Here there were forts to pass; and the ships were slowed up. Dewey was ready to fight with ships, but he did not want to fight with forts, so he waited for darkness to come before going in. He thought that he might then pass these forts without being seen by the men in them.
They waited until near midnight, steaming slowly along until they came to the entrance to the bay. The moon was in the sky, but gray clouds hid its light. They could see the two dark headlands of the harbor's mouth rising and, between them, a small, low island. On this island were the forts which they had to pass.
As they came near, all the lights on the ships were put out or hidden, except a small electric light at the stern of each ship, for the next one to see and follow.
Steam was put on, and the ships glided swiftly and silently in, like shadows in the darkness. All was silent in the Spanish forts. The sentinels seemed fast asleep.
Some of the ships had passed before the Spaniards waked up. Then a rocket shot up into the air, and there came a deep boom and a flash of flame. A shell went whizzing through the darkness over the ships and plunged into the water beyond.
Some shots were fired back, but in a few minutes it was all over and Dewey's squadron was safe in Manila Bay. The gallant American sailors had made their way into the lion's den.
The Bay of Manila is a splendid body of water, running many miles into the land. The City of Manila is about twenty miles from the harbor's mouth, and the ships had to go far in before its distant lights were seen, gleaming like faint stars near the earth.
But it was not the city Dewey was after. He was seeking the Spanish fleet. When the dawn came, and the sun rose behind the city, he saw sails gleaming in its light. But these were merchant vessels, not the warships he had come so far to find.
The keen eyes of the commodore soon saw the ships he was after. There they lay, across the mouth of the little bay of Cavite, south of the city, a group of ships-of-war, nine or ten in number.
This brings us to the beginning of the great naval battle of the war. Let us stop now and take a look around. If you had been there I know what you would have said. You would have said that the Americans were sure to win, for they had the biggest ships and the best guns. Yes, but you must remember that the Spaniards were at home, while the Americans were not; and that makes a great difference. If they had met out on the open sea Dewey would have had the best of the game. But here were the Spanish ships drawn up in a line across a narrow passage, with a fort on the right and a fort on the left, and with dynamite mines under the water. And they knew all about the distances and soundings and should have known just how to aim their guns so as to hit a mark at any distance. All this the Americans knew nothing about.