For a moment nobody said anything; the little group stood motionless on the deck. They were in no great danger for the firing was all directed at the hull. Then suddenly Clif began again. "I guess this vessel is about done for," he said. "She will be either sunk or captured. The only question is about us--what's to become of us. I leave it to you." None of the men spoke for a moment. "I suppose," Clif said, "that we can manage to let her know we surrender if we choose. We can scuttle the ship before we do it. But you know what we may expect; after our shooting those two men they'll probably murder us, or do things that are a thousand times worse." Clif stopped for a moment and then he turned. "Think, for instance," he said, "of being at the mercy of that man." He was pointing toward Ignacio, who lay near them, glowering in his hate, and the sailors looked and understood. "It's better to drown, sir," said one. And the rest thought so, too, and declared it promptly. "Very well, then," was the cadet's quiet answer, "we will stay on board. We have faced death before." That resolution made there was little else left to be determined. "We can sink the ship, or wait and let them sink it," the cadet said. "Or else--there's one thing more. We are headed in the right direction. We can smash her upon the rocks of the Cuban coast." And the sailors stared at him for a moment eagerly. "And stand a chance of getting ashore in safety!" they cried. At which the cadet smiled. "I'm afraid there's very little chance," he said. "But it's as good as anything else. We'll try it." "Yes, sir." "You two go down to the engine room again, and keep things moving. And the others stay on deck and make sure those Spaniards don't try to board us again. I can handle the wheel myself." And with that the brave cadet turned away and sprang toward the pilot house. CHAPTER VII. A DESPERATE CHASE. That was a heroic resolution those five brave men had made. But it was inevitable, for they did not mean that either they or that valuable ship should fall into the hands of the enemy. And apparently the enemy knew they did not mean to. For they kept battering away at the big hulk that loomed up in the darkness, running close alongside and firing viciously. Every shot made a deafening crash as it struck home. But the Americans did not mind it especially. When a man has made up his mind to die he is not afraid of anything. And the men on deck paced up and down serenely, and Clif tugged at the wheel with a positively light-hearted recklessness. It would have been a cold sort of a person whose spirit did not rise to such an occasion as that. The wild night and the furious cannonading, but above all the prospect of taking that huge ship and driving her forward at full speed until she smashed upon the rocks, was a rather inspiring one.