The flag-ship was well into the bay, steaming at a four-knot speed, when from the smoke-stack of the little _McCulloch_ a column of sparks shot up high into the air. In the run her fires had fallen low, and it became necessary to replenish them. The firemen, perhaps fearing lest they should not be in at the death, were more energetic than prudent, and thus a signal was given to the sleepy garrison of Corregidor. [Illustration: U. S. S. OLYMPIA.] “Perhaps they will see us now,” the commodore remarked, quietly, as his attention was called to this indiscretion. A flash of light burst from the fort; there was a dull report, and in the air could be heard that peculiar singing and sighing of a flying projectile as a heavy missile passed over the _Olympia_ and the _Raleigh_. The garrison on Corregidor was awakened, but not until after the last vessel in that ominous procession had steamed past. It was the first gun in the battle of Manila Bay, and it neither worked harm nor caused alarm. Again and again in rapid succession came these flashes of light, dull reports, and sinister hummings in the air, before the American fleet gave heed that this signal to heave to had been heard. Then a 4-inch shell was sent from the _Concord_ directly inside of the fortification, where it exploded. The _Raleigh_ and the _Boston_ each threw a shell by way of salute, and then all was silent. The channel, which had been thickly mined, according to the Spanish reports, was passed in safety, and the fleet, looking so unsubstantial in the darkness, had yet to meet the mines in the bay, as well as the Spanish fleet, which all knew was lying somewhere near about the city. On the forward bridge of the _Olympia_ stood Commodore Dewey, his chief of staff, Commander Lamberton, Lieutenant Rees, Lieutenant Calkins, and an insurgent Filippino, who had volunteered as pilot. In the conning-tower was Captain Gridley, who, much against his will, was forced to take up his position in that partially sheltered place because the commander of the fleet was not willing to take the chances that all the chief officers of the ship should be exposed to death on the bridge. The word was given to “slow down,” and the speed of the big ships decreased until they had barely steerageway. The men were allowed to sleep beside their guns. The moon had set, the darkness and the silence was almost profound, until suddenly day broke, as it does in the tropics, like unto a flash of light, and all that bay, with its fighting-machines in readiness for the first signal, was disclosed to view. From the masthead of the American vessels rose tiny balls of bunting, and then were broken out, disclosing the broad folds of the stars and stripes. Cavite was hardly more than five miles ahead, and beyond, the city of Manila.