steamers, and eventually accompany
them to Manila. Neither of these vessels was ever heard from again; it
is supposed that they went down after bravely defending themselves
against a Japanese cruiser. Their mission had meanwhile been rendered
useless, for the five mail-steamers had encountered the Japanese
torpedo-boats east of Mindanao three days before, and upon their
indignant refusal to haul down their flags and surrender, had been sunk
by several torpedoes. Only a few members of the crew had been fished up
by the Japanese.

As a reward for his decisive action in destroying the _Kanga Maru_, the
commander of the _Mindoro_ was ordered to try, with the assistance of
three other gunboats, to locate the commander of the cruiser squadron
somewhere in the neighborhood of Mindanao, probably to the southwest of
that island, in order to notify him of the outbreak of the war and to
hand him the order to return to Manila.

The gunboats started on their voyage at dawn. In order to conceal the
real reason for the expedition from the natives, it was openly declared
that they were only going to do sentry duty at the entrance to the Bay
of Manila. Each of the four vessels had been provided with a wireless
apparatus, which, however, was not to be installed until the ships were
under way, so that the four commanders might always be in touch with one
another, and with the cruiser squadron as well, even should the latter
be some distance away.

The next morning the gunboats found themselves in the Strait of Mindoro.
They must have passed the enemy's line of blockade unnoticed, under the
cover of darkness. At all events, they had seen nothing of the Japanese,
and concluded that the blockade before Manila must be pretty slack. On
leaving the Strait of Mindoro, the gunboats, proceeding abreast at small
distances from one another, sighted a steamer--apparently an
Englishman--crossing their course. They tried to signal to it, but no
sooner did the English vessel observe this, than she began to increase
her speed. It became clear at once that she was faster than the
gunboats, and unless, therefore, the latter wished to engage in a
useless chase, the hope of receiving news from the English captain had
to be abandoned. So the gunboats continued on their course--the only
ships to be seen on the wide expanse of inland sea.

In the afternoon a white steamer, going in the opposite direction, was
sighted. Opinions clashed as to whether it was a