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102 and that affairs in the Philippines were more than interesting.

"The excitement at Manila is growing every day," said the captain of the Starlight. "I feel certain there will be a bloody war there before many months are over. I don't see how you can do any business there at present."

"I must look to some matters," I answered, and Dan said the same.

The Starlight was bound for Manila with a mixed cargo consigned to a Spanish firm, so Captain Mason considered himself fairly safe for the time being, as the Spaniards were strong in the town and had thus far kept the insurgents at bay. He readily agreed to take us with him, knowing the firm to which my father belonged very well.

We soon learned that both Tom Dawson and Matt Gory had shipped temporarily on the schooner, the captain being somewhat short of hands, several being sick with scurvy. An hour after I was on board the Starlight was moving down the coast to Manila Bay, and I was taking it easy in a hammock, satisfied that, for a few days, at least, my troubles were at an end.

The run to Manila proved without incident worthy of mention. The weather was ideal and two days after leaving Subig Bay we sailed past the grim fortress on Corregidor Island, through