And apparently the enemy knew they did not mean to. For they kept battering away at the big hulk that loomed up in the darkness, running close alongside and firing viciously.
Every shot made a deafening crash as it struck home.
But the Americans did not mind it especially. When a man has made up his mind to die he is not afraid of anything.
And the men on deck paced up and down serenely, and Clif tugged at the wheel with a positively light-hearted recklessness.
It would have been a cold sort of a person whose spirit did not rise to such an occasion as that. The wild night and the furious cannonading, but above all the prospect of taking that huge ship and driving her forward at full speed until she smashed upon the rocks, was a rather inspiring one.
The reader may have heard about the man out West who drew an enormous crowd by advertising an exhibition railroad wreck, two empty trains crashing into each other at full speed. This was a similar case; it does not often happened that a man has occasion to drive a ship aground on purpose.
The resolution to which the Americans had come must have been plain to the unfortunate Spaniards who were tied up on board the Maria. Their fright was a terrible one, anyhow.
Clif glanced out at them several times; their presence was the only thing that made him hesitate to do what he had resolved.
"For they haven't done anything, poor devils," he thought to himself, "I wish I knew what to do with them."
But there was only one thing that could be done; that was to put them off in a small boat, and that would be practically murdering them.