Lieutenant “Jack” Gridley, ever popular with the officers and men, in whose company the writer had served, cheerfully announced the proceedings of the programme. It was far from our thoughts that night that this brave son of the captain of the historic _Olympia_, after braving the dangers of war, must suffer the wiles of the grim reaper in peace, in the terrible explosion aboard the battleship _Missouri_. About midnight of the second day, while cruising along the coast of Samar, under the cover of darkness, signal-lights could be seen dimly burning at points of vantage. With the aid of night binoculars a camp of insurgents was discovered bivouacked along the side of the mountains, several miles up the coast from Catabalogan. A powerful search-light thrown on this scene made the enemy clearly visible, and great activity could be seen among the insurgents, as if startled by impending danger. With great accuracy of aim an eight-inch shell was dropped in the camp; this was followed by a bombardment of the coast, in which the broadside batteries flashed their deadly munitions of war, creating terrible havoc and demoralizing the enemy. Dropping anchor in the harbor of Catabalogan, the cruiser was met by the _Zafiro_, which conveyed the battalion to Balangiga, the scene of the slaughter of the Ninth. The following day the sad news of the death of Midshipman Noya reached the _New York_, being the first naval officer killed in the Samar campaign. Cadet Noya was of the class of 1900, Annapolis Academy; his death was attributed largely to the fact of his having worn a white uniform on shore. At about five o’clock in the evening of October 27, 1901, accompanied by half a dozen sailors, he went ashore at Nippa-Nippa near the bay to look for suspected smugglers. Sending four of the men into the town, he remained on the beach while the two men in the boat retired about two hundred yards from shore. His white uniform evidently attracted attention, and unseen by him a dozen bolo-men crept upon the officer; there was a noiseless rush, he was felled with a bolo wound and his pistol taken, with which they shot him. The men in the boat, hearing his cry, leaped overboard and half waded, half swam to his rescue; they reached him while he was still conscious. “Men, be very careful; they have taken my revolver,” he murmured, and died. The remains were placed in the boat (the others having returned) and taken to Catabalogan. A sailor had wig-wagged across the bay, and as the body arrived at the dock it was met by a cortege consisting of General Smith, Admiral Rodgers, Chaplain Chidwick, and others.