Page:Under Dewey at Manila.djvu/277

Rh the sea beyond when it exploded with a loud noise, scattering the spray in all directions.

"I wonder if we have got to take this in silence," muttered Barrow, when a boom from the Raleigh told that she had answered the enemy's fire. Soon came a shot from the Boston, as that ship passed close to the fort. In the mean time the other vessels were out of range. Not to be outdone by her companions, the Concord sent a six-inch shell into a shore battery that began firing. At that time the damage done was not known, but later on it was ascertained that the shell had landed directly in the battery, and one Spanish soldier was killed and several gunners injured; and thus was the first blood of the war spilt in this part of the world.

But the Americans had suffered a loss too, although not through the illy aimed shots of their enemy. Signalled to run alongside of the big Olympia for protection, the McCulloch reported the death of her chief engineer, a highly esteemed man named Randall, who had been overcome by the terrific heart in the despatch boat's engine-room. This was the first, and, in fact, the only life lost by our side during the world-famous battle now so close at hand.

"We're out of that," said the chief of the gunners,