f the situation, published
severally by Jaramillo and Montero, sorely puzzled the natives. The
Spaniards were still in undisturbed possession of Zamboanga for over
four months after Montero's arrival, notwithstanding the fact that
the American warship _Boston_ called at the port and left the same
day and that an officer came ashore without the least objection
or consternation on the part of the Spaniards. The orange-and-red
flag still floated over the Fortress del Pilar, and, so far as the
Zamboanguenos could ascertain, it looked as if the Spaniards were
going to remain. They therefore clamoured more loudly than ever for
the distribution of arms, which this time Montero positively refused,
for the Spaniards had never for a moment been deceived as to the real
intentions of the Zamboanguenos. On the other hand, by this time,
their inoffensive delusion of the people had lost its virtue, and
natives and Spaniards thenceforth became open enemies. After the
visit of the _Boston_ the fighting population, no longer able to
conceal their disappointment, threw off the mask, quitted the town,
cut off the water-supply which came from the mountains, in collusion
with the mutinied crews seized the firearms on board the Spanish
gunboats lying in the harbour, and prepared for war against their
old masters. The Spaniards immediately compelled the non-combatant
townspeople and the Chinese to throw up earthworks for mounting
artillery and dig trenches for defence against the rebels. The gunboat
_Alava_ co-operated by firing shells into the rebel camp situated
just outside the town. The rebels made two unsuccessful assaults,
and in the second attack General Montero was mortally wounded by a
rifle-shot. On May 23 the S.S. _Leon XIII._ arrived; the Spaniards
silently embarked for Manila with their dying general, who succumbed
during the voyage, and Zamboanga, one-fourth of which the defenders
had destroyed by fire, was occupied by the rebels. During the siege
the Filipinos, true to their instincts, had split up into two rival
factions headed by Vicente Alvarez and Isidoro Midel respectively,
and in the interval between the first and second assault on the town
these party chiefs had fought out their own quarrel, Midel claiming to
have been the victor. Nevertheless, the popular favourite was Vicente
Alvarez, known as the _Tamagun Datto_ (high chief), who became the
chosen president of the Zamboanga revolutionary government established
immediat
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