Many had told me at Cape Town that, in their opinion, war was inevitable, and they said: "The Spaniard will get you! The Spaniard will get you!" To all this I could only say that, even so, he would not get much.

Even in the fever-heat over the disaster to the _Maine_ I did not think there would be war; but I am no politician.

Indeed, I had hardly given the matter a serious thought when, on the 14th of May, just north of the equator, and near the longitude of the river Amazon, I saw first a mast, with the Stars and Stripes floating from it, rising astern as if poked up out of the sea, and then rapidly appearing on the horizon, like a citadel, the _Oregon!_ As she came near I saw that the great ship was flying the signals "C B T," which read, "Are there any men-of-war about ?" Right under these flags, and larger than the _Spray's_ mainsail, so it appeared, was the yellowest Spanish flag I ever saw.

It gave me nightmare some time after when I reflected on it in my dreams.
[Illustration: The _Spray_ passed by the _Oregon_.] I did not make out the _Oregon's_ signals till she passed ahead, where I could read them better, for she was two miles away, and I had no binoculars.

When I had read her flags I hoisted the signal "No," for I had not seen any Spanish men-of-war; I had not been looking for any.
My final signal, "Let us keep together for mutual protection," Captain Clark did not seem to regard as necessary.