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diff --git a/24705-8.txt b/24705-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8b2b8ad --- /dev/null +++ b/24705-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3100 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Woman with a Stone Heart, by Oscar William Coursey + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Woman with a Stone Heart + A Romance of the Philippine War + +Author: Oscar William Coursey + +Illustrator: W. K. Leigh + +Release Date: March 3, 2011 [EBook #24705] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WOMAN WITH A STONE HEART *** + + + + +Produced by Jeroen Hellingman and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This book was +produced from scanned images of public domain material +from the Google Print project and the Internet Archive.) + + + + + + + + The Woman with a Stone Heart + + A Romance of the Philippine War. + + By + + O. W. Coursey, (U. S. Vols.) + + Author of + + "History and Geography of the Philippine Islands." + "Who's Who In South Dakota." + "Biography of General Beadle." + "School Law Digest." + + + + + All of these books are published and for sale by + THE EDUCATOR SUPPLY COMPANY + Mitchell, South Dakota + + + + + + + + + Copyrighted 1914 + + By O. W. Coursey + + + + + + + +THE WOMAN WITH A STONE HEART + + +INTRODUCTION + + +To those whose love of adventure would cause them to plunge head-long +into an abyss of vain glory, hoping at life's sunset to reap a +harvest contrary to the seed that were sown, let me suggest that +you pause first to read the story of "The Woman With a Stone Heart," +Marie Sampalit, dare-devil of the Philippines. + +Perhaps we might profitably meditate for a few moments on the musings +of Whittier: + + + "The tissue of the life to be + We weave in colors all our own, + And in the field of destiny + We'll reap as we have sown." + + --The Author. + + + + + +DEDICATION + + +To Her, who, as a bride of only eighteen months, stood broken-hearted +on the depot platform and bade me a tearful farewell as our train of +soldier boys started to war; who later, while I was Ten Thousand miles +away from home on soldier duty in the Philippine Islands, became a +Mother; and who, unfortunately, three months thereafter, was called +upon to lay our first-born, Oliver D. Coursey, into his snow-lined +baby tomb amid the bleak silence of a cold winter's night, with no +strong arm to bear her up in those awful hours of anguish and despair, + + +My Soldier Wife, Julia, + +this book is most affectionately dedicated. + + + "Only a baby's grave, + Yet often we go and sit + By the little stone, + And thank God to own, + We are nearer heaven for it." + + --O. W. Coursey. + + + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + + Page + + Marie Sampalit 10 + Region Around Manila Bay 29 + Admiral Dewey 39 + Aguinaldo 61 + Marie, Her Mother, etc. 82 + Filipinos at Breakfast 100 + End of the Boat-Battle 113 + The Rescue 126 + Floating Down The Rapids 129 + General Lawton and Staff 139 + + + + + +TABLE OF CONTENTS + + + + Chapters: Page + + I. Love Defeated 9 + II. First Shot of A New War 25 + III. Avenged Her Lover's Death 41 + IV. The Interval 57 + V. Filipino Uprising 69 + VI. As A Spy 81 + VII. Off For Baler 93 + VIII. The Gilmore Incident 105 + IX. The American Prisoners 113 + X. Death of General Lawton 131 + XI. North-bound 141 + XII. Crossing the Sierra Madres 153 + XIII. Compensation 167 + + + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +LOVE DEFEATED + + +Marie Sampalit and her fiancee, Rolando Dimiguez, were walking +arm-in-arm along the sandy beach of Manila bay, just opposite old +Fort Malate, talking of their wedding day which had been postponed +because of the Filipino insurrection which was in progress. + +The tide was out. A long waved line of sea-shells and drift-wood +marked the place to which it had risen the last time before it began +to recede. They were unconsciously following this line of ocean +debris. Occasionally Marie would stop to pick up a spotted shell +which was more pretty than the rest. Finally, when they had gotten +as far north as the semi-circular drive-way which extends around +the southern and eastern sides of the walled-city, or Old Manila, +as it is called, and had begun to veer toward it, Marie looked back +and repeated a beautiful memory gem taught to her by a good friar +when she was a pupil in one of the parochial schools of Manila: + + + "E'en as the rise of the tide is told, + By drift-wood on the beach, + So can our pen mark on the page + How high our thoughts can reach." + + +They turned directly east until they reached the low stone-wall that +prevents Manila bay from overflowing the city during the periods +of high tides. Dimiguez helped Marie to step upon it; then they +strolled eastward past the large stake which marked the place where +the Spaniards had shot Dr. Jose Rizal, the brainiest patriot ever +produced by the Malay race. + +When they came to the spot, Marie stopped and told Dimiguez how she +had watched the shooting when it took place, and how bravely Rizal +had met his fate. + +"If it hadn't been for this outrage committed by the Spaniards," +remarked Dimiguez, "this insurrection would not have lasted these two +years, and we would have been married before now; but our people are +determined to seek revenge for his death." + +Then they started on, changed their course to the northward, entered +the walled-city by the south gate, walked past the old Spanish arsenal, +and then passed out of the walled-city by the north gate. Here they +crossed the Pasig river on the old "Bridge of Spain" (the large +stone bridge near the mouth of the river, built over 300 years ago) +and entered the Escolta, the main business street of Manila. After +making their way slowly up the Escolta they meandered along San Miguel +street until they finally turned and walked a short distance down a +side street to a typical native shack, built of bamboo and thatched +with Nipa palms, happily tucked away beneath the overhanging limbs +of a large mango tree in a spacious yard,--the home of the Sampalits. + +Here Marie had been born just seventeen years before; in fact the next +day, April 7, would be her seventeenth birthday. When she was born, +her father instituted one of the accustomed Filipino dances which last +from three to five days and nights, and at its conclusion she had been +christened "Maria," subsequently changed by force of habit to "Marie." + +Late that evening, while they were seated side-by-side on a bamboo +bench beside of her home, tapping the toes of their wooden-soled +slippers on the hard ground, and indulging in a wandering lovers' +conversation, Marie said to him (calling him affectionately by his +first name), "Rolando, when did you first decide to postpone our +wedding day?" + +"Well, I'll tell you how it was," answered he, meditatingly. "The +thought of serving my country had been lingering on my mind all +last summer--in fact, ever since the insurrection first broke out in +the spring of 1896. You know I intended coming down to see you last +Christmas, but I couldn't get away. That night I walked the floor +all night in our home at Malolos, debating in my mind whether we +had better get married in March, as we had planned, or if it would +not be wiser and more manly for me to go to war, take chances on +getting back alive and postpone our wedding day until after the war +is over. Toward morning, I decided that it was my duty to become a +soldier; so I called my father and mother, got an early breakfast, +bade them goodby and started for Malabon, which was Aguinaldo's +headquarters, and enlisted. He was glad to see me. You know, he and +I attended school together for one year at Hongkong. Well, Aguinaldo +at once commissioned me a spy and assigned me to very important duty." + +"My God!" interrupted Marie, "you are not on that duty now, are you, +Rolando?" + +Dimiguez arose. "Marie," said he firmly, "I must be off." + +"But won't you tell me where you are going and what task lies before +you?" pleaded Marie, as she threw both arms about his neck and began to +sob, "I'll never tell a living soul, so help me God, but I must know!" + +"A spy never tells his plans to anyone, Marie," said Dimiguez +slowly. "He takes his orders from his chief, plays his part; and +if he gets caught, he refuses to speak and dies without a murmur, +like a man. Good night, Marie, I must be off; duty lies before me." + +Marie cried herself to sleep. + +The next morning she started down town, as usual, for the market place, +with her bamboo basket filled with bananas, sitting on her head, +and a cigarette in her mouth. She had only gone a block when she met +a neighbor girl, one of her chums of equal years to her own, who was +a chamber-maid in the German consul's home on San Miguel Street. + +Her friend looked excited. "Have you heard the awful news, Marie?" said +she. + +"No!" exclaimed Marie, "What is it?" + +"Why, Dimiguez was caught last night by Spanish guards inside the +yard of the governor-general's summer palace up on the Malacanan, +just as he was slipping out of the palace itself. How he got in there, +nobody knows." + +Marie dropped her basket. "Heavens!" gasped she, "Did he do anything +wrong?" + +"They found in his pocket diagrams of the interior of the palace, +showing the entries to it, the room where the governor-general sleeps, +and many other things; also your picture. See here! the morning paper +gives a full account of it." + +Marie glanced at the head lines and then started on a vigorous run for +the building in which the Spanish military court was sitting. Rushing +in, past an armed guard, she began to plead for her lover's life. But +he had already been tried, convicted and sentenced to death by +strangulation in the old chute at Cavite. Dimiguez never moved a +muscle when he saw Marie. Armed guards forced her abruptly out of +the building and ordered her to leave. + +Inside of two hours, on the same day, April 7, the anniversary of +Marie's birth, he was taken to the little town of Cavite, seven miles +southwest of Manila, and was there placed in the lower end of a long +chute built out into Manila Bay. This chute was just wide enough for +a man to enter. Its sides, top and bottom were all built of heavy +planks. The side planks lacked a few inches of connecting with the +top, although of course the side posts ran clear up and the top was +firmly bolted to them. The entrance to it was well elevated near the +docks. The lower end protruded into the bay, so that it was visible +about eighteen inches above the water during the period of low tide, +and submerged several feet during high tide. + +Tides come in slowly at Cavite, each succeeding wave rising but a +trifle higher than the others, until the usual height is reached. Thus, +a prisoner placed in this chute, forced to the lower end and then +fastened securely during low tide, can look out over the side planks +at the hideous spectators, watch the tide as it begins to rise and +see slow death approaching. It was in this chute that Marie's lover +met his death. + +Marie saw the launch that carried him away as it left Manila. She +rushed down to the Pasig river, loosened her little boat from the +tree to which it was tied, jumped in, seized the oars and started in +pursuit. The launch on which he was being carried had for its power +a gasoline engine, and, of course, it soon left her far behind. When +she first started, the swells caused by the launch rocked her little +canoe quite roughly and impeded her progress. As she approached the +mouth of the river, passed the monument of Magellan and came between +the walled-city on the southern bank and the docks on the northern +bank, a crowd of excited natives thronged the shore, and many of them +recognized her. She heard some one cry out, "Vive Marie!" With might +and main she strove forward. + +The launch made its seven-mile run to Cavite; the victim was placed +in the chute; the tide had risen to the danger line; her lover, +with his head thrown back, had just begun to gurgle the salt water, +when Marie, in frantic agony, almost exhausted, rowed around the +lower end of the chute and came near enough to the dying hero to +be recognized by him. Straining ever muscle to keep his head above +the water a second longer, he cried out in chocking tones that were +interrupted by the merciless sea which was rapidly filling his mouth, +"Goodby, Marie, God bless you. Avenge my death!" + +Hush! At this moment another tidal wave engulfed the apex of the +chute. Not a sound could be heard save the slight flapping of the +waves against the pier, and the dismal chant of three priests, who +stood on the shore near by, and who had not been permitted to attend +the young spy before his death. Marie trembled; she dropped the oars; +her eyes fell; for a moment it seemed that her young heart stood still: +then her face flushed; the tears stopped flowing; anguish gave vent +to determined revenge; pent-up sorrows yielded to out-spoken threats; +and in tones sufficiently audible to be heard ashore, she cried, +"I'll do it." + +The Spaniard knows no pity. If Marie were to have stepped ashore +immediately after her lover's strangulation, she might have come +to grief. It is strange that she escaped punishment for having +followed. She, therefore, rowed directly east and landed on the beach +of the bay, about four miles south of Manila, just west of the little +city of Paranaque. + +From sheer exhaustion, she needed food; therefore, she walked northward +along the shore until she found a Mango tree heavily laden with +fruit. After eating a few luscious mangoes, she crept into a clump +of bamboo and had a good cry: tears so ease a woman's soul. + +From her position on the beach she could readily see the Spaniards +as they took her dead lover from the chute when the tide had lowered +toward evening. She saw them even strike his corpse, and she bit her +finger nails as she watched them place him in a rough wooden box and +haul him up through the streets of the village on an old two-wheeled +cart drawn by a caribou. + +With the approach of sunset, things grew strangely quiet. The spring +zephyr that had blown modestly during the day died away. There was no +longer even a dimple in the blue surface of Manila Bay. Not a leaf was +astir. It seemed to Marie that the only sound she could hear was the +the throbbing of her own heart. To her the whole world seemed like an +open sepulcher. Looking down she discovered that she was unconsciously +sitting on a flowery terrace and that all about her was life. She +pulled one of those exquisite white flowers with wide pink veins, +peculiar alone to the Philippines, and pressed it to her lips. + +The sun was just setting beyond Corregidor. The island's long shadows +seemed to extend completely across the bay to her feet. As the solar +fires burned themselves out, the orange tint which they left behind +against the reddened sky reminded Marie of the night before, when +she and her lover had strolled along the shore of the bay about three +miles farther north; and as the sun slowly nodded its evening farewell +and buried its face in the pillow of night, she remembered how he, on +the previous night, had called to her attention the lingering glow of +its fading beams. Before her lay the Spanish fleet, it, too, casting +shadows that first grew longer and longer and then dimmer and dimmer +until they in turn had died away in the spectral phenomenon of night. + +Marie's thoughts turned toward home. What about her mother? She walked +back to her little boat, pushed it out into the bay, and, stepping +into it, sat down, took hold of the oars and started northward near +the beach. Just opposite Fort Malate, she swung westward, and, passing +outside of the break-water a mile from shore, she entered the Pasig +river and hurried homeward. When she arrived, about nine o'clock, +she found her mother on the verge of prostration; for that very day, +strange to say, Marie's father, who was a colonel in the Filipino +infantry, had been killed at San Francisco del Monte, six miles +north-east of Manila, in a battle with Spanish troops. + +"Don't cry, mother," expostulated Marie, "from now on I intend to +kill every foe of ours in these islands!" + + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +FIRST SHOT OF A NEW WAR + + +Three weeks passed by. Marie had gone down town late in April to +do some shopping. While she was standing in the door of the old +postoffice on the Escolta, she heard the shrill voice of a Filipino +lad piping out: "Papers! Papers! All about the war with the United +States. Dewey's comin'!" He had a bundle of newspapers under his right +arm and was waving one in his left hand. Everybody rushed out of the +bazaars and offices along the Escolta where they were transacting +their business, and each one who could get near enough to the boy, +eagerly bought a morning paper. + +The lad's papers were all gone but one. Marie Sampalit snatched it from +his hands, and dropped into one of them a small coin. She stepped into +the corridor of the post office, to escape the annoyance of the crowd, +and read the large head lines: + + + "WAR BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND SPAIN + + dewey en route to manila great naval + battle friday or saturday in manila bay + + The Stone Wall Around the City will be + Razed to the Ground. Great Loss of Life." + + +"Then, I'm off for Corregidor Island right away!" exclaimed +Marie. "Dewey can't get into the Bay except by that route. That's +where the fight will begin. Mother doesn't know this. I'll tell her +I am going to take some supplies to the Spanish garrison. I will go +at once!" + +She set out from Manila in a small casco, or flat-bottomed native boat, +heavily laden with fresh fish, pine-apples, mangoes, bananas, tobacco +and cigarettes--all intended for the Spanish garrison on Corregidor +Island. Manila is situated on the eastern shore of Manila Bay. From +there to the island it is nearly thirty miles. Her little boat was +driven forward on its journey by an easterly wind that gently swelled +the tiny sails. + +She reached the island at five o'clock that afternoon and was given +a royal welcome by the Spanish soldiers. Marie gave them the morning +paper containing the news of Dewey's prospective arrival. She asked +permission to take part in the fight. + +Marie was a favorite with the Spanish garrison. Her genial disposition, +added to her almost inconceivable daring, had won for her the +friendship and admiration of all. The gunners had playfully taught +her all about loading, firing and swabbing their cannon. She had also +learned the art of good marksmanship, so that at a target practice +she was an adept. + +Impatiently she awaited the arrival of the American fleet. She heard +the Spaniards discuss among themselves the cowardice of the American +soldiers, and saw them wager the Dewey would not come to Manila at all +but that he would sail down around the Malay Peninsula and hasten home +by way of Good Hope to save his vessels from certain destruction. All +this sounded plausible to her and she grew restless and enthusiastic +as the dull hours dragged away. + +Dewey was so long in coming from Hongkong and the garrison on the +island had been kept at their guns ready for action for so many hours +without rest that many of them were completely tired out by the last +day of April, and asked for relief. It was hard to give it. Marie's +opportunity had come. Her ability as an expert rifle shot was known +alike to officers and enlisted men. She offered to serve. The Spanish +commandant could not well refuse. He needed her services; besides, +the Spaniards were just then doing all within their power to win the +temporary friendship of the natives. Consequently, he promised to +assign her to duty for the night. + +The sunset, as viewed from Corregidor Island on the evening of +April 30, was most glorious. Not a cloud was in the sky; a dead calm +prevailed, so that the sea was unusually smooth. As the sun sank to +rest behind the shimmering horizon it caused the island to cast a +long shadow over Manila bay as far as the eye could reach, but this +soon disappeared. + +When the sun had sunk from view, Marie noticed that a comparatively +new moon was visible in the sky, and she remarked to the Sergeant +of the Guard, "It will not be very dark to-night. We can see the +Americanos a long way off." + +"Yes," replied the Sergeant, "the only difficulty with the cowards is +that they will not come near enough to be seen at all. They have had +plenty of time to run from Hongkong to Manila and back again; still +they have not been seen or heard of. I'll bet you a peso (Spanish +dollar) that they have gone home and that all of this excitement has +been for nothing. Dewey is getting old, Marie; he doesn't want to go +to a watery grave so far from home. If he were young and ambitious, +it would be different. Old men do not care much about real fighting, +especially on the sea. It is different with old generals commanding +land forces. They can sit away back in the rear of the battle-field, +receive messages that come to them; plan certain movements based upon +these reports; and while they do have considerable responsibility, +still they are not in the actual fight. As for Dewey, nobody has +ever heard of him. He is not a recognized naval commander. Besides, +the old fellow, according to reports, is slow and easy going. If he +should come to make us an unfriendly call tonight, mark my word, Marie, +there will not be a sliver of his entire fleet left floating above the +water yonder inside of thirty minutes after the first shot is fired." + +He had scarcely concluded speaking when the Officer of the Guard, +Lieutenant Orlando, called out, "Sergeant of the Guard! Fall in the +First Relief!" The Sergeant threw his arm over Marie's shoulder in an +affectionate manner, smacked a hurried caress against her olive cheek, +jumped up from the little bamboo bench on which they were sitting, +rushed up to the guard house and cried out, "First Relief! Fall in!" + +Marie hastened after him. As the relief was forming in line, she seized +a Mauser rifle that stood leaning against a huge rock, grabbed up a +cartridge belt well filled with Mauser ammunition that was lying on +the ground near by, hastily adjusted it to fit her waist measure, +buckled it on and fell into the rear rank. + +"Count fours!" ordered the Sergeant. As is usual in military affairs, +the front and rear rank men count in unison; that is, number one in +the front rank and number one in the rear rank both count "one" at the +same time; second file counts "two," etc. When it came to Marie she +piped out simultaneously with the corporal who stood in front of her, +"quatro." (four). + +As the guard was marched along the stony pathways on Corregidor Island +and the various sentinels were relieved, Marie soon saw that there was +not going to be a place for her. She tip-toed up to the corporal who +was posting the relief and asked him where he was going to station her. + +"Never mind," said the corporal, "we have a place for you." And sure +enough, they had. + +Every soldier or civilian who has ever been on this island will readily +recall the rough, hard-beaten, winding path that led from the summit of +the hill, in a south-westerly direction, down over precipices, around +clumps of bamboo, to a beautiful fresh water spring which bubbled +out of the coral rocks at a point just high enough to prevent it from +being inundated or even infiltrated during the season of high tides. + +A few feet from this spring and elevated but slightly above it, is a +massive, flat rock. Along the north and west sides of this rock is a +vertical stone precipice some eight feet high, which from its upper +edge inclines back gradually at an angle of about twenty degrees +above a horizontal plane, toward the crest of the island. + +On this rock Spain firmly bolted one of her most modern cannon--a +good seven-inch gun. It was so situated on a revolving casement that +its shots could be made to sweep the whole Boca Grande channel, as +the large entrance south of the island is called. Marie had often +operated this gun. She had done splendid work with it on a floating +target two miles distant. Its deadly roar was her delight. Oh! if +she could but use it just once on an actual enemy instead of firing +it at an indicated one! + +When the old guard had been relieved and the sentries were marched +back to the guard-house to be dismissed, poor Marie, heavy hearted, +marched along. Just as they approached the guard-house, the sergeant +motioned to her to fall out and to come toward him. This she did. + +Into her ear he whispered the information that was to start her on her +eventful military career. "Marie," said he, "the officer of the Guard +informs me that we cannot use you in the infantry service tonight, +but that you will be needed with the artillery." + +"Good!" exclaimed Marie, "Where shall I serve?" + +"At the new gun on the large rock near the spring," answered the +Sergeant. + +"Thank heaven!" said Marie. "Dewey will surely come, and when I put +a solid shot through the 'Olympia' just below the water line--the +battle will be half over. Oh! I'm so anxious! May I go down there +tonight and take charge of the gun at once?" + +The Sergeant told her to report to the headquarters of the artillery +department where she would receive instructions. + +At last she found herself on actual duty. How her young heart throbbed +as her black eyes peered forth into the darkness. Toward midnight, +small clouds began to drift oceanward. For a few moments at a time +they would obscure the quartered cheek of the young moon. Oh! if +Dewey would but come. The hopes of a life-time were poised on that +painful "if." Before her was the dream of glory; behind her, the +dreary forgetfulness of the past. Hour after hour whiled away. The +tiny lights in the natives' shacks along the opposite shore began to +go out and grow fewer and fewer until the closing day had died safely +away into the solemn night. As usual, "taps" were blown at ten o'clock +and things on the island grew very quiet. Days--yes, weeks--seemed +to crowd themselves into those long hours. Would he ever come? + +Presently she heard the sentry's shrill cry on the brow of the hill, +"Twelve o'clock! All's well!" The echo of his repeated call had +scarcely died away when Marie thought she saw something dark on the +water near the center of the channel, perhaps three miles away. She +whispered to a member of the artillery corps, who sat near her watching +the shadow of his pipe on the rock near the base of the cannon. They +both looked. Surely! it's Dewey! The artilleryman sent up a rocket as +a warning. Marie took hurried aim. "Boom!" went her cannon, and from +its mouth a seven-inch shot was hurled over the "Concord," between +its main and mizzen masts. It went a trifle high and did no harm. + +"Bang!" went one of the port batteries on the "Raleigh" and before +its flash was gone a shudder shot through every vein, every nerve +and every fiber of Marie's body. Such a crash she had never heard +before. "War is hell" to be sure. She sniffed the smoke from her own +gun, and looked around to see what had happened. The stone precipice +behind her was torn into fragments. A man's hand protruded from the +debris. "My God!" she murmured. Yes, there was the evidence. The +man who had sat by her side and who sent up the rocket, lay cold in +death. His head was torn off and his body was mangled among the pieces +of broken rock. The gunner on the "Raleigh" had done his work well; +and Marie's dream of American cowardice, of their poor marksmanship +and of her ability to sink Dewey's flag ship, were shattered in an +instant. She had fired the FIRST gun of the war, but not the LAST! + + + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +AVENGED HER LOVER'S DEATH + + +After Dewey's fleet had passed the island and entered the bay, proper, +Marie crept up to the top of the cliff and awaited the results. As she +sat there shivering with fright, day began to dawn. Presently she heard +the Spanish batteries on Point Cavite fire a heavy shot--then a second +one; and a few minutes later she saw flames of fire and smoke belching +forth from the starboard sides of Dewey's entire squadron. Then the +Spanish fleet, lying off of Point Cavite, commenced a united and +simultaneous action. + +Shells rent the air; the men on both fleets cheered as they beheld +the effect on the enemy of a well-directed shot; smoke-begrimed +gunners, with the perspiration washing light-colored furrows down +their manly cheeks, stood at their guns and worked like demons as they +swabbed their cannon and crowded into them shot after shot. Hissing +projectiles that missed the opposing ships and plunged into the bay, +were throwing volumes of splashing foam into the air. Dewey's vessels +were moving in a figure eight and using alternately the several guns +on their port and on their starboard sides, while the Spanish ships +moved about promiscuously among each other in an awkward fashion, +over a small area, and fired only as an opportunity offered. + +"Thank God, I'm out of range of the demons," said Marie to a Spanish +officer who had come to her side. + +Just then, there was a lull in the battle. Dewey's ships ceased firing +and withdrew to the middle of the bay. No apparent damage had been +sustained by the vessels of either command. + +"The old fellow is going to quit," said Marie to the Spanish officer +who stood erect with his field glasses carefully trained on Dewey's +squadron. + +"They're coming this way, Marie," said the officer. + +"My God! where will we go, if they come past the island and open +fire on us again?" shouted Marie. "We haven't a mounted gun left to +shoot with." + +The officer remained quiet. Presently he said, "They've stopped and +are dividing up their ammunition. Evidently they are going to resume +the fight." + +He guessed it right. In thirty minutes Dewey's vessels were heading +straight for the Spanish fleet. His first shot set on fire the +beautiful Spanish flag-ship, the "Reina Christina." Then her magazine +blew up. She was hastily scuttled on the beach near Cavite and deserted +amid great disorder by that portion of her crew which was able to +leave. The dead and the dying were left to their fate. Magazines in +several other Spanish ships soon blew up. In a few minutes most of them +were on fire. Dewey's gunners were doing deadly execution. Hundreds +of Spanish soldiers could be seen jumping from their burning vessels +into the ocean. + +"Now what is he going to do?" said Marie, with some excitement, as +she saw one of Dewey's ships, the "Concord," disengage herself from +the rest of the fleet and head straight for a large Spanish gun-boat +that was lying off to herself and whose sole business it seemed was +to keep up a deadly fire on Dewey's flagship, the "Olympia." The +Concord literally disembowled her. + +"The heartless wretches!" exclaimed Marie, as she watched another +American ship, the "Petrel," leave the line of battle and make a rapid +run right past the Spanish fleet for the village of Cavite. "I wonder +what the villains are up to now." In a few minutes the Petrel returned, +with six small vessels in tow as prizes. In addition, she was flying +at her mast head this signal, "Have destroyed eight vessels." + +Dewey's ships moved over toward the city of Manila, took their +positions in line and remained quiet. + +"What time is it?" asked Marie of the Spanish officer who stood +near her. + +"Twelve-thirty," answered he, as he looked at his watch. + +Marie whiled away the afternoon watching the Spaniards on Corregidor +island burying their dead comrades. She wanted to go home, but she +feared to go past Dewey's fleet. + +That evening things became solemnly quiet; and the blazing sun, as its +face reddened into nightly slumber beyond the watery horizon of the +Pacific, bade farewell to a finished deed, which, in the history of +naval warfare, has never been surpassed; while the pale-faced moon, +moving slowly up her appointed path, looked calmly down with her +quartered cheek in silent benediction on the blazing hulls of the +Spanish ships as they slowly cremated their dead and dying. + +The next day the Spanish Commandante on Corregidor discovered that +Dewey had blockaded the port of Manila, so he restrained Marie from +starting home for nearly a week. + +Finally, she got permission to go. As she passed Dewey's fleet she +was surprised to find everything so peaceful and to see dozens of +native canoes hovering along the port-holes of his vessels, selling +fruit and curios to his men. + +Marie reached home in the early evening, and found her old mother +frantic because of her absence and the excitement that had taken place. + +During the next few weeks while Dewey was waiting for reinforcements +from home, many strange things occurred on shore. The Filipinos +captured or killed nearly all of the smaller Spanish garrisons +distributed throughout the islands. On May 26, they secretly cut +down the Spanish guards walking their beats along the western side of +the little town of Cavite, and let in a horde of Tagalos well armed +with bolos, who crept up near a large stone cathedral, built in 1643, +in which the Spaniards, as a military necessity after their defeat by +Dewey, were making their headquarters. These Filipinos made a mad rush +through the back door of the building and captured all the Spaniards +being quartered therein. This feat also gave them possession of another +lot of Mauser and Remington rifles and a goodly store of ammunition, +for which they had been yearning. + +Dewey had no men whom he could spare to send ashore; therefore, he had +left these surrendered Spaniards to take care of themselves. Evidently +he did not anticipate an attack upon the garrison at Cavite, or +he might have landed enough marines from his battleships to have +prevented it. + +When Marie heard about the capture of the Spanish garrison at Cavite +by the Filipinos, she at once rowed over there to see what was going +to be done with the prisoners. This was the first time she had been +at Cavite since the day of her lover's tragic death. She found the +Filipinos jubilant over their new fire-arms. But many of them had +never before used a gun and they were very awkward with them, so +that accidents were constantly occurring. The privileges of target +practice given to Marie by the Spaniards, in times past, now found a +new reward. She organized the Filipinos into squads for this training, +arranged suitable targets for them, supervised the loading and cleaning +of their guns, and by voluntary assent became the leader in a whole +lot of nefarious mischief in the neighborhood. + +But what about her lover's dying request and the vow she registered +in her aching soul as she left the scene of his death? By remaining +away from the graves of our loved ones we may check memory and +enthrone reason, thus more rapidly overcoming sorrow. By constantly +resorting to places of grief we keep that grief, whatever may have +been its cause, fresh on the tablets of our memories. The fact that +Marie had not returned to Cavite, the scene of her sorrow, for about +two months, helped her to forget it and to flirt with fate among the +very troops who had caused it. Now that she had returned to Cavite, +old visions began to haunt her. Shooting at wooden targets was not +desperate enough to appease her nature; she longed for bloodshed. + +Between herself and a few Filipino leaders she concocted a scheme +that would be hilarious, avenge the death of him whom she had +briefly mourned, as well as the deaths of Rizal and thousands of +other Filipinos who had been shot or strangled by the Spaniards, +and satisfy the longings of her innermost nature. It was this: a +pit twenty feet in diameter and ten feet deep was to be dug on the +higher ground a few miles southwest of Cavite. Each morning twenty +of the captured Spaniards were to be marched out to this pit and +made to slide down a bamboo pole into it. The Filipino soldiers, +armed with their newly-captured rifles, were then to stand around +the brink of this pit and use these half-starved Spaniards for living +targets. Marie gloated over her new enterprise. What sport! How she +enjoyed it! The Filipino's marksmanship was poor and many of their +unfortunate prisoners were shot over a dozen times before they were +stilled in death. This bloody practice was kept up until over two +hundred Spaniards had been slain. + +About this time rumors of what was being done reached the ears +of General Anderson. He ordered it stopped, and sent food ashore, +under American escorts, for the Spanish prisoners. These prisoners, +before being led to the slaughter, were housed by the Filipinos +in an unfinished portion of the old convent at Cavite, and in some +large stone buildings without floors and with only a few windows, +heavily barricaded with iron bars, formerly used by the natives for +storage purposes for various cargoes of raw materials, preparatory +to exportation. These buildings were dark, damp and infested with a +multiplicity of insectivora. + +The Spaniards, imprisoned therein, were fed by the Filipinos on a +very small ration of uncooked rice. This they had to pound into meal, +and eat it out of their hands. Water, although plentiful, was denied +them, except in small quantities. They had no beds, but slept on +the bare ground. Many of them were practically nude. They had staid +by their guns on the Spanish fleet until their ships began to sink; +then they had jumped overboard and swam ashore, taking off most of +their clothes before making the attempt. The Filipinos had little +clothing to give them and no disposition to share what they did have. + +These half-starved wretches, pale, lean and ghostly looking, many +of them sick with fever and other ailments, none of them with a +cent of money, were a sickening sight to the American troops whom +General Anderson sent ashore to investigate their circumstances +and conditions. Of course the healthier ones were marched out and +killed first. Some of them began to cry when the American officers, +pushing the Filipino sentries aside, poked their vigorous manly faces +through the openings of the massive doors to see who and what was on +the inside; but most of them propped themselves up on one elbow and +held out the other hand for something to eat. Others indicated by +motions that they wanted paper and pencils, so as to write letters +home, telling their loved ones in far-off Spain that they were still +alive, and asking for money. + +As the Americans began to empty their haversacks and hand hard-tack +and Boston baked beans to them, some of the prisoners seized them by +the fingers and kissed the backs of their hands in grateful homage +for their kindness. A few of the more ignorant ones, who had heard so +much about the cruelty of the American soldiers, and who, upon sight +of our officers, believing the end was near, had sought a kneeling +attitude and begun to pray, gradually sank back into a reclining +posture and held out their hands for a morsel of food. + +The Filipino guards sulked when they were displaced by the American +sentries, and some of them had to be forced from their posts of +fiendish duty at the point of the bayonet. They considered these +Spaniards as reprisals, constituting their own private property, with +whom they could do as they pleased without any justifiable interference +on the part of anybody. Marie Sampalit slapped an American private +who had been sent to displace a Filipino sentry whom she had just +stationed at one of the prison doors. He promptly knocked her down with +the butt of his rifle. What she said in reply he could not understand. + + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +THE INTERVAL + + +After avenging her lover's death, Marie returned again to Manila +where she remained at home until the Filipino uprising against the +American troops in the spring of 1899. During this interval of nine +months, she daily frequented the places of rendezvous of the American +troops stationed in and around Manila. She also went to the officers' +homes in the city where their wives and children were stopping. She +did their washing, and cared for the children. Her congeniality made +her a favorite. Some of the American ladies offered to bring her back +to America with them for a house-hold servant. + +From them she learned to speak the English language nearly as fluently +as Spanish. The American soldiers were kind and polite to her. She +made considerable money by doing washing for them. It was noticeable +that she was gradually improving the old bamboo home in Manila. In a +few months she had come into possession of more money than she thought +there was in the entire world. Most of it was American gold--largely +in five dollar denominations. (This is what the United States used in +paying the soldiers.) These she took to the Spanish bank in Manila +and exchanged them for Mexican silver, which, until the United +States began to issue special coins for the Philippine islands, +was the standard medium of exchange in the archipelago. + +Marie began to dress better. Her penia cloth gave way to Chinese silks; +her wooden hair combs to expensive ones inlaid with gold, bought at +the Spanish bazar down town. Many little comforts were bought for her +home. Still the washings kept growing larger. She and her mother could +be seen back of their shack, in the shade, pounding American soldiers' +white uniforms on large boulders from early morning till night. + +Aguinaldo, who had previously sold out his country and gone to +Singapore, after commissioning Dimiguez, upon hearing that war +was about to begin between the United States and Spain, made his +way northward to Hongkong. After the battle of Manila Bay, Dewey +despatched the revenue cutter, "McCulloch," to Hongkong to cable +home the news of his splendid victory. On her return to Manila, +she permitted Aguinaldo to come along. + +After a brief conversation with Admiral Dewey on board the "Olympia," +he went ashore at Cavite, his boyhood home, began to organize the +Filipinos into a powerful army, captured 1500 Spanish soldiers who +were holding out-lying posts, and hemmed in the city of Manila. + +On August 13, following, Dewey and General Merritt, by a union of +their forces, captured the city of Manila which offered but slight +resistance. Aguinaldo's native troops rushed forward with the Americans +in the charge that was made by the land forces and they insisted on +looting the city. General Merritt refused this and ordered them to +withdraw beyond the city limits. This they did after considerable +wrangling. Then the Americans established out-posts on every road and +pathway leading to and from the city, completely around the town; +and they were given instructions by the commanding officer not to +allow any Filipino troops to enter the city. + +Aguinaldo discarded his uniform one evening, completely +disguised himself as a Filipino fruit-vender, and made his way +into Manila. Naturally, he slipped around to the home of his old +friends, the Sampalits. He sat in a semi-darkened room, with all the +hinged-windows to the shack tightly closed and stroked Marie's soft +black hair with his left hand. As he engaged her and her mother in +conversation in subdued tones, he little thought that in so short a +time Marie would be associated with him in a series of bloody tragedies +that would revolutionize the government of the islands forever. + +"Marie," said he, "I'm going to force the Americans to acknowledge +the independence of the Philippine islands, or I shall not permit +the rest of their army to land. Dewey tells me he has sent home for +reinforcements. There is no use for us to let these troops land, if +America instead of Spain is going to govern the islands. What we want +is absolute independence with myself as president of the new Filipino +Republic. If the Americans won't concede this to us, let's fight!" + +"That's what I say!" declared Marie. "Let's drive the foreign devils +off the islands or slay them all. Here's father dead and--Dimiguez, +too"--Marie's voice trembled--"I tell you it's too much. Let's kill +every one of them!" + +"Yes; but say Marie, we must keep quiet about all this," cautioned +Aguinaldo. "I'll tell you what I have in mind. We'll wait about four +weeks and by that time if Dewey hasn't received definite instructions +from Washington, and if he won't give me any satisfaction, I'm going +to go to Malolos, proclaim myself Dictator of the Philippines, appoint +a cabinet and a congress from among some of the bright young Filipinos +here in Manila who have been educated abroad, draw up a Revolutionary +form of government, and begin to administer the affairs of these +islands just as I please. + +"We'll keep our present army in the field, and if the Americans do +land we'll shut them up in Manila, so that they will have nothing at +their command but the city to regulate. This won't amount to much as +compared with the rest of the islands which I will dominate." + +"Are you sure the Americans won't land a powerful army, cut through +your lines around Manila and drive you out of Malolos, or capture you +and your officials at that place? It seems to me I would go farther +inland--say to San Isidro," said Marie. + +Aguinaldo thought a moment, then replied: "That's true, in a sense, +Marie; but I have got to be on or near the railroad where I can have +easy and rapid access to Manila. Malolos is not far from here and +it is situated on the railroad. It has some very large buildings in +which our legislative sessions could be held. I think it the place +for the undertaking. + +"To be on the safe side, I believe I will have our troops erect a +series of fortifications between here and there along the railroad +track, so that if the Americans do attempt to advance by that route +I can easily stop them." + +"I think that would be a good scheme," said Marie. "Malolos is about +twelve miles from Manila Bay; besides, the bay is shallow in the +north end, so that heavy boats could not go up there. This will make +it impossible for Dewey to shell the place with his fleet. We've got +to watch out for that--no matter what we do. My! but those American +ships can shoot! Did you hear about me shooting at 'em with that +cannon on Corregidor island when they entered the bay? I mighty near +got one of their vessels." + +"No," said Aguinaldo, "I have not heard very much about the firing +off Corregidor, but as I came from Hongkong the other day on the +"McCulloch" I noticed that the Spanish fortifications on the island +had all been dismantled." + +"Why! they killed a man right at my feet, the very first shot," said +Marie; "and then one of their boats drew nearer and fired several +times more and they killed every Spaniard in the relief guard which +was near by,--seven of them in all." + +"And I was terribly worried about Marie," interrupted her mother who +had listened to the conversation with deepest interest. "She had been +gone for a week, and I hadn't heard a word from her." + +"Oh! well, I don't pity the Spaniards any for what the Americans did +to them," interjected Aguinaldo, with some emphasis. + +"Be careful," said old lady Sampalit, putting her finger on her lips, +"don't speak too loud." + +Aguinaldo continued in a lower voice: "They killed your husband. They +shot Rizal. They strangled Dimigeuz. They tortured to death several +hundred of our young fellows in the dungeons. They have left ridges +of dead wherever their armies have moved among us. I tell you they +deserved all they got." + +Mrs. Sampalit and Marie had grown heavy hearted. Aguinaldo looked at +his watch. It was after ten P. M. + +"I wonder," said Aguinaldo, hesitatingly, "how I shall be able to +get back to our lines tonight." + +"Don't go!" said Marie, in an emphatic whisper, "stay over night!" + +"Yes, do!" entreated the old lady, "I'm nervous." + +"It might be best; it would surely be the safest thing to do," said +Aguinaldo, in a meditating manner. + +"We sleep on bamboo beds," said Marie. "There stands mine. You may use +it tonight, and I will sleep on the floor. I don't mind. Mother and +I frequently lie down on the floor near the window, when the nights +are sultry." + +The next morning Aguinaldo arose very early, made his way to the +edge of the city and stealthily stole out threw the Americans' lines, +never again to return to Manila until General Funston brought him back, +two years later, a captive. + +He made his way to Malolos, a few weeks after this conversation, +declared himself "Dictator of the Philippines," appointed a Filipino +congress, set up a government of his own and began to run the general +affairs in the interior of Luzon. + + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +FILIPINO UPRISING + + +The close of the eventful year of 1898 was near at hand. General Otis +had been made governor-general of the islands. He had received about +15,000 troops from home. These had all been landed and were quartered +in the city of Manila. + +Preparations had begun by the American troops for a great day of field +sports to be held on the Luneta--a beautiful narrow park paralleling +Manila bay and extending southward from the walled-city about four +miles--on New Year's day, 1899. + +On the afternoon of January I, as planned, the exercises were +begun. The afternoon program consisted of foot races, running high +jumps, wheelbarrow race, fat man's race, running broad jump, high +kicking, fancy club swinging, tumbling, shot-put, sack race, tugs of +war, five boxing contests, base ball, foot ball, and pole vaulting. + +Situated on the Luneta, about a mile south of the walled city, and +distant from Manila bay about 100 feet, is a large bandstand. This +served as headquarters for the exercises. The day was perfect--clear, +cool and calm. + +About 2:00 P.M. over 40,000 natives, soldiers (including jack-tars +from Dewey's fleet, Spaniards and Americans) and foreign residents +had assembled around this bandstand to hear the Address of Welcome and +to witness the sports. When the speaker arose to deliver the address, +for which he was afterward voted, and presented with, a medal by the +Eight Army Corps, he said in part (verbatim report): + +"On behalf of these committeemen who have spared no efforts to make +these Field Day Exercises a success, and this occasion one long to +be remembered by those who have assembled here this afternoon, I bid +you, one and all--officers, soldiers, sailors and civilians of every +nationality--a hearty welcome." + +"Again to you, the members of Admiral Dewey's fleet, I feel obligated +to extend a separate and special welcome; for without your chivalrous +devotion to duty last May Day, yon shell-riven wrecks (part of unraised +Spanish fleet visible above the bay) would not bespeak the down-fall +of a sister nation, and we ourselves would not have been permitted +to assemble here this afternoon. There is no braver man on land or +sea than the American marine; and on behalf of the entire American +army of occupation, I bid you a most cordial welcome." + +Touching upon the question of territorial expansion, the speaker said: + +"This was a war for humanity, not for conquest. But simply because +it suddenly closed and left us in possession of large tracts of +new territory, is no reason why these spoils of war should be given +up. I hold this to be true Americanism: that wherever the old flag +is established through sacrifice of American blood, whether it be on +the barren sands of the desert, at the frigid extremes of the earth, +or on the rich and fertile islands of the sea, there is should remain +triumphant, shedding forth beams of liberty to the oppressed, shouts +of defiance to the oppressor, and furnish protection and enlightenment +to all who come beneath its streaming folds forever!" (applause). + +A chubby Filipino maiden, standing near the speaker's stand, and +who had listened intently to every word of the address, because she +now understood the English tongue, quietly elbowed her way through +the dense crowd which was gradually becoming more compressed, until +she reached a car drawn by two Chinese ponies on the old street car +line running south from Manila to Fort Malate and back. Taking the +car she rode up town to the Escolta. Going into the postoffice, she +hastily wrote and mailed to Aguinaldo at Malolos a letter containing +an account of what was said. It follows: + + +"Manila, P. I., Jan. 1, 1899. + + +My Dear General: + +Those wretched Americans are holding some kind of exercises on the +Luneta this afternoon. I heard one of the speeches. It was awful +bad. The fellow talked loud. He swung his hands in the air and the +crowd seemed to get terribly excited over what he was saying. + +He told about that treaty of peace, and he said no power under the +sun would haul down the American flag from over Manila. + +It made me angry. I am going right out to the Filipino trenches to +see my Uncle (Colonel Miguel). He'll fix those fellows. I'll bet +he'll haul down their flag before tomorrow morning. + + +Goodby, + +Marie." + + + +The evening program on the Luneta, which followed the afternoon +exercises, was largely literary in its nature. It consisted of music +by the California band, singing by the famous Washington Male Quartet, +fancy dancing, selected recitations, and stump speeches. In addition, +Privates Green and Martin boxed four rounds, much to the satisfaction +of the natives. + +The program had just been completed when the Master of Ceremonies +received from the American general in charge a note telling +him to announce the conclusion of the program at once and to +order all soldiers to report immediately at their respective +regimental headquarters;--trouble had been reported at the +out-posts. Reinforcements were hastened to several of the out-post +reserves, and it appeared that the expected insurrection was at hand. + +After the out-break by the Filipinos on New Year's night, it was +evident to both sides that it was only a question of a short time when +blood would be spilled in abundance. The Filipinos occupied all of the +block-houses--some seventeen in number--around the city of Manila. This +forced the Americans to stand in the open and do guard duty exposed. + +The Filipino troops were saucy. They couldn't understand why men should +be armed with rifles and not be permitted to shoot. They tormented +the American soldiers daily with hideous pranks. They grew bolder, +and pushed their out-posts forward until they stood within a few feet +of the American sentries. + +Marie went out and back through the American lines at will. She +secretly kept the Filipino army thoroughly posted on the arrival of +new troops from America. Occasionally she would take the train and +go up to Malolos to see Aguinaldo. She was the best posted person +in the Philippines as to what was going on in each of the hostile +armies. Nobody suspected her. She was respected by the American +troops. Everybody came to know her. + +Just before dusk, on the evening of February 4th, 1899, Marie +and her mother left the city of Manila, in a cariole, drawn by a +Chinese pony which they had recently purchased. They had in it all of +their most precious household trinkets. As they passed Colonel John +M. Stotsenberg, commanding the 1st Nebraska volunteers, stationed +on McLeod's hill at the eastern edge of Manila, he recognized them, +and called to Marie, "Where are you going?" + +"Out on a little trip," retorted Marie. + +"How soon will you be back?" asked he. + +"O, I can't tell," responded Marie. "Mother is getting so nervous +that we thought best to go away for awhile." + +"Say, Marie," said the colonel, "do you know who the Filipino officer +is in command of all those thousands of troops that are now assembling +in the ravines between the hills along the far side of the river +valley, yonder?" + +"No, I do not," she declared with an emphatic swing of her head. + +But she was lying. It was Colonel Miguel, her own uncle. She knew about +it. He had secretly informed her that he was preparing to attack the +city and burn it and that he was going to exterminate the American +army of occupation and all foreign residents that fell into the hands +of his mighty army. He told her that he had chosen the east side of +the city as his main point of attack, so that Dewey could not reach +his troops with the shells from his gun boats in case he tried to +assist the American army, without elevating his guns and shooting +completely over the city--a thing wholly impractical within itself, +as Dewey could not determine whether his shells would be falling +among the Filipino or the American troops. It was he who advised her +to take her mother and flee to the hills for refuge. + +Colonel Stotsenberg then asked Marie if she knew anything about the +proposed attack on the city by her people. This, she denied also. The +colonel's face flushed. Pulling back the flap of his tent, he said +emphatically: "Do you see that gun, Marie? Tell those fellows over +there when you pass their lines that I said they could have trouble +whenever they want it." + +Marie drove on. + +Inside the colonel's tent stood a large gun from the Utah battery, +mounted, loaded, ready for action; its threatening nose was +pointed directly at the line of little brown men assembled across +the valley. The Filipinos were smarting for trouble. They wanted it +badly. Wherever and whenever possible they improved every opportunity +to bring it about. The trouble came. Colonel Stotsenberg that night +used the cannon he had pointed out to Marie. A long pile of mangled +forms lying at the base of the river hills on the opposite of the +valley next morning told the results. + + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +AS A SPY + + +Marie was well equipped by instinct and experience for a spy. The +tragic nature of such work was exceptionally inviting to her. When +a chance came to undertake it, she lost no time in embracing the +opportunity. + +After passing out through the American lines, she drove on down the +slope of the hill and crossed the San Juan River on the old stone +bridge where the fighting was begun that night by young Grayson of +the Nebraska regiment. After reaching the Filipinos' lines she at once +reported to her uncle, Colonel Miguel, and had an extended interview +with him. + +Secret plans were agreed upon whereby she was to become the colonel's +chief scout. Two Filipino soldiers were sent to accompany her old +mother to the little town of Angono on the eastern bank of Lake Laguna +de Bay, near its northern end. A native family, quite familiar with +the Sampalits and related to them, lived in this village. Marie stayed +with the troops in the field. Her young brain danced at the thought +of more bloodshed. She must be in the fight. + +Just what part Marie took in the attack made upon the Americans by +the Filipinos on the night of February 4th, and in the fighting on +February 5th, the world will never know. The two main figures in +these operations were Colonel Miguel, in command of the main portion +of the Filipino forces, and Colonel Stotsenberg, who commanded the +1st Nebraska volunteers. Before the close of the war these men were +both shot; consequently, there is no one left to tell the story, +and history is silent on the point. + +After the fight of February 4 and 5, the entire line of block-houses +and intrenchments circumscribing Manila, were in the hands of the +Americans. From the Pasig river on the east, around the city to the +bay on the north, this line was commanded by Major-General MacArthur; +the corresponding semi-circle on the south, by Major-General Anderson. + +During the next seven weeks, fresh troops were constantly +arriving. Each side was preparing for the long, inevitable conflict. + +At day break, on March 25, General MacArthur, leaving Hall's brigade +in the trenches and placing those of Otis and Hale on the firing line, +which was over seven miles in length, made a brilliant charge along +the entire front on the Filipinos' breastworks about a mile and a +half distant and constructed parallel to those of the Americans'. + +Before night he had cut the Filipino army into hopeless fragments; +had advanced his own army over nine miles; had inflicted a terrible +loss upon Aguinaldo's troops; had demonstrated to them the difference +between a determined American advance and an irresolute Spanish one; +and had taken up in earnest the invasion of Luzon, the capture of +the Filipinos' temporary capital, Malolos, the overthrow of their +provisional government, and the establishment of American sovereignty +throughout the entire archipelago. + +That night, about eleven o'clock, a nervous Filipino woman came walking +down along the American out-post reserves which, during actual war, +are usually only from 100 to 200 feet in the rear of the sentries. She +reached Company "G's" reserve of the 1st South Dakota Volunteers, +where she was ordered to halt. She refused, but acted as though she +did not understand. Drawing a large bamboo bonnet down over her face +to conceal her identity, she mumbled something apparently to herself, +and walked rapidly on. In a moment she was seized; her bonnet was +torn off; her identity revealed: it was Marie. + +She had been counting the American out-posts and the reserves to see +if the defeated Filipinos, with the reinforcements which they had +received, would be warranted in making a night attack. + +She boldly denied her identification; fought, scratched, +scrambled--making it necessary to employ two privates, a corporal +and a sergeant to send her to the rear. + +When she was taken before Major William F. Allison, commanding the +3rd battalion of the South Dakotas, who was acting as field-officer +that night, he ordered her restrained until morning. A tired private +was detailed to guard her. He gave her a rubber poncho, and insisted +that she wrap herself up in it and lie down to sleep. Although she +drew the poncho about her to keep herself warm (it grew very chilly +before morning) she refused to sleep, and made repeated efforts to +escape. Her teeth chattered and she seemed distressed--evidently +through fear of what the morning might bring to her. + +The next day she was set free, after taking a solemn oath to return +to Manila and not take any further part in the insurrection. She +pleaded earnestly for her liberty, and voluntarily promised that +after her return to Manila she would do washing free of charge for +the American soldiers who were sick in quarters. + +After being liberated, Marie walked eastward, following an irregular +sled-road; that is, a road-way used by the Filipinos for sledding +their rice to market. This is done by means of a bamboo sled drawn +over the dry ground by a caribou. She followed this road for over +two miles until she came to the San Mateo river. + +Although given a few hardtack by her captors at the time of her +release, she was getting hungry. As she approached the stream she +noticed an old Filipino standing near his bamboo cabin which was neatly +tucked away oh the slope of a deep ravine near by. Turning from her +pathway which had now grown somewhat indistinct she approached the +old gentleman. + +When quite close to him she said, "Buenos dias," (Good morning in +Spanish.) + +"Magandang umaga," (Good morning, in Tagalo), muttered the old man. + +After a brief conversation during which Marie told him that she had +been captured by the Americans, had been terribly misused and he had a +miraculous escape, he invited her into his cabin where his aged wife +gave her something to eat. This breakfast consisted of boiled rice, +some fish which the old man had just brought from his set lines in +the San Mateo river, and some bacon which he had found along the +trail made by the American's pack train the day before. + +While the old couple were outside of their home--he breaking up +some bamboo with which to re-kindle the fire, and she, cleaning the +fish--Marie ransacked the house. She stole a large diamond ring which +the old man had taken from the finger of a Spanish officer during +the previous insurrection. She opened an old mahogany chest and took +from it a rosary valued at several hundred dollars; also a gold lined +cup which the old man, himself, had stolen from a Spanish priest, +and some Spanish coins. + +After a hearty lunch, she started on. + +Crossing the river at the rapids, on the boulders which projected +above the water, she quickened her steps and hurried along. Changing +her course to the southward, she started for the northern end of Lake +Laguna de Bay to see her mother. + +She had not gone far through a small clump of timber when she came +upon the corpse of a Filipino soldier who had been shot in the previous +day's engagement,--perhaps by a stray ball. Hastily stealing the cross +which hung from a small cord about his neck, and a valueless ring from +one of his fingers, she seized his Mauser rifle and his cartridge belt +which was partly filled with ammunition, and then resumed her journey. + +A short distance ahead was a large opening--an old rice field +well cleared. She had scarcely begun to cross it when she heard a +noise. She turned and saw the bow-legged old man whom she had robbed, +with a machete in his hand, coming after her as fast as he could. He +had discovered that the rosary was missing, and upon looking around, +that several other things were gone; therefore he at once started +in pursuit of the fiend who had just enjoyed his hospitality. Marie +was not disturbed. Raising to her shoulder the rifle which she had +just found, she took deliberate aim and at the first shot laid him +low in death. + +She reached the small native village of Angono, where her mother was +stopping, about four o'clock in the afternoon of March 26th. + +The old lady was wonderfully elated to receive the new jewels which +Marie had stolen. She put on the rosary and danced about in the native +hut like a young child on Christmas morning, when it sees the gorged +stocking fastened to its bed. + + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +OFF FOR BALER + + +That night Marie had a good rest. The next morning, fired with ambition +and discontent, she lit her accustomed cigarette and started for +Manila. Instead of going overland, she went in a row boat via the +Pasig river which drains the lake into Manila bay and which flows +through the city of Manila situated at its mouth. + +While stealthily prowling around through Manila during the next few +days, Marie accidentally discovered that plans were being carried +out by the Americans to relieve the remnant of the old Spanish +garrison of fifty men stationed at the little town of Baler, near +the eastern coast of Luzon. This garrison was of course surrendered +to the American forces with the remainder of the Spanish army on +August 13, 1898, but as all lines of communication with them had been +destroyed by the Filipinos they had never been officially notified +of the capitulation. Scouting parties brought in the information that +they were being besieged by a horde of blood-thirsty Filipinos which +outnumbered them ten to one, and that it was only a question of time +before all would be exterminated. + +Accordingly, Admiral Dewey and General Otis decided that something +must be done at once to relieve them. A rescuing party was formed and +placed aboard the "Yorktown," which carried them around the southern +point of Luzon and then northward to the mouth of the Baler river. + +Marie, nerved by the thought of a new exploit, forgot her oath not +to take up arms against the Americans again during the insurrection, +and hastily departed overland for Baler to notify the besieging +Filipinos of what was to take place, and to help them as best she +could to resist the advance of the rescuing party. + +Although Baler is situated on the Baler river, near the eastern coast +of Luzon, and Manila is on the west side of the island Baler is, +nevertheless, almost directly north of Manila. This is caused by the +deep indention of Manila bay, on the extreme eastern side of which +Manila is situated, and by the abrupt inclination to the westward of +the eastern coast line of Luzon directly above a point straight east +of Manila. + +In starting on her journey Marie left Manila by a little Filipino +foot-path which enters the city in the northeastern part near the +San Sebastian church. She followed it to Block-house No. 4, which is +situated about three miles north and a trifle east of Manila. At that +point she took a road which veered off perceptibly to the east for a +short distance and which was made by the Americans' commissary train +on the morning that the advance was begun toward Malolos, March 25, +preceding. + +She had gone but a quarter of a mile when her attention was +attracted to a board used as the head-stone for a grave only a few +feet distant from her pathway. She walked over to in and found these +words inscribed thereon: + + + "R. I. P. D. O. M. + + Wat Erbuf Falo + + Born -- (?) Died, February 12, 1899. + + + To those who bring flowers to this lonely grave, + Some facts on its headstone we wish to engrave; + If this mound could speak no doubt it would tell + Bill Sherman was right when he said, 'War is Hell.' + He charged on two pickets whose names are below; + They took him for niggers,--poor wronged buffalo. + As to the way he met death, everybody knows how; + As to whom he belonged we don't caribou. + + Signed: Barney and Barkley, Co. "M," 1st. Col. Vols." + + + +It was now April 2nd, and Marie had ahead of her about ninety miles +overland to be made on foot or else on horse-back; and it was necessary +for her to hurry along, as the rescuing party was scheduled to reach +the mouth of Baler river April 10th, or 12th. + +Her course led past the little shack on the bank of the San Mateo +river, where she had robbed the elderly couple who had been so kind +to her and near where she later had shot the old man when he was +pursuing her to regain possession of his stolen property. + +She found it deserted; but in a little bamboo corral nearby she found +three Chinese ponies. Evidently they had made their escape from the +scene of battle and had drifted into this yard for refuge. There was +a small stack of rice straw just outside the corral. From this Marie +soon made a stoutly-twisted rope which she hastily arranged in the +form of a bridle. Placing it over the head of the largest pony she +mounted him and rode off. + +She got ten miles beyond this last stopping place before sunset. That +night she stopped at a small inland village. As she lay down to sleep +on the bamboo floor in the hut of a Tagalo family whose acquaintance +she had readily formed, recollections of the place which she had +passed during the afternoon where she had previously robbed the old +couple immediately after she was released upon oath by the Americans, +suggested to her the thought that she was violating her oath; that she +was now out in a country where she might be betrayed at any moment by +her own people, or else be captured by a squad of American infantry +or cavalry; therefore, she decided that on the following day she +would destroy her identity. + +Upon retiring the previous night Marie coiled up for a pillow her head +of long black hair. "I hate to give it up," thought she, "but what +will the Americans do to me if they capture me another time? Oh! well, +after the war is over it will soon grow out again." + +The next morning, after a scanty breakfast of bananas and rice, and +a pineapple which Marie salted heavily before she ate it, she went to +a native barber and had her long hair cut close to the scalp, except +for a little tuft on top which she had him brush up for a pompadour. + +Before cutting off her hair the barber tied a piece of hemp very +tightly around it, just back of her neck. After he had detached it, +he held it in front of Marie and asked her what she wished done with +it. She took it in her own hands. + +The barber kept on trimming her shortened hair. Marie stopped talking +and seemed to be in deep meditation. + +Presently the barber said. "That's all." + +Marie arose from the rough mahogany slab on which she had been sitting, +handed him a puesta (twenty cents, Mexican), looked out of the window +and said, "I'll tell you what I'll do: I'll trade you my hair for +that quilas (two-wheeled cart) standing there." + +"All right"; said the barber, "My pony is dead, and the war has so +devasted the country, and money has become so scarce, that I can't +afford to buy another one." + +"The harness hanging on it goes with the cart," said Marie. + +"Oh no!" exclaimed the barber, "my wife borrowed that, and I must +return it." + +"It doesn't make any difference to whom it belongs," said Marie, +emphatically, "you traded me the cart, and everything that was in it +goes with the trade. How do you suppose I could hitch my pony into +the cart without a harness?" + +Just then she pulled a bolo out from under her apron. The barber said +no more. + +Marie hitched her pony into the cart and started on toward Baler. + +That day she followed a good road leading toward the mountains near +the eastern coast of Luzon. By night her pony had made twenty miles. + +She had already reached the foot-hills. It was impossible for her +to make head-way any longer with the cart. She would soon be across +the mountains and be in the region to be approached by the American +relief party. What was to be done? + +A happy thought came to Marie. She clasped her hands and muttered to +herself, "I'll trade the cart for a suit of men's clothes and trade +the harness for a sombrero," (bamboo hat.) + +Since the middle of the afternoon she had been driving parallel to a +stream that wound its way, nearby, from the mountains across the plains +to the sea. Villages along the banks were numerous. At night fall she +was still in Tagalo territory. It was her own tribe. She soon found a +place to stay over night. Her pony was turned loose in a vacant yard, +with an old bamboo fence around it, and given some young rice. + +That evening while smoking cigarettes, and while inflaming the minds +of the villagers with startling stories about the atrocities, of the +American soldiers, Marie finally succeeded in making the trade which +she had planned during the afternoon. + +Next morning, April 5, she rode on. Before her lay sixty miles of +unknown territory to be covered during the next four days, if she +were to reach Baler in time to warn the besieging Filipinos of the +contemplated attack by the Americans. + +A half mile out from the village, Marie came to an abrupt turn in the +road. Near by was a dense cluster of banana trees. She dismounted, +and while her pony was nibbling young rice she went into the thicket +and changed her attire. Then she tied a good-sized stone up in her +old clothes and threw them into the river. As she stood on the bank +watching them sink, she saw her shadow in the water. How changed she +looked! The sombrero was such a relief in keeping the hot sun off +her head. + +"Now, I'll not be recognized," thought she. "How nice it is to be +dressed like a man. From now on I mean to play a man's part and be +a full-fledged soldier." + + + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +THE GILMORE INCIDENT + + +Marie reached her destination late in the evening of April 9th, +and she at once notified the officers commanding the Filipinos who +were besieging Baler, what to expect. Knowing that with so small a +force, if the Americans undertook to relieve the Spanish garrison, +it would necessarily have to be done by way of the Baler river--as +the town of Baler where the Spanish garrison was located is some two +miles up the river from where it empties into the Pacific ocean, and +the American troops were too greatly outnumbered by the Filipinos to +make a land expedition safe,--she suggested to them the advisability +of fortifying the river at specific intervals along either bank and +of taking the precaution to cover the fortifications with freshly-cut +brush so that the Americans could not locate them for the purpose of +bombarding them in case they saw fit to load some of the smaller cannon +on cascoes and make their way up the river for an attack in that way. + +The Filipinos took her suggestions, and the entrenchments and places +for the sentries were quickly, yet very wisely, arranged. It was +during the dry season and the river was very low at the time. This +made it possible to dig ditches on the sand bars which extended far +out into the stream; and by throwing into the river the loose sand +taken therefrom, to conceal these entrenchments by strewing over them +some fresh-cut limbs and old under brush which had the appearance of +having drifted to their lodgment. + +The Yorktown arrived off the mouth of the Baler river, April 11, as +scheduled. Ensign Stanley went ashore, under a flag of truce, where, +to his surprise, he was cordially received by the Filipino officers; +but their exceptionally good behavior and the twinkle of their eyes +told only too plainly to the ensign that something was wrong. He +therefore returned to the Yorktown without having accomplished anything +in particular. + +The next morning, at four o'clock, Lieutenant Gilmore and sixteen +brave associates left the Yorktown in a row boat, and entered the +mouth of the river. Ensign Stanley and Quartermaster Lysac were put +ashore to reconnoiter. In a few minutes daylight broke forth and +those left in the boat were discovered by the Filipino sentry who +was walking his beat along the shore. He gave the alarm. Lieutenant +Gilmore and his party could easily have pulled out to sea and gotten +away, but humanity forbade it. What would become of the two scouts +who went ashore? Their comrades in the boat could not desert them, +so they rowed up the river into the very jaws of impending danger. + +Presently out of a concealed trench hundreds of armed Filipinos +opened a deadly fire on Gilmore and his comrades, at only fifty yards +distance. The water at this point was shallow. The boat got stuck in +the mud. There was nothing to do but to fight. In a moment Morrisy +fell dead, having been shot through the head; Dillon followed; +then McDonald, then Nygard;--Marie was doing deadly work with her +Mauser rifle. + +The Americans returned the fire as best they could; but what was +the use. They could see nothing to fire at, so perfectly had the +Filipinos screened their trenches; besides, the Filipinos were using +smokeless powder. + +Four of Gilmore's men were already dead, two were mortally wounded +and begging their comrades to shoot them before they fell into the +hands of the Filipinos, and two more were slightly wounded. Most +of the oars had been badly shattered by the enemy's rifle balls. In +this moment of desperation, Ellsworth, Woodbury and Edwards jumped +overboard and tried to push the boat out to mid-stream. It was no use; +the tide was coming in and the current was so strong that they could +not compete against it. + +Lieutenant Gilmore was firing his revolver. He decided to change and +use one of the dead men's rifles. As he picked it up he noticed the +lock had been struck by a Remington ball and the clip had been jammed +in. He handed it to an apprentice lad, named Venville, to be fixed. + +The boy had scarcely begun to examine the gun, when a bullet struck +him in the fleshy part of the neck. He had never been under fire +before. Looking up calmly, he said, "Mr. Gilmore, I'm hit." + +In a moment another bullet struck him in the chest and came out of +his arm pit. With his attention riveted on his task, he remarked, +"I'm hit again, Mr. Gilmore." + +Only a moment later another ball grazed the side of his head and cut +a painful wound in his scalp. "Mr. Gilmore, they've hit me again," +he muttered, while he kept on working at the gun, with blood running +down all over him. + +In a few minutes a fourth ball passed through the lad's ankle, one of +the most painful parts of the body in which to get shot. This time, +with a slight tremble in his voice, he said, "Mr. Gilmore, I'm hit +once more; but I've fixed your gun, Sir." + +Just at this moment the Filipinos saw that the Americans' fire had +practically ceased. Throwing back from off their trench the limbs and +underbrush that had concealed them, the Filipinos, armed with guns, +spears, bolos and clubs, made a bold dash for the boat and captured +the entire crew. + + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +THE AMERICAN PRISONERS + + +Those of the Americans who were alive and able to help themselves +were ordered to go ashore on the sand bar, where the Filipinos robbed +them of their personal effects and then lined them up preparatory +to shooting them all down in a body. Gilmore, being an officer, +protested against having his hands tied. He claimed, according to +the accepted rules of warfare, that on account of his rank he had +a right to die honorably with his hands free. The Filipinos have +great superstitions about "rank" in military affairs. Marie knew the +significance of Gilmore's request; she respected it. + +The Filipinos had loaded their rifles, cocked them, raised the same +to their shoulders, had taken aim, and Marie was about to give the +fatal command, "Fire!", when a shout from the bank stopped her and +for a moment engaged the attention of both the Americans and the +Filipinos. It came from a Filipino officer, running down to the +shore. He ordered them to stop. One second longer would have been +too late. + +This Tagalo officer ordered the Americans to get back into their boat +and to row across to the opposite shore. After bailing the water out +of the boat and plugging up the holes in it made by the enemy's rifle +balls, they obeyed his command. + +When they went ashore, Lieutenant Gilmore asked permission to bury +his dead comrades. This privilege was emphatically denied. What was +done with their bodies by the Filipinos is hard to tell, but in all +probability, as was customary with the natives, they cut them into +fragments and threw them away. + +The ones who were mortally wounded, but who were still alive, were +placed under a tree by Gilmore and his comrades, and left to die. The +Lieutenant asked that a native doctor be summoned to give them aid, +but it was not done. What their fate was Eternity alone will reveal. + +Gilmore and his comrades picked up the lesser wounded and carried +them, and together the whole procession was marched inland about a +mile to the Filipino Commandante's headquarters. + +Here they were questioned at length. Gilmore asked permission to +write a note to the commander of the Yorktown telling him of their +fate. Permission was granted, but the note was never delivered. The +two scouts who went ashore, returned to the Yorktown in the afternoon +and reported that they had heard heavy firing up the river. + +After waiting several days for news of some kind for them, and finally +concluding that they were either captured or killed, the crew of +the Yorktown, heavy-hearted over their failure and their sacrifice, +steamed back to Manila. + +During the afternoon of the same day that the battle took place, +the American prisoners were ordered to march to an old bamboo church +in the northern outskirts of the little town of Baler, a mile and +a half farther on. By this time the wounded men were suffering +terribly. Little Venville's ankle had swollen badly. From his four +wounds he had bled so much that he had grown faint. Therefore, he +and several of the others had to be carried. + +En route to their new destination, the Americans passed in sight of +the old stone church being used as a fortress by the Spanish garrison +whom they had originally set out to relieve. The Americans had gone +to the Philippines to fight the Spaniards. They were now sacrificing +their lives to save them. + +At the bamboo church, an old Filipino with a kindly face and a manner +that elevated him above his fellow tribesmen, came in to see them. He +examined the wounded and then disappeared. Presently he returned with +some large leaves that resembled rhubarb, under his arm. Out of the +big stems of these native herbs he squeezed a milky secretion which he +permitted to drop into the gaping wounds of the Americans. The torture +of the wounded occasioned by this liquid was damnable. The men grew +deathly pale. They rolled and screamed and begged to be shot. But +it did not last long. In ten minutes the torture had ceased, the men +became quiet, the swelling around their wounds was gradually reduced, +and their temperatures soon lowered. The herb doctor evidently knew +his business. + +The next day the Filipinos received orders from Aguinaldo, who, +with his appointed congress, was now at San Isidro, to march the +captured Americans to his headquarters. Accordingly, the trip +was undertaken. But the apprentice lad, Venville, was unable to +go along. Obeying the stubborn orders of the rapacious Filipinos +his comrades left him lying on the floor of the old rickety bamboo +church,--wounded--uncared for--suffering--hungry--thirsty--dying. A +year later the assistance of the entire naval organization in the +Philippines was given to the task of trying to ascertain from the +Filipinos in the neighborhood of Baler some information concerning +the lad's whereabouts or his burial place, but no trace of him, +dead or alive, could ever be found. + + + An aged mother, ill and bowed, + Keeps asking, "Where's my boy?" + But zephyrs from the Orient + Refuse to bring the joy. + + +Amid great privations the marching column crossed the mountains and +the fertile plains on the opposite side, to the city of San Isidro. It +was heralded in advance that the Americans were coming through the +country. Obeying their greatest national instinct--curiosity--the +natives assembled by thousands in the villages along the road. Every +one of them kept crowding forward to get to touch the Americans to see +what their skins felt like. Others were looking for the long feathers +in their hair, which they had heard so much about. It was all the +Filipino guards could do to restrain their own people. The latter, +like monkeys, jabbered incessantly. Gilmore's men hurled back at them +defiant epithets. They realized that involuntarily they had become +the chief actors in a new moving circus. + +Again, when they reached San Isidro, a great throng of curious natives +had come to town to see them. These fellows were very hostile to the +Americans. It was all the native guard could do to keep the Filipinos +from doing violence to them. Gilmore was again questioned at length +and then he was separated from his comrades and all were hurried off +to jail. + +In a few days it was rumored that the American army was approaching the +city. Aguinaldo and his associates hurriedly prepared to leave. Orders +were given to march the prisoners overland north and then westward +across another range of high mountains to Arancay, on the western +coast of Luzon,--a distance of 100 miles. + +This time the crowd of prisoners was greatly increased. At San +Isidro there were added 600 Spaniards; a small tribe of mountain +Negritos whom Aguinaldo had originally sent to fight the Americans, +but who, being armed only with spears and bolos, soon got tired of +seeing their number decrease so rapidly before American riflemen, +and refused to fight, and who were later imprisoned and terribly +misused by Aguinaldo's selected guards; and eighteen Americans in +addition to Gilmore's party (total twenty-six Americans), who had +been captured in as many different ways around Manila by the crafty, +cunning Filipinos. Among them was Frank Stone, of the U. S. Signal +Corps, captured by some "amigos" (friendly natives) on the railroad +track near Manila, while out strolling one Sunday afternoon; Private +Curran, of the 16th U.S. Infantry who was grabbed within fifty feet +of his own outpost, gagged and dragged into captivity; also a civilian +who had gone to the Philippines to sell liquor. + +This fellow was captured by the Filipinos in the outskirts of Manila +while he was searching for a small boatload of stolen beer. He was the +life of the expedition. He took his captivity as a joke, told stories +to keep the prisoners good natured, and painted on ever boulder that +he passed the seemingly sacrilegious words, "Drink Blank's beer on +the road to H----." It was, however, this harmless practice that later +on enabled the American relief party to follow the prisoners' trail. + +After reaching the western shore of Luzon, the party was marched +northward along the beach, another 100 miles, to the city of +Vigan. Here they were imprisoned for three months longer. The sudden +presence of an American war-ship in the harbor, off Vigan, caused the +natives to abandon that city and start inland with their prisoners +for some mountain fastness. The Americans were separated from the +rest of the prisoners whom they never saw again. + +High up in the mountains of northern Luzon, two of the American boys +were taken sick with fever and fell down, exhausted. The Filipino +lieutenant who had charge of the prisoners, ordered them to go on; +they could not. He threatened to shoot them. Gilmore interceded for +them without avail. The Americans refused to leave their Anglo-Saxon +comrades and prepared to fight. At this moment the Filipino officer +himself was suddenly taken ill, and by the time he was able to advance, +the sick Americans were able to go along. + +A few days later they struggled over the crest of the divide and came +upon the headwaters of a beautiful mountain torrent dancing down the +rocky ledges in its onward course to the sea. At a widened place in +the canon, the Filipinos withdrew from the Americans, and with guns +in hand took their positions on the rocks round-about and above them. + +"Prepare to die," said Gilmore to his companions; "they are going to +shoot us." Calling the Filipino lieutenant to his side Gilmore asked +him why he did not shoot them on the opposite side of the mountains, +and not have made them make all of that hard climb for nothing. + +The native officer said in reply: "My orders were to shoot all of +you when I got you up in the mountains, where, in all probability, +your bodies would be destroyed by wild animals and no trace of them +ever be found by your countrymen; but a few nights ago when you showed +me that crucifix tattooed on your chest while you were a midshipman +in America, I decided not to carry out my order, but to let you all +go free. I may be punished for disobedience of orders; but we are +both bound together by the great Catholic church, and my conscience +forbids that I should kill you." + +Gilmore replied: "You might as well shoot us as to set us free away +up here in the mountains in our weakened condition with nothing to +defend ourselves with against the savages whose territory we will have +to cross in order to get to the sea. Can't you spare us at least two +rifles and some ammunition? If you will do this, I will give you a +letter which, should you fall into the hands of the Americans, will +make you safe and bring you ample reward." + +The Filipino looked meditatingly at the ground for several moments, +then he calmly said, "I shall not dare to do it. An American relief +party, seeking your liberation, is close on our heels. They will +protect and care for you. Goodby!" + +Gilmore did not believe him. + +Under cover of the night the Filipinos disappeared. In the morning, +after nine long, tedious months of captivity resulting from Marie +Sampalit's depredations,--sick, nearly starved, practically nude, with +nothing but two battle axes and a bolo for both weapons of defense +and for tools--the Americans at last found themselves free men in +the wilds of northern Luzon, with positive death left behind, and +with possible life and all of its happy associations still before them. + +Their first day of liberty was spent in preparing bamboo rafts on +which to float down the tortuous, winding river to the sea. The next +night they all slept well; and on the following morning, just after +they had gotten up and begun to saunter around, everybody present was +suddenly shocked by the shrill yell of a strong American voice. They +all looked up, and while their hearts for a moment seemingly stopped +beating and fairly rose in their throats, the liberated prisoners +beheld the blue shirts and khaki trousers of Colonel Hare's rescue +party that for several weeks had been on their trail. + +What rejoicing! The bony, ill-clad prisoners fell on the strong bosoms +of their rescuers and wept. + +Colonel Hare's father, Judge Hare, of Washington, D.C., knew Gilmore +personally. He had seen the military reports of his captivity among +the natives. When his son bade him goodby as he started for the +Philippines, Judge Hare said, "My boy, God bless you; find Gilmore +and bring him home!" Colonel Hare had remained true to his trust. + +The party could not retrace their steps over the mountains, owing to +the weakened condition of the prisoners and the lack of food. Their +only chance for self-preservation and a possible return to civilization +lay in carrying out Gilmore's designs to build bamboo rafts and float +down the river to the sea. This was done. In going over rapids and +water-falls, many rafts were destroyed and new ones had to be built. + +Two of the boys got the measles. The raft on which one of them, +Private Day, was being transported, got smashed on the rocks and he +was thrown into the water. He took cold and died the next day. His +comrades took his body with them and did not bury it until they finally +reached the little town of Ambulug, at the mouth of the stream they +had been following, on the northern coast of Luzon. There, amid a +simple but impressive ceremony, it was buried in the church-yard of +the cathedral to await the resurrection morn. + +At Ambulug the Americans secured ox-carts drawn by caribous and drove +along the beach to the city of Aparri, at the mouth of the Cagayan +river. Here they were met by a detachment of American Marines who +took them aboard a war-ship, lying out to sea, which carried them +around the northwest promontory of Luzon to the city of Vigan on the +western coast, at which place they had been imprisoned for so long. + +Here they met General Young who shook hands with each of them; +congratulated the rescued and complimented the rescuers. + + + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +DEATH OF GENERAL LAWTON. + + +After the battle of Baler, Marie and a few native soldiers hastened +westward in advance of the prisoners, to San Isidro to notify Aguinaldo +who had moved his headquarters to that place, that the Americans were +advancing northward in great numbers and that nothing could impede +their progress. This information had previously been conveyed to the +Filipino general from other sources, so that Marie found him in his +so-called congress packed up and ready to move,--a thing they were +forced to do a few days after the American prisoners arrived. She +accompanied them for several long, tedious months, acting as cook for +the expedition and serving in other capacities--none of them seeming +to her to be ample reward for all she had done. + +Early in the coming fall, Marie, tired of Aguinaldo's game of +hide-and-go-seek, and anxious to find out about her mother and to get +into more fighting, if there be a chance, made her way back to Manila. + +But her conscience bothered her. She remembered that broken oath and +many other acts of wanton treachery that would shock the civilized +world. She feared that her own life would soon be sought either by +the Americans or by the Filipinos. Accordingly she suggested to her +mother that they again go to her aunt's in the little town of Angono +at the north end of Lake Laguna de Bay, where she had left her mother +stationed when last they had parted. Her mother, growing old and +nervous through accumulated years, past grievances, hard work and the +strain of the present conflict, favored the plan; and so they departed +on December 2nd, taking the same road over McLeod's Hill and on down +over the Santa Mesa bridge that they had traveled on February 4th. + +Before leaving Manila she learned through the private Filipino Junta +which was secretly assisting in the war by accumulating funds for +its prosecution and by distributing among the native troops the +inflammatory literature which was being promiscuously sent out by +the people in the United States who opposed the war, that a secret +reward of $10,000. had been offered for the death of General Lawton. + +About the middle of December, 1899, the General had returned to +Manila from another telling campaign northward, when he learned that +the Filipinos were assembling in large numbers under one of their +fearless leaders, General Geronemo, on the San Mateo river, but a +few miles out of Manila, for the purpose of making one more attempt +to break through the American lines guarding that city. + +On December 17, Marie heard that another attack was to be made on +Manila, so she left her mother at Angono and made her way to the +Filipinos' camp along the San Mateo river, only a few miles south of +where she had crossed it at the rapids the morning after she had been +liberated under oath by Major Allison. + +The next day, she was in secret consultation with Geronemo, and she +disclosed to him all the information she had concerning the defenses +of Manila. + +That evening, Filipino scouts, dressed in female attire, brought to +General Geronemo the news that the Americans, under General Lawton, +who was supposed to be away up in the northern part of Luzon, had +anticipated his movements and were assembling in the woods on the +opposite side of the valley in large numbers, possibly for a night +attack. + +Marie told Geronemo what she had learned while in Manila concerning +the reward that had been secretly offered for the killing of General +Lawton. He knew all about it and confirmed the offer. She told him all +about her training as a marksman with the Spanish on Corregidor island +and of her subsequent experience, and said she knew General Lawton +well; that she could single him out, and in case he led his troops, +as he usually did in battle, she was sure she could capture the prize. + +A place of unusual safety and concealment was selected along the +Filipinos' lines, directly in front of the center of the probable point +of attack by the Americans, for Marie, and for a Filipino lieutenant +and a corporal, both of whom were also good shots. + +Geronemo had instructed them that Marie was to have the first three +shots at the general, in case he appeared on the scene of battle. If +she failed to hit him, the lieutenant was then to try it. After he +had taken three shots, if he, too, failed, the corporal was to be +given a chance. + +The next morning, December 19, the American line of battle came out +of the woods on the opposite side of the valley, ready to charge on +the Filipinos' position. The morning was bright and clear, so that +General Lawton, with his tall figure, resplendent uniform and large +white helmet, could easily be discerned by the entire Filipino command. + +"I'll fix him," whispered Marie, "just wait till the firing begins, +so that I can shoot without attracting attention to our position." + +In a moment, the Filipinos opened fire on the Americans all along +the line. The latter sought cover. General Lawton remained erect. He +made an ideal target. Marie took careful aim. "Bang!" went her rifle, +and at that very moment this peerless leader of men, this hero of +several wars, was shot through the heart and fell dead in the arms +of his aide. His only words were, "I'm shot." + +"See that! What did I tell you?" snapped out Marie, "I told you I'd +get him! Now for my dinero." (money). + +The Americans were so angered because of the sudden death of their +beloved commander that they made a mad rush forward, without orders, +and swept the Filipino army from the field. + +Marie returned to Manila where she claimed the reward for having shot +the general. The lieutenant who was with her claimed that he did it, +and by promising half of the bounty to the corporal for swearing to +the lie, he proved it. Meager reports of the affair state that only +$7000 of the money was actually paid over. Like Aguinaldo who crept +into a cave northwest of Manila and sold out his country during the +insurrection of 1896, and then could not collect his fee, so Marie, +too, found herself deprived of the compensation for her bloody deed. + + + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +NORTH-BOUND + + +The controversy over the distribution of the fund in Manila for the +death in any form of General Lawton permitted the unholy scheme to +simmer its way into publicity. The United States authorities employed +secret detectives to investigate the matter and if possible to locate +the persons who claimed to be responsible for the act. Marie soon +found herself under surveillance and she quickly left the city. + +Making her way north on horse back along the same route she had taken +when on her way to Baler about a year before, she came to the city +of San Miguel where one of the hardest battles of the war had been +fought. The troops engaged in this fight had become so disorganized +that all formation by regiments, companies, etc., had been broken +up. Unfortunately, one of the Americans' dead privates could not be +identified. He was buried where he fell, and a board tombstone was +placed at the head of his grave, on which was carved this lonely word, + + + "UNKNOWN". + + +As Marie passed over the old field, she saw this grave and read the +solemn word on its headstone. "Alas!" she muttered, "I wonder if the +same sad fate will some day overtake me." + +The body of this "unknown" soldier was exhumed by the government a few +months later and brought back to the United States for burial. Upon +its arrival the following pathetic poem appeared in "Leslie's Weekly"; + + + JUST AN "UNKNOWN" + + After the fight was over, + They found him stark and dead, + Where all the bamboo thicket + Was splashed and stained and red. + No name was missed at roll call, + Not one among them knew + The slender, boyish figure + Arrayed in army blue. + + Among our fallen soldiers + They brought him o'er the deep, + And with the nation's heroes + They laid him down to sleep. + A starry flag above him, + And on the simple stone + That marked his final bivouac, + The single word, "Unknown." + + Perchance a mother watches, + Her eyes with weeping dim, + Or sweetheart waits the postman + In vain for news of him. + While snow of winter freezes, + And April violets thrust + Sweet blossoms through the grasses + Above his nameless dust. + + But when the last great trumpet + Shall sound the reveille, + And all the blue battalions + March up from land and sea, + He shall awake to glory-- + Who sleeps unknown to fame, + And with Columbia's bravest + Will answer to his name. + + +Her personal safety demanded that she continue her journey northward, +without delay; also her inclination to rejoin Aguinaldo and his +troops--although his exact whereabouts were unknown--invited her in +this direction. + +At San Isidro, from which place Aguinaldo had been driven, she +saw some American soldiers administering the water cure to some +Filipinos in order to make them reveal the whereabouts of their wily +general. Marie was angry. She yearned to shoot, but she was no longer +on the aggressive; she was now a fugitive from justice. At this +place she inspected the old Filipino prison and on its walls found +the names of Gilmore and his party, whom she had helped to capture at +Baler, who had been imprisoned there, and who were still alive when +Aguinaldo was driven from the city of San Isidro by the approach of +the Americans. She determined to take her revenge on them for this +water cure punishment, if she ever found them. But the opportunity +never came. So journeying on toward the northern part of Luzon she had +many experiences, and she came in contact with tribes whom she had +never seen before and whose dialect was foreign to her. Many things +combined to retard her progress. Often she grew very weary and would +have turned back, except for fear. + +Following up the valley of the Pampanga river and thence on northward +along the Barat, she passed through the province of Nueva Ecija, +crossed the Caraballo mountains which form its northern boundary, +and then entered the province of Nueva Vizcaya, where she came upon +the head-waters of the Rio Magat river. + +In crossing the Caraballo mountains she made her way through a deep +gorge at night. It was now about the middle of February. A full moon +shone at its best. The weather was ideal. Journeying was abnormally +pleasant. Under favorable conditions, during times of peace, the trip +she was taking would have been a delightful outing. Just now things +were different. Small garrisons of American soldiers had crowded +forward and were occupying the largest cities along her route. As yet +she had not gotten beyond them. "A guilty conscience needs no accuser"; +everywhere that she went she imagined herself to be under suspicion. + +Far up in the Caraballos she came across a little mountain torrent +which leaped down over the mountain side from one rocky ledge to +another at quite regular intervals in a series of waterfalls until it +beat itself into a turbulent spray in the bed of the chasm below. The +laughing moon filtered its beaming rays through the thin sheet of +shimmering water as it danced down its course from precipice to +precipice, and seemingly converted it into a great silvery stair-way +connecting earth with heaven. Marie's heart throbbed with emotion. The +dashing of the falling water on the rocks below in the bed of the canon +made a hollow sound as its echoes reverberated through the gorge above. + +A half mile farther up, the valley widened somewhat; and finding here +some grass for her pony to forage on, she stopped for the night. The +flimsy saddle was removed from her horse and converted into a crude +pillow, in true cowboy style. Marie was uneasy. This was the first +night in all her adventures that she had been absolutely alone, +separated from both friends and foes, with no house to shelter her +weary head, with the cloudless canopy of the silent heavens arched +above her, the silvery moonbeams dancing in her face, and with +no voice, save the echoes of her own, to answer back the whispers +of night. + +It is often only in such a silent nook as this, with no one present +but God and self, that humanity asserts itself and the tenderest +portions of the human soul become paramount and give rise to +sacred thoughts. Even the savage cannot escape it, for he, too, +feels his responsibility to something outside of self. No doubt the +self-conscious criminal would be the most susceptible to it. + +What a night for Marie! Solitude gave rise to fear; fear, to conscious +criminality; a sense of wrong-doing, to grief. Would morning never +come? Every time she fell into a doze her sleep was disturbed by dreams +of the past. Recollections of her dying benefactor in the woods by +the San Mateo river, of Gilmore's comrades bleeding by his side, and +of Lawton in the arms of his aide, filled her soul with remorse and +suggested to her with an unspeakable vividness that in all probability +she would pay the penalty on both sides of the grave. Awakening from +one awful dream, she would, after listening to the stillness of the +night for a time, lapse into another. Again she would suddenly awake +and begin to fumble her rosary and repeat selections from a Catholic +prayer book. Would she dare to turn back? Behind her was certain death; +before her, the possibility of life. She resolved to go on. + +The night whiled away. Her pony ate his fill and lay down to +rest. Beaded dew drops collected themselves in close proximity upon +the grasses and foliage about her feet. The cool mountain air from +without and fear from within caused her to shiver a great deal. Day +finally came; Marie rode on. + +Following the Magat river she finally reached the city of Bayombong +with a population of 20,000 people. Here she learned from the natives +that Aguinaldo and a loyal remnant of his appointed congress had +passed through the city ahead of her, en route northward. + +At Bayombong she was advised to follow down the Magat river for +twenty miles, then to bear to the northeast along the pathway made by +Aguinaldo and his followers in their recent retreat. This she did, +crossing another range of mountains near Fort Del Pilar, which had +been erected by the Filipinos to circumvent as well as to prevent the +progress of the Americans, should they attempt to follow them. On +the farther side of this slope she came upon the headwaters of the +Rio Grande de Cagayan river, which she followed on to the north for +several weeks, enjoying the hospitality of the natives along the +course, until at last she came upon the beautiful city of Ilagan at +the confluence of the Cagayan and Pinacanalan rivers. + +It was now late in April. Marie was tired and needed rest. At Ilagan +she was cordially received by the curious natives who were eager to +learn some news concerning the war which was being conducted several +hundred miles further south. Marie grew cheerful. There were no +Americans in the city, and nobody knew of any within the valley. She +felt that at last she had successfully eluded her supposed pursuers and +that she was safe. Ilagan is the capital of Isabella province. It has +a population of approximately 60,000 people. Marie's natural ability, +information gathered in the school of experience, knowledge of the +details of the war, and her willingness to talk (quite a number at +Ilagan could speak Spanish) made of her a sort of responsive idol +for the entire populace. + + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +CROSSING THE SIERRA MADRES. + + +She remained at Ilagan until the middle of June, when it began to be +rumored that the Americans were preparing to invade the Cagayan valley, +not only soldiers from the south but with the "mosquito fleet" coming +up the river from its mouth at the extreme northern end of the island +of Luzon. Nobody in the city seemed to know just where Aguinaldo had +gone. Part of his advance guard had arrived in the city some three +months before, but he had not come, and his soldiers had soon departed +for the southeast, following the valley of the Pinacanalan river. + +Tired of her surroundings and impatient to join Aguinaldo, Marie +departed by the same route that his soldiers had taken. From an +old native living all alone in a bamboo shack on the bank of the Rio +Masagan river, which empties into the Pinacanalan about eighteen miles +southeast of Ilagan, she learned that Aguinaldo and his troops had +started up the valley of the Masagan. This stream rises high up near +the summit of the Sierra Madre mountains which parallel the eastern +coast of northern Luzon for nearly five hundred miles, and are inland +from the coast from ten to thirty miles. + +Marie had with her three trusted natives from Ilagan. She did not want +to spend another night alone in the mountains. After proceeding up +the Masagan for thirty-five miles to a place where its valley narrows +itself to a gorge, its bed was so strewn with huge boulders that it +became impossible to travel any longer on horseback; therefore, one +of the natives was sent back with the horses, and Marie and the two +others continued the ascent on foot, taking with them such equipment +and provisions as they could conveniently carry. + +After many hardships they succeeded in crossing the range in safety +and soon found themselves descending the other side. A Filipino +scouting party was met at the evening of the first day's tramp down +the Pacific slope. They were well supplied with food--thing Marie and +her companions greatly needed. From them it was learned that Aguinaldo +and his body guard and quite a complement of Filipino soldiers were +secreted at the little town of Palanan on a small stream by the same +name, about ten miles back from the coast and lying directly east +of them on the journey which they were pursuing. This party escorted +them to Filipino headquarters, which they reached July 10, 1900. + +Marie was cordially welcomed by Aguinaldo, who restored her to a +position on his staff and secured from her the identical information +which he desired relative to the movement of the American troops, and +the very information, strange to say, which led to his own discovery +and capture by General Funston of the American forces in March of +the following year. + +Aguinaldo learned from Marie that from the Filipinos' standpoint, the +war around Manila had been a dismal failure. He decided, therefore, +to send one of his trusted generals south by practically the same +route over which Marie had come, with information to the Filipino +troops east and south of Manila to move all their available forces +north with the quickest possible despatch and to place them under his +immediate command so that he might not only render himself immune from +capture, but take the initiative and oppose the American campaign in +the valley of the Cagayan river. + +In December, 1900, about three months before his capture by General +Funston, Aguinaldo, having learned that the Americans were making their +way in great numbers into the valley of the Cagayan, asked Marie to +take up duty as a spy again; to recross the Sierra Madre mountains; +visit the American lines; ascertain their number of soldiers on duty +in the valley on the opposite side of the mountains and then to bring +this information to him, so that when reinforcements should arrive +he would know better how to undertake the campaign. + +To this, Marie willingly assented, but she insisted that she could +not make the trip alone over the rugged Sierra Madre mountains; +that she had nearly famished crossing them the first time. Aguinaldo +therefor fitted out a little expedition consisting of eight Filipinos, +in addition to Marie, and a pack-train of fourteen ponies to accompany +her over the divide. Nine of the animals were for riding purposes; +the other five were to pack the supplies,--three of them for the +outward trip, two for the incoming. In addition to the rice which +they took along, they were instructed to forage as much as possible. + +On December 9, the party started out on their perilous undertaking. A +point far up on the mountain slope, near a refreshing mineral spring, +having been reached on December 17, the party halted and established +a sub-base for their return trip. It was evident to them that they +had struck the wrong trail and were going to be compelled to send +Marie back through a different gorge from the one by which she and +her associates had come over a few months before. + +Here the party divided into two relays--one to accompany Marie close +to the top of the mountains, the other to remain where it was until +her guides returned. At this temporary base three Filipinos and two +pack-horses were left. The Filipinos thus left behind were instructed +to hunt and trap all they could till their comrades returned. + +The on-going squad, consisting of Marie and five native soldiers, took +with them their six riding ponies and three of the pack-horses. They +departed from their comrades early in the morning, December 18. By +night of the second day they had gotten so near the crest they could +plainly discern that in one long march Marie could cross the divide +and get a safe distance down the slope on the opposite side. Coming to +an old stone church they dismounted and established themselves for the +night. It was December 19,--the anniversary of Lawton's death. Marie +remarked about it. + +This old church had partly fallen down. Vines and mosses had so +interlaced themselves in climbing over its rocky walls and across its +openings that they had to be cut away by the unwelcome intruders before +they could gain an entrance. The stone cross on the front gable was +still in place; but the old mahogany door had long since been torn +from its hinges by the mountain storms, and it lay in a state of +decay on the ground. An earthquake had destroyed part of the roof, +and had caused the west wall to become inclined and to crumble. + +Within, one end of the old altar was still found to be intact. The +priest's pulpit chair had become ivy-mantled, and one handle had rotted +from its fastenings and had fallen to the floor. Statues of the Saints +had pitched from their moorings in the alcoves along the walls and were +lying face-downward or standing on their heads amid the debris below. + +What hands had built this old church, none could tell. It seemed +certain that no human being had entered it for over a century. The +mountain tribes who had lifted into place the huge chalk stones +that composed its massive walls, under the devout leadership of some +pious monk, for a place of worship, had long since perished from the +earth. The mountain game which rendered possible their habitation in +this altitude had vanished. Everything and everybody had evidently +given way before some fierce invasion of one of their southern tribes. + +Marie was busy cleaning off the trash from the massive rock that lay +at the entrance to the door-way. "1765," said she; "come, see the +date chiseled in the rock! I wonder what has become of the tribe that +built it?" + +A soldier who had made his entrance by one of the window openings, +was busily engaged in prying up a huge flat stone just back of the +altar. He had it loosened; he called for help to remove it. When the +stone had been overturned and had fallen back onto its aged neighbors, +some soft damp earth beneath it was slowly scraped away. + +"Listen!" said the native who on bended knees was doing the +sacrilegious work, "Did you hear that grating noise?" + +He scraped again with his bolo turned edgewise, and gripping the back +of it firmly with both hands. "Do you hear it?" said he. "It's here!" + +In a few minutes a metallic box was pried out of the earth wherein +it had lain unmolested for many years. + +"Can you read the inscription on it?" asked Marie. + +Carefully the sediment and rust shales were removed. The grooves in +the letters and figures of the inscription were carefully cleaned +out with a knife. It read + + + FATHER + JUADANEZ + 1768. + + +"The old father has been dead a long time," said the fellow who was +doing the details of the work. + +"I wonder," said Marie, "if we really ought to disturb his bones." + +"Do you suppose they put any valuables in the little chest when they +sealed it up?" asked another. + +"It has always been customary to put in the sacred urn," said Marie. + +"Cut it open!" commanded a corporal. + +"I can't," said the robber; "we'll have to build a fire and melt +it open." + +This they did; and in it they found the dust of his bones and a number +of valuables including the Patricia's gold-lined cup which Marie took +and hung on her belt. + +That night a terrible storm swept over the mountains. Marie and her +companions crept into the old church for refuge. The ponies had been +given some rice and then set free to forage as best they could. They +were stampeded by the violence of the wind and rain. + +The morning broke cool and clear. Everybody was astir at day-break. The +ponies were gone, but plenty of rice remained. Marie soon saw a way +out of the difficulty. She left three of her men at the old church to +await the return of the two who were to accompany her until she reached +some plan for speedy descent on the opposite side of the mountains. + +The advance party started out early on foot, taking with them such +a supply of rice and bananas as they could carry. Only three miles +farther up they entered a canon whose rocky walls, at places almost +perpendicular and seeming to form pillars for the sky, were so close +together at their base that it would have been impossible to have used +the ponies for travel, even though they had not retreated in the storm. + +Good progress was made, and by sun-down, December 20, they had reached +the upper rivulets of what afterwards proved to be the north fork of +the Rio Masagan, instead of the south fork which she had previously +followed. The beautiful valleys below them were plainly visible as +the sun sank to rest over the distant hills. A small native village +could be seen on the bank of the stream a few miles ahead. The party +bivouacked for the night. + +Early the next morning, after a light lunch of cold rice, Marie was +off on her important mission. + +Her two escorts made their way back to the old church, where after +another night's rest, the five undertook their return journey to +the sub-base at the spring far down the mountain side. When they +reached this camp they found their ponies all returned to it; and +their comrades, thinking they had all been captured or slain by the +Americans, were hastily preparing to retreat. The entire party, except +Marie, got back to Aguinaldo's camp at Palanan, on Christmas Day. + +Marie, was therefore, left to arrange for her own return, after her +spy work had been completed. She contemplated securing help from +the natives at Ilagan, among whom she had previously lived for a +few months. + + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +COMPENSATION + + +On the evening of December 24, 1900,--one of those dark nights in +the Philippines when the air seems so dense that you can almost +take hold of it with your hands--when the heavy clouds blanket the +earth so closely that the terrible thunders seem to shake the earth +in its orbit, with the deep-toned diapason of their melody--when +the lightening bugs flutter from twig to twig, revealing their +lanterned wings--when the human heart beats with a conscious thump +in anticipation of something awful--when those who are out alone +whistle to give themselves courage--when the zigzag openings rent +through the clouds by the vicious lightning flashes almost reveal +Eternity;--Christmas Eve, that sacred occasion which we all celebrate +and shall continue to celebrate till the end of time, to commemorate +the birth of our Christ,--a sharp-eyed, dare-devil Filipino crept +slowly out of the city of Ilagan along a foot-path toward the +Americans' camp about a mile north of that city. + +When so near to the Americans that their out-posts were plainly visible +during the flashes of lightning, the Filipino spy crept into a bamboo +thicket not over fifty feet from an American sentry. After lying there +for a half hour, waiting for the storm to come, the native grew a +trifle bolder and arose to his knees. That moment the sharp eyes of +the sentry caught him. + +"Corporal of the Guard!" called the sentry in a loud voice. + +The corporal, being suspicious that something unusual was taking place, +in responding to the call took with him two armed privates. + +Approaching the sentry, with light steps and in a crouching attitude, +the corporal said in a heavy whisper, "What's the matter, Jack?" + +The sentry was standing with gun in hand, loaded, cocked, and with +bayonet fixed. Keeping his eye centered on the exact spot where he had +last seen the slowly gravitating figure before him, the guard said +in an undertone that denoted grave alarm, "Do you see that thicket +just to the left of that big mango tree?" + +"Yes;" said the corporal in a whisper, "What's the trouble?" + +"There's a man in there," said the sentry. "I saw him quite plainly at +first--and I think he's got a gun in his hand. You better watch out, +boys. He's still there." + +The corporal and the two privates fixed the bayonets on their +Krag-Jorgensons, filled the magazines, slipped a shell into the +barrel of each rifle, cocked them, crouched close to the ground, +some ten feet apart, and began to move forward, a step at a time, +between the flashes of lightening. Each time it would flash, they +would peer into the thicket. Each step brought them nearer. + +"There he lies!," said one of the privates in a quick out-spoken voice. + +"Amigo," (a friend) said the stretched-out form, as three guns were +raised in unison with the anxious muzzles pointing directly at him. + +"Este no quere combate" (you don't desire to fight), said the corporal, +in crude Spanish. + +"Mucho amigo" (very friendly), came the reply. + +"Vamose aque!" (come here), commanded the corporal. + +With his eyes fixed in theirs, the Filipino raised himself slowly up +and came toward the three Americans who stood but twelve feet away. + +"Take him by the arms," said the corporal to the two privates who were +with him, "while I look behind that rice-dyke to see if he had a gun." + +"Here's what the rascal was up to," said the corporal, holding a +Mauser above his head. "Good thing you saw him when you did, Jack." + +The storm was coming nearer; the first gust of wind had just struck +them. It blew back the Filipino's little checkered frock. The corporal +saw a glitter. + +"Watch out! boys, he's got a machete under his coat," said the +corporal. + +He was searched for more weapons and then marched inside the American +lines and taken directly to headquarters. A drum-head court was +convened at once and the prisoner led in. + +With hands clinched, muscles taut, eyes piercing at the court, he +listened to the reading of the charge: + +"Caught acting as a spy for the enemy in violation of the Articles +of War; armed, with intent to take the life of an American sentry +on guard!" + +After the testimony had been taken, the prisoner was given a chance +to speak, but he absolutely refused to do so, even though addressed +in several different languages and dialects. + +"He spoke Spanish to us as we captured him," interjected the corporal. + +"GUILTY!" + +said the lieutenant-colonel who was presiding, in a firm military +tone. "The court fixes the penalty at death, and sentences the prisoner +to be shot at sun-rise." + +"Remove him, Sergeant, and detail a firing squad to execute the order +of the court!" + +As the prisoner was led away, the lieutenant-colonel dropped his +chin in the palms of his hands as he rested his elbows on his knees, +and muttered in a semi-regretful way: "I hate to do it; but in the +past we have always been so chicken-hearted about punishing these +blood-thirsty natives that they have now come to regard our kindness +as cowardice. I can't help but feel that it will bring the war to a +close quicker if we deal with them hereafter with a good firm hand." + +"I wonder what province the young fellow came from," said a major +who was sitting near. + +"I really don't know," replied the lieutenant-colonel: "his face shows +him to be a Tagalo. Certain it is that he didn't come from Isabella +province in which we are now campaigning. I wouldn't be surprised if +Aguinaldo were near here and if he had sent this young dare-devil to +cut down our sentry, so as to make an attack upon us tonight during +the storm." + +Toward morning the storm subsided. At day-break a comparatively shallow +grave was hastily dug near the edge of a little bamboo thicket on +a slightly elevated piece of ground. As the flickering rays of the +tropical sun began to shoot above the pale, ashen-gray hue of the +eastern horizon, the prisoner was led to the foot of his prospective +tomb. The firing squad took its place in line. + +The guns had been carefully loaded in advance for their deadly work; +all but one contained blank cartridges. As usual, after loading, the +guns were intermixed, so that no man might know which one contained +the deadly bullet. + +"Ready!" commanded the sergeant who had charge of the squad,--the +corporal having taken his usual place in line with his men. + +"Click," went the hammers of the rifles in unison, as they were +brought to a full cock. + +"Aim!" came the next command in a firmer tone. The soldiers brought +their rifles to their shoulders. Every barrel was pointed at the +chest of the prisoner, who now for the first time, began to tremble +and turn a sickly yellow. + +"Fire!" commanded the sergeant. + +"Bang!" went the united roar of the guns; and as the light powder smoke +cleared away and the echoes reverberated through the woods of northern +Luzon, the firing squad stepped forward to view their heroic dead. + +A private jumped into the grave and turned the corpse over onto +its back. + +That night Frank W. Pugh, of the regular army, a member of this +unfortunate firing squad, who died later at Fort Worth, Texas, of +fever contracted in the Philippines, sitting in his little dog-tent, +meditating, wrote in his diary, which is now preserved in the archives +at Washington with other relics of the war, the following appropriate +poem: + + + A CHRISTMAS COURT-MARTIAL + + "The night was dark and threatening rain, + No stars were in the sky; + We caught him hiding in the pines-- + A Filipino spy. + A slender youth with coal black eyes, + Brim full of frightened tears; + We turned him over to the guard, + I fear with callous jeers. + + Next morning it was Christmas day, + The sun was shining hot, + A drum-head court had said, "The spy, + Is sentenced to be shot." + Erect before the officers, + He still disdained to speak, + Although a single crystal drop, + Empearled his olive cheek. + + Upon a long and hurried march, + In light array, you see, + We could not take the boy along, + So stood him near a tree; + Told off the little firing squad, + And ordered it in line. + One gun was loaded in the lot-- + I hope it was not mine. + + Birds in the branches overhead + Sang softly in the heat. + The grave, a trench of steaming sand, + Gaped yellow at his feet; + He faced us with a dauntless air, + Although his lips were white;-- + Our grim old Sergeant turned away, + He could not stand the sight. + + A flash, a roar, a cloud of smoke, + And headlong to the ground + He fell face downward in the grave, + And died without a sound. + We turned him over on his back, + And DEATH the TRUTH confessed, + For through his open jacket peeped + A Woman's tender breast." + + + +Marie Sampalit had earned her doom. After her grave had been filled, +the soldier boys placed at its head a cartridge-box lid on which they +inscribed the pitiful word, + + "UNKNOWN." + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Woman with a Stone Heart, by +Oscar William Coursey + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WOMAN WITH A STONE HEART *** + +***** This file should be named 24705-8.txt or 24705-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/4/7/0/24705/ + +Produced by Jeroen Hellingman and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This book was +produced from scanned images of public domain material +from the Google Print project and the Internet Archive.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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