"What made her fall overboard, Captain?" asked the lady—meaning Mrs. Belgrave this time, and not the siamang.
"The fore topgallant halliard was not made fast to the cleat, and when it ran out, it jerked her from it," replied the commander. "It ought not to have been loose, and there is a bit of discipline for some jack-tar."
The ship went along as before; and when the passengers turned out the next morning Manila was in sight, and not five miles distant.
CHAPTER XXIX
GOING ON SHORE IN MANILA
The ship had slowed down in the afternoon, and reached the entrance of Manila Bay about eight bells, or four o'clock in the morning. At the Boca Grande she had taken a pilot; but she still had twenty-five miles to run. She had come in by the larger of the two passages, formed by a group of islands, both of which are called "mouths" (bocas); and the smaller of them is the Boca Chica. The Blanche had followed the example of the Guardian-Mother in slowing down, and had taken a pilot at about the same time.
The passengers had asked the steward on watch in the cabin to call them at half-past five, and they were all on deck as soon as it was light enough for them to see the shore clearly. But the bay is so large that they could make out the shores only ahead of the ship. They could see the mountains in the distance, with a lower stretch of land between them and the low ground of the shore. All that they could observe was tropical verdure, with lofty palms on every hand. The low ground, covered with water in the rainy season, was planted with rice-fields.
The ladies declared that the view was lovely; and certainly it presented variety enough, with the high lands in the background, and the rich and luxuriant growth near the bay. The pilot was a Spaniard who could speak a little English; and the commander ordered him to bring the ship to anchor at a safe place, as near as convenient off the end of the two piers at the mouth of Pasig. The Blanche took a position abreast of her, off the fort, while the first was off the lighthouse.