ible to throw it
into the water.

How the fire originated is a mystery. In the storehouse were piled
hundreds of boxes of ammunition, each containing one thousand cartridges.
Had the cartridges in the burning box exploded, a great loss of life might
have resulted, as there were at least a score of soldiers working in and
around the building.

At Madrid the Spanish Minister of Marine issued orders that every one
connected with the admiralty must abstain from giving information of any
kind regarding naval affairs.

General Blanco in Havana published an order prohibiting foreign newspaper
correspondents from remaining in Cuba, under the penalty of being treated
as spies.

_June 6._ As is told in that chapter relating to Santiago de Cuba,
American troops were landed a few miles east of the city, at a place known
as Aguadores; the forts at the entrance of Santiago Harbour were
bombarded.

The Navy Department made public a cablegram from Admiral Dewey:

"The insurgents are acting energetically in the province of Cavite. During
the past week they have won several victories, and have taken prisoners
about eighteen hundred men and fifty officers of the Spanish troops, not
natives. The arsenal of Cavite is being prepared for occupation by United
States troops on the arrival of the transports."

Cablegrams from Hongkong announced that the insurgents had cut the railway
lines and were closing in on Manila. Frequent actions between Aguinaldo's
forces and the Spaniards had taken place, and the foreign residents were
making all haste to leave the city. A proclamation issued by the insurgent
chief points to a desire to set up a native administration in the
Philippines under an American protectorate. Aguinaldo, with an advisory
council, would hold the dictatorship until the conquest of the islands,
and would then establish a republican assembly.

_June 7._ The monitor _Monterey_ and the collier _Brutus_ sailed from San
Francisco for Manila. The double-turreted monitor _Monadnock_ has been
ordered to set out for the same port within ten days.

_June 9._ The Spanish bark _Maria Dolores_, laden with coal and patent
fuel, was captured by the cruiser _Minneapolis_ twelve miles off San Juan
de Porto Rico.

_June 10._ A battalion of marines was landed in the harbour of Guantanamo,
forty miles east of Santiago.(3)

A blockhouse at Daiquiri shelled by the transport steamer _Panther_.(4)

_June 11-12._ Attack upon American marines