harbor of Santiago.

When we think of the officers and men on the decks of a warship, we must not forget the force of men below the decks. The engineers, firemen and stokers do as good work, and are entitled to as much praise, as the fighting force above. In battle they are kept under the hatches, and, as a rule, never know of the progress or the result of a fight until it closes. They work in a temperature of from one hundred to one hundred and fifty degrees, by half-hour stretches. The roaring furnaces make the fire-rooms almost beyond a man's power to endure, and we should give a great deal of our praise to the brave fellows who make the power that moves the ship.

The Men Who Make the Power.

You know that we saw in the first chapter, that Spain owned another large island some miles east of Cuba—an island called Porto Rico.

This island was sighted by Columbus on November 16, 1493, and, three days later, he anchored in one of its bays. In 1510, and again a year later, Ponce de Leon visited the island and established a settlement, to which he gave the name of San Juan Bautista. Spain did not always hold it peaceably, however, for at different times the Dutch and the English tried to take it from her. The people of the island used to be terribly annoyed by pirates and buccaneers, but that was a long time ago.

The Spanish used to call San Juan the "Rich Port of John the Baptist," and it was a great source of profit to them for nearly four hundred years. Ponce is the largest city in the island, but San Juan has the advantage of a large, protected harbor. Like Havana and Santiago, San Juan has its Morro Castle, and within its walls are the buildings of a small military town,—houses for troops, a chapel, bake-house, and guard-room, with dungeons down by the sea, and underneath it.

Palace and Sea-wall, San Juan, Porto Rico.

The city of San Juan lies upon an island connected with the mainland by a bridge and a causeway. The streets are narrow, the houses are low, mostly of a single story, and are built in the old-fashioned Spanish style, with thick walls around the courtyard. The fronts are ugly and are painted all sorts of brilliant colors—pink, blue, purple and yellow. There are heavy shutters in the windows for protection, but there are no panes of glass in the town. Behind the gloomy walls are splendid gardens and courtyards, with splashing fountains, shaded by palms. The city contains a cathedral, a theatre, a city hall, the Governor-General's palace, and several fine churches, and in the center is quite a large park, with concrete walks and seats, as with us. There is no turf, however. All around this park the market women gather every morning, selling poultry, eggs, vegetables and flowers, and in the evening there is music by a military band.

It was thought that the Spanish fleet, which had caused our Government so much anxiety, might go to San Juan, the capital of the island, and so, before the Oregon arrived, and before any of the Spanish ships had been seen, Admiral Sampson took some of his vessels from Cuba to Porto Rico in hope of meeting Admiral Cervera, the Spanish commander, and his fleet. Our ships reached San Juan in the evening of May 11th, but could see nothing of the Spanish ships. Next morning our ships fired upon the forts guarding the harbor, to try the strength of the enemy. But finding the forts stronger than he thought they were, Admiral Sampson drew off his fleet. He could not spare the time, or spend his powder and shells, upon San Juan then. The important thing to do was to find the Spanish fleet. So Admiral Sampson again sailed toward Havana.

The two ports on the northern coast of Cuba that seemed most likely to attract the Spanish fleet were Havana and Matanzas. There was one port on the southern coast that seemed to be a good one for the Spanish fleet—the port of Cienfuegos. So our ships continued the blockade of Havana and Matanzas, and now Commodore Schley was sent with several vessels to watch Cienfuegos.

The city of Cienfuegos is situated some distance back from the sea, in a harbor which winds and twists about between high hills, completely obscuring it from ships a little distance from the shore. The word Cienfuegos means "a hundred fires." Close by the water's edge there stood a cable-house, where one end of a submarine cable, which reached to Santiago, some three hundred miles to the eastward, was secured. On one side of the cable-house was an old fort or lookout, such as the Spaniards used to have all along the coast. On the other side was a light-house. The Americans wished to destroy communication between Cienfuegos and Santiago, so they sent an expedition to cut the cable and destroy anything that would be of use to the Spaniards.

The ships that were sent to do this work were the Marblehead, the Nashville and the Windom. You will remember that the Nashville fired the first gun in the war with Spain. She is not a pretty boat at all. She is built differently from other vessels of her class, and her two tall funnels, or smokestacks, give her an ungainly appearance. Her commander was a splendid officer, though, and her crew were the bravest of the brave. I must tell you a little of her work after she captured the first prize of the war.

One day, while in company with the Marblehead and the Eagle, she saw a big Spanish mail steamer leave the harbor of Cienfuegos and put to sea, followed by nine Spanish gunboats. The Nashville started in pursuit of the big steamer, leaving the other American ships to attend to the gunboats. She soon overhauled the steamer, which proved to be the Argonata, and took possession of her. Her cargo was a very rich one, and among the passengers were twenty-nine Spanish soldiers and officers. These were taken on board the Nashville. Meanwhile, the Marblehead and the Eagle had disposed of the gunboats. It only took them half an hour to drive them back into the harbor, with their smokestacks shot off, and several of them in a sinking condition. The Nashville then turned over her prize to the Marblehead and started for Havana.

On her way she discovered a big gunboat, and, as the two ships drew near, the Spanish officers, who had been allowed on deck, saw that she was not an American vessel, and danced for joy. An instant later they were shoved down a hatchway and placed in the hold. As the stranger came closer it was plainly seen that she was nearly twice as large as the Nashville and more heavily armed, but the commander of the American vessel did not hesitate an instant. He cleared his ship for action and trained his guns on her. Just then she hoisted English colors and dipped them in salute to the stars and stripes that were floating above the Nashville. She proved to be the Talbot, an English ship cruising in those waters. The whole affair was a splendid display of courage on the part of the Nashville in clearing ship and showing fight to the big English gunboat. Every man on the American ship knew that if the stranger proved to be a Spanish war vessel the chances were ten to one against the Nashville; but none of them stopped to think of that, but made ready to fight her. Now we will