Page:Under Dewey at Manila.djvu/268

236 was a question to be carefully considered, and why my young readers will soon learn.

As Striker had mentioned, the bay was shaped somewhat like the head of a camel, with the neck of the animal forming the entrance to the waters. Manila was situated twenty-nine miles from this entrance, and eight miles out from the city was a long, low neck of land, at the extremity of which stood Fort Cavite, an old but massive stronghold, mounting sufficient pieces to cover the shipping in front of Manila proper.

Almost in the centre of the entrance to Manila Bay lay Corregidor Island, with a smaller island beside it. Corregidor Island was also fortified, with guns well able to sweep the channels on both sides. More than this, it was reported that the entrance to the bay was strongly mined by what are known as contact mines; that is, mines which will explode the moment a ship comes into contact with them. What a marine mine can do has already been only too well illustrated in the case of the ill-fated Maine.

The question then was, Should the squadron risk an attempt to slip into the bay, past Corregidor Island, and past the hidden mines? It took brave men to decide to do this, but the commodore and his