contest before it could fire
a single shot, and now it lay broadside to the enemy, and utterly at the
latter's mercy. In a few minutes the _Callao_ sank, her flags waving.
Almost directly afterwards another boat shared her fate. The other two
gunboats continued on their course, the quickly descending darkness
making them a more difficult target for the enemy. Suddenly a lantern
signal informed the commander of the _Mindoro_ that the third ship had
become disabled through some damage to the engines. Parrington at once
ordered the gunboat to be run ashore on the island of Mindoro and blown
up during the night. Then he was compelled to leave the last of his
comrades to its fate. His wireless apparatus had felt disturbances,
evidently caused by the enemy's warning to the ships blockading Manila,
so that his chances of entering the harbor unmolested appeared
exceedingly slim.

The Japanese cruiser ceased firing as it grew darker, but curiously
enough had made no use whatever of her searchlights. Only the flying
sparks from her funnel enabled the _Mindoro_ to follow the course of the
hostile vessel, which soon passed the gunboat. Either the enemy thought
that all four American ships had been destroyed or else they didn't
think it worth while to worry about a disabled little gunboat. At all
events, this carelessness or mistake on the part of the enemy proved the
salvation of the _Mindoro_. During the night she struck a northwesterly
course, so as to try to gain an entrance to the Bay of Manila from the
north at daybreak, depending on the batteries of Corregidor to assist
her in the attempt. Once during the night the _Mindoro_ almost collided
with one of the enemy's blockading ships, which was traveling with
shaded lights, but she passed by unnoticed and gained an entrance at the
north of the bay at dawn, while the batteries on the high, rocky
terraces of Corregidor, with their long-range guns, kept the enemy at a
distance. It was now ascertained that the Japanese blockading fleet
consisted only of ships belonging to the merchant service, armed with a
few guns, and of the old, unprotected cruiser _Takatshio_, which had had
the encounter with the gunboats. The bold expedition of the latter had
cleared up the situation in so far that it was now pretty certain that
the entire American cruiser squadron had been destroyed or disabled, and
that Manila was therefore entirely cut off from the sea.

The batteries at Corregidor now exp