9th, and thereafter the squadron, with the monitors in tow, went on with the chase of Cervera until 5 o'clock on the afternoon of the 11th, being then less than fifty miles from San Juan. Admiral Sampson shifted his flag to the Iowa. He hoped and believed that the Spanish squadron was in San Juan, and he was going to force the battle from the deck of our latest battle-ship, with " Fighting Bob" Evans at his elbow.

Thereafter, for ten hours the ships washed along toward the port. At 3 A.M. on Thursday morning, May 12th, the flickering electric lights of the city came into view with the lamp in the lighthouse tower shining above them.

Then the Detroit steamed on to a post a thousand yards in advance of the flag-ship Iowa; she had a man over each rail swinging the lead to sound out the channel. The tug Wompatuck ran out to the west of the Detroit towing a small boat with a red flag which was to be anchored in ten fathoms of water off Cabras Island for a buoy to guide the squadron. And then came the fighting line, the Porter close under the shelter of the big Iowa, and the Indiana, the New York, the Amphitrite, and the Terror strung out at convenient intervals, and the Montgomery off the starboard quarter of the Terror, ready for a dash in on the westerly

side of the harbor's mouth should the Spaniards appear.

It was a most impressive spectacle as the squadron seemingly drifted through the gloom

Manoeuvring of the Fleet at the Bombardment of San Juan.

toward the city, and one who was there knows how the tiger feels as it creeps toward its sleeping prey.

In the first flush of dawn, that soon came on apace, the city appeared out of the shades as a

yellow-walled checker of houses spread over a low ridge lying parallel with the sea. At the east the ridge fell away into a sandy beach that lost itself in a swamp. Along the front of this ridge the trade-wind rollers broke in splashing masses against a precipitous wall-a wall that at the west rose into a bluff sixty feet high, and there, dark and frowning, stood the Morro Castle, at once a fortress and a hopeless prison. The channel to the harbor ran under this bluff. Over to the west lay Cabras Island and Fort Canuelo, on a smaller island, while back of all, terrace on terrace, rose the hills and mountains of the interior.

While yet the night was over the waters, the crews were called to a breakfast of cold meat, bread, and coffee. Then the galley fires were extinguished, and at 5 o'clock precisely the men went to quarters, and loosened and loaded the guns for action, while a few walked to and fro scattering sand on the decks so that they might have a good foothold even though they became flooded with blood.

Then a signal fluttered to the yard of the Iowa and a moment later the Stars. and Stripes appeared at every mast-head and at every other available point on all the ships. Even the Admiral's flag came down to be hoisted to a smokestack in order that Old Glory might float at the Iowa's truck.