egraph office being established on the principal street; and a
trench completed by the shore end party; while much overhauling
of the cable in the tanks, and daily drills given to the Signal
Corps soldiers in cable telegraphy and the care of the instruments
kept those aboard ship busy. Tic--tack, clic--clack, went the little
telegraph instrument at one end of the quarter-deck, and clic--clack,
tic--tack answered an instrument at the other end, hour after hour
through the long, warm mornings, and the longer, warmer afternoons.

On New Year's eve, several officers from the fort saw the century
in with those of us remaining on the _Burnside_, but the time
passed so pleasantly that no one remembered the auspicious occasion
until the sound of sharp firing from the shore broke in upon our
conversation. The jangling of church bells followed, and one of the
shore officers, usually a very cool and self-contained young fellow,
sprang to his feet, exclaiming as he buckled on his revolver, "Great
heavens! An attack on the town and I not there. May I have a ship's
boat at once?" But even as he spoke the _Burnside's_ whistle blew a
great blast, and several shots from the ship answered those on shore,
every man with a revolver, shotgun, or rifle adding his quota of
noise to the general hubbub.

And so it was the new century came to Mindanao, some thirteen hours
ahead of its advent in New York or Washington. Before eight bells
had ceased striking a search-light greeting was sent to our friends
at Lintogup, but they, being tired after a hard day's work, slept
supinely on, unaware of our good wishes or the fact that a fine young
century had been born to the old, old world.

I am sorry to relate that the next day a court-martial was held in
Misamis to try the irrepressible guard who, in a burst of enthusiasm
due to their first taste of twentieth century air, had fired off their
rifles. The soldiers were sentenced rather heavily, rifle-shots in a
Philippine town at that time being productive of dire results. Indeed,
the shrill warning of the church bells and scattered shots in a
Mindanao village meant one thing only, an uprising in the town or
an attack from the outside, the incoming of a new century being
of far less importance than the preservation of order and quiet in
the garrison, and no cognizance could be taken of a new year which
must be ushered in with a clang of firearms or the jangle of church
bells--shrill heralds of disaste