Almost before the startled Spaniards knew of his coming he had safely passed their outer line of defences, and was advancing upon their anchored fleet of iron-clad cruisers.

An hour later he had completely destroyed it, silenced the shore batteries, and held the proud city of Manila at his mercy.

All this he had done without the loss of a man or material damage to his ships, an exploit so incredible that at first the world refused to believe it.
To Ridge Norris, who had spent a week in the Philippines less than a year before, the whole affair was of intense interest, and he bitterly regretted not having remained in the Far East that he might have participated in that glorious fight.
"I would gladly have shipped as a sailor on the _Olympia_ if I had only known what was in store for her!" he exclaimed; "but a chance like that, once thrown away, never seems to be offered again." "But, my boy, it is better now," said Mrs.Norris, with a triumphant smile.

"Then you would have been only a common seaman; one week ago you would have enlisted as a common soldier.

Now you may go as an officer--what you will call a lieutenant--with the chance soon to become a captain, and perhaps a general.