In a second the groups of officers and men were on their feet and wide-awake. The Spaniards were coming! Nobody now wanted to be at home or to go a-fishing. There were bigger fish coming into their net. "Clear the ship for action!" cried Commodore Schley. From every part of the ship the men rushed to their quarters. Far down below the stokers began to shovel coal like mad into the furnaces. In the turrets the gun-crews hurried to get their guns ready. The news spread like lightning, and the men made ready like magic for the terrible work before them. It was the same on all the ships as on the _Brooklyn_, for all of them saw the Spaniards coming. Down past the wreck of the _Merrimac_ sped Cervera's ships, and headed for the open sea. First came the _Maria Teresa_, the admiral's flagship. Then came the _Vizcaya_, the _Oquendo_, and the _Cristobal Colon_, and after them the two torpedo-boats. "Full speed ahead! Open fire!" roared the commodore from the bridge of the _Brooklyn_, and in a second there came a great roar and a huge iron globe went screaming towards the Spanish ships. It was the same on the other ships. Five minutes before they had been swinging lazily on the long rolling waves, everybody at rest. Now clouds of black smoke came pouring from their funnels, every man was at his post, every gun ready for action, and the great ships were beginning to move through the water at the full power of the engines. And from every one of them came flashes as of lightning, and roars as of thunder, and huge shells went whirling through the air toward the Spanish ships. Out of the channel they dashed, four noble ships, and turned to the west along the coast. Only the _Brooklyn_ was on that side of the harbor, and for ten minutes three of the Spanish ships poured at her a terrible fire. But soon the _Oregon_, the _Indiana_, the _Iowa_, and the _Texas_ came rapidly up, and the Spanish gunners had new game to fire at. You might suppose that the huge iron shells, whirling through the air, and bursting with a frightful roar, would tear and rend the ships as though they were made of paper. But just think how it was at Manila, where the Spaniards fired at the sea and the sky, and the Americans fired at the Spanish ships. It was the same here at Santiago. The Spaniards went wild with their guns and wasted their balls, while the Americans made nearly every shot tell. It was a dreadful tragedy for Spain that day on the Cuban coast. The splendid ships which came out of the harbor so stately and trim, soon looked like ragged wrecks. In less than half an hour two of them were ashore and in a fierce blaze, and the two others were flying for life. The first to yield was the _Maria Teresa_, the flagship of the admiral. One shell from the _Brooklyn_ burst in her cabin and in a second it was in flames. One from the _Texas_ burst in the engine-room and broke the steam-pipe. Some burst on the deck; some riddled the hull; death and terror were everywhere.