There was a momentary delay in heaving the towline, and Ensign Bagley suggested that the Hudson’s men hurry.  “Heave her,” he called.  “Let her come; it’s getting pretty warm here.”  The line was thrown and grabbed by the Winslow’s men.  Grimy with sweat and powder, they tugged at it and drew nearer foot by foot to the Hudson.  Almost at the same instant another four-inch shell shrieked through the smoke and burst directly under them.  Five bodies went whirling through the air.  Two of the group were dead when they fell—­Ensign Bagley and Fireman Daniels.  The young ensign was literally disemboweled, and the entire lower portion of the fireman’s body was torn away.  The other three died within a few minutes.  A flying piece of shrapnel struck Lieutenant Bernadou in the thigh and cut an ugly gash, but the Lieutenant did not know it then.  With the explosion of the shell the hawser parted and the Winslow’s helm went hard to starboard, and, with its steering gear smashed, the torpedo boat floundered about in the water at the mercy of the enemy’s fire, which never relaxed.

The fire of the Americans was of the usual persistent character, and the nerve of the men was marvelous.  Even after the Winslow’s starboard engine and steering gear were wrecked the little boat continued pouring shot into the Spaniards on shore until it was totally disabled.

Meanwhile the Wilmington from its outlying station was busy with its bigger guns and sent shell after shell from its four-inch guns crashing into the works on shore, and their execution must have been deadly.  Not a fragment of shot or shell from the enemy reached the Wilmington.

The Hudson quickly threw another line to the Winslow, and the helpless torpedo boat was made fast and pulled out of the Spaniards’ exact range.  The tug then towed it to Piedras Cay, a little island twelve miles off, near which the Machias lay.  There it was anchored for temporary repairs, while the Hudson brought the ghastly cargo into Key West, with Dr. Kichards of the Machias attending to the wounded.  Not until this mournful journey was begun was it learned that Lieutenant Bernadou had been injured.  He scoffed at the wound as a trifle, but submitted to treatment and is doing well.

When the Hudson drew up to the government dock at Key West the flags at half mast told the few loiterers on shore that death had come to some one, and the bunting spread on the deck, with here and there a foot protruding from beneath, confirmed the news.  Ambulances were called and the wounded were carried quickly to the army barracks hospital.  The dead were taken to the local undertaker’s shop, where they lay all day on slabs, the mutilated forms draped with flags.  The public were permitted to view the remains, and all day a steady stream of people flowed through the shop.

The American boats made furious havoc with Cardenas harbor and town.  The captain of the Hudson said: