ake place within the
next fortnight) to gain an entrance through the Golden Gate, and the
Japanese felt certain that the editor would not make inquiries at the
last moment as to the veracity of this report, which was not at all in
accord with previous arrangements, but would print it as it was, more
especially as it was signed by their usual correspondent.

Thus the Japanese had reason to hope that no immediate suspicions would
be aroused by the appearance of warships in the Bay of San Francisco.
And so it turned out. The five Japanese armored cruisers and the torpedo
flotilla, which were to surprise and destroy the naval station and the
docks, were able to cross the entire bay under cover of the fog without
being recognized and to occupy the docks and the arsenal. Four
mortar-boats threatened Point Bonita and Lime Point, till they both
surrendered.

What could the two cruisers _New York_ and _Brooklyn_, lying in dock for
repairs, do without a single ball-cartridge on board? What was the good
of the deck guards using up their cartridges before the red flag of
Nippon was hoisted above the Stars and Stripes?

It is true there was a fight at one spot--out at Winfield Scott.
Although the fog proved of great assistance to the Japanese in a hundred
cases, the stipulated signal for attack, that is, the whistle of the
Japanese auxiliary cruiser _Pelung Maru_, for example, being taken for a
fog-signal, nevertheless an annoying surprise awaited the enemy
elsewhere.

A steamer headed towards the Golden Gate in the wake of the _Pelung
Maru_ heard the roar of the sealions, and as this showed how near they
were to the cliffs, the vessel dropped anchor and instead of blowing its
whistle ordered the ship's bell to be rung. This was heard by the
_Pelung Maru_ a short distance ahead and interpreted as a sign that
something had occurred to disturb the plan of attack. A steamlaunch was
therefore sent out to look for the anchored ship.

The latter was the German steamer _Siegismund_, whose captain, standing
on the bridge, suddenly saw a dripping little launch approaching with
its flag trailing behind it in the water. And just as in every cleverly
arranged plan one stupid oversight is apt to occur so it happened now.
The launch carried the Japanese flag and the lieutenant at the helm
called to the _Siegismund_ in Japanese. As they were directly before the
guns of the American batteries, the German captain didn't know what to
make of it