Cr-r-rack! The brisk fire that rang out from the roof of the hotel was almost as regular as a volley of shots would have been.
Darrin ordered his men to keep close to the buildings on either side of the street, and to return the fire as rapidly as good shooting permitted.
"Drive 'em from that roof," was Darrin's order.
Lieutenant Trent arrived on the double-quick with the rest of the detachment.
"Give it to 'em, hot and heavy!" ordered Trent, and instantly sixty rifles were in action.
Suddenly a window, a some distance down the street from the Americans opened, and a man thrust a rifle out, taking aim. That rifle never barked, for Dave, with a single shot from his revolver, sent the would-be marksman reeling back.
"Watch that window, Riley, and fire if a head appears there," Dave directed. "There may be others in that room."
Cat-like in his watchfulness, Riley kept the muzzle of his weapon trained on that window.
"Look out overhead!" called Danny Grin, suddenly.
From the roofs of three houses overlooking the naval detachment fire opened instantly after the warning. Two of the "Long Island's" men dropped, one of them badly wounded.