Page:McClure's Magazine volume 10.djvu/514

THE "IOWA" COMING UP WITHIN HAILING DISTANCE OF THE "NEW YORK,"
ON THE BLOCKADE BEFORE HAVANA.

great funnels; the lights grew and multiplied until the scene seemed changed into a water carnival. And it seemed to me that the men I saw knew that they were not simply embarking upon a war like other wars, the puppets of human passion, but upon the duty which the Prince of Peace imposed with the words; "Feed my lambs." As each man sprang to his post, he seemed to be glad that the people of the United States, after patiently listening to many little words from the lips of a few little men; after having worried over many things like the woman of Bethany, had chosen that good part, the reward of which is beyond the hazard of battle and cannot be taken away by adverse fortune in war. And as the new page was turned, and the glorious chapter in our history began, just about midnight, an unusual sight in this latitude, the four bright stars of the Southern Cross rose out of the sea and stood just above the horizon. It seemed to beckon and to lead us towards the south, as a sign of divine approval and benediction upon the voyage and the purpose we were entering upon.

THE FIRST SALUTE TO ADMIRAL SAMPSON'S FLAG.

One by one, through the early morning hours, the dark monsters slipped their cables and dropped out into the outer bay, taking up their positions in order as directed. Several of the monitors were slower than expected in getting up the required steam, so the flagship hove to off Sand Key Light until about nine o'clock, when the last straggler came up. But the hours of waiting were not a trial to patience; they were replete with incidents far too numerous to relate here. At eight o'clock the blue pennant of Admiral Sampson was run up for the first time and saluted by the squadron with the usual number of guns. Every man in the fleet, from the ranking captain to the youngest powder monkey, was delighted; but no sign of it could be given without infringing upon those useful, but certainly most prosaic, Articles of War. Only the bugler trumpeted out the opening bars of the Star Spangled Banner, and then the national emblem was run up. Then the "Iowa," glistening like burnished brass in the sun, came lumbering up like a sea elephant, with fighting "Bob" upon the bridge, who shouted out, "Captain Evans presents his compliments to Admiral Sampson, and begs to say that we hope to make that salute twenty-one guns very soon, when the stars and stripes float over the Morro." Then the crew of the "Iowa," chartered libertines to a man, because Sampson commanded their ship for two years and knows every man jack of them all, swarmed out of the turret, and the hatches, and the ventilators, and the ports of their iron fortress, and yelled with delight until they were hoarse; while the Admiral's grave, quiet face flushed, and his soft, almost womanly eyes lit up strangely. Then he turned away; it was more than flesh and blood could do to rebuke that spontaneous tribute from men with whom he had sailed for so long, and most of whom he had licked into shape and taught what they knew.

UNDER WAY TOWARD HAVANA.

By 9.30 the fleet was under way, sailing a southeasterly course, in the direction of Havana, under easy steam, about ten knots an hour. The "Mayflower" and the "Wilmington" were scouting; and the "New