"That last one didn't miss us by a dozen yards." "This isn't Santiago shooting," put in Tommy.

"These beggars know how to aim." During the next ten minutes the fighting was fast and furious.

It was load and fire and load again without cessation.

There was the old trouble in regard to the smoke, and half the time we had to aim blindly.
Notwithstanding that fact, "Hay" did so well that word came from Captain Brownson complimenting him warmly.
The "Yankee" seemed to be the centre of a series of eruptions.

The Spanish shells kept the water continually boiling, and with the splashing of each projectile there would arise a geyser-like fountain accompanied by a muffled explosion which could be plainly felt on board the ship.
[Illustration: "THERE WAS TEMPORARY CONFUSION"] It was the first real naval battle experienced by us--the bombardment of Santiago being of an entirely different calibre--and it needed only the grewsome setting of surgeons and wounded and blood to make it complete.
That soon came.
We of Number Eight gun were working at our stations, so intent on our duties that the uproar of shot and shell outside claimed little attention, when suddenly there came a louder explosion than usual directly in front of the open port.
There was a blinding flash, a puff of stifling smoke, and then Kennedy, who was just approaching the gun with a shell, staggered back, and almost fell to the deck.