It did, too—very soon.
It began when the merchantman suddenly swung round to starboard.
"Aha!" chuckled the cadet. "They're as close in as they dare. And now I suppose they'll run down shore awhile."
Lieutenant Raymond was much puzzled to think why the vessel had risked going so close in that storm; but he wasted no time in speculating, but drove the wheel around with all his might.
The Uncas swerved and sped over to shut the merchantman off; at that same instant the reason of the whole thing was seen.
The Uncas was not a mile from shore, and as she turned her broadside to the land a masked battery in the sand let drive with a dozen guns at once.
The whole thing was so sudden that for a moment it quite frightened the Americans. Clif even stopped firing long enough to stare.
But the sudden alarm did not last very long; it left the men on the Uncas laughing. For they had quite forgotten the character of the Spanish gunners' aim.
A shot tore through the tug's funnel, another chipped a piece from her bow, half a dozen shells whistled over her. And that was all.
Clif turned calmly to his gun again.