and at a quarter before eight the commodore, erroneously informed that ammunition for the 5-inch guns was running short, ran up the signals to cease firing and follow the flag-ship, so that he might consult with his captains, and if needful redistribute the ammunition. Something quite new and unheard-of, this stopping in the middle of a great naval action for any purpose. It is said that the American sailors, before they understood the meaning of it all, began to grumble at not being allowed to go on and finish up their task. The Spaniards, battered as they were, set up a cheer as they saw their foe withdraw to the other side of the bay, and sundry telegrams flew over the cable to Madrid saying that the Spanish fire had "forced the American ships to manoeuvre" (the Spanish version of the skillful evolutions which had helped so much the American fighting), and that the enemy had now retreated to land their dead and wounded. Very characteristic and worthy of note these messages to Spain-no longer able to recognize facts, living among lies and delusions, and quite lost to that veracity of mind so essential, as Carlyle has pointed out, to the successful existence of men and nations. The evolutions of the American fleet were all planned beforehand; there were no dead and wounded, as the Americans found, not a little to their own. astonishment, when the reports were made after this first round, and although several of the ships had been hit, no injury in the least serious had been done to any of them. Moreover, Commodore Dewey, as at the start, knew just what he meant to do. The Spanish fleet could not possibly escape. It had been disabled. and crippled in the first round, but it still held the har

bor, and the land batteries remained to be dealt with. The orders were to "capture or destroy." There must be none left; none must escape to harass future operations, or to try to cross the Pacific and alarm and perhaps attack the western coast of the United States. The work demanded could be most surely finished and made perfect if the men upon whom everything depended were kept in the best possible condition. So, after the withdrawal to the other side of the bay, there was a good rest for all the crews, a hearty breakfast eaten quite at leisure, a cleaning of decks and turrets, an examination of all the guns, a fresh supply of ammunition brought up, and then, at a quarter before eleven, after three hours thus occupied, up went the signals, the shrill whistles of the boatswains rang out, and off the fleet went for the second and last assault.

This time the work was to be more direct. Again. the fleet swung round in front of Manila, and again it steamed down toward Cavité, the Baltimore in the lead. On it went, and first one Spanish shell, then another, struck the Baltimore, and men were wounded by the splinters. Still silence on the American ship, and no reply to the Spanish fire until at last the range was less than three thousand yards. Then the Baltimore poured her broadside into the Reina Cristina, whence the admiral had transferred his flag to the Isla de Cuba, and the former flag-ship, fatally wounded in the duel with the Olympia, went to pieces under the fierce fire of her new antagonist. Her magazines blew up, and she sank. Then the Baltimore turned on the Don Juan de Austria, and was joined by the Olympia and Raleigh. While the Spanish ship quivered under the heavy fire, a shell

from the Raleigh pierced her magazine and she blew up, tearing off also the upper works of a gunboat, which was then destroyed by the Petrel. The General Lezo, another gunboat, was driven ashore by the Concord and burned, the Velasco went down before the Boston, the burning Castilla was scuttled, and the Don Antonio de Ulloa, the last ship which was able to fight, sank under the fire of the Baltimore with her flag nailed to the mast. Meantime the Petrel, running into shoal water, set on fire and destroyed the Marques del Duero, Don Juan de Austria, Isla de Cuba, Isla de Luzon, and General Lezo. Just before this, Admiral Montojo, on his new flag-ship, the Isla de Cuba, with his guns silenced and his fleet gone, had run the gunboat ashore, hauled down his flag, left his vessel to its fate, and escaped to Manila. Thus the Spanish fleet was completely destroyed; but the shore batteries continued to fire, and one after another of them had to be silenced, which was done as fast as the American ships could close in upon them. They held out longest at Cavité, but a last and well-placed shell entered the arsenal magazine, a terrific explosion followed, the batteries all fell silent, and the white flag went up on the citadel. The battle of Manila had been fought and won.

The next day the fleet went into Cavité, and a landing party destroyed the batteries. On May 3 the forts on Corregidor, at the entrance of the harbor, surrendered to the Raleigh and Baltimore. At Cavité there was an effort to pretend that no white flag had been run up, and some cheap falsehood was indulged in, but facts were a little too strong even for Spaniards. The Spanish commander ran up the white flag again before