s.
It was indeed nasty weather.

Captain Farlow had taken up his stand on the upper conning-tower of the
_Connecticut_ the better to examine the horizon with his glass, but a
thick curtain of rain rendered it almost invisible.

"Nothing to be seen of our cruisers," he said to the navigating officer
of the squadron, "this is disgusting weather for maneuvers."

Then he gave the command to telephone across to the two leading cruisers
_California_ and _Colorado_ and ask if, on account of the thick weather,
they required the assistance of two small cruisers in order to be
sufficiently protected against the yellow fleet?

The commander of the _California_ answered in the affirmative and asked
that the three destroyers in the van, which had all they could do to
maintain their course in such a heavy sea, and were therefore of little
use in their present position, be recalled and replaced by two cruisers.

The admiral recalled the three destroyers by a wireless signal and
ordered them to take up their position in the rear beside the other
three destroyers and to assist in protecting the rear of the squadron.
At the same time he strengthened his front line by sending the cruisers
_Galveston_ and _Chattanooga_, which had formed the port and starboard
flank, respectively, to the van. His advance, consisting now of the two
last-named cruisers and the two armored cruisers, proceeded in a flat
wedge formation, while the cruiser _Denver_ to starboard and the
_Cleveland_ to port, at a distance of three knots from the squadron,
established the connection between the van and the rather dubious
rear-guard of destroyers, which could scarcely do much in such weather.

The _Galveston_ and _Chattanooga_, both pouring forth clouds of smoke,
quickly assumed their positions at the head of the line.

Captain Farlow paced restlessly up and down the bridge in his oilskins.
"I suppose this is the last remnant of the spring storms," he said to
his navigating officer, "but it's a good-sized one. If we didn't have a
fairly good formation the yellow fleet could play us a nasty trick by
taking us by surprise in such weather."

"A wireless message from the cruiser _California_," said a lieutenant,
handing it to the captain, who read:

"_Chattanooga_ and _Galveston_ stationed on right and left flanks of
advance guard; _Denver_ and _Cleveland_ establish connection between
latter and squadron. No sign of yellow fleet."

Just then an orderly appeare