Never before had the United States so splendid a fleet to fight with. There were five fine battleships, the _Iowa_, the _Indiana_, the _Massachusetts_, the _Oregon_, and the _Texas_. Then there was the _New York_, Admiral Sampson's flagship, and the _Brooklyn_, Commodore Schley's flagship. These were steel-clad cruisers, not so heavy, but much faster than the battleships. Besides these there were monitors, and cruisers, and gunboats, and vessels of other kinds, all spread like a net around the mouth of the harbor, ready to catch any big fish that might swim out. Do you not think that was a pretty big crowd of ships to deal with the Spanish squadron, which had only four cruisers and two torpedo-boats? But then, you know, the insider sometimes has a better chance than the outsider. It is not easy to keep such a crowd of vessels together out at sea. They run out of coal, or get out of order, or something else happens. If the insider keeps his eyes wide open and waits long enough his chance will come. Admiral Cervera, the Spanish commander, was in a very tight place. Outside lay the American ships, and inside was the American army, which kept pushing ahead and was likely to take Santiago in a few days. If he waited he might be caught like a rat in a trap. And if he came outside he might be caught like a fish in a net. He thought it all over and he made up his mind that it was better to be a fish than a rat, so he decided to come out of the harbor. He waited till the 3d of July. On that day there were only five of the big ships outside--four of the battleships and the cruiser _Brooklyn_. And two of the battleships were a little out of order and were being made right. Admiral Sampson had gone up the coast with the _New York_ for a talk with the army general, so he was out of the way. No doubt the Spanish lookouts saw all this and told their admiral what they had seen. So, on that Sunday morning, with every vessel under full steam, the Spaniards raised their anchors and started on their last cruise. Now let us take a look at the big ships outside. On these everybody was keeping Sunday. The officers had put on their best Sunday clothes, and the men were lying or lounging idly about the deck. Of course, there were lookouts aloft. Great ships like these always have their lookouts. A war-vessel never quite goes to sleep. It always keeps one eye open. This Sunday morning the lookouts saw smoke coming up the harbor, but likely enough they thought that the Spaniards were frying fish for their Sunday breakfast. [Illustration: THE FIGHTING TOP OF THE TEXAS.] And so the hours went on until it was about half-past nine. Then an officer on the _Brooklyn_ called to the lookout aloft: "Isn't that smoke moving?" The answer came back with a yell that made everybody jump: "There's a big ship coming out of the harbor!"