The Liner's Fate

For three or four days he heard nothing about her, and then, one hot
morning, when Stuyvesant and Bethune stood at the foot of the tower by
the sluice examining some plans, Jake crossed the pipe with a newspaper
in his hand.

"The Diario has just arrived," he said. "I haven't tried to read it
yet, but the liner has been attacked."

Dick, who was superintending the building of the sluice, hastily
scrambled up the bank, and Stuyvesant, taking the newspaper, sat down in
the shade of the tower. He knew more Castilian than the others, who
gathered round him as he translated.

The liner, the account stated, had the coast in sight shortly before dark
and was steaming along it when a large, black funnel steamer appeared
from behind a point. The captain at once swung his vessel round and the
stranger fired a shot, of which he took no notice. It was blowing fresh,
the light would soon fade, and there was a group of reefs, which he knew
well, not far away. The raider gained a little during the next hour and
fired several shots. Two of the shells burst on board, killing a seaman
and wounding some passengers, but the captain held on. When it was
getting dark the reefs lay close ahead, with the sea breaking heavily on
their outer edge, but he steamed boldly for an intricate, unmarked
channel between them and the land. In altering his course, he exposed the
vessel's broadside to the enemy and a shot smashed the pilot-house, but
they steered her in with the hand-gear. The pursuer then sheered off, but
it got very dark and the vessel grounded in a position where the reef
gave some shelter.