Page:Under three flags; a story of mystery (IA underthreeflagss00tayliala).pdf/95

 "Did you happen to read in any of the press dispatches an account of the loss of the Spanish man-of-war Mercedes?"

Ashley has seen a casual reference to the disaster. "She ran on a reef near the Great Exuma, while pursuing a suspected filibustering steamer, did she not?"

"The Mercedes was sunk in forty fathoms of water in fair and open fight with the Cuban cruiser Pearl of the Antilles," in slow and measured tones responds Manada, his black eyes glittering. "The Spanish government has strenuously sought to conceal that fact, but it has leaked out, and only yesterday I received from Le Director de la Guerra a copy of El Terredo's report of the battle. Ah, that was glorious! The Mercedes went down in less than seven minutes, while the Pearl was unharmed. Senor Ashley, we have to thank the inventive genius of your countrymen for the success of our gallant cruiser, for El Terredo states that it was the wonderful effectiveness of the new dynamite cannon and the Yankee gunner that accomplished the feat."

Ashley's unfailing scent for news assures him that this interview is good for at least a two-column leader in the Hemisphere. Here is information that will make a sensation in the morning. The American public has been wholly in the dark as to this new element in the insurrection, this Cuban cruiser, with her patent dynamite gun and Yankee gunner, that has destroyed one of the most powerful of Spain's cruisers.

"El Terredo? Is he the captain of the Pearl of the Antilles, Don Manada?"

"He is, and one of the bravest and most successful of our commanders on land as well as sea. Why, there is not a cruiser of the Spanish navy now in Cuban waters that alone would dare engage the Pearl! They are well aware of her prowess and the skill and bravery of her commander, whom they have rightly named 'El Terredo,' 'the terror.'

"Then we have other plans the details of which cannot be revealed. Do you remember how the sinking of De