The next two days, the 24th and 25th, were consumed in accomplishing the seventy-two miles of river navigation, in the face of a heavy, strong current. The _Petrita_ and _Vixen_ did most of the towing. Reaching the famous “Devil’s Turn,” at 2 P. M., and finding a battery in view, Perry ordered a landing party ashore, which speedily entered the deserted fort and spiked the four twenty-four pound cannon found there. The city was reached at 3 P. M. Anchoring the vessels in line ahead, at a distance of one hundred and fifty yards, so as to command the principal streets, Perry summoned the city to surrender, threatening to open fire in case of refusal. The governor declining with defiance, returned answer, “Fire as soon as you please.” To give a mild taste of what bombardment might mean, Perry ordered Commander Sands to let the _Vixen’s_ guns be trained on the flag-staff of the fort. So accurate was the fire, that, of the three shots, one cut the pole and the flag fell. This was taken by the fleet as the sign of surrender. A Mexican officer soon after came off, begging that the hospitals might be spared. Perry at once granted the prayer. By this time, it was nearly five o’clock and possibly time to take the fort. As Perry believed in using the men while their war-blood was hot, he ordered Captain Forrest, a brave but deliberate man, to land his two hundred marines and take the fort, the main body of the military having left the town. While the men were forming, impatiently awaiting the order to advance, they had to stand under an irregular fire of musketry from the chapparal. Seeing that it was late, and the risk too great for the prize, Perry, ordering the men on board again, saved his marines for the morrow. At daylight of the 26th, some Mexicans, who had sneaked as near the flotilla as possible, opened a sharp fire on our men. The cannon were at once trained and kept busy in brushing away these “ground-spiders,” as the Japanese would call such ambuscaders. “Pomegranate shot,” to use a term from the same language, for shrapnel, were freely used. The display of a white flag from the city shore stopped the firing, and the Commodore received a petition from the foreign consuls and inhabitants that the town should be spared. He granted the petition, adding that his only desire was to fight soldiers and not non-combatants. Out of pure feelings of humanity, Perry spared the city though there was much to irritate him. The Mexican regulars and armed peasants were still in or near the city, posted in military works or strong buildings of brick or stone, and reached only by the artillery of the flotilla. Yet the governor, while allowing war on our vessels, would not permit the people to leave the municipal limits; and so the women and children, crouched in the cellars, while the sneaking soldiers kept up their fusillade. Probably most of those who had been killed or wounded were peaceable inhabitants.