ith his picturesque robber
band. One day, under a flag of truce, he came to town and discussed the
military situation with the authorities. He made one very astonishing
claim, namely, that he had no animosity against the Americans, and
was not seeking a fight, meaning, doubtless, he would rather run than
fight, any day, but that he felt remaining in permanent armed protest,
passive though it was, sufficed to show the world his attitude toward
our military occupation of the Philippines. The spectacle of a large
number of well armed men who would not fight in any circumstances has
the merit of novelty. It sounds like a Gilbert and Sullivan opera. But
Capistrano evidently had no sense of humour, and until surrendering,
he and his followers kept well out of the way of the American army,
lest they be disturbed in pursuing the gentle art of peace.

Socially, we enjoyed Cagayan to the utmost, and if fault could be
found with our numerous visits there, it was that we had too good a
time, so good that the undoubted local interest of the place quite
faded into insignificance beside its purely social side. There were
luncheons and dinners given us on shore; and dinners and luncheons
given by us on the ship; there was a delightful tea on the gunboat,
and a concert by the infantry band in our honour; there were horseback
rides for those who cared for them, though all went well armed,
as the roads around Cagayan were then in hostile territory; while
the shooting for the men was exceptionally good, though this was not
discovered until our last visit to Cagayan, when the quartermaster,
after a half day's outing, returned with a prodigious string of ducks.

But while we aristocrats of the _Burnside_ idled away the sunlit hours,
the workers had landed the cable, put up an office in the town, and run
a line on iron poles from the wharf to the cable station; the testing
department, meanwhile, turning over cable on the ship, faults having
developed which were not located for several days. But on the morning
of January 3d all was considered ready for the return trip to Iligan.

Before leaving, two buoys were swung overboard with a block and tackle
arrangement, one five miles north and the other ten or fifteen miles in
the same direction, small lamps being placed on each, thus converting
them into temporary lighthouses should we return to Cagayan after
dark, or in the event of our return by daylight, the buoys themselves,
looming up big and