As it is, I am afraid she would have gained Cardenas Harbor in safety if it had not been for Mr.Comly's last lucky shot, which must have crippled her steering-gear.

And to think that a ship which would have been considered a handsome prize by any cruiser should be destroyed by the little _Speedy_.

I wonder, though, where the _Wilmington_ that generally patrols this vicinity could have been ?" This mystery was explained a little later when the cruiser in question hove in sight, having been lured from her station by a small Spanish gunboat the evening before.
After making his report of what happened, the commander of the _Speedy_ again headed his craft to the eastward, and ran all that day, together with most of the following night, within sight of the Cuban coast.
It wanted but an hour of daylight, when Ridge, who was sleeping on deck, was aroused and told that the place of his landing was at hand.
A pot of coffee together with a substantial lunch had been prepared for him, and Ensign Comly, whose wound had proved to be slight, was waiting in a boat manned by four sailors.
Senorita was hoisted in a sling and dropped overboard to swim ashore in tow of the boat, and at the very last the _Speedy's_ commander whispered the countersign of the Junta that was to open a way through the Cuban lines.
Then the boat was noiselessly shoved off, and slipped away through the chill darkness towards the denser shadow of the land that waited with manifold perils to test the courage of our young trooper..