Then when the last shot had been fired and the smoke of the fight was still hanging low over the smooth water of the bay, the “Detroit” came slowly around Enchados Island and ranged up starboardside to starboard and within sixty yards of the “Trajano” as she lay at anchor. Every man was at his post on the Yankee cruiser, the gunners standing behind their shotted guns, now glancing over the sights and then up toward the bridge at Captain Brownson in anticipation of an order to fire. Without a word or move on either ship the “Detroit” passed on, while the sailors on the “Amy” started away in a yawl to carry a line to a ship at anchor, that they might warp their ship on its way to the piers. As these sailors pulled away a marine on the “Trajano” leveled his musket and fired a shot over their heads. Then two of the heaviest insurgent tugs began to get into position for ramming the white Yankee. At that moment a tiny blood-red roll of bunting hung just beneath the San Francisco’s truck--the signal for all the American fleet to begin the battle--and a Yankee quartermaster with a strong hand held the halliards, eager to fling the signal to the breeze. The moment the shot was fired Captain Brownson turned to the gunner, who stood at a six-pounder, and ordered him to fire into the “Trajano,” striking her at the water line six feet abaft the stern. The gunner misunderstood the order and fired across the “Trajano’s” bow. Thereat Captain Brownson hailed the insurgent vessel. ““Trajano,” ahoy!” he shouted. “If you fire again I will return the fire, and if you persist I will sink you.” It was a critical moment. The accidental discharge of one of the “Trajano’s” guns by the excited crews that stood behind them would have left Captain Brownson no alternative. The “Trajano’s” guns were modern rifles, and they were aimed at the Yankee. The shot would have gone clean through the “Detroit,” and the “Detroit” would have replied with a broadside at a range of but sixty yards; and then, with helm hard aport, she would have run in between the “Trajano” and the “Guanabara,” out of range of their guns and where she could have riddled their hulls with her rapid-fire guns and swept their unprotected decks with the wicked man-killers called the secondary battery. Happily, as is known, the shot was not fired, although the insurgents were still ugly. Instead a blank shot was fired to leeward as a protest. To this no attention was paid. Turning to the bark “Amy.” Captain Brownson saw that her sailors had been intimidated somewhat by the shot fired over them. “You go ahead,” he shouted to them, “and I’ll protect you.” So the sailors rowed on with the warp line, while the “Detroit” steamed slowly ahead until she began to lap the hull of the “Guanabara.” Here, as on the “Trajano,” the crew stood ready at their guns--four six-inch rifles.