It was a quiet day. No American planes appeared except possibly in the early morning and once this afternoon for a look around. We are still under air raid conditions for the fourth straight day. Four Japanese bombers and a converted transport headed south at 1500, followed by two more old-fashioned bombers a while later.

The Americans landed easily in Mindoro at San José. A range of guesses puts the Japanese garrison at 500 to 1,000 in that sparsely populated island. There were two airfields there in 1941, one large enough to take B-17s. They should be operational soon, an improvement over the soggy Leyte fields.

The depot that blew up spectacularly last Saturday was a riverside house with a pier used by the Japanese to barge cases of munitions in and out. Visiting the scene, a friend of Maurice was astonished by the bits of bodies all over the place. There's only a big hole in the ground where the house once stood. The explosion went straight up; the fence was more or less intact.

From where we live, I can observe the reaction of three groups — the Military Police, the Embassy, and the garrison behind us. The MPs have withdrawn into a hole. They walk slower than ever, carrying the real world and the Emperor on their shoulders. The Embassy people have been showing an air of embarrassed confusion. I've been cutting the bougainvillea in front of our house and all I have to do is smile and nod when they pass by and they'll cheerfully answer back. They're even anxious to say hello and act friendly. The garrison at the rear sings hymn-like songs every night while the one in front of us chants a litany. They are fatalistic but not discontented. In fact they seem the most ready to do their duty and get it over and done with, though their officers are in a dither of confusion.

Outwardly they don't seem to be preparing to meet their doom. Their means of transportation has dwindled into pathos. Food, for instance, is cooked in a central point, and the garrisons around send a couple of soldiers to pick it up. They carry it with a long pole resting on their shoulders from which a bundle is hung in the Chinese coolie fashion. Occasionally one sees a convoy of three pushcarts loaded with supplies. Meanwhile, the rumor — aided, abetted, and in fact, pushed by Figueras — is that the Japanese will take all cars.

Heavy fortifications are being built NOT in Manila but in its outer environs and in the strategic passes of surrounding mountains. The Americans could almost come through the Bay virtually unopposed. The Japanese situation here is hopeless. A few officers realize it but are beyond caring. They are the ones still taking houses!