Chapter I

Mr. Pratt's Serenade 1-15

Spencer Pratt, Consul-General of the United States at Singapore, in the British Straits Settlements, finding Aguinaldo a political refugee at that place at the outbreak of our war with Spain, April 21, 1898, arranges by cable with Admiral Dewey, then at Hong Kong with his squadron, for Aguinaldo to come to Hong Kong and thence to Manila, to co-operate by land with Admiral Dewey against the Spaniards, Pratt promising Aguinaldo independence, without authority. Mr. Pratt is later quietly separated from the consular service.