H. Irving Hancock

“ Formally, Dave wished his division commander good night, Cantor answering only with a grunt.
Returning to his stateroom, Dave threw off belt and sword, hung up his cap, then sat down in his desk chair, leaning back and steadily regarding the breech of the great gun.
"I wonder if any other young officer in the service is at the mercy of such a brute," Darrin asked himself, wretchedly. "I love good discipline, but there's one thing wrong with the service, and that is, the ease with which a dishonorable officer can render the life of his subordinate miserable. ”

“ Yet one bullet is enough to kill a man. A marine fell at Dave's feet. The young ensign bent over him; one look was enough to prove that this defender of his countrymen was dead.
As the fire from the machine gun ceased, a wild cheer rose on the air. Now, from four different points groups of Mexicans rose and charged, firing as they ran.
One desperate dash, and they would overwhelm the crippled little
Navy party.
Defeat for Dave Darrin's command meant the massacre of all the survivors of his rescue party, and of the American men and women in their care! ”

“ In his haste to be punctual, Darrin forgot his sword and white gloves, which he had left in his own cabin on the way to duty between decks. Without these appurtenances of duty on the quarter-deck, Darrin made haste aft, found his division commander, saluted and reported his relief.
"Mr. Darrin," boomed Cantor, in a tone of high displeasure, "don't you know that an officer reporting to the quarter-deck when in any but dungaree clothes, should wear his gloves and sword. Go and get them, sir—-and don't keep me waiting beyond my watch time when I have shore leave!" ”

“ I have endorsed these views of mine upon Lieutenant Cantor's report and also upon your own. I can find no fault with your course of action."
"I cannot tell you, sir, how highly I appreciate your decision."
"Of course you do, Darrin!" cried Captain Gales, holding out his hand. "No young officer in the service enjoys being censured when he has used the very best judgment with which Heaven has endowed him. No man of earnest effort, likes to have his motives questioned. ”

“ As they marched Dave did not preserve any formation of his men. His detachment strode forward, alert and watchful, their rifles ready for instant use.
Three blocks away a horse stood tethered before a door. Hearing the sound of approaching feet a man looked hurriedly out of the doorway. Then he rushed to the horse and untied it.
"Halt!" Shouted Ensign Darrin, as he saw the man dart from the doorway. "Halt!" he ordered, a second time, as the man seized the horses's bridle ready to mount.
Quick as a flash the stranger drew a revolver, firing two shots down the street. ”

“ Then it dawned upon this American officer that, in the fighting between Mexican regulars and rebels it had been always the custom of the victors to execute the survivors of the vanquished foe.
"My poor fellow," ejaculated Trent, "we Americans always pride ourselves on our civilization. We don't shoot prisoners of war. You will be treated humanely, and we shall exchange you with your government." ”

“ Stooping, the marine picked up the worse injured of the two wounded sailors and swiftly bore him away in his arms.
"Cease firing!" shouted Darrin, running along his valiant little line of sailors. "Load your magazines and let the rifles cool until the Mexicans start up again."
For, with the exception of a shot here and there from behind the hedge, the destructive fire had ceased.
"We must have hit a few of them," chuckled Darrin to John Carmody, who stood beside him.
"I hope you killed them all," replied the planter. "They're brutes, when they have their own way."
"Riley!"
"Aye, aye, sir." ”

“ These are days when our relations with Mexico are of an extremely delicate nature. If we send an armed party on shore, and its members fight, it will be difficult, indeed, for our government to make the claim that an act of war was not committed on the soil of a nation that is, at present, at peace with us. The consequences of a fight are likely to be grave indeed. Therefore, the officer in command of each landing party is especially warned that the rescue of the American prisoners must be accomplished by strategy, not by fighting. ”

“ The grime settled on his perspiring face and stuck there.
"Look out, sir, or you'll get covered with pitch from some of these barrels," Riley warned Dave, respectfully.
"One uniform spoiled is nothing," Dave answered with a smile.
"Do not be concerned about me."
Officer and men were suffering alike in that close atmosphere. By the time the watch was ended Dave Darrin was truly a pitchy, soiled, perspiration-soaked sight.
Danny Grin, who reported to relieve his chum, looked rough and ready enough in a suit of dungarees that he had drawn. ”

“ Cheering was heard from the forecastle.
"The jackies have the word," chuckled Dan Dalzell. "They're sure to be delighted over any prospect of a fight."
"If we have a real fight," sighed Darrin, his mind on the night before, "a lot of our happy jackies will be sent home in boxes to their friends."
"A small lot the jackies care about that," retorted Danny Grin.
"Show me, if you can, anywhere in the world, a body of men who
care less about facing death than the enlisted men in the United
States Navy!"
"Of course we should have interfered in Mexico long ago," Dave went on. ”

“ The offender told of a car block in New York that had made it impossible for him to return on time.
"Lieutenant Cantor," returned the executive officer, dryly, "a careful officer will allow himself sufficient margin of time to make it morally certain that he can be back to his duty on time. Now, sir——-"
But at this moment an apprentice messenger, standing in the doorway, his right hand drawn up in salute, attracted the gaze of Commander Bainbridge:
"The captain" compliments, sir; will the executive officer report to him at once." ”

“ They might have part of their force retreat, drawing us further and further into a swamp, and then have another force get between us and our ships."
"Let 'em try it," retorted Dan Dalzell, grimly, "If there is anything new that the Greasers want to know about American methods of fighting, our fleet is full of officers who are willing to be patient instructors. But take my word for it, Dave, if the Mexicans ever try to draw us into one of those swamps, they'll learn so much about real Yankee fighting that it will be fatal to all the Mexicans who take the instruction from us!" ”

“ Lieutenant Cantor did not hold his tone low. It is the privilege of an officer to rebuke an enlisted man publicly, and as severely as the offense warrants, and it is the further privilege of an officer to make his rebuke to a subordinate commissioned officer as sharp and stinging as he chooses. ”

“ To-night there will be no moon. At nine o'clock we shall lie to off the Alvarez mill, and three sixty-foot launches will be lowered to the water. Lieutenant Cantor will command one of these launches, Ensign Darrin another and Ensign Dalzell the third. Each launch will carry one automatic gun, and a landing party of a corporal, six marines, a petty officer and twelve seamen. Each party will be armed, but, gentlemen, I must caution you as to the extreme seriousness of any conflict on shore, or of firing, even though your fire is not directed at human beings. ”

“ Some minutes before the call to breakfast was due, Darrin and Dalzell appeared from their quarters and walked aft to where a group of the "Long Island's" officers stood. Three or four of them had newspapers in their hands.
"It's time the government did something!" exclaimed one lieutenant commander, testily.
"We're going to do something, soon," asserted another officer, with a snap of his jaws.
"When?" demanded a third officer, while several men laughed derisively.
"We'll have to," continued the second speaker. "Every day the Mexican situation becomes worse. ”

“ It was peculiar of this fight that no regular volleys of shots were exchanged. The Mexicans, from roof-tops, from windows and other places of hiding, fired at an American uniform wherever they could see it.
The very style of combat adopted by the enemy made it necessary for the Americans, avoiding needless losses, to fight back in the same sniping way. Slowly, indeed, were these numerous detachments of Mexicans, numbering some eight hundred men in all, driven back. ”

“ They are, so I hear, having a hot and heavy wireless talk with Admiral Fletcher."
"A little talk, as a relief from so much watching and waiting, eh?" asked Darrin, dryly.
"Why, I believe that the talk is going to lead to something real," replied Lieutenant Trent, trying hard to keep the flash of excitement from showing in his own eyes. The fact is, something has happened." ”

“ Do you know anything about this fellow, Cosetta, Mr. Darrin?"
"I never heard of him before yesterday," Dave confessed.
"He is a troublesome fellow, and rather dangerous. More than once he has extorted large sums of ransom money for prisoners. He has a large following, even here in Vera Cruz, where he maintains his little force of spies and assassins. Whenever a wealthy Mexican hereabouts has had an enemy that he wanted 'removed,' he has always been able to accomplish his wish with the aid of this same fellow, Cosetta." ”

“ For the men in the other room now knew that there were more than these four seamen at hand. As soon as he heard voices inside Riley had cleverly caused his men to walk about the house with heavy tread, and the Mexicans believed themselves to be outnumbered.
"Is it true that there are American sailors below?" called a man's husky voice.
"A detachment from the United States Navy, sir," Dave replied, gleefully. "Are you Mr. Carmody?"
"Yes, yes!"
"Then bring down your party. We have force enough to resist any attempt to hold you, and if any harm is offered you, we shall avenge it. ”

“ Yet the instant the machine gun ceased its leaden cyclone the snipers were back at work, firing in a way that showed their rage.
"We can keep 'em down with the machine gun," declared Trent, "But it might take all the ammunition of the fleet to keep it running long enough unless we can make more hits."
In their recklessness the Mexicans exposed themselves so that four more of them fell before the seamen's rifles.
"Probably the Mexicans can get reinforcements," Dalzell muttered. "Though we may hit a few in an hour's firing, they can replace every man we hit." ”

“ Hand-to-hand fighting was much more to their liking than tedious sharpshooting.
"Keep close to the building on either side of the street!" Lieutenant Trent ordered. "No man is to run in the middle of the road and make an unnecessary target of himself. Ensigns Darrin and Dalzell will run behind their men, to see that no man exposes himself uselessly." ”

“ As Cantor's launch neared Dalzell's steamer, the lieutenant ordered a rocket sent up. From away over on the horizon an answering rocket was seen.
Forty minutes later the "Long Island" lay to close by. Cantor's launch was the first to go in alongside.
"Were you successful?" hailed the voice of the executive officer from the bridge.
"Ensign Darrin was, sir," Cantor replied, through the megaphone.
"Are all the missing Americans safe?"
"Yes, sir," Cantor continued.
"And all our own men?"
"Two killed, sir, and four wounded, through what I believe to be disobedience of orders." ”

“ Do you feel any doubt, sir, that Cosetta has proposed, or will propose to the Huerta government that he bring his men in under the Mexican flag in return for a pardon? There is another side to it, sir. The landing plans were stolen from Captain Gales's desk. Doesn't it now seem likely that Cantor stole the plans, and turned them over to Cosetta, who would be delighted at the chance of being able to turn them over to the commander of the Mexican forces around Vera Cruz?"
"The suspicion seems plausible enough," Trent admitted, sadly, "yet it is a terrible thing to believe." ”

“ At that moment a fareless taxicab turned the corner of Broadway and came slowly down the street.
"Hold on, chauffeur!" cried Darrin, in a voice of command. Then, as the cab stopped at the curb, Dave turned his back upon the tormentor for a moment, while he assisted the young woman into the taxicab.
"Do you feel satisfied to go without escort," asked Darrin, "or may I offer my services in seeing you safely to your home?" ”

“ The usurper, Huerta, is becoming more of a menace all the time. He has no regard for the rights of any one, but himself. And he is unable to do more, in the field, than to accept defeat after defeat at the hands of the rebels under that former bandit chief, 'Pancho' Villa. Both the so-called Federals and the rebels, in Mexico, are doing their best to make Mexico a hotbed of incurable anarchy. ”

“ Have you heard that, a year or more ago, an English aviator flew over warships at a height greater than the gunners below could possibly have reached? And did you know that the aviator succeeded in dropping oranges down the funnels of English warships? ”

“ Aft, on the quarter-deck, marines were going through the rifle gymnastic drill. In some of the divisions officers and men were busy at the big gun drills. Others were cleaning a ship that always seemed spotless. The few that were off duty gathered wherever they could find room, for a battleship at sea, with her full complement of officers and men on board, is a crowded affair.
No other ship of the American fleet was in sight, but two operators, constantly on duty in the wireless room, kept the "Long Island" in constant touch with a score of vessels of the United States Navy. ”