago, consisted mainly of one feeling.

It was well-voiced by "Hod," who said many days later: "I felt just as I did one time when I attended Barnum's circus in Madison Square Garden.