. He couldn't imagine what the launch from a Japanese warship
could be doing here at dawn before the Golden Gate fortifications, and
thinking that the fact would be likely to be of interest to the
commander of the fort, he sent him the following wireless message: "Have
just met launch of a Japanese warship off Seal-Rocks; what does it
mean?"

This information alarmed the garrison at Winfield Scott, and the men at
once received orders to man the guns. Then they waited breathlessly to
see what would happen next.

An inquiry sent by wireless to the other stations remained unanswered,
because these were already in the hands of the Japanese, whose operators
were not quick-witted enough to send back a reassuring answer. As the
commander of the fort received no answer, he became suspicious, and
these suspicions were soon justified when a number of soldiers were
discovered trying to force their way into the narrow land entrance of
the fort. A few shots fired during the first bayonet assault and the
bullets landing within the fort showed that it was a serious matter.
Besides, a puff of wind dispersed the fog for a few seconds just then,
and the shadowy silhouettes of several large ships became visible.
Without a moment's hesitation the commander of Winfield Scott ordered
the men to open fire on them from the heavy guns. These were the shots
that had been heard at the San Francisco Post Office and Tom was quite
right in thinking that he heard the rattle of musketry directly
afterwards.

But with the small stock of ammunition doled out to the coast defenses
in times of peace--there were plenty of blank cartridges for salutes--it
was impossible to hold Winfield Scott. The fort sent out a few dozen
shells into the fog pretty blindly, and, as a matter of fact, they hit
nothing. Then began the hopeless battle between the garrison and the
Japanese machine-guns, and although the shots from the latter were
powerless to affect the walls and the armor-plating, still they worked
havoc among the men. And the ammunition of the Americans disappeared
even more quickly than their men, so that when at ten o'clock two
Japanese regiments undertook to capture the fort by storm, the last
defender fell with practically the last cartridge. Then the Rising Sun
of Dai Nippon was substituted on the flagstaff of Winfield Scott for
the Stars and Stripes.

In the city itself small Japanese guards were posted at the railway
station, the Post Office and t