Page:Barbour--For the freedom from the seas.djvu/278

 two ships had drawn some ten miles from the main engagement, the Dornburg was seen to be on fire aft. She was now using only three stern guns and these were presently silent, and from the Gyandotte they could see the crew assembling forward. By this time the after part of the German cruiser was hidden by smoke clouds. An explosion of ammunition tore a gaping hole forward of the mainmast and a minute later the cruiser listed to port. The Gyandotte withheld her fire and demanded surrender. To this there was no reply. A band assembled and the strains of the "Watch on the Rhine" floated from the doomed ship. Already many of the crew were going overboard, although apparently no order had as yet been given. The Gyandotte lowered boats, but a new enemy appeared and they were recalled. A blue-gray destroyer of some nine hundred tons was bearing down from the northward and the Gyandotte at once engaged her. This action was short, for the destroyer was twice hulled at seven thousand yards, and, although she kept ahead for awhile, firing from bow guns and launching two torpedoes, she presently turned tail and made off toward the coast. Her shots did small damage and neither torpedo struck, although one came to 253