the same Cross. The morning of
the next day was but a repetition of the morning before, even to the
early rising, for at our breakfast hour the moon had not yet turned
out her light, nor were the stars a whit less brilliant than when
we went to bed. "It's too early for the morning to be well aired,"
one of our cable experts was wont to whimsically complain at these
daybreak gatherings, but by the time we had finished breakfast the
night would have whitened into dawn, and before most people were
astir an incredible amount of work had been accomplished by that
little band of men, seemingly inured to fatigue and the loss of sleep.

All that morning on the way to Oroquieta the shore end of the cable
was paid out of the tank and coiled in the hold ready for instant use
when we should reach our destination. The music of the cable on the
drum, the voice of some one in authority calling "_Cobra--cobra_,"
to the natives in the tank, and their monotonous "_Sigi do--sigi
do_," half-sung, half-chanted, seemed an integral part of the day's
beauty. Even the natives themselves, guiding the heavy, unwieldy,
treacherous cable round and round in the water-soaked tank, that only
one turn should be lifted at a time, grinned affably and perspiringly
at those of us peering over the railing at them--grimy tar-stained
figures that they were, the sunlight bringing their faces out in
strong relief against the dark backgound.

That afternoon we anchored off Oroquieta, but the surf was so heavy
that it was felt unsafe to send one of the small boats ashore,
especially as no one knew the location of the landing. Strangely
enough, no boats of any kind came out to the ship, not even a
native _banca_, so that our intercourse with Oroquieta was purely
telescopic. Through our good lens we saw many a soldier, field-glass in
hand, looking wistfully in our direction. Other soldiers walked up and
down the beach on sentry duty, still others seemed to be standing guard
over a small drove of horses in a palm grove a little to the right of
the principal buildings, while many more lounged lazily on the broad
steps of the church, or, leaning out of the windows of the _tribunal_,
evidently used as a barracks, stared stolidly at the strange ship in
the harbour. That every man wore side-arms seemed an indication the
rebels were still rampant on the northern coast of Mindanao, and the
fact of numberless native boats passing by with a pharisaical lack
of interest in