Page:Under Dewey at Manila.djvu/69

Rh working beside Larry. "Didn't I put in five years aboard a warship, cruising the Atlantic? There couldn't be no explosion from inside, not with the daily inspections of the magazines, and the wetting of the guncotton, and the keys and electrical connections in the captain's cabin; no, sir. That explosion came from the outside, and—and—but, captain, won't you read the full account?"

"Yes, Nat, read it out; all of the boys will want to hear it, especially those who claim the stars and stripes as their flag," added Tom Grandon.

And so the captain of the Columbia read the account which, stripped of its newspaper sensationalism, was as follows; the special report being dated at Havana, Cuba, Feb. 16, 1898.

"At quarter to ten o'clock last evening a terrible explosion occurred on board or under the United States battleship Maine, lying in the harbor of Havana. The battleship has been completely destroyed, and over two hundred and fifty sailors and two officers have lost their lives.

"The explosion was so heavy that many of the houses in Havana were shaken, and people ran outside, thinking it was an earthquake shock. It was soon learned that the great battleship had gone