Part 8 (1/2)

In the afternoon the cruiser steaain on her errand of forcible pacification, and more days of quiet watchfulness followed, as the vessel steaes along this coast, but all of theents The captain even said that some of the people in them probably didn't know that there had ever been a war between Spain and the United States Archie, who had enjoyed his experiences during the occupation of the last village, now began to be i quiet The day when the cruiser bo would be aevents were just such as he had been longing to see for months And then to think that he had taken part in the occupation of the village It was all very wonderful, but very real, too, and for several days he tookthe events leading up to and including the capture of the village And in the narration Bill Hickson was an iain proved hi that the boat proceed when the first atte the firstwas finally effected He was a leader in everything that was done He h the streets of the village, calling all the people to assemble in the public square, and he stood beside the officers with his rifle handy when the cereh with When it was all over he was called to the ad so brave and so ever-ready to lead in any dangerous undertaking; but Bill Hickson si worth ht differently, however, and he was even a greater hero after this adventure than he had been before

Archie, too, received the congratulations of the admiral ”You have been a brave boy,” he said, ”and deserve er I hope you will be rewarded upon your return to New York for your bravery while with us here” Archie, too, blushed, and said that he had no doubt that Mr Van Bunting would treat hiain

And Archie was now beginning to wish that the time for his return would soon arrive It was the e, it seemed to him He felt that he had seen most of what there was to be seen in the Philippines, and when this naval tour was over with, the active ca would no doubt cease until the rainy season was over So for ht be able to start home soon, and as the days passed he became more and ht return He had sentarticles to the paper, and would be able to writeupon his return, so he felt that the editors wouldn't object to his early return

For an entire week the cruiser found no signs of the rebels, but at last there ca near the shore, and saw, back a tents in shape Iossip and wonder as to what the tents could be doing there The adate, and gave strict orders that the men should be cautious and not allow theht in a trap of any kind Of course Archie and Bill Hickson were a the crew of the first boat, and each was as fully armed as any of the sailors

The two boats pulled quietly for the shore, keeping close together, and they were beached at the same time The natives, or whoever occupied the tents, had evidently not yet discovered the to decide what they had better do The tents could be plainly seen through the trees, and there was shbourhood, but there were no noises which could be heard so far away It was decided to march up to the tents and find out who occupied theether as they advanced, for things were so quiet it was feared the rebels, if such they were, ot within a hundred feet of the camp, when they heard several terrible yells in succession, and several natives ran out fro at the top of their voices, and not pausing to look around at all The officer in command of the company of men wasa ave the order to fire Five of the natives fell i, and soon disappeared a The h they waited severalmore was heard, and it was decided that the camp must be deserted So they marched up to the tents, and then the officer al an A, and scattered about were the accoutre to an American force in the field There was now no doubt but what the tents belonged to an A natives were either servants or prisoners, more likely the former The men were all much excited at this discovery, and the officer ordered the natives to be looked after at once It was found, however, that all but one were dead, and he expired within an hour, so that the ht which h they were

It was now decided to await the return of the regiht, on a practice er So the rass for more than an hour Then, about three in the afternoon, a rifle-shot was heard in the near distance, and instantly every man was on his feet, rifle in hand

”They must have found the rebels,” said the officer; ”so be ready,to the camp” This supposition turned out to be correct, for a fewinto caents was after theiment followed, and the joy of the colonel when he found these unexpected reinforcereat ”There must be more than fifteen hundred rebels,” he said, ”and they will all be on us here in less than an hour, for their sharpshooters have been following us up for a long tiht them, for they seem to be well equipped, but with the cruiser to kelp us we can whip the to do will be to let the that we have received any help, and then, when the fight is getting a little ware us, let the cruiser fire a few shells into the air, and it will all be over Most of them are country troops, and have never seen a cruiser, so they will be too uns, and see the shells explode in the air And then they have a village about three miles back from the coast, and if you can send a few shells into that village it will si these rebels,” the colonel then explained ”I took the one far we encountered these sharpshooters, and later discovered that they had all these men about a mile and a half away Then we decided to return to caet more ammunition, and we felt, too, that ould stand a better chance of resisting the the trees But noill soon finish them up, if you will just send a man out to tell the admiral of our plans” Archie immediately volunteered to carry the information, and as he could be spared better than one of the soldiers or sailors, he was permitted to undertake the mission So he started out, and was on board the cruiser in a very short time The admiral was dumbfounded to learn that American troops were enca defeated, and he at once set about giving orders with great vigour ”We will show theiment of Americans with their ridiculous arave orders for the vessel to move inshore ”But wait,” he cried, a minute later, ”I see by my chart that there is a deep stream about a mile up the coast, and if I aet very near the advancing rebels We may even be able to destroy them before they have a chance at our soldiers,” and the old admiral almost danced in the enthusiasm of this idea So the cruiser steamed rapidly up the coast, and was soon at the reat river Then she steah, the ad the road, about half a mile away They had evidently not perceived the cruiser, on account of the high reeds growing along the banks, and the ad

The first shell rose high in the air and exploded with a deafening thunder, and when the sents were alht, and had just discovered the cruiser in the river But this first shell had not hurt any one, and another was inited This one exploded over the very heads of the troops, and many of them must have been killed Those ere not either killed or wounded turned about and began to run, and their leaders were powerless to round One shell followed another froht a, and it was soon perceived that the Areat energy So the cruiser could fire no more shells, and the ade onshore

It would take es to describe in detail the events of the remainder of that afternoon, as Archie witnessed them from the deck of the cruiser, and learned of theents were nearly all killed or taken prisoners, and it was found that they nureat achievement to have vanquished thereatest victory of the war, so far

CHAPTER XXII

RETURN TO HEADQUARTERS--A LETTER FROM THE EDITOR, WITH PERMISSION TO RETURN TO NEW YORK--BILL HICKSON GOES, TOO

ARCHIE left the cruiser when she was onceashore to the As in a very lively condition at the close of the afternoon's battle Every man was very jubilant over the retreat which had been turned into a great victory, and Archie was congratulated on having been the luckyof the rebels to the admiral The officers were all in the best of humour, except the colonel, who felt somewhat sad on account of the death of his five faithful servants, as the men first shot turned out to have been

”There were never any better men than they,” said the colonel, ”and I would almost as soon my own men had been shot” But he bore the shi+p's company no malice for their mistake, which he said was a very natural one

After the capture of soof so many others, it was felt that the rebel army in this part of the island was pretty well disbanded, and that it would soon disappear altogether It had been known, froe force of insurgents sohbourhood, but not until to-day had the colonel seen anything of them But it was impossible, all the officers said, that there could be any more troops about, for these two thousand represented a very considerable portion of the entire rebel army And now that these were done aith, the colonel said there was no need of his reet back to Manila as quickly as possible Hearing this, the adht room could be made for all the men aboard the cruiser, and that they could all return at once if they so desired This generous offer was at once accepted by the colonel, and the next day the work of eht every man was aboard, and a place of some kind had been found where he could sleep, but of course, every portion of the vessel was s all the more lively, however, and Archie, as well as all the others, thought he had never enjoyed any trip so ain to Manila There was always fun of so, there was sure to be singing And then there were several ingenious games which were invented for the occasion, so that time never passed slowly Indeed, there were many ere sorry when the capital was finally reached, but Archie was not a him from the editor of the Enterprise And he hoped that in this mail he would find permission to return to New York

All officials were very much surprised when the cruiser anchored off Cavite, but the adht it no use to spend h the month which it was supposed to take him had not yet expired He said that he felt sure there were nothe coast, because it was perfectly evident, frons, that the rebels were all in one division And this division, of course, had been vanquished four days previously

When the report of the engagement went the rounds there was ress was being ents The admiral was a popular hero at once, and Archie, with Bill Hickson, was again the centre of admiration and interest in the old palace, where they both returned

Archie was surprised to find no ed, and wrote two long articles to send to the Enterprise One described the great engagement, and the other was descriptive of the daily life aboard shi+p upon the return to Manila These articles, with the others he had written during the latter part of the cruise, were sent off at once, and Archie felt confident that they would be read with great interest by Mr Van Bunting And now the days passed very pleasantly in Manila He had a great deal to tell his coiment, for none of them had been out of Manila since he left, and were very anxious indeed to hear about the events of the round-the-island tour And Archie was very willing to tell them all he could, for he had been e, and never tired of talking about it

Still, while things were very pleasant, and he was having a good tiain and to get back to America And then, as even e that he would certainly be allowed to visit his mother upon his return Therefore he was a very happy boy when he one day received two letters fro, and one fro and very friendly Mr Van Bunting wrote to tell Archie how delighted they all had been with his success in finding interesting things to write about, and he enclosed a check for three hundred dollars, which he thought ”would cos was of later date, and stated that he had prevailed upon Mr Van Bunting to allow Archie to return to New York, to work upon the Evening Enterprise It was a very delightful letter, Archie thought ”We believe,” wrote Mr

Jennings, ”that we can use you here to very good advantage, and ill be glad to have you return as soon as possible I enclose two hundred dollars to pay your expenses hoain”

So noas all settled that Archie was to leave Manila for New York, and, now that it was sure he was going, he felt somewhat reluctant to leave the soldiers hoet away fro and so delightful in many ways It was hard, too, to leave the dear old palace in Manila, through which he had wandered so often, and every rooreat governor-general, wealthy and wise There would be none of all this at ho better; there would be rape arbour, and the Hut Club

On investigation, Archie found that the quickest way to get ho the steamer from there to San Francisco It would take him more than a month to make the trip, and, as it was now the second week in March, he could hardly expect to reach New York before the first of May He at once cabled Mr Jennings that he would leave at once for Hong Kong, and received an answer telling him to do so by allhis trip Archie knew that these letters would probably not reach New York any sooner than he would, but he did write them, anyhow, and he did see some of them appear in the paper after his arrival

Archie was overjoyed to learn one day that Bill Hickson had received pereneral to return to the United States, and he at once hunted up the bashful hero, and insisted that he leave at once, and reed to, and when it was settled that the two old chuether the whole camp in Manila was interested in the news They were both very popular, and alht before their departure there was a pleasure party of soular ”stag,” as they called thee a sort of , banjo ames to increase the fun