As the _Speedy_ rounded the first headland those on board saw the great war-ship they were to intercept coming leisurely down the coast, not more than a mile away. The yacht fired a gun to call attention to her momentous signal, and within a few seconds an answer, showing that it was seen and understood, was displayed from the _New York_. At the same time the latter began to turn, so as to retrace her course. She had hardly begun the movement before the _Speedy_ slipped up under her quarter. "Where did you get your information?" called out Captain Chadwick through a megaphone. "Messenger from the Commanding General," was the answer. "All right. Keep on, and warn the fleet, if you reach them before we do." "Ay, ay, sir!" and then the swift yacht had moved beyond range even of a megaphone. All at once the little group of officers gathered on the _Speedy's_ bridge, of course including Lieutenant Ridge Norris, knew that they were not to have the honor of warning the fleet; for a line of smoke, evidently moving seaward, appeared above the hills from the direction of Santiago Bay. "They are coming out!" cried the _Speedy's_ Captain; "and, if they have the pluck to keep on, we are about to witness one of the greatest sea-fights of the century." If the entire American blockading fleet had been on hand the coming contest would have been too unequal to be interesting. As it was, the _Massachusetts_, _New Orleans_, and _Newark_ had gone to Guantanamo after coal, while the _New York_ was too far away to take any active part in the fighting. This left only the _Brooklyn_, _Oregon_, _Iowa_, _Indiana_, and _Texas_ on guard, with the converted yachts _Gloucester_ and _Vixen_ acting as picket-boats. The American ships lay some three miles off shore under low steam, and their crews were preparing for Sunday morning inspection. Two of the battle-ships were overhauling their forward turrets, and repairing damages received during a bombardment of the forts on the previous day. The _Brooklyn_ lay farthest to the westward, and the _Indiana_ at the eastern end of the line, with the _Texas_, _Iowa_, and _Oregon_ between them. Inshore of these were the two yachts. In Santiago Bay, about to rush out on these unsuspecting ships, were four of the finest cruisers in the world, possessed of greater speed than any of the Americans except the _Brooklyn_, and under a full head of steam: with them were two torpedo-boat destroyers, ranking among the most powerful and swiftest of their class. At half-past nine o'clock of that peaceful Sunday morning, as the _Speedy_ was still some five miles to the eastward of Santiago Bay, with the _New York_ just completing her turn, two miles farther down the coast, a shot from the _Iowa_ drew attention to her fluttering signal, "The enemy is escaping."