itizens of
the place, were marched down the principal street with great pomp and
ceremony to where a _fiesta_ in honour of the great American captain
was in progress. There the people, in gala-attire, clapped their hands
and called "_Viva, viva_," at their discomfited enemy, and later in
the day a great banquet would be given, at which the leading citizens
threw oral bouquets at their disgusted prisoner, while the soldiers
walked disconsolately around the little village they had expected
to conquer. Had fate not willed it otherwise the captain might have
rendered such distinguished service as would have merited at least
recognition from Congress, perhaps a medal of honour, or even the star
of a brigadier; while now all he can expect from a grateful country
is some slight acknowledgment of his undoubted heroism in partaking
of the food at the natives banquets, surely an intrepid performance!

After an eight hours' run from Ormoc we reached Cebu, remaining there
just long enough to put ashore some iron poles for the construction
of a cross-country line to Oslob, Cebu, where it was intended to land
the cable from Dumaguete; then sailed for Misamis, where we completed
the ill-fated Lintogup line, finding that the break in the cable was
caused by the _Disgrace's_ propeller on that memorable trip in January.

The day was wet, and raw, and gray, and we could see the beach strewn
with trees and timber, the thatched roof of a bamboo house, and all
the aftermath of a terrible storm that had swept over the islands five
days before, and of which we, in the safe shelter of Cebu's harbour,
were ignorant. It was here we were told by cable that the line from
Iligan to Cagayan had not been working since the storm had torn up
the wharf and beach at the former place a week before, so the next
morning we sailed for Iligan again, feeling as blue as the day itself.

Arriving off our destination some three hours later, a party, shivering
in the misty rain, was sent ashore to ascertain the trouble. After
careful tests it was found to have been caused by a submarine landslide
which had crushed a part of the cable, laid by necessity on a steep
hill under water.

So for a whole day we grappled there near Iligan, "fishing for
bights," as the punster on board called it, and surely even Izaak
Walton's piscatorial patience would have been tried on this fishing
trip. Once after having successfully hooked the cable, it broke as we
were drawing it i