“And fortune once more favoured the brave, for in the wake of the mighty _Maria Teresa_ came Spain’s two big torpedo-boats, called destroyers, because of their size,—the _Pluton_ and the _Furor_. Either was more than a match for the _Gloucester_, for one carried two 12-pounders, and the other two 14-pounders, besides the 6-pounders that both carried. “Moreover, both overmatched the speed of the _Gloucester_ by at least ten knots per hour. But both had thin-plated sides. The shells of the _Gloucester_ could pierce them, and at them went Wainwright, with the memory of that night in Havana uppermost in his mind. “The two boats—even the whole Spanish fleet—were still within easy range of the Spanish forts, and to reach his choice of enemies the _Gloucester_ was obliged to risk not only the land fire, but that of the _Vizcaya_ and the _Teresa_. Nevertheless, as the torpedo-boats steered toward the _Brooklyn_, evidently bound to torpedo her, Wainwright headed them off, and they never got beyond range of the forts. “The shots they threw at him outweighed his three to one, but theirs flew wild, and his struck home. “The day of the destroyers was done. As the big _Maria Teresa_ turned toward the shore, these two destroyers, like stricken wild fowl, fled fluttering and splashing in the same direction, and they floundered as they fled. “While the _Infanta Maria Teresa_ was on fire, and running for the beach, her crew was still working their guns, and the big _Vizcaya_ was handily by to double the storm of projectiles she was hurling at the _Iowa_ and _Texas_. “It was not that the _Vizcaya’s_ crew were manfully striving to protect the _Teresa_; they were making the snarling, clawing fight of a lifetime to escape the relentless Yankees that were closing upon them. For both the _Texas_ and the _Iowa_ had the range, and it was only when the smoke of their own guns blinded them that their fire was withheld, or a shot went astray. “The _Iowa_ and the _Texas_ had headed off both the _Vizcaya_ and the _Infanta Maria Teresa_, while the _Indiana_ was coming with tremendous speed to join them. “And then came the finishing stroke. A 12-inch shell from the _Texas_ went crashing into the stoke-hole, and the _Vizcaya_,—the ship whose beauty and power once thrilled the hearts of New Yorkers with mingled pleasure and fear—was mortally wounded. Hope was gone, and with helm aport she headed away for the beach, as her consort had done. “The battle had opened on our side at 9.33 o’clock, and at 9.58 two of the magnificent armoured cruisers of the Spanish navy were quivering, flaming wrecks on the Cuban beach, with the _Texas_ rounding to less than a thousand yards away off the stern of the _Vizcaya_.