board, until the sea was strewn for miles with the débris of beautiful and useful woodwork.

Meantime, on finding the north coast clear, the Boston and the Concord were sent ahead at full speed to examine Subig Bay, and before they were out of sight the Baltimore was sent to support them in case the Spaniards should be there, but at 5 o'clock our entire squadron was in the bay and no enemy had been

seen.

Now, it was well known to Commodore Dewey that a telegraph station stood on Point Bolinao and that his presence on the coast had been known by the Spanish at Manila ever since his arrival. In order to fully appreciate what was done next it is necessary to consider the lay of the land in connection with this fact that the Spanish were not to be taken unawares.

A look at the chart shows that Luzon Island lies north and south, as to its length, and that Manila Bay is roughly a four-sided body of water projecting inland from the southwest corner of the island. The mouth of the bay is about six miles wide. One mile off shore from the north point lies Corregidor Island, and the. water between this island and the south point is perhaps five miles wide. Now, Corregidor Island is a considerable body of land and, moreover, it rises six hundred feet above the

sea.

On its crest a battery of eight-inch mod

ern Krupp guns had been erected, while the south point of the bay was guarded by a similar battery erected on El Fraile Island, which lies perhaps a half mile from the beach. If well handled these guns might sink the best battleship afloat, the guns on Corregidor being especially well placed to deliver a plunging fire. Nor was that all, for reports said that the Spaniards had filled the channel with fields of torpedoes.

Somewhere behind these formidable works lay the Spanish squadron, its officers waiting with guns loaded, no doubt, for the Yankees to come-the Yankees whose protected decks ranged from four and three-quarter inches thick on the Olympia, down to three-quarters of an inch on the Concord. It was a battle-ship job to hunt that Spanish squadron, and Dewey had not one armored ship, properly so called, to aid him, but he had a plenty of Harveyized grit in his own heart and among his crews, and he thought that might serve instead of battle-ships.

Calling his captains on board the flag-ship in Subig Bay, he gave them their orders, and then, at 6 o'clock, led the way down the coast at a speed that would bring him into the mouth of the wide channel of Manila Bay at midnight precisely. The other ships followed each other, with a hooded light on the taffrail of each for a guide to the one behind, the revenue cutter

and the transports bringing up the rear of the war-ship line.

In perfect silence the squadron drifted along through the night in a course almost due south until well below Corregidor Island, and then turned to the east and north, straight into the bay. The heights of the Spanish island loomed like a mountain in the night, but not a sign of alarm was seen there as the squadron turned into the bay until the firemen on the revenue cutter, just as she was turning, were obliged to stoke her fires. At that a blaze of flame and a shower of sparks arose from her funnel, for she was using the inflammable Japanese coal, and the sentries on the island saw the flare. A moment later they sent a rocket worming its way into the sky.

An answering rocket arose from El Fraile instantly, while signal lights flashed for miles along the south shore of the bay. Then the quick flash of a great gun was seen on El Fraile, and a big shell with a roaring scream came hunting our ships. Instantly the Boston returned the fire with an eight-inch shell, "just to tell them they had seen us, surely," as Gunner Evans said, while the Concord fired two of her six-inch guns, and the McCulloch, which carried a few six-pounders, fired four times.

That ended the firing on both sides, although the taffrail-lights must still have been within

plain view of the forts. Thereafter the ships slowly worked their way up the bay, with most of the men sleeping beside their guns until day broke, when all hands were once more called to duty, and hard bread, cold meat, and coffee were served to them as a morning "snack.'

The squadron at break of day lay seven miles due west from Manila city (see chart), and perhaps an equal distance northwest of the little sandy hook, marked Cavite-a sandy hook which partly encloses a small bight in the coast where were lying the ships of the Span

ish Admiral stretched out in a line that began behind the hook and led away toward Manila city for nearly a mile.

Not a Spanish ship had steam up-why should a Spanish admiral doubt the ability of the men in the forts down the bay to stop any Yankee squadron ? Moreover, there were the forts on Cavite Point with their beautiful Krupp rifles to aid the Spanish ships, as well as guard the naval arsenal behind them, while over to the east, seven miles away, on the outskirts of Manila, were still other forts with Krupp guns, and the Yankee squadron must needs get within their range if a fight were really intended. The Yankees had passed the forts below, without doubt, but

It was Sunday morning, May 1, 1898. At 5.15 o'clock precisely the Spaniards opened fire with a big gun in a Manila city fort. Our sailors saw a huge puff of smoke and then a big projectile dropped into the water a mile or so from the flag-ship Olympia. At this time Commodore Dewey was standing on the Olympia's bridge, while Fleet-Captain Benjamin P. Lamberton, Flag-Lieutenant Thomas M. Brumby, Executive Officer Corwin P. Rees, and the Navigator-Lieutenant C. G. Calkins were with him. Captain Gridley was obliged to go into the armored conning tower, lest a chance shell sweep the bridge and leave