ENERAL CHARD iS KING 
 
CAPTURED 
 The Story of Sandy Ray 
 
CAPTURED 
 
 THE STORY OF 
 
 SANDY RAY 
 
 BY GENERAL CHARLES KING 
 
 GROSSET & DUNLAP 
 Publishers : New York 
 
Copyright 1906 
 By BALLARD HOBART 
 
 Copyright 1906 
 By R. F. FENNO & COMPANY 
 
CAPTURED 
 
 The Story of Sandy Ray 
 
 M12561 
 
LIEUTENANT SANDY RAY 
 
 CHAPTEK I. 
 
 THE latest arrival at the post stood by the broad 
 open doorway, within sound of the thunder almost 
 within touch of the salt spray of the long rollers that 
 broke in white, hissing foam upon the gleaming sands. 
 The red gold disk of the setting sun had just van 
 ished below the westward sea. The smoke of the 
 evening gun was still drifting slowly up the leafy 
 heights bordering the cantonment on the east. Out 
 on the broad level of the parade the battalion stood 
 motionless at attention as the beautiful flag, to the 
 crashing accompaniment of "The Star Spangled Ban 
 ner," sank slowly beneath the cross trees. Fringing 
 the quadrangle on three sides long ranks of dusky 
 heads were bared in silent homage, the men as a rule 
 dressed in ropas of spotless white, the women in skirts 
 of livelier hue. Here and there the black cassock of a 
 padre or the dun-colored frocks of a brace of shaven 
 friars broke the lane of brighter color. Half way out 
 across the open space, clad like his command in 
 "khaki" with campaign hat and leggings to match, 
 
 7 
 
8 Lieutenant @antsg Hap 
 
 stood tlie commanding "officer, a soldierly, statuesque 
 personage, whose arms and hands close-held and ex 
 tended so differed from the unconstrained American 
 pose betokened an earlier training in some rigid 
 European school. Facing him, a double line of dust- 
 hued forms, four well-drilled and disciplined com 
 panies of infantry awaited the last note of the na 
 tional air and the command to open ranks. Back of 
 them, some sixty yards away, gable ends toward the 
 parade, the nipa roofs of the new barracks stood 
 sharply against the dull green of the heights. To the 
 right of the fine large band, whose membership had 
 been surreptitiously strengthened by volunteer native 
 musicians, the tall white flagstaff, a recent acquisition 
 from Hong Kong of which the commanding officer 
 was inordinately proud, pointed straight to the zenith 
 and looked down benignantly upon mundane affairs. 
 On the hither side of the quadrangle in front of post 
 headquarters, though the veranda was occupied only 
 by a few enlisted clerics and three or four convales 
 cents, the bordering throng had left a wide open space, 
 Latin rule having taught the pliant native quite as 
 much in good manners as it had in bad morals, the 
 Filipino, be it noted, having learned from his Anda- 
 lusian master what he never would have heard of 
 from his American mentor, such customs as uncov 
 ering and standing attention when answering or ac 
 costing a sentry, and never presuming to interpose 
 between the office and the parade. In point of de- 
 
Lieutenant @anBp Hap 9 
 
 portment, therefore, and in those innumerable little 
 courtesies by which the well-bred human, whether 
 white, black or brown, endeavors to show considera 
 tion for fellow men, it was a matter of frequent re 
 mark at Camp Boutelle that the native to the manner 
 born, stood as far above his American reformer as, in 
 all other respects according to the same authority, he 
 stood below. 
 
 In point of fact this very matter of good manners 
 had been the source of discussion, injudiciously heated 
 in view of the local temperature, at tiffin that very 
 day. The mess to a man was resentful of certain 
 innovations "sprung" by the new presiding officer 
 thereof, now temporarily in command of the entire 
 post, for every officer of field rank was gone. Only 
 three days earlier a colonel presided over the cere 
 mony of retreat parade, but by the same steamer that 
 landed Lieutenant Ray in their midst, this high offi 
 cial had been borne away to Manila. Three days 
 earlier a squadron of cavalry, dismounted, had lined 
 up with the infantry at parade, but that same steamer 
 had brought confirmation of a telegraphic order that 
 sent the squadron twisting through long miles of bam 
 boo brake at the foot of the range, then diving 
 abruptly into a darkened pass, and so out into an 
 almost unknown, unexplored tract of mountainous, 
 forest-covered country that stretched away in lonely 
 grandeur toward the farther and far-spreading 
 Pacific. 
 
10 Lieutenant g>anDp 
 
 As matters stood, a captain of Foot* now com 
 manded at Camp Boutelle and a much perturbed 
 adjutant of cavalry was his prophet. Of the officers 
 stationed at this somewhat isolated post as many as 
 seven were blessed with the presence of their families 
 from the States, and of these families, at the moment 
 of the arrival of Mr. Sandford Ray, recently trans 
 ferred from the squadron adjutancy at Malinta to the 
 command of an orphaned troop at regimental head 
 quarters, no less than three were now to worry along 
 the best they could without the husband and father, 
 for Uncle Sam had need of his services on an extended 
 scout toward the more distant sea. When Mr. Ray 
 on reporting had expressed a wish to set forth and 
 overtake his troop, the smilingly urbane officer left in 
 command replied with much appreciation, "Most 
 natural and highly creditable, Mr. Ray, but aw 
 equally impossible. The trail is beset with ladrones 
 and you could not possibly get through. For ten days 
 at least you ll have to stay here. We ll be delighted 
 to welcome you at mess, and we dine aw right 
 after retreat parade aw costume de riguer/ 
 
 "What the mischief does this portend ?" asked Mr. 
 Ray of himself, in lieu of any other confidant. He 
 had served some years before, and had been shot in 
 sharp action in the Philippines. He had been quite 
 at home in Cavite and Batangas and the old regiment. 
 He had a few friends, and his father, himself a 
 colonel of cavalry serving in another department, had 
 
Lieutenant >anDp Bap 11 
 
 many, in this to which his old comrade, Colonel 
 Blake, had been assigned on promotion. But to every 
 officer on duty with the battalion of the Forty- Second 
 Infantry at this out-of-the-way cantonment the lieu 
 tenant was personally a stranger. Of him they had 
 heard a good deal and were disposed to like him. Of 
 them, oddly enough, he had heard very little. He had 
 looked for a welcome from his father s stanch com 
 rades, the colonel and the major of the Cavalry, 
 also from some of the troop officers with whom he 
 himself had served, but the colonel had been called to 
 preside over an important military trial, and the 
 major and the squadron sent to the field. It had not 
 occurred to Mr. Ray to acquire advanced knowledge 
 as to the infantry. He had counted on being pre 
 sented by comrades of his own cloth. 
 
 It is always best for a new-comer to know some 
 thing of the commissioned personnel, likewise of the 
 households thereof, lest otherwise he start with a pos 
 sibly wrong set and be some time finding his mistake, 
 in which event he will be still longer getting over the 
 effects. The first man to greet him was this Captain 
 Crabtree, left temporarily in command ; the next one 
 was Captain Fethers, the regimental adjutant, and 
 the third was Lieutenant Blunt, of the 42nd, a West 
 ern bred subaltern, who had won distinction as cap 
 tain in a famous regiment of state volunteers, one of 
 the veterans of the original army of occupation. 
 Blunt being a bachelor, took the new-comer straight 
 
12 Lieutenant SanDg 
 
 to bis quarters and there developed the fact that his 
 name was eminently descriptive. 
 
 "Lieutenant," said he, "this is the best I have got, 
 and it s all at your service. You have been in the 
 Islands before and know their limitations. Make 
 yourself at home until you can fit up your own shack, 
 or longer if you like. I ll send for your plunder. 
 Hilarious, here, will give you a tub, and your trou 
 bles needn t begin until dinner time." 
 
 "Why then ?" asked Mr. Ray, with a grin, as the 
 native boy Hilario as known in the mother church, 
 Hilarious to his employer deftly relieved him of his 
 hand luggage and sun helmet. 
 
 "Because we ve got a blooming Britisher for the 
 first time in his life in command. He s boiling over 
 with fool notions, and I m damned if he isn t going to 
 make us wear mess jackets and starched shirt fronts 
 and patent leathers to dinner. Fact ! Why, he s got 
 out a code of rules and regulations governing our 
 doings at mess, having them engrossed and framed, 
 to be hung up on the porch, an expects every man to 
 memorize em. You ve come just in time to join the 
 cabal." 
 
 "Cabal?" asked Mr. Ray, vaguely, as he sipped 
 gratefully at the glass of sizzling soda he had de 
 clined the "peg" handed him by Blunt. 
 
 "Cabal, yes ! You don t suppose we are going to 
 put up with any such infernal rot as this. Major 
 Forrest, of your regiment, has been head of the mess 
 
Lieutenant San Dp Bag is 
 
 since he got here perfect gentleman, by gad, and he 
 never thought of such a thing. We wore white or 
 khaki as we pleased, and were happy. Now comes 
 this voluminous ass with a lot of British ware well, 
 you just read those rules." 
 
 And Sandy Kay had been reading them, he couldn t 
 well avoid it, for with a low bow a Filipino mess boy, 
 in immaculate blouse and pompadour front, had pre 
 sented, framed and glazed a remarkably well en 
 grossed pronunciamento that had arrayed the entire 
 mess against the distinguished officer but recently 
 advanced to the Chair. "With the compliments of 
 the commanding officer, Seiior," said the servant, and 
 mutely Mr. Ray held forth his hand. "You wish me 
 to read ?" he asked. 
 
 "With the compliments of the commanding offi 
 cer," parroted the attendant, with another bow, and 
 Sandy read as required : 
 
 "The attention of officers, members of the mess, is called to 
 the following regulations: 
 
 Breakfast and tiffin being entirely informal, will be served 
 from 6:30 to 8:30 a. m. and 12 to 1:30, respectively, and may 
 be partaken of individually, each oificer selecting the hour most 
 convenient. In the matter of dress officers will wear that pre 
 scribed for the day s duty. Dinner, however, is a social yet 
 semi-official function [at which only full dress or dinner dress 
 may be worn. In extremely hot weather on the order of the 
 commanding officer a special signal following the sound of mess 
 call will indicate that white uniforms may be worn, in which 
 event no other dress will be permitted. Mess call will sound 
 five minutes after the close of evening parade, and officers will 
 
14: Lieutenant San Dp Hap 
 
 don the required dress as quickly as possible. Officers will take 
 seats on intimation from the senior who will preside, and as this 
 is the social hour of the day and the purpose of the mess is the 
 mingling of gentlemen and the promotion of cordiality and com 
 radeship, no officer will leave the table until after coffee has 
 been served. The signal to rise will be given by the presiding 
 officer. 
 
 "Political, personal and religious discussions are interdicted as 
 being contrary to the spirit of the occasion, and officers will re 
 frain from conversation that may possibly be misinterpreted 
 while servants are in the room. Officers having guests will 
 notify the caterer ia advance, and, in order that proper atten 
 tion may be shown them, will present them to the senior officer 
 immediately upon his arrival." 
 
 Over this unusual document the young officer pon 
 dered a moment, a smile of amusement hovering about 
 his lips. Then, without comment, he returned it to 
 the waiting mess boy. It was the evening of his third 
 day at Camp Boutelle and of his first appearance at 
 dinner. Breakfast and luncheon he had thrice par 
 taken of, but Mrs. Blake, the charming wife of his 
 regimental commander, and a friend of many years, 
 had insisted on his dining with her and a few chosen 
 ones the first evening, and Chaplain and Mrs. Stan 
 hope, other old friends, had drag-netted him to dinner 
 the second. On both occasions Captain Crabtree, the 
 temporary post commander, had been present and 
 very much in evidence, and his voice in anecdote, 
 reminiscence or prophecy was ever dominant. It had 
 pleased the captain to be very gracious to the young 
 trooper. "Crab" well knew and admired the colonel, 
 
Lieutenant San Dp JRap 15 
 
 his father, and was prompt to say how much the son 
 resembled him. JSTow they were to meet at the mess 
 dinner, and, as a possibly necessary preliminary, 
 Lieutenant Kay had been handed and virtually re 
 quested to study the already famous and widely dis 
 cussed document known thus far as "Crabby s Code." 
 A strange creature was this Crabtree, a fine sol 
 dier, brave, enthusiastic, energetic, but oddly unlike 
 his comrades. English he was to the backbone, and 
 very valuable in his two years apprenticeship as a 
 sergeant and the long subaltern service that followed. 
 He had evidently been thoroughly drilled in the past, 
 for his "set up" was the best in the regiment; but 
 concerning that past he could never be induced to 
 freely talk. Direct questioning annoyed him; cross- 
 questioning he shunned and the questioners he 
 snubbed. The rank and file opined that he was a de 
 serter from His Majesty s forces. Certain it was that 
 he had shown no "time expired" or other papers. On 
 presenting himself at the recruiting office in ISTew 
 York, somewhere late in the seventies, he gave his 
 birthplace as Huddersfield, Yorkshire, his age as 
 twenty-three and his occupation as clerk. He de 
 clared he had neither wife nor child, and agreed to 
 accept such bounty, pay and rations as Uncle Sam 
 might tender him, signed the papers and stepped into 
 the recruit squad at "the Island" a better drilled man 
 than the corporal told off to teach him his facings. In 
 less than a year he in turn was drilling recruits. In 
 
16 JUewenant anD? Kap 
 
 less than two years he had his sergeant s bars, and in 
 ? 82 had won his way to the commission of a second 
 lieutenant. From this time on Crabtree moved stead 
 ily forward in the service of his adopted country, 
 without ever having severed civic relations with that 
 of his birth. He was clean built, clean shaven, clean 
 spoken, a good boxer, swimmer and all-round athlete, 
 but he was close. "Crab," as his comrades called him 
 for short, neither borrowed nor, at first, lent. Crab 
 never talked of his own affairs nor did he meddle with 
 those of others. Crab scraped and saved until he was 
 known to have more money, and spend less, than any 
 subaltern in the regiment. 7 98 saw him gazetted to 
 his captaincy, and five years later he was commanding 
 a battalion as senior of his grade at the post 
 
 And all these years, though an admirer of the sex, 
 he had never married, nor to the knowledge of any 
 man or woman in the 42nd, had he even shown symp 
 toms of entanglement. He devoted himself assidu 
 ously and successively to just one woman the wife 
 of the commanding officer, whenever that distin 
 guished dame happened to be with the regiment. He 
 showed almost abject deference to just one man the 
 commanding officer himself. 
 
 To all others Crab was civil, kindly or indifferent, 
 accordingly to the extent of his liking, but the post 
 or regimental commander, whether Crab liked him or 
 not, was the object of his unlimited adulation. Roy 
 alty itself could have asked no more at his hands. 
 
JUeittenant >anDp Bag IT 
 
 Crab never presumed to come within six paces of the 
 post commander unless specifically urged. Crab never 
 presumed to sit, or even to stand except at attention, 
 in the presence of the post commander. Crab set him 
 apparently upon a pedestal of exclusiveness and dig 
 nity that none else might venture to approach. Crab 
 laughed at his commander s eldest jokes with re 
 joicing new born at each repetition. Crab rebuked 
 the faintest levity, otherwise inspired, in presence of 
 that official, and Crab would look volumes of reproach 
 at brother officers who spoke in criticism of their com 
 mon superior. It was patent to all that to Crab s 
 mind the divinity that doth hedge a king was the 
 mantle that should cloak the post commander, all of 
 which was somewhat repugnant to the American idea. 
 It was more than repugnant when Crab himself, by 
 some strange freak of soldier fortune, stepped while 
 still a captain into temporary command of a fairly 
 large and important post, for within the compass of a 
 single day he contrived to make it known that just 
 such deference as it was his custom to show to his com 
 mander, that deference he expected to be shown to 
 himself. 
 
 It was Ray s consummate good luck, said envious 
 comrades in the Malinta squadron, to be offered the 
 command of that troop at regimental headquarters. 
 It was Ray s consummate ill luck, said Blunt, who 
 knew something of his previous history, that he 
 should be sent to Camp Boutelle just at this particular 
 
is Lieutenant SanDp Kap 
 
 time. Blake, colonel commanding, was gone for a 
 fortnight at least and possibly longer. Forrest, major 
 commanding the squadron, was gone in all probability 
 for as long a time. Fethers, the cavalry adjutant, 
 with his precious regimental band, was here to be 
 sure, and not too happy were the bandsmen at having 
 to play for the ceremonies of an alien command. 
 Stanhope, the chaplain, and his amiable consort were 
 still at the post, and best of all, Colonel Blake s wise 
 and winsome wife was there to befriend Mr. Ray if, 
 as had been many a time the case in the past, the 
 young officer tumbled into trouble. But while all pre 
 dicted that it couldn t be long, under such rule and 
 conditions as Crabtree had started, before trouble 
 came, no one of their number began to predict or in 
 deed to imagine the source from which trouble was 
 destined to come, as come it speedily did, again to 
 Lieutenant Sanford Ray. 
 
Lieutenant an Dp mag 19 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 IT was the late autumn of the year of our Lord the 
 nineteen hundred and third and of the new uniform 
 the first. The 42nd Infantry being stationed in the 
 States long months after the issue of G. O. No. 132 on 
 the fateful 31st of December, had found itself com 
 pelled, so far as its officers were concerned, to pur 
 chase much of the new outfit that much of it, too, 
 which could hardly be worn in the tropics. The 42nd 
 had been at a big eastern garrison, a fine and showy 
 regiment much in requisition for parades, exposi 
 tions and monument unveilings and monumental 
 sham battles. It had to get the new full uniform, 
 even though it could get nothing for the old. An 
 optimistic inspector had said, in reply to the rueful 
 question of certain subalterns who had not yet suc 
 ceeded in paying for the overcoat and the double- 
 breasted frock, the handsome, costly belt, sword, 
 shoulder-knots and helmet purchased but six months 
 earlier, a Sell era to some of these National Guards- 
 men. They are always glad to get em at a sacrifice." 
 But the inspector knew not the National Guard, who 
 had no use whatever for uniforms or equipments no 
 longer to be those of the regular service. Lieuten- 
 
20 Lieutenant San Dp Rag 
 
 ants Walker, Trott and Hikeman, now of the 42nd, 
 had not worn their eighty dollar overcoats six times 
 apiece, nor their fine full dress six times six, when 
 they were ordered to provide themselves with an en 
 tirely new, much more extensive and far more ex 
 pensive wardrobe. "I ll have six suits of uniform 
 and as many at law," said one luckless youngster. 
 "Oh, why did I ever go for a soldier ?" The officers 
 of the 42nd got the new full dress in the spring, "the 
 route" for Manila in the summer and the bills by 
 almost every post between times and after. The bat 
 talion ordered to take station at Camp Boutelle ar 
 rived in khaki and September. From that time un 
 til the date of Mr. Ray s appearance in November, 
 not once had either full dress or dress uniform been 
 worn. On the principle of "in for a penny, in for a 
 pound," some few young swells had gone so far as to 
 order the evening dress coat or the mess jacket pro 
 vided for in the general order, and Crabtree, who 
 was forever drawing odious and invidious compari 
 sons between the mess system of the English army and 
 that of our own, was known to possess both. Even 
 though the summer white uniform was cool, good to 
 look at and most becoming, Crabtree preferred to 
 make his appearance after retreat in the social "spike- 
 tail" with military embellishments. And having 
 ascertained that no fewer than three of the mess were 
 possessors of the jackets, what had Crabtree done but 
 
JUeiitenant ^anDg Bag 21 
 
 issue mandate that the jacket should be worn at 
 dinner ! 
 
 Boutelle was far from the beaten track. A little, 
 two-company post at the start, it snuggled close to the 
 beach, between the mountains and the China sea. 
 Then came a season of pernicious activity among the 
 natives in the interior. Cavalry were sent to the 
 field, and, finding it impossible to penetrate the dense 
 bamboo, were remanded to the post. More infantry 
 came and saw and conquered, temporarily at least, but 
 the officials who studied the situation decided to en 
 large the garrison even if they could not expand the 
 limits. The site was fine and healthful, for Luzon. 
 The spring water was good, the sea water was spark 
 ling, and when the quarters became crowded, why, 
 what more simple than to send forth the garrison, half 
 at a time, and let them scout for a living. It was good 
 exercise, and fun for the natives. The bamboo trails 
 had been worn broad enough for bridle paths by this 
 time and the cavalry could travel in column of files 
 if it couldn t do anything else. So a busy time had 
 the boys at Boutelle and no one much the worse for it 
 until Blake, the colonel, was called to Manila; For 
 rest, the major, was sent to the mountains, and Crab- 
 tree, the captain commanding the Forty-Second s 
 Second Battalion, became at one fell swoop and for 
 the first time in his life head both of a mess and a 
 post. It was a head turned from the start. 
 
 Now Sandy Eay, as has been said, was serving his 
 
22 {Lieutenant SanDg 
 
 second tour in the Islands and had completed almost 
 a year of the allotted two. He and his fellows of the 
 cavalry had availed themselves of that portion of the 
 order which permitted officers on duty in Alaska or 
 the Philippines to wait until their return to the 
 States before fitting themselves out with the new bill 
 of dress, but Sandy had had a chance to run over to 
 Hong Kong during the spring, and the mess jacket 
 being an item of attire borrowed obviously from the 
 British service, he let an English army tailor try his 
 hand at the job, and very natty and equally un-Amer 
 ican was the resultant garment. Colonel Ray, his 
 father, with the conservatism of the "Old Army," had 
 looked upon it, when reluctantly produced for family 
 inspection in Manila, with whimsical disfavor and 
 referred to it not as a mess, but as a monkey jacket. 
 Navy officers, however, who knew the world and saw 
 with broadened visions, pronounced it eminently cor 
 rect just what the officers wore at Malta, "Gib" and 
 the score of other army stations that girdles the globe 
 with the colors of Great Britain. But in his own 
 regiment Sandy had not yet ventured to wear it. As 
 a matter of fact, however, it may be asserted here and 
 now that Lieutenant Ray felt none of the rancor ex 
 pressed by Messrs. Blunt, Trott and Hikeman over 
 Captain Crabtree s order. The Pittsburg had dropped 
 anchor in the bay, and two of her officers, calling upon 
 the post commander, had been bidden to dinner. 
 Sandy could see their boat even now cleaving the blue 
 
Lieutenant @anUp Kap 
 
 billows long distance out from shore, and the young 
 officer was more than half disposed to say that Crab- 
 by s head was entirely level, as he glanced down over 
 his immaculate attire. Snowy trousers and waist 
 coat, with patent leather ankle boots and box spurs of 
 silver, made very "swagger" accompaniment to the 
 gold laced jacket. Crab knew what was what, said 
 the lone cavalryman, as he watched the tall comman 
 der stalking swift to his bungalow, the juniors sulkily 
 scattering after him to effect the demanded change. 
 They looked very fit and soldierly in the trim, well- 
 "laundered" khaki. "But, bless my soul," said Crab, 
 "you wouldn t have a gentleman sit down to eat in 
 fighting kit, would you?" and so the fiat had gone 
 forth. 
 
 And presently, with the benedicks and their better 
 halves and olive branches poking fun at them from 
 the verandas, the bachelors sheepishly and sulkily 
 appeared, three of them at least, attired almost as 
 was Mr. Ray, the others, cursing their luck if not 
 their commander, in the double-breasted blue frock, 
 with stiff standing collar and glistening shoulder- 
 knots, buttoned snugly to the throat, and this with the 
 mercury standing at eighty-eight in spite of the 
 blessed sea breeze. When asked should they alsc> 
 wear belt and side arms, Captain Crabtree austerely 
 said, no. Only one regiment in His Majesty s army 
 so appeared, but that was tradition. Its officers had 
 once been massacred, while sitting at mess, through 
 
24 Lieutenant SanDp Rap 
 
 the trtachery of the Sepoy servants, and their suc 
 cessors went side-armed to dinner from that time 
 forth. When they, these Boutelle bachelors, were 
 assembled on the veranda of the mess house and saw 
 the navy men being escorted from Crab s bungalow, 
 they said further opprobrious things because they 
 wished the function over and done with, and felt cer 
 tain there would be exasperating delays. In no hos 
 pitable mood were they, Blunt especially bordering 
 on the mutinous in his condemnation of the entire 
 proceeding, Ray alone maintaining an appearance of 
 equanimity, and such were the climatic conditions 
 under which began a very unpretentious dinner that 
 was destined to become memorable in the annals of 
 Camp Boutelle. 
 
 For something had happened to ruffle the com 
 manding officer, and when Crabtree was cross, crabbed 
 and commanding, all the world about him was sure 
 to know it. Blunt was first to see it as the little party 
 finally drew near, Crab and the cavalry adjutant, 
 levied on for the occasion, escorting the two gentle 
 men from the Pittsburgh wardroom, and a stiff 
 orderly following at discreet distance in their wake. 
 "Watch out, fellows/ muttered the discoverer, 
 "something s gone crooked with Crab and Crab is in a 
 pet. Don t anybody open his head until he has to." 
 
 "It s only that Mrs. Shane has been guying him 
 again," said Walker. "I heard her say she had a 
 
Lieutenant anflg Bap 25 
 
 rod in pickle for him, and didn t she stop at his 
 quarters a moment ago ?" 
 
 Mrs. Shane was Crabbj s social Nemesis and no 
 more afraid of him, even when commanding officer, 
 than she was of her husband at any time. Mrs. Shane 
 had more friends than Crabby, for she was a woman 
 to win and hold them. But she couldn t bear Crab- 
 tree, as she frankly admitted, and curiously enough, 
 was constantly seeking his society. She loved to prod 
 and provoke him, and she could do both. He had 
 early incurred the ill will of many a woman in his 
 former regiment, and it followed him to the new, by 
 the announcement that he was not a "marrying man." 
 He would be no woman s slave. It wasn t that any 
 woman at Boutelle wanted Crab for a husband. It 
 was because many a woman at Boutelle wished to wed 
 him to some impecunious niece or sister, and Mrs. 
 Shane knew of several. Moreover, Mrs. Shane was a 
 stranger to the ways of the old army, she having en 
 tered the service, so to speak, as a consequence of the 
 Spanish War. Previous to that episode in our his 
 tory Mrs. Shane had spent her days in the compara 
 tive seclusion of a western manufacturing town, had 
 married a smart young university graduate with mar 
 tial tendencies that had made him one of the best offi 
 cers in the university battalion, and later captain of 
 the local company of the State militia, with which 
 rank and command he went to the Philippines on one 
 of the first expeditions in 98, had made a record that 
 
26 JLteutenant >anDp Rag 
 
 won him a captaincy in the national volunteers, and 
 later a commission in the Forty-Second regulars. 
 Mrs. Shane, having long led the church choir and the 
 Woman s Guild at home ; having dominated both pas 
 tor and flock, and displayed quite as many qualities of 
 command as had her gallant husband, knew nothing 
 of "the divinity" previously referred to, that doth 
 hedge a king or a commanding officer. She treated 
 every man from corporal up to colonel with the same 
 frank, off-hand, independent friendliness so long as 
 she liked him. Crabtree she had disliked from the 
 start and never had to tell him so. He could have 
 forgiven it in her the more readily had she shown it 
 in some other way, but Mrs. Shane laughed at him, 
 and that was unbearable. 
 
 There were but half a dozen families among the 
 officers quarters at Camp Boutelle the autumn of 
 1904, and Crabtree could have wished the number 
 still further reduced, and at the expense of the 42nd. 
 A story was often told concerning his initiation in 
 American military life that was a source of rare vex 
 ation to him, and that he had long since said no gen 
 tleman would repeat or refer to in his presence and 
 no friend at any time. He had scientifically pum- 
 meled more than one fellow soldier in his day for even 
 hinting at it, and was quite ready to do as much for a 
 brother officer. A combination of Irish recruiting 
 sergeant and English family pride had led to the 
 
Lieutenant >anDp Bap 27 
 
 trouble. When asked his Christian name the would- 
 be recruit had truthfully answered "Almeric." 
 
 "Al what ?" bellowed the sergeant. 
 
 "Meric," coolly answered the Briton. 
 
 "Al Merrick, is it? Well, young man, we ve no 
 use for names split that way in the army. What s 
 the Al stand for, Albert, Alfred 2 Naythur 3 Well, 
 it does then from this time, d ye hear ?" And the 
 Briton, who had really been named for a member of 
 a very distinguished military family, found himself 
 enrolled in the Army of the United States as Albert 
 11. Crabtree until after his promotion to the grade of 
 second lieutenant, when by special edict it was 
 changed and he was rechristened and commissioned 
 "Almeric P.," and mightily did his comrades won 
 der what the P stood for, and Crab refused to tell. 
 Now, Mrs. Shane had stumbled on this story shortly 
 after her joining the Forty-Second and from that day 
 forth life had new zest for Crabby. It was remem 
 bered that shortly before the navy men were seen 
 sauntering in past the sentry post at the beach en 
 trance, Mrs. Shane, coming suddenly out of the doc 
 tor s doorway adjoining Crab s quarters, had caught 
 sight of the temporary post commander just within 
 the bamboo lattice of his own portal. As ill luck 
 would have it, he had just come for a peep toward the 
 beach in search of his guests, and the expanse of 
 white shirt front and glittering shoulder-knots, lace 
 and buttons had instantly caught her eye. The doc- 
 
28 Lieutenant @>anDg Kag 
 
 tor s laughing wife had partially, at least, heard, and 
 Lieutenant Walker had observed the action of the 
 ensuing colloquy, for it was one-sided at best and 
 abruptly ended. At a mere chance verbal shot on 
 part of his fair tormentor, Crab had started violently, 
 turned his back and quit the doorway, leaving Mrs. 
 Shane, with rather a scared look on her bonny face, to 
 scurry away home and husbandward, where, as was 
 subsequently heard, she told her own particular sol 
 dier what had happened. By this time the navy men 
 had reached the captain s bungalow and they and the 
 sight of mess jackets along the hard-pounded shell 
 walk put all other thoughts out of most people s 
 heads. 
 
 Never before had Captain Crabtree been known to 
 drink so much as to tangle his tongue or ideas, but 
 this night, as was remembered long at Camp Bou- 
 telle, he came flushed and flustered to the mess, made 
 a perceptible "break" in presenting his junior offi 
 cers to these polished and traveled guests from the 
 sister service, and, not content with the sound and 
 palatable claret the caterer had directed served until 
 dessert, ordered the Filipino steward to bring in 
 champagne before soup was fairly out of the way, 
 then began drinking and toasting right and left. 
 There were men present who would drink only in 
 moderation at any time. There was one who would 
 not drink at all. Lieutenant Ray had turned down 
 his glass the moment the bottle began the round, and 
 
Lieutenant ^anDp Bag 29 
 
 before dinner was half over Crabtree was reproach 
 ing his fellows for not filling up and doing honor to 
 the occasion. He had seated Lieutenant Commander 
 Ballaine at his right and Lieutenant Garrett at his 
 left, placing Captain Fethers next beyond the senior 
 of the navy men and Blunt next the junior, and every 
 little while, with much effort at jocularity, he would 
 rally the young trooper just beyond them on his un 
 professional abstinence. "JSTever heard of such a 
 thing in the cavalry, Kay, me boy," said he ; "never," 
 then haplessly added, "and your father s son, too?" 
 whereat Ray s pale and embarrassed face went sud 
 denly red, and the adjutant shot warning glances at 
 his misguided commander. That Crab should 
 monopolize the talk was nothing new, but this night, 
 only in mutter ings to one another, were the juniors 
 heard at all, Crab s high-pitched voice dominated all 
 other sounds and every subject. 
 
 Dinner had been somewhat delayed to begin with, 
 for Crabtree kept his guests at his quarters from ten 
 to fifteen minutes before escorting them over. With 
 mistaken hospitality he had prescribed cocktails, 
 which his guests politely sipped but privately 
 shunned, and had himself partaken of two. Then, 
 despite the fact that eight brother officers were 
 dawdling on the mess veranda and some of them 
 damning the delay, nothing would do but a detour 
 round by Colonel Blake s quarters that he might pre 
 sent the distinguished visitors to the charming wife 
 
30 Hieutenant ^anDp Rap 
 
 of the absent commander. Mrs. Blake, seated with 
 her friend, Mrs. Stanhope, on her own piazza fronting 
 the now moonlit sea, had greeted them with smiling 
 grace, and Mrs. Stanhope, who scented bitters, spirits 
 and irreverence about the temporary head of affairs, 
 with a reserve indicative of clerical disapprobation. 
 Mess call had sounded at the proper time, concluding 
 with the signal "full dress," and every member had 
 responded but the senior. Then, twenty minutes later 
 the visitors stood about the colonel s doorway, Crab, as 
 usual, doing all the talking, and just at this moment 
 the adjutant was startled to hear, loud and spirited, 
 the same call repeated, and then, aghast and dis 
 mayed, to hear it followed up with imperative em 
 phasis by "double time." Crab was so engrossed in 
 his own eloquence he neither marked nor heard, but 
 all the rest of Camp Boutelle was aware of it within 
 the next half hour and knew just how and why that 
 call was sounded, and knew, though it couldn t swear, 
 just who sounded it. As no man could take his seat 
 or leave it before the commanding officer, that be 
 deviled banquet was bidding fair to last until mid 
 night, when startling interruption came. 
 
Hieutenant ^anD? Ea? si 
 
 CHAPTEK III. 
 
 MENTION has been made of the activity of the 
 ladrones in Luzon, and of native banditti elsewhere. 
 Colonel Ray, with a mixed command of horse and 
 foot, scouts and machine guns, was having a brisk 
 campaign against the really formidable array of 
 fanatical savages in a far southern province. Colonel 
 Blake had been sending out an occasional detachment 
 here in northern Luzon, where, however, matters 
 seemed fairly quiet. Cavite province, southwest of 
 the capital city, yet only a few hours away, was alive 
 with nimble foemen, who impartially robbed every 
 body, but killed, when they could help it, only whites. 
 But now matters had begun to look squally along the 
 line of communication twixt Boutelle and Dagupan, 
 the northward end of the railway. Up to the morn 
 ing of the Pittsburgh appearance in the offing, the 
 very day of Crab s initial dinner, the telegraph line 
 had been unmolested, the main road undisturbed, but 
 demonstrations had occurred that convinced the gen 
 eral commanding that there was disaffection among 
 certain ex-officers of the Aguinaldo army and that 
 they were stirring up mischief in a new direction. It 
 was no chance shot, this coming of the saucy gunboat 
 
32 Lieutenant SanDp Kap 
 
 with her load of saucier jackies. The admiral had 
 an ear for indications and an eye on the coast line, 
 and it was by his order that the Pittsburg slipped in 
 past Point Conception with the early dawn and the 
 captain s gig was called away soon after colors. 
 
 For forty hours not a soul had come up from the 
 south, and Crab knew nothing positive in that direc 
 tion. Moreover, he was oddly constituted, as are 
 often others, and firm in the faith that nothing could 
 go wrong about his bailiwick without his knowing it. 
 With all suavity and civility he had received the in 
 formation given him by Ballaine. Airily he dictated 
 a despatch or two that the navy men might see his 
 wires were untouched. Lazily he directed Captain 
 Fethers to send forth a few native scouts, with in 
 structions to ascertain the truth of the rumors men 
 tioned; then elaborately he insisted on showing the 
 visitors over the post, which they did not at all care 
 to see, and immediately upon their return to the ship, 
 donned his dress uniform and with his adjutant and 
 orderly, was rowed out to the anchorage, and for the 
 first time in his life (may he live to hear the guns in 
 his honor ! ) returned, as commanding officer, the cere 
 monious call of the captain of a man-of-war. Crab 
 was in a glow of glory and delight throughout that 
 livelong day. If he had a regret of any kind before 
 parade it was that he had forgotten to ask his navy 
 visitors to come in time to see the fine exhibition of 
 his well-drilled battalion. If he had any peace after 
 
Lieutenant SanDg Kap SB 
 
 it, the fault lay not at the door of either Mrs. Shane 
 or the mess, for both had found means, one by acci 
 dent, the other with malice prepense, to deal him 
 much annoy. But this was not all. Even while airily 
 receiving the "latest intelligence" of insurgent move 
 ments as known in Manila, and affecting to be in pos 
 session of later and more accurate information, Crab- 
 tree had warned his sergeant major and clerk to stand 
 by the office and watch that wire. The signal men 
 had orders not to quit their station, one operator be 
 ing constantly at the instrument. Ballaine had told 
 him that only two days earlier the commanding gen 
 eral had wired the admiral he was almost disposed to 
 revoke the orders calling Colonel Blake to Manila and 
 sending Major Forrest to the field. The general 
 should see, said Crab to himself, that in the person, 
 of the present post commander he had an official every 
 whit as energetic and brilliant as the seniors sent 
 away, and if there happened to be a robber band 
 within a dozen miles of Camp Boutelle, to Boutelle 
 and its temporary commander should go all the credit 
 of that band s capture or annihilation. Then came 
 ( the chance shot from the smiling lips of Mrs. Shane ; 
 then followed a story, told in few words by the best 
 raconteur in the mess, that Crab was fain to laugh at, 
 at the moment, though it enraged his secret soul, and 
 then came, at half past ten, and at the climax of a 
 long-winded varn Crab was distressed to leave unfin- 
 
34: lieutenant >anDg Bap 
 
 ished, the startling announcement from the office: 
 "Line s down, sir, and San Sulpicio all afire !" 
 
 Barely nine miles around the deep, concave curve 
 of the bay on the southward road to Dagupan, lay the 
 teaming little town the natives only knew as Baling- 
 bang till the padres and the friars built the big new, 
 church and monastery, the sisters came and opened 
 school for native children, and both demanded that 
 the church should christen every Filipino soul and 
 rechristen their earthly abiding place. A little river 
 came gushing from the mountains back of town and 
 flowed swiftly through its bamboo fringes to the sea. 
 Bancas by the dozen bore daily tribute of the kindly; 
 fruits of the earth to Balingbang s landing steps, 
 where many a casco unloaded wares brought by Chi 
 nese vessels from the westward sea, and Chinese by 
 the score, Tagalogs and Ilocanos by the hundred 
 swarmed in the surrounding barrios. It was the cen 
 ter of population, and the obvious site for such a 
 church and school. But little Camp Boutelle, when, 
 first named, had been pitched nearly half way round 
 the bend of the beautiful bay, nor with added years, 
 importance and soldier population had it been re 
 moved. San Sulpicio was no place for soldiers; all 
 officers agreed as to that, for there was manufactured 
 a liquor of comprehensive vileness that rivaled Rip 
 Van Winkle s sleeping potion in its deadening effect. 
 There had been differences between the civil authori 
 ties of Sulpicio and their military kindred at the 
 
Lieutenant ^anDg iRap 35 
 
 camp. There had even been bad blood, for smuggling 
 had been carried on at Sulpicio and charged by Sul- 
 picio s "deputy collector 7 and others of the civil law, 
 diretly to the military at the fort. Colonel Blake 
 despised the deputy and all his works, and between 
 Sulpicio and Boutelle had sprung up a curious feud 
 that had even led to bloodletting among the partisans 
 of both. But as the mess came scampering forth into 
 the night, the white fronts and trousers glistening in 
 the moonbeams, all this was forgotten. The navy 
 officers hurriedly gathered up their caps and sped to 
 their waiting boat. The assembly rang through the 
 still watches of the night, and the men came tumbling 
 from their bunks and hard breathing into ranks, 
 armed for instant battle. Nine miles of muddy road 
 might bear them to the scene of action, but not until 
 the town was practically wiped out. "Wig wag to the 
 Pittsburg!" shouted Crab. "Ask if they can take 
 fifty men and land them there," and the signal torch 
 was swinging on the beach before the captain could 
 reach the bristling side, yet not before the ready craft 
 was under way. Even before the alarm sounded at 
 Boutelle the watch had seen and reported the blaze. 
 The "Deck" had divined the cause, and all hands 
 were turning up from below, while at quarter speed 
 the Pittsburg headed cautiously shoreward to pick 
 up her commander, and Crab s signal message was 
 read to him even as the sharp prow swept round to 
 the south and "Full speed ahead! 7 clanged through 
 
36 Lieutenant SanDg Bap 
 
 the engine room. "Sorry can t possibly wait; 
 twould take half an hour to fetch 7 em from shore/ 
 answered Ballaine. "Let her go for all there s in her, 
 Mr. Fox," and dove below for his fighting kit before 
 the "Aye, aye, sir" ended. Then with a big white 
 bone in her teeth, like a terrier of the sea, the swift 
 gunboat sped on her way, cleaving the deep blue 
 bosom of the moonlit waters, her wake a whirling 
 surge of hissing, snow white foam. 
 
 Oh, what a night was that at Boutelle! Every 
 body up and many away, for, with the band, the con 
 valescents, the dismounted troopers left behind from 
 the squadron, and a raft of extra duty men to guard 
 the post even the chaplain porting a "Krag" and 
 many a woman gripping a "Colt" Crabtree had 
 weeded out his limp and ineffectives, placed Fethers 
 in command of the post and Ray of the home-kept 
 cavalry, then with every officer and serviceable man 
 had set forth by way of the beach, his troubles for 
 gotten, his vinous exhilaration banished almost at the 
 instant. The long rainy season had left the road in 
 many places a quagmire through which only the 
 carabaos could wallow. The river split a way through 
 two channels to the sea and the tide was high, hold 
 ing the swift "hiking" column to the softer sand at 
 top of the beach, and making it harder marching. 
 But, afoot like his fellows, Crab strode at their head, 
 only a handful of men, advance guard and left flank 
 ers, between him and the foe. To the far front could 
 
Lieutenant ^anDg Eap 37 
 
 be seen the dulling glow of the flames that had sent 
 such volumes of black smoke to the skies, and, on the 
 dim, star-twinkling horizon beyond the low sandspit 
 at the mouth of the stream, visible only through the 
 night glasses of the signal men, the ghostly gray dot 
 of the Pittsburg lay at the sharp apex of a long pencil 
 of soot cloud. What on earth had happened to Sul- 
 picio ? 
 
 The camp knew before the battalion knew that 
 the raiders were scattered into the mountains ere ever 
 the head of the panting column pushed, paddled or 
 swam its way through the northernmost estuary and. 
 drew up, soaked with brine along the second. With 
 out plugging even a shot from her long six-pounders, 
 the Pittsburg had seen to that. But two blocks of a 
 populous town had gone up in smoke, in sight of wail 
 ing women and children, while three would-be de 
 fenders, Americans in the civil service and the one 
 school, lay slashed and boloed amid the ruins. Two 
 other officials with their families, leaving almost 
 everything behind them, had slipped away at the first 
 alarm, and in their light boats had pushed far out on 
 the bay, whither they would surely have been pursued 
 by the vengeful band but for the salutary appearance 
 of that swift-speeding war dog, showing all her teeth 
 in the slant of the moonbeams. The raiders bore 
 with them in their retirement certain fellow country 
 men accused of giving warning, to be dealt with later. 
 .Only half accomplished was the object of the leaders. 
 
38 Lieutenant SanDg 
 
 thanks to that unlocked for bit of marine architecture, 
 They knew just how long it would take the troops to 
 get there and how much could be done in the mean* 
 time, but they had not prepared for a rescue from the 
 sea. It was the gunboat, steaming slowly back soon 
 after daybreak, that exchanged signals with the bat 
 talion on the beach, but landed the fugitives and full 
 particulars at Boutelle. Two weeks earlier the acting 
 deputy collector, on duty at Sulpicio, had been writ 
 ing virulent lies about Colonel Blake and his com 
 mand to a certain bureau of the Governor General s 
 office at Manila. Now, as luck would have it, he, his 
 wife and daughter were being housed, sheltered, fed, 
 comforted and ministered to in the only set of quar 
 ters big enough for the purpose in all the post, those 
 of the absent commander who by this time was prob 
 ably facing calumnies at headquarters, while his de 
 voted wife was doing her best to succor the calum 
 niator here at their army home. 
 
 And sorely was succor needed. Amos Dean had 
 been a man of mark in his own State, a vehement, 
 vigorous leader in politics and a virulent hater in any 
 line. Wealth and power had been his. Speculation 
 had scattered his money, a quarrel had broken his 
 power, and friends were glad to get him out of the 
 way and a berth under the new civil service in the 
 Philippines. Before he had been a month at Manila 
 his chief found him far too aggressive and far reach 
 ing. Opium smuggling, it was said, was being briskly 
 
Lieutenant SanDp iftap 39 
 
 conducted both along the shores of Lingayan and San 
 Sulpicio, and they sent Dean up there to put a stop 
 to it. "Give him rope enough and he ll hang him 
 self/ 7 had been whispered in the ear of his chief, and 
 Dean s energy had been phenomenal, likewise his suc 
 cess. He smote the shore confederates with powerful 
 hand, banishing them to the mountains and spoiling 
 their trade, but, curiously, not the traffic. What 
 Manila first failed to grasp was how it should happen 
 that Dean had broken up every smuggler s den along 
 the Ilocos line, and yet opium kept coming in from 
 the north. The dealers had abundance and the cus 
 toms no returns. Then came light and secret investi 
 gation. Then came Dean s startling allegations at 
 the expense of the garrison at Boutelle. Then came 
 vengeance, swift, sudden and unlocked for. Even 
 while, in due process of law, the authorities were pro 
 ceeding to enmesh him, the lawless crew whom he had 
 robbed joined forces with the Ladrones and swooped 
 upon him and his own. Harry Dean, his only son, 
 stood and fought to cover the retreat of the mother 
 and sister he loved and the father whom he more than 
 half suspected, and "nobly fighting," fell. Mrs. Dean, 
 prostrate with dread and fear, was lifted aboard the 
 gunboat and later lowered over the side to the waiting 
 cutter, and with her beloved child kneeling by the 
 wailing mother as the silent crew bent to the oars, she 
 was borne across the bounding waters and met at the 
 strand by the ambulance and by Mrs. Blake, who 
 
40 JUeutenam S>anDp 
 
 took the trembling girl to her heart and the unhappy 
 Deans to her home, Sandy Raj assisting in the trans 
 fer as best he might. That was his first meeting with 
 Gertrude Dean. 
 
Lieutenant San Dp map 41 
 
 CHAPTEE IV. 
 
 FROM that night inarch the command of Captain 
 Crabtree returned next day weary and disgusted, 
 Crab himself being the crabbedest man in the party. 
 The wires were not working, so he could not favor 
 Manila with the army side of the story. The roads 
 were barely passable even if unwatched by the foe, 
 and he had yet to write his report and find means of 
 sending it. He much wished that the Pittsburg 
 would remain in the bay until he could send his ver 
 sion to Manila, but the Pittsburg would not. After 
 putting the rescued refugees ashore at Boutelle, the 
 jaunty craft went about, sped again to San Sulpicio. 
 picked up the landing party that had cleaned out the 
 last lingering ladrone during the night, and the last 
 seen of her she was tearing through the billows far 
 out at the point, heading southward with her tidings. 
 
 Had Blake or Forrest been at home neither, prob 
 ably, could have accomplished much more than did 
 Crabtree, but Crabtree meant to do so very much 
 while blessed with the command, and now here, when 
 there came a capital chance, he had accomplished 
 nothing. Nor were his men in better mood. Salt 
 surf bathing by moonlight when the air is soft and 
 warm and the water soothing is all very well when 
 
42 JLieutenam @>anDp Rag 
 
 one is prepared for the process, but it is otherwise 
 when one is panting and perspiring in marching garb 
 and heavy shoes. Either in the surf or the sluggish 
 Bingbong every mother s son had been immersed to 
 the waist, and all for nothing. They reached the 
 neighborhood of town only when the revels were long 
 over and the rebels miles away. They did not get 
 back to the post until after nine the following day, 
 many of them footsore, many headsore and all hun 
 gry. Crab s mess jacket dinner was a thing of the 
 past, but not so its consequence. Blunt had dared to 
 tell a story that called for a show of teeth all round 
 and the listeners, all save one, joined in jolly laugh 
 ter. That one, with a muttered curse, made valorous 
 attempt at a tolerant smile. "He ll square with you 
 for that, Blunt," ruefully said Captain Prince. "Crab 
 never forgives an indignity or a joke/ and it looked 
 as though Prince were right, for Blunt was barely out 
 of tub and into dry clothing, when came the natty 
 orderly with "the commanding officer s compliments 
 and he desired to speak with the lieutenant at once." 
 Ray, eager for details, was with Blunt at the moment 
 and he, too, looked troubled. Blunt finished his 
 dressing in sulky silence, then started for Crabtree s 
 quarters, there to be told the Commandante had just 
 stepped over to the office and had left word for the 
 lieutenant to follow him. The post surgeon, at the 
 moment, was coming homeward from the direction of 
 the Blakes big house and Ray ventured to inquire for 
 
Hieutenant San Dp Bag 43 
 
 his patient. Mrs. Dean was calmer under sedatives 
 and her daughter s soothing, said the medical man, 
 "but Dean himself is in a bad way." The surgeon, 
 too, was tired and disgusted, for he had gone with the 
 "snipe column" ploughing eight miles through deep 
 sand or salted seas all practically for nothing. The 
 surgeon more than half thought Mr. Dean deserved 
 all he had got, but professional considerations for 
 bade his saying so. Dean s first demand, it seems, on 
 getting aboard the Pittsburg was for whiskey, which, 
 said the receiving officer, with becoming gravity, 
 " only our doctor can supply." Dean s conduct at first 
 had been considered heartless, but before the landing 
 at Boutelle it was plain that Dean was a sick man, 
 body and soul, and his son s gallant stand and heroic 
 death had gravely complicated the condition. Dean 
 was now apparently unconscious of his own where 
 abouts, in an upper room at Colonel Blake s, with two 
 hospital corps men on watch. !N"or had Dean been 
 told of the prostration of his wife. "There is only 
 one of them left with wit," said the doctor, "and that, 
 despite her grief, is Gertrude. By the way, Mrs. 
 Blake would like you to come over." 
 
 So Sandy went, thinking no longer of Blunt and 
 his possible troubles and seeking only to be of service 
 to Mrs. Blake. She had not seen Crabtree, to speak 
 to, since the return of the command. She had heard 
 from Fethers that Crab had squeezed a platoon into 
 some bancas (dugout canoes) and ferried them over 
 
44: Lieutenant >anDp Hap 
 
 the deeper of the two estuaries, and thus left an officer 
 and some thirty men to guard Sulpicio s ruined walls. 
 Ray did not envy the lieutenant that duty, for there 
 was little left from all accounts to invite a second 
 attack. He did not feel kindly toward Crabtree, 
 whose clumsy remarks at Sandy s abstinence still 
 rankled not because of what Crab thought of that, 
 but what he had dared to imply of Sandy s father. 
 Hay had been inclined to rebuke Blunt for the story 
 told at Crabtree s expense, but now he was not. 
 "Crabtree deserved what he got," thought he, "and the 
 mess sized him up exactly right." 
 
 A native servant met the lieutenant at the dark 
 ened doorway and showed him up to the cool, breezy, 
 enclosed veranda, on the seaward side. Mrs. Blake 
 was with the sick lady, said the mozo, and would be 
 out in a moment. Would the Senor Teniente have tea 
 or a lemonade ? The Senor would not. He would wait 
 with patience. Already, though the noonday call had 
 not yet sounded, the striped curtains were fluttering 
 in a life-giving breeze from the sea. The deep re 
 clining chairs of bamboo were cool and inviting. In 
 frames and easels, on the broad circular tables of 
 native wood, were photographs of many a man and 
 woman whom Sandy knew and honored his own 
 mother, his soldier father prominent among them. 
 Ever since his earliest boyhood in Wyoming he had 
 known the Blakes, often as next door neighbors, ever 
 as their most intimate friends. "Uncle Gerald" and 
 
JUeittenant >anDg map 45 
 
 "Aunt Nannie" he had been early taught to call them. 
 a TJnka Legs" he had once been soundly slippered for 
 hailing the long, lean captain who had been for years 
 his father s most cherished comrade, and who was 
 consumed with wrath when told what had taken place 
 not that Master Sandy should have been mischiev- j 
 ous and impertinent, but that Marion, his mother, 
 should have spanked him for it. In all the army they 
 had known no dearer friends, and Sandy s one objec 
 tion to the promotion that carried him to the regi 
 ment of which Colonel Blake had so recently assumed 
 command, was that "Fellows will be sure to say the 
 colonel will favor me in every way and forgive every 
 break, just on Dad s account." But when Sandy 
 came his colonel was going, and now he was glad he 
 came since Aunt Nan had need of him. But what 
 could that need be ? 
 
 Before Ray had been thirty-six hours at the post 
 Blunt had told him something of the colonel s abom 
 ination of Amos Dean and a little of Amos Dean s 
 most objectionable insinuations at the expense of 
 Blake and his garrison. Blunt did not begin to know 
 them all. Ray was prepared, therefore, to cold- 
 shoulder the deputy in case he met him, and if the 
 deputy demanded cause to tell him, flat-footed, why. 
 But not for a moment had Ray been prepared for 
 what he quickly saw in Dean s wife and daughter 
 that they were of gentle blood, refined and educated, 
 which Amos Dean was not. Moreover in any social 
 
&6 Lieutenant San Dp Hap 
 
 circle they were obviously Dean s superiors. Ray 
 could hear at intervals Dean s raucous voice upraised 
 in angry discussion with his attendants in the room at 
 the rear of the house. But from the cool, dark cham 
 ber where lay the prostrate woman, where hovered her 
 gentle daughter and their sympathetic hostess, no 
 sound seemed to escape. The shaded gallery almost 
 overhung the sea, again at high tide, and the sooth 
 ing, monotonous plash of the wavelets upon the sand 
 seemed eloquent of the tropic hour when all nature 
 hushes, inert and languid, in the noonday heat, when 
 every eyelid droops in deference to the glare and 
 every unhampered soul is wooed to dreamland. Sandy 
 had thrown himself into one of these great bamboo 
 and wicker reclining chairs and lazily picked up a 
 more than a month old magazine. But he had been 
 about and on duty all night long, he had been busy all 
 the morning. It was hardly a moment before the 
 languorous spell of the hour and the surroundings 
 utterly overcame him and Sandy slept 
 
 The average human animal, of the male variety at 
 least, is not picturesque in slumber. The feline spe 
 cies has in this respect far the better of its conquerer, 
 man. But occasionally, in youth, is found the excep 
 tion to inexorable rule, and Sandy Ray had certain 
 advantages. He was slender, lithe, daintily rather 
 than powerfully built. He was barely five feet six 
 in his stocking feet. His head was well shaped and 
 thick, covered with dark, curling, close-cropped hair. 
 
Lieutenant >anDp map 47 
 
 His features were clear-cut and regular, his mouth 
 firm and good, and he had the gift of keeping it shut 
 when asleep and under control when awake. But 
 Sandy s eyes, dark hazel, were after all his best 
 feature, and they were now shaded by lids that were 
 heavily fringed with long, curling lashes almost jetty 
 black, eyelashes that even a Spanish girl might envy. 
 He was clad from head to foot in snowy white, his 
 white cap and gloves were tossed upon the table by 
 his side, and in his cap lay a flat pocket case, in which 
 he had been jotting memoranda when the surgeon 
 happened along. One foot in white, low-cut, canvas 
 shoe hung limply over the edge of the bamboo rest, the 
 other was oddly tucked under the left knee, and with 
 the magazine fallen face downward upon the matting, 
 Sandy had in his last semi-conscious moment turned 
 slightly to his right, and half pillowed his head on the 
 glistening white sleeve, as thoroughly healthy, hearty, 
 clean-looking a lad as ever wore the army blue a 
 very presentable picture and he didn t in the least 
 know it. 
 
 "In the spring a young man s fancy," etc., and in 
 the spring of the previous year Sandy s fancy had 
 turned to thoughts of love, but not at all lightly. That 
 was nearly eighteen months agone and this was late 
 autumn. In both love and war he had had his bap 
 tism of fire, and from neither had he come un 
 scathed, for the scars of one still rankled in his soul 
 with a venom that outstung the scar left by the other.. 
 
48 JLieutenam San Dp 
 
 In both encounters Sandy Hay had been seriously 
 wounded, but he was as silent as to one as to the other. 
 !N"ot seventy miles from where he now lay placidly 
 sleeping he had penned the rapturous letter that told 
 a devoted mother her boy loved blissfully and was 
 beloved in turn. Then the girl in the case had mar 
 ried another man and subsequently eloped with still 
 another, and everybody who knew and who of the 
 old army did not? exclaimed with one impulse, 
 "What a blessed escape for the Rays !" 
 
 And this was not the sole experience that Sandy 
 Ray had had to sober and to form him. Before he 
 had been six months in the service there had been 
 stolen from his quarters at the Presidio a sum of 
 money entrusted to his care. In part it was govern 
 ment funds, which ordinarily he would have to re 
 place by the comprehensive process of having his pay 
 stopped until the sum. was covered. But not a little 
 of it belonged to enlisted men who knew and needed 
 no better banker than the son of so beloved an officer 
 as Billy Ray of the old th Cavalry. His predica 
 ment was sore, but short lived. His devoted mother 
 was close at hand ; something of her once comfortable 
 fortune still remained, and she had quickly drawn the 
 few thousands needed and replaced the missing sum. 
 It was not intemperance that led to the mishap, but 
 from that day to this the young officer had seen fit 
 to be a total abstainer. From that day until the au 
 tumn of 1903, by which time every penny had been 
 
Lieutenant S>anDp Bap 49 
 
 refunded, lie had managed to live on half pay, yet 
 look like a gentleman. From that obligation he had 
 now been only ten months free. He did not dream 
 how his manful stand and self-denial had augmented 
 the pride and faith and love they had felt for him, 
 the father and mother who at first had watched with 
 much solicitude and dread ; for Sandy, like others of 
 his race and name, had had his laughing, devil-may- 
 care hours in his younger days, his fling at ranch life 
 in the far west, his tilt with cards and wine. Per 
 haps the very thing needed to steady him at the outset 
 of a career sure to be beset with temptation, was just 
 such an episode as that that befell him at the Pre 
 sidio of San Francisco in the year 98. Perhaps the 
 very thing needed to assure those who loved him that 
 the lesson had taken firm root was his trial and temp 
 tation in the wiles of that beautiful creature who had 
 so bewitched him. "If he could keep steadfast to his 
 resolution in face of such a facer as that/ 7 said 
 Colonel Kay, "I ll back the boy against Fate itself." 
 
 And who could blame the mother heart that, even 
 to a greater extent after once her doubts and fears had 
 been proved unjust and undeserved, it now centered 
 on her first born as though like some young Bayard 
 he had risen superior to every test and stood before 
 God and man spotless and unafraid without re 
 proach or fear ? Who could marvel that big-hearted, 
 whimsical, long-legged old Blake bragged by the hour 
 of "Billy s boy," now gazetted to the d, and prophe- 
 
50 Lieutenant San Op Hap 
 
 sied of him that in his new regiment whose motto, 
 "Ever Ready/ had flashed over every field from 
 Resaca to the Rosebud, "from everglade to canon," 
 Sandy Ray would win a name like that his father had 
 borne so long in the annals of their comrades of the 
 th. 
 
 But the soldier of one campaign becomes betimes 
 the scapegoat of another ; the belauded of one big bat 
 tle finds himself the butt of press jibes and public 
 sneer ; the winner of a May day joust turns up loser 
 in jSTovember s fog ; the hero of a famous siege comes 
 home to face the cry of cowardice ; the saint of a Sun 
 day gathering not so many moons agone is now a sin 
 ner in the stripes of Sing Sing! Who can tell what 
 the day may bring forth ? "Eternal vigilance is the 
 price of liberty," and virtue must now neither sleep 
 nor stint, if virtue is to find here or hereafter its due 
 reward. 
 
 Worn with the long night s vigil and lulled by the 
 soft murmur of the breeze, the soothing melody of the 
 waters, Sandy slept and never dreamed or stirred 
 while the curtain that draped the southward end of 
 the gallery was slowly, stealthily drawn aside. 
 
Lieutenant SanBg Iftap si 
 
 CHAPTEK V. 
 
 BLUNT came back from the commanding officers in 
 no such mood as he had gone. Blunt had been given 
 no show, as he would say, at any of the plums in the 
 way of stirring service that fell to the lot of other 
 subalterns at the station. Blunt had got himself into 
 the black list of his post commander and looked for a 
 wigging of some kind, not for favor. Blunt was 
 amazed to find his little loved captain apparently dis 
 dainful of past differences and thinking only of pres 
 ent opportunity. Blunt had been offered a chance he 
 longed for. Crabtree wished him to set forth that 
 very day with a brace of signal men and forty stout 
 American soldier hearts to scout the southward road, 
 clean out any lurking ladrones and open communica 
 tion with the railway. "They will surely be reaching 
 out from below," said he ; "we must meet them half 
 way, and you re the man to do it." 
 
 This from the commander whom last night Blunt 
 would have shamed, and this morning could have 
 hated, well nigh took his breath away. Blunt was 
 stunned to silence. 
 
 "Don t you want to go?" asked Crabtree, In 
 amaze. 
 
52 Lieutenant San Dp 
 
 "Don t I want? well, don t I want more pay, 
 promotion, anything, everything, but did I ever think 
 I d get it ? Of course I want to go, sir, but " 
 
 "Then there are no buts, Mr. Blunt," said Crab- 
 tree, briefly. "Go and get ready. I ll tend to the de 
 tails. Ten days rations, extra ammunition and the 
 best carts and carabaos we ve got." 
 
 Blunt went back to his room in a daze. He thought 
 to find Ray sleeping, but Ray was gone. He needed 
 a bit of friendly advice and aid, and though he had 
 known Ray but a few days he had known of him long, 
 and Ray knew much more about campaigning in the 
 tropics than did Blunt or his fellows. Ray had had 
 much of it : the Forty-Second practically none. The 
 little scouting done from Boutelle had been bloodless 
 work. They went in force and, wisely, recalcitrant 
 natives kept out of the way. ~Now it might well be 
 different. JSTow it might well be that they would have 
 bush fighting. Somebody would be hit, perhaps 
 killed, and that somebody might be Blunt himself. If 
 so there were matters that ought to be settled. 
 
 "Hilarious!" shouted he, "Donde sta Teniente 
 Ray?" Blunt s Spanish was of domestic manufac 
 ture. 
 
 "No sa-a-abe," drawled the barefoot boy in white. 
 
 "Well, Hilarious, porque in hell don t you algo 
 tienpo sa-a-be something ? Vamoose ! Busca ! Pronto ! 
 Pronto!" 
 
 And with that the messenger departed and the mas- 
 
Lieutenant SanBg Kap 53 
 
 ter, in obvious excitement, began pulling out the 
 drawers of a much battered field desk and scattering 
 their contents over the bare wooden table. 
 
 It was a bachelor den at best. Furniture in the 
 Philippines was reduced to a minimum. A four 
 poster bedstead, broad and commodious, stood at the 
 landward side of the high ceilinged room. Its 
 mosquito bar was gathered up for the day and fes 
 tooned from the supporting cords by Hilario s deft 
 and dusky hands. Its rattan bottom, firm yet 
 springy, was uncovered, save at the head of the bed ? 
 by sheet or counterpane. Pillows, sheets, bolsters and 
 the single blanket were all sunning on the back 
 veranda. Not until nightfall would Hilario prepare 
 his master s couch, and then it little resembled any 
 thing of the kind his master had known at home. 
 Mattress of hair or spring there was none. Along 
 the middle of the broad and perforated bottom was 
 stretched a thin pallet, barely three feet wide and 
 three inches in thickness a thing that had once done 
 duty on his master s camp cot. Over this and care 
 fully covering every inch of the rattan bottom a broad 
 white sheet was snugly drawn and fastened so as to 
 exclude mosquitoes and other tiny winged intruders 
 from below. At the head of the bed, reaching across 
 its entire width, a stout cylinder encased in white did 
 duty for a bolster and against this were the pillows 
 set, almost bolt upright. Adown the length of the 
 couch, against the inner side of the pallet, extended 
 
54 Lieutenant S>anDp 
 
 the mate to the first bolster, the one being known as 
 the "travesero" the other as the "Dutch wife/ the 
 purpose of the one being to keep the pillows well up, 
 that of the other to keep even the light coverlet well 
 off the sleeper, for there were nights of land breeze 
 when the lightest load, even a sheet, was a nuisance. 
 Over pallet and "Dutch wife" was spread a soft white 
 sheet and at the bottom lay a thin woolen blanket 
 ready lest the wind should blow from the China sea. 
 
 That bedstead, purchased of a predecessor at Bou- 
 telle, was the one pretentious article of furniture. All 
 the rest, even the lamp and center table, were of the 
 simplest sort, and neither rug nor carpet was there 
 to be seen. A painted chest was back against the 
 wall. Several barrack and two bamboo chairs were 
 scattered about. A rude washstand, flanked by huge 
 tin pitcher and bucket, stood to the left of the entrance 
 door. A tin hot bath, battered almost shapeless, stood 
 shamefaced beside the washstand, a tempting object 
 to impulsive subalterns who had temper to work off 
 and kicks to bestow. A calico curtain, hung from a 
 long rod at the opposite wall, and looped up to let in 
 the air, revealed a miscellaneous array of khaki coats 
 and trousers, two or three dittos in white drilling, a 
 suit of olive drab and a brace of campaign hats, one 
 of them weather-beaten. Then, hung on shoulder 
 frames of bamboo and covered with sheeting, the uni 
 form blue coats for dress and full dress, with two or 
 three pairs of sky-blue inexpressibles, one striped 
 
Lieutenant ^anD ma 55 
 
 with faded robin s egg mauve, another with creamy 
 white. The floor underneath was littered with foot 
 gear and leggings patent leather, black calfskin and 
 tan shooting boots, leather strapped puttees, canvas 
 drabs, some uncouth slippers and one pair of high 
 black boots of India rubber, provided with extension 
 legs that could be drawn up over the thighs. Upon 
 a rude wooden frame were flung a raincoat and cape, 
 a sabre belt or two and some kind of shooting suit that 
 Blunt had accumulated in climes where birds were 
 plentiful. He had not seen so much as a snipe in 
 Luzon. A double-barreled shot gun leaned, with a 
 companion Krag, against the bamboo sheathing in the 
 southeast corner. A new sabre swung by its service 
 "slings" on the opposite wall, side by side with the 
 antique "frog sticker" he had worn in the lively days 
 of 99, on which well worn relic, by the way, zealous 
 customs officials demanded payment of duty even of 
 gentlemen coming a second time to the island, on the 
 ground that one sword was all an officer could wear 
 and all others were superfluities. A few prints, 
 photographs and a military map of the island were 
 tacked here and there to the elastic wall, and that was 
 the visible extent of the household goods and chattels 
 of a senior lieutenant of the line, serving in the Phil 
 ippines in 1903. Opening off this, the main bed 
 room was the smaller apartment assigned, until he 
 should choose his own quarters, to Lieutenant Ray. 
 It was some time before Hilario returned. He 
 
56 lieutenant SanDp Bap 
 
 came empty handed. He said the Teniente had toclos 
 vamoosed and he couldn t/find him. Blunt stared but 
 said nothing. Ray would doubtless turn up at tiffin 
 and tiffin was nearly due. He was busy at the mo 
 ment searching for one or two papers he thought to 
 find in the field desk, but could not. He scribbled 
 an order on the post commissary for certain supplies 
 he needed for his field mess chest and despatched 
 Hilario with orders to fetch the stores at once and 
 keep a lookout for Lieutenant Ray. He was still 
 busy searching through and nervously tossing aside 
 folded paper after paper when the adjutant s voice 
 was heard at the gate, and in came Fethers, just to 
 see how Blunt was getting on. Captain Crabtree had 
 told him to ask if there was anything he, Crab, could 
 do, which sounded very magnanimous to Fethers, and 
 very empty to Blunt. 
 
 "I thank him, no/ said Blunt, decisively. "He 
 has done quite enough in giving me this chance/ 7 
 
 "He said/ 7 quoth Fethers, with slow significance, 
 "you seemed er reluctant to go." 
 
 Blunt flushed hotly. "That s a contemptible way 
 of putting it," he burst forth, impetuous and angry. 
 "He knows well I want to go, and have been wanting 
 to go right along, but he doesn t know and can t be 
 expected to know that there are things I d like to set 
 tle before I go." Then with sudden resolution, yet 
 coloring with embarrassment: "Fethers, every man 
 in my own regiment here is deep in debt all owing 
 
Lieutenant >anBg Bap sr 
 
 to that damned uniform order every man except, of 
 course, Crabtree, whom I won t ask. Can you lend 
 me a hundred dollars ?" 
 
 Fethers possibly knew what was coming. Fethers 
 as adjutant had seen something of the reminders cer 
 tain creditors were sending officers of the line who 
 had had to provide themselves with a huge outfit of 
 new regulation clothing, equipment, etc., provide for 
 their families, and pay their own heavy mess bills on 
 the weary way over. Fethers, could he have had his 
 way, would have turned back every missive of the 
 kind that came from department to post headquar 
 ters, but Fethers was but human. He at least had no 
 debts to pay, and a small balance at a home bank, but 
 there he meant to hold his nestegg. He "couldn t 
 without serious inconvenience," he replied, in much 
 embarrassment, and Blunt marveled that he had ever 
 asked. "Don t think about it again/ 7 he said. "I ll 
 raise it somehow, only there isn t much time, as we 
 start so soon." So Fethers, breathing freer, yet feel 
 ing mean, made his escape. He told no man at the 
 time of Blunt s bungling request, but he remem 
 bered. 
 
 Not twenty minutes later Sandy Eay, whom 
 Hilario had been unable to find, came briskly in. The 
 wind had freshened, the sea had begun to respond, 
 and he brought with him a glisten of salt spray on the 
 visor of his white cap. Blunt looked up with a grin. 
 "Been over to see. your refugees, I see," said he, and 
 
58 Lieutenant San Dp 
 
 was surprised to note that a shade seemed instantly to 
 fall on Sandy s frank and soldierly face. "Beg par 
 don/ went on his host, in hurried apology. "I didn t 
 mean to pry into your affairs. The moisture on the 
 visor said you were just from the shore and the 
 colonel s quarters are the only ones close enough. 
 Sherlock Holmes, you know." 
 
 "Oh, that s all right," answered the cavalryman, 
 promptly, still with slight constraint. "I ve had 
 Mrs. Blake was asking me why, what on earth have 
 you been doing?" And Ray s eyes went flashing 
 over the littered table and disordered desk. 
 
 "Off for a hike," was the brief reply. "Start in 
 two hours or less, and I ve got to straighten out some 
 papers. Damn that Hilarious; what keeps him so 
 long?" and Blunt sprang up and strode to the door 
 way. Sandy passed on into his room and presently 
 came forth as Blunt re-entered. Blunt saw perplex 
 ity, anxiety, trouble in the fine face before him. "You 
 bothered, too ?" he asked. 
 
 "Mislaid a pocketbook somewhere," answered the 
 visitor, briefly. "Funny thing bout it is I thought 
 I had it when I went over there. Dr. Scammon said 
 Mrs. Blake wished to see me." 
 
 "Anything of consequence ?" asked Blunt, with 
 certain significance in tone. 
 
 "Well, yes, rather," hesitated Ray. He had pulled 
 off his gloves and cap, and was now mopping a moist 
 forehead. 
 
Lieutenant >anDp Jaa? 59 
 
 "Cash?" queried Blunt. 
 
 "Not much. Don t carry any as a rule. Bank 
 what little I ve got." 
 
 " Nough to lend a hundred dollars to a man you 
 don t know from Adam ?" asked Blunt, sturdily, yet 
 ruefully. 
 
 "If it s you, yes," said Eay. "Want to use it 
 here?" 
 
 "ISTope New York, and it s a damned gouge, but 
 I d promised." 
 
 "Fix that easy ? nough," clipped Mr. Ray, cheer 
 fully. "Give you a cheque right now," and forget 
 ting for a moment the previous quest, darted into his 
 room and came back with his cheque-book. 
 
 "Hundred enough ?" he asked. 
 
 "Not by several, but it s all I ll take or send, and 
 Fm ashamed no, I m not, for it isn t my fault! 
 I m disgusted to ask for it, but there isn t a man of 
 ours with an unmortgaged dollar cept Crab, and I 
 can t ask him." 
 
 "If two hundred would help," began Ray, slowly, 
 for he was in doubt. He had but three. 
 
 "It would, Ray, and it wouldn t. It s kind of you, 
 
 but I can t take it. One hundred I must take or 
 
 
 "The commanding officer s compliments, sir, and 
 desires to see Lieutenant Blunt," came the announce 
 ment of that precise orderly at the door. 
 
 "Coming directly," answered Blunt, and reached 
 
eo Lieutenant anDg 
 
 for his hat. It dislodged some papers as it was 
 whisked from the table. "That s the hell of these 
 post commanders pro tern/ said Blunt. "The colonel 
 now, after once sending for me, would stop in on his 
 way to tiffin, or speak to me there, knowing the lot 
 he s given me to do, but these accidentals must im 
 press you with their consequence, and so they make 
 you come and dance attendance at the office. I ll be 
 back in a minute." 
 
 Eay thoughtfully bent and picked up the papers 
 that had gone fluttering to the floor two or three 
 loose half sheets. Then there was one little packet, 
 rubber snapped together, that had plumped on the 
 wooden boarding like a shot on a drum. He was try 
 ing to rearrange them when a footstep in the front 
 room caused him to look up. Lieutenant Walker 
 stood at the inner doorway, silently observing him. 
 "Don t let me intrude," said he. "Where s Blunt ? 
 I want to catch him before he goes." 
 
 "Over at the office," answered Sandy, briefly, 
 noting the while that Walker s eyes were on the 
 cheque book, and wondering if he had any claim on 
 Blunt. Walker turned and vanished. Eay returned 
 to his task. He could not help it, that a line at the 
 top of a page caught his eye. He could help it still 
 less that it gave him something of a start. But 
 Hilario shuffled in at the moment, laden with a box 
 ful of tins and jars from the commissary. He never 
 so much as glanced at the young officer after enter- 
 
Lieutenant >anDp Bap 6i 
 
 ing, but went swiftly about his work, and Kay, after 
 a moment, stowed the papers in a vacant pigeon-hole, 
 and sauntered out upon the veranda, where the sea 
 breeze was blowing finely. He needed to think. 
 
 There had been comment, it seems, on Mrs. Blake a 
 remaining practically alone in her spacious quarters 
 when the colonel hurried off to Manila. True, she 
 had with her a worthy couple who had been of their 
 army household ever since the honeymoon days of the 
 long ago. The wife had been her first housemaid at 
 old Fort Russell, and that lively young creature, after 
 breaking supposedly non-commissioned hearts about 
 the post, had been wooed and won by an Irish son of 
 Mars who had followed the guidon of Blake s troop 
 half across the continent. Corporal Moon had taken 
 his discharge from the service of Uncle Sam in course 
 of years and entered that of the Blakes, and though 
 now well along in years, the Moons had never fal 
 tered in their allegiance. Mrs. Blake was as safe, 
 with them to watch her, as she would be with a royal 
 bodyguard, but the few women at Boutelle wondered 
 at her not wanting to go to Manila. 
 
 She had her own reasons for that. She had been 
 there twice and had much enjoyed many features of 
 the first visit and a few of the second, but the army 
 friends they had visited were no longer there. The 
 brief experience she had once had in a Manila hotel 
 was discouraging. There was nothing new going on 
 and Gerald, her husband, might only be detained a 
 
62 Lieutenant >anDp 
 
 week. Altogether, Mrs. Blake decided not to go, and 
 now was glad, for she was here to help two people, at 
 least, whose sorrowful plight much appealed to her. 
 It was after a conference with Dr. Scammon that she 
 sent for Ray in perplexity as to what course should 
 be pursued with Dean. Scammon said his proper 
 place was a room in the hospital, if not the guard 
 house. Mrs. Dean had hysterically declared that 
 wherever her husband went she must follow. Ger 
 trude had said nothing, but it was evident that she 
 would share her mother s fortunes whatever they 
 might be. Some few minutes, therefore, after San 
 dy s coming had been announced, Mrs. Blake had 
 gratefully acceded to the girl s half timid suggestion 
 that she go to her father s bedside a few minutes ; she 
 might be able to quiet and comfort him. And now 
 Mrs. Blake had opportunity for a word or two alone 
 with Mrs. Dean. 
 
 And so Sandy had waited, and fallen asleep, and 
 then, awaking suddenly from his siesta, was as sud 
 denly conscious that some one had been hovering 
 about his chair, of having surely felt the light touch 
 of finger tips upon his left arm, and thinking it was 
 Mrs. Blake, had stirred lazily like the spoiled boy he 
 was, stretched, yawned, opened his eyes at sound of 
 fluttering skirt and hurried footfall, and then saw a 
 slender, white-clad form just vanishing into the broad 
 hallway and beyond his sight. 
 
Lieutenant >anDg Bap 
 
 CHAPTEK VI. 
 
 JUST as Blunt had prophesied, the "cabal" against 
 the post commander had come to a head at the mess, 
 and Blunt was not there to see. On the previous 
 afternoon that outspoken young officer, with his little 
 force, despite the fatiguing experience of the sand 
 march to Sulpicio and back, had gone striding 
 sturdily away southward, followed until out of sight 
 in the fringing bamboo by many an anxious eye at 
 the post, and by many a furtive glance from the 
 dusky faces in the neighboring barrio. Parade had 
 been dispensed with. The officers of the mess, minus 
 the senior, assembled at the stated time, some in 
 white, some in freshly ironed khaki, all in rather 
 silent mood, which in soldiers, sailors and marines is 
 ominous of ill for somebody. 
 
 2vTot until the last man had straggled up the wooden 
 steps did Captain Crabtree permit himself to appear 
 in his own doorway, looking very cool and spick and 
 span in snowy raiment, white cap, shoes and gloves. 
 Mess call had sounded sharp on time, and the mess, 
 the mess boys and the dinner were waiting. With 
 the eyes of his juniors upon him, Crabtree sauntered 
 airily down the walk, doffed his cap to Mrs. Fethers, 
 
64 Lieutenant S>anDp 
 
 and leaning on the fence, entertained that unappre- 
 ciative young matron with a few remarks about the 
 loveliness of the day and the delight of the sea breeze, 
 to all of which, with an eye on the assembled mess, 
 she responded but feebly. Then he tacked across the 
 shell road at sight of Chaplain and Mrs. Stanhope 
 returning from a call, and stopped again to converse 
 affably with them, whereat the mess set its teeth and 
 said things not intended for the ears of mess servants. 
 Then he came placidly along until within a hundred 
 paces of the angering group of juniors, and there de 
 liberately stood and questioned a sergeant whom he 
 beckoned from the seaward gate, and then to the 
 fuming wrath of his messmates turned away with the 
 non-commissioned officer in attendance and as delib 
 erately walked to that gate as though some matter of 
 importance called him thither. Then muttered blas 
 phemy was heard at the bungalow and one or two offi 
 cers bolted within doors, and then who should come 
 along, bound for a stroll on the beach before dark, but 
 Mrs. Shane and her well disciplined lord. And then, 
 finally, not over at the adjutant s office, but some 
 where about the mess building or enclosure, loud and 
 clear again did mess call sound upon the evening air, 
 and the sea breeze blew Mrs. Shane s laughing, pro 
 voking comment more than half way back to the 
 startled group on the veranda. 
 
 "That s for you, Mr. Post Commander," cried she 
 of the sparkling eyes. "And all for keeping those 
 
Lieutenant >anDp Bap 65 
 
 poor hungry fellows waiting/ and Crabby s face was 
 a sight to see. He feigned to be deaf to her remarks 
 and absorbed in what two soldiers were telling him, 
 but many a body had heard and so had he. It would 
 never do now to break instantly away. It was his role 
 to calmly finish his conversation ; then as calmly and 
 relentlessly to investigate. They who had proposed 
 taking seats and going on with dinner without their 
 senior were glad on the whole that they were over 
 ruled, for Crab s face was gray with wrath when he 
 reached the steps. 
 
 "Gentlemen," he began, a who ordered that call 
 sounded ?" 
 
 And no man answered. Silent, embarrassed, but 
 by no means abashed, they stood before him. 
 
 "You perfectly well realize that none of our trum 
 peters dare play such a trick unless some officer stands 
 sponsor/ snapped Crabtree, a and so I repeat, if all 
 are here, who ordered that call sounded ?" 
 
 And still there was no reply. 
 
 "Mr. Ray," began Crab again, "you have so re 
 cently come among us that I cannot in mind associate 
 you with this deliberate affront to the commanding 
 officer, but I shall ask you first, as the sole representa 
 tive here this evening of the cavalry service, whether 
 you know who ordered the trumpeter to sound that 
 call ?" 
 
 "I do not, sir," said Sandy, very simply. 
 
 "Captain Prince, do you ?" 
 
66 Lieutenant >anDp Bap 
 
 "Beyond the fact that I heard the call I know noth 
 ing about it whatever, sir," was the captain s uncom 
 promising reply. And thus in succession did Crab- 
 tree accost each one of the mess then present, and 
 angering, though with such respect as they could com 
 mand, they answered no. Whereupon when the last 
 man, the native butler, was questioned and the same 
 negative was given by him, the commander drooped 
 with the heavy weight of his defeat, and saying: 
 "This is most extraordinary, gentlemen, and of course 
 cannot end here/ 7 signalled that they should take their 
 seats, but turned himself to his orderly and sent for 
 the sergeant major. 
 
 Dinner went off in constrained silence. Conver 
 sation was impossible. There being no guests there 
 was no wine. Even the cheap claret so readily ob 
 tained in Manila was considered inappropriate in 
 view of the fact that, four out of five, the members 
 still had their mess clothes to pay for. When the 
 sergeant major came the captain punctiliously ex 
 cused himself to his fellows and went with the non 
 commissioned officer to the porch. He wished the 
 name of the trumpeter who sounded the call and the 
 sergeant-major could not tell him. "I had every 
 mother s son of em up, captain, and every one flatly 
 denied it. Moreover, there s not one of them who 
 can t prove he was nowhere near the mess this night." 
 
 "There s been some tremendous lying somewhere," 
 thought Crabtree, "and it s too much for me." Imme- 
 
JUeutenant SanOg Bag er 
 
 diately after coffee was served and without taking the 
 floor and starting his customary talk, Crabtree early 
 left the mess and began further investigation, and not 
 a thing did he really discover to throw light on the 
 occurrence. 
 
 Beyond a mere line to the effect that they had 
 bivouacked at San Sulpicio and would resume the 
 march soon after dawn, not a word came from Blunt 
 on the following day. J^ot a word did the post com 
 mander learn as to the perpetrator of last night s in 
 dignity. So, this evening, parade was ordered. Thi& 
 evening mess call was sounded at the adjutant s office 
 as before. This evening the officers assembled as they 
 did twenty-four hours earlier, and this evening Crab 
 dawdled as he did the previous day, even to going to 
 the westward gate. When he finally approached the 
 mess he was surprised to find the veranda vacant. 
 When he entered the mess room he was amazed to find 
 the officers seated and at their soup. At his entrance 
 and before he could open his lips to speak, they 
 promptly and silently arose and stood attention. 
 
 "Gentlemen," began Crabtree, "this is a discour 
 tesy to your commanding officer," to which no one re 
 sponded. "We will take this, in connection with 
 other matters, up later." Then as he dropped into his 
 chair they gravely followed suit, resumed their seats 
 and a lively conversation which did not seem to in 
 clude their chief. Crabtree could hardly believe the 
 evidence of his senses. 
 
68 jUeutenant 
 
 Coffee having been served and everybody about 
 ready to go, Captain Prince, at the opposite end of 
 the table, looked to his one superior present for the 
 expected signal, but Crabtree was intent on action and 
 vengeance. "The waiters will withdraw," said he, 
 which they did not at all understand, so Prince 
 glanced over his shoulder, briefly added "Vamoose," 
 and this was explicit. 
 
 "Gentlemen," said Crab, "I now desire explanation 
 of your most extraordinary behavior of this appar 
 ently deliberate affront to the commahnding officer." 
 
 "Captain Crabtree," said Captain Prince, rising 
 with much deliberation and with consummate sang 
 froid there was not a year s difference in the date of 
 their commissions "I am designated to answer for 
 the mess, and the answer is this : In all official matters 
 we obey you without question. In social matters we 
 have rights equal to your own. You have formulated 
 a set of rules that, in spite of our objections, we might 
 have observed but for the fact that you were the first 
 and most persistent violator. In plain language, 
 Captain Crabtree, the mess declines to be bound by 
 rules that you break at will." Whereupon, in decor 
 ous silence and with much deliberation every man ex 
 cept the post commander arose, some lighted cigars or 
 cigarettes and all sauntered forth upon the veranda. 
 
 Over across the way a silvery laugh pealed on the 
 breathless evening air, and Crabtree, amazed, en 
 raged, yet vaguely conscious that he had overstepped 
 
Lieutenant ^anOg Kap 69 
 
 the limits of his authority, found new fuel for the 
 flame of his anger in the fact that Mrs. Shane had 
 surely been taken into the confidence of some of the 
 mess and was there to witness the revolt. Such a 
 thing had never been heard of in all his experience. 
 Crabtree sprang to his feet, called Captain Prince to 
 follow him, sent his orderly for the post adjutant, and 
 never noticing the silent salute with which he was 
 scrupulously favored, hurried straightway to his quar 
 ters, leaving the field to the conspirators. 
 
 "Ever stumble on the likes of this before ?" asked 
 Mr. Walker of Sandy Ray, who, speechless and trou 
 bled, stood at the edge of the veranda, gazing out over 
 the now moonlit sea. 
 
 Ray shook his head. He had been brought up in 
 the army. He believed in discipline and had never 
 before seen a commander humiliated by his officers. 
 "Tell me one thing," said he. "Hasn t Captain Crab- 
 tree a right to the belief that there has been sneak 
 work somewhere ? Some one must have lied about 
 that call. 7 
 
 "No one lied," answered Walker, promptly. "Crab 
 
 / asked who of our number ordered it sounded. No one 
 
 ordered. Then he ordered the trumpeter found and 
 
 they couldn t find. Cause why no one of the trum 
 
 peters had anything to do with it." 
 
 "One of the waiters then?" queried Sandy, meas 
 urably relieved. Many of the natives were far bet 
 ter buglers than were those of the Forty-Second, and 
 
70 Lieutenant 
 
 coming from one of these, an ignorant son of the soil, 
 the affront or indignity would have lost most of its 
 sting. 
 
 "Waiters nothing/ answered Mr. Walker. 
 "There s been no sneak work whatever, either. No 
 one was ordered to sound that call. The sounder did 
 it of his own free will and accord, and Crab hasn t wit 
 enough to guess. When the row blows over I ll tell 
 him who blew. So don t you worry, Mr. Kay." And 
 with his hands in his pockets and his head high in air, 
 Mr. Walker took himself off. It was not good that 
 this new comer from the cavalry should insinuate 
 sneak work on so small a basis, and Sandy saw the 
 point and started after his fellow subaltern to offer 
 prompt apology. 
 
 In high dudgeon, apparently, Mr. Walker had flung 
 himself down the steps and away to the westward 
 gate that opened on the sea. In much concern Sandy 
 followed and even called after Walker s swift-fading 
 form. In a moment the pursued had turned sharp to 
 his right and was speedily shut from view by the 
 south wing of the spacious quarters assigned to 
 Colonel Blake. And still Sandy followed. A mo 
 ment later he was surprised to come suddenly upon 
 his quarry, halted in front of Blake s broad and 
 roomy double doorway. He saw Lieutenant Walker 
 gazing up to the half open lattice on the second floor 
 where the breezy veranda, after the fashion of the 
 Philippines, almost half overhung the walk below. 
 
Lieutenant San Op map n 
 
 He saw in the moonlight a slender form, a white, 
 appealing face, and he heard in pleading tones 
 tones which spoke of sorrow and sore anxiety these 
 hurried words: "I ll be right down if you ll only 
 wait," whereupon the white-robed form at the lattice 
 shot from view, and, barely five seconds later, the 
 white-clad subaltern underneath half turned and 
 glanced along the sea walk, caught sight of Raj 
 swift advancing, and instantly turned again and 
 strode huffily away, disappearing beyond the north 
 ward corner. 
 
 Which was how it happened that as Ray reached 
 the entrance he came suddenly almost face to face 
 with that slender girl, little over seventeen, with a 
 world of woe in her dark and lustrous eyes, with ap 
 peal and distress quivering upon her pallid lips. It 
 was the girl he had helped carry from the shore to 
 Mrs. Blake s salon, Gertrude Dean, and at sight of 
 him, by no means the man she had hastened to see, 
 the child recoiled startled. "Was it you/ 7 she cried. 
 "Oh, I didn t mean I thought " And she cov 
 ered her face in her fragile hands and fairly reeled 
 against the stone doorway, unnerved, almost undone. 
 
 "It was Mr. Walker," answered Ray, soothingly. 
 "Let me help you upstairs, Miss Dean. You are far 
 from strong or well," and he would have drawn her 
 forth and thrown the other arm about her, but she 
 shrank and sobbed : 
 
72 Lieutenant San Dp 
 
 <C I must speak with him," she cried. "He was 
 Harry s friend." And then Ray took alarm, so vio 
 lent was her distress. As she could neither go nor 
 suffer herself to be led, he hurried through the tun 
 nel-like entrance and up the bordering stairway to the 
 second floor in hopes of finding Mrs. Blake. Voices 
 were again audible angry voices in the room occu 
 pied by the elder Dean not yet had the doctor suc 
 ceeded in his scheme to get him out of the house and 
 over to hospital but nowhere could Hay see any 
 thing of her whom he sought. A lamp burned dimly 
 in the dining room beyond and the broad way to the 
 kitchen gallery stood open, so thither he hastened. 
 Vain ! There were smouldering embers on the quaint 
 Philippine open range, but not a servant was visible. 
 He could hear them gossiping in the court below. He 
 would not tap at the invalid s door; that might 
 awaken her, and he inferred that she must be sleep 
 ing since Gertrude was at large. He ran again 
 down stairs, intending to be very positive and per 
 emptory, even if he had to carry her, to bring Miss 
 Dean, if a possible thing, back to her senses and the 
 second story. 
 
 But when he reached the ground floor again Miss 
 Dean was gone. On the stone flagging, just where 
 she stood a moment before in all the abandonment of 
 her grief, some dark object caught his eye and he 
 stooped and picked it up, carried it into the bright 
 
Lieutenant SanDg dap 
 
 moonshine at the entrance and found himself staring 
 stupidly at the cover of the pocket note book missing 
 since the second day before the book only, for all the 
 contents, like the girl, were gone. 
 
74 Lieutenant San Dp Hap 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 ANOTHER day had dawned on Camp Boutelle, and 
 though earth and sea and sky were all that were beau 
 tiful, the indications as to matters military and do 
 mestic seemed set for storm. Captain Crabtree and 
 his second in temporary command, Captain Prince, 
 had come to words if not to blows. Captain Prince 
 had told the post, and would-be mess, commander 
 that he for one would no longer sit at meal with such a 
 crank that was the exact descriptive and for the 
 first time it began to dawn on Crabtree that mess con 
 ditions in the army of a blooming republic, and in 
 that of a magnificent old monarchy, not only never 
 had been in accord, but, in this day and generation 
 at least, never would be. Nothing in the customs and 
 traditions of our democratic service gave the faintest 
 precedent for his action, while almost everything in 
 the methods of the British Army had seemed to point 
 his way. Crab had gone so far, when Major For 
 rest presided and the arriving officers of the Forty- 
 Second had joined the mess, as to urge that the junior 
 lieutenant should sit at the opposite end of the board, 
 facing the senior officer and should be addressed as 
 "Mr. Vice," but neither Forrest nor any one else con- 
 
jUeittenant SanDg Kap 75 
 
 curred. That, said Forrest, was the caterer s seat, 
 and whoever was caterer for the month should sit 
 there where he could most readily control the waiters. 
 Prince happened to occupy that important chair when, 
 the cavalry was hurried away, and Prince had flatly; 
 told his commanding officer, as one of the "bugle in 
 vestigation/ that he would sit there no longer, nor 
 would he occupy any seat at the mess until Crabtree 
 withdrew his obnoxious laws or himself. Crab, of 
 course, would submit, he said, to no dictation from his 
 juniors. Prince turned over the keys and accounts 
 as caterer to Lieutenant Belden, the treasurer ; break 
 fasted at his own quarters from his own company s 
 table ; accepted Mrs. Shane s invitation for tiffin and 
 the Stanhopes for dinner. Almost every man of the 
 mess had finished breakfast and gone before the com 
 manding officer appeared with visage as black as the 
 thunder clouds that came billowing sometimes from 
 the China Sea. The two officers present looked up, 
 sprang up (a thing hitherto never even thought of), 
 said in suspicious unison "Good morning, sir," sol 
 emnly retook their seats and with equal or greater 
 solemnity, Crab took his. One of his preachments 
 had been that gentlemen at mess should avoid all dis 
 turbing or "shoppy" talk. The conversation should 
 be joyous, spirited, gay, and to this end Crab gen 
 erally essayed to lead it. To-day he spoke not at all. 
 The more he probed that bugle business the deeper 
 he found the mystery. Every bugler, as the sergeant 
 
V6 Lieutenant >anDp Bap 
 
 said, established an alibi. The bandsmen were all 
 otherwise accounted for. The Filipino mess men, as 
 was to be expected, a no sa-a-abe d" every tentative, 
 and yet Crab could swear the call was sounded some 
 where about the mess bungalow, probably the back 
 piazza. If so the perpetrator must be known to some 
 at least of the servants, yet all said nay. 
 
 And Crab had other worries. Prince s defection, 
 might lead to more. Suppose, for instance, that 
 Belden, Burdick, Hikeman, Ray, Walker, et als. were 
 quietly to quit the mess. Suppose well, the more 
 Crab thought of it the uglier it looked. What was 
 there in law and regulations to prevent the seceders 
 starting another, or boarding around, or living on 
 company rations at nine dollars the month if they so 
 elected ? Many an officer in old army days, as Crab 
 had often heard, had had to "live with the company" 
 when serving at lone, isolated places on the plains. 
 Mess affairs were indeed in a mess, and that was by 
 no means all. Blunt had now been gone two days and 
 two nights and not a line had come since he left Sul- 
 picio. From the high tower of Sulpicio s massive old 
 church came word that by day the smoke, and by night 
 the glow of distant fires, could plainly be seen along 
 the line of the southward road, and this news was sent 
 to Crabtree, also tales of trembling natives who fled 
 for refuge to town and post, as they declared, because 
 the woods were full of ladrones and because the "head 
 hunters" were down from the hills. People were be- 
 
Lieutenant SanDg Kap 77 
 
 ing pillaged and decapitated, said these refugees. Sul- 
 picio begged for a big guard, and Crab denied the re 
 quest and wisely. It would have split what was left 
 of his command in two sections, beyond supporting 
 distance of each other. Suspicion as to the loyalty of 
 Sulpicio s presidente and populace was no new thing 
 at Boutelle Blake had long been of that way of 
 thinking so Crab was sorely bothered about him 
 self, about Blunt, about the mess, about the tales the 
 Pittsburgh people could be counted on to tell at Ma 
 nila, and now came new trouble right at his door. 
 Scammon, the post surgeon, dropped in to say that 
 Dean, thus far harbored under the roof of Colonel 
 Blake, was in such condition, mentally and physically, 
 as to necessitate his being removed to a room in the 
 hospital building where he could be placed under re 
 straint, and if Dean went poor Mrs. Dean declared 
 she would go, too, and that, of course, meant Gertrude 
 for whom Scarnmon and the Stanhopes had learned to 
 feel deep sympathy before even the family s advent 
 at the post. Mrs. Blake, too, had been drawn to the 
 helpless girl, because of her devotion to her mother 
 and her brave and patient effort to smother her own 
 grief, in order the better to control that well nigh 
 heart-broken woman. 
 
 Three of the officers, as Crab well knew, had quite 
 disturbed Colonel Blake by the frequency of their 
 visits to San Sulpicio after the Deans arrival there, 
 for Blake could see no good whatever in Dean and of 
 
78 Lieutenant San Up Kap 
 
 course saw little of his family. Lieutenant Walker, 
 it seems, had been quite a constant caller at the Deans 
 "in town/ 7 as they had a way of referring to Sulpicio. 
 Lieutenant Walker and Dean s only son until a fort 
 night back had been on quite intimate terms, the 
 young men foregathering whenever possible, but 
 Harry Dean would seldom show at the post, as his 
 father was practically ostracized. A really fine, 
 manly, soldierly fellow was this young Dean, one who 
 had served creditably in the ranks of the volunteers, 
 but could get no influential backer for commission in 
 the regular service. "Old Dean s boy" was apt to find 
 few friends in circles where his father was well 
 known. 
 
 And now in gallant effort to protect his mother and 
 sister he seldom mentioned the father this brave 
 American lad had lost his life, leaving mother and 
 sister plunged in grief, and Dean, the father, almost 
 delirious. Mrs. Blake had indeed her hands full in 
 caring for such a stricken family, but Mrs. Blake 
 was a woman little daunted by obstacles and very 
 much set in her ways. In the absence of her colonel 
 it was her duty, she said, to extend every possible aid 
 to these bereaved and stricken ones. It was no time 
 to think of the evil deeds of the head of the f amily,. 
 especially when they were beyond proof. 
 
 In fine, an atmosphere of gloom seemed to over 
 hang the neighborhood of Camp Boutelle and the ad 
 jacent towns and barrios, and this despite radiant 
 
Lieutenant >anBp Kap 79 
 
 sunshine, flashing waters and fine sea breeze. Even 
 Sandy Ray, of whom his comrades were saying dur 
 ing the spring days at Malinta, "the boy s beginning 
 to take notice and be chipper again," seemed show 
 ing the effects of the general depression. He was still 
 occupying the spare room in Blunt s bachelor suite 
 and watching for every possible chance to get away 
 on the trail of the squadron. He hated to be in gar 
 rison at any time when his fellows were afield; he 
 more than hated it now. 
 
 For Mr. Ray was sorely perplexed over the way; 
 things were going, as he would have put it. The one 
 person in whom he would have confided was now the 
 one in whom he could not. "Aunt Nan" of the old 
 days was to the full as sympathetic and cordial as 
 ever, when he was able to see her, but that was per 
 haps the real cause of the trouble. Aunt Nan was 
 so very sympathetic she had taken under her wing 
 these homeless, luckless waifs of San Sulpicio; had 
 burdened herself with a bed-ridden, broken-hearted 
 woman whose waking hours were spent mainly in 
 weeping with a broken-down drug-consumer, as it 
 now appeared, a morphine fiend, who, deprived of his 
 "dope," was having a fight for his life and reason, 
 and, finally, with the care of a young girl who, with 
 all her devotion to her mother, with all her sorrow 
 over the tragic fate of her brother, with all her anx 
 iety as to their future, had failed to command a ves 
 tige of Ray s sympathy. There were things concern- 
 
so Lieutenant >anflp Bap 
 
 ing her that demanded explanation and that, until ex 
 plained, would bar her from his esteem. Ever since 
 the noontide of his interrupted siesta on the veranda 
 Ray had felt certain that it was she who stole so 
 noiselessly to his side, that it was she whose hand 
 had lightly touched his arm, that it was she who fled 
 instantly at his waking, bearing with her the only 
 possible valuable and portable asset in sight. More 
 over, he was now convinced that between her and 
 "Hasty" Walker there existed an understanding of 
 some kind, and that Walker respected her no more 
 than he did. Walker had turned his back on her and 
 gone, when in her hour of grief she begged him to 
 stay. Walker had turned from the open, moonlit 
 beach into the dark and tangled shrubbery, whither 
 she, Gertrude Dean, had followed, leaving on the very 
 spot where she had so eagerly and mistakenly greeted 
 the next comer, the proof presumptive of her connec 
 tion with the loss of Sandy Ray s property. 
 
 So far as intrinsic value was concerned there was 
 little to make that pocketbook worth purloining. In 
 currency and Manila bank notes there were only 
 some thirty dollars. But there was a letter from his 
 mother, there were some affairs and memoranda of 
 his own, that the young officer would little relish find 
 ing in unfriendly hands. It probably looked more 
 tempting than it proved to be valuable, and Sandy 
 Ray, believing as he did that the sins of the father 
 were not only visited upon, but apt to live again in the 
 
Lieutenant San Dp Bag si 
 
 children, had little doubt in his own mind, from the 
 moment he discovered the loss, as to who was the 
 thief. His convictions were later strengthened when 
 it appeared that between Gertrude Dean and young 
 Walker there had been, and probably still existed, re 
 lations of a confidential if not intimate nature, and 
 Walker, who had not scrupled to see her often, so 
 Sandy learned, in her father s loosely guarded home 
 in town, dared not violate the sanctity of the colonel s 
 quarters at the post and refused to see or hear her 
 there. Ray had hurried after Walker that evening 
 intent on making amends for his impulsive words, in 
 fact, on begging Walker s pardon for the wound to his 
 regimental pride. ISTow he would beg Walker s par 
 don for nothing. 
 
 Tor could he see his way to warning Mrs. Blake. 
 Both when under her roof and here at Blunt s he stood 
 simply in the relation of guest. He could prove noth 
 ing in her house and could probe nothing in Blunt s. 
 If Blunt were here he could ask him flat-footed what 
 he knew of the Deans. Had there not been a break of 
 some kind in the friendship existing between young 
 Dean and Walker ? Eumor had it that the two had 
 not been seen together for nearly a week before the 
 sudden night attack that fell so heavily on Sulpicio. 
 Sandy felt that he ought to learn the truth about these 
 people whom Mrs. Blake, "Aunt Nan" of old, had so 
 trustingly taken to her heart and home, even though 
 she must have known something of her colonel s con- 
 
82 Lieutenant San Dp Bap 
 
 tempt for the husband and father now so miserably 
 fallen in mind, body and estate. Sandy had ventured 
 to say something about "heaping coals of fire on a 
 prostrate head," and Aunt Nan had laughed one of 
 her merry, old-time laughs. 
 
 "What earthly difference can that make now, 
 Sandy ? If Colonel Blake were here he would be do 
 ing just exactly as I am, no matter what that poor 
 wretch might have said. It s the little mother I m 
 thinking of and that sweet, sorrowing daughter." 
 And then Aunt Nannie s gentle eyes had filled with 
 such a wishful, wistful look and then begun to brim 
 over, and Sandy divined with swift and sudden 
 force the thought that was uppermost in her fond and 
 sorrowing heart, and Sandy could have kicked him 
 self, for long years before there had been a beloved 
 <?hild, Aunt Nan s one delight and joy and solace in 
 the long summers when her soldier husband was away 
 with his troop, campaigning, and well could Sandy 
 Temember his own mother s weeping, the hush and 
 grief and sympathy that for an entire week had pufc 
 summary stop to all garrison gayety, when Gerald 
 Blake s only daughter was taken from the stricken 
 mother s arms. Oh, what heartbreaks sometimes 
 came to the women left to watch and rear the little 
 ones in those old frontier forts, while the fathers were 
 afield! No, Sandy could say nothing of his worry 
 now. Perhaps when Blake or Blunt returned it 
 might be possible to seek and learn. Perhaps Blake 
 
Lieutenant ftan&p Kap 8a 
 
 knew, and had never told his wife, that Dean was 
 probably little worse in his way than were his women 
 folk in theirs. 
 
 And yet, not once up to this moment, had Ray 
 heard one aspersion or insinuation at their expense, 
 but that was one of the ways of the Army. Flatly as 
 they might condemn the father there was no man in 
 the mess who would say aught against the family. 
 Whatsoever, therefore, might be Sandy Ray s sus 
 picion, it must be kept sacred and secret to himself 
 until his colonel s coming. 
 
 So resolving he had betaken himself to Blunt s big 
 four poster, with its rattan bottom, top and side- 
 bolsters, mosquito bar, and general gloom, the night 
 before. Sandy hated a row of any kind in garrison, 
 though he had proved himself a stout young soldier 
 in more than one sharp affair both here in Luzon and 
 within our own blessed boundaries at home. He had 
 had nothing whatsoever to do with the revolt of the 
 mess against its well-meaning but misguided senior- 
 He was somewhat whimsically, humorously inter 
 ested in the affair until he saw how deeply Crabtree 
 took it to heart, and then he could have found it quite 
 possible to urge his new associates to let Crab have 
 his way, do him the deference he expected, even if it 
 was un-American and absurd. He deplored it that 
 somebody should have so far forgotten the tenets of a 
 club as to betray to Crab s tormentor, Mrs. Shane, 
 their intent to pull him down, and it annoyed him not 
 
84: JLieiitenant Sanflg 
 
 a little that on the two occasions when he had since 
 met her, once quite by chance and once quite obviously 
 by her own contrivance, she had merrily insisted on 
 trying to draw him into conversation on the subject. 
 Sandy, in fact, was beginning to dislike that quite 
 bewitching little matron and to feel the need, when in 
 her presence, of guarding both his tongue and temper. 
 He had awakened early, after a night of healthful 
 sleep, and was aware soon after dawn of Hilario flit 
 ting about the room in his bare, brown feet and with 
 his brown, inscrutable face. Ray had jumped into 
 loose khaki raiment, mounted a stocky little native 
 pony and galloped away up the beach for a plunge in 
 the salt breakers. He had galloped back for dress and 
 breakfast and a look at Crab s well-drilled "steadies" 
 at guard-mounting, and having dodged the Shanes 7 
 veranda on his way from mess, was not a little nettled 
 to find that he had not succeeded in dodging Mrs. 
 Shane. A coaxing hand was laid on his arm, and a 
 mocking little face, with such merry dimples and 
 pretty white teeth and ruddy lips, peeped round his 
 shoulder, and a laughing, teasing voice began : 
 
 "Two pennies for your thoughts, Mr. Sandy Ray, 
 and what new mischief are you meditating now at 
 Captain Crab s expense ?" He could have shaken off 
 her hand in his vexation, for Walker, too, was at her 
 side, and in stolid disapprobation of her forgetting 
 him for others. And then as luck would have it, the 
 orderly of the commanding officer came to say tho 
 
Lieutenant ^anDp Hap 85 
 
 commanding officer requested Mr. Walker s presence 
 at the office, whereat the youth so requistioned cast a 
 meaning glance at the lady and went unwillingly 
 away. "Which makes you my escort home," said she, 
 in mischievous triumph, "and now, sir, unless you 
 would have it said on every side that we had quar 
 reled, I ll trouble you for your arm." 
 
 Which was how it happened that, five minutes 
 later, when Captain Crabtree came forth from a very 
 unsatisfying reprimand he found excuse to give to 
 Mr. Walker, he encountered, at a sudden turn on the 
 shaded pathway, Mrs. Shane, close clinging to the 
 side of the cavalry subaltern and looking volumes of 
 merriment and mischief up into his half-averted 
 eyes. Which was how it happened that Crabtree had 
 no word for either of the juniors, who greeted him 
 with such access of deference at the breakfast table, 
 which was how it happened that a sudden idea flashed 
 through Crabtree s not over brilliant brain, and, 
 barely stopping to finish his coffee, fuming with impa 
 tience, wrath and the sting of recent defeat, the cap 
 tain left the messroom for the office, sent for Lieuten 
 ant Ray and on that young gentleman s entrance ac 
 costed him abruptly : 
 
 "Mr. Ray, did you not tell me you did not know 
 who sounded that mess call the other night ?" 
 
 "ISTo, sir, I told you I did not know who ordered it 
 sounded." The answer was respectful but firm, and 
 
86 Lieutenant @>anOp IRag 
 
 Crab, had he been in normal mood, would have hesi 
 tated at what so quickly followed. 
 
 "That s evasion. You know now who sounded it, 
 for Mrs. Shane has told you." 
 
 Ray went red all over. It was true. Barely quar 
 ter of an hour earlier, on that homeward stroll, she 
 had said that it was Mr. Walker. 
 
 "And now another matter, Mr. Ray. You told 
 that most impertinent young person to call me 
 Aimer ic Paget." 
 
 "I did not, sir," was the instant answer. "I did 
 not know it was your name." 
 
JLieutenam San Dp Bag 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 FOE a moment the two officers studied each other in 
 silence. If there was anything Crab believed in it 
 was blue blood, and that it could not lie, yet he had 
 just accused his subordinate of evasion. He knew 
 Colonel Ray, and the honor in which he was held in 
 the service. He had been drawn to Lieutenant Ray 
 from all he had heard of him, and from the little he 
 had seen. But, discipline must be maintained, said 
 he, and if this young gentleman had seen fit to ally 
 himself with the reprobates of the mess, he must be 
 made to feel the power of the post commander, taught 
 the error of his ways, and then, when properly con 
 trite, he might again be taken in favor. But for the 
 time Crab s heart was sore and his temper soured and 
 his judgment sapped. He knew that Mrs. Shane and 
 all whom she could influence were laughing at hinu 
 He knew the mess was in revolt and had practically 
 defied him. He knew that he must promptly regain 
 his ascendency, personal and official, or his prestige 
 was gone for good and all. He had thought to discover 
 the amateur bugler who had so flouted him, and 
 though he had strong suspicion he had still no proof. 
 
ss Lieutenant >anDp 
 
 He had questioned every minion about the mess and 
 stoutly had they denied all knowledge. He had even 
 set a trusty sergeant to work, a man whose detective 
 skill he had had reason to respect, but as yet the 
 trusty had made no discovery worth mentioning. He 
 had even a half -formed project in his brain of taking 
 Ray into semi-confidential relations, since there could 
 be no intimacies with officers of his own regiment, and 
 knowing that Ray was almost a stranger to them and 
 could therefore have formed as yet no ties among 
 them, he had thought it not impossible that Ray would 
 welcome the idea of being held and treated as a com 
 rade and friend, by an officer so much his senior in 
 years and station. But first, and this was the "bump 
 tious Briton" part of it, Crab decreed that Ray must 
 be made to feel the power of the commanding officer, 
 to realize the width of the official gulf between them, 
 to fear, in fine, his post commander. Then he would 
 doubtless all the more seek the captain s favor and 
 welcome his friendship. Then Crab might expect to 
 worm out of him everything he knew concerning men 
 and matters at the mess, and then Crab s domination 
 might be made complete. 
 
 But at the outset, at the first approach, he found 
 himself actually chilled and repulsed. A few hours 
 since he was wrathful because Mrs. Shane knew that 
 his long hidden name was Almeric Paget. Now he 
 was almost amazed that Ray did not. Moreover, 
 Ray s manner plainly said not only that he did not 
 
Lieutenant ^anDp Kap 89 
 
 know the commanding officer bore so distinguished 
 a name, but he even did not care. Crab had seen fit 
 to conceal it for years, but, once it was known, he ex 
 pected people to be seriously impressed, and Ray was 
 not impressed at all. Kay would no more have 
 thought to uncover in accosting royalty than not to 
 uncover in accosting a woman. Moreover, had it de 
 veloped that Crabtree s lineage was the most distin 
 guished known to these United States, all the more 
 would it have carried an obligation that of amende 
 to a junior officer compelled to listen in unresenting 
 silence to the accusation of duplicity, for what else is 
 "evasion." Kay s heart was hot within him, but his 
 head, already high held and back, was comparatively 
 cool. The experiences of four years or more of 
 subaltern life were beginning to tell. There had been 
 no thought of evasion on his part. Reverting to the 
 previous question, it had been exactly as Sandy 
 stated, "Do you know who ordered that call 
 sounded?" and at the time the question was asked 
 Ray knew neither who ordered nor who sounded. As 
 matters stood, therefore, Crabtree s pitch of pride and 
 exasperation had stirred him to two unwarrantable 
 accusations in less than two minutes, and he, who had 
 sought to gain the upper hand, had thereby lost it. 
 
 But Crab when at his best was slow to imbibe im 
 pressions, and this particular occasion he was well 
 nigh at his worst. Kay, on the other hand, ordinarily 
 quick to boil over, saw to the full the advantage he 
 
90 Lieutenant 
 
 had gained and with it became calm as Crabtree was 
 fretful. Then Crabtree made his next false step. 
 
 "Well, one thing is certain, Mr. Kay, you are con 
 cerned in it equally with the rest. Mrs. Shane has 
 been told all manner of things concerning affairs at 
 the mess that ought to have been kept to yourselves. 
 It is most extraordinary, sir, that the commanding- 
 officer should be er made sport of by women of 
 the garrison. It is not to be tolerated, and you young 
 gentlemen have evidently been priming her with 
 with misinformation." 
 
 And then, in his wrath, and despite the calm of his 
 manner, Mr. Ray in turn made his mistake. 
 
 "Speak for your own regiment, Captain Crabtree, 
 but excuse me. I have had nothing to do with with 
 these affairs in the past, and I mean to cut loose from 
 the possibility in the future." 
 
 The captain turned in his chair and glared one 
 moment before he trusted himself to speak. 
 
 "What do you mean, Mr. Ray ?" he demanded. 
 
 "Just what I say, sir. I quit the mess from this 
 minute." 
 
 "Because of disagreement with your brother 
 officers, Mr. Ray 3" 
 
 "No, sir. Because of disagreement with you!" 
 
 The captain turned again and banged the little 
 hand bell on his desk. The orderly, his khaki suit 
 stiff, starched and glistening, his visible entity fault- 
 
JUeutenant San Dp IRap 91 
 
 less in his pose and salute, sprang to the doorway in 
 the bamboo partition. 
 
 "My compliments to the adjutant and request his 
 presence here at once," said Crabtree, icily. 
 
 Then there was an interval of silence. The rela 
 tive temperament seemed to have changed, Ray still 
 standing at attention, his head still farther back ; the 
 captain struggling to subdue his indignation and con 
 trol his temper, tongue and*nerves, yet tapping force 
 fully with his pencil on the blotting pad, and keeping 
 Kay firmly focused by his glowering eyes. 
 
 Then Fethers came and stood uneasily in the door 
 way. At the first intimation of reprimand to Ray he 
 had found business as far away as possible to the limi 
 tations of the big headquarters building. He did not 
 wish to hear a word of it now. 
 
 "Come in, captain," said Crabtree, his voice tremu 
 lous, but his words professionally weighed and meas 
 ured. "I wish you to see or hear er the threat 
 this officer has seen fit to to utter. Now, Mr. Ray, 
 if you will repeat " 
 
 "No threat at all, sir. I simply state that I quit 
 the mess at once " 
 
 "Because of?" 
 
 "Because of purely personal disagreement witK 
 you, sir." 
 
 "An affront, Mr. Ray, to your commanding officer 
 I should never have looked for in your father s son." 
 Crabtree meant to be crushing, yet saw in the stolid 
 
92 Lieutenant SantJg Bap 
 
 faces of both his juniors that neither was properly 
 impressed. 
 
 "I am the affronted one, sir/ said Ray, with rising 
 choler. "You have accused me of various offenses, 
 growing out of affairs at the mess. I deny every one. 
 .You have accused me of evasion, and even even a 
 post commander can t do that without having to 
 answer for it." 
 
 "That is sufficient. Leave my office, Mr. Ray. 
 The er the adjutant will later call for your sabre." 
 
 Sandy Ray whirled on his heel without a word, 
 strode stiffly toward the doorway, re-collected him 
 self, halted, faced the desk again, raised his hand in 
 punctilious salute and then with more deliberation 
 turned again and found himself in the broad and 
 breezy hallway. One or two soldier clerks, writing 
 in the sergeant-major s room, glanced up quickly and 
 took furtive, hurried surveys of the straight-backed, 
 stiff-necked, high-headed young officer stalking out 
 into the sunshine. The orderly on the porch without, 
 stiffened anew, a starched and glistening bit of living 
 statuary. A sentry, guarding a brace of prisoners 
 awaiting action of the summary court, swung his 
 gloved hand to the bolt of his shouldered rifle and 
 got a mechanical return of the soldier greeting. Mrs. 
 Fethers s native nursemaid, taking the children their 
 morning airing and making, for reasons of her own, 
 the circuit of the parade before seeking the beach and 
 the cool breeze from the billows, shot one quick glance 
 
lieutenant San Dp Kap 93 
 
 i 
 
 of maidenly approbation on the natty white uniform 
 and the trim form within it, then turned her eyes 
 toward the eastward gate and the adjacent guard 
 house. The sentry had set up a shout and with his 
 Krag at the port was gazing excitedly up the strag 
 gling village street without. A corporal and two or 
 three men were running to join him and to stare with 
 hands flattened at the brows. Three or four loungers 
 on the barrack porches heaved up from their chairs 
 on the still sun-sheltered steps, and hastened away to 
 join the comrades at the entrance. But Ray heard 
 nothing and went blindly on. He could think of 
 nothing else just now but that painful interview and 
 his own predicament. He never saw the horseman 
 who rode wearily in and reined up at the adjutant s 
 office. Willing hands strove to aid the rider to dis 
 mount and to secure his horse while he went clinking 
 in. "News from Forrest/ was the rumor that flew 
 from lip to lip, but Sandy never noted. He had need 
 to see his oldest and best friend before the official visi 
 tation so frigidly promised by the captain command 
 ing. That meant "durance vile" and possible prohi 
 bition against seeing anybody. He was quivering 
 now with anger and sense of injustice. He wanted 
 Mrs. Blake to hear his side of the case before other 
 rumors reached her, and shocked her as they would 
 be sure to do. 
 
 And so he had passed the sentry at the seaward 
 gate and was speeding along the beach road before 
 
4 Lieutenant San Dp Bap 
 
 the waiting garrison had the first intimation of the 
 contents of Forrest s despatch. He was seated in the 
 shaded gallery, listening to the boom of the breakers 
 and the hiss of the flying spray before the sudden re 
 appearance of the orderly going on the run in quest of 
 the post surgeon, with no time to answer the questions 
 of the paling faces that turned and followed the swift 
 flitting form. He was sitting close to the broad- 
 topped balcony, staring out across the tumbling, 
 white-crested billows, the sea breeze tossing the light 
 curtain about his ears, his close-cropped, yet curly 
 head resting wearily on his hand, switching ner 
 vously, mechanically at the snowy trousers with the 
 swagger stick of which Crab so heartily approved, and 
 which so many old officers derided. He sat ex 
 pectant of Aunt JSTannie s coming, yet never heard 
 the light footfall, the swish of the trailing skirt, when 
 a young girl stepped from the darkened hallway to the 
 matting of the veranda, and came straightway, yet 
 shyly, to his side. He turned with sudden start at the 
 half timid "Mr. Ray," with which she accosted him, 
 and then at sight of her the blood rushed to his fore 
 head that but the moment agone had been so pale. 
 His dark eyes filled with distrust as he rose to his 
 feet and stood facing, yet repelling her. There was 
 falter in her voice as she spoke. The few men she 
 had known in the army had been most friendly, at 
 least until the brother she so loved and the soldier he 
 at first so liked had quarreled, she knew not why. 
 
Lieutenant bating Kag 95 
 
 Even Colonel Blake, of whom her father spoke so bit 
 terly, was courtesy itself to her mother and to her. 
 As for Mrs. Blake, who could ever be lovelier than 
 she ? Yet here was the young officer whom they had 
 known longest and held as nearest, and he had not a 
 civil word for her who had never consciously offended 
 him. Her young heart swelled in prompt resent 
 ment. Grief, peril and dire misfortune combined 
 had not so humbled it that she would tamely tolerate 
 such unwarranted and unwarrantable symptom of 
 antagonism. She had come to him at Mrs. Blake s 
 behest, though she had reason of her own to wish to 
 see him and to see him at once; but the look in his 
 eye first stilled, then stirred her pulses. Forgotten 
 for the instant was her own quest, but not her mes 
 sage. Though her face turned hot, the words were 
 cold as she could make them : 
 
 "I did not mean to disturb you. Mrs. Blake could 
 not come at the moment; she is helping mother, but 
 sent me to say please wait and she will be here very 
 shortly." Having said it she turned about and was 
 half way to the hall again before he found wit to say : 
 
 "I hope Mrs. Dean is better." 
 
 "Mrs. Dean is little better and Mr. Dean is worse," 
 she answered, one slender foot upon the stone coping, 
 one slender white hand upon the fluted pillar at the 
 doorway. She stood looking squarely at him now, so 
 far as face and eyes were concerned, but it was over 
 a resentful shoulder. She could have burst into tears 
 
96 Lieutenant S>anDp Bap 
 
 as she spoke but for the presence of him who had so 
 rebuffed her. Now she would not for the world per 
 mit his seeing there was a soft side to her nature, so 
 far as he was concerned. 
 
 "I am more sorry than I can tell you," he stam 
 mered ; but she raised a hand in protest : 
 
 "We know that my poor father had no friends 
 here," she began, tears, despite her effort, springing 
 to her eyes. "He knows it now. He can t get well 
 where he feels that every one is an enemy, and that 
 he s a burden to them." She broke off abruptly. Slid 
 ing windows, lattice, shutters, all were open wide to 
 welcome the rush of the strong sea wind, and in spite 
 of its landward sweeps the stirring peal of the bugle 
 could be faintly heard. It was barely half past nine. 
 No drill was held at that hour. No "call" was 
 scheduled until nearly noon, when the first sergeants 
 went for their morning report books, orders and the 
 details for the morrow. Something unusual was 
 happening, and Ray turned in search of his cap. It 
 had disappeared. He hunted about the chairs, the 
 broad-topped table, underneath the bamboo lounge. 
 Again came the call, just a note or two thrilling 
 against the breeze, and then a door opened away back 
 in the wide, airy corridor and Mrs. Blake s steps and 
 voice were audible, and she was calling Sandy. He 
 sprang to meet her, and the girl recoiled to give him 
 way ; then quickly, lightly sprang to the railing, saw 
 a white object lying on the flagging beneath; ran, 
 
lieutenant ^anDp map 97 
 
 swift-footed down the stairway and came scurrying 
 back with the missing cap, just in time to hear the 
 close of a brief conversation. 
 
 "It was officers call, I am almost sure/ said Mrs. 
 Blake. "Wait." Whereupon she turned to her own 
 room at the south side, while he started again to the 
 gallery. 
 
 "It was officers call/ panted the girl, "a soldier 
 outside said so. Here s your cap. The curtain must 
 have brushed it from the ledge. Not that way if you 
 are in a hurry," she added, as he mumbled his 
 thanks. "The back stairs and gate !" 
 
 "Take you right to your quarters," added Mrs. 
 Blake, reappearing, "and save all that distance. 
 iYou 11 let us know, won t you?" she added as he 
 went bounding down the unfamiliar flight. Two or 
 three native attaches of the kitchen were peering 
 through the rear gateway as he brushed them by, and 
 found himself following a pathway that led diagon 
 ally to the nipa-built quarters along the west side of 
 the garrison, to the narrow roadway between those 
 occupied by Lieutenant Walker and himself. Two 
 minutes more and he encountered three of the in 
 fantry officers hastening forth from the presence he 
 had so recently quitted. 
 
 "What s wrong?" he demanded of Walker, first 
 man he met. 
 
 " Forrest s had a scrap in the brush. Got to send 
 surgeons. Pitts is killed !" 
 
98 Lieutenant @anDg 
 
 "Ray pushed on into the office. Prince and one or 
 two seniors were still there, Crabtree, all soldierly; 
 animation now, giving sharp, clear-cut instructions. 
 Ray could not interpose a word or question. Impa 
 tient, but subordinate, he stood awaiting his oppor 
 tunity. From the brief words that fell he gathered 
 that there had been an attack in the jungle on the 
 long-extended column of files, that the field hospital 
 and guard had been surrounded, cut off and badlyj 
 cut up, the one doctor with the column and two men 
 of the hospital corps slashed to death in the midst of 
 their friends, the sergeant commanding and several 
 men sharing their fate. Crab was sending the post 
 surgeon, one assistant, and everything he could spare, 
 under strong escort. It was a three days march at 
 least and might be more if the natives knew the game. 
 It was the Forty-Second s first chance for field work. 
 It was the first chance that had come for Ray to join 1 
 his squadron, now at bay and waiting succor. The 
 instant Crab stopped talking Ray seized his oppor 
 tunity and began : 
 
 "I can be ready in thirty minutes, sir, and quicker, 
 if need be. Fethers, will you lend me a horse ?" \ 
 
 "You will need no horse, sir," answered Crabtree, 
 coldly. "You should be now in, and you are, sir^ 
 ordered to, your quarters in close arrest." 
 
JLieutenam SanDg Bap 
 
 CHAPTEE IX. 
 
 THAT evening the mess assembled in white, but the 
 looks were black and the words were few. Crab 
 dawdled over as on previous occasions, but making no 
 pronounced stop on the way. He had a lesson to ad 
 minister and it was well to lose no point at the start. 
 It would be just like Prince, his intuition told him, 
 to set the example and convey the signal to take seats 
 if the captain in temporary command gave the faint 
 est excuse for so doing. So long, therefore, as Crab 
 did not actually halt or turn aside, but continued his 
 deliberate and stately progress toward the mess room, 
 the assembled officers could not, without disrespect, 
 seat themselves at table before he had taken his place. 
 All the same he could make them feel his importance, 
 could compel them to wait, and this he did by stop 
 ping with his foot almost on the veranda steps and 
 affecting to see something in the bearing of the sentry 
 at the seaward gate. 
 
 "Mr. Officer-of-the-day," he called, and Captain 
 Prince, who had shed his sabre in expectation of 
 speedily taking his seat, had to say, a One moment, 
 sir," dive within doors, snap the slings to his waist 
 belt, seize his cap and gloves and come forth again, his 
 
ioo Jlieiitenant >anDg Bap 
 
 jaws set like a vise. If there s one thing a captain 
 hates more than another, it is to have another captain 
 for a post commander. Prince knew, when thus offi 
 cially summoned, he could not appear before Crabtree 
 except in complete equipment. Prince knew that 
 Crabtree was looking for a pretext to rebuke or repri 
 mand him before his fellows, for there had been more 
 harsh words between these two before noontide. 
 Prince knew that now, thanks to Crab s actions of the 
 morning, every man of the mess would side per 
 sonally against the commander and with him, but he 
 must make no mistake. He came forward with much 
 diginty of mien, but he scented annoyance of some 
 kind and it came. Pointing to the gate, Crabtree 
 began: 
 
 "It is most distressing, Captain Prince, to find the 
 instructions of the commanding officer systematically 
 ignored. JSTow, look at that man. How often must I 
 say to you that members of your company are very 
 slack as sentries ?" Every eye, of course, had turned 
 sentryward in the endeavor to see wherein that func 
 tionary had incurred the post commander s criticism, 
 but, all unconscious possibly of his condemnation, the 
 sentry was sauntering along the beaten track across 
 the roadway, head, eyes and even rifle muzzle up, 
 apparently alert and vigilant. 
 
 "I fail to see anything amiss, sir," said Prince, 
 biting swear words in two w r ith his rasping teeth, but 
 saluting as he spoke. 
 
Lieutenant @attp a? oi 
 
 "Because you are too late, sir, or too er iiftnf- 
 ferent. It is not what you saw, but what your com- 
 mahnding officer saw that calls for reprimand. A 
 moment ago, sir, he was slouching across there with 
 the bayonet trailing behind him, and the butt up in 
 the air. Go at once, and properly instruct him as to 
 his duty." 
 
 "He s been instructed often, sir," began Prince, 
 
 flushing hotly. "He knows his duty as well as " 
 
 It was on the tip of his tongue to say you or I, but 
 Crab cut him off. 
 
 "I said, go at once, sir." And Prince, cursing 
 volubly below his breath, turned and stalked away. 
 
 Then, as was his wont, having rasped one of his 
 luckless officers, Crab turned and beamed upon the 
 others with "Come now, gentlemen, let s to dinner," 
 and, rubbing his hands briskly, led the way and jovi 
 ally called the native steward. "Let s have some 
 Bordeaux, Mariano. Er set the glasses. We all 
 want some after such a day," then with great gusto- 
 turned to the table in general where in silence the 
 white-clad figures were settling to their seats, and, 
 unfolding his napkin, began a semi-confidential 
 monologue on the stirring summons of the day. 
 Dumb, unresponsive and with averted eyes, the mess 
 sipped its soup and gave him what he always claimed, 
 the floor. But even to a greater extent than the day 
 before the mess had its grievance and meant that he 
 should know it. Prince s seat, opposite, being still 
 
102 Lieutenant @>anDp Bag 
 
 vacant, Crab was addressing his remarks especially 
 to "Hasty" Walker and Lieutenant Trott who sat 
 about mid table. Ray s accustomed chair was vacant. 
 The whole mess knew by this time why he had not 
 come and why he probably never again would come, 
 at least so long as Crabtree presided. One after 
 another almost every man of the seven survivors of 
 the little club had been to see, and had striven to con 
 sole, him in his confinement, and all had come away 
 feeling that Ray had been hard hit, harder hit even, 
 than they were, for a singular fact had dawned upon 
 them earlier in the day. Ray, whose troop was in 
 the field, expectant of his coming to assume com 
 mand, had been cooped up in the post at the very first 
 moment when opportunity presented itself to reach 
 his men cooped up in close arrest on a charge of dis 
 respect to his commanding officer that the whole mess 
 felt even Crab could not be ass enough to press for 
 trial, and was therefore almost "frivolous and vexa 
 tious." They found Ray raging and yet almost ready 
 to do anything Crab might demand rather than lose a 
 chance to join a column in actual contact with the 
 t enemy ; but when, in his extremity, tramping up and 
 down the narrow confines of his quarters, he had 
 turned suddenly on Prince with the words: "If a 
 written apology will assist, by heaven, I believe I 
 could almost do that!" Prince and they who fol 
 lowed him, who knew well that was exactly what 
 Crab was plajdng for, shook their heads in solemn 
 
ILieutenant >anDp Bap 103 
 
 protest. It would only make Crab more unbearable 
 than ever. There wouldn t be any more fighting just 
 now. The insurrectos, bushmen, ladrones, or what 
 ever they were, would be well content with cutting up 
 the rear guard and would never tackle the main body. 
 He would lose nothing by staying. He would spoil 
 everything by going on Crabtree s terms. He must 
 stay and sti^k it out and stand by them, for they, too, 
 had a bitter grievance. Crab had selected three offi 
 cers and fifty men to fight their way through to the 
 crippled command the first onerous and honorable 
 bit of duty the Forty-Second had encountered, except 
 possibly Blunt 7 s essay to the southward, and in his 
 selection Crab had systematically ignored the mess 
 and sent married men Captain C agger and two rank 
 outsiders. Mrs. Shane, who was shorn of her hus 
 band and crying her eyes out in the clasping arms of 
 Mrs. Scammon, refused to be comforted, despite the 
 efforts of the friend who had been so often similarly 
 bereft that she had learned to take such sorrows 
 philosophically. 
 
 "A more direct, diabolical, damnable slight to a 
 band of brother officers I never heard of/ was 
 Prince s summing up, and as such did the mess re 
 gard it, to the end that now, with the going down of 
 the sun upon the long and trying day, they were plan 
 ning and plotting reprisals. The time had come to 
 strike and strike in earnest. 
 
 Therefore did all Crabtree s tentatives fall on stonj> 
 
104 Lieutenant S>anDp 
 
 ears. Two men turned down their glasses and de 
 clined to have them filled. Two other colored almost 
 as red as the wine and, solemnly bobbing their heads 
 to Crabtree s jovial challenge and uplifted glass, 
 sipped at the outer edge of quivering fluid, and then, 
 glanced furtively about, shamefaced and unhappy. 
 The glass at Prince s plate was filled, but Prince 
 came not again, and when salad was served Crabtree 
 sent a messman with his compliments and the mes 
 sage that dinner was almost over. The bearer was a 
 bright young Tagalog who had picked up, among 
 other things, an amazing lot of miscellaneous Eng 
 lish, but even the mess was startled when he returned 
 with the captain s reply to the effect that so far as he 
 was concerned dinner was entirely over. 
 
 "That means another withdrawal," muttered 
 Walker to his next neighbor, and the neighbor nodded. 
 "I m going, too, quick as I can find board elsewhere." 
 Crabtree looked properly solemn on receipt of the 
 message from his officer of the day ; said, with much 
 dignity and deep suggestiveness, "Direct the Com- 
 mahnding Officer s orderly to report at once," and 
 then turned again to his table mates and elaborately 
 took up the subject where he had left it "Nothing," 
 said Crabtree, on a previous occasion, "can warrant/ 
 a gentleman s introducing a jarring or unpleasant 
 note at the dinner table," and so long as no man 
 braved the commanding officer he lived, as he believed, 
 well up to his precepts. Every man felt, however, 
 
Lieutenant 8>anDp Bag 
 
 that the moment dinner was over the orderly would 
 be sent with instructions for Captain Prince to re 
 port at once to the commanding officer, and so it 
 proved. 
 
 Meanwhile, Trott and Hikeman, darting in to 
 Blunt s quarters, found Prince and Ray in close con 
 ference, while Mrs. Blake s native butler, a Spanish! 
 taught servitor of admirable manner, was gathering 
 up and clearing away the remnants of what must have 
 been a very cosey little dinner for two. They saw his 
 white ropas disappear in the dusk not, as expected, 
 along the main driveway toward the sea gate, but 
 through a hole in the wall and by way of a short cut 
 of whose existence they had no previous knowledge. 
 
 "Why, I never thought of that before/ said Trott. 
 "You can almost see into the colonel s back windows." 
 
 "I knew nothing of it until to-day when the call 
 sounded/ answered Ray. "They it was pointed out 
 to me then. It saves more than three hundred yards, 
 doesn t it ?" 
 
 "Two yards back yards, is to three hundred ditto 
 as which is to what ?" queried Lieutenant Trott, then 
 added reflectively, "Reckon Walker s the only man 
 to tackle that problem, he s our figurehead." 
 
 And Ray turned slowly and searched the young 
 ster s almost boyish face for hidden meaning. Prince 
 was girding on his sabre. "You re not going yet ?" 
 said Sandy, with certain emphasis of importunity. 
 "I wanted to talk with you further." 
 
106 Lieutenant San Op Kap 
 
 "Oh, I ll be back, unless he slaps me in arrest, 
 too/ 7 answered Prince, flicking a crumb from his trim 
 khaki. "Add my thanks and compliments to Mrs. 
 [Blake if you are sending a note to-night. It was most 
 kind of her to include me when making up the din 
 ner. I told her the colonel couldn t get back too soon 
 for any man in the garrison except Crab. She was 
 out taking the air a moment. 77 And as he spoke 
 Prince was edging toward the door. 
 
 "Has he sent for you ? 77 queried Eay. 
 
 "No, but he will, soon 7 s he 7 s made himself com 
 fortable, 77 answered Prince. "Then he 7 s in mood to 
 make us sweat, 77 and with that he vanished. 
 
 "Have a seat, Trott, and tell me how things went at 
 the mess, 77 said Ray, hospitably. He was still smart 
 ing and sore under the orders that had confined him 
 to his quarters just at the time he should have been 
 afield. "What will father say or think, 77 was the one 
 thing uppermost in his mind. Of the ultimate result 
 of the difference with his temporary post commander 
 Hay had no dread whatever. He knew that no court 
 would convict him of insubordination, though he 
 might plead guilty to disrespect. He knew that Crab 
 would far rather settle matters out of court, if settle 
 ment could be made on anything like his own terms, 
 but now that the command had gone to the field and 
 with it all chance of Ray s going, too, that young gen 
 tleman had been making up his mind to fight the 
 
JLieutenant @>antrp Kap 107 
 
 thing through, even if it came to a court, to yield no 
 point, and in plain words to fight it through for his 
 own name and reputation. It was "rough" to have to 
 be placed in arrest just at such a time. He hated to 
 think how it might read in his efficiency report, but 
 that was one of the penalties of being an officer and 
 trying to be a gentleman. Prince, Scammon, even 
 good old Stanhope, the chaplain, all agreed that the 
 provocation had been extreme, that Crabtree had been 
 captious, exacting, suspicious and unjust; that 
 though Bay s words might have savored of insubordi 
 nation, his act in withdrawing from the mess did not. 
 No officer in the service of the United States was com 
 pelled to sit at meat with others who had made the 
 conditions intolerable. Mrs. Blake had lost no time 
 in coming over to see Sandy early in the afternoon, 
 and though she would permit herself no word of cen 
 sure of the temporary post commander, she did not 
 hesitate to say to Sandy that Captain Crabtree would 
 hardly care to make a court case of the affair, and, 
 knowing the captain, she could not blame Sandy at 
 all, nor should "Uncle Legs" when he came, as come 
 he should right soon, Mrs. Blake would see to that. 
 Meanwhile she meant to see to it that Sandy had 
 every possible comfort. Hence her sending the Span 
 ish bred butler with a most appetizing luncheon and 
 later with a capital dinner for two. The waiter from 
 the mess who arrived, somewhat similarly laden, soon 
 after one o clock, was met at the doorway by Hilario 
 
108 Lieutenant anDp 
 
 and the information that nothing was needed now 
 and nothing would be in the future. The treasurer, 
 in the course of the afternoon, received a note from 
 Mr. Ray, asking for his mess bill and the immediate 
 acceptance of his resignation as a member of the con 
 cern. "Shall I give this to Crab 2" asked Belden of 
 "Hasty" Walker. 
 
 "Not on your spats," answered that unamiable 
 youth. "Wait till we get a boarding place and he 
 thinks it s all blown over, then we ll ram in half a 
 dozen." 
 
 "Going over to see Ray ?" 
 
 "I wouldn t yesterday," said Walker. "He rubbed 
 my fur the wrong way about that bugle business and 
 we split, so to speak, but I m going now and tell him 
 I m his friend." 
 
 And go he did, after first lighting the lamp in his 
 own quarters and raking out of his trunk, by way of a 
 peace offering, some of the best Manila cigars, 
 though, come to think of it, he couldn t remember 
 having seen Ray smoke. However, he d take them 
 anyhow. Ray s quarters Blunt s rather were just 
 across a narrow roadway. Prince s voice and the 
 clank of his sabre had been audible at the open case 
 ment as Walker came strolling home from mess. 
 Now, however, all was silence. A light burned 
 dimly in the sitting room, and, knocking at the open 
 door, Walker waited. No answer. He knocked 
 again, and again there was no response, so, intent 
 
Lieutenant @>anDg Rap 109 
 
 upon his mission, Walker tiptoed lightly in, thinking 
 Ray might be dozing. Both rooms were tenantless. 
 The door to the side veranda stood wide open. Walker 
 went on through, and at the west end of the little 
 porch could just dimly see his man. Ray stood with 
 one hand upon the wooden pillar, bending eagerly for 
 ward, half crouching and peering at some object in the 
 shadows beyond. Following his gaze, Walker, too, 
 bent and stared, for a vague, slender shape in woman s 
 garments was hastening along a pathway that, pass 
 ing close beside his own quarters, led almost directly 
 to a gateway in the rear wall of Blake s courtyard. 
 The figure vanished among the deep shadows along 
 the wall, but in the oppressive silence of the gathering 
 night, broken only by dull, distant boom of the rising 
 tide upon the shore, both officers heard the click of the 
 iron latch, heard the creak of rusty hinges, heard the 
 gate stealthily closed and bolted. Then Ray slowly- 
 turned, and with trouble in his eyes, unexpectedly 
 faced his unlocked for visitor. There was a mo 
 ment s hesitation, a suggestive pause, then 
 
 "Who on earth was that ?" said Walker. 
 
 "You know better than I," said Ray. 
 
no Lieutenant S>anDg 
 
 CHAPTEK X. 
 
 WHEN Crabtree, in his eagerness to serve the field 
 column, sent his post surgeon and certain of the hos 
 pital corps, he stripped Camp Boutelle to its medical 
 skin and left at least one important case to care for 
 itself. When Dr. Scammon, in his zeal to reach the 
 wounded and his grief at the fate of his young friend 
 and associate, hastened away on the trail of the cav 
 alry, he tarried long enough to pay a parting visit to 
 Mrs. Blake and have a final look at his unwelcome 
 and bothersome patient. 
 
 "There s really nothing the matter with Dean be 
 yond the effect of drugs, liquor and a bad scare, pos 
 sibly a shock that would hardly have staggered a man 
 in normal condition. He s suffering now from re 
 action, and it serves him right. But this house is no 
 place for him. He s a nuisance to you and a menace 
 to his wife. Captain Crabtree and I agree that he 
 should be moved. We have a capital sergeant at the 
 hospital and a spare room. There he can be treated, 
 nursed and controlled if need be. Here he may any 
 moment take a notion to get up and raid the prem 
 ises. Mrs. Blake, you must make her consent to it." 
 
 "It seems a brutal thing to do, doctor. Suppose 
 
Lieutenant SanDg Hap in 
 
 lie does get up. What have we to fear ? With the 
 attendant for one and our old Michael for another and 
 the officers quarters within call from the back win 
 dows, he can be easily managed. She will not rest 
 away from him." 
 
 "She will never get well anywhere near him," said 
 Scammon, decidedly. "Let me see Gertrude a mo 
 ment." 
 
 And so, pallid, slender, sad-eyed, Gertrude came 
 and submissively followed the doctor to the seaward 
 gallery and there looked up into his strong, soldierly, 
 bearded face and listened. Scammon never looked 
 more sturdy and reliable than when in campaign 
 attire, and, as Mrs. Scammon ruefully admitted, was 
 never happier than when on campaign. It was then 
 long after noon of an exciting day. The news of the 
 ambuscade had come before ten. The infantry, of 
 course, had marched away before twelve, followed 
 speedily by the jogging little party of pony riders 
 three hospital men and three guards, some leading, 
 some prodding their reluctant pack animals. Scam 
 mon, however, had much to attend to and, with a sin 
 gle orderly, was to canter away after them in time to 
 join the party by nightfall at their bivouac some 
 twenty miles to the north. The road was open and 
 fairly safe, and early at dawn they would resume the 
 march, eastward now, and by crooked, tortuous trail 
 up and into the heavily wooded range, following a 
 rushing mountain stream that was at times a torrent* 
 
Lieutenant San Dp Rap 
 
 The start was made on a Tuesday. By Thursday 
 evening the relief should reach the suffering wounded, 
 and Forrest, who had been scouting the valleys about 
 the Cayan, and was probably fuming with impatience 
 to push ahead, would then be free to cut loose and be 
 after the renegades. The courier said they had gone 
 northward toward Bontoc and "there was a hell s 
 mint of em." It seems that it was while Forrest s 
 troopers were out exploring the innumerable trails 
 wriggling through the bamboo and cogon, and branch 
 ing in every direction, that a sudden rush had been 
 made upon Dr. Pitt s little field hospital, where he 
 with his few assistants were caring for half a dozen 
 troopers, temporarily dismounted by minor maladies, 
 cuts and scratches. The sergeant and the guard had 
 been vigilant, but what could they see or hear in such 
 a jungle. They had fought manfully and some were 
 still alive when the rearmost of Forrest s troopers 
 came clattering back to the sound of the firing. But 
 besides the young surgeon, half a dozen good men and 
 true had gone to their last account and all Camp Bou- 
 telle was plunged in mourning. "Thank God for one 
 thing," Captain Prince had said most piously this 
 second, this Wednesday morning, "it ll bring the 
 old man back the moment he gets the news, and we ll 
 have no more of this damned Cockney nonsense." 
 
 And the same thought, expressed in many a varying 
 form and embellished with more or less descriptive 
 and rejoiceful profanity, had gone through the garri- 
 
Lieutenant San Op Kap na 
 
 son. The bachelors had spoken it under their breath 
 at the breakfast table. The households along officers 7 
 row had given voice to it at every meeting. Mrs. 
 Blake even whispered it hopefully to Mrs. Dean. It 
 was one thing Mr. Walker meant to say to Mr. Ray 
 when he made that evening call of condolence, but 
 what Mr. Ray said to Mr. Walker had blocked further 
 amenities of any kind. A fierce quarrel that began at 
 once in wordy charge and countercharge, bade fair to 
 change to blows when Prince, bolting in again, with 
 Trott again at his back, put summary stop to pro 
 ceedings and sent Walker, raging, to the right about 
 with the parting shot that Ray should hear from him 
 in the morning. Yet neither officer, in response to 
 the captain s demand at the time or Stanhope s pa 
 ternal questioning later, would give satisfactory ex 
 planation as to the cause. 
 
 From her interview with Dr. Scammon, Miss 
 Dean, with swimming eyes, went straightway to her 
 mother s room, while the doctor himself remounted at 
 the westward entrance and trotted back to hospital. 
 Half an hour later he was on the road to Santa 
 Lucia and the north. Possibly the soothing methods 
 he directed the attendants to adopt possibly the 
 coming of the hospital sergeant, armed with a needle 
 pointed little instrument had reduced the patient to 
 reason. Possibly a ten-minute, low-toned talk from 
 Gertrude s lips had wrought the change, but there 
 was neither violence in language nor in look when 
 
114 Lieutenant SanDp Bag 
 
 toward four o clock Amos Dean was lifted from his 
 bed and borne to hospital, not conspicuously through! 
 the main gate and past the mess and officers quarters, 
 but clear around the clump of woods and a tangle of 
 tropic vegetation to the north of Colonel Blake s, clear 
 around the north side of the quadrangle, and so by] 
 the rear door into the big, roomy hospital and there in. 
 a quiet nook, they bade him rest and have no fear. 
 Messengers should come to him from Mrs. Dean everyj 
 possible hour, and Gertrude, the darling one should 
 visit him before night. It is suspected that only by 
 yielding on certain points involving a more gradual 
 stoppage of accustomed stimulants did Dr. Scammon 
 succeed in bringing Dean to terms, but those who best 
 knew the man said there was another influence, his 
 love for that gentle daughter. 
 
 And now was Captain Crabtree between the horns 
 of more than one dilemma. Abroad his men-at-arms 
 were gone at his behest, Blunt three days out to the 
 southward and never a word from him since he 
 marched from ruined San Sulpicio, Captain Cagger 
 away to the north with two subalterns and forty; 
 fighting men, and with never a hope of his getting 
 back with the wounded inside of a week one doctor 
 killed, one "contract" ditto in the field, one major 
 ditto, the right arm of the commanding officer, the 
 post surgeon, also gone to the aid of the survivors 
 across the range ! It left the patients at the post, 
 luckily few in number and none of them dangerous, 
 
Lieutenant SanDp Bap 115 
 
 to the care of the hospital sergeant, a faithful and in 
 telligent man. Cagger would bring the wounded 
 back all right, said Crab, but all this was digression 
 from his purpose. Crab had counted on making a 
 name for himself as a most energetic and level 
 headed post commander. Blake s sending Forrest to 
 the hills was an inspiration; his subsequent going to 
 Manila a godsend. It was opportunity Crabtree long 
 had craved. He had been figuring how fine it would 
 look in the papers the moment the wires w r ere again 
 working. "Camp Boutelle, October 29th. Courier 
 just in reports stirring engagement between Major 
 [Forrest s squadron d Cavalry and ladrone bands in 
 mountains toward Bontoc. We have succeeded in 
 clearing the valleys north and south and scattering 
 the bands in every direction. Many important cap 
 tures. Forrest in hot pursuit. Lieutenant Blunt, 
 whom I sent with thirty men to clear the Dagupan 
 road and repair wire, has succeeded in restoring con 
 fidence and communication. Full particulars by 
 mail. Crabtree, Commanding." 
 
 But he now had no really good news to send, as 
 Forrest had no way of sending it, had he the news. 
 Through native whisperings and rumors he was be 
 ginning to hear of troublous times for Blunt s little 
 force. There might well be more of disaster than 
 success to report, and the general commanding at 
 Manila was getting captious and crotchetty, said 
 )rabtree. At last accounts he was forever wanting 
 
116 Lieutenant San Dp Hap 
 
 to know why. Things looked ominous outside of the 
 post and things were ominously squally within. 
 
 To begin with, Ray s resignation from the mess had 
 been tendered, as Crabtree ascertained by question 
 ing, and it was dawning upon that self -centered com 
 manding officer that this might be only the entering 
 wedge of an outgoing body. Prince, long time Crab- 
 tree s friend and comrade, had taken sides and supper 
 with Ray and declined to return to the fold. The 
 "confidential" sergeant who had been doing detective 
 work, told Crabtree that everybody said Mr. Walker 
 was the man who played the bugle, but nobody could 
 or would prove it. The sergeant said that Mr. 
 Walker, Mr. Trott and Mr. Hikeman as well as Cap 
 tain Prince, had been striving to find somebody will 
 ing to run a mess for them. The wives of the post quar 
 termaster sergeant, the commissary sergeant, hospital 
 sergeant had all been approached, and Mrs. Cooney, 
 the matron first mentioned, were reported seriously 
 considering the proposition. If that scheme went 
 through and five of the eight mess members seceded 
 and started one of their own, no matter how humble, 
 twould be better than the pomp, ceremony and stiff- 
 necked regulations of this usurper of the throne. It 
 would break up the Boutelle Club and leave Crabtree 
 with only two callow and inoffensive subs to do his 
 bidding, and this fell far short of his ambition. 
 
 At guard mounting next morning Prince again 
 had to face his commander, an ordeal from which ha 
 
Lieutenant @anDp Bap nr 
 
 shranK, Taut no one who saw would dream it. The 
 sound of voices raised in anger had broken in upon 
 the interview of the previous evening before Crab- 
 tree had fairly warmed up to his work, but Prince 
 knew that the rasping was merely postponed. He had 
 therefore donned his best uniform and best manner, 
 reported in most soldierly fashion, but never opened 
 his mouth except in answer to direct questions. Crab- 
 tree looked vainly over the guard report book in search 
 of something for which to rebuke and annoy the offi 
 cer of the day, but the report was accurate and pre 
 cise. Prince and his credentials were beyond criti 
 cism, so far as the book was concerned. Crabtree saw 
 he must fall back on the doings of yesterday, and fall 
 he did, and as Prince later described it, "fell down." 
 Prince told his brother captain and emergency com 
 manding officer that he declined to listen to frivolous 
 and vexatious charges, and that he, Captain Crab- 
 tree, had erred gravely in the treatment accorded 
 Lieutenant Eay, and that he, Prince, would be a wit 
 ness for Eay if the case were ever investigated. In 
 less than three minutes Crabtree s soul was in arms 
 and eager for the fray. All this, to his mind, was 
 tantamount to utter defiance to the commanding 
 officer. 
 
 And so, as luck would have it, at the very moment 
 that gentle-minded soldier of the cross, good, gray- 
 haired Stanhope, sallied forth to see Crabtree, after a 
 long conference with Eay, now bitterly distressed in 
 
118 Lieutenant SanDg Rap 
 
 mind and ready to make any honorable concession to 
 gain his release and the route to his regiment, Crab- 
 tree was hardening his heart in the lust for vengeance. 
 Stanhope came, bearing the olive branch and suing 
 for peace. Crab met him with charges of conspiracy 
 on part of the mess, with Prince and Ray at the bot 
 tom of the mischief, and followed this with an intima 
 tion that Stanhope was something more than a spir 
 itual advisor. The chaplain was fairly stunned. 
 
 "It is the first time my commanding officer has ever 
 
 accused me of " began Stanhope, "and my cloth 
 
 to a member of the Church of England should 
 have protected me. 7 
 
 Crab flushed hotly and anew. Was he never to get 
 the upper hand ? Was he never to silence these re 
 calcitrants ? Stanhope s riposte was more than telling, 
 for in his loyalty to every custom of his native land, 
 Crabtree had often declaimed upon the influence of 
 the English service upon the officers and men, the 
 field altar, drum built and covered with the Union 
 Jack, the officiating priest in cap and canonicals. He 
 had even contemplated church parade as a possibility 
 at Boutelle, a public service in the open, and in ac 
 cordance with the stately and impressive ritual of the 
 Anglican faith, but here now was even the meek and 
 lowly chaplain turning like the trodden worm and 
 daring to upbraid him. If Crab had had half as 
 much sense as he had grit and determination, he 
 might have been an ideal commander, but, in his 
 
Lieutenant SanDp Bag 119 
 
 wrath at finding his every move obstructed, and al 
 most his every officer obstructive, he blundered on, 
 fighting with all his might and backing himself to 
 win, as his bull dog countrymen won their occasional 
 battle, "by main strength and stupidity. " 
 
 Stanhope had come to plead for Ray, and left with 
 the conviction that he might have to do battle for him 
 self. Later in the day, with his points carefully re 
 duced to writing, he had called at the commanding 
 officer s quarters in quest of an interview. The or 
 derly went in with his card and Stanhope waited on 
 the veranda in the shade of the hanging curtains. At 
 first the orderly s half-timid tapping at some inner 
 doorway met with no response. It was one of Crab- 
 tree s tenets that all persons about the post should 
 await the commanding officer s pleasure, and that in 
 due regard for his dignity that personage should not 
 be easy of access. There was presently sound of 
 splashing, and later an impatient, "Well, what now, 
 orderly ?" 
 
 "A caller, sir the chaplain." 
 
 "The who ?" Crab had distinctly heard, but it was 
 well to let the chaplain feel that the mention of his 
 presence and office did not impress the commanding 
 officer as anything calling for immediate recognition. 
 
 "The chaplain, sir Captain Stanhope." Was it 
 possible that the orderly dared to even slightly empha 
 size that "captain ?" 
 
 "Not captain, sir ! That is merely a matter of rela- 
 
120 Lieutenant *anDg Bap 
 
 tive rank, sir something to fix pay and allowance. 
 Only the fighting force have military titles, sir. Re 
 member that I" And indeed it was to be remembered 
 as one of Crabtree s idiosyncracies, that never, when 
 he could avoid it, would he address or refer to "offi 
 cers of the departments" save as paymaster, quarter 
 master or doctor. 
 
 "Yes, sir, the chaplain, sir," answered the orderly, 
 with proper meekness. Then more splashing and 
 finally 
 
 "Er ah my compliments to the ah chaplain. 
 Say the commahnding officer is in the bahth and er 
 ah will send for him when he wishes to converse." 
 
 And with this for his answer, never waiting for its 
 repetition by the orderly, the good old gentleman 
 turned away with a sigh, and went sadly on to Ray s, 
 finding Prince at the gate. 
 
 "Sure he didn t say he was fra/ithing?" demanded. 
 Prince, in high dudgeon, when Stanhope, half rue 
 fully, half humorously told his tale. "I ve been that 
 fellow s friend a dozen years and found him a good 
 soldier and a square man. It does seem as though 
 you never get to know the real calibre of an officer 
 until he steps into command." 
 
 "It is Mr. Ray s discomfiture that troubles me," 
 said Stanhope. "Every hour he is kept here now is 
 like disgrace to him." 
 
 "By jove," said Prince, with clinching teeth. "I m 
 
Lieutenant Sanflp Bap 121: 
 
 going to make one more try. Come what may, 
 Crab s got to be brought to his senses !" 
 
 And so, bristling with indignation, with rankling 
 sense of indignity and injustice, the captain started 
 on his diplomatic mission, and every man with half a 
 head could have told what would come of it. 
 
122 lieutenant *anDp Bag 
 
 CHAPTEK XL 
 
 IT was along toward four o clock that afternoon 
 that Mrs. Blake, following the short cut, left the path 
 way back of Walker s and came around to the shaded 
 front of Ray s quarters, only to find the veranda de 
 serted. She was vaguely troubled over the story that 
 had come to her about the quarrel between the two 
 young officers, a something that assumed in her mind 
 rather more consequence at the time than the exas 
 perating and distressing misadventures that had be 
 fallen the squadron. She had heard of the affair 
 through Mrs. Scammon and Mrs. Shane, who had 
 called for comfort and the sea breezes during the 
 morning, and the chaplain with his devoted wife, 
 coming to see how they could serve her guest and pa 
 tient, Mrs. Dean, corroborated the story, yet could 
 throw no light upon the cause of the trouble. She 
 was sorely worried, too, about the way matters were 
 going in garrison. So far as she could judge of the 
 various stories, Captain Crabtree was antagonizing 
 everybody and a general break-up was imminent at 
 the mess. She was anxious, too, for Gertrude, who 
 seemed drooping and ill, yet with rare pluck and per 
 sistence divided her time between the invalid mother 
 
JUeutenant ^anDg Bap 123 
 
 under their roof and the semi-stupefied father at the 
 hospital. Something beside anxiety on account of her 
 parents, and grief on account of her brother, was 
 surely weighing upon that gentle young heart some 
 thing Mrs. Blake could neither fathom nor alleviate. 
 Twice she had found Gertrude in tears, alone on the 
 veranda. The more she saw of the child the closer 
 was she drawn to her, and also, to a certain extent, 
 she found herself attracted by the mother. There 
 was about them an indefinable something that told of 
 better days and higher breeding, a gentleness, a re 
 finement that was almost incomprehensible in the 
 wife and daughter of a man of Dean s unwholesome 
 personality. The devotion of the girl to the invalid, 
 her tireless soothing, her ceaseless care and watchful 
 ness and self-abnegation were remarkable in one so 
 young and fair and fragile. Moreover, with all her 
 refinement of mind and manner, it must be owned 
 that Mrs. Dean was exacting, querulous, even selfish, 
 and yet with infinite tact and patience Gertrude 
 cheered and served her, smiling bravely through the 
 stifling hours, ignoring, playfully, every little bit of 
 petulance, fondling and caressing when the sorrowing 
 creature gave way to the burden of her many griefs. 
 Time and again Mrs. Blake would send Gertrude 
 from the sick room with injunction to rest and sleep, 
 but the faintest sound would bring her back, all simu 
 lated cheeriness and confidence. 
 
 Before they had been forty-eight hours in her care 
 
124 JLiewenam Santig 
 
 Mrs. Blake had lived over in memory years of her 
 own maidenhood, years when she, too, a slip of a girl, 
 almost alone and unaided had watched over a way 
 ward father, shunned by many even as Dean was 
 shunned to-day, and had taken Gertrude into her 
 heart of hearts as she might have taken her other self, 
 as she might have held and cherished the beloved 
 child lost so many a long year ago. 
 
 And in the midst of all her cares and perplexities 
 Gertrude saw this and marveled, saw this and almost 
 shrank, for even now when the guest, the beneficiary 
 of this most generous and charitable and kindly 
 woman, it was her fate to have to play a part, to con 
 ceal a crime, to blind that gentle friend, if possible, 
 to a misdeed of which she was sore ashamed, and the 
 consciousness of which stood like the angel with the 
 flaming sword between her and the heaven of such a 
 woman s love and sympathy. 
 
 And so, into the life that seemed so placid and un- 
 vexed when her colonel was hurried away, there had 
 come to Mrs. Blake a multitude of worries, of which 
 Sandy Ray, son of her oldest and most devoted army 
 friends, was by no means the least. She had come in 
 search of him this sunny afternoon, and the quarters 
 seemed abandoned. No one was visible on either 
 front or side veranda, no one was in the sitting room, 
 no one lay in siesta upon the big four poster. It could 
 be plainly seen through the wide open casement from 
 -which the curtain had been swept aside. Across the 
 
Lieutenant >anDp Hap 125 
 
 narrow roadway Walker s bungalow seemed equally 
 desolate. Beyond, along the row, a white skirt 
 showed in the swaying hammock under one or two of 
 the broad, nipa awnings. Two officers were in con 
 versation on the Fethers veranda, where Mrs. Fethers 
 sat listening with upturned face. The orderly was 
 missing in front of Captain Crabtree s, which meant 
 that that officer was elsewhere, possibly at the office, 
 and if so Sandy might be there, sent for to receive 
 some further admonition or rebuke at the hand of this 
 strange combination of soldiership and absurdity. 
 Mrs. Blake decided to wait awhile, and took a chair 
 near the northward window, that which gave light and 
 air to the sitting room on that side. Two minutes 
 later she heard the patter of bare feet on the India 
 matting. Somebody had come from the servants 
 premises into Sandy s bedroom, and, never doubting 
 that it was Blunt s stolid, sphinx-like servitor, 
 Hilario, she called his name. Dead silence followed. 
 She called again and there was no reply. A board 
 creaked. Something snapped like bamboo. She 
 thought she heard a scurry on the back porch, but art 
 immediate and careful search showed all rooms 
 empty and, from the back steps, along the row in 
 either direction not a soul was in sight. 
 
 Turning again to the front, annoyed and mystified, 
 she was about to summon the officers at Fethers when, 
 coming swiftly from the direction of the adjutant s 
 office, looking neither to right nor left, but walking 
 
126 Lieutenant >anDp 
 
 stiffly, angrily, hurriedly, came Sandy himself, and 
 she waited. At sight of her his face brightened just 
 an instant. Then with lips that twitched and trem 
 bled uncontrollably he stood before her, took her hand 
 in both his own and tried to speak. She saw his agi 
 tation saw that he was struggling hard against an 
 unmanly break down. "Wait a minute," she said, 
 reassuringly. "We ll come round to this later. Tell 
 me first, where is Hilario? I thought it was he I 
 
 heard in your room just now, but " 
 
 "There wasn t anybody there," said Sandy, 
 promptly. "Hilario went to town early this morning. 
 You know he s looking after Walker as well as me. 
 Trott came over late last night to explain. You 
 know I spose you ve heard that Walker and I had 
 
 a row." 
 
 "I did hear it, Sandy," she answered, gently, still 
 studying his flushed and troubled face, "and I won t 
 ask you why just now. Let me tell you first that there 
 was somebody in your room some barefooted some 
 body that stole away when I called Hilario. You 
 cannot be too careful about these native servant boys. 
 Have you lost nothing lately ?" 
 
 He had, but how could he tell her ? He had lost 
 it under her roof, and, as he believed, at the hands of 
 her guest, this girl who by night was following 
 Walker into the dark aisles of the grove, this girl 
 ;whom he had seen speeding through the dusk from 
 
Lieutenant %anDg Kap 127 
 
 Walker s door to that hidden gateway in Blake s back 
 wall. 
 
 "I haven t anything worth stealing/ said he. "The 
 
 I little money I have had was left in bank. I shall 
 
 be strapped until pay day had to give a cheek for 
 
 my mess bill. That s one thing Crabtree is raving 
 
 about now. The caterer s perfectly willing to take it 
 
 says he will need to send money to Manila, and the 
 
 check is just what he wants, but, why, Aunt Nannie, 
 
 this man is acting like a lunatic. He and Prince, 
 
 now, have had a racket, just when it looked " 
 
 "Tell me that later, Sandy," she interposed, noting 
 again the threatening symptoms. "You had nearly 
 seventy dollars the other day. You told me so when 
 I warned you to keep everything double locked." 
 
 "I ve been lending," and the flush deepened. 
 
 "But wasn t that a check ?" she asked. "Mr. Blunt 
 said so." 
 
 "You don t mean Bl he told!" 
 
 "Mr. Blunt!" and Aunt Nannie s laugh was good 
 to hear. There had hardly been a smile on the face 
 of Camp Boutelle all the livelong day. "There never 
 was so frank and outspoken a creature about his own 
 affairs, at least. He almost shouted that if it hadn t 
 been for you a note of his would go to protest. I 
 wish we might hear from him," and again the anx 
 ious look returned. "Perhaps Hilario will bring tid 
 ings. These people are like our Indians in the way] 
 of getting news." 
 
128 Hieiitenam San Dp Bap 
 
 "But they re bigger liars. You can t believe any 
 thing they tell you," said Sandy, eager to divert her 
 from the money question. "Walker s muchacho 
 skipped with much of his cash ten days ago, and these 
 others all swore he d only gone to his grandmother s 
 funeral." 
 
 "Did Mr. Trott say why Hilario was wanted to 
 go to town ?" she suddenly asked. 
 
 Trott did say and it was just exactly what Sandy 
 wished to avoid telling. He reddened still more and 
 stumbled hopelessly. She saw it and pursued. 
 
 "It isn t idle curiosity, Sandy. It is something I 
 need to know and have reason to ask. ,Was it not for 
 Gertrude Dean T 
 
 It was, and Eay could not and would not tell her. 
 Even now his nerves were tingling as they began the 
 night before when Trott came, in three hours after 
 the quarrel, with a note from Walker. Sandy, look 
 ing for a challenge or a demand or something trucu 
 lent from his late antagonist, read with open-eyed 
 astonishment. In few words Walker managed to say 
 that Hilario was the only one who could be trusted to 
 "go and deliver a message and bring a package for 
 Miss Dean, and in spite of misunderstandings, past, 
 present or future, Mr. Walker asked Mr. Ray s con 
 sent to Hilario s going. Then that girl had been to 
 see Walker. She, Aunt Nannie s guest and protegee, 
 and now Aunt Nan "needed to know" "had reason 
 to ask" about her. 
 
Lieutenant >an0p Rag 129 
 
 What a predicament for a man like Sandy Ray, 
 who somehow couldn t lie, for now Aunt Nannie 
 stood gazing at him, with wonderment in her eyes. 
 He thanked heaven for the sight of Fethers, belted, 
 booted and spurred, coming tramping up the steps. 
 Mrs. Blake turned instantly at sound of the sabre 
 and paled at sight of the official visitor. What new 
 trouble did this portend for the son of her fondest 
 friend ? 
 
 "I m sorry, Ray," began the adjutant, at once, "but 
 the commanding officer directs me to say that you 
 have his ultimatum and must decide before retreat. 
 Mrs. Blake, if the colonel doesn t get back before I m 
 a day older, I ll be fit for nothing short of bedlam. 
 Twice I have begged him to relieve me and make one 
 of his own people post adjutant, but he won t, and it s 
 it s well it s too much for me !" 
 
 "What is the ultimatum, Sandy?" she quietly 
 asked. 
 
 "Demands that I shall appear before the mess and 
 publicly apologize to him, acknowledge that I was 
 wrong throughout, and ask to be restored. Then he ll 
 think about letting me go to my troop. I ve written 
 him everything anything a gentleman could say or 
 ought to say, but he slings it back. Come, let me 
 (show you." And he turned impulsively and led 
 through the front room to his desk in the second, the 
 bedroom, Mrs. Blake and the adjutant following. A 
 number of papers had fluttered to the floor, but, pick- 
 
130 Lieutenant San Dp IRap 
 
 ing up an official envelope from a corner of the table, 
 Hay drew forth the folded contents, duly briefed and 
 endorsed: The commanding officer returned the 
 within communication with the remark that, "infer- 
 entially, the methods and policy of the present admin 
 istration are reflected upon herein. When the writer 
 can submit a plea, couched in respectful and temper 
 ate language, it will be given all proper considera 
 tion." 
 
 "There isn t a disrespectful word in it !" cried poor 
 Sandy, "and he knows it, but he s in a fury because 
 Prince butted in with his opinion of Crabtree s posi 
 tion, and, if his old friend falls out with him, and his 
 adjutant begs to be relieved, and nobody else will go 
 near him, and the mess is broken up, he must see and 
 does see that he s gone too far, but, knowing that I m 
 ready to do almost anything to get away to my troop, 
 he hopes to wring this admission out of me. I cant 
 do it, Aunt Dannie. I wont do it ! and I ll bet the 
 regiment will say I was right !" 
 
 But Aunt Nannie s eyes and thoughts had wan 
 dered from the paper in her hand to the rude field 
 ;desk, perched on its travel-stained box at the window 
 side. The front, which hinged at the bottom and, 
 by opening outwards and downwards formed a writ 
 ing shelf, was as Sandy had left it, up and closed, but 
 one or two papers protruded from the crack at the 
 side. One or two had fallen on the floor and in the 
 semi-darkness of the shaded room had been unnoticed. 
 
Lieutenant @anDg Bag 
 
 "Did you lock that in a hurry, Sandy ?" she asked, 
 moving slowly thither, leaving Crab s stately endorse 
 ment face downward on the table. 
 
 "It hasn t been open to-day," said Sandy. "I 
 wrote nay appeal in the other room. Why " 
 
 With that, his cheek paling a trifle, he picked out 
 his keys and applied one to the lock. It yielded 
 grudgingly. 
 
 "Kusty," said Sandy. "Lots of rain this last sum 
 mer. Needs a drop of oil, but it works!" And 
 with that the lock snapped, the lid came down, two 
 or three papers fell to the floor, and the inner surface 
 came to light, enriched with loose memoranda and 
 letters. 
 
 "By Jove !" cried he, "you re right, Aunt Nannie. 
 Some one s been raiding this to-day." 
 
 Hurriedly he pulled out first one drawer, then an 
 other. Cardcase, diary, note books in one, check 
 book and, underneath it, the cover of the ravished 
 [pocket book in another, apparently untouched. "You 
 scared her liim off before much damage was 
 done," he went on, excitedly, turning over the little 
 packet, letters, note, envelopes, etc., as though in 
 search of some one in particular. 
 
 "Where d you keep your money?" asked Fethers, 
 in growing excitement. More than one story of 
 sneak thieving had come of late to the office. "Wasn t 
 that your only portemonnaie ?" and a nod at the hur 
 riedly closed drawer, wherein lay the check book. 
 
132 JUeutettam SattDp Bap 
 
 told that the quick eye of the adjutant had caught 
 sight of the little pocket case. 
 
 "Yes, but it s been empty two or three days," said 
 Sandy, desperately. 
 
 "Then, Sandy," said Mrs. Blake, and she spoke 
 with the slow deliberation of one on whom unwelcome 
 light is gradually, disagreeably dawning, "that ac 
 counts for the post office receipts and things I picked 
 up under our stairway yesterday. They were yours, 
 and that porteinonnaie was emptied at my house." 
 
lieutenant ^anDg Kag isa 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 IT was late that night when Hilario reappeared, 
 silent and inscrutable as ever. He blew in, as Kay 
 expressed it, just as that officer was going to bed. He 
 answered the rapid volley of questions with stolid 
 shake of the head to each. Had he heard anything of 
 Lieutenant Blunt s command? Had anything been 
 heard of the marauders? Had there been any fur 
 ther trouble at San Sulpicio ? There were other ques 
 tions Kay would have liked to ask and other things 
 he much wished to know, but they concerned the 
 Deans, and, as he might have said, were none of his 
 business. Yet under the circumstances they might 
 well be made his business. Surely, for instance, he 
 had a right to inquire what had become of his money, 
 and it had transpired, in the course of the evening 
 and conversation with Trott, that one thing Hilario 
 , took with him was money, and Trott was betting that 
 neither Hilario nor the money nor its equivalent, 
 whatever that might be, would ever be seen at Bou- 
 telle again. Yet taps had hardly sounded when the 
 sentry at the seaward gate yelled loud for the cor 
 poral, and there, hat in hand, standing imperturb- 
 ably at attention, was Hilario. A fellow Tagalog had 
 
134 Lieutenant S>anDp 
 
 half sailed, half paddled him much of the nine miles 
 from town in his outrigger canoe, riding the lazy bil 
 lows like a sea bird. Hilario had hoped to reach the 
 gate, he said, before the sentries began challenging 
 and had just missed it. The corporal took him to the 
 officer of the day, half the population of officers row 
 hailing him in inquisitive succession, and then he was 
 permitted to go and deliver his package and report to 
 Lieutenant Walker, who damned him for his delay 
 and bade him take the package and himself by the 
 shortest route to Miss Dean at Colonel Blake s. It 
 was nearly quarter of eleven when he came pit-a-pat- 
 ting in to see if his other master needed him or any 
 thing, and by eleven he had been dismissed for the 
 night. As a result of conference between the officers, 
 and at Mrs. Blake s request, nothing was said to 
 Hilario about the desk. The keys to these govern 
 ment affairs were accessible to many. Every com 
 pany had its field desk, though none of them took 
 theirs to such a field as was found in Northern Luzon. 
 There were others at regimental, battalion and 
 squadron headquarters. Several officers had "accu 
 mulated" at least one, though for individual pur 
 poses they were more cumbersome than useful. There 
 were a dozen ways in which a would-be pilferer could 
 possess himself of the key, and at least one keyless 
 way of opening the best of them. But what puzzled 
 Ray and Fethers was that nothing of value had been 
 taken from the desk. Indeed, there was little of 
 
JUemenant @>atttip map 135 
 
 lvalue in it. Postage stamps in oiled silk folders and 
 some fine photographs, maps, etc., were almost the 
 only things that could be converted into cash, yet the 
 marauder had pulled out papers, letters and the mis 
 cellaneous contents of the drawers as though search 
 ing for something to reward his efforts. The trunk 
 with its heavy spring lock had apparently not been 
 tampered with, nor was it possible to say at what time 
 this bit of cracksmanship had been accomplished. 
 Probably before Mrs. Blake s advent and soon after 
 Kay was summoned to the presence of the -post com 
 mander, for the mysterious visitor -whose entrance she 
 had heard took flight at sound of her voice without 
 having had time to overhaul anything. 
 
 It had been a trying an exciting day to Ray, 
 for, to fill up the evening, there had come three con 
 spirators to say that on the morrow they, too, would 
 resign from the mess, Mrs. Sergeant Cooney being 
 now ready to undertake temporarily to board them, 
 and thus would Crabtree be left almost alone. It was 
 conjectured that he would declare the mess closed 
 until the return of the field column, that he would 
 "board around" as best he could or live on his indi 
 vidual mess kit. Trott said that Crabtree could be 
 relied on to endeavor to rule them out of the mess 
 should they propose to rejoin when, once again, Major 
 Forrest was restored to his own. Then with well 
 meant but mistaken zeal, Trott and Hikeman had 
 been striving to patch up a truce between Eay and 
 
136 Lieutenant SanDg Bap 
 
 iWalker, meeting with precious little encouragement 
 from the one and much that was objurgation from 
 the other. Neither man would budge an inch, and 
 neither would give the faintest inkling of the cause. 
 "It is purely a personal matter/ said Ray, "and no 
 one s business but his and mine. If Mr. Walker 
 wants anything from me he knows how to get it at 
 least he should know, if he knows anything reput 
 able." As for Mr. Walker himself he swore so at 
 Hilario that even that stolid and unimpressionable 
 servitor well nigh changed color. Walker had been 
 in a nasty mood for two days anyhow, said Trott r and 
 he almost wished that Ray had punched his head. 
 
 In spite of all these distractions, however, Ray was 
 soon asleep, and long before midnight all the garrison, 
 save the guard, seemed wrapped in slumber. Even 
 at the post hospital the lights burned dim, and there 
 was barely a movement on part of the few attendants. 
 The third relief marched like noiseless specters from 
 the guard house at 11 :30 and, having changed sen 
 tries at the storehouses, stables and east gate, started 
 along the south front and on the side of the straggling 
 little native village to pick up Numbers Four and 
 Five and then, turning northward at the beach, to look 
 up Number Six at the seaward front. It was a very 
 still night; the light sea breeze had died away and 
 only plashing wavelets spent their puny strength 
 upon the sand. Corcoran, corporal in charge, was 
 saying to Number Five of the second relief as 
 
Lieutenant S>anDp Bap isr 
 
 turned the corner and trudged along toward the gate, 
 that it was his belief they had come just in time to 
 prevent his falling asleep on post. "Ye were more 
 asleep than awake when we stumbled on ye, Five, and 
 ye know it," said he. Then, as they came within 
 hailing distance of the gate, "and so s Number Six, 
 bedad, for there s devil a sign of him." Square up 
 to the whitewashed portal they marched, and still 
 there came no challenge, yet Six was one of their most 
 reliable men, and his call the hour before, when sum 
 moning the corporal to greet Hilario, rang out clear 
 and strong. Now he was nowhere in sight, and to 
 Corcoran s "Where are you, Six ?" there came no re 
 sponse whatever. 
 
 "Stay you here, fellers!" said he. "May be he s 
 heard something over by the colonel s," and, with his 
 rifle at trail, the corporal ran nimbly up the shell 
 walk to where the huge bulk of the Spanish house 
 stood black against the stars of the northern sky. 
 Blake would not have a sentry in front of his quar 
 ters. "Let Number Six scout up here if he hears any 
 thing amiss," said he, "but otherwise his post is at the 
 
 Not until Corcoran was almost under the over 
 hanging gallery did he stumble on his man. Seated 
 on a stone, his head tilted forward on his breast, his 
 rifle lying on the sands beside him, breathing heavily 
 and apparently sound asleep, was the missing sentry. 
 Corcoran grabbed him by the collar and shook him 
 
ass Lieutenant San Dp Hap 
 
 hard. "Wake, you loon !" lie hoarsely, angrily railed 
 at him. "Here s the whole damn relief not fifty 
 yards away, and what am I to tell em? What the 
 hell d ye mean by squattin right here at the colonel s ? 
 [Wake, Andy, I say !" For the man seemed strangely, 
 stupidly dazed and torpid. "Wake or I ll kick the 
 hide off ye ! Here, take your gun and shall I trow 
 ye in the bay or will ye wake wid a batin 7 ?" And 
 now in his wrath Corcoran was cuffing his fellow sol 
 dier, who stumbled feebly about, mumbling inarticu 
 late protest. "What the hell s the matter wid ye, 
 Brewster ?" was the next question, anxious now, for 
 this could have been no natural sleep. "Sure you 
 haven t been drinkin !" But Private Brewster could 
 only lift a nerveless, wandering hand, then inconti 
 nently doubled up and squatted "tumblewise," as 
 Mulvaney would have it, again. It was plain that 
 he could not walk unaided. 
 
 Corcoran hurried back and called two of his men, 
 and with the others gazing after them startled, re 
 turned at the double, and between them heaved 
 Brewster to his feet and then shuffled him along. 
 Posting Number Six of the third relief, the corporal 
 bade them lead their semi-dazed comrade to the silent 
 mess building, where there stood a tank of fresh wa 
 ter. "Douse him well with it," said he, "an ? jump 
 him round a bit Sure twill never do to let the cap 
 tain see him like this. Stay wid him, you two, Pratt 
 
Lieutenant SanUp Kap 139 
 
 and Roberts. The rest of ye fall in. I ll be back 
 soon as I ve relieved Seven and Eight/ 7 
 
 Then once again the relief trudged away in the dim 
 starlight, the two file leaders, Numbers Seven and 
 Eight, had started to turn west toward the gate again, 
 but Corcoran checked them. "We ll tako the short 
 cut across," said he, a now that we re inside. Break 
 step and go soft." They were across the shell road 
 now and picking an easy way through the stunted 
 shrubbery and sandy hummocks that lay back of the 
 west row of officers quarters. To their left, as they 
 hurried along, was the thicket of palm ; beyond that 
 the massive, breast-high wall that stretched from the 
 gate to the enclosure in which stood the handsome old 
 Spanish house, now assigned to Colonel Blake. To 
 their left front as they zig-zagged through the grove 
 they could catch an occasional glimpse of its black 
 and bulky outline, not a spark visible on the eastward 
 facade or among the few outbuildings where some of 
 the native families slept. To their right was the 
 light-built row of story and a half cottages, mostly 
 pine, bamboo and nipa, the houses of the officers of 
 the garrison, with here and there a night lamp glow 
 ing dim, dull and red in the general gloom. Presently 
 they emerged from the shadows and found themselves 
 on more open ground, with the high back wall of the 
 colonel s "compound" directly at their left hand. 
 Another moment and they stumbled upon a faint 
 pathway, crossing diagonally their line of direction, 
 
140 Lieutenant >anDg 
 
 and again the leaders would have edged off as though 
 to follow this, rather than essay the dark depths of 
 another grove now looming between them and the 
 northward stars, but Corcoran, in gruff whisper, 
 headed them on. Just at its edge, Number Eight 
 kicked at something white, and tangled his "hiking" 
 boot in the folds, which old Number Four, two paces 
 to his rear, stooped and gathered in and clung to in 
 stupid curiosity. Corcoran was leading them and 
 looking for the best way through this gloomy patch. 
 Not until after they had managed, with some switch 
 ing and scratching and muttered expletive, to tear a 
 way through and find a skirting roadway on the north 
 side, did Corcoran straighten out his little command. 
 Then Number Seven s impatient challenge was 
 heard, and when the relief halted and the corporal 
 went forward to give the countersign, Number Four 
 of the old relief, a young German- American, Stein- 
 mann by name, had a chance to examine his prize, 
 Number Three curiously assisting. Then Number 
 Seven was called up, the relief bustled on, the relieved 
 Number Seven fell in at the rear and forthwith be 
 gan cursing everybody concerned for keeping him 
 over time on post. He was a broken sergeant, a man 
 of many years service, some of them valuable, but 
 the combination of a vile temper with viler native 
 liquor had led to his undoing. He wouldn t "let up 
 on that" as Corcoran mildly suggested. No friendly 
 non-commissioned officer fancies having to deal with 
 
Lieutenant >anflp Bag 141 
 
 a fellow striper who has lost his warrant. He 
 growled the more as the relief went tramping along 
 and the faint lights in the hospital building came in 
 view, and then, from under the shadow of its west 
 ward wing came the hail of Number Eight, and Cor 
 coran half turned to the right, shoving the file lead 
 ers with him with a thrust of a sturdy elbow. "Halt ! 
 Who is there?" again came the challenge, and this 
 time Corcoran responded with the order to his men, 
 and the rifle butts came down with a thump on the 
 sodden ground. 
 
 But now there was no prompt relief of the sentry. 
 He had a tale to tell and the others lounged impa 
 tient, while, in the dim shadows ahead, the old and 
 new sentries with the corporal held unusual confer 
 ence. It was the disgruntled Number Seven who fur 
 nished the first explanation. "Awe, come on out o 
 that, Corcoran," he called. "Sure what s past is past 
 and ye can t betther it. Ould Jim jams is gone an 
 it s none of our business. I m dead wid loss of sleep, 
 anyhow." 
 
 Corcoran was a little man, but an Irishman and 
 plucky. He came back toward the relief instead of 
 giving his orders at the sentry s side. "You ll be 
 quiet now, Dawson," said he, "or I ll find a way to 
 make you. The time you should have talked was 
 when that lunatic tore through the window and ran 
 up to your post. You were the last man to see him. 
 Why didn t you shout when that rum-suckin thief 
 
142 JLiemenant anDp Bap 
 
 caine tumbling onto your post ? That was the time to 
 talk ! Come on, fellers. We ve got something to tell 
 ? em at the guard house and no time to lose." 
 
 He had hoped to find no one higher than the ser 
 geant there, but even in the dark Corcoran knew the 
 soldierly form standing lonely near the saluting gun. 
 He had hoped to be permitted to dismiss the relief 
 without reference to the absence of the three men, 
 and to explain that matter to the sergeant later. But 
 there stood Lieutenant Trott, the officer-of-the-day, 
 and there was no help for it. There, too, oddly 
 enough, in earnest conversation with Trott, was Cap 
 tain Prince. ]Now, what could that portend ? 
 
 "Three absent, sir; Two, Three and Six," he re 
 ported, as the sergeant stepped forward to inspect. 
 
 "Why ?" demanded Trott, coming impatiently for 
 ward. "Had he, too, heard?" thought Corcoran. 
 "Why and what became of them ?" 
 
 "Six is sick, sir. Left him with Two and Three to 
 look after him over by the mess, sir. I was goin to 
 fetch ? em in now." And still the relief stood waiting, 
 patient and controlled, yet eager to dismiss. 
 
 "Did you leave word at hospital as you came by ?" 
 inquired the officer. 
 
 "No, sir," hesitated Corcoran. "There was no 
 one to leave word with. The hospital sergeant and 
 attendant are both out hunting up a patient that 
 broke loose." 
 
jUetitenant ^anDp Kap 
 
 "Dean? 7 demanded the officer-of-the-day, at once. 
 Instinctively he felt it must be he. 
 
 "Dean, sir," was the answer. "They say he got 
 whiskey, somehow, and after a good start on that he 
 made a break for the outside and got that, too." 
 
 "Was everything quiet round by the colonel s ?" 
 inquired Captain Prince, one thought following an 
 other in quick succession, and he looked searchinglyj 
 into Corcoran s face, showing red in the gleam from 
 the sergeant s lantern. 
 
 "Quiet ? Yes, sir, perfectly quiet." Too damned 
 quiet, he would have added, as his thoughts reverted 
 to dumber Six and his stupor. How he wished the 
 captain would quit questioning, but Prince was 
 abnormally inquisitive when it was neither his 
 guard, nor, as Corcoran would have it, his business. 
 Still holding the relief in ranks, the officer queried. 
 
 "Which way did he go and who were after him? 
 W T hy didn t they call the guard ?" he demanded, stern 
 and suspicious now, for Corcoran s Irish eye was 
 shifting and his manner evasive. 
 
 "Number Eight can tell, sir. I don t know." 
 
 Prince turned to his lieutenant. 
 
 "Speak up, Eight," said Trott. "When was it 
 first?" 
 
 "Near an hour ago, sir. Soon after eleven, the 
 pill the attendant said," and Eight had no scru 
 ples. Eight was eager to tell and clear himself. 
 
 "Why didn t you give the alarm?" 
 
144 Lieutenant San Dp Bap 
 
 " Cause I didn t know nothin about it, sir, till 
 they came and told me later. He didn t get away 
 over my beat." 
 
 "Who first told you ? How did you get to know 
 it ?" asked Prince. 
 
 "The tendant, sir, came blowing back bout half 
 past eleven, and said a man with the horrors had 
 skipped, an he thought he was drowned." 
 
 "Then he went out the front way and out to the 
 sea ?" 
 
 "He started that way, sir, but " and Number 
 Eight stopped, with a gulp. 
 
 "How do you mean started that way ?" said Trott. 
 
 " Twas the south window by his bed, sir, he went 
 through. Then he must ha took long back of the 
 north line, sir. He didn t cross me !" 
 
 "You mean that he went up back of your post 
 toward Number Seven, is that it?" demanded Trott. 
 
 Another gulp was the inarticulate answer. Public 
 shifting of blame to a comrade s shoulders, even when 
 that other is no friend, wins no man honors in the 
 rank and file, but Trott was not to be denied. Again 
 he demanded: 
 
 "It was through Number Seven he got away, was 
 it ? How s that, Dawson ?" 
 
 And then came sudden distraction ; the sharp chal 
 lenge of the sentry in front of the guard house; the 
 instant answer in a well-known voice : 
 
 "Commahnding officer and adjutant !" 
 
Lieutenant anDp Bap 145- 
 
 Then the sentry s response : "Copple the Ga-a-ahd, 
 commending officer and adjutant !" 
 
 Whereat a snicker shook the rear rank. Regula 
 tions imposed upon Xumber One the duty of repeat 
 ing, verbatim, the response to his challenge, leaving 
 to the corporal of the relief the task of further investi 
 gation. The sentry couldn t say "commahnding" 
 without precipitating a chuckle and being charged 
 with daring to mimic the post commander. He 
 couldn t come out flat voweled, without possible sus 
 picion of correcting his superior s English. He com 
 promised with a comical swallow of the syllable at 
 issue, and a ludicrous result that was balm to the soul 
 of the officer-of-the-day. Trott bit his lips to check 
 the grin, nodded assent to the inquiry in Corcoran s 
 eyes, and the little Celt sprang forward to receive the 
 distinguished and most unusual visitor. 
 
 "Advance junior with the countersign," and Teth 
 ers stepped briskly to the lowering bayonet and mur 
 mured "San Mateo," whereat Corcoran s voice was 
 again uplifted in the official, "Advance, commending 
 officer and adjutant." But no one snickered now. 
 Crab had come in no "commending" mood. 
 
 "What s this I hear, Mr. Officer-of-the-day?" he 
 began, in quick, querelous tone. "A hospital pris 
 oner a a most abandoned character, allowed to es 
 cape through your guard ?" 
 
 "I m just investigating, sir," began Trott, when 
 again the sentry s challenge broke on the night, and 
 
146 Lieutenant ^anDp Hap 
 
 at the outer edge of the circle of light from the ser 
 geant s lantern, three dim forms could just be seen, 
 the one in the middle seemingly supported by the oth 
 ers, and the answer was : 
 
 "Friends with a sick man." 
 
 "Copple of the Guard, friends with a sick man," 
 yowled Number One, his huge voice drowning the 
 odd, high-pitched, complaining tone in which Crab- 
 tree was again addressing the luckless subaltern, to 
 the end that Trott was enabled even compelled to 
 say, "I beg pardon, sir; I did not quite understand." 
 
 "What I ahsked, sir," began Crabtree, when Cor 
 coran, after a moment s counsel with himself and a! 
 whispered hint from the sergeant, called confidently: 
 
 "Advance wan and be recognized," which hapless 
 venture gave Crab another grievance : 
 
 "Tut, tut, tut," he began. "St st stop that in 
 stantly. Surely. Mr. Trott, your guard should know- 
 better than to advahnce anybody in presence of the 
 commahnding officer without his permission." 
 
 "Halt those men, corporal," gruffly interjected 
 Trott. "Stay where you are !" 
 
 But one of them was sore spent, and Crabtree was 
 , quick to see it. 
 
 "Uh, er bring that man here," he said. "Lend a 
 hand there, two of you !" he quickly added, turning 
 to the relief. "What s that you have on your arm 
 there, sir," and whatever it was the man addressed 
 wriggled it off and ran to the aid of his fellows. Be- 
 
lieutenant @anDg Bap 147 
 
 tween them they lugged the sick man to the light, and 
 Crab took one quick look into the dulled and lifeless 
 eyes, the half-sodden, livid face. "Why, this man s 
 taken morphine," he cried. "Here, run him round, 
 lively. Lay hold, two more of you. Keep him on his 
 feet ; keep him going ! Thump him ; hammer him if 
 need be ! Run for the hospital sergeant, you ! What s 
 lie doing with belts on ? A sentry ? Number Six ? 
 An opium fiend on the colonel s post ? Why, really, 
 Mr. Trott, your guard has been mismanaged in the 
 most extraordinary manner! What? Brewster? 
 Then where d he how d he get it ?" 
 
 Who could answer ? There was dead silence a mo 
 ment, broken only by the moan of the poisoned man, 
 the pleadings and exortation of his comrades as they 
 dragged and shoved him about in the starlight. Feth- 
 ers had stooped and possessed himself of the flimsy 
 white scarf that had dropped from Steinmann s arm,, 
 and as he curiously fumbled at its folds, in manlike 
 ignorance of either make or material, something fell 
 to the ground, which Prince saw, then stooped and 
 picked up a little note in sealed envelope, bearing only 
 the superscription "Lieutenant Walker," which, after 
 one quick glance, he thrust within the breast of his 
 khaki blouse. Then Crabtree turned and saw. 
 
 "What have you there ?" demanded he of the post 
 adjutant. 
 
 "A shawl or scarf or something/ said Fethers,. 
 yaguely. 
 
148 Lieutenant >anOg Hag 
 
 Captain Crabtree bent and felt it with discriminat 
 ing fingers; took it in both hands; opened it to the 
 light and stared. "Why, this is jusi almost price 
 less. How on earth came this here ?" he cried. Al 
 ready Prince was edging away and busying himself 
 with anything else. 
 
 "Steinmann, sir/ 7 began the sergeant, slowly. 
 
 "Come here, Steinmann," demanded Crabtree, im 
 patiently. "How came you by this ?" 
 
 "Picked it up, sir, just at the edge of the grove, 
 just back of Lieutenant Walker s." 
 
 Prince set his jaws together with a savage, yet un 
 spoken, curse and purposely dove into the guard 
 house. Fethers turned sharply away. The sergeant 
 and his few men stood stiffly at attention, facing the 
 senior officer, who had slowly dropped his hands and 
 was staring almost stupidly into the young soldier s 
 stolid face. 
 
 "Just back of Lieutenant Walker s?" The words 
 came slowly from the commander s lips, and as slowly; 
 a light seemed dawning on his sluggish brain. A mo 
 ment of intense silence followed, then he whirled on 
 Number Seven, no longer sullen and truculent, but 
 nervous and in dread of unknown wrath to come. 
 Even the dullest of the guard could see there was 
 something sorely amiss. 
 
 "Private Dawson," demanded Crabtree, "was 
 there a woman with that prisoner when he escaped 
 across your poet ?" 
 
Lieutenant ^anDg map 149 
 
 "They never crossed my post, sir. I d a stopped. 
 them if they had, sir. They went on up behind and 
 in through the trees." 
 
 "Then there was a woman ?" 
 
 "There was two, sir." 
 
150 Lieutenant S>anDp Hag 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 shouted Captain Prince, stalking into 
 the open hallway of that worthy s quarters the fol 
 lowing morning, "how soon will you be out ?" 
 
 There were sounds of sluicing and splashing from 
 .an inner room, whence presently a towzled, red-faced 
 head and a section of bathrobe appeared at a door 
 way farther back, then came the inelegant query, 
 "What d y want?" 
 
 "I want a word with you, young man," said 
 Prince, rather gravely, "and there are reasons why I 
 would like it before going to breakfast, so get a move 
 and some clothes on you." 
 
 The head disappeared and the questions came from 
 farther within. 
 
 "Where do you breakfast?" 
 
 Prince strolled back to the veranda without reply. 
 There were qualities or characteristics about Lieu 
 tenant Walker that gave him occasional annoyance 
 and that fairly exasperated Captain Crabtree, who 
 on more than one occasion had been heard to say he 
 wished that Walker were in Ms company where he 
 could teach him better manners, for manners Walker 
 certainly lacked. 
 
Lieutenant >anOp mag 151 
 
 !Nbr was this all. Even mannerless men were 
 taught, as the result of a year or so of military ser- 
 yice, something of deference and respect to seniors in 
 age and station, but Walker apparently had less of 
 these than any subaltern Prince had ever met. Just 
 what were his antecedents nobody really knew and 
 iWalker never told. He was credited in the army 
 register to a state of the middle west, and to some five 
 months service in the ranks with one of its regiments 
 in 98. He had later joined for a short time one of 
 the regiments of national volunteers, with the com 
 mission of second lieutenant, but resigned soon after 
 reaching Manila. When the regular army was in 
 creased, and a number of subalterns came up from 
 the ranks, and from the volunteers, generally with a 
 record behind them for efficient and valuable ser 
 vice, this unknown, unheralded Walker was gazetted 
 a first lieutenant in the Forty-Second, no one of its 
 field or company officers having met him before, no 
 one of their number being able to account for him. 
 He was rather a good-looking chap, with wavy chest 
 nut hair and curly moustache. He had abundance 
 of clothes and, at first, plenty of money, which he 
 squandered lavishly. He was of no earthly account 
 as a company officer and seemed to have no desire to 
 learn. Books he had none. Certain drills and du 
 ties he attended because he had to. Social functions, 
 to which he was invited with his new-made brother 
 officers, he #ould hardly have enjoyed, for social 
 
152 Lieutenant *anDp 
 
 graces he had none, and it speedily developed that he 
 was only at home among the billiard and pool rooms 
 of the eastern city, in whose suburbs the regiment 
 was organized and gradually licked into shape. The 
 theatre, especially vaudeville shows, he rejoiced in. 
 He was an expert at base ball and knew the batting 
 and fielding average of every prominent player in 
 the National or American Leagues. He had a slap 
 dash, off hand way about him, and a certain jovial 
 generosity that much impressed many of his juniors. 
 .But with it all there was ever present something of 
 the impudent, devil-may-care, you-are-no-better-than- 
 I-am manner so noticeable in the street-bred, slum- 
 haunting youth of our cities and that is not lacking 
 even in "young America" of our foremost schools and 
 colleges. Taught no lesson of deference or courtesy 
 at home; turned loose among a lot of other young 
 cubs before fairly over their callow, uncouth boy 
 hood ; scorning all civilities as fit only for girls all 
 show of respect to rank, age or station as confession 
 of inferiority, the average lad of our municipalities 
 is as lacking in good manners as the foreign-bred 
 article may be in morals. As raw material he can 
 challenge comparison, but polish he utterly lacks. 
 
 Backed by some home influence that the Depart 
 ment could not ignore, Walker had sprouted in the 
 regular service, and under the new dispensation there 
 he at least found one field of distinction. He had ai 
 certain native wit and shrewdness, a command ol 
 
lieutenant 8>anDg Kap 153 
 
 the latest and most descriptive slang and, above all, 
 a degree of skill with bat, cue and racket that, 
 coupled with intuitive knowledge of almost every out 
 door game except golf and polo, served to make him 
 immensely popular among the enlisted men and not 
 a little useful at regimental headquarters. The 
 colonel believed in athletics, and the regiment had its 
 base ball, basket ball and football teams that, coached 
 by Walker, who played second base as though born 
 to the diamond, won many a famous match during 
 their stay in the States, and gave the Forty-Second 
 a brilliant entree to the Philippines the game be 
 tween the regimental nine and the a All Manila 
 played on the Bagumbayan field in presence of most 
 of the great garrison, resulting in a victory for the 
 regiment to the tune of five to three. The new 
 major general commanding wasn t half as much 
 talked about the rest of that week as Mr. "Hasty" 
 Walker, of the Forty-Second. Men who even slightly 
 knew him in his brief days in the volunteers hastened 
 to claim acquaintance, and men who never had 
 known him at all sought him out and gave him gor 
 geous welcome. On all hands the Forty-Second was 
 congratulated on having such a team and coach, and 
 its ten days stay in camp on the sea front of the 
 Paseo de Santa Lucia was the center of athletic 
 events of the year, early as it was and just on the tail 
 of the typhoon season. Then they were ordered off 
 up country to strengthen the stations in Ilocos Sur 
 
154 lieutenant San Dp 
 
 and Norte. The team was scattered, as were the 
 companies, and Walker had speedily to seek his mili 
 tary level, and as the story opens was just about find 
 ing it. 
 
 "Walker has been utterly spoiled," said Crabtree. 
 "Now he should be made to understand there s some 
 thing to soldiering besides sport." "Walker needs a 
 firm hand and a captain," said Prince, one of whose 
 subs was detached in the States and the other at the 
 station. "Walker needs coaching more than he 
 gave," said Captain Cagger, who backed him heavily 
 until they got down to garrison duty. "Walker 
 should be serving as subaltern instead of command 
 ing a company," said everybody, but, just as luck 
 would have it, Walker s own captain, who had been 
 precisely of everybody else s opinion, and who had 
 complained incessantly of Walker s cheek and inde 
 pendence, found means to get a detail in Manila, and 
 so, without any training whatsoever as subaltern, the 
 least deserving officer of their number found himself 
 in command of his company. Crabtree had written 
 twice to the colonel, begging that Walker be trans 
 ferred to a company with a head to it, and that a sol 
 dier be sent to the rescue of Company "L," which 
 was going thither (as Crab was sometimes betrayed 
 into saying it) "hands down." But the colonel was 
 counting each day on the coming of his star, and he 
 left that problem to his successor, and Walker un 
 molested. 
 
Lieutenant Sanflp Eap 155 
 
 Nor was this all. Blake s regimental quartermas 
 ter had taken two months 7 leave for the benefit of his 
 health and gone to Japan, Fethers doing double duty 
 in his absence. Craven, acting post commissary and 
 exchange officer, had been summoned to Manila as 
 witness before that same court, some two weeks be 
 fore Blake, and Crabtree, being very short of experi 
 enced subalterns, when called upon to furnish a sub 
 stitute, was at a loss whom to name for that post in 
 Craven s protracted absence. Originally it was sup 
 posed that that would hardly exceed ten days. Crab- 
 tree was surprised when Walker announced his 
 willingness to try it awhile, and almost ashamed of 
 himself when he sent in his name to the office. Blake, 
 who had known Walker but a short time, and liked 
 him but little, hardly fancied the choice, but feared 
 to do injustice, shrank from hurting Crabtree or 
 Walker or both, and, so, saying to himself, "it s only 
 for a few days anyhow," told Fethers to issue the 
 order, whereupon Craven turned over his funds to 
 Walker and went. It often had happened in the old 
 frontier days that a lieutenant found himself post 
 adjutant, post quartermaster and commissary, signal 
 officer and company commander, but it was a rare 
 thing in the Islands to see the commissary, company 
 commander and exchange officer all in one. It did not 
 please anybody at Boutelle unless it was Walker. 
 
 Nor was it among the officers only that Walker s 
 lack of manner had made him foes. The ladies of the 
 
156 Lieutenant >anDp Kap 
 
 station were little inclined to like him. Possibly 
 that was the reason pretty Mrs. Shane declared it 
 time to take him in hand and try to smooth away his 
 many asperities. Anything Mrs. Shane decided 
 upon Mr. Shane seconded. A more dutiful officer 
 and subordinate husband had rarely been known in 
 the army. He didn t in the least approve of Walker 
 as a soldier and he didn t like him as a man. Walk 
 er s associates in the States, and his actions in San 
 Sulpicio, rumors of which were rife in the garrison, 
 had done much to prejudice the educated, conscien 
 tious man against the "hoodlum." More than any 
 two officers, even Trott and Hikeman, had W T alker 
 been going to town, sometimes overstaying his leave, 
 sometimes using up pony after pony in the effort to 
 save his distance on return. Before they had been at 
 Boutelle a fortnight this intimacy with young Dean 
 was again in full swing, and elders were much sur 
 prised thereat, for the civilian seemed so much the 
 worthier man. Before they had been at Boutelle a 
 month the chumship suddenly ended in what was said 
 to be a row, and nobody at Boutelle was surprised at 
 all. The seniors who had met Harry Dean were 
 prompt to say he could not long stomach such clay as 
 Walker. It was rumored that six days after the rup 
 ture Walker had gone to town in hopes of patching 
 up a truce, and that Dean had damned him out of 
 the office. The schoolmaster heard it in part and told 
 it in profusion. But all witnesses and participants 
 
Lieutenant San Dp Eap 157 
 
 save Walker himself were buried now, and so far as 
 was known at Boutelle he could tell his own story 
 without fear of contradiction. 
 
 There was one man who had a theory, however, 
 and that was Captain Prince. He had striven to in 
 duce Ray to tell him the cause of the violent quarrel 
 he had so fortunately heard and so promptly inter 
 rupted, but Ray was dumb. He wouldn t ask Walker, 
 for he felt sure that Walker would lie. The mere 
 fact that Ray refused to speak of it, however, con 
 firmed Prince in the belief that a woman s name was 
 involved. Then came the incident of the finding of 
 that dainty scarf ; then his capture of that sealed and 
 superscribed letter, and Prince believed he had a clue 
 of more importance than the case of Amos Dean, of 
 whom not a trace had been found since the moment 
 of his disappearance in the grove at the back of Num 
 ber Eight, and to the north of the colonel s. 
 
 It was to test his theory that, early on the morning 
 following these discoveries, Captain Prince, without 
 a word to Ray or to anybody, marched into Walker s 
 quarters and demanded speech with him, and Walker, 
 scenting mischief, and conscious that he had been 
 overheard in the use of threatening and abusive 
 language to an officer who was held in much esteem, 
 sought to stand off his unwelcome visitor as long as 
 possible in order to frame his plan of action. What 
 the devil did Prince mean by butting in where it was 
 none of his business ? 
 
158 JLieutettam SattDg Bap 
 
 But if he thought to weary his would-be investi 
 gator, Walker was in error. Prince, too, had much 
 to think of and was making further discoveries. 
 Pacing the length of the veranda, which ran the en 
 tire front and south side of Walker s half set, he was- 
 taking note of something that never before had 
 caught his eye, that little worn path leading diagon 
 ally from opposite the rear of Walker s to the almost 
 invisible gateway in the colonel s wall. Something 
 prompted him to go down the steps to examine the 
 foot prints in the sand soil ; to go further out, and fur 
 ther, until he came upon the traces of army-shod 
 feet fresh foot prints, six of them all heading- 
 northward across the open space toward the grove 
 that covered the northwest corner of the Boutelle pre 
 serves. The footprints of the relief were, of course, 
 Corcoran s party after they had left the bewildered 
 Brewster and his caretakers at the mess. Then over 
 there was where Steinman picked up the shawl, and 
 over there he followed. Yes, there was the print of 
 Steinman s right foot as he swerved out of rank& 
 and swooped to pick up his prize. There were other 
 footprints that had come through the grove appar 
 ently to the southward edge and then scattered. There 
 were those of a man, visible only in places, for the 
 ground was firmer. There were the traces of bare 
 feet with spreading toes, several of these both of men 
 and women, presumably, and that grove had been a 
 popular rendezvous doubtless for the domestics of the 
 
lieutenant ^anDg JRap 159 
 
 neighboring quarters. But there was one lootprint 
 that, quicker than the others, had caught his eye 
 the prints of slender, delicate, American-made shoes, 
 with high pointed heels the prints of a dainty little 
 pair such as only our makers build and only our girls 
 can wear, and when he saw it Prince s honest heart 
 went down with a thud. There were others, just like 
 them, leading away to the colonel s gate. There were 
 others, just like them, coming away from the colonel s 
 gate and toward Walker s bungalow. It was useless 
 to try to obliterate. They had come and gone as many 
 as half a dozen times, so the old trailer in him said, 
 within the last forty-eight hours. And then, in the 
 soft, moist sand close to Walker s back steps, his 
 searching eyes found more of them and more. There 
 were little, semi-circular imprints on the steps them 
 selves, with tiny dots along the periphery that could 
 have been made by nothing but tiny pointed heels, 
 and Prince s service brogans came down forcefully, 
 stern foremost, on each of a discernable quartette of 
 these betraying traces and crushed and ground them 
 out of sight. 
 
 "What you doing, Princey ? Practising that new 
 bout face? Damned if I can do it!" came the sus 
 piciously cordial hail from the front, and, glancing 
 quickly thither, Prince beheld Mr. Walker attired in 
 khaki and girt with saber belt in readiness for morn 
 ing drill. Absorbed in his search the captain had 
 forgotten this possibility. "Thought you wanted to 
 
160 Lieutenant anDp 
 
 see me and I had hot coffee for you, but you slid for 
 home, I s pose. Have some now ?" 
 
 "Thanks, no," said the captain, coldly. Here was 
 the only lieutenant in all the Forty- Second that dare 
 drop the "captain 7 in addressing him; that, worse 
 still, should dare such familiarity as "Princey." His 
 soul had been smouldering within him, now it blazed 
 with sudden wrath. Between a splenetic command 
 ing officer and this impudent, dissolute, disreputable 
 "sub" his temper had been so tried within the past 
 two days that it could brook no more. Shaking his 
 bamboo stick in a nervous hand that longed to shift 
 its clutch to the muscular brown throat before him, 
 Prince strode glowering to the front, his eyes fixed 
 furiously on Walker s already yellowing face. 
 
 "You damned young cad!" he cried, his voice 
 hoarse with passion. "If I hadn t found out that you 
 had no decency I d give you the lesson you need for 
 disrespect. It was bad enough when you began it in 
 town." (Whereat a scared look shot into Walker s 
 startled eyes.) "But now, by God, you dare keep it 
 up in this garrison when she s harbored under the 
 colonel s roof when she s a friend and associate of 
 the colonel s wife. I ve no words to waste. You ve 
 got to write your resignation and write at once !" 
 
 But the scared look had vanished. A swift, sud 
 den gleam as of wondrous surprise, relief, exultation 
 had followed. The half -hangdog slouch stiffened in- 
 
Lieutenant @anDp Bap lei 
 
 stantly into a pose of defiance, righteous wrath, a 
 fury of resentment and indignation. 
 
 "What the devil you talking about? Get off my 
 porch! Get out of my way or I ll smash you, cap 
 tain or no captain !" And with bulging, threatening 
 fists young Walker bore down on the slight-built, 
 wiry man, ten years his senior in age, thrice ten 
 pounds his inferior in weight. "My God, you and 
 that young squirt over yonder think to bully me, do 
 you ? You ll threaten me, will you ?" And as 
 Prince could neither back nor dodge, the impact 
 came, the burly young shoulders that had butted 
 their way through many a straining line, without 
 ever a hand or weapon uplifted, sent the lighter an 
 tagonist staggering from the low veranda to the sands 
 below, where though he landed feet first and strove 
 vainly to keep his balance, his head struck hard 
 against the sharp corner of a tree box, and he lay 
 stunned and dazed, while the blood spurted instantly 
 from the jagged wound. 
 
 Then Walker s wit came back with a rush. He 
 threw off the sabre and sprang for sponge and towels 
 and water. Hilario came running at his call, and 
 Hay, appearing on his side gallery and forbidden by 
 his arrest to leave it, darted round the corner and 
 shouted for Trott, still on duty as officer-of-the-day. 
 But before Trott could reach the scene Prince was 
 again on his feet, refusing Walker s hand or aid, 
 waving him back with one hand, while he strove with 
 
162 Lieutenant San Dp Bap 
 
 his other, and his handkerchief, to stanch the flow. 
 Trott s face was well nigh as white as the captain s 
 as he reached his side and threw an arm about him. 
 Prince was glaring now at Walker and had begun to 
 speak, but broke off instantly at sight of the officer- 
 of-the-day. All that Trott heard at the time was, 
 
 "You shall answer for this, you black and 
 
 then the assembly came trilling on the early morn 
 ing air, showing that drill call must have sounded 
 during the clash of war and words. Walker turned 
 abruptly, picked up his sabre and hastened to join 
 his company, well knowing Crab would be on the 
 lookout for all "lates." Trott led Prince across the 
 road to where Ray stood awaiting them, and between, 
 the two they guided him, still quivering with rage 
 and excitement, to the inner room, then sent Hilario 
 for the hospital sergeant. 
 
 Only twelve hours earlier Prince was ready to up 
 braid Lieutenant Ray because that officer refused to 
 give the faintest inkling of the cause of his quarrel 
 with Walker. Now to the eager and excited ques 
 tionings of both Trott and Ray, the captain made this 
 one reply: 
 
 "Don t ask don t speak of it to anybody! It s 
 something I can t tell about." 
 
 Then Ray s heart, too, turned heavier. That an 
 swer could mean but one thing. Prince, too, had dis 
 covered. 
 
Lieutenant @anDg Bag 163 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 EVENTS were moving swiftly at Camp Boutelle. 
 Crabtree, up with the dawn, had routed out Trott be 
 fore reveille and was chasing the clue obtained late 
 at night. Sentry Xo. 5 of the third relief, posted by 
 Corcoran soon after 11:30, reported that there was 
 some little movement and excitement, with mutter- 
 ings and running about, and faint, shifting lights 
 among the native huts in the little barrio beyond his 
 post. Then a boat had shoved off into the low, lazy 
 surf, and he heard one voice, at least, of a white man. 
 Crab was for sending a sergeant and party to town, 
 pony back, to see if the fugitives had gone thither, 
 and was brought up standing by the young officer s 
 blunt question. "S pose he has! What right have 
 we to hold him here ?" Then it began to dawn upon 
 Crabtree that Dean was in no sense a prisoner, 
 though he had so described and regarded him. He 
 was merely a civilian patient, who had been taken to 
 hospital for treatment, and then, not liking the treat 
 ment, had suddenly quit. That there should have 
 been mysterious circumstances attending his escape > 
 that he should have obtained whiskey and regained 
 his nerve, that he had received a message and pack- 
 
164 Lieutenant >anDp Bap 
 
 age as late as 11:15 at night, that he should have 
 been sitting up, half dressed at the time, and should 
 have slipped through the open window and met some 
 female or females unknown, but much suspected, up 
 at the grove, that No. 6 had been found in a stupor, 
 presumably drugged, and that Dean s devoted, if mis 
 guided daughter, had probably planned the entire 
 affair all this and more were things that .gave him 
 warrant for much uneasiness, but for no arrest. If 
 he could find who "doped" his sentry he might make 
 it unpleasant for her, and impossible to remain longer 
 under the colonel s roof. But so far as law and regu 
 lation were concerned the only person to be legally 
 punished, as thus far developed, was poor Brewster, 
 now under guard and only vaguely aware of the na 
 ture of his plight. Time and again in the past it had 
 been Mrs. Blake s way to send down to the sentry on 
 2sTo. 6 a comforting cup of coffee. The cavalrymen 
 always claimed that post for their own, and not until 
 they were gone to the field did a man of the Forty- 
 Second enjoy it. Just the same Mrs. Blake often 
 sent coffee to No. 6 of the second relief, and always 
 to I^o. 6 of the third, at reveille when the colonel had 
 his. Then, since her night vigils on the Deans ac 
 count, she had twice had coffee for the attendants at 
 midnight, and Xo. 6 of the third, on the midnight 
 watch, had duly profited. It was presumed that 
 Brewster had been tendered the comforting cup at 
 the usual time, and in the usual way, at the hands of 
 
JLfeiitenant @anDp JRap 
 
 one of the native servants they had at least four 
 and that, for reasons not yet fully established, some 
 one had found means to drug it. Crab had his the 
 ory that it was Gertrude s doing, to prevent his sen 
 try s seeing or hearing her father s escape along the 
 shore to the barrio to the south and that she had a 
 boat there to meet him and bear him away. Why, he 
 could not yet conjecture unless it were that they sus 
 pected the Manila authorities had proofs of Dean s 
 peculations and had ordered his arrest. If Crab had 
 known at this moment of the nature of Hilario s mis 
 sion to San Sulpicio he would have been sure of it. 
 Then his course would have been clear. 
 
 As matters stood, he reluctantly dismissed the offi- 
 cer-of-the-day toward six o clock, that they might 
 have bath and breakfast before resuming the investi 
 gation. What worried him most was how to deal 
 with Gertrude Dean, the guest and girlish friend of 
 the wife of the real commanding officer. 
 
 And so Trott got back in time for the fray at 
 Walker s, and then for an early sedition at the mess. 
 When Walker and the others came in from drill they 
 found Trott just finishing, and Belden it was who 
 spoke. "Well, it s settled ! Mrs. Cooney says she ll 
 be ready to feed us from to-night on, so my resigna 
 tion goes in, too." 
 
 "You!" said Trott, in amaze. "I thought you 
 were to stick by Crab to the end." 
 
 "And sit here all alone with him at dinner and 
 
166 Lieutenant S>anDp 
 
 hear his tenth-time-told whoppers ! I m damned if I 
 can!" 
 
 "What do you bet he doesn t come after us to Mrs. 
 Cooney s ?" demanded Walker, as he dropped into a 
 seat. 
 
 "If he comes we ve got to welcome him, that s all 
 there is to it, only he ll have to be told this is simply 
 a boarding house, not a mess. No rules go except 
 Mrs. Cooney s." 
 
 "Then why wait till luncheon?" demanded Trott, 
 who was nearly due at guard mounting. "Let s set 
 tle with Belden, here and now, and have our resigna 
 tion in form of a Round Robin when he comes 
 dawdling in for breakfast, just to keep the old offi- 
 cer-of-the-day kicking his heels about the office half 
 an hour longer. You ve got the accounts ready, 
 haven t you, Belden ? What s mine ?" 
 
 "Forty-eight forty, Mex," said Belden, consulting 
 his mess book, "and I want no checks. Crab won t 
 have em." 
 
 "There goes first call," answered Trott. "I ll send 
 mine over by Hilario. Let s get the Round Robin 
 fixed up. Here, Hikey, you write it and let me sign 
 before I have to skip. Here s paper and everything." 
 But Hikeman was young as a soldier and afeard. 
 Walker would not look up from his plate. Belden 
 was busy with his book. "Damn !" said Trott. "Here, 
 I ll start it!" 
 
JUeutenant anUp Kap 
 
 "Camp Boutelle, Nov. d, 1903. 
 "Sir: 
 
 "The undersigned hereby respectfully " 
 
 "What f" he queried, bobbing up his head at some 
 unexpected interruption. 
 
 "You can t say undersigned fit s to be a Round 
 Robin," suggested Belden. 
 
 "Gosh ! That s so ! What in blazes do you say 3" 
 And the seditious document went to fragments. 
 "Here, I have it!" and again the pen flew over the 
 paper. "The circumsigned hereby respectfully ten 
 der their resignations as members of the officers 7 
 mess and give notice of their withdrawal from this 
 date. All dues paid as per report of the Treasurer. x> 
 Then in bold hand the signature was dashed diagon 
 ally across the lower left hand corner. "You take 
 lower right, Belden," said Trott. "Your writing 
 and mine are utterly unlike. Let Hikeman and 
 and Mr. Walker sign up there, somewhere, or round 
 it, somehow. There s the band ; I must be off !" 
 
 "Mr. Walker !" Then there had been some other 
 breach in which their late champion was involved. 
 The quarrel with Ray was already public property. 
 Rumor of the morning s affray was even now bruited 
 among the married quarters, for servants had seen,, 
 but as yet the mess had not heard. Belden and Hike 
 man signed as requested and pushed the paper 
 silently to Walker, who sat in gloomy thought "I ll 
 see that Blunt s interest is looked after and 
 
168 lieutenant >anDg 
 
 Prince s/ said Belden. "It s only temporary, any 
 how." He was counting the gold and silver set be- 
 fore him by Hikeman. He added to it his own share, 
 mainly in notes, and before Walker rose to leave, 
 after silently scrawling his name, Hilario came 
 shuffling in with a sealed and bulging envelope to 
 settle the score of Lieutenant Trott, but Walker made 
 no sign. 
 
 "Shall Hilario go with you and bring yours over, 
 Walker?" asked Belden, bluntly. "We can t leave 
 anything unsettled, you know." 
 
 "Oh I suppose so, if you re in a hurry," said 
 Walker, and went lunging out into the breeze and 
 sunshine, toothpick at full play. Hilario, brown- 
 faced, brown-footed, white-robed, followed meekly. 
 Hikeman looked nervously out. "If there s nothing 
 more, Belden, I think I ll skip," said he, and van 
 ished, leaving the treasurer at his accounts. 
 
 Walker crossed the roadway, stopped, reflected a 
 moment, and then bade Hilario return. "Para 
 comer almuerzo" he explained, whereupon the 
 Tagalog valet, ever ready for a chat with the mess- 
 men and a better breakfast than his dusky helpmate 
 could give him, came grinning back to the rear en 
 trance and doffing his broad-brimmed straw to Lieu 
 tenant Hikeman, who hung back at the steps to let 
 Walker get a good start. It was a way with Walker 
 when he had differed with any one of his comrades 
 to pester most of the others with his side of the story, 
 
Lieutenant >anDg Bag 
 
 and if Ray had had a difference with Walker Mr. 
 Hikeman had no desire to appear as a Walker sympa 
 thizer. He tilted his sun helmet in response to the 
 valet s salute, then scuttled down the steps and, turn 
 ing sharp to his right, took the roundabout route to 
 his quarters. He did not wish to meet Crabtree, and 
 it was Crabtree s time for breakfast. 
 
 There were still two covers on the table untouched, 
 those of the commanding officer and a junior lieuten 
 ant who has had the good fortune to escape other 
 mention in this tale, and who could have escaped en 
 tirely but for events that followed. He came at Bel- 
 den s summons, a few minutes later ; nervously affixed 
 his signature; paid his score, as prearranged, and 
 strove to compose himself to eat. Then in came 
 Walker once again and laid a fifty dollar "green 
 back" upon the treasurer s desk. 
 
 "Sorry, old chap, to keep you waiting," said he. 
 "I find I ve only a little left in Mex, and had to rake 
 out this." Belden figured silently a moment and be 
 gan parceling out the change. 
 
 "You know you ordered quite a lot of wine, 
 Walker. It makes your bill bigger." 
 
 "Oh, that s all right. Never mind any receipt I 
 don t keep em mong friends." 
 
 "Here comes the the C. O. !" exclaimed the 
 youngster at the table. "I I believe I don t care 
 
 for " and further words were needless. Seizino* 
 
 his cap he fled through the rear door out into the com- 
 
170 Lieutenant San Dp Bap 
 
 pound. Even Belden felt a sinking spell. "I m 
 blessed if I want to see his face when he reads that !" 
 said he, hastily arranging his books, papers and cash 
 upon the table, Round Robin uppermost. "I ll let 
 him send for me." And he, too, vanished by way of 
 the anteroom and the next veranda. Walker sprang 
 to the window and took one quick glance. The slim, 
 soldierly form in khaki was still two hundred yards 
 away, sauntering, as was the captain s custom when 
 on the way to mess. "Agua fria" said Walker to the 
 servant, picking up a glass. The boy darted back to 
 the cool, shaded nook on the rear porch and reap 
 peared presently with a brimming goblet. Walker 
 gulped, turned and, following Belden s footsteps, 
 shot through the anteroom and down the southward 
 steps of the veranda toward the sea. 
 
 And when Crabtree entered, perhaps a minute 
 later, only the Filipino steward, his back at the 
 pantry door, stood smiling and salaaming to greet 
 .him. 
 
Lieutenant San Dp Kap m 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 MBS. BLAKE had two patients on her hands this 
 morning. The elder invalid, Mrs. Dean, was sleep 
 ing the sleep of exhaustion when her hostess tiptoed 
 in at six o clock to see her, but Gertrude was kneel 
 ing by the foot of the bed, her head buried in hands 
 that were cold and tremulous, despite the contact of 
 a face that glowed like fire. 
 
 Wearied after two long days of care and anxiety, 
 Mrs. Blake had gone early to bed the previous night, 
 awaking soon after twelve to inquire the cause of the 
 subdued excitement below stairs. Gertrude was the 
 first to reach and reassure her. "They have come to 
 tell us what I should have told you first thing in the 
 morning, dear Mrs. Blake. It is nothing but that 
 father has has left the hospital. He couldn t stay 
 there! He had business he must see to over in 
 town and he was going crazy with nervousness 
 here. He thought they were trying to make a pris 
 oner of him, and so did I. Oh, forgive me, if I 
 have done wrong, but I helped him." 
 
 The messenger of the commanding officer was gone 
 before Mrs. Blake was fairly wide awake. He had 
 brought the tidings because, as Captain Crabtree 
 
172 Lieutenant >anOg Kap 
 
 bade him explain, "it was thought that the family 
 ought to know." Nothing was said about No. 6. The 
 messenger had told Miss Gertrude, who had appeared, 
 liight lamp in hand, on the stone stairway, even before 
 he could make the Filipino house servant under 
 stand that Captain Crabtree and the hospital ser 
 geant thought Mr. Dean had come here, perhaps. He 
 did not tell her they thought he might have made 
 way with himself by a plunge into the breakers. He 
 returned to the commanding officer to say that Dean 
 was not there. They did not know where he was 
 were, of course, very anxious about him and very 
 grateful to Captain Crabtree, but still believed that 
 no harm would befall the father. Mr. Dean had 
 many friends among the fishermen and natives all 
 along the bay shore which was strictly true, as the 
 customs officials at Manila had reason to know. Miss 
 Dean, said the messenger, would write to Captain 
 Crabtree and explain more fully in the morning, and 
 so silence once more settled about the colonel s quar 
 ters, though peace of mind was denied the post com 
 mander. Beyond the shadow of a doubt, he believed, 
 before his eyelids closed, that Gertrude Dean had 
 connived at if not compassed the "doping" of his 
 sentry, and though he held as sacred everything shel 
 tered beneath the roof of the colonel commanding 
 when the colonel was present, he knew no higher duty 
 in the absence of that colonel, and his own elevation 
 to the command, than that of seeing that even the 
 
Jlieutenant an8p Bag ITS 
 
 colonel s household contained no questionable mem 
 ber. He had the evidence of a sentry ^o. 7 that 
 two women had aided his "prisoner patient" to es 
 cape. He had no doubt whatever that Gertrude Dean 
 was one of them the one in fact, and though he 
 knew he had no legal right to hold or hamper Amos 
 Dean, he raged in his soul at the thought that any 
 one within his lines should dare oppose the act or will 
 of him, the commanding officer. He had been bred 
 to the creed from boyhood, and even long years of 
 service under that more limited monarch a post 
 commander of Uncle Sam had not served to banish 
 it. He would await the coming of Miss Dean s 
 promised letter in the morning before acting on his 
 information and proceeding against this brazen 
 young person who scoffed at his orders and seduced 
 his guard. It might even serve, too, as a lesson to 
 Mrs. Shane. 
 
 But that promised letter was not on his desk when, 
 nearly thirty minutes after guard mounting, he 
 hastened in with a bulky envelope, followed by a flus 
 tered looking orderly burdened with books, papers 
 and a heavy little canvas sack. He barely noticed 
 Lieutenant Trott, old officer-of-the-day, waiting, with 
 the guard report book, to be variously berated before 
 being relieved. He saw a note addressed in the well- 
 known hand of Mrs. Blake, and under ordinary cir 
 cumstances would have opened it at once. He was 
 very pale, yet beads of perspiration were starting 
 
lieutenant >anOp Hap 
 
 from his brow and trickling down his nose and 
 cheeks. The new orderly stood and tapped at the 
 door, awaiting the summons to enter and report, but 
 Crabtree neither saw nor heard. "My compliments 
 to the adjutant/ he briefly said, as his follower care 
 fully placed before him the miscellaneous assortment 
 with which he was ladened. The sack gave a metal 
 lic clink as it was dropped beside the blotting pad, 
 and the bearer vanished in search of the needed offi 
 cer. Presently he returned. "The adjutant s out, 
 sir," said he, standing at salute just within the door. 
 
 "Out out where, pray ? The adjutant of all men 
 should not be out at this time !" cried Crabtree, pet 
 tishly, testily. 
 
 "Beg pardon, captain," said Trott, stepping for 
 ward, with very perfunctory touch of the hat brim. 
 "Mrs. Blake s mozo came running over a few mo 
 ments ago with a note to Fethers there s one for 
 you, sir, too and Fethers said he d be over and back 
 in ten minutes I thought you might have met him." 
 
 "Most extraordinary proceeding, this summoning 
 the commanding officer s staff to attend the behests 
 of of persons not in the military service at an 
 orderly hour, too ! Of what can Captain Fethers be 
 thinking ?" And here Crabtree whirled in his chair 
 and glared at Trott "Is it a way in the cavalry?" 
 he demanded. 
 
 "Shouldn t wonder, sir!" answered Trott, with 
 aggravating repose of manner, unusual to him. 
 
Lieutenant anDp Kap 175 
 
 "Perhaps Mrs. Blake s letter will explain," he fin 
 ished at a venture. If we were in Fethers s place and 
 question arose as between Captain Crabtree and his 
 colonel s wife, he knew well which side he would pick 
 to win, but Crabtree had begun to read and was al 
 ready starting from his chair. 
 
 "Dear Captain Crabtree/ 7 it began. "Miss Dean 
 is too ill and exhausted to write, and I have promised 
 to take the duty for her, but first, seeing you going to 
 mess, I have ventured to ask Captain Fethers to come 
 to me a moment. The smoke of a steamer, south 
 bound, can just be made out, and I wish his aid in 
 some papers that should be sent at once to Colonel 
 Blake. Praying your pardon, I remain, very sin 
 cerely yours, A. B. Blake." 
 
 A steamer s smoke in the offing? That was in 
 deed a matter of immediate consequence! "Go for 
 the signal sergeant," he called to the doorway, and 
 one of the two orderlies shot out of sight. "Er uh 
 go for my glahses," he ordered the other. "You ll 
 uh have to wait uh, Mr. Trott. I ll see you 
 presently," he concluded, picking up his sun helmet 
 and starting for the door. Then, suddenly, recollect 
 ing, stopped, glanced back at the littered table and 
 then nervously, angrily about the room. "Is there 
 no safe in the commahnding officer s office ?" he de 
 manded. "Most extraordinary thing! Where can 
 
 he keep valuable papers confidential matters " 
 
 he broke off suddenly. The sergeant of the guard 
 
176 JUeutenant @>anDg 
 
 had sprung into the hallway and stood, flushed and 
 eager, at the door. 
 
 "Well, what is it, sergeant ?" inquired Crabtree. 
 
 "JSTo. 6, sir, reports steamer coming in!" 
 
 "And did he suppose the commahnding officer 
 didn t know it?" inquired Crabtree, in his most 
 languid manner, as who should say, "Can anything 
 occur within sight or hearing that this Omniscience 
 need be told of 2" 
 
 "No, sir, but them s the standing orders/ ex 
 plained the sergeant, reddening. Crab had devel 
 oped the faculty of antagonizing everybody, high or 
 low. 
 
 "Very well, sergeant; that will do. Mr. Trott, I 
 leave you in charge of the office during my tempo 
 rary absence. You will see to it, sir, that nothing on 
 that table is disturbed." And with that he was gone. 
 
 At the south end of the hospital, tallest building 
 of Camp Boutelle, a wooden tower had been built, 
 and a lookout was for quite a time stationed at the 
 top. The practice had fallen into disuse, but the 
 platform and rail were still there, and thither Crab- 
 . tree hastened and was soon peering, unimpeded, out 
 /to sea, the signal sergeant and orderly in attendance. 
 The coming craft was still too far out to betray her 
 class or character, a dull speck, trailing a long, far- 
 spreading cloud of smoke was all even the big binocu 
 lar could discover. Cruiser or gunboat she might be. 
 Coastwise steamer, returning from a trip with sup- 
 
Lieutenant >anDp Kap ITT 
 
 plies to Aparri and Yigan she might be, but hardly 
 despatch boat that should come from the south. 
 .Whether she brought news or not, he had news to 
 send, and it should go forthwith, to be wired from 
 Dagupan or steamed straight into Manila, as her 
 skipper deemed wisest. Far to the north the low 
 line of Point Candon streaked the dim horizon, and 
 a vague film as of brush fire smoke hung lifeless over 
 the southward bay, but nowhere else within human 
 yision was there speck of sail, smoke or steam to dot 
 the lonely desert of the China Sea. Never before 
 had Crabtree so felt the force of their isolation. How 
 fared it to-day with the cavalry command, he won 
 dered, as he turned the glasses on the deep-hued, for 
 est-crowned barrier that billowed between him and 
 the northeast. What on earth could Blunt be doing ? 
 And with the thought the glasses swept the sandy 
 shore, with its flashing white line of surf, curving 
 gently away southwestward, with the brown thatched 
 native huts nestling amid the foliage, the shallow 
 wastes of the lagoon, the hard baked ridges of the 
 rice fields, the distant walls and towers of the old 
 church and convent at San Sulpicio. Why should 
 his sub-commanders be silent? Why had he, Crab- 
 tree commanding, no stirring tidings of soldier suc 
 cess to despatch officially for the information of the 
 major general commanding the division of the Philip 
 pines ? 
 
 Instead of anything like that, what tale of unsol* 
 
178 Lieutenant SanDp 
 
 dierly doing might not somebody be sending by this 
 very steamer, for how was he to prevent its going if 
 some one chose to tell ? Not a word received from 
 Blunt, who might be massacred for all he knew. Not 
 a good word from Forrest, who as yet had naught but 
 disaster to report. Not a word from C agger and the 
 post surgeon, speeding to Forrest s aid. Nothing to 
 tell, if he had to tell it just to temper the worse 
 tales others would be sure to write but story of a 
 discontented garrison, of a demoralized band and a 
 disbanded mess. Yes, it was high time he got back 
 to earth and wrote his story to some friendly staff 
 officer in Manila "to be used or referred to only in 
 case injurious reports should be in circulation." 
 
 But meantime Fethers had returned to the office 
 and gone to the commander s desk. Certain papers 
 were there he needed to use in completing a return, 
 and as he would have sought them, Trott, with gloom 
 and mischief mingling in his face, stretched forth a 
 hand and forbade : 
 
 "Touch not on your peril!" melodramatically ex 
 claimed he. "My orders are peremptory not a 
 thing to be disturbed." 
 
 "Damn it, Trott ! I don t want any of his things. 
 It s our regimental matters I am digging at now, and 
 I ve promised Mrs. Blake to hurry back to her soon 
 as it s done." 
 
 "Nobody short of the commahnding officer," began 
 Trott, impressively, when in bolted that eminencd 
 
Lieutenant SanOg Bap 179 
 
 himself and took in the situation at a glance. His 
 quick and apprehensive ear had not failed to catch 
 Trott s palpable mimicry. For a moment he stood 
 and glared at the offender, then with surprising 
 mildness of manner, but with cutting emphasis, ad 
 dressed him: 
 
 "It is to be regretted, Mr. Trott, that you do not 
 seek to improve your manners as you do your Eng 
 lish. You are relieved, sir, as old officer-of-the-day, 
 also from the custody of these funds and papers, and 
 you will er leave the office." 
 
 Trott saluted and stood not on the order of his 
 going. Once outside he gave free rein to his pent-up 
 merriment, but not for long. By dozens the sol 
 diery were streaking across the parade, bound for the 
 west gate and a sight of the coming steamer, still too 
 far distant to be recognized by "land lubber" eyes. 
 It was now nine o clock, and Fethers longed to break 
 away from the office and return to Mrs. Blake and the 
 welcome and unaccustomed sight in the offing, seeing 
 which Crab saw fit to be more than usually deliberate 
 and impressive. 
 
 "It is of the first importance, Captain Fethers, 
 (that your best clerks should take my dictation, and 
 that you should be here to to supervise their work. 
 The first duty of an adjutant is to his commahnding 
 officer, and I need your best support. I have two 
 despatches and two letters to prepare and they must 
 
180 Lieutenant San Op Rap 
 
 be a strictly confidential. The clerks may come 
 in here and a all doors shall be closed." 
 
 "Permit me, then, captain, to send a brief note to 
 Mrs. Blake. She naturally counted on some assist 
 ance from the adjutant of her husband s regiment," 
 began the impolitic Fethers, but Crabtree checked 
 him magnificently. 
 
 "Mrs. Blake shall have every assistance she can 
 possibly need by a ah making her wishes known 
 to the commahnding officer," and Fethers incorpor 
 ated the words in the note which the orderly bore, 
 with giant strides, that he, too, might gaze upon the 
 coming stranger. That he took his time coming back 
 was lost upon the party at the office. Doors were 
 closed full half an hour. Then came a messenger 
 from the signal tower. He was immediately admit 
 ted to the presence and reported: 
 
 "It s the Formosa, sir, comin 7 to anchor a mile 
 out in the bay." Crab nodded. He was just in the 
 midst of a second letter. He hoped it might be the 
 Formosa, a trim coaster and not a man-of-war. He 
 knew the Formosa s skipper and could count, he 
 thought, on his promptly pushing on for Manila. He 
 knew it would not be long before her skipper came 
 ashore to exchange greetings and gossip and to taste 
 his good cheer. This time Crab meant it to be par 
 ticularly good, for he had a favor to ask, but first 
 there was a matter to settle. 
 
 "Find Lieutenant Belden," said he, "and say, witK 
 
lieutenant SanDg Kap 
 
 my compliments, that I desire to see him here at 
 once." 
 
 It was fully ten minutes before Belden came, 
 flushed and overheated. He had been expecting the 
 summons over an hour. He entered without a word 
 and stood awaiting the pleasure of his commander. 
 
 Icily cold was Crabtree s voice as he began : 
 
 "You were made custodian of this precious docu 
 ment, Mr. Belden," said he, and he held up the 
 Eound Eobin, "and you doubtless know its history. 
 At the proper time proper inquiries shall be made. 
 At the moment, however, business is to be settled. 
 According to your figures you should have in hand 
 five hundred and eight dollars and forty cents, Hex, 
 should you not ?" 
 
 "Those were the figures, sir. I gave them in the 
 memorandum." 
 
 "You gave me the figures, all right, but how 
 about the cash ?" 
 
 Belden looked up, startled. He had counted on a 
 lashing because of the Round Robin. He had 
 thought of nothing else. 
 
 "It was all there, sir, every nickel of it." 
 
 "Count it yourself, sir. Possibly you can tell what 
 bills or bank notes are missing." 
 
 And Belden counted. To his amaze and distress 
 some two hundred dollars were gone, among them 
 [Walker s fifty dollar treasury note. 
 
 "I can swear, sir," began Belden, hotly, "and Mr. 
 
182 Lieutenant >anBp 
 
 Walker was with me, and Mr. Meeker, and saw the 
 
 count." 
 
 "Can t help that, Mr. Belden. You took your 
 chances when you left the room and the mess money 
 unguarded " 
 
 "Couldn t it have been lost here, Captain Crab- 
 tree ? I can prove it was all there barely a moment 
 before your entrance." 
 
 "The theory is untenable, Mr. Belden. I took the 
 precaution to have Mr. Meeker come in and count it 
 at the mess. The loss is on your shoulders, sir, and 
 before your resignation from the mess can be accepted 
 you must make it good." 
 
Lieutenant San D? mag 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 IT was the Formosa, as was duly reported, and in 
 less than half an hour her skipper, Cowper, a burly 
 Briton and bold mariner, had come ashore, was re 
 ceived and entertained by and closeted with Captain 
 Crabtree, commanding ; was later, at the landing, half 
 timidly accosted by a native girl, at sight of whom a 
 sudden light of recognition shot across his broad and 
 weather-beaten face, and from whose dusky hand he 
 received a letter which he stowed within the breast 
 of his white sackcoat, and then in half an hour from 
 his landing, was on the way back to his ship, Cap 
 tain Crabtree and orderly with him. 
 
 "Just going out to lunch and take a turn about the 
 bay," said Crabtree, most affably, to the eager in 
 quiries of Mrs. Stanhope, Mrs. Fethers and others 
 desirous of sending letters. "We shan t be gone any 
 time at all back in two or three hours," but despite 
 the airy and affable manner, most people noted an 
 underlay of nervousness, anxiety, worriment, and, 
 noting, spoke of it to one another. The coxswain of 
 the captain s gig already had a packet of letters, at 
 which Crabtree gazed suspiciously and the captain 
 aggressively. It was not good that even such favored 
 
184: Lieutenant San Dp 
 
 persons as these denizens of an American army post 
 should presume to approach an underling of one of 
 His Brittanic Majesty s merchant marine with let 
 ters and tips and without the knowledge and con 
 sent of her commander. 
 
 "Fetch those letters to me," he called, as, ponder 
 ously, he led the way over the side. Then the For 
 mosa up anchored, and envious watchers along the 
 shore saw her go spinning away toward Sulpicio, 
 where she lay not more than half or three-quarters of 
 an hour, then came steaming back with a brace of 
 black logs towing in her wake, and these proved to be 
 bancas that dropped astern as the Formosa ap 
 proached her anchorage of the morning. By this 
 time it was mid-afternoon, and to the consternation 
 and sore disappointment of many a spectator, while 
 the bancas came paddling to shore, the steamer 
 swung 1 her head to the sun and went churning 
 sturdily southwestward out to sea. "The thousand 
 and one things Camp Boutelle desired of the craft 
 and captain could not be attended to this trip," said 
 Crabtree, as spray-dashed and dripping, he was 
 shouldered ashore through the snowy breakers. "Im 
 portant discoveries at uh Sulpicio determined the 
 captain to put at once for Manila, and he s gone. Ah 
 orderly, my compliments to Captain Fethers, and 
 I desire his presence at my quarters." That was all 
 the satisfaction Camp Boutelle could get. 
 
 But the orderly was not so close mouthed. It pres- 
 
JLieutenant ^anDp Iftap iss 
 
 ently transpired that the two captains, army and mer 
 chant marine, had gone ashore at Sulpicio, and Cap 
 tain Crabtree inquired everywhere for tidings of the 
 vanished Dean, who had been, so they said in reply, 
 nosing around there as much as two hours, and then 
 on a borrowed pony had taken the southward road 
 as though going after Lieutenant Bluut s column. He 
 had saddle-bags with certain books, papers and extra 
 clothing. He was nighty and wild like, but had been 
 searching and poking about the ruins of his house, 
 and questioning certain prominent native citizens 
 with whom he had been on good terms during the 
 prosperous days of the agency. He had found some 
 papers he needed, and certain account books in the 
 safe, also quite a sum in cash. All this the artless 
 native had no scruple in telling, since many saw and 
 everybody knew, just what Dean had done during his 
 brief and hurried visit. 
 
 Once assured that Dean was gone for good, since 
 the ladrones would probably get him, Captain Crab- 
 tree stayed only long enough to inquire for rumors 
 of Blunt, Forrest and C agger, but got no answer 
 the only rumors afloat being that all three columns 
 had been destroyed through the prowess and valor of 
 the ever faithful soldiery of the Filipino people. 
 Viva la Republica! Viva Liberdad! Muera los 
 Americanos! He had a word or two with the lieu 
 tenant commanding the little guard whose presence 
 was all that insured his safety at such a distance from 
 
186 Lieutenant San Dp 
 
 his post, then back he went to his boat and the For 
 mosa, in whose cabin he wrote two more missives to 
 Manila, then had a few emphatic verbal exchanges 
 in guarded tone with the Formosa s skipper, after 
 which, as her engineer slowed down, he slipped over 
 the side to the crazy native canoe, sending the orderly 
 ahead of him, and, when off the seaward gate of 
 Camp Boutelle, was cast loose and paddled ashore. 
 That was all the orderly knew of the trip. 
 
 But Boutelle was in a fury over having been given 
 the slip by the one craft likely to appear for another 
 week. Everybody had letters to send, and nobody 
 dreamed of other and better boats coming. Fethers, 
 venturing to refer to this state of wrath, was met with 
 prompt and cutting response. 
 
 "It was by order of your commahnding officer," 
 said Crabtree, with much dignity. "Ko one of you 
 knows the nature of my instructions or discoveries. 
 It must be sufficient to you that, in order to further 
 ensure the safety of the garrison, it was necessary to 
 send appeal to Manila for troops to replace those sent 
 to the field, and they cannot come too quick." 
 
 Nor, apparently, could the Formosa go too quickly. 
 She was hull down to the southwest long before the 
 sun, and even her smoke trail had dimmed to a low- 
 hanging cloud along the horizon before being swept 
 away by the wing of night. Fethers, going over to 
 see Mrs. Blake in course of the late afternoon, found 
 her serene and undisturbed. !Now that Dean had 
 
Lieutenant ^anDg map isr 
 
 been heard from, safe and doing much better than 
 could have been expected, both his wife and daughter 
 seemed vastly relieved in mind and began to mend 
 in body. "And my letters," said Mrs. Blake, "are 
 safe aboard the Formosa and should be in the 
 colonel s hands to-morrow night. Now let us go and 
 see Sandy Ray." 
 
 They found him fretful and nervous, almost be 
 yond control. No tidings having come from Cagger 
 or Forrest, he was possessed with the idea that there 
 had been more fighting; that the ladrones were be 
 tween the columns and the post, cutting off all com 
 munication; that Blunt had fallen among thieves 
 and was fighting for life in the dense jungles that lay 
 to right and left of the Dagupan road. All this oc 
 curring and he, the latest comer to the command, 
 cooped up here in shameful apathy and arrest, so it 
 would surely be said. Sandy could hardly think or 
 speak of or listen to anything except his distressing 
 plight. He seemed little interested in hearing the 
 details of Dean s double escape; little impressed by 
 the story of secret rejoicings at San Sulpicio, less con 
 cerned about the condition of Mrs. and Miss Dean, 
 and absolutely indifferent to Mrs. Blake s eloquence 
 and enthusiastic praise of Gertrude s unselfish devo 
 tion and general loveliness of mind and matter. 
 "Aunt Nan" was actually piqued at his unresponsive 
 mood, and believing it due to his general depression 
 and nothing else, began afresh to chat about her new- 
 
Iss JLieutenant SanDg Bap 
 
 found friend, in whose present condition she saw so 
 much that took her back to the long years ago when 
 she, too, watched and waited and mourned, when 
 she, too, prayed long and hard and piteously for 
 heaven s help and mercy for a wandering father. It 
 was evident to Fethers and to Ray, both, that the 
 mother heart within her yearned over this undeniably 
 beautiful and really attractive young girl, and still 
 Hay would not take himself out of himself and his 
 selfish cares and say something at least half way ap 
 preciative or sympathetic. Fethers wondered at it 
 wondered how such a clam-like fellow could be the 
 son of genial, laughing, dashing Billy Ray, now 
 colonel of the th and by far, apparently, both in 
 heart and spirit, the younger man of the two. 
 
 They were still seated there, these regimental com 
 rades, Mrs. Blake doing most of the talking, when the 
 orderly of the commanding officer was seen coming 
 along the row and the commanding officer himself, in 
 dazzling white, appeared solemnly pacing his ver 
 anda. "It s for me, I suppose," said Fethers, wear 
 ily, as they watched the springy step of the trim 
 young soldier. But, instead of turning in, the or 
 derly raised his gloved left hand in salute and bustled 
 on down the line, never stopping until he had crossed 
 the gate road and reached the open doorway of the 
 mess. 
 
 "What has been the matter over there ?" asked Mrs. 
 Blake. "I have seen more running to and fro, more 
 
Lieutenant SanDp ma? 
 
 excitement, than when you gave a navy dinner. 
 Whom are you, or they, entertaining now ?" 
 
 "Suspicions chiefly/ answered Fethers, with a 
 laugh. "The mess, you know, has dissolved." 
 
 "1 didn t know/ said Mrs. Blake. "Who was to 
 tell me ? You are the only officer to come near me to 
 day, and who ever heard of your having anything to 
 tell?" 
 
 Fethers bowed his acknowledgment of the implied 
 compliment. "The whole garrison knows it, Mrs. 
 Blake. Most of the officers sent their resignation, in 
 form of a Round Robin, to Captain Crabtree this 
 morning, or, to be accurate, left them at his plate, 
 then skipped. That was the unlucky part of it. The 
 mess money and accounts were placed there at the 
 same time, and in the minute or so they were out of 
 sight before Captain Crabtree came in, some two hun 
 dred dollars disappeared." 
 
 Mrs. Blake fairly started. "Stolen? Outright, 
 do you think ? And do you know what servants were 
 there ?" She turned full on Fethers as she asked, her 
 face eager with new-born interest. 
 
 "Three or four, it seems/ said Fethers, slowly, 
 guardedly. "The steward, two waiters and one or 
 two mozos were about the premises, and poor Belden 
 has been investigating for hours. You might as well 
 hunt for truth in hades. The native lies from the 
 time he can lisp." 
 
 "And no one else was about ?" asked Mrs. Blake, 
 
loo Jlieutenant >anDp Rap 
 
 glancing along the galleries and into the open hall 
 way as though in dread of eavesdroppers, then, at 
 sight of Hilario, busily dusting sand from Walker s 
 steps across the way, turned reassured to Fethers 
 again. 
 
 "Well, I wasn t about for one, and don t know just 
 who were. Did you hear, Kay ?" he asked, eager to 
 lug Sandy in for his share of the conversation. 
 
 "Haven t heard a thing cept what Belden and 
 Meeker told me. Luckily I left the mess when I did 
 or Crab would be adding theft to my other enormi 
 ties," and Ray looked disgustedly at the distant white 
 figure promenading the shaded veranda. 
 
 For a moment there was silence, as the orderly 
 came swiftly back, and then Mr. Belden, fastening 
 his khaki coat at the front, was seen at the mess door 
 way. Presently he, too, came, somewhat slowly and 
 reluctantly, raised his cap as he passed them by and 
 went on to the captain, and the three sat casting an 
 occasional glance in Crabtree s direction. How could 
 they help it? Then Mrs. Blake spoke. "I m going 
 to tell you two, and mind it goes no further. Some 
 body has been busy about my quarters. A little sum 
 of "rainy day" money is gone, also some cheap trink 
 ets, yet our native servants came to us with the best 
 of recommendations, all of them, and who from out 
 side would dare slip into the house, when Moon and 
 his wife, both of them Irish, are there to guard us ?" 
 
 "When did you miss it ?" said Sandy, showing at 
 
Lieutenant SanDg IRap 191 
 
 last some symptom of interest in what was going on 
 
 about him, 
 
 "Only yesterday, though it might have been taken 
 ,1 the day before, the money at least. I had no occa- 
 1 sion to look at it. It was kept in the desk in 
 
 "Gold or notes ?" asked Sandy. 
 
 "Both. Something over fifty dollars in our money. 
 Why have you any suspicion, Sandy ?" 
 
 Ray reddened. "I was thinking it was lucky: 
 Hilario was away all day." His was the only name 
 mentioned. 
 
 "Yet your desk, Sandy, and the steps I heard, in 
 there/ 7 suggested Mrs. Blake. "Have you missed 
 anything more ?" 
 
 "I had hardly anything more to miss," said Sandy, 
 reddening still, "anything light, portable or salable, 
 that is." 
 
 "You ve looked through the desk since I saw you ?" 
 persisted Aunt Dannie, and Fethers, noting Ray s 
 growing irritation and uneasiness, turned, too, and 
 studied him closely, curiously. Had not the ad 
 jutant, too, been hearing tales of larceny ? 
 
 "Oh, yes," was the impatient answer. "You know 
 I have had little to do and a lot of time. One has to 
 kill it somehow." 
 
 "Something else has been taken away, Sandy 
 something that puzzles or worries you ? Don t hesi- 
 
192 JUeittenam San Dp Bag 
 
 tate to tell me before Captain Fethers. Your colonel 
 would not." 
 
 "Why, it s nothing that can help any one, that 
 I can see, only it s just queer. They ve stripped 
 some blank cheques from my book." 
 
 "Why, Sandy!" cried Mrs. Blake. 
 
 "Fact," said Ray, sententiously. "Now, what 
 mozo or anything Tagalog would want of blank 
 cheques ?" 
 
 Fethers gave a long whistle, arose and said, "Let 
 us keep this to ourselves until I see you again. This 
 call s for me, I know. Look at the orderly coming. 
 Crab must have thought we were enjoying ourselves." 
 
 And indeed the orderly was coming on the run. 
 Crabtree and Belden both had disappeared. There 
 was sound of suppressed excitement over among the 
 barracks the "business end" of the post, as Blake de 
 clared it. Fethers darted down the steps, and with 
 difficulty restrained his impulse to run in chase of 
 the commanding officer, now, said the orderly, on the 
 way to the office. There was a messenger in from 
 somewhere. Dumbly Ray stood and listened, bound 
 by his arrest to take no step beyond the limits of his 
 quarters. In deep sympathy, mingled with anxiety, 
 his kind friend laid a gentle hand upon his arm. "It 
 will all come right, Sandy," she murmured. "Be 
 patient for mother s sake but I know how hard it 
 is." 
 
 Along the line of officers quarters other forms be- 
 
Lieutenant SanDp Kag 193 
 
 gan to appear upon the verandas, especially those few 
 that commanded a view of the distant office across 
 the parade. Every now and then, too, an officer 
 
 I would come forth, take a look, and those not in khaki 
 dove in doors again. Crab allowed no other dress 
 until after parade, and instinctively they felt the 
 summons was coming, and presently it came, loud 
 and clear, the well-known bugle "Officers Call." 
 
 "That tells nothing," called Trott, glancing up at 
 Mrs. Blake and doffing his hat as he hurried by. 
 "He d summon every officer in garrison if it was only 
 to tell them there had been a scrap in Samar," and 
 Ray stood gazing gloomily after him, and then sur 
 veying Walker s bungalow, almost at the moment 
 envying his antagonist who, in spite of the summons, 
 had not yet appeared. Again was it repeated and 
 again, the orderly trumpeter running half way over 
 to the officers line. Two, three, five minutes passed. 
 Even the chaplain had gone, and little Meeker, all 
 blown and exhausted, had come running in from 
 somewhere out on the beach, and still not a sign of 
 Lieutenant Walker. Yet as the three sat there, Mrs. 
 Blake, Eethers and Eay, barely ten minutes before 
 
 I the call, they had seen him, though none had re 
 ferred to it, dismount from his sturdy pony, send him 
 to stables in charge of Hilario, opportunely waiting, 
 and enter his domicile. Doors and windows stood 
 wide open, but Walker could not be seen. Again 
 came Crabtree s orderly on the run, panting, too, and 
 
194 Lieutenant 8>anDg 
 
 at the front door of the missing officer s quarters he 
 pounded hard and long until Mrs. Blake stepped for 
 ward and called him. a Better go in, orderly, Mr. 
 Walker came home but a few moments since." 
 
 They heard him rapping and hammering about 
 the house. They waited, wondering, for the orderly: 
 to reappear. "I ve looked in every room," said he, 
 troubled and perplexed. "And the captain says I m 
 not to come back till I ve found him." 
 
 "Have you an idea where he could have gone, 
 Sandy ?" asked Mrs. Blake, turning to the youngest 
 officer, standing in silence at her side. He was not 
 reddening now. He was paling. If she had only 
 worded her question in some different way! If she 
 had only asked him if he knew ! But the very words 
 compelled him, and he could not dodge them. 
 
 "You know we are not friends," he lamely began. 
 "I m not supposed even to be aware of his existence or 
 notice him in any way." He tried to smile whim 
 sically and carry it off in that way, but his wits were 
 far less keen than hers. She faced him instantly. 
 
 "Sandy, you do know ! He saw me here. He has 
 gone to my house, the back way, too, and to see her! 
 He shall not worry that child ! I m going now." And 
 go she did, and by the back way, too, only to find the 
 wall gate barred within. Sandy stood at the west 
 ward end of the side veranda and watched her. 
 Sandy saw her beat upon it with the little baston of 
 wood, kept there for the purpose, and all in vain. 
 
Lieutenant @>anDp Bap 195. 
 
 Moon and his spouse could surely be nowhere within 
 hearing. Moon, doubtless, had hurried over to the 
 quarters to hear the news, and Kathleen, more than 
 likely, had followed suit. Sandy saw Mrs. Blake at 
 last turn impatiently away, saw her walk swiftly 
 southward through the stunted trees, saw her disap 
 pear in the direction of the seaward gate, and then, 
 despite eagerness to hear the news from the office, 
 stood at the rear end of the veranda awaiting she 
 knew not what. 
 
 He had not long to wait. Presently, from the 
 heart of the grove to the north of the colonel s com 
 pound, hands in his pockets, hat on the back of his 
 head and lips pursed up in attempt at a whistle, saun 
 tering unconcernedly forth, came Lieutenant "Hasty" 
 .Walker of the Forty-Second, and Ray s face went 
 crimson with shame, for Walker was looking straight 
 at him, and had caught him spying. 
 
196 JUeutenant San Dp 
 
 CHAPTEK XVII. 
 
 IT was news from Blunt, at last, that had stirred 
 the garrison, news of consequence indeed. On much 
 bespattered pony a soldier had come lashing in from 
 the San Sulpicio road, bearing a letter which he said 
 had been delivered to the little guard at the ruins by 
 a brace of Macabebe scouts one of them wounded. 
 Blunt, like Forrest, had been held up in a jungle, had 
 turned savagely on his assailants, and had the won 
 drous luck to catch a bunch of them and trounce them 
 well, but he himself was shot in the leg, and his boy 
 subaltern was ill of a fever. He was entrenched and 
 could hold out until relieved, but he could not shove 
 ahead southward as was desired. He sent a rude 
 sketch map of the position, which he estimated to be 
 some forty miles west of south from San Sulpicio 
 and a mile back from the beach, and left everything 
 to the discretion of the commanding officer. 
 
 Crab was disgusted. What earthly comfort was 
 there in being commanding officer if the command 
 had to be reduced to a company to supply the de 
 mands from field columns that could do nothing but 
 get into trouble? It was high time he heard some 
 thing from Forrest and the relieving force under 
 
Lieutenant ^anflg map ior 
 
 Cagger, but he had heard nothing, not even a word as 
 to when to expect the coming of the solemn little 
 escort of the dead and wounded. It was high time to 
 hear that Blunt had broken through and communi 
 cated with the scouting parties out from Camp Mc- 
 Grath, near Dagupan, and instead came tidings that 
 Blunt had broken into a gang of insurrectos, number 
 unknown, and was stranded awaiting relief. Men 
 were not needed, nor munitions, only an able-bodied 
 officer. "Who is next for detail, Mr. Adjutant ?" he 
 demanded of Fethers, the moment he had read his 
 despatches, and when Fethers said "Mr. Belden, sir," 
 Crab shook his head. "Belden has mess money to 
 make up," said he. "Who is next ?" 
 
 "Either Captain Prince or Mr. Ray, or I, for that 
 matter, would be glad to go," hazarded Fethers, in 
 disregard of the roster. 
 
 "Captain Fethers," said Crab, with asperity, "you 
 know none of these can go ! What subaltern, sir ?" 
 
 And then Fethers had named Mr. Walker, despite 
 his manifold offices, and the bugle had brought to the 
 spot every officer not in close arrest except Mr. 
 Walker himself, who, though having been seen by a 
 dozen people less than thirty minutes before, could 
 be found by none of them now. Even Captain 
 Prince, with a bandaged Lead at which Crab stared 
 fixedly every little while, was there, silent and un 
 demonstrative, until, in a lull in the low-toned chat, 
 the commanding officer turned suddenly. 
 
108 JLfeutenant S>anDp Hap 
 
 " Captain Prince, what do you know of Mr. 
 Walker s whereabouts ?" for despite every precaution 
 on part of Prince, Eay and Trott, the story of that 
 human collision on Walker s gallery had somehow, 
 through native channels, possibly, got a start along 
 the line, and Mrs. Shane had found relief from her 
 own anxieties and woe by adding to the perplexities 
 of the post commander. Mrs. Shane, having failed in 
 getting speech with Mr. Walker on her own account, 
 had seen fit to believe that he was somewhere in hid 
 ing, awaiting the hostile coming of Captain Prince, 
 and, refusing to tell why she thought so, had mis 
 chievously imparted these her views to the wincing 
 Crabtree. Prince s appearance, therefore, with pal 
 lid features and a bandaged head, gave confirmation 
 to the story. Prince, even in receiving his injuries, 
 might have put Mr. Walker out of commission for the 
 time being, but Prince s answer was prompt and ex 
 plicit. 
 
 "I know nothing, sir and I care less." 
 Now, it had been on the tip of Crab s tongue to de 
 clare Walker unworthy the reposing of such a com 
 mand as that given to Blunt, but the moment it trans 
 pired that Walker could not be found, it was charac 
 teristic of his strange nature that he became instantly 
 insistent that Walker was the one man available 
 whose local duties should not stand in the way of dis 
 tinction in the field, and that it was also Walker s 
 right to make the attempt to "fill the bill" with credit 
 
Lieutenant >anDp map 199 
 
 to himself and the regiment. Therefore, Crabtree 
 ordered that Walker be found forthwith, and if not 
 found within ten minutes and the limits of the garri 
 son, to have assembly sounded and every possible shel 
 ter in and about Boutelle searched from top to bot 
 tom. 
 
 Then, while the orderlies were bustling there came 
 sudden silence, as Lieutenant Walker, in excellent 
 flesh and spirits, came strolling in from the direction 
 of the main gate and, without a word, saluted the 
 astonished chief. 
 
 "Where on earth have you been all spring and 
 summer ?" whispered Trott, as Crabtree, without 
 speaking, busied himself studying the map and 
 affected not to see the late comer. He wished time 
 to think how to deal with him. To the amaze of all 
 present. Walker himself opened the ball. 
 
 "Want me, Captain Crabtree ?" 
 
 "We have been wanting and waiting some time, 
 sir," said Crabtree, severely. "Why did you not 
 obey the call 3" 
 
 "Didn t hear it, sir." 
 
 "And where were you, pray, that you couldn t hear 
 officers call?" 
 
 "Out on the beach, sir. Waves were rolling and 
 children playing. Couldn t hear a thing." 
 
 "Then go to your quarters, sir, and make imme 
 diate preparations to turn over your funds and be 
 ready for field duty, to relieve Lieutenant Blunt. 
 
200 Lieutenant San Dp 
 
 You start in two hours. That will do, gentlemen. 
 Uh ah, Captain Prince, a word with you, sir." 
 
 2sTot until the little gathering had broken up, and 
 most of the party had reached the open air, was it 
 remarked that Walker, obviously startled and half 
 dazed by the sudden announcement, had remained be 
 hind. Trott, who would have given a month s mort 
 gaged pay for the chance, and stood enviously by 
 when the detail fell to his fellow subaltern, noted, ana 
 could not help noting, that so far from showing 
 eagerness or exultation, Walker had perceptibly 
 started on hearing Crab s abrupt words and as per 
 ceptibly had turned a trifle pale. Going straight to 
 Kay s quarters, Trott unbosomed himself of this in 
 formation on the spot. He had lost what liking he 
 ever had for the man, and even while he envied, had 
 begun to hate him. But Ray, only glancing a mo 
 ment quickly and curiously in his informant s face, 
 turned away and said nothing. His eyes were seek 
 ing the distant gallery at the rear of his colonel s 
 house. 
 
 It then lacked but a few minutes of sunset. Prince 
 caine presently to join them. "It s the last time I ll 
 be dining with you at Mrs. Blake s expense," said he, 
 grimly, to Ray. "I ve joined the Robins, and we 
 peck temporarily at Mrs. Cooney s. I suppose you 
 will continue as usual 2" 
 
 "Indeed I shan t," said Ray. "Put up my name, 
 too, at Mrs. Cooney s, if there s room. I ll be with 
 
Lieutenant SanDg Bap 201 
 
 you at breakfast. Of course, I can t be a burden to 
 Mrs. Blake any more than you can. Trott says Crab 
 detained you/ 7 he continued, tentatively. 
 
 "He did. He probably meant to ask how my head 
 
 got battered, then he saw " and a backward toss 
 
 of the head toward the opposite quarters told what 
 he meant. When Prince was at mortal odds with a 
 man he shrank from mention of his name, "and, see 
 ing a chance to show his commahnd again, he gave 
 him his ear, and sent me about my business with 
 the customary tip that he would send for me later. 
 Has Belden been to see you?" Prince suddenly 
 queried. 
 
 "ISTo," said Ray, then coloring. "He knows, I 
 think, that Fm too short to help him. I suppose 
 that s it." 
 
 "Yes," said Prince. "It s a hard case. We re all 
 short in the Forty-Second, except Crab, who could 
 lend it to him ten times over and never feel it, 
 but " 
 
 "And Belden has no clue no suspicion ?" 
 
 "Clues and suspicions a plenty, but no proof, no 
 cash. Crab is squeezing him and demanding that he 
 raise the money and pay it over at once. Here 
 come s dinner," he added, as Mrs. Blake s mozo ap 
 peared, tray-laden, at the rear of the gallery, followed 
 by a pair of native lads, also burdened. They 
 dragged the table to the veranda and deftly, quickly 
 set it, and the two friends took their seats as the 
 
202 JLieutenant SattDp Eap 
 
 bugles began their sunset call. Crab, for a wonder, had 
 dropped parade, and the flag came down with minor 
 honors only, and darkness seemed almost to come 
 down with it, so short was the tropic twilight. They 
 had finished dinner, were sipping their coffee, and all 
 the time, without a word between them on the sub 
 ject, each was keeping his watch on Walker s bun 
 galow, marveling that the occupant did not appear, 
 nor had the commanding officer come home to dress 
 for dinner, as was his wont. Prince grew nervous 
 and impatient, and presently took his hat and leave. 
 "Coming over after a while," said he, and vanished. 
 Mrs. Blake s servants, shuffling about in bare, noise 
 less feet, removed the dishes, replaced the table, and 
 sped away through the gloaming. The commanding 
 officer s house faded in the shadows of the night. The 
 lights at Stanhope s, Fethers s and Mrs. Shane s 
 blinked drowsily. Ray, moving restless about the 
 veranda, eager for news of any kind, called over to 
 Trott, in hope of hearing a friendly hail in reply, but 
 the mess was not yet back from its new refectory, 
 afar over toward the barrio gate, nor had he servant 
 or striker to send a message. In the faint glow that 
 came from Walker s sitting room, a form could be 
 seen flitting about Hilario, probably, packing the 
 lieutenant s field kit but where on earth was the 
 lieutenant ? 
 
 At last a footfall, but toward the rear, not the 
 front, veranda, and Ray, halted at the moment almost 
 
Lieutenant SanDg Kag 203 
 
 at the edge of the westward flight of steps, turned 
 and gazed. There was a moment of silence, of irreso 
 lution, perhaps, then a light tapping. Somebody at 
 Walker s rear doorway was striving to attract atten 
 tion within. Again the tapping, and still Hilario, 
 in front, seemed to hear nothing. At last the latch 
 clicked. Somebody had gently lifted it, the door 
 swung slowly on its hinges, and that faint glow, issu 
 ing from within, fell upon the timid suppliant a 
 native girl, neatly dressed, as they ever were, shy and 
 reluctant, hovered there, peering within, a little 
 white paper of some kind in her hand. A moment 
 she hesitated as though unwilling and afraid, then 
 slowly entered, and was lost from sight, and almost 
 at the moment Kay heard quick, crunching footsteps 
 on the eastward road, heard them come heavily up the 
 front steps, and saw the light from the open door fall 
 full upon the burly form of Lieutenant Walker, his 
 hat pulled over his eyes. Into the doorway he 
 plunged, the sun-warped boarding creaking under his 
 feet Ray heard a few gruff words to the servant in 
 the front room, a soft patter upon the kitchen steps 
 as swiftly the dim, girlish form reappeared, darting 
 down and out into the starlit opening, where, instead 
 of homeward, it vanished almost in an instant among 
 the deep shadows of that northward grove. Then 
 there was a moment of bustling to and fro in Walker s 
 sitting room, heavy tread and surly voicing. Then a 
 lamp was carried into the bedroom, and the booted 
 
204 JLieistenant San Dp 
 
 feet soon followed. Then there was sudden, impa 
 tient, angry exclamation, something harsh and pro 
 fane. Then mutterings of disgust and sounds as of a 
 kick and an overturned chair. Walker was obviously 
 in a pet, and it did not seem much to improve matters 
 that just at the moment a sergeant should rap at the 
 front door with the compliments of the commanding 
 officer, and the escort was ready, and would the lieu 
 tenant stop at the adjutant s office before mounting ? 
 
 "Crab s held up the whole mess," said Prince, re 
 appearing at the moment. "Got em corralled at the 
 office, giving em unmitigated hell in unimpeachable 
 English. I believe he s more bent on suppressing 
 that insurrection than he is the brown insurrectos. 
 I m worried about Blunt" 
 
 " Listen to that," said Eay, with uplifted hand, for 
 another crash in Walker s bedroom, and more bad 
 language, told of continued eruption. 
 
 "I know," said Prince, briefly. "He doesn t want 
 to go, and Crab has no business to send him. He s 
 never had independent command. He s never been 
 proved. Por all you know or I know he s a coward, 
 with all his blustering ways. He told Crab he 
 couldn t possibly be ready before daybreak, had per 
 sonal affairs to settle, and Crab gave him till taps to 
 turn over his funds and papers and start. What the 
 devil s wrong with him, do you think" 
 
 Kay shook his head. He had his theories, but no 
 facts. His thoughts followed that dusky little hand- 
 
Lieutenant ^anDg Bag 205 
 
 maid to yonder grove. The searchlight of his trou 
 bled brain was focussed full on that sylvan rendez 
 vous, "for whispering lovers made," and it revealed 
 nothing. Yet something told him Gertrude Dean was 
 there waiting for this unsoldierly soldier, and wait 
 ing in no happy mood. He was glad when Prince 
 turned away. "Crab seems to have forgotten our 
 spat," said he, "in his determination to humble the 
 mess. He orders me to take charge of Walker s com 
 pany and commissary office in addition to my own du 
 ties, and to receipt to Walker for his funds. I ll have 
 to get over to my quarters, or like as not Walker will 
 swear he went there for the purpose and I couldn t 
 be found. See you later, Ray." 
 
 The captain s footsteps died away. The still air of 
 the tropic evening brought to Eay s listening ears 
 the low murmur of voices about the post: Mrs. 
 Shane s silvery tones, accosting Prince in quest of 
 news as that efficient but much disgusted officer 
 passed her veranda ; Mrs. Stanhope s gentle voice, as 
 she added her inquiry to those of her young and vola 
 tile neighbor; Mrs. Cagger s anxious questioning as 
 she, too, came forth, as she did with each new comer, 
 seeking tidings from the columns afield ; Mrs. Feth- 
 ers s aggrieved and petulant "Is Captain Fethers 
 never coming home for dinner ? Here it is long after 
 eight" (it was by three minutes) "and everything is 
 done to a cinder ;" Prince s deep barytone and cheery 
 laugh as he responded. It was one of Prince s the- 
 
206 Lieutenant San&g Bap 
 
 cries that one should always wear a smile in the pres 
 ence of the sex, he being still unmarried. Beyond all 
 these and over in the garrison there was a subdued 
 hum of voices, the tinkle of mandolin and guitar, the 
 shrill snappish neigh and stamping hoof of tethered, 
 pugnacious ponies; beyond these and out in the 
 barrio the persistent and querulous yelp and chal 
 lenge of the village dogs. Ray turned from them, 
 impatient, irascible, his eyes and thoughts still on 
 those adjacent quarters and the more distant grove. 
 He put the bulk of his house between him and the 
 eastward sounds by again moving to the rear end of 
 that side gallery, tiptoeing, he could not say why, the 
 first few steps; then, stricken with sudden shame, 
 almost stamping the rest of them. Here he could 
 hear the low plashing, the murmurous melody of the 
 sea, and here presently he saw and heard the quick 
 and sudden exit of a dimly defined figure from 
 .Walker s rear doorway, heard the quick, impatient 
 footfalls dying away across the sandy waste, saw the 
 faintly outlined form go dancing away toward the 
 dark recesses of the grove, and leaning against the 
 wooden pillar at the end of the gallery, he stood wait 
 ing for, he knew not what ; he only knew there would 
 be something. 
 
 And presently it came. 
 
 Afar out over the westward wave, sparkling and 
 billowing under the spangled vault of heaven, there 
 rose, soft and mellow in the distance, then gradually 
 
jUeutenant ^anDp Kap 207 
 
 swelling in volume and resonance, the deep-toned 
 basso profundo of a steamer s whistle, one that Ray; 
 had heard many a time before and recognized at 
 once, the deep, vibrant roar of the big belled signal 
 of the Maumee. It meant beyond question news from, 
 friends, relief from Manila. It meant possibly even. 
 the return of Blake, the colonel, to his own. It 
 meant, how could he help but hope it, a prompt hear 
 ing of his grievance, immediate release from durance, 
 and the longed for orders to join his comrades in the 
 field. It meant the downfall of Crab and his absurdi 
 ties, the restoration of sanity and soldiership, and 
 Ray s heart bounded within him, as the cry of the 
 sentry rang shrill on the air. For the life of him he 
 could not repress the exultant hurrah that burst from 
 his lips and brought half a dozen households to their 
 feet, but that hushed almost as suddenly as it began. 
 Someone else had heard, someone to whom the 
 sound brought dismay, not rejoicing, someone to 
 whom it spoke of menace, retribution, even ven 
 geance. There came a sudden sound of pleading, of 
 struggle, of fierce threatening and abuse, then a rush 
 of bounding footsteps, a low, despairing, sobbing cry, 
 and Sandy Ray, forgetful of his arrest, forgetful of 
 his aversion, suspicion and shrinking, forgetful of 
 everything but that a woman was in peril or distress 
 and that woman a fragile, delicate and gentle girl 
 sprang from the veranda, ran swiftly across the inter 
 vening glade, and found himself an instant later 
 
208 Lieutenant SanBg Hag 
 
 bending over a white and senseless heap, then lifting 
 in his strong young arms and bearing to the edge of 
 the timber the fairest burden they had clasped in 
 many a day. Then, as the pallid starlight fell upon 
 that equally pallid, upturned face, he gazed as rea 
 son and reluctant brain had warned him, into the re 
 opening, questioning, imploring then startled and 
 repelling eyes of Gertrude Dean. 
 
Lieutenant ^anDg IRap 209 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 THERE was an awakening that night not soon for 
 gotten at Camp Boutelle. The garrison, all but the 
 guard, swarmed out to the beach and stayed there, 
 most of it, until long after midnight, when the last 
 boatload came ashore, and the Maumee, having 
 landed some six score and ten of its martial passen 
 ger list, weighed anchor and dropped coastwise down 
 to waiting San Sulpicio, where others of her list, it 
 seems, had business of importance. Just as was to 
 be expected, Colonel Blake was the first to land and 
 to be received with every manifestation of rejoicing 
 and respect by the commanding officer ad interim. 
 The two went, together and at once, accompanied by 
 that model staff officer, Captain Fethers, to the 
 colonel s quarters, where, in spite of new anxieties as 
 to her wards and patients, Mrs. Blake had warm wel 
 come and hot supper awaiting them. There was 
 time for no domestic details at the moment. Blake 
 came charged with important duties and instructions, 
 and Crab had a rueful tale in many a painful chapter 
 to unfold. Over these chapters we who may know 
 their contents and can fancy Crab s embarrassment. 
 
210 JLieutenant 
 
 may well draw the curtain. Blake had frankly liked 
 Crabtree had laughed at his little mannerisms, had 
 delighted in his Brittanic mode of speech, but had 
 sturdily insisted that Crab was a tiptop soldier, one 
 who, if ever he had a chance, would prove "a first- 
 class fighting man." But before hearing Crab s de 
 tailed account of the situation at the post, Blake 
 launched at once into the projects for the field. 
 
 It seems that the isolation of the command at Bou- 
 telle had been fully appreciated and understood at 
 Manila, but caused little uneasiness. Blunt, how 
 ever, even before he was fianlly blocked, had found 
 means to send a messenger by native sail boat to 
 Dagupan, whence the news would be instantly flashed 
 in to the general commanding. Blake, who had been 
 summoned and informed of the raid on San Sulpicio 
 the very hour of the coming of the Pittsburg, was 
 already seeking opportunity to return, when again he 
 was called, this time to hear that Forrest had been, 
 attacked and his field hospital crippled, that Crab- 
 tree had split up his command, despatching Blunt one 
 way and Cagger another, that it was useless for For 
 rest to attempt pursuit in the narrow and tortuous 
 mountain trails northward. He should be recalled 
 at once to refit at Boutelle, and then a new expedition 
 would be sent forth, concentrating columns from 
 three or four posts, Blake himself to take the field, 
 meantime supporting Blunt, reopening the road and 
 repairing the line. Before midnight Fethers had 
 
Lieutenant @>anOp Kag 211 
 
 written out the orders, while Blake was listening to- 
 Crabtree s halting and embarrassed recital. 
 
 "Has Walker gone ?" he presently interrupted. 
 
 "Left at 9 :80, sir, with Sergeant Butts and six 
 men, all we could spare." 
 
 Blake stepped to the balcony and gazed out over 
 the starlit bay. A mile from shore lay the Maumee, 
 her riding lights sending long pencils of dancing fire 
 landward across the deep. The colonel seemed 
 plunged in thought a moment. "We met the For 
 mosa/ said he, "and heard something of what had 
 been happening. We brought customs officers to in 
 vestigate Dean s affairs. I fancied, somehow, that 
 .Walker would be needed as a witness." 
 
 "We can reach him at town, sir," was the prompt 
 answer. "That is, if the Maumee goes over to-night. 
 He is not to leave there until dawn." And as be 
 spoke Crabtree was ruefully wondering how much the 
 [Formosa had told the returning commander. Then 
 he bethought him of Mrs. Blake s letters that Cowper 
 had ordered "fetched aft," and that he would have 
 been glad indeed to intercept and hold ; but while as 
 commanding officer, in the interests of good order and 
 discipline, Crab might to himself have justified the 
 act, he could not as a gentleman, once of Her Majes 
 ty s service, so act except upon that plea. Thinking 
 now of that letter, his heart sank. Blake, of course, 
 must know all about Ray and the mess and every 
 thing, Blake must have heard a woman s prejudiced 
 
212 lieutenant >anDp Bap 
 
 and biased report, and Crab had so hoped to keep ever 
 in the good graces of that most popular colonel. It 
 was impossible, however, from Blake s manner, to as 
 certain whether or not he had been informed. He 
 was precisely as courteous as ever before, and just 
 now seemed thinking only what to do in Walker s 
 case. "Let him go," he presently said. "If needed 
 he can be recalled. They won t finish this investiga 
 tion in a hurry." Then, turning quickly : "And now, 
 Crabtree, what mounts have you left ? We must send 
 couriers after Forrest and we should send an officer 
 with a few men." 
 
 "Mr. Eay is here," ventured Crab, "but I regret 
 to say I found it necessary to place him in arrest." 
 
 "Tell me about it," said Blake, briefly, and Crab- 
 tree told, and told it fairly. Fethers, sitting silently 
 by, nervously tapping his teeth with his pencil, could 
 not but declare later that Crab set nothing down in 
 malice, even though he naught extenuated. Blake 
 listened without a word until Crabtree had finished. 
 
 "Ray cannot go," said he briefly, though, as he told 
 himself, "it s only to order them back." "Who else 
 have you ?" 
 
 "Mr. Trott, Mr. Beld- 
 
 "JSTotify Trott to get ready," said Blake, briefly, to 
 Fethers, and the adjutant left. 
 
 "We ll talk of Kay s case, and other matters, in the 
 morning," continued the colonel, in quiet tone. "First 
 let s settle the field business. I fear these young fel- 
 
JUeutenant ^atttip map 213 
 
 lows have been playing because their old cat was 
 away." 
 
 "That is just the way I should put it, colonel," in 
 his relief and joy and to Blake s infinite delight and 
 subsequent merriment, cried Crabtree, almost ven 
 turing to seize his commander s hand. "I I have 
 positively no feeling in the matter, colonel. We 
 simply disagreed and he forgot himself. I er 
 expected him to come down and to his senses by this 
 time, but I haven t seen he hasn t asked permission 
 to see me." 
 
 "He will very shortly," said Blake. "Let us get 
 back to business. 
 
 And all this time Sandy Kay, an anxious and trou 
 bled man, was pacing his veranda and wondering 
 what the upshot would be. He had rushed to the aid 
 of a maiden in distress, and she had practically re 
 buked and disowned him. He had resigned her, 
 angering and even insolent in manner, to the native 
 damsel so attached to her, and the two, the lily white 
 maiden and the native girl, had gone wearily away 
 homeward, leaving Ray to return to his quarters and 
 senses. 
 
 Prince the third time came over to cheer and bear 
 him company. "I don t envy poor Crab his task to 
 night," said he. "Yet you ought to have seen him 
 greet the colonel. You would have thought he d been 
 praying for his return for weeks. Anything new, 
 Kay ?" he questioned, suddenly, for Ray looked older 
 
Lieutenant S>anDp 
 
 and graver and even more troubled than when he left 
 him two hours before. 
 
 "^Tothing new, I suppose," was the weary an 
 swer. "Only I hadn t fully grasped the situation, 
 perhaps." 
 
 Prince eyed him, sharply. 
 
 a See Walker again before he left?" 
 
 "Only over yahnduh," and a nod over his shoul 
 der as Ray drew his pipestem from his lips, conveyed 
 all he desired to tell on that subject. Prince lowered 
 himself into the biggest of the wicker chairs. Ray 
 was something of a puzzle to him. Obviously more 
 of a gentleman than most of the mess, he had early 
 attracted the captain s attention. Prince cared little 
 for garrison society and it cared little more for him. 
 He looked upon the sex as a disturbing element in the 
 army, lovely and alluring, perhaps, like the Rhine 
 maidens of the Lorelei, but equally to be avoided. 
 He had deep respect for such women as Mrs. Blake 
 and Mrs. Stanhope. He had less for such as Mrs. 
 Fethers, who had money of her own, and gowns and 
 things, that promoted envy and emulation among 
 other women and expense and worry for their hus 
 bands. He had no respect at all, and stood utterly at 
 odds with the pretty, laughing, teasing little women 
 of the Mrs. Shane type. They were at the bottom, 
 said Prince, of most of the bits of devilment that 
 came to his notice. Prince was yet to be recon 
 structed, for bachelorhood with him was not really a 
 
ILieutenant San Dp Bap 215 
 
 matter of choice. His sister, who was a widow, and 
 that sister s children, needed most of his means and 
 kept him poor. But Prince had taken a fancy to Ray, 
 and Ray piqued both his curiosity and interest. Lit 
 tle as Prince liked Walker, personally, before being 
 hurled off Walker s veranda, and much as he hated 
 him now, he meant to hold him to strict accounta 
 bility. Prince at the moment was powerless to act 
 as he desired. Crab had his suspicions, Crab was 
 watching. Crab possibly had picked Walker to go 
 in order to prevent further collision at the post. Crab 
 had even sent for and informed the captain that it 
 was his, the commanding officer s, wish, that he, 
 Prince, be present at the office when Walker turned 
 over his funds. Crabtree had designated Fethers to 
 receive and receipt for them finally, and for the life 
 of him Prince could not imagine why Crabtree in 
 sisted on his presence, unless it be that he suspected 
 that Walker would be found short. 
 
 But at the appointed hour, when Eethers and 
 Prince together reluctantly left the beach and the con 
 templation of the still far distant lights of the Mau- 
 mee, they found W T alker in readiness at the commis 
 sary office. The sergeant set before them the papers 
 and Walker the money. At the exchange office a sim 
 ilar ceremony was gone through, Fethers silently 
 counting and signing, Prince silently looking on. 
 Then Walker turned and, for the first time, his eyes 
 met those of the victim in the morning s clash, and 
 
216 Lieutenant 
 
 they met squarely with unmitigated enmity, if not 
 hate, in both. 
 
 "And now, cap," said Walker, "I m ordered to 
 turn the company fund over to you/ at which piece of 
 Bowery boy insolence Prince s cheeks burned to the 
 temples, "and I do it here because neither to-night 
 nor any time do I want you in my quarters. You 
 butted in there this morning." 
 
 "Not a word of that, Mr. Walker !" cried Fethers, 
 springing instantly between them. "My orders are 
 
 to arrest you if you JSTo, captain, I beg of you," 
 
 he continued, warning the senior back with his hand. 
 "Here, Walker, sit there and count out your cash. 
 Prince, just step outside one moment. I ll count and 
 verify, you can sign," and so, half persuading, half 
 pushing, the adjutant parted the would-be combat 
 ants. Prince, fuming, strode the piazza a moment 
 or two. Walker presently came plunging forth and 
 went straightway to his detachment. Ten minutes 
 later Fethers had sent him all his receipts and, much 
 to the unspoken surprise of at least three men in gar 
 rison, Walker s accounts were cleared ere he left the 
 limits of Camp Boutelle. 
 
 But Prince was still hot when, after another half 
 hour at the beach, trying to cool off, he returned to 
 Ray, alone and anxious. The sound of little parties 
 marching in and being distributed about the barracks 
 had roused his curiosity for the moment, but Trott, 
 hurrying by, had explained that these were merely 
 
JUeutettant SattDp Kap 217 
 
 the convalescents and other men left back at Manila, 
 every available soldier being now sent to his station. 
 Something was surely afoot, though Trott knew 
 nothing more than that he was to go at dawn with 
 orders recalling Forrest and C agger from the moun 
 tains, and that the colonel "had business." Business 
 for all hands, thought Sandy, and I still in arrest! 
 Smoking was another thing he had almost abandoned, 
 yet in his nervousness to-night the old pipe was a 
 solace, and he was puffing away when Prince found 
 him. Each had something uppermost in his mind 
 and each longed to broach it, yet shrank. Each had 
 reason to think ill of Walker, and so thinking had 
 until lately spoken freely, but now, with additional 
 and damning reason, each was silent. 
 
 It was Ray who questioned at last. 
 
 "Did you see the colonel did you go to his quar 
 ters?" 
 
 "I did, indeed! He made me, in fact. He told 
 Fathers to tell me to come up, and I stayed as much 
 as ten minutes, too, more to bother Crab than any 
 thing else, for I know they had business." 
 
 "See Mrs. Blake?" 
 
 "ISTo, she was very busy with Mrs. Dean and and 
 the daughter. Sick again, possibly. That Filipino 
 girl was doing a good deal of bustling about from 
 room to room. The new doctor is with them. He 
 was hardly off the ship when he was called to the 
 
218 Lieutenant San Dp Ha? 
 
 colonel s. They sent him and six hospital corps men 
 on the Maumee. Looks like field work, doesn t it 3" 
 
 "Of course," said Sandy, disgustedly, "now that 
 I m in limbo." 
 
 "Bosh, man, don t bother about that, now that 
 Blake is here he ll bring Crab to his senses, and you ll 
 be out in plenty of time. Only I wish you might 
 have had the chance of that that cad yonder." 
 
 Ray heaved himself out of his chair, puffing ner 
 vously at his briar, and again began pacing the floor. 
 Eor a man who had been at Boutelle little over a 
 week, it seemed to him he had never known a post 
 with so many possibilities for sensation, he hated to 
 say scandal, all centering in one soldier and that sol 
 dier s dupes and victims. But such proofs as Ray 
 had of that soldier s wrongdoing, or inexplicable 
 doings, were not such proofs as he felt it possible to 
 use. He could not understand how a girl for whom 
 Mrs. Blake felt such affection and regard in whom 
 ne, in spite of all he had seen and heard and sus 
 pected, felt such indefinable interest, and for whom, 
 in spite of himself, he felt such strange, unwelcome 
 attraction could be influenced by and drawn to that 
 ill-bred, coarse-fibred fellow whose very look at a 
 woman was insult. He knew that Prince must be 
 thinking of Walker just as he thought He knew that 
 Prince had seen and heard things that made him 
 think ill of the girl, think worse of her perhaps than 
 Hay himself, who knew or thought he knew so much 
 
Lieutenant San Dp Bag 219 
 
 more. He could not bring himself to talk with a man 
 he had known so short a time, much as he liked him, 
 of a girl he had known even less a time, and of whom 
 he thought he had learned so many things, little, as 
 he persuaded himself, he liked or respected her. Yet 
 he was eager to talk, eager to explain, eager even to 
 extenuate. He longed to hear from Prince s lips that 
 Prince disbelieved the evidence of his own senses, for 
 what Sandy Ray practically longed to believe was 
 that his own senses had maligned her. 
 
 And while he was pacing the floor, glancing fitfully 
 at his companion the while, the latter suddenly put up 
 a hand and slowly worked himself out of the depths 
 of that easy chair and thence to the open door. It 
 was then a little after midnight and even the snarling 
 and yelping of the village dogs had ceased. A pro 
 found silence had fallen on the garrison, though once 
 in a while a low murmur of voices rose above the soft 
 monotone of the surf along the sandy concave of the 
 shore. Certain stores, it seems, were still being 
 rafted through the little breakers. Certain detach 
 ments were still at work; but even these voices had 
 ceased as though every one had suddenly struck work 
 and stopped to listen to some other sound, strange and 
 dominant, that compelled their attention. Prince had 
 tiptoed to the gallery without and Sandy followed. 
 And then it came again, and from the direction of 
 the colonel s quarters a scream, at sound of which 
 both men sprang from the rear steps and then, in 
 
220 JUeutenam San Dp Bap 
 
 amazement, halted short, confounded. The scream 
 suddenly changed to a peal of weird, shrill, unearthly 
 laughter, that rang out on the night and roused the 
 barrio dogs to instant and responsive yelps and chal 
 lenge a laugh that in spite of tragic import re 
 minded Ray of nothing on earth so much as the wild 
 chorus of the prairie wolves in the old days of his 
 army boyhood. The two men stood gazing at each 
 other in bewilderment a moment, then the captain 
 spoke : 
 
 a My God, man ; don t you know what that is ? It s 
 a woman in hysterics !" 
 
Lieutenant >anDp Bag 221 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 ANOTHER day had come. Blake had resumed com 
 mand. Trott had cantered away to the recall of For 
 rest, a little squad of the Forty-Second in his wake. 
 Prince had been sent for and notified to be in readi 
 ness to march his company to reinforce Blunt s de 
 tachment, and to take over the command. There was 
 significance in this. It meant that the veteran colonel 
 of cavalry, who had spent long years in conflict with 
 savage tribesmen, considered Lieutenant Walker too 
 little experienced for so responsible a duty. It 
 might mean even more, but if so no hint escaped the 
 colonel s lips. Prince had come straight to Sandy to 
 tell him the news and to say that he had gone so far 
 as to suggest to Colonel Blake that, as he had no 
 subaltern of his own, and as some sixty men were to 
 go with him, and another officer would be desirable, 
 and Mr. Ray was unemployed, he would be more 
 than glad to have him. So far from snubbing him, 
 Blake had looked pleased. "It is just because I have 
 known Ray so long and have reason to be so fond 
 of him, having no son of my own," said he, "that I 
 cannot release him from arrest until Captain Crab- 
 tree has had time to reconsider the case. As yet we 
 
222 Lieutenant SanDp 
 
 have had other and more important matters to occupy 
 us. Tell Kay for me that he must be patient." 
 
 "It s just what I said all along/ cried poor Sandy. 
 "It s a handicap for me to be under Blake at all. If 
 I should happen to do anything worth mentioning, 
 though it might tickle him to death and he d write 
 beautifully to Dad about it, he d shut me out of his 
 report for fear he might overstate my services. I m 
 damned if I don t wish I d been promoted to the 
 Farmers." By which descriptive, with no disrespect 
 to the agricultural classes be it said, Mr. Ray and his 
 comrades referred to a certain newly organized regi 
 ment of Horse that stood not high in the estimation 
 of other commands. 
 
 So another expedition was to start, and no Sandy 
 with it, all through the absurd conceits of that bump 
 tious, impossible, impracticable, un-American pro 
 tempore accident of a commanding officer ! swore the 
 army bred boy in his disgust. He begged Fethers to 
 beg the colonel to give him a hearing in presence of 
 Captain Crabtree, if he pleased, at the earliest possi 
 ble hour, and had been up at reveille, and astir ever 
 since, in hopes of a summons. Blake, too, was up with 
 the sun, he and the new doctor coming forth from that 
 rear gateway together, talking gravely and earnestly 
 as they passed the quarters and on into the garrison. 
 It was soon learned that the doctor had spent the 
 night at the colonel s ; that it was on account of Mrs. 
 Dean, who had received news of her husband of suck 
 
Lieutenant San Dp Hag 223 
 
 a character as to throw her into hysterics, and in low 
 hysterical condition she had remained all night, Mrs. 
 Elake and Gertrude alternating in watch over her, 
 with the native girl ever hovering about. Up to the 
 hour of guardmounting, however, Sandy Ray could 
 not imagine the nature of the tidings that so pros 
 trated the unhappy woman; then, when told by Dr. 
 Morton himself, for the two were well known to each 
 other in Manila, Bay could not in the least compre 
 hend her. It seems that Mrs. Dean had asked to see 
 the doctor upon his arrival, and then surprised him 
 by anxiously inquiring for her husband. 
 
 "I expected to find him here," was Morton s an 
 swer, whereupon, wild eyed, she sat up in bed and 
 demanded : 
 
 "You surely saw him on the Formosa! Captain 
 
 Cowper promised You surely cannot mean he 
 
 was not aboard!" To which the much perturbed 
 practitioner answered reluctantly that he had every 
 reason to believe Mr. Dean was not aboard, in fact, 
 that he had a letter from Captain Cowper for her. 
 This she demanded at once, and read by the light of 
 Paloma s lamp, and then fell back in hysterics. The 
 poor creature, said Morton, had been struggling so 
 long against fate that she had utterly broken down. 
 
 "But why on earth should it matter so very much 
 whether he succeeded in reaching the Formosa 3" was 
 Sandy s query. "And why should Cowper have been 
 expecting him, and where could he be, and why, now. 
 
224 Lieutenant 
 
 that it was fairly well guarded and secure from at 
 tack, should he not be at Sulpicio ? Why, if able to 
 be about at all, should he not be there, straightening 
 out his tangled affairs and getting matters into shape ? 
 His safe was there in the midst of the ruins, guarded 
 by the detachment. His brave boy slept there under 
 the new-made mound near the big stone church. His 
 wife and daughter were in better hands by far than 
 when under his own roof. It was his business to be 
 there! And then the doctor mentioned those silent 
 civil officers of the law and the customs, and their 
 mission at San Sulpicio, and then it dawned upon 
 Ray that Dean perhaps preferred a refuge in the 
 wilderness or far at sea to a rencontre with them. A 
 little later he was sure of it. 
 
 At ten Prince and his sixty trudged away, leaving 
 Belden seated gloomily with Ray, and now at last 
 they had reason to hope the colonel would send for 
 and see these aggrieved young gentlemen both, in 
 different ways, victims of the Crabtree administra 
 tion. It was Belden who had the first audience, and 
 a long one it proved, for Blake had many a question 
 to ask, and note to make. It was long after eleven 
 when Belden returned, finding Ray curiously study 
 ing a parcel brought in but a moment before by 
 Prince s house boy. Ray crumpled a note in his 
 hand and stowed the packet in a pigeonhole at Bel- 
 den s approach, coloring a bit at the hurried incivility 
 of the proceeding, but Belden hardly noted. 
 
iUeutenant ^anDp Bap 225 
 
 "Ray/ 7 said he, "some of that stolen mess money 
 has been found here at the post, but there ain t time 
 to tell you. The colonel wants to see you." 
 
 Then oddly Ray faltered, turned back, took the 
 packet from the pigeonhole, and begging Belden s, 
 pardon, locked it in his trunk. "Something of 
 Prince s," he explained, then went his way. 
 
 Something told him Crabtree would be there to 
 witness the coming interview and there he was, seated 
 at the side, not the front, of the desk, and to Sandy s 
 surprise the captain greeted him with a very frank 
 and civil "Good morning, Mr. Ray," which he hardly 
 knew how to answer, and so compromised on a half 
 bow. Speak he could not. It was the colonel who 
 did that : 
 
 "I have sent for you, Mr. Ray" (how odd it 
 sounded ! yet it must always be so on duty, thought 
 Sandy), a to say that as long as twelve hours ago Cap 
 tain Crabtree expressed his desire that you should be 
 released from arrest. It was I who kept you in. The 
 absence at this moment of so many who were partici 
 pants in this recent demonstration at the mess, 
 makes it impossible to investigate now, but as com 
 mander of the regiment I am bound to tell you I re 
 gret that you had even a passive part in it that 
 when, in my opinion, you should have thrown your 
 influence against it, you were silent." 
 
 This was hard to bear and Ray s eyes began to 
 blink, his lips to twitch. Stand and take it he must 
 
226 jUeutenant San Dp 
 
 and without a protest. Yet he longed to interpose a 
 word. He was amazed when Crabtree did that for 
 him. 
 
 "I I crave your pardon, Colonel Blake," said he, 
 with infinite deference of manner, "but possibly Zi 
 misled you. 1 wish to say right here that so far from, 
 taking part in the original demonstration, I believe 
 Mr. Ray disapproved it. Then when I thought him 
 accessory to a piece of feminine impertinence, 
 he promptly denied it, and and with right. It was 
 in what followed that I felt compelled to assert my 
 self and restrain Mr. Ray. That object acompiished 
 I can have no desire to press matters, and uh er 
 therefore would, myself, have released Mr. Ray 
 within the statutory limit. Our our subsequent 
 difference, sir, was rather personal than official." 
 
 Sandy was confounded. This was anything but 
 what he had looked for at the hands of this much be 
 rated captain. He strove to speak, as Blake s deep- 
 lined visage seemed to invite, but the choke in his 
 throat was too much for him, and the colonel saw it. 
 
 "Here," said he, rising from his chair, "I have 
 known you from babyhood," and he placed a long, 
 lean hand on Sandy s shoulder, "and I ve known you, 
 captain, less than three months, but I m mightily; 
 mistaken in both of you if after such a piece of mag 
 nanimity you two cannot settle this matter far better 
 and quicker than I can. Your arrest is ended, Sandy, 
 but not your duty." Then, noting the hot tears 
 
Lieutenant >anDg Kap 227 
 
 springing to the young soldier s eyes, "Come and dine 
 with us this evening, both of you. Now I ll leave 
 you to yourselves." 
 
 But that dinner was deferred. At one o clock there 
 had come a little note from Mrs. Blake, just such a 
 kind, helpful word as Aunt Nan could be counted on 
 to write, rejoicing in the release and reconciliation, 
 and the prospect of seeing them that evening 
 "though I wish our household were not so distracted, 
 with Mrs. Dean worse and Gertrude worn out with 
 grief and worry." At four o clock came the mozo, 
 panting, with a message. a La Seiiora Coronel 
 desea al instante el Sefior Teniente," and Sandy 
 dropped his pen and the letter to his father and went 
 almost on the run. 
 
 He found his kind friend at the head of the stair 
 way. Gertrude had worse news of her father. "He 
 is desperately ill at a native village beyond Sulpicio 
 only a few miles. She and Paloma start at once, 
 and, Sandy, I can t let that child go with no other 
 protection." 
 
 " Shall I ?" was all he said. 
 
 "Will you f said Aunt Nannie. 
 
 "I ll be ready in ten minutes," was the answer, as 
 he ran down the steps. From the lower court he 
 called to her. "By saddle or boat ?" 
 
 "By sail. It s out there now, with two native 
 boatmen. She knows enough of the language, if you 
 don t." 
 
228 Lieutenant SsanOg Hap 
 
 One other question occurred to him before he sped 
 away leaving it unasked. "Would she wish it?" 
 Probably not, but that did not weigh with him now. 
 Aunt Nan wished it. He yes he wished it. The 
 sea breeze, if it held, would surely waft them to their 
 destination by seven or eight. The guard at Sulpicio 
 would then be but five or six miles. Help could be 
 had from there if need be. Hurriedly he closed his 
 letter ; tossed a few traps into his haversack, thought 
 a moment, then carefully stowed with them Prince s 
 little packet, buckled on his cartridge belt and re 
 volver, slung poucho and blanket over his arm, and 
 in twenty minutes was at the landing, looking over 
 the queer craft that was to be their transport. There 
 it tossed on the ebbing tide, its nose in the sand, its 
 stern washed by the restless little breakers, barely 
 twenty feet long and a yard wide, with long, elastic 
 outriggers lashed securely inboard, and bearing at 
 their extremity a twelve foot bundle of stalks by way 
 of float or balance. Two uprights of tough bamboo 
 supported flapping lateen sails. Two half naked 
 Tagalogs dawdled against the bow, every now and 
 then shoving a few inches sternward so as to keep 
 their banca from sticking fast on the beach. Amid- 
 ship was heaped some matting and zacate grass, and 
 to this Sandy pointed as he handed his burden to the 
 silent boatman. Then down came Moon and his 
 spouse with substantial store of bottles, boxes and 
 vans, that were stowed well forward. Then came the 
 
Lieutenant @anOp Bap 
 
 colonel himself, with a few words aside to Kay. 
 Much as he disapproved of Dean, Blake had deep 
 sympathy for his family and was sending his choicest 
 and best in charge of them. "There s a lagoon be 
 hind a long sand spit," said he, "a mile beyond Sul- 
 picio, and this takes you almost directly to the barrio 
 where Dean is laid by the heels. They counted on his 
 going by the Formosa to Manila, it seems. He had 
 made them believe he had funds and money at his 
 command there perhaps he has among the smug 
 gling gang, and I m betting my future stars he s sim 
 ply got drunk and couldn t be boated out to her and 
 has been there in hiding ever since. No wonder he s 
 sick! He ll be sicker still when the revenue crowd 
 lay hands on him, and that s something his daughter 
 doesn t know. I ll send Hilario to town, with her 
 note to the convent people, and they will send nurse, 
 and Sisters of Charity, or what all so you can rest 
 easy." 
 
 And then, presently, with a score of natives, stol 
 idly, curiously, looking on, with jSTo. 6 and a corporal 
 watching from the gate, but not another soul of the 
 garrison, there came the native girl Paloma, bearing 
 an old valise of the colonel s and a gossamer raincoat. 
 A quick glance of recognition passed between her and 
 the nearest boatman as she transferred her burden to 
 him. A quick look of apprehension shot into her 
 eyes at sight of the young officer. She even recoiled 
 a step, then suddenly turned to meet her young mis- 
 
230 Lieutenant anDg Rag 
 
 tress, coming slowly, with Mrs. Blake s arm about her 
 slender form, with her swimming eyes fixed on the 
 gentle face of her benefactress. 
 
 Something prompted Kay, instead of stepping for 
 ward to assist her into the boat, to fall back and leave 
 that duty to his colonel, but it is doubtful if Gertrude 
 could have seen him through the mist of tears. She 
 seemed to see no one but Mrs. Blake. Clasping in 
 both her own the firm, white hand of her friend, she 
 never for an instant removed her gaze from the sweet 
 and sympathetic eyes that bent upon her such a world 
 of compassion and tenderness. There was something 
 imploring, something incomprehensible, something 
 almost unearthly in that piteous scrutiny. It seemed 
 as though there was in the heart of the girl a pas 
 sionate longing to throw herself into Aunt Dannie s 
 clasping arms and sob out some burning secret upon 
 her breast. Watching her intently, Eay was appalled 
 at the grief, the suffering, in that pallid, yet beautiful 
 face. At last they reached the wet sands about the 
 prow, and Mrs. Blake for a moment glanced fearfully 
 about, first at the fragile craft, then at the placid 
 November skies. Typhoon and tropic stormtime had 
 passed. All aloft was sweet and serene. The face of 
 the waters was well-nigh as unruffled as that of the 
 cloudless heavens. The far distant sweep of the 
 southward shore seemed but a league or two away, 
 and Sulpicio s gray towers loomed sharp and clear 
 against the dark background of the banana grove be- 
 
Lieutenant SanDp Bap 231 
 
 yond. All nature spoke of peace and security. Only 
 here in this girlish bosom was there storm and stress. 
 
 The colonel bent forward to aid her aboard, sig 
 nalling as he did so to the bare-legged Filipino lads 
 hovering curiously about them. Into the brine they 
 plunged at his nod, bounding over the bamboo braces 
 and grasping the narrow footboard that skirted the 
 gunwales. It were best to cut this parting short if 
 the voyagers were to reach even Sulpicio before night 
 fall. But now, as Blake would have lifted her over 
 the bow, Gertrude, with one low, sobbing cry, turned 
 and threw herself upon Nannie s breast. "Mrs. 
 Blake, Mrs. Blake!" she moaned, "you have been so 
 good, oh, so good to us to us all, and I I oh, 
 what have I done !" 
 
 Then in the passion and abandon of her grief, or 
 shame or misery, or all combined, she would have 
 slipped from those fond, circling arms and flung her 
 self prostrate at her feet. But, more firmly they 
 clasped her, more fondly the soft lips pressed their 
 kiss upon the pillowed head, upon the beautiful, rip 
 pling, tumbled hair and murmured their words of 
 caution, of encouragement. "Hush, Gertrude, hush, 
 child. Keep your strength. Think of your father 
 and his need " 
 
 "Oh, it is that that and Harry " wailed the 
 
 girl, in her wild abandonment. "It is that only 
 that can plead for me !" 
 
232 Uteutenam >anDp 
 
 And again, almost sternly now, "Hush!" said 
 Mrs. Blake, with a warning glance at Kay and a, 
 quick gesture to her husband. 
 
 "In with you, quick, Paloma !" whispered Blake, 
 and the agile native girl was aboard at a bound, then 
 turned and held forth her hands. Gently the colonel 
 unclasped the white arms from the neck of his wife 
 and drew the shrinking form to his side. Another 
 moment and he had stooped and, quick and sure, 
 lifted it with one powerful swing over outrigger, foot 
 board and gunwale, heedless of hissing spray and lap 
 ping waves, and all in that moment, with her head in 
 Paloma s lap, the sobbing child lay nestling on the 
 low grass heap amidship. Kay sprang quickly over 
 the bow. A swarm of native boys sent the light craft 
 shooting through the sparkling breakers till she rode 
 with unfettered prow. The paddles in the lean 
 brown hands dipped and flashed, the waters foamed 
 and eddied before the plunging blades, the keen stem 
 swung around to the south, the pointed sails filled and 
 bellied in the landward wind, and the forefoot clove 
 the murmuring ripples, tossing the white crests aside, 
 and Gertrude, lifting head and hand in fond adieu, 
 waved one last and lingering farewell to the fading 
 forms upon the shore, but dimly seen through the 
 flood of tears, then buried her face again to sob her 
 heart out on Paloma s knee, all unconscious of the 
 troubled gaze of the young soldier crouching at the 
 
Lieutenant San DP Rag 233 
 
 foot of the foremast, and for her sake and that of the 
 gentle woman who had taken her to heart and home, 
 driving swift into the shadows of the coming night 
 and the thick of new perils he must meet, unaided 
 and alone. 
 
234: lieutenant SanDg Kag 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 THE sun had set below the westward wave and the 
 red glow still tinged the summit of San Sulpicio s 
 twin towers as the long canoe-like banca, speeding on 
 its way, at last headed for a still distant point upon 
 the shore. Far out to sea, a speck upon the horizon, 
 the Maumee was vanishing toward Manila. Ray, 
 who had crept a little forward where the low-hung 
 sail would not impede his view, marveled a bit that 
 their dusky helmsman should have kept so far out, 
 sailing aslant into the wind instead of coasting closer. 
 The frail craft was only built for lagoon and river 
 service, with a possible flit along shore when the sea 
 was still, but it was taking chances in any weather to 
 venture such a distance from land. Two miles of 
 dancing water lay between them and the glistening 
 walls of the town, as they shot athwart the rippling 
 ribbon of light, stretching between Sulpicio s shore 
 line and the glowing disk at the horizon. Not until 
 far beyond possibility of shot or signal did their pilot 
 change her course. Once or twice a word or two had 
 been exchanged between the two, captain and crew. 
 Once or twice a long, lean, brown arm in the bows 
 
Lieutenant San Dp Bag 233 
 
 had pointed to some object on the shore, and then had 
 flashed a glance of intelligence. But these were men 
 employed by friends of Dean men whom his daugh 
 ter trusted and Paloma seemed to know. There was 
 nothing for Ray to do until once more landed. There 
 was nothing to really cause him to think of treachery. 
 Indeed he was thinking of something very different, 
 wondering how long it would be before Gertrude 
 Dean became aware of his presence, when, rising to 
 her knees and scanning the palm-skirted beach to the 
 south and east, she suddenly looked, all unprepared 
 and unsuspecting, straight into his eyes. Almost on 
 the instant her look turned to challenge, and sudden 
 color flew to the face that had been so wan and white. 
 Bending low, the young officer crept beneath the fore 
 sail and steadied himself at the mast. The breeze 
 had slackened with the going down of the sun, and 
 the gentle sea was heaving by in low, lazy billows to 
 the shore. The banca no longer careened to the wind, 
 but dipped idly with each successive swell. Paloma, 
 seated with her back to the bow, saw the instant 
 change in the eyes of her young mistress and needed 
 no explanation. Eay was the first to speak, and he 
 was at a loss what to say. 
 
 "You can charge this to Colonel and Mrs. Blake, 
 Miss Dean," said he. "Fm here practically by 
 order. " 
 
 There was no reply for a moment. When it came 
 there was nothing conciliatory, to say the least. 
 
236 Lieutenant San Dp Hap 
 
 They should not have put YOU to the trouble on 
 my account." 
 
 "They both feared it might be dark before you 
 reached your father/ 7 he managed to explain. 
 
 "I have Paloma, who has been with me often 
 after dark." 
 
 "Yes, 1 know, but then Sandy stopped in 
 
 sudden confusion. The vivid flush had been fading. 
 Xow it blazed again. What on earth possessed him 
 to make so awkward an admission ? Then, a second 
 thought. Well, why not? since he knew that, not 
 once only, but thrice at least, she had been flitting by 
 night through that mysterious grove and on those 
 mysterious missions since he knew that she sought 
 out or followed that good-looking but objectionable 
 youth, his next door neighbor? And she who had 
 been guilty of such unmaidenly conduct, and per 
 haps of other misdemeanor, was now assuming re- 
 bukeful airs over him who had come as her guard and 
 escort. Up and back went the curly, dark head at 
 the instant. He had still much of the boy about him. 
 
 "I shall intrude as little as possible," said he 
 briefly, "and shall only be in your way an hour or so 
 after you find your father." 
 
 The name brought her back to her senses and her 
 grief. Of course, he wasn t to blame for coming, and 
 it was like Mrs. Blake to insist on her having an 
 escort, and it would be, moreover, a help and comfort 
 to her to have an officer near by in her extremity. 
 
Lieutenant ^anOg Uap 
 
 Her lips might have found it possible to say sHe 
 wished it were any one rather than Mr. Kay, but her 
 heart refused its sanction. She knew better. She 
 knew that her grievance against this old and dear 
 friend of her benefactress was that he alone, of all tfie 
 officers that she had met and known, refused her the ; 
 involuntary homage all men pay a pretty girl, and 
 the sympathy, friendliness something that should 
 have been promptly accorded one in such strait and 
 distress as she. Could it be that Mr. Kay was jeal 
 ous of the fondness and welcome Mrs. Blake had so 
 freely given? Even in all her grief and anxiety 
 Gertrude Dean had so much of the woman in her 
 that she meant to bring this young gallant to a realiz 
 ing sense of his misconduct, and that right soon. But 
 again the crew was pointing southwestward now, and 
 it was growing darker, and Paloma s dusky face 
 looked anxious and perplexed. The crew was saying 
 something to the combined skipper and steersman 
 that even Paloma could not understand something 
 that caused the latter to bend low, peering under the 
 mainsail, and to study eagerly the long line of dis 
 tant, sandy shore toward which the long, lazy rollers 
 were slowly bearing them. Then he, too, spoke, sud 
 denly and low, and Paloma s eyes took on a shade of 
 deeper anxiety. Kay could not see her face. She 
 was murmuring something in Spanish, and the look 
 was speedily reflected in that of her young mistress, 
 t meant trouble, perhaps new trouble, of some kind, 
 
238 Lieutenant SanOg 
 
 and in the presence of common danger personal dif 
 ferences had to be ignored. 
 
 "Is anything wrong ?" he asked, in cautious tone. 
 "You will have to take me into the family confidences 
 for the time being." 
 
 And though it sounded flippant, and she marked it 
 on her mental tablets for future retribution, Miss 
 Dean felt the need of counsel and promptly answered. 
 
 "They both speak Tagalog Paloma s dialect, but 
 now they re using Ilocano. She thinks they don t 
 wish her to understand, and she is pretending not to, 
 but every now and then there is a word she knows. 
 They are looking for signals on shore." 
 
 Eay glanced at the fast fading walls of San Sul- 
 picio, now nearly three miles away to the northeast. 
 In ten minutes all would be darkness, and the time 
 had surely come for them to seek the mouth of the 
 long lagoon of which the colonel spoke. They should 
 even now be opposite, yet the prow was pointed south 
 ward still. The sea, not the shallow estuary, was to 
 be their road unless all indications failed. 
 
 "Tell her to ask why we do not head for the la 
 goon," he said, and presently, in answer to the query 
 of the girl, the helmsman pointed to the dim point 
 below them and used but a single word. 
 
 "He says there are signals ahead," came Gertrude s 
 translation. 
 
 "How far south of town is Mr. Dean supposed to 
 be?" 
 
JLieutenant San Dp Kap 239 
 
 "Five or six miles, at a little hamlet they call Bato, 
 It is close to the sea, under a cliff." 
 
 Bay turned and looked again under the foresail. 
 Stars were beginning to peep through the eastward 
 heavens. The shore could barely be distinguished. 
 Here and there a twinkling, firefly light began to 
 show against the black fringe of forest, and these he 
 eagerly scanned. There was now barely enough of 
 breeze to fill the sails, and the frosty foam that broke 
 under the sharp bows had dwindled away to a mur 
 muring ripple. One light, far to the left front, as 
 the shadows deepened, seemed to glow and grow with 
 more insistence, and as Ray studied it, watching the 
 bow man the while, even to redden with menace. 
 Twice the crouching native glanced quickly back 
 over his shoulder, but at sight of the keen eyes fixed 
 upon him in soldier scrutiny, turned instanter to the 
 front again and feigned to busy himself with his pad 
 dle. 
 
 "Miss Dean/ presently queried Sandy, "has 
 Paloma been with you long? Does she understand 
 English?" 
 
 "Ever since our first week at Manila. A very lit 
 tle," was the brief reply. It was not the first case he 
 had heard of of deep attachment on part of native 
 girl to American mistress. The poor creatures had 
 known what servitude meant when the Spaniards 
 ruled the islands. American rule seemed no rule at 
 all, and the women understood it and rejoiced in it 
 
240 Hieittettam 
 
 quicker than did the men, who were forever sus 
 picious of deep laid plot or treachery. Kay s own 
 senses had told him something of Paloma s almost 
 dog-like devotion. Mrs. Blake had told him more. 
 He had ripe reason to know that mistress and maid 
 were well nigh inseparable. Therefore, did he scoff 
 at the idea of plot, collusion or complicity shared by 
 Paloma at the expense of the fair and gentle creature 
 she served. Yet Paloma seemed at first to know these 
 coastwise mariners. 
 
 "What does she say or think of these boat 
 men?" 
 
 "She saw them often on the beach at Sulpicio. One 
 of them, the helmsman, worked for father. She does 
 not know what to think. Mr. Mr. Ray, my eyes are 
 not strong, do you see no lights about town? and 
 none on shore nearer than that?" and she indicated 
 the very point which he had so curiously been study 
 ing. 
 
 "Hardly a spark about town, while this light ahead 
 is strong." 
 
 "I ask because Paloma says that seems beyond 
 Bato, and the boatman insists it isn t" 
 
 Ray pondered a moment. The flitting lights to the 
 left and front speedily faded. Only that one re 
 mained strong and steadfast over the bows, vanish 
 ing from sight every time the banca slid into the 
 shallow dip between the long, low billows, then, ris 
 ing again, serene and radiant, as the prow lifted to 
 
JUeutettam >anDp Bag 241 
 
 the heave of the following swell. The sails were flap 
 ping idly now. There seemed no wind from any 
 quarter. The stars shone brightly in the slowly 
 warping mirror of the deep, and the soft, rythmic 
 p]ash of the paddle seemed to lull suspicion and 
 soothe to slumber, but Sandy noted that the dark 
 girl s eyes were ever on that steersman, squatting at 
 the stern, plying his blade with slow, noiseless sweep, 
 ever and anon bending double and searching the 
 spangled face of the waters. Plainly both mistress 
 and maid had new anxiety to add to the weight of 
 care and distress with which they started. 
 
 "What reason does he give for heading below the 
 barrio 2" muttered Kay a Let Paloma ask him." 
 
 And presently the question was put in the Tagalog 
 tongue. Promptly was it answered, and yet Paloma 
 hesitated in her translation. The steersman claimed 
 that the little lights were made by "bad men/ 7 hop 
 ing to lure them into the lagoon. He was defeating 
 their purpose by heading for the southern entrance, 
 Eato lay just this side of it. That light was set by 
 his friends, and the Sefior Dean s, to bring them 
 safely to the village. It seemed plausible. What 
 could Sandy say? but he slowly drew the revolver 
 and tested springs and cylinder. 
 
 Dark and darker grew the night. Their watery 
 path was now illumined only by the sentinel stars 
 and that steadily glowing beacon over the bows. But 
 for this latter Eay would have declared they made 
 
242 Lieutenant >anDg Bag 
 
 no headway. Neither on sea nor shore had there 
 been a sound that told of others hovering on the alert, 
 but at last there came a sign of neighboring life that 
 caused perceptible start and flutter in the crew. It 
 was long past sundown, and Ray, anxious to know 
 the hour, opened his watch and deliberately struck a 
 match. It was one of the lurid "phosphor" variety. 
 It flared up like miniature flashlight a moment, then 
 dwindled to a mere glow, but in that instant the little 
 craft was illumined from stem to stern, and one in 
 stant later, out from the blackness, faint and tem 
 pered by distance, came the sturdy hail in unmistak 
 able United States. 
 
 "Hullo-o-o! Boat ahoy!" 
 
 Sandy sprang to his feet and clung to the mast. 
 Straining his eyes he gazed eagerly shoreward, the 
 direction of the hail, and his powerful voice, trained 
 and tutored in hours of mounted drill of thundering 
 squadrons, now rang out over the silent waters. 
 
 "Hullo-o-o yourself! Where are you? Show a 
 light!" 
 
 So intent were the three passengers on the looked 
 for answer, that only one gave thought to the crew. 
 Even Paloma only casually noted the instant effect. 
 The dusky pilot had swung his paddle in a flash from 
 port to starboard, and with powerful, yet noiseless 
 strokes, was swiftly plying the blade. 
 
 But there ivas no answer. 
 
 "Hullo-o-o!" again rang Sandy s voice. "Where 
 
Lieutenant ^anDg Eap 243 
 
 are you ?" But not a word, not an articulate sound, 
 was heard in reply. Sound of some kind there was, 
 dull and muffled a sound as of scurry and struggle 
 and fierce muttering and swift footfalls, but all so 
 faint, so indistinct that, even in the breathless hush 
 of the tropic night, their ears might never have noted 
 had not every nerve been called into action by that 
 confident, familiar Yankee hail. Ray called again 
 at top of his voice, and got not a syllable of response. 
 The next thing he realized was that the beacon light, 
 for which they had been steering, was now no longer 
 over the bows, but square abeam. A moment more 
 and it, too, began suddenly to wane, to flicker, to 
 sink. The luring balefire was being drenched, the 
 lurking gang upon the shore had no welcome for 
 craft whence issued the unexpected challenge, the 
 ring and command of a soldier voice. It was the last 
 thing the watchers had hoped to hear. 
 
 "There s devil s work there of some kind," said 
 Hay, his teeth setting hard, his hand on the butt of his 
 Colt. "Tell Paloma to ask why he shifted." The 
 words had the crisp, sudden accent of command, not 
 pleading, and Gertrude heard and obeyed, and soft 
 ened to him for the voice that hardened. 
 
 "Ladrones ! Mucho malo I" was the prompt reply. 
 
 "There was an American there," insisted Ray. 
 "Were there any among your father s associates 
 down here ?" 
 
 "Two," faltered Gertrude. "Not all the time, but 
 
244 Lieutenant >anDp Hag 
 
 but Harry found " and then the fair head was 
 
 buried again in mingled grief and shame. 
 
 "They would not be with ladrones, no matter what 
 other," he broke off suddenly. It was no time to 
 refer to their probable occupation. An American 
 being there, Dean and Bato ought to be somewhere 
 close at hand. That American had hoped the light 
 at sea meant relief for their invalid, and before any 
 one could interpose, he had hailed. Then when the 
 answer came, instant and authoritative, it had 
 brought dread to his associates, whoever they were, 
 and discomfiture, if nothing worse, to him. It was 
 one of the smugglers haunts, then, reasoned Sandy, 
 and his voice had suggested revenue officers and re 
 prisals, and all this time the father might be needing 
 the daughter as the daughter was longing for the 
 father. Ray had come with no search warrant, no 
 hostile intent. They need not fear him, and he had 
 no fear of them. "Here, you," he ordered, turning 
 sharply on the native, crouching, paddle in hand, in 
 the bows, "ask for Senor Dean 1" 
 
 Then went out over the sluggish billows the high- 
 pitched, tremulous Tagalog voice, in shrill staccato, 
 but it lacked conviction, and no answer came. "You !" 
 ordered Eay, whirling on the dim form at the stern. 
 "Tell him, Paloma." 
 
 And presently another native gave tongue, in tones 
 more confident, and still the first reply was the faint 
 echo, shrilling feebly back from some unseen height 
 
Lieutenant >anDg Kap 
 
 "beyond the shore. The low plash of the little break 
 ers at the strand was for half a minute the only other 
 sound. Then at last a voice, a woman s voice, at 
 which Gertrude and Paloma both started and would 
 have sprung to their feet, came wailing across the 
 water. "Senor Dean aqui muy malo!" 
 
 And then the daughter turned for the first time 
 fairly upon her soldier defender. 
 
 "Oh, Mr. Ray, he is there ! That is a voice I know 
 well. Call, Paloma. Say we re coming at once." 
 
 Then the dark girl s voice was again uplifted and 
 quickly a dim light glowed upon the shore, a light 
 that speedily grew stronger, yet somehow did not glow 
 as did that beacon they had been following. "Pull 
 for the shore," said Sandy, in the words of a Moody; 
 and Sankey they had often sung in old days on the 
 plains. "I m blessed if I know what s behind all this, 
 but it isn t my funeral," he muttered to himself. 
 Then as Paloma transmitted the order and slowly, 
 reluctantly the banca s head swung round and the 
 paddles dipped again, Ray s thought whimsically fol 
 lowed the words, "though it may be my funeral be 
 fore I m done with it." 
 
 Then more lights showed and voices sounded and 
 a torch or two waved, and presently dim forms ap 
 peared, torch-bearing, and the banca shoved her lean 
 stem into a narrow cove that quickly shallowed and 
 left them stranded, and the dusky forms leaped in 
 and lined the gunwales. The sharp prow was run 
 
246 JLieutenant Sana? Bag 
 
 upon the pebbly beach. A native girl held forth wel 
 coming hands to the fragile form amidship, and Ray 
 helped swing them ashore, mistress and maid saw 
 them swallowed up in an eager little swarm of vil 
 lagers, and wafted away presumably to the hut where 
 lay the suffering man. There was nothing left for 
 him to do but order the unloading of the stores and 
 supplies. Somebody would doubtless come for them, 
 and there would be no further need or thought for 
 him. 
 
 Several native boys still clustered about He 
 peered around him in search of the American whose 
 voice had been heard farther up shore that must 
 have been but no American was visible, no man, in 
 fact, for these slender, sinewy little brownskins were 
 mere lads of less than sixteen. He needed to arrange 
 with his Tagalog mariners to take him back to Camp 
 Boutelle, but they only shook their heads and would 
 not understand. He asked for the Jefe, the chief 
 or the Presidente, or somebody in authority, or the 
 Americano, but "no sa-a-abe" was the only verbal re 
 sponse. He pointed to the cans and boxes, and with 
 alacrity the gang responded. In a jiffy they had them 
 ashore, and in another were lugging them off into the 
 darkness, not all in the same direction, and nothing 
 but prompt measures, sharp words and a show of the 
 Colt brought them back, and none too soon, for hub 
 bub arose in the little barrio. Dim lights had flick 
 ered a moment, and now were dancing about. Ray; 
 
JLiemenam SanDp Kag 247 
 
 Leard excited voices, then hurrying feet, then his own 
 name called in thrilling tones. "Mr. Ray! Mr. 
 Ray I" and he sprang up the sandy shore to meet her, 
 as she came flying. 
 
 "He isn t here !" she cried, almost throwing herself 
 into his arms, to the effacement of the ready revolver. 
 "It s another boat they want me to take with with 
 I will not go with him ! she passionately cried. "It 
 is only a mile back here in the river. I have been 
 there with father. Will you will you " 
 
 "Of course I will !" was the instant answer. "Get 
 those things aboard again, you sprats!" he shouted. 
 "How do we go, Miss Dean 2" 
 
 "Let them shove the boat through. It s the chan 
 nel ! It deepens at once. Tell them, Paloma. Tell 
 them, Anita!" 
 
 Indeed the two girls were telling, and the "sprats" 
 obeying. In five minutes they were afloat in the 
 lagoon, steering by the starlight. The native pilot 
 had vanished, but Ray had seized the crew and im 
 pressed a brace of boys the sheen of silver dollars 
 did that. In ten minutes they were well away from 
 the jabbering village, and Ray was fuming with im 
 patience to learn what manner of man was this who 
 had shocked her, but she cowered in Paloma s arms, 
 even when pointing the way. Fifteen minutes twist 
 and turn through fringing bamboo brought them to a 
 broader channel, with dim lights glowing on the 
 shore, and thither they turned their prow, there again 
 
248 Lieutenant 
 
 they were aided to disembark. Then he heard her 
 voice in low cry, half glad, half sobbing, of "Father ! 
 dear father!" and then, all on a sudden his heels 
 were jerked from under him, the back of his head 
 and a block or bat of hard wood met with a crash that 
 filled his vision with dancing sparks then came 
 blackness and oblivion. 
 
Lieutenant San Dp Bag 249 
 
 CHAPTEK XXL 
 
 WHEN Sandy Kay began to recover consciousness 
 he was at a loss to account for his whereabouts or 
 anything. He was again in a boat of some kind and 
 going somewhere. He was lying in the shade of 
 some kind of awning, with his bruised and aching 
 head on some kind of pillow, and somebody at inter 
 vals was dipping some kind of soft fabric in the water 
 that rippled alongside, then wringing it out and bath 
 ing his burning forehead. They were not at sea, for 
 the motion was so gently gliding that he could hardly 
 have told there was motion at all but for the shadows 
 that flitted across the bare mast before his half- 
 opened eyes, but for the rythmic sound of the pad 
 dles. It must be hours since last he stood upon his 
 feet, for then it was early evening ; now it was broad 
 daylight, and the sun was higher than the high trees 
 that fringed the stream and peeped occasionally over 
 the low gunwale at his prostrate form. He was in 
 much pain and more bewilderment, too weak to lift 
 his head, but presently he began to use his eyes. The 
 first thing ascertained was that he had changed boats. 
 This one was squatter, lower, "lighter built, and had 
 no bamboo outrigger. The next thing was that the 
 
250 lieutenant San Dp Bag 
 
 skipper, too, was changed. The silent native in the 
 stern sheets was a stranger, and the low voices that 
 once in a while drifted back to him from unseen fel 
 low creatures forward, were also strange, but the hand 
 that bathed his face was kind and friendly and gentle, 
 and then he suddenly wondered if it could be but, 
 no ! He caught a glimpse of it presently, and though 
 slight and dainty in shape, it was very dark, and 
 there was a silver ring on one of the slender fingers. 
 What could it all mean ? Another boat must be pad 
 dling with them, perhaps more than one, for from 
 time to time there was a hail and an exchange of 
 question and answer, someone toward the bow being 
 the spokesman for their craft. He was conscious of 
 a burning thirst, and feebly lifting a hand he mur 
 mured "Water," which brought no response. He 
 then tried "agua" with better result. The slender 
 brown hand held to his lips a native canteen, a sec 
 tion of bamboo nearly two feet in length and three 
 inches in diameter, and the water, though by no 
 means cool, was refreshing. Then the dusky hands 
 gently lifted his head and rearranged the pillow and 
 wet the bandages, and before lowering the heavy 
 head, gave him more water in a little gourd, some 
 thing flavored with the juice of the lime and that had 
 a slightly bitter and saline taste. He neither knew 
 nor cared what it was. It had a soothing effect. He 
 lay there drowsing and indifferent. He had no idea 
 where they were taking him, or why. Vaguely he 
 
. Lieutenant ^anDg Ka? 251 
 
 began to realize that lie was being lifted ashore and 
 borne within some shaded enclosure. Vaguely he 
 heard the low hum of voices some native, some 
 American, one pleading, piteous, almost imploring 
 that he strove vainly to hear distinctly, to understand, 
 to answer, but effort was vain. Under the influence 
 of some powerful narcotic he lay as helpless and inert 
 as was Brewster of No. 6 that eventful night at Bou- 
 telle. Where on earth could Boutelle be now? 
 Where on earth, if on earth and not floating on ether, 
 could he be now ? That voice was Gertrude Dean s, 
 and she was in distress, and that other voice, good 
 heaven, whose was that? Where had he heard it? 
 No, it was all useless wondering. It was just bliss 
 to forget everything, to go drifting away into space 
 and cloudland and dreamland. He had no longer 
 foothold, thought, care, duty upon earth. He was 
 floating gently into realms of peace and rest ineffable. 
 Even the sound of excitement, of haste, of struggle, 
 of a woman s anguish, fell on deafened ears. Of all 
 that happened for hours that afternoon Sandy Ray 
 was long innocent and ignorant, even though his 
 dimmed and vagrant eyes were rarely closed. 
 
 Then came semi-consciousness again, for all was 
 dark and silent and stealthy, and some one was half 
 lifting, half dragging him, on matting perhaps, and 
 dim forms hovered about him, and he mumbled in 
 articulate protest, and a soft hand such a cold little 
 hand was laid firmly upon his mouth. Then he was 
 
252 Lieutenant San Dp Rap 
 
 lifted bodily and again sprawled helpless in a boat, 
 and his head was pillowed on something that was not 
 zacate grass, and the little hand was withdrawn, and 
 he was allowed to mumble if he so desired, for again 
 they were afloat and paddling away somewhere. 
 
 Finally, dawn again, and then sunrise, for he could 
 see the gilded treetops and hear the clamor of tropic 
 birds and the busy hum of forest insects, yet where 
 he lay all was semi-darkness. His pillow had been 
 changed. He still stretched, full length, in the bot 
 tom of a native boat, but she lay moored in some little 
 nook, surrounded by dense foliage. She was afloat 
 and swinging at times from side to side under the in 
 fluence of a fairly rapid current, and he could hear 
 the plash and murmur of running waters over a stony 
 bed. He wondered why the overhanging branches 
 seemed so dim and nebulous, and his searching hand 
 came in contact with a film of mosquito netting that 
 shielded him from the attacks of countless winged 
 creatures, droning and humming about his floating 
 prison. Who were his jailors, and what could be 
 their purpose? He was still dreamy and inert, yet 
 the mind was again asserting itself and questioning. 
 One thing was reassuring. Whoever were his cap 
 tors there was kindness among them, else there would 
 have been no netting. 
 
 Another hour, and then he began to hear at last 
 from these captors. Low, soft, cautious voices 
 sounded close at hand, then a little head, silhouetted 
 
JLieutenant SanBp Kap 253 
 
 against the blaze of light far aloft, bent over the 
 mosquito bar, and he blinked his eyes in vain effort to 
 distinguish the features. Then it bent lower still, so 
 close to the gossamer screen that he could no longer 
 doubt his senses. Dark as it had looked against the 
 radiance aloft, that was no dusky face that lowered 
 so near his own. Pallid, drawn and clouded with 
 anxiety and distress of mind, it was still sweet, gen 
 tle and unmistakable, and his lips, in his stupor and 
 amazement, now murmured for the first time her 
 name, whereat the fair face was suddenly withdrawn, 
 but a long, white hand came speedily to raise the 
 filmy barrier, and he heard her voice, low and cau 
 tious and filled with warning : 
 
 "Don t stir yet. Try to keep quiet and patient. 
 Our everything depends upon it." 
 
 There were voices at the stream bank. It sounded 
 as though several women were chattering at once. 
 Then, these voices began to float away and diminish 
 in the distance. Evidently there had been another 
 banca and another boatload, mostly feminine unless 
 his ears deceived him. Were there women on the 
 warpath ? Were the days of the Amazons returning ? 
 He had recognized the voice of Paloma, but the oth 
 ers he knew not at all. Presently for several minutes ! 
 all was silence again. Then once more the face of 
 Gertrude Dean appeared to him. There was an eager, 
 intense look in her tired eyes. Without a word to 
 him, she was studying the situation, weighing the 
 
254: lieutenant 
 
 chances. Then suddenly the little face vanished a 
 second time. There was murmured confidence be 
 tween her and some other unseen friend, and pres 
 ently the netting was drawn aside. A brown hand 
 and sinewy, brown arm aided him to a sitting pos 
 ture, and then Gertrude came and stood before him. 
 
 "There s only one man with us now, Mr. Ray, but 
 could you walk just a few yards with his help, and 
 ours? 
 
 Between them they lifted him and, supported by 
 them, he stepped ashore and looked slowly, wonder- 
 ingly, about him. Through openings among the 
 trees he saw the broad, placid bosom of the stream, 
 shallow, perhaps, yet navigable for banca and light 
 canoe. Close at hand the little brook came babbling 
 down from the southward heights and making a tiny 
 harbor, just big enough to float their transport behind 
 its leafy screen, and there to hide it from all eyes 
 along the river. Within a few paces of the brook, in 
 the heart of a little thicket, busy hands had laced and 
 entwined the branches and built a little shelter 
 toward which his gentle guides were leading him. 
 Paloma, gathering armfuls of zacate from the boat, 
 was spreading it upon the ground and giving im 
 perious orders to the meek Tagalog boatman, as she 
 hurried to and fro. Presently, too, as they seated 
 Itay at the foot of a tree, she fetched a tin pail of 
 water from the boat, and with deft hands undid and 
 carefully removed the bandages, while her young 
 
JLieutenant >anDg Bap 255 
 
 mistress, pale and silent, busied herself in preparing 
 fresh ones. Even then Ray wondered whence came 
 that soft, white fabric, for his "Eirst aid for the 
 wounded 7 packet was with his saddle bags. How 
 ever, he asked no questions, and probably would have 
 been accorded scant reply. A little later, soothed, 
 bathed, refreshed, but still weak, he stretched at full 
 length upon a softer couch than the unyielding bot 
 tom of the banca, and was presently able to sip some 
 lime juice and water, and nibble, like a schoolboy, at 
 bread and jam. Aunt Nannie s store of provision, 
 sent for the ailing father, had been miscellaneous as 
 the Moons Hibernian heads could make it, but noth 
 ing had come amiss. There was evidently quite a lit 
 tle stock of bags, boxes and cans in the banca, and 
 Paloma was busying herself unloading these, while 
 the young officer ate sparingly, but sipped eagerly at 
 the acid water, and wondered when his fair guardian 
 would again visit him, and explain. She was no 
 where within view, and at last he begged Paloma, 
 who was flitting about her patient and seemed again 
 contemplating sending him to sleep, to call the 
 senorita. Paloma feigned deafness, but Gertrude 
 heard and came. 
 
 "Please tell me where we are, and what has hap* 
 pened, and what it all means/ he said. 
 
 "!Not yet," she answered, slowly. "In fact, I can 
 not explain things myself, only, father knew you 
 were in desperate danger and he was grateful to you 
 
256 JUeutenant 
 
 and he had you brought here where we can hide you 
 until help can come from Camp Boutelle." 
 
 "But he was so ill and needed you, and you 
 are here/ 7 persisted Sandy. "Where is he ?" 
 
 "Safe, gone. Sea air will do for him more than I 
 could. 77 There was a touch of bitterness in her tone, 
 "and he is miles away by this time. 77 
 
 "And left you? 77 
 
 "I could not go. I must return to mother as soon 
 as soon as your friends can come to you." 
 
 "But why didn t you return from there, wher 
 ever we were, last night or whenever it was ? 77 
 
 She had her answer ready. "They needed the 
 banca for him. We could not have gone in this, even 
 had there been no trouble with the natives. There 
 was the Presidente at Bato and another from Sul- 
 picio. They made insolent demands that father 
 would not meet, even if he could have done so, and 
 there was a quarrel and some were hurt. They 
 were beaten off at the time, after you were attacked, 
 but they rallied their people and we had to get away 
 quickly. Then father was hurried off to the sea to 
 ) meet a boat that that he knew of, and we were pad 
 dled up here to keep in hiding until Colonel Blake 
 can send the soldiers. The danger is that the 
 ladrones who attacked Lieutenant Blunt 7 s company 
 are now with the Presidente s friends, and they are 
 furious at father s escape, and they are looking 
 high and low for us. 77 
 
lieutenant anDg Bap 257 
 
 "Who got word to the colonel and how 3" asked 
 Sandy, a queer train of thought running through his 
 troubled head. 
 
 l "They would send word father s friends from 
 the steamer to shore. The Maumee had sailed. She 
 knew nothing of your going to Bato. Father tried to 
 signal to her from the cliff, back of the village, but 
 the Fresidente stopped him." 
 
 "If they could send word ashore they could send 
 you and that was the quickest way back to your 
 mother/ 7 he persisted again. But again she parried. 
 
 "The banca was overcrowded as it was. They had 
 to leave two men he he had promised should go 
 and things that were needed." 
 
 It was a case of "when rogues fall out," mused 
 Sandy, but there was still more he wished to know. 
 "Why should the Presidente s people have attacked 
 him, or, having attacked, why had they not finished 
 him ? Then, as one waking from a dream, he was be 
 ginning to recall her words, her agitation at Bato; 
 after they had heard that American hail, after she 
 had found that her father was not at the village, but 
 in hiding somewhere up the river. 
 
 "You had found your father before I was as 
 saulted," said he. "I heard you speaking to him. It 
 was the last thing I did hear. Why didn t they kill 
 me then ? I can t understand this at all. And then 
 you came running back while there at Bato, saying 
 
258 JUeittenant San&p IRag 
 
 that you would not go with somebody or other. .Who 
 was that ?" 
 
 And now the red was mantling the cheek that a 
 moment earlier was so pale and wan, but she looked 
 him fairly in the face and answered. "A man I 
 knew to be father s enemy, and believed to have been 
 Harry s. You were attacked because they thought 
 you our friend." 
 
 And all this time she had remained standing. Tall 
 and slender, even stately she seemed to him, lying 
 languidly there on his pallet of zacate, and now she 
 deemed that quite enough had been said to explain the 
 situation, and that further questioning would be an 
 impropriety, even an indignity. "That is the end of 
 the lesson, Mr. Ray," said she. "You can ponder 
 yourself to sleep over those facts, for I want you to 
 be looking better when your friends come. We may 
 have to put you on guard." 
 
 With that she turned and left him, nor would she 
 answer his complaining call. Paloma came, but he 
 did not need Paloma, who, notwithstanding, crouched 
 beside him, removed, moistened and replaced his 
 bandages, then bade him be still and sleep. So find- 
 ing both mistress and maid implacable, he drowsily 
 composed himself to obey. 
 
 It was nearly nightfall when he woke again. All 
 was deep gloom about the refuge. All was silent. 
 He was thirsty, and there swung the bamboo canteen 
 just within easy reach. He was getting hungry 
 
Lieutenant @>anDg Eap 259 
 
 again, and there stood a close-covered tin box, which, 
 being opened, was found to contain more bread and 
 sardines, with slices of lime instead of lemon, and 
 more jam and a stick or two of nutritious chocolate. 
 In silence and reflection he ate and drank, then called 
 Paloina, and no Paloma answered, but again came 
 Gertrude. How weary she looked ! 
 
 "Paloma has gone a little distance to a bluff from 
 which the towers at Sulpicio can been seen. She was 
 to return at sunset. Can I do anything ?" 
 
 k4 The bandage feels hot and heavy," said he 7 
 " though perhaps I " 
 
 But she quietly knelt. He bowed his head at her 
 behest, and her slender fingers were presently at 
 work among the folds. Then as quietly she plied the 
 dripping sponge a moment and thus was she busily 
 occupied when, in the gathering dusk, Paloma ap 
 peared at the entrance. A quick glance of interroga 
 tion shot from Gertrude s eyes. For all answer 
 Paloma silently shook her head, then turned, pointed 
 to the skiff that had borne them to their refuge and 
 said a few words in the Tagalog tongue. Gertrude s 
 face grew, if anything, whiter, certainly graver, but 
 instantly she shook her head. "No, indeed no!" he 
 heard her answer. 
 
 When next Sandy Ray would have sought the ser 
 vices of Paloma, and late at evening, thrusting aside 
 his newly suspended mosquito bar, he would have 
 called her to moisten that muffling band, a dim light 
 
260 Lieutenant ^anflp Bag 
 
 as of a glow worm, showed through the foliage. Ger 
 trude, with a little hurricane lamp in hand, again 
 appeared. This time he slowly found his feet and, 
 steadying himself as best he could, made his way to 
 her side. "I m quite able to bathe it myself," said 
 he, "if Paloma s sleeping. Let me have your lamp a 
 minute." Mutely she gave it, but watched him, as 
 feebly, uncertainly, he managed to reach the brook- 
 side, Gertrude following in case of need. At the 
 brink he stopped short, swung his lamp toward the 
 shallow pool in which at dusk the skiff tugged idly 
 at its moorings. The berth was vacant now. The 
 skiff was gone. Turning to her for explanation, he 
 saw her actually swaying, grasping a twig for sup 
 port, and weak though he was, sprang instantly to 
 aid her. Down she sank, burying her face in her 
 hands, and down he dropped beside her, his own 
 cares forgotten instantly at sight of her dismay. 
 
 "What is it? Don t worry so, Miss Dean," he 
 cried. 
 
 But the answer appalled him: 
 
 "They re all gone I" she moaned. "The boat the 
 boatman and Paloma all 1" 
 
Lieutenant @anDp Kap 26i 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 DAWN had come again, and sunrise, and broad day 
 light among the treetops, though all below them 
 seemed wrapped in shade all but the birds seemed 
 wrapped in slumber. Close to the edge of the river, 
 in bedraggled, even blood-stained khaki, with matted 
 hair and haggard eyes, a young soldier crouched in 
 the brake and with keen and eager glance studied the 
 distant reach of the sluggish stream. For hours he 
 had held to his post, weakened by loss of blood, by 
 pain, fever and exposure, and pondering gloomily, 
 as well he might, over the probable issue of this 
 strange and hapless adventure. Twice during the 
 long, perilous night stray parties of natives 
 whether ladrones, insurrectos or friends he knew not. 
 and dare not inquire had passed within pistol shot 
 of his lair, but he had no pistol. That had been 
 wrenched from his holster during the sudden fracas 
 in the dusk at Bato. Once, somewhere about mid 
 night, the sound of voices, of eager words in the 
 Tagalog tongue, had brought him hurrying from the 
 river brink at the north to the edge of the narrow, 
 brook-fed basin that lay to the southwestward of the 
 little shelter in the thicket that had now become 
 
262 Lieutenant S>an5g Bag 
 
 almost a sacred charge. Obviously there was a trail 
 through the bamboo, leading from the mountains to 
 the sea, and this was probably some party hurrying 
 to the support of their fellows, and hoping for a 
 share in the anticipated spoil. Ray could hear them 
 splashing through the brook perhaps fifty yards up 
 stream, then speeding away with almost noiseless 
 tread, their voices dying gradually in the distance. 
 Breathing free again, he crept back to the more 
 dreaded highway, the river, stopping just one mo 
 ment, bending low and listening at the entrance to 
 the little rustic refuge that had been his, then tip 
 toeing away until again he knelt at his station. He 
 had slept hours the previous day, a deep, dreamless 
 and probably a drug-aided sleep, but now, despite 
 weakness and languor, his senses were keenly alert. 
 Tot a vestige of fire or smoke could be seen about the 
 lair. He had long since doused the feeble glim of the 
 lamp. ~Not a precaution had he neglected since ho 
 had no longer firearms with which to defend. It was 
 not his own life now that he had such need to guard. 
 There beneath those sheltering boughs, sleeping the 
 sleep of exhaustion, lay a girl who had periled every 
 thing to rescue him from the toils by which he had 
 been surrounded. Of that fact he had no longer 
 doubt. 
 
 The sudden, the overwhelming discovery that they 
 were deserted, possibly betrayed, by Paloma and her 
 dusky lover, the boatman, had proved too much for 
 
Lieutenant SanDg Kap 263 
 
 Gertrude s remaining strength and nerve. She could 
 have staked her life on that girl s fidelity. She had 
 lavished love and kindnesses innumerable upon her, 
 and had believed that she had abundant and innumer 
 able proofs of Paloma s responsive devotion some 
 indeed that she dare not let him know. She had 
 found the girl resourceful, helpful, daring, through 
 out all this strange and perilous week, and finally^ 
 when she could not feel sure that her father s shady 
 associates would send word of their plight to Colonel 
 Blake, and when, toward sunset, she learned from 
 Paloma that there were no signs of coming relief, 
 moreover, that they must now be full thirty miles by 
 road and twisting trail, and more than that by sea, 
 lagoon and river from Camp Boutelle, she listened 
 eagerly to Paloma s offer, yet had promptly and 
 positively refused. 
 
 The girl had begged of her young mistress permis 
 sion to take the boat and the boatman, and go by- 
 night back along their perilous and hampered route. 
 Paloma declared she could find means to slip by all 
 scouts and stations, and so to reach the garrison at 
 Boutelle. Gertrude had forbidden the desperate at 
 tempt, and the native girl, who had never dared dis 
 obey her faintest wish or mandate, had turned trait 
 ress at the last. "It w r as Pedro s doing," sobbed Ger 
 trude, in despair. He was faint-hearted. He 
 dreaded the vengeance of his fellows. He had been 
 pleading with Paloma hour after hour. Gertrude had 
 
jUewenam >anDg Hap 
 
 seen and heard it. Paloma had owned to her that 
 Pedro s home was only a day s journey farther south 
 ward that they could reach it by going up stream a 
 dozen miles and then by sheltered trail. Pedro had 
 been imploring, then probably insistent. Malay blood 
 coursed in their veins both hot and treacherous. They 
 were speeding somewhere to safety, leaving these 
 hapless Americanos to their fate. 
 
 But even then Eay could not account for her utter 
 hopelessness, she who had been so brave, so daring, 
 first for her father, and then, with that father safe 
 from the clutches of the law and, so long as he be 
 haved himself, from the immediate ravages of dis 
 ease, then how could Kay doubt it? had she not 
 been just as daring for him. The entire story he 
 might never know, but, between her and her Tagalog 
 handmaid, he had been snatched from the midst of 
 foes and spirited away to at least temporary safety, 
 and they, in sharing his flight, had come to share his 
 peril. Small wonder that Pedro had begged his Dul- 
 cinea to flee from the wrath to come. It was of course 
 embarrassing, distressing, disquieting that Gertrude 
 should thus be left alone with him in the heart of a 
 Philippine forest, but it was not necessarily dreadful. 
 What with Blake and his little garrison only thirty 
 miles away to the north, and Blunt s original forty 
 somewhere a few miles off to the south, with Prince 
 and his company in march between them, speedy 
 search must be made for the missing officer. Then, 
 
Lieutenant San&p Uag 265 
 
 too, though Ray detested Walker and all his works, 
 even such as Walker and his squad were not to be 
 despised as rescuers, if they should have failed to 
 reach Blunt, and be still searching and scouting in. 
 this neighborhood. The Dagupan trail could not be 
 very far inland, though it had to keep well back 
 among the heights because of the summer flooding of 
 these lowland streams. To Ray the situation seemed 
 not only hopeful, but intensely interesting. Why, 
 then, should she so utterly collapse ? 
 
 He had striven to soothe and cheer her, pointing 
 out that there was even less danger of their being 
 discovered, now that the betraying boat was gone. 
 They had provisions enough, such as these dainties 
 were, to last two days, by which time, surely, Blake 
 would have his searching detachments in the field, 
 and the shores of this important stream would as 
 surely be explored. But Gertrude sobbed that these 
 banks were even better known to the ladrones, and 
 the natives generally, than the inland trails. They 
 would certainly be coming in search of them. He 
 had had almost to carry her to the little shelter that 
 had been his, but that now should be, must be, hers. 
 She must go, he said, she must lie down, rest, sleep, 
 recover strength. But not until he almost sternly 
 commanded would she yield. Then he had gathered 
 up such packages of stores as he could find, stowed 
 them deep in the thicket, obliterated every possible 
 trace of their presence, then he knelt and listened a 
 
266 Lieutenant San Dp 
 
 the entrance, and, hearing no sound, ventured to peep 
 into the dim interior to satisfy himself that she had 
 obeyed, and was lying beneath the mosquito bar that 
 had been strung for him. Vaguely, mistily he could 
 just discern the slender form, stretched full length, 
 apparently, in a sleep of utter exhaustion. Then, 
 with a murmured prayer, he stole softly away and 
 hied him to the lookout Pedro had scooped among 
 the flotsam and jetsam at the bank. 
 
 Not an hour later, as he crouched there watching, 
 the sound of other voices, faint in the distance, came 
 drifting to his ears, and again every sense became 
 instantly alert. Slowly the occasional sounds in 
 creased in volume. Natives again, but this time in 
 bancas! Slowly their shadowy transports rounded 
 the forest-bordered bend half a mile up stream. 
 Sandy could tell the moment they straightened out 
 in the starlit mid-channel by the clearer ring of their 
 gutterals. 
 
 Nearer they came and nearer, as yet unseen in the 
 deep shadows. Evidently they feared neither foe 
 nor interruption, for the chatter was unrestrained, 
 yet not boisterous. Nor was there excitement in tone 
 or manner, nor anything to indicate that they sought 
 either to conceal their own movements or discover 
 those of others. They were neither hunting nor 
 hunted. So, before they were within hailing dis 
 tance, Sandy slipped away from his post and around 
 to the entrance of the little bower where slept the lady 
 
lieutenant >anUg Hap 26? 
 
 this young knight must guard from every ill. If 
 restless or sleeping lightly, she might suddenly awake 
 at sound of voices, and, thinking instantly of Paloma, 
 call rejoicingly aloud. His caution was not unwar 
 ranted. Just opposite their refuge the voices, that 
 for a moment had been stilled, broke out afresh. A 
 call from one canoe to another rang out across the 
 unruffled waters, and instantly Ray heard start and 
 stir within. The girl had roused suddenly from her 
 sleep, and the next moment, bending low, she met him 
 almost face to face, only to hear him order, "Hush ! 
 Not a sound!" And so with beating hearts they 
 knelt, her little hand within an inch of his, their 
 knees almost touching, and listened until, one after 
 another, three bancas were paddled almost stealthily, 
 noiselessly, by, and then again he begged he bade 
 her creep back to her rustic pillow. "These at least 
 are not searching for us," he said. "We can rest in 
 peace until the morning." 
 
 "Yes, / can," she answered, "but you who are ill 
 and injured." Whereat he laid imperative hand 
 upon her arm. "Creep back and sleep," he insisted. 
 "You shall do guard duty to-morrow." 
 
 Twice again during the early morning hours he 
 had stirred about to keep a leg or arm from going to 
 sleep. Twice again he had knelt by the leafy en 
 trance and listened. Once he thought he could faintly 
 hear her breathing, soft, regular and low, and then at 
 last the birds began to twitter and stir in the foliage 
 
268 Lieutenant SanDp Bap 
 
 aloft, and forest birds seemed so rare in Luzon. A 
 grayish pallor was overspreading the skj and, far 
 down stream, some unseen aquatic fowl began to 
 splash and quack in the silent reaches; a mist rose 
 softly from the sluggish pool, and above it all the 
 dawn came on apace until once more the sunshine 
 burst through the forest fringe of the eastward chain, 
 and tipped with fire the lowland groves, and the crest 
 of the seaward billows. Ray s long night watch came 
 to an end, with his precious charge still safe, still 
 softly sleeping, and then, when he could have begun 
 to feel a little more hope and confidence, there came 
 a sound that brought him quivering to his feet and 
 facing full to the threatening west. 
 
 Somewhere over toward the sea, through the thick 
 and tangled shrubbery, two shots were fired in quick 
 succession and went rolling and echoing up the river. 
 Something told him she, too, would have found her 
 feet and, hurrying to the refuge, there he met her, 
 crouching at the entrance, her eyes dilated, her lips 
 apart, her white hands pressed upon her throbbing 
 heart. Thus far their disturbers had come from the 
 hills. ~No w they were coming from the direction of 
 the sea, from the point whence they, the fugitives, 
 had escaped them. Was it thither Paloma had gone ? 
 Was it she who was leading them to the sheltering 
 nook she herself had more than helped to make? 
 Whoever might be leading, these probably were 
 enemies, and were coming fast. Ten minutes more 
 
Lieutenant @anOp Kap 269 
 
 and their voices could be heard, guiding shouts and 
 even commands signals interchanged between 
 shore and shallop. They were coming both by land 
 and water. 
 
 A moment or two they the hunted stood there, < 
 the silent soldier and the trembling girl, so close that 
 each could almost feel the beating of the other s heart, 
 but, intently as Ray was listening, he was watching 
 her, and noting that even more intently, and with 
 fearful interest, she was listening, for in her dilating 
 eyes there came a look of infinite horror, of dread un 
 speakable. The next thing he knew she had clutched 
 his hand. "Oh, come, come away from here/ 7 she 
 cried, imploringly. "We must go !" 
 
 "We can t go !" said he. "Listen ! They are above 
 us now! Some are already at the crossing of the 
 brook/ 7 and again he turned his listening ear that 
 way. Surely he was right! Speeding swiftly along 
 the trail, the foremost natives were already at the 
 point where the hill party had crossed at midnight. 
 He could plainly hear their voices, almost their 
 words, but to these Gertrude would not listen. In 
 some strange, fearful fascination she had no eyes, 
 no ears, for anything but the coming boatloads in the 
 stream. Whoever these advancing through the tim 
 ber, they had not turned riverward on reaching the 
 brook. They had gone, indeed, beyond, and could be 
 heard calling back to their fellows in the rear, but 
 the girl was crouching now and listening only to the 
 
270 Lieutenant @>anDp Hag 
 
 sounds from below. Ray could distinguish several 
 voices as the bancas came paddling nearer, although 
 as yet no words to him were distinguishable. Sud 
 denly, however, there was a shout in commanding 
 tone, at sound of which Gertrude Dean flung herself 
 at the feet of Sanford Ray, wrenched free her hand, 
 and with convulsive violence clasped his knees. 
 "Have you nothing?" she cried "not even your 
 knife ?" 
 
 4 My knife, yes! but against all that gang?" he 
 answered vaguely. 
 
 "Oh, can t you understand ?" she moaned. "Mrs. 
 Blake told me your regiment never let a woman 
 fall into the hands of the Indians. Isn t this as 
 as horrible ? Oh, you will not ! You shall not !" 
 
 And then he understood, for she was clutching 
 desperately at the knife at his belt. 
 
 "They shan t have you, Gertrude ! Quick, dive in 
 there again!" Then voices sounded close at hand. 
 Someone was landing at the very bank, and Ray 
 almost thrust her to the narrow entrance, her hands 
 clinging to his, as he bent low and followed, then 
 drew the leafy branches down about the opening. 
 There like hunted hare they crouched, both her hands 
 now clasping his left arm, her head almost drooping 
 upon his knee, and with hearts wildly throbbing they 
 listened breathless for the next words. There were 
 sounds of crashing through bamboo and brake, of 
 muttered imprecation, of booted feet on dry, snap- 
 
lieutenant SanOp IRap 271 
 
 ping twigs a sound at which Raj started and looked 
 bewildered. Then, hurried stir and search along the 
 little harbor basin, where the banca had floated so 
 securely, and then, in answer to sudden and savage 
 question from the stream bank, the amazing answer : 
 
 " Yes, been here and gone! That damned slut by 
 this time has steered them up to Prince s camp." 
 
 "C mawn then, curse you! We ve no time to 
 lose!" 
 
 A moment later the banca had shoved off and gone. 
 Still another moment and with her fair head pil 
 lowed in her arms, her arms on Sandy s knee, Ger 
 trude Dean was pouring out her soul in sobs and 
 thanksgiving, while he in wonderment and amaze, 
 bent speechless over her. That last, beyond all man 
 ner of doubt, was the voice of "Hasty" Walker. 
 
272 Lieutenant >anDp map 
 
 CHAPTEE XXIII. 
 
 AND then, in the hour that followed, when she had 
 measurably regained composure, little by little Sandy 
 drew from Gertrude Dean the story of the brief, but 
 never-to-be-forgotten period in which she had known 
 and suffered at the hands of the erstwhile popular 
 and applaiided hero of the Forty-Second. Harry, her 
 beloved brother, had been at Manila on business for 
 her father during the short sojourn there of the 
 newly arrived regiment. Harry was an enthusiast 
 from boyhood in baseball and kindred sports. Harry, 
 like almost everybody else, had lost his head in ad 
 miration of the brilliant play of the Forty-Second s 
 field captain had lavished attentions on him while 
 the two were together in the old Spanish city, and 
 enthusiastically welcomed him when the battalion 
 came to Camp Boutelle. Harry was too proud to 
 visit the garrison where his father was ostracised, and 
 therefore begged Walker to come frequently to San 
 Sulpicio, where everything he had w r ould ever be at 
 Walker s disposal, and Walker came and practically 
 helped himself, and at first was more than welcome. 
 He won the father s instant allegiance by professing 
 sympathy with him and enmity to his detractors 
 
JUeittenant >anDp Kap 273 
 
 Blake and the officers of the cavalry. He won the 
 mother s interest by precisely the same means. He 
 had won Harry s fealty by his prowess in the ball 
 field, and now, to make a long story short, he won 
 Harry s money, then heaven, how the poor child 
 sobbed as she told it ! the money that was not Har 
 ry s, by his prowess in still other games. But there was 
 one thing he could not win, and that had stood out 
 stanchly against him from the very first that was 
 Harry s sister s trust. She shrank from him in 
 stinctively. She repelled his bold, "Bowery," confi 
 dent advances, and the more he sought, the more she 
 shrank. A week before the sudden swoop of the la- 
 drones on San Sulpicio and the looting of the cus 
 toms, she knew that money had been transferred from 
 Harry s safe to Walker s hands, knew that Harry 
 was in that fellow s power, and dare not openly offend 
 him until until Walker dared to say something 
 to her something that no girl no girl, she said in 
 her innocence, would tolerate for an instant. Then 
 she had blazed out at him, told him he had ruined her 
 brother, but that she scorned and defied him. It 
 j seemed to scare him back to his senses for a time. He 
 came and humbly begged her pardon besought her, 
 for Harry s sake, not to make a scene, not to betray 
 him. He promised restitution to Harry. His own 
 needs were great and imminent and pressing. Cred 
 itors had threatened to expose him and his methods. 
 He had had to "borrow," as he called it, this money 
 
274 Lieutenant SanDp IRap 
 
 from Harry, had had to send most of it to Manila, 
 but if she would overlook his he called it his "fool 
 ishness" he would have abundant means in a few 
 days and make all right. But then came the attack. 
 Then came their flight to Camp Boutelle, Harry s 
 tragic death, her mother s prostration, her father s 
 illness. Then came the admission from her father 
 that experts had already been ordered from Manila 
 to inspect his books, accounts and general conduct. 
 They could open the safe that the ladrones could not 
 make way with, and then Harry s heavy shortage 
 would be discovered, his name disgraced and dishon 
 ored for all time. It was to implore Mr. Walker to 
 replace the missing money that she had importuned 
 him while at Colonel Blake s, had followed him to 
 the grove, had even stolen to his quarters in the dusk 
 of evening, not once, but several times, in hope of 
 seeing him; had written him and sent the note by 
 Paloma, and in the midst of it all, her half-crazed 
 father had told her he must get away, that if he re 
 mained there he would surely be arrested and thrown 
 in jail. If he could only send two hundred dollars 
 to the Presidente at Sulpicio, a native boat would 
 come for him, take him out to sea by night, set him 
 aboard a steamer whose captain would have to give 
 him refuge and get him over to Hong Kong or 
 Shanghai, and still Walker failed her until, in des 
 peration, she told him she would tell the whole story 
 to Mrs. Blake, and if need be to Captain Crabtree, 
 
JUewenant SanDg Kag 275 
 
 and then he had given her, he said, all he had, and 
 Paloma had given her, she declared, all her "sav 
 ings/ 7 and this Paloma had sent by Hilario to the 
 Presidente, and brought back word that the boat and 
 crew would be ready. Then she had planned her 
 father s escape, Paloma aiding wonderfully (poor 
 girl, even then she dare not tell him how wonderfully, 
 though, the two sentries, one "doped," the other 
 bribed, might have confessed), and Sandy began to 
 realize how, at his expense, Paloma had made sure of 
 some of her "savings," and how, at the sentry s ex 
 pense, Dean had made his escape. Gertrude had 
 gone in relief and joy to tell her mother to rest in 
 peace, that that very night the Formosa would be 
 spiriting the husband and father away to safety and 
 Shanghai, for it was part of Dean s plan to have the 
 captain place him on the first China-bound steamer 
 they should see. And then had come the appalling 
 news that, after all, there must have been some 
 treachery that her father had not succeeded in 
 reaching the steamer. Then came the tidings of his 
 desperate illness down the coast below Sulpicio, and 
 her summons to his side, and Ray knew most of the 
 rest, she said, and shrank from telling it. 
 
 But Ray had heard enough to make him wish to 
 hear all, and gently he persisted and questioned. He 
 believed he knew now who had been ransacking his 
 desk. He felt sure he knew now who had made way 
 with the mess money, and other missing funds, while 
 
276 Lieutenant San Dp 
 
 Aunt Dannie s "rainy day" savings were as easily 
 accounted for. He had disliked the man Walker 
 from the start, and now, now his soul was up in arms 
 to meet him on fair field, and tell him what manner 
 of scoundrel he thought him, and then to have it out I 
 with him, old army fashion, with fire-spitting Colt 
 or flashing blade. He was beginning, too, to see 
 through the cause of her intense agitation when she 
 came running back to the boat after their first land 
 ing, and her unsuccessful quest for her father. He 
 desired to know he needed he craved to know 
 whether Walker was there, renegade and deserter, 
 consorting with brown robbers and white smugglers, 
 and firmly at last he demanded answer. With bowed 
 head and shamed, flushed cheeks, she owned that he 
 was there, that he had had much most to do with 
 luring her thither, that he had met her, had striven 
 to place her in his own banca, with the promise to 
 take her at once to her father s side her father who 
 was indeed not far distant, but in no such bodily ill 
 as had been told her. Paloma had found that out for 
 her already. Paloma, through her native lover, had 
 ascertained just where Dean was in hiding, and 
 thither had been their pilot; but Walker s fellows 
 were there, too, first, and had dealt the blow that had 
 felled her young knight and escort, and then she 
 would not tell the rest how her father was even 
 then spirited away to sea, leaving her to be dealt with 
 as Walker had planned, had not Paloma s vigilance 
 
Lieutenant SanDp JRap 2rr 
 
 and energy again enabled her to escape and to bring 
 Kay with them. How could she now believe that 
 Paloma had willingly deserted her ? There was only 
 one way to account for it. Some of her tribesmen 
 were of the ladroue gang, and they had threatened 
 her life and that of her lover. She had fled, over per 
 suaded, perhaps, and in dread of their vengeance. 
 
 All this in the course of the morning hours af 
 ter he had provided her with food, and some choco 
 late heated over a tiny fire Ray succeeded in win- 
 ning from her faltering lips. All this from the girl 
 whom he had suspected of thieving, and believed to 
 be that blackguard Walker s willing victim. All this 
 from the girl whose brains and bravery had rescued 
 him from the hands of a gang of miscreants, who 
 might either hold him for ransom or heave his bat 
 tered body, stone- weigh ted, into the depths of the 
 lagoon. All this from a girl whose devotion to her 
 old reprobate of a father, to her broken-spirited 
 mother, to the memory of that beloved, betrayed and 
 murdered brother, should have commanded his utter 
 most respect and homage. All this from the girl 
 who crouched there under the spreading branches of 
 the tropic forest, sometimes with tears welling from 
 her beautiful eyes, sometimes with flushes burning 
 on her soft, wan cheek, and Sandy Ray, in self-re 
 proach and humiliation unspeakable, knelt beside her, 
 ready almost to worship, yet not daring to confess 
 his guilt, for guilt he now regarded it. 
 
$78 Lieutenant >anDp Bap 
 
 He had set forth on this expedition of possible 
 peril because Aunt Nannie would so have it, as the 
 escort and protector of a girl whose honor he doubted 
 and whose honesty he denied, and within the com 
 pass of a second noontide had seen his doubts and 
 denials, one after another, set to shame and confusion, 
 and himself to remorse unspeakable. She was all 
 that Aunt Nannie had said of her, and more. She 
 was nothing he had dared to say to his sacred self. 
 She was, more than any girl he had ever met, or 
 known, or heard of, brave, beautiful, dutiful and de 
 voted a daughter who served and honored, as her 
 God had commanded, even where she could not re 
 spect a sister who had loved and well nigh sacri 
 ficed her good name in the effort to protect a woman 
 ennobled by sorrow, suffering and peril. Oh, what 
 was he that he dared to doubt her? Who was he 
 that he had presumed to question ? In utter humility 
 he could have bowed his head to the dust and kissed 
 the worn shoe that so scantily covered her slender 
 foot But he dare not touch hand or lip even to the 
 sole of that foot, the hem of that still wet and bedrag 
 gled garment. He prayed heaven she might never 
 dream how he had wronged her, and now, if he could 
 but die in her defense, it would be just reparation. 
 As has been said, Sandy was still something of a boy. 
 
 And even as they hovered there, deep in the thicket 
 .and at the foot of the far-spreading trees, there came 
 again sudden sound that set his nerves a-tingle and 
 
Lieutenant SanDp Kap 279 
 
 sent her, at his instant order, creeping on hands and 
 knees beneath the canopy of her little rustic castle. 
 .Yoices, excited voices, stealthy and half suppressed, 
 were again audible up stream ; then straining paddle, 
 the rush of waters cleft by sharp and speeding prow ; 
 then answering calls from shore. Not one, but sev 
 eral bancas were speeding down the shadowy flood. 
 ]STot one, but several parties, apparently, were scur 
 rying down the parallel tracks, for across the stream 
 hail answered hail, and some were cries of warning. 
 Gertrude, listening with dilated eyes, sat quivering 
 with excitement, one hand outstretched toward Ray, 
 who knelt at the entrance, one finger pressed upon her 
 lips. 
 
 "They are saying soldiers !" she murmured,, 
 almost breathless. " Soldiers both ways !" 
 
 "Hurrah!" was the joyful answer, muttered low, 
 "I knew the colonel would be sending, and I s pose 
 Prince, up river somewhere, has got word." 
 
 Again the signals from shore to shore, and voices 
 from the bancas, Tagalog and Ilocano both, and 
 sounds of scurry through the brake and bamboo, of 
 splashing through the brook above them, of swift ply 
 ing paddles along the broad bosom of the stream. 
 Two, three bancas darted by and went unswerving on 
 toward the wooded point below. Then rallying cries 
 as though the warriors by land were halted for coun 
 sel or defense, and summoning their fellows of the 
 flotilla. Sandy judged that they must be landing and 
 
280 Lieutenant San Dp Bap 
 
 gathering some four hundred yards down stream, and 
 others still, laggards, stragglers, or possibly rear 
 guard, were coming from the southeast coming 
 from the direction of the hills and the Dagupan trail, 
 and Paloma s lover s village the direction of the 
 scene of Blunt s sharp encounter of the week gone 
 by the direction in which by this time Prince should 
 be, and Walker should have gone. Not only by trail 
 were these unseen stragglers coming, but by stream; 
 for again voices voices raised in excitement could 
 be heard rounding that upper point voices that pres 
 ently became articulate and familiar, for now, too, 
 Sandy was quivering from head to foot; for now, 
 too, Sandy could understand. There was no mistak 
 ing the vernacular, as with powerful sweep of pad 
 dles the coming craft shot along under the overhang 
 ing branches, nearer and nearer with every second. 
 
 "Land right in there where we hunted last night 
 this morning. It s the best " 
 
 "Land nothing, by God ! We land where the oth 
 ers are where we can stand off those sons of skunks 
 from Boutelle, that damned cockney with em !" 
 
 "Not for me you don t! Catch me running my 
 neck into a noose like that. You land here where I 
 say. I ve got to hunt a hole, I tell you !" And Kay s 
 heart nearly burst from his breast as he heard 
 Walker s craven words. No wonder he dare not be 
 seen of his former fellows ! 
 
 "Your neck s in a noose anyhow you fix it, you 
 
Lieutenant SanDp Jftap 231 
 
 whelp!" was the furious answer. "And a hell of a 
 fix you ve got us into in your fool hunt for a girl. 
 Here s Prince, not three miles behind us, coming for 
 all he s worth, and your cockney friend shoving up 
 from the sea, and nothing but tangle on both sides 
 
 of us " 
 
 "Shut up! Listen!" came Walker s voice again. 
 No need to listen. Far away down the twisting 
 river, sharp, clear, ringing, came the crackle and 
 crash of musketry, the snappy bark of the "Krag," 
 the music that told to eager and rejoicing ears, to 
 guilty and tottering senses, that the soldier had not 
 been slow to come in search for the missing com 
 rade that the "blue-shirt boys" from camp had 
 spurned the intervening score of miles, rafted the la 
 goon and, plunging into the canebrake, following 
 some unerring guide, had struck the outpost of the 
 lurking enemy and, in spite of him, were crashing on 
 to the rescue. 
 
282 JLieutenant SanDp Hap 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 FOE a moment the two crouched there, the gin 
 trembling with excitement, the young soldier speed 
 ily gaining control over his nerves, both listening 
 eagerly, intently. A sputtering fire of Mauser and 
 Remington had opposed for a moment the sharp 
 crackle of "Krags." Then could be heard the deep- 
 lunged, exultant cheer of the men of the Forty-Sec 
 ond, rejoicing in their first clash with the bandit gang, 
 and rushing impetuously on in pursuit of the thin 
 veil of skirmishers, thrown out apparently to check 
 the onset long enough to enable the main body to de 
 ploy through the underbrush, and find shelter among 
 the trees. Then it would seem as though the attack 
 ing line had found the brake too dense a tangle, for 
 the bugle sounded halt, answered by mocking and 
 derisive yells and loud peals on the Spanish made 
 clarions of the ladrones. But the halt was meant . 
 only for those men who, following pathways or open 
 ings, had got far in advance of their comrades. Any 
 level-headed commander knew what that might result 
 in when they struck the fighting line. Then the spir 
 ited fusillade broke out afresh and, straining his ears,. 
 
JLieutenant San Dp Kag 233 
 
 Kay could tell that the crew of the landed banca, the 
 two white men among their passengers, and some 
 dark-skinned native official were having a vehement 
 discussion Walker s unknown associate vociferating 
 in Spanish and this personage gabbling alternately 
 in Tagalog to his followers and in "pidgin English 
 to the whites. Walker, too, was exploding vocally, 
 upbraiding and damning in equal parts, but for a 
 moment Kay could not tell what the clatter was about. 
 Then came sudden explanation. Like the crack of a 
 whip "spat" went a steel- jacketed shot through the 
 roof of their shelter, barely a foot above Gertrude s 
 bared and bonny head. Another instant, and Kay 
 had sprung to her side, interposing between her and 
 the mile distant firing line, and with hands that 
 trembled at their very task, yet would brook no de 
 nial, he seized her by the shoulders and bore her 
 backward to her pillow. "Lie close," he murmured, 
 "and don t move." 
 
 "Bullet ?" she asked, gazing fearfully upward, as a 
 leaf came fluttering down. 
 
 "Bullet," he answered, calmly stretching himself 
 beside her, leaning his head on his left hand, yet anx 
 iously, protectingly striving to spread himself like 
 mother hen. "Those Krags shoot out of sight. We ve 
 got to hug the ground till it s over." 
 
 "And that s what they are squabbling about," said 
 she. "One bullet has struck their boat. The crew 
 want to run, and can t be made to understand they ll 
 
284 Lieutenant an Dp Rag 
 
 run right into other soldiers coming down the river. 
 You you must lie down, Mr. Ray." 
 
 But the sudden spatter of half a dozen shots in the 
 thick bamboo about them, the almost simultaneous 
 crash of a distant volley, followed by a rousing cheer, 
 stilled her voice and settled the question under dis 
 cussion at the bank. They could hear excited jab 
 bering, curses, imprecations, the plash of paddles and 
 then, hard breathing, two men, unseen but swearing, 
 threw themselves upon the ground just beyond the 
 back of the shelter and presumably behind covering 
 trees. Ray signalled hush. She looked bravely up 
 into his face, assenting, then suddenly, in turn, put 
 both her hands upon his shoulder and with determina 
 tion bore down upon it, forcing him to earth and 
 close beside her. He longed to seize that hand and 
 cover it with kisses. He could only thank her with 
 a smile, for there came sudden change of tune at the 
 fighting front. All in a moment the sullen silence of 
 the defense was broken. In a spirited, trilling call, 
 unlike any known to our service, the Filipino bugle 
 rang out upon the sultry air and at the last note a 
 crashing volley, treble in volume to that of the Yan- 
 kee advance, rolled out through the dense timber, fol 
 lowed by a chorus of yells of defiance and the fierce 
 sputter of swift and deadly fire at close range. What 
 ever their temporary success there could be no ques 
 tion what that meant to the would-be rescuers, to the 
 gallant onset of the American line. It had stumbled,, 
 
JLieutenant 8>anDg Bap 235 
 
 or been led, into a fatal trap. It was encompassed 
 now in front and flank by a concentric fire from thrice 
 its number of unseen foes. "My God!" cried Kay, 
 between his clinching teeth. "I ve been dreading just 
 that! Those fellows have had no Indian campaign 
 ing or they d never have got into such a box." 
 
 But the sound of changeful battle that brought 
 dread and dismay to these two young refugees, had 
 far different effect beyond the leafy screen that hid 
 them from the lurking pair of renegades. To the 
 unspeakable wrath of Sandy Ray, as the exultant 
 cheering gave place to silence, broken only by the 
 occasional yell of some half savage native and the 
 fierce sputter of rifle shots a silence that told un 
 erringly that now the Americans were fighting 
 grimly, desperately over their dead and wounded 
 the voices of Walker and his comrade in crime were 
 uplifted in excited, exultant comment. 
 
 "By God, I believe they ve got old Crab in a 
 pocket !" shouted the well-known and destested voice. 
 "Right you are !" went up the responsive shout. "I 
 thought sure he d burst through and be up here in ten 
 minutes, but Tonio s holding em if he isn t cleaning 
 em out." 
 
 "Curse those cowardly brutes in the banca !" This 
 again from Walker. "Most of the Mauser cart 
 ridges are there, and at this rate Tonio may need 
 them." 
 
 "Then I ve got to call them back," was the answer. 
 
286 Lieutenant San Dp Rap 
 
 "They can t have gone beyond that next point. They 
 can t go more than a mile or two without running 
 slap into Prince," and with that the speaker could be 
 heard forcing a pathway through the brush and bam- 
 boo. Then Walker was left alone. 
 
 Ray s eyes were blazing. To think of a man wear 
 ing the uniform of an officer of the regular service 
 consorting with smugglers, robbers, insurrectos and 
 ladrones, rejoicing in their success, applauding the 
 discomfiture and possible defeat of his own regimen 
 tal comrades, a traitor to his country and to his flag ! 
 Ray s blood was boiling in his veins. The stubborn 
 fighting still went on; the rattling of rifle fire was 
 incessant. Encompassed though he probably was, 
 "Crab" was battling like the Briton of old, and his 
 men were aiming low and shooting vengefully. The 
 bullets no longer came screaming overhead or slash 
 ing through the thicket. Gertrude now was in no 
 especial danger from that source. The chief menace 
 to her peace, honor and safety was crouching there on 
 the other side of that dense screen of underbrush, and 
 was crouching there alone. Ray s hand crept to the 
 hilt of his knife, and, feet foremost, he started to 
 wriggle to the entrance. 
 
 But Gertrude Dean read the purpose in his face, 
 and in an instant had sprung from her pillow, and 
 her slender hands had seized him, clinging fast to 
 arm and shoulder. "Xo, no !" she whispered. "You 
 must not! You shall not! He has his pistol; you 
 
Lieutenant San Dp Kap 
 
 have nothing!" Then as his s j -ength prevailed 
 against her gentler hold, and he seemed escaping her, 
 she threw herself upon him, her right arm encircling 
 his neck, her soft cheek, pallid with dread and dis 
 tress, almost bent to his brow, his curly head for a 
 moment, at least, pressed to her heaving bosom. And 
 still he would have burst his sweet fetters, but her 
 every sense was on the alert. "Stop! Listen!" she 
 panted. "They re coming !" And coming they were, 
 two or three light and eager forms, slipping like ser 
 pents through the intricacies of the thicket, their 
 bared feet making scarce a sound upon the sandy 
 ground, their excited voices alone betraying them. 
 Crouching again, rooted to the spot, her arm still 
 about his neck, her heart still bounding close to his 
 ears, the two held their breath and listened. They 
 heard the runners plunge into the pool and scramble 
 dripping up the bank; heard them rush, unheeding, 
 past the entrance to their little bower; heard them 
 now forcing a way through the thicket to the river and 
 then, almost stumbling over Walker as he heaved 
 himself up from behind a sheltering tree. Then Ray 
 felt her fingers on his lips, compelling him to utter 
 silence, that she might listen to what took place. He 
 could catch but few words, so hard were they breath 
 ing from their rapid run, but she, better schooled in 
 the dialect, knew their wants at once, and exultingly 
 translated: "Ammunition. They are nearly out! 
 Must have more at once," she whispered, eagerly. 
 
288 Lieutenant Sandp Bap 
 
 "Banca vamoosed/ 7 was all Walker could sputter for 
 reply. "Todos cobardes! vamoosed! mas arriba!" 
 and his mongrel Spanish and wild gesticulation told 
 their story. Two of the searchers went bounding 
 away on the trail of the unknown American, already 
 half -sent on the same errand. The third threw him 
 self with a moan of misery upon the ground. "Shot ?" 
 they heard Walker query. "Yes! Si" "Where? 
 Show me," and they could tell that he was bending 
 over the stricken man. Ray had ceased to struggle, 
 but was so intent on what was taking place without, 
 and she so fearful that her captive might resume the 
 effort, that Gertrude s arm still clasped about his 
 neck was still clinging in its unconscious embrace, 
 when on a sudden again, both young heads were up 
 lifted, and with ears attent and with eyes dilated, 
 they listened eagerly to a new sound, audible even 
 among the crash of musketry below them ; then turned 
 and gazed in triumph and rejoicing into each other s 
 face. Somewhere up stream, still distant but still 
 sure, a sharp swift crackle told that the coming force 
 had sighted foemen on the river, or lurking along the 
 shores, and the slender, steel-clad messengers of death 
 were lightning leaping from the brown tubes in chase 
 of them. 
 
 And Walker, too, had heard, and was quick to real 
 ize its meaning: Prince coming from the mountains; 
 Crab coming from the sea, and he, a deserter, a rene 
 gade, a thief, was caught between them like a rat in a 
 
JLieutenant >anDg Iftag 239 
 
 trap, escape by land impracticable, by river impossi 
 ble! 
 
 And Crabtree s fellows, some at least, some fellows 
 at flank or rear, and undeaf ened by the frequent shots 
 about them, had also heard, and called attention to it, 
 for presently "Cease firing!" trilled on the breeze, 
 and though for the moment the encircling foemen in 
 the bamboo redoubled their own volleying, that in 
 itself gave confirmation to the story and did not 
 utterly drown the more distant but most significant 
 signal of comrades coming, for within a moment, up 
 to the skies went a ringing cheer of rejoicing and de 
 fiance, that Sandy Ray almost burst his thrilling 
 bonds in mad longing to answer. Then again the 
 Krags took up the burden of their battle song and 
 two young hearts, throbbing responsive in the secur 
 ity of their leafy fastness, found time in the midst of 
 all this renewal of hope and courage, to return part 
 way to the conventionalities of their caste, and Ger 
 trude s arm slowly released its hold, yet sent not 
 forth its captive. 
 
 And now the native force, down stream, began los 
 ing faith. Many, with their ammunition gone, were 
 drifting back toward the river in search of means of 
 crossing. Two of the bancas, that had gone seaward 
 in the early morning, could be heard paddling, un 
 easily and hard, seeking some intermediate point of 
 refuge up the river. "Pray heaven they don t try 
 this !" thought Ray, as he glanced at Gertrude s face, 
 
290 JLteittenant SanDg Hap 
 
 again paling with dread. From Walker they heard 
 no more at the moment, nor from the wounded native. 
 The latter had begged for water and Walker seemed 
 to have crept over to the bank in quest of it. They 
 could hear the voices of men along the shore, shout 
 ing to their fellows in the boats, and the latter an 
 swering. "The bancas are crowded," whispered Ger 
 trude. "They are trying to make for a landing on 
 the other side, a little further up. They say there s 
 a trail through the swamp over there. Some of them, 
 will have to swim." They could hear occasional 
 shots to the southeast, still over a mile away, but it 
 was evident that Prince had found the trails on the 
 left bank and was shoving ahead, driving his oppon 
 ents before him. Half an hour would bring his fore 
 most men abreast of them and then, then the strain, 
 the concealment would be ended. They could hear 
 more of the natives, breaking away from in front of 
 Crabtree s men, flitting through the bamboo below, 
 and, both above and below, nocking out along the 
 bank and imploring the boatmen to aid. It could not 
 be long before Crab s fellows, too, would be coming 
 on again, said Ray, looking into her lovely face, then 
 down at the slender, white hand, with its twitching 
 fingers clasping and unclasping so emptily in her 
 lap. He longed to seize it once again and hold it 
 tight. It seemed so to need it. Then came more 
 shouting, more imploring prayers, said Gertrude, for 
 the bancas, unheeding, were even now paddling 
 
JLieutenant >anDp Hap 291 
 
 under the trees directly opposite, and some poor 
 wretches who dare no longer face the coming fire, 
 seemed taking to the water in hopes of swimming 
 across. And then at last from below went up a 
 mighty shout, and "Forward !" pealed from the bugle, 
 and with a rush that could be heard a mile away, 
 what was left of Crabtree s fighting line came forg 
 ing through the brake, with the last of its opposers 
 brushing away like flies before it. 
 
 Again would Ray have scrambled to the light, in 
 all his eagerness to greet the coming array, but again 
 she seized and clung to him. "It s madness!" she 
 cried. "You will simply be shot down and butchered 
 by these ladrones. Can t you hear them ?" 
 
 Indeed he could, on every side, scrambling like 
 mad for shelter, shouting to the vanishing bancas, 
 screeching warning to one another, and, in the midst 
 of it all, came strange, sudden, startling interruption ! 
 All in an instant heavy booted footfalls crashed 
 through the thicket to their left, and a second later, 
 with the lunge of a hunted beast a dark form dove 
 into the narrow aperture, the head and shoulders of 
 a man came scraping through, and a burly form 
 hurdled into their midst. Before the intruder could 
 realize where he was before he could fairly see, 
 Ray, with a low cry, had flung himself upon him, his 
 knife at the brawny throat. 
 
 "Walker, you blackguard! you villain! You re 
 my prisoner!" 
 
292 Lieutenant >anDp Bap 
 
 Of the minute that followed Gertrude Dean could 
 never thereafter give clear account a moment of 
 furious struggling, of fierce imprecation, of gasping, 
 rending, straining melee in which the little shelter 
 was torn asunder and she was trampled under foot, 
 and two agile forms, one slender, sinewy and lithe, 
 the other massive, muscular and all powerful, flung 
 reeling out into the open, locked in each other s 
 grasp. And then one brutal arm swung free, and a 
 heavy revolver butt came crashing down again, 
 again and blood was spouting from the dark, curly, 
 drooping head as the lighter form went limply to 
 earth, and then her senses fled and left her swooning 
 on the sand. 
 
 When she came to, Paloma was sobbing at her side, 
 drenching her face with water. Rough men in drab 
 campaign hats and khaki were crowding about her 
 and other prostrate forms, and Dr. Scammon was 
 kneeling beside a stricken officer who, half supported 
 by a brace of soldiers, pallid, bleeding, sorely 
 wounded, was nevertheless looking up into the face 
 of a panting, blood-covered, burly subaltern and 
 stretching forth a feeble hand as he painfully gasped : 
 
 "Mr. Walker, I owe you an amende, sir. I er 
 have misjudged you, entirely! Your er splendid 
 conduct to-day shall be the subject of the special re 
 port, sir, of your er your commahnding officer." 
 
Jlieutenant @>anDp map 293 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 THE colonel commanding the d Cavalry and the 
 picturesque military station of Camp Boutelle sat 
 poring over certain official reports, an elongated pic 
 ture of perplexity. To begin with, and in order of 
 rank of the writers, there was this : 
 
 Bivouac Company "A," 42nd U. S. Inf. 
 Near Balaoag, P. I. 
 
 November , 190 . 
 Post Adjutant, 
 
 Camp Boutelle: 
 
 Sir : In compliance with post order No. 79, dated 
 November , 190 , and the verbal instructions of 
 the post commander, I proceeded with one subaltern 
 and 46 enlisted men of this company, accompanied 
 by Surgeon Scammon and two hospital corps men, 
 with three days cooked rations in the haversacks, 
 marching to San Sulpicio between 7 p. m. and mid 
 night of the th, resting on the beach until 4 a. m., 
 when, after making coffee, the command was em 
 barked in such native boats as I could hire or im 
 press, and setting forth at dawn, we reached the vil 
 lage of Bato, on the lagoon, at 9 :30. The inhabitants 
 
294 Lieutenant >anDg Bap 
 
 denied, as had the Presidente at San Sulpicio, all 
 knowledge of the whereabouts of Mr. Dean, and de 
 clared that nothing had been seen of Miss Dean and 
 Lieutenant Ray. While searching the village, how 
 ever, my men found Lieutenant Ray s campaign hat 
 and his silk handkerchief stiff with blood, and with 
 this evidence before me I felt warranted in taking 
 more strenuous measures toward obtaining the truth. 
 The head men of the village were away, but, con 
 fronted by the relics we had found, certain others 
 weakened, admitted that Dean had been detained 
 there a day or two, but had been taken out to sea in a 
 coasting vessel, while his daughter and Lieutenant 
 Ray had a gone up the river." Sergeant Prosser, 
 scouting the east bank, came upon the native girl 
 Paloma, who begged that we should come at speed, 
 Miss Dean and the lieutenant were in hiding at a 
 point some nine miles away and in desperate danger 
 from the Presidente s friends, the ladrones and 
 "other bad men" who were beating the bamboo in. 
 search of them. Paloma estimated that as many as 
 three hundred insurrectos or banditti, the same gang 
 probably, that sacked San Sulpicio, were scouring 
 the trails toward the mountains, and her companion, 
 a Tagalog, declared that Captain Prince had already 
 had a brush with them, and was coming down the 
 river in hopes of another. 
 
 Ferrying across the lagoon, we started by trail at 
 11 o clock, Paloma and Pedro guiding. About 1 :30, 
 
jUeutenant @>anDg Kap 295 
 
 when some six miles out and marching by file, as the 
 narrow, crooked trail compelled, we were fired upon 
 from ambush. Sergeant Coon was mortally, and 
 Paloma slightly, wounded, and in the melee that fol 
 lowed two men were hit. Pushing on as best we 
 could, we drove them, these skulkers, before us, re 
 ceiving occasional shots from them, and at two 
 o clock were suddenly assailed in front and on both 
 flanks. Sergeant Fisher, Corporal Dixon and three 
 men fell at the first fire, but though taken at disad 
 vantage, the detachment rallied about their com 
 manding officer and fallen comrades, and not only 
 succeeded in holding the enemy at bay in spite of 
 overpowering force, but in so severely punishing him 
 that in course of half an hour his fire slackened to 
 such an extent that I felt justified in ordering a 
 charge, which was executed with great enthusiasm 
 and effect, dislodging the enemy from a strong posi 
 tion and driving them back to a dense thicket of bam 
 boo. Here we caught the sound of distant firing to 
 the southeast which seemed further to affect the 
 enemy, for at three o clock, in a series of impetuous 
 dashes, we succeeded in flanking the second position, 
 and then, rushing the enemy with hardly a halt until, 
 on the bank of the riper, many threw down their 
 arms and surrendered. 
 
 Earlier in the affair Lieutenant Meeker had been 
 disabled by a shot through the left foot, and, shortly 
 before reaching the south fork, known as the Balli- 
 
296 Lieutenant @anflg Iftap 
 
 wag (Balaoag ?) my first sergeant, Prosser, was shot 
 through the shoulder, and I got a bullet through the 
 left arm just as I found myself exhausted from loss 
 of blood from an unnoticed wound received earlier in 
 the action. It was at this moment that Lieutenant: 
 Walker joined ; instantly assumed command and most 
 gallantly led my well-nigh exhausted men in the final 
 charge that resulted in the rounding up of so many on 
 the river bank, the capture of three native canoes and 
 the killing or capturing of their occupants, one of the 
 dead being a white man by the name of Monk, known 
 to have had suspicious dealings with the smugglers of 
 the seaside villages. Lieutenant Walker s coming 
 was most opportune. He had been scouting the 
 neighborhood, had discovered the enemy and was able 
 to lead us directly upon them, inspiring all by his 
 reckless dash and bravery. 
 
 Our coming was only in the nick of time. Miss 
 Dean was found unharmed, though unconscious, but 
 Lieutenant Eay had been brutally beaten about the 
 head with a revolver butt, and at first his life was 
 despaired of. The speedy arrival of Captain Prince s 
 detachment, driving a few renegades before them, 
 completed the victory, the result of which may be 
 summed up as follows : The Presidente, two head men * 
 of Bato, the white man Monk and thirteen ladrones 
 killed, and twenty-two wounded and prisoners. 
 
 Our loss is necessarily severe. Sergeants Coon 
 and Fisher, Privates Horn, Murphy and Ogden, 
 
JUeutenant SanBg Bap 297 
 
 killed. Lieutenant Meeker, myself, Sergeants Pres- 
 ser and Speed, Corporals Flynn and Gorham and six 
 privates wounded. Dr. Scammon, whose services 
 were invaluable and who looked after our wounded 
 under heavy fire, pronounces the other wounded as in , 
 no especial danger. 
 
 In closing this report I beg leave most heartily to 
 commend to the notice of the colonel commanding 
 the conduct of Surgeon Scammon, Lieutenant 
 Walker, Sergeant Prosser and Corporal Gorham, who 
 merit every honor in our power to bestow. 
 Very respectfully, 
 
 A. M. Paget-Crabtree, 
 
 Captain 42nd Inf., U. S. A., 
 Commanding. 
 
 Alas, poor Meeker, shot too early in the fight to 
 win a word of praise ! Alas, poor Sandy, stricken 
 down and out too effectually to permit of his uttering 
 a word of protest! Alas, poor deluded Crab and 
 others ! 
 
 But here is what Captain Prince had to say. Let 
 us content ourselves with official extract. 
 
 "The trails led seaward, probably to Bato, as Lieu 
 tenant Walker s note declared, and though I would/ 
 not have permitted him to go unguarded on so 
 hazardous a quest, with only a brace of native guides, 
 I was glad to have even the small reinforcement he 
 left me, and could only follow his lead. Toward noon 
 
298 Lieutenant ^anftp Bag 
 
 we caught sight of two bancas on the stream, and, 
 while making disposition to capture them, were fired 
 upon from three different points in the bamboo, and 
 during the resultant skirmish the bancas turned 
 about and fled. Following steadily and driving the 
 elusive enemy before us, we heard toward three 
 o clock the sound of distant volleying. At 3 :30 we 
 were actively engaged with small parties of the enemy 
 in our front, who kept up an annoying though in 
 effective fire. By four o clock, however, we came in 
 view of the disabled bancas on the stream and pres 
 ently encountered the pickets thrown out from Cap 
 tain Crabtree s detachment, Lieutenant Walker him 
 self meeting and conducting us to the bivouac on the 
 scene of their final charge. He was eager to pursue, 
 saying that at least one hundred escaped across the 
 stream and away to the northeast, but I declined, as 
 our men were greatly fatigued. Many of Captain 
 Crabtree s were severely wounded, and the condition 
 of Lieutenant Ray was so grave that Dr. Scammon 
 considered it necessary to send him, with Captain 
 Crabtree and Lieutenant Meeker, by banca to Bato 
 and thence to Camp Boutelle. We follow by slow 
 stages." 
 
 No wonder the colonel looked the picture of per 
 plexity! Here were two energetic, soldierly cap 
 tains, neither of whom was a friend of Walker, both 
 of whom had explicitly disapproved of him, and now, 
 both of whom found it their duty to commend in the 
 
JUeutenant >anDg Eap 299 
 
 highest terms his bravery, leadership and zeal. The 
 penciled reports from the field (poor Crab had 
 fainted twice before he could sign his) preceded only; 
 a day the coming of the wounded and a third of the 
 combined detachment. Prince and Walker remained 
 with the little command on the river, but Crabtree, 
 Kay, Blunt, Meeker and the disabled and wounded 
 men had been paddled round past Sulpicio, and 
 borne through the surf at Boutelle in the arms of the 
 returned cavalrymen. Crab was too weak to stir 
 hand or foot Ray was raving in brain fever and 
 was carried to the room recently occupied by Mrs. 
 Dean, for Gertrude had stayed at Bato to nurse 
 Paloma, and thither Mrs. Dean had insisted on go 
 ing in the banca that went with supplies for the 
 wounded. Her child, she said, had need of her and 
 heaven would send her strength. 
 
 In vain had Mrs. Blake remonstrated. Both Ger 
 trude and Paloma should be brought to Boutelle, she 
 said, and most tenderly should they be cared for, but 
 Scamraon, when he came with his boatload of in 
 valids, said Mrs. Dean had acted for the best. The 
 good padre at Bato had opened his heart and doors to 
 Paloma and her American friends. It was a simple 
 case; they would be better there. Indeed, Mrs. 
 Blake was both pained and surprised that the doctor 
 should speak with such such lack of feeling or in 
 terest or something, of the gentle girl she had grown 
 to hold so dear the girl who seemed to her fond and 
 
300 Jlieutenant >anOp 
 
 yearning heart so like what her own beloved daugh 
 ter might have grown to be had God but spared her. 
 
 Any other time, perhaps, "Aunt Xannie" would 
 have upbraided, possibly would have demanded ex 
 planation, but, bereft of Gertrude, she still had 
 Sandy, and Sandy stood in grave need of her devo 
 tion, for he was a sore-stricken man. 
 
 "Another whack would have finished him," said 
 Scammon, gravely. "They were lugging him away 
 to their boats when Walker dashed into them and 
 saved him. He got there not a second too soon !" 
 
 And Walker was the man Sandy Ray seemed so 
 thoroughly to despise, and Gertrude shuddered at 
 sound of his name, and she herself, Xannie Blake, in 
 all her quarter century s experience in the army, had 
 rarely seen an officer whom she so instinctively dis 
 approved of ! It was all so strange. 
 
 "Send Sergeant Butts here," said Blake, to Feth- 
 ers, rising to his long legs and impatiently pacing the 
 office floor. "I m blessed if I can fathom this." 
 
 And Sergeant Butts came promptly a soldierly 
 fellow, the non-commissioned officer whom Crab 
 himself had selected to go with the little detachment 
 vthat marched with Lieutenant Walker, and Butts re 
 spectfully told the tale to the cavalry colonel as he 
 had previously told it to Captain Prince, and for the 
 life of him, though something seemed amiss, Blake 
 could find no flaw in it. 
 
 "It was when we got to the east fork, sir. We 
 
Lieutenant ^anflg Hag sot 
 
 bivvywhacked there for the night, and the lieutenant 
 had been questioning every native we met. He 
 could get something out of em, though none of us 
 could speak their lingo. That night he said Lieuten 
 ant Blunt s camp couldn t be more n a dozen miles 
 further, and the niggers told him all ladrones had 
 vamoosed, and sure had gone down the river. There 
 were Americanos at Bato, one of them sick. So that 
 night the lieutenant with two of em pushed out in a 
 banca. He said they d paddle down and find out 
 who the American was, and what was the matter. He 
 knew the country, having been out there shooting 
 from San Sulpicio." Sergeant Butts was to stay 
 there with the party till he came back, but to send two 
 men ahead at daybreak to find Lieutenant Blunt s 
 camp. "I tried to get the lieutenant to take two men 
 with him, sir," said Butts, "but he just laughed 
 said there was no reason he knew what he was 
 about, and he might make important finds there," 
 and that was the last they saw of him till the fight. 
 Captain Prince had come along with his company, 
 and then they all "hiked down the left bank," waded 
 the south fork and went on till they hit the ladrones 
 and found Lieutenant Walker in command at Balli- 
 wag Bend. 
 
 And the best or worst that Blake could make of it 
 was that Walker had done a daring and foolhardy 
 thing that enabled him to turn up, like the "Johnny- 
 on-the-Spot" he claimed to be, just when he was most 
 
302 Lieutenant San Dp Bap 
 
 needed, and in time to render gallant and valuable 
 service. 
 
 But still the colonel was not satisfied. He went 
 over to hospital to see the wounded, and bade Ser 
 geant Prosser tell how they met the lieutenant and 
 where. Prosser, himself an all-round ball player and 
 enthusiast, kindled with admiration and said: "We 
 met him right there, sir, close to the brook. He came 
 running along the line, dodging through the trees and 
 shouting, This way, men! and rushing ahead like 
 nothing could stop him, whereas we were all blown 
 and played out. He charged into the gang like a wild 
 bull. ? Twas as much as we could do to stop him from 
 swimming after a banca and boarding it all alone. 
 Twas so much easier to shoot from the bank. 0, he s 
 a fighter all right, sir !" said Prosser, and the colonel 
 came away with thoughtful face and troubled eyes. 
 There were papers in a pigeonhole that only Fethers 
 had been permitted to see, that threw so different a 
 light on Walker s dealings and doings. Time was in 
 the distant past when Blake had seen the effect of 
 scandals, told in garrison, at the expense of an officer 
 at that moment doing most valiant service at the dis 
 tant front, and he was thinking of that now, now 
 ;when Walker s praises were on many a lip, and only 
 he and his adjutant were in possession of these new 
 and damaging tales about him. 
 
 But at any moment, now, communication with 
 Dagupan and Manila might be reopened by land. At 
 
JLieiitenam @anDp Bap 303 
 
 any moment a coasting steamer might drop in for the 
 mails. At any moment he could charter a native sail 
 ing vessel and send his despatches to Dagupan by sea. 
 Indeed it was high time he did so, and, in forward 
 ing the report, he could not ignore those of Crabtree 
 and Prince, so earnestly commending Walker s con 
 duct. Moreover, he must lose no time in getting 
 word to the Rays of the very serious condition in 
 which Sandy lay. Even Scammon, most cheery of 
 "medicine men" ordinarily, looked anxious every 
 time he came away from his young patient s bedside, 
 and he had been there thrice within the past twelve 
 hours. Scammon was not like himself anyhow, said 
 Blake, to his brave but sorely worried wife. He had 
 "taken such a shine" to Ray at first seemed so 
 heartily to like him was so sympathetic when he re 
 turned (ahead of Forrest s slow marching column) 
 over the ill luck that had kept Sandy from taking part 
 in that expedition. One of the frankest, most open- 
 souled creatures in the world was Scammon, as Mrs. 
 Blake was saying. You could almost tell what he 
 was thinking even when it was of a patient in critical 
 condition, and now, though most assiduous in pro 
 fessional attention to Sandy, he seemed averse to 
 speaking of him averse to any mention of his prob 
 able part in the recent exciting events down beyond 
 Sulpicio. Blake could not make him out Mrs. 
 Blake, who overwhelmed him with questions about 
 Gertrude, found him awkward, embarrassed, uncom- 
 
304 JUeutenam ^anOp Bag 
 
 municative, and it was impossible to account for it. 
 She opened her heart to Mrs. Scammon and found her 
 equally puzzled, and for similar reasons. What on 
 earth had the doctor heard or discovered ? What on 
 earth could he be concealing? 
 
 Orders had been sent to Prince to push on again 
 for Blunt s old camp and to take up his work where 
 he had left it. Blunt was confident that a troop could 
 ride right through to the railway, and the troop to go 
 was already designated. Crabtree, gallant fellow, 
 suffering from two serious wounds and weak from 
 extreme loss of blood, would nevertheless be pro 
 gressing favorably toward recovery, said the doctor, 
 only only he "seems to have something on his 
 mind." It was marvelous how a man who had lost 
 so much blood could find such a fever, but fever came 
 and Crab babbled like a child in his broken, fitful 
 sleep, sometimes even when awake. 
 
 Stopping in to see him on the way back to the office 
 where Fethers was copying the rough draft of the re 
 port, Colonel Blake found Mrs. Scammon, with the 
 hospital nurse at the captain s bedside, and as he en 
 tered she and the attendants were on their feet on 
 , opposite sides of the bed, with such a strange, scared, 
 guilty look in their eyes as they gazed almost help 
 lessly at each other. 
 
 At the instant of his entrance, Mrs. Scammon 
 turned, saw who it was, and instantly, instinctively, 
 sought to place her hand over the patient s mouth, for 
 
Lieutenant SanDp Hap 305 
 
 Crab s eyes, heavy and suffused with fever, were yet 
 lighted with some strange intelligence ; his voice that 
 had been feeble, had gained new power, and words, 
 words uncontrollable, amazing, abominable words, 
 were rolling from his lips, and Blake was brought up 
 standing, fairly appalled by the first that reached his 
 ears. Then with something like a wail of anguish, 
 Mrs. Scammon quit the bedside and almost threw 
 herself upon him. 
 
 "O, colonel, colonel!" she cried, "don t listen! 
 Don t think of it ! He s just stark, staring mad !" 
 
 Then Scammon himself came hurrying in, and be 
 tween them, Blake was led away. 
 
306 JUeutenam 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 CHEISTMAS holidays had come and Crabtree was 
 again afoot, clothed in his right mind and rejoicing 
 in the soft and balmy Seabreeze that blew across the 
 shaded after deck of the Pittsburg, and straight, pos 
 sibly, from Ceylon s isle. The spice thereof might 
 have been absorbed in the leagues of salt that had 
 been traversed, but no spice had been lacking in life 
 at Boutelle in the month gone by. Crab, to be sure, 
 knew little about it, though he had furnished much. 
 Crab had been mad as a March hare, and in the 
 course of his fevered ravings had said stupendous 
 things. Crab had parted with a long cherished fam 
 ily secret concerning his past, had prattled for hours 
 of being indeed a Paget on the distaff side, a younger 
 son of a distinguished house, name not even here to 
 be mentioned, since it was the mother s name he had 
 taken, and taken not in vain, to the service of the 
 United States. Crab had managed to reveal how 
 disgrace and dishonor had followed on the heels of a 
 forbidden marriage before he was twenty-one, a mar 
 riage that had wrecked him before he was twenty-two, 
 the lady in the case then consistently flitting to 
 France with an older and wealthier fool, and leav- 
 
Lieutenant San Dp map SOT 
 
 ing him free to begin life anew with nothing. Crab 
 had babbled of days in the ranks of the Lancers in 
 Hindostan, until recognized and brought out by the 
 elder brother who loved and had faith in him. And 
 even then, it seems, Crab wouldn t go home and take 
 up the old name again. The gentle mother had died, 
 the angering old father had measurably relented, but 
 the young soldier had brought discredit to the race in 
 wedding the lass against whom they had warned him, 
 and never, said he, would he resume it until honor 
 exceeding the disgrace had been won for it. Where 
 fore had he come to soldier in the United States, suf 
 fering long for a chance to do something, and getting 
 it at last, and almost his quietus, in the bamboo 
 brakes of "Balliwag." Time and again the men of 
 even his own command had laughed at his methods 
 and mimicked his mannerisms, but the man who 
 dared it now would have been mobbed by his fel 
 lows, for from grizzled old Prosser down to Jerry 
 Donovan, the "kid" of the company, they swore by 
 him, bragged by the hour of "the old man s" grit and 
 pluck after getting the first wound, still cheering and 
 leading them on, handling a Krag instead of the 
 sabre, bleeding "like a stuck pig" the while, and 
 never giving up till the battle was over, his blood 
 nearly gone, and a second shot had felled him. "Oh, 
 yes, he s a Johnny Bull all right," said the men of 
 Company "A," "but what have you fellows got to 
 onateh him?" This to the home keeping gang of a 
 
308 niett tenant ^>anp Bap 
 
 rival command that had never been in a fight and 
 were consumed with envy and hatred in consequence. 
 
 Little by little as Crab came back to his own, from 
 the airy fabric of his dreams, wherein he was again 
 commahnding officer and ruling the mess, he drooped 
 languidly to the consciousness that after all he was 
 but clay and well nigh spent in the struggle. They 
 gradually let him know, did Scammon and his good 
 wife, of much he had revealed concerning himself, 
 but of what he had told concerning, and most cruelly, 
 concerning others, there was to be no telling until he 
 should have regained all his strength, and meantime 
 momentous matters had come to pass. 
 
 A general court-martial, presided over by a vet 
 eran colonel, and composed of officers of rank and 
 high repute in the service, had been summoned to 
 meet in Manila on or about the 27th day of Decem 
 ber, for the trial of First Lieutenant Harrison 
 Walker, Forty-Second Infantry, and such other per 
 sons as might properly be brought before it. Major 
 Forrest, d Cavalry commanding Camp Boutelle 
 in the absence of Colonel Blake, previously sum 
 moned to Division Headquarters had been in daily; 
 conference with Captain Crabtree until the latter 
 was strong enough to be boated and hoisted aboard 
 the hospitable Pittsburg. Lieutenant Ray, convales 
 cent, after a most serious spell of brain fever, and still 
 very weak, had been taken to Manila with the Blakes, 
 for Aunt Nannie, a grave-faced, anxious woman, this 
 
Lieutenant ^anCg Bag 309 
 
 time stayed not alone with the Moons in the big 
 spacious house. Blunt, too, with the imperturbable 
 Hilarious, had gone by sea at the same time with the 
 Blakes, and Blunt could not do enough to show the 
 depth of his regard for Sandy Kay. Blunt had had 
 a row with the uxorious yet excellent Lieutenant 
 Shane, all on account of certain insinuations let fall 
 from the rosy lips of "that most impertinent young 
 person, " Mrs. Shane, and his very blunt and Blunt- 
 like response. Shane decided that apology was due. 
 
 "Apologize to Mrs. Shane!" said Blunt, when 
 called upon by her subordinate liege. "ISTo, sir! If 
 ever I felt like seizing and shaking a woman it was 
 Mrs. Shane that day, and by - , Tom Shane, if you 
 don t get out of here, I m damned if I don t shake 
 you!" 
 
 But this episode, and others, Sandy Ray was per 
 mitted to hear nothing about until later. He won 
 dered languidly, and without much caring, why it 
 was that several men and two or three women seemed 
 to hold aloof from the colonel s quarters when he 
 was well enough to be up, and why there seemed to 
 be constraint when it came to saying good-bye. He 
 would have wondered more could he have seen those 
 few people when, a week after the going of the 
 Blakes, Blunt and Ray all summoned to Manila 
 there came of a sudden the startling tidings that 
 Lieutenant Walker had been arrested aboard the 
 OEsmeralda, in disguise and a locked cabin, just half 
 
310 Lieutenant 
 
 an hour before she steamed for Hong Kong that he 
 had deserted from Captain Prince s command, away 
 down toward Dagupan, and that charges of every; 
 conceivable character were filed against him. 
 
 Yet it was on Mr. "Hasty" Walker s authority, 
 backed by rumors of Crabtree s revelations, that 
 some of those equally hasty garrison folk had ven 
 tured to point the metaphorical finger of scorn at one 
 fair and spotless girl, to gossip and titter about one 
 long-loved and honored army wife, to sneer at the 
 reputation of a gallant and knightly young soldier, 
 and to write of it all, confound them ! to friends and 
 fellow-citizens across the sea for the edification of 
 social circles at home, and the unstinted joy of more 
 than one paragrapher. 
 
 There were other witnesses, required by this most 
 distinguished court, whose summons never reached 
 them until long after the need was over. With the 
 Hong Kong postmark there came a letter to Mrs. 
 Blake on Christmas morning, as she sat on the upper 
 gallery of the stately old Spanish home, looking out 
 over the sparkling waters of Manila Bay. She knew 
 the handwriting at once Gertrude s and was deep 
 in its swiftly penned pages in a moment. She read 
 and read again, and still again, and then clasping it 
 to her bosom, rose and rejoicefully paced the marble 
 gallery until her husband came. 
 
 "Such glad news, Gerald!" she cried, as she ran 
 
Lieutenant anDg Bap 311 
 
 to meet him. "Gertrude and her mother, at least, 
 will never know want again." 
 
 "Old Uncle Thingumbob come to his senses ?" 
 asked the colonel, noting gladly the return of bloom 
 to the soft cheek of his wife, and kissing the same, 
 appreciatively. 
 
 "Yes, though Mrs. Dean insists on living with him 
 at Shanghai." 
 
 "Never, never will desert Mr. Micawber, I sup 
 pose r 
 
 "Her brother would have given her a home and 
 everything long ago, if she could only have cut loose 
 from that that impossible," said Aunt Dannie. 
 Then with her eyes brimming : "And think what that 
 might have meant for Gertrude !" 
 
 "More money than he knows what to do with, is 
 it ? What got it, Nan, Standard Oil or Life Insur- 
 
 ance?" 
 
 "Mines, dear." 
 
 , "Hum ph. - The earth, not the fools thereof, had 
 t to disgorge. I wish Sandy had the half of it." 
 
 "He might and more," said Aunt Nan, with 
 [plaintive face, "if only " 
 
 But the Deans were gone and the court was on the 
 [eve of meeting, and the prisoner at the bar was under 
 guard at the barracks. Being a deserter, escaping 
 in disguise through Dagupan, and down the railway, 
 and well nigh off to the British possessions, the favor 
 of mere arrest could not be accorded him. A sentry 
 
312 Lieutenant San Dp Kap 
 
 with fixed bayonet stood at the door of his little room. 
 Another stood ready beneath his window. The 
 charges against him ran the gamut of a dozen articles 
 of war and half those of the decalogue. From having 
 posed as the hero of the "Balliwag" he had dropped, 
 said Blake, to the plane of a word that just rhymed 
 with it. Theft, embezzlement, forgery, false reports, 
 lying, slandering, violation of orders, breach of ar 
 rest, desertion in face of the enemy, etc., etc., and all 
 these no worse than one blackguard deed as yet not re 
 duced to writing, as were its effects in letters from 
 misguided gossips at Boutelle. 
 
 And the hottest, most vehement of his accusers was 
 his erstwhile comrade Blunt, who with Sandy Ray, 
 had been made welcome under the roof of a senior 
 officer, playing bachelor in Manila, where for the first 
 time Blunt heard Ray s story of the fierce grapple 
 with Walker that day of the Balliwag, the story of 
 which even Ray could tell only the first half, since 
 he was battered senseless in less than a minute, and 
 of the rest of which he knew nothing until long days 
 after the story that caused Blunt to stare wildly, 
 almost incredulous, for the moment, and then to 
 break forth in furious imprecation that amazed even 
 the victim of Walker s brute strength and damnable 
 treachery. Blunt, it seems, when marching from 
 Boutelle, had left Walker a letter to post at first pos 
 sible opportunity, the letter that held Sandy s 
 check for one hundred dollars, made payable to and 
 
Lieutenant >anDg Hag sis 
 
 endorsed by Blunt, abstracted, raised to five hundred 
 and tendered by Walker to a collector in Manila em 
 ployed by certain firms in the United States. With 
 it, in the hands of the judge advocate of the division, 
 were two other checks for $250 each, purporting to 
 be drawn by Sanford Kay in favor of Walker, checks 
 that had been accepted by two different agents in 
 Manila. Very neat and creditable forgeries they 
 were, too, until examined by an expert paymaster. 
 The forger had counted, probably, on escaping to 
 Manila, cashing more checks and slipping across the 
 China Sea before these were presented for payment 
 to the bank in ISTew York. Then there was the mess 
 money poor Belden had had to make good. Who but 
 Walker could have walked off with that ? Even the 
 missing fifty dollar bill was found again upon his 
 person. Prince, too, was confirmation as to this. Be 
 yond doubt, he said, the dread and agitation shown 
 at first by Walker the morning Prince went in to 
 accuse him, were due to his belief that he had been 
 detected as the thief of the mess money. The dis 
 covery of Prince s real charge and purpose brought 
 instant and overwhelming relief, and then insolence 
 and assault. Then there were claims from defrauded 
 people by the dozen wheresoever that ingenious young 
 officer had landed. There was his swindling of poor, 
 murdered Harry Dean and the exposure of the pecu 
 lations the loving sister had periled so much to cover 
 and conceal. "Then there was that bugle business 
 
Lieutenant S>anBg Bap 
 
 and the way he lied out of it," said Blunt. "That 
 fellow could turn a tune, so it turns out, on half a 
 dozen wind instruments besides his ugly mouth/ and 
 still all these did not fully account for Blunt s furi 
 ous, vehement, passionate hate of the fallen man. 
 Blunt swore there was no legal punishment that 
 could begin to repay him for what he had done. 
 Blunt was for tearing him away from the guard, tarr 
 ing and feathering him in front of the Malate cathe 
 dral, riding him the length of the Calle Keal on the 
 sharpest kind of a rail and then dumping him into 
 the dirtiest hole in the ditch of the walled city. 
 "Boiling alive, like the lying lobster he is, ain t half 
 bad enough for him !" said Blunt, and the more Eay 
 protested at such vehemence the madder he got so 
 mad that one night at last it came the pent up fury 
 of an honest, sturdy soul against as black a villain as 
 ever tore a good name to tatters. 
 
 "Why, damn you, Kay, for a mollycoddle," and 
 Blunt s face went red as fire at his own words. "He 
 told Crab and Scammon he found you and that sweet 
 girl of Dean s faugh! I can t foul even my blas 
 phemous mouth with it! when you were hiding 
 there by the river. He told them he could have put 
 an end to you, if the niggers hadn t, for daring to 
 approach your colonel s wife and have her in your 
 quarters while he was away at Manila. He for 
 God s sake, man " he broke off, suddenly, limp- 
 
JLieutenant Bating map 
 
 ing after his light-footed comrade to the door. "Ray, 
 come back, for God s sake come back !" 
 
 But Sandy Ray, with blanched face and blazing 
 eyes, had burst from the room, gone bounding down 
 the winding stone steps to the cobbled court beneath, 
 and thence to the dimly lighted street beyond gone, 
 and his pistol with him ! gone, and the best his crip 
 pled brother officer could do was gather up his stick 
 and go hobbling after him, sending up a yell as he 
 sighted the sentry at the barrack gate a yell for the 
 
 corporal of the guard. 
 ********** 
 
 The court met pursuant to orders on the following 
 morning, but the case between the United States of 
 America and the first prisoner to be tried had been, 
 transferred to one of final and eternal jurisdic 
 tion. What was left of Lieutenant Harrison Walker, 
 formerly Forty-Second Infantry, lay stiffening on a 
 pallet at the old Second Reserve, and over at his tem 
 porary quarters in the Ermita suburb, barely two 
 blocks distant, Lieutenant Sanford Ray, with pallid, 
 twitching face, was nervously tramping the narrow 
 limits assigned him, with three or four sad-eyed, 
 sympathetic comrades exchanging murmured com 
 ment and confidences at the door of the room to which 
 he had been ordered, a military prisoner in close 
 arrest. 
 
316 Jlteutenant >an&p Hap 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 THE glad new year came in accompanied by not a 
 little ceremony, ecclesiastical as befitted the mother 
 church, and military as befell our usually matter-of- 
 fact establishment, because of the entrance of a new 
 commander and the exit of the old. There was much 
 parading of the priesthood and burning of incense at 
 the venerable and numerous edificios religiosos, and 
 as much parading of soldiery and burning of powder 
 along the Luneta and the Santa Lucia. The big 
 court-martial was given a recess, and a bigger sensa 
 tion suffered something of eclipse, pending the ex 
 penditure of time and cartridges attendant upon the 
 transfer of the command of the Military Division of 
 the Philippines. But there had been a week dur 
 ing which the tragic fate of Hasty Walker was the 
 talk of the town. The first story, spreading like wild 
 fire, was that he had been shot dead by Sandy Kay. 
 The second, gaining ground but slowly, was that he 
 was not shot at all. The final and conclusive one, 
 was the composite told by Lieutenant Harriott, th 
 Infantry, officer of the guard, Corporal Martin Con- 
 way, commanding second relief on duty at the Cuar- 
 tel, and Private Jacobs, sentry on Xumber 7, to Lieu- 
 
Lieutenant San Dp Hap sir 
 
 tenant Colonel Webster, commanding regiment and 
 barracks, the following morning, and by him for 
 warded to the general commanding the Department 
 of Luzon, who in turn, and still later, sent it up to 
 Division Headquarters, where eventually it reached 
 the eye of the incoming chief. Meanwhile, all man 
 ner of versions had been afloat the one at first in 
 general circulation being that Ray had rushed past 
 the gate guard and up the steps, past the sentry at the 
 room door, and, without an instant s wait or warning, 
 had sent shot after shot through Walker s body as he 
 lay helpless on his cot. 
 
 In view of the fact that the body, still warm and 
 quivering, was picked up on the stone flagging at a 
 point some seventy-five yards distant from the pris 
 oner s room and nearly forty feet below it, this story 
 should not have been published by representatives of 
 the press, speedily at the spot, but it was by long odds 
 the most sensational, which was all sufficient to set 
 and keep it going until the second day thereafter, 
 when in soldier circles, at least, the truth began to be 
 known. 
 
 Harriott, officer of the guard, reported in writing 
 as follows: 
 
 "I was at the guard room door inquiring as to the 
 cause of some noise or altercation I thought I had 
 heard, when Sergeant Burke came running in, ex- 
 cited. He said "No. 1 reported that an officer, who 
 seemed crazy or drunk, had just rushed in with a 
 
318 Lieutenant ^anDp Hag 
 
 pistol in each hand. Corporal Conway had run after 
 him. Then we heard shouts and cries upstairs and 
 a rush of feet along the upper hall. We ran up at 
 once and found the men all hurrying to the south end 
 and crowding about the windows. Sentry Jacobs, 
 who had been posted at the door of Lieutenant 
 .Walker s room, was right among them, and Corporal 
 Conway was clinging to an officer whom I recognized 
 as Lieutenant Kay, d Cavalry. They were strug 
 gling violently, and the corporal called to me for 
 help. Then there came a yell from the men nearest 
 the window. "My God, he s down!" "He s 
 dropped !" And they all rushed away while I helped 
 the corporal to disarm and secure the lieutenant. He 
 had a revolver in his right hand, all chambers loaded, 
 none discharged. He made no resistance whatever 
 after I put my hand on his shoulder seemed dazed 
 and stunned by what the men said. I ordered Cor 
 poral Conway to guard him while I ran down after 
 the men. There was a crowd gathered in the court 
 under the south front, and there I found Lieutenant 
 Walker senseless and bleeding. Dr. Cooper came in 
 five minutes and said he was dead, neck broken and 
 skull probably crushed. They took the body to hos 
 pital and I went back to investigate. By that time 
 Captain McCall, officer-of-the-day, had ordered Lieu 
 tenant Ray escorted to his quarters in arrest, and was 
 questioning the sentry. That s all I know." 
 
 Corporal Conway, interrogated by Lieutenant 
 
Lieutenant @anp Kap 319 
 
 Colonel Webster, said, "I was near the gate when I 
 heard a rush of some one running past behind me. 
 The sentry looked dazed and troubled, said twas an 
 officer ran by "with a gun in each fist," and I hur 
 ried after, calling, stop him. They did try opposite 
 the guard room door, but he tore through them like 
 he was playing football. That was the noise Lieu 
 tenant Harriott heard. At first I couldn t tell where 
 he had gone till I heard shouting up stairs, then I 
 ran, and when I got to the corridor everybody was 
 running to the south end, and there was Lieutenant 
 Hay trying to get to the window, and Sentry Jacobs 
 a-hold of him and calling to me for help and to look 
 out for Lieutenant Walker, who d gone out of the 
 window. Then Lieutenant Harriott came." 
 
 Then Jacobs told his tale. "I was on guard at 
 Lieutenant Walker s door, had orders not to let him 
 out, but none not to let other officers in. There had 
 been two or three to see him. First thing I knew a 
 lieutenant in white uniform came sprinting along 
 the hall, one hand behind his back. He was blowing 
 when he got there. Never said nothing at all, but 
 just shoved right in. Lieutenant Walker was lying 
 on his bed and jumped right up at sight of him. Then 
 I saw the other lieutenant Lieutenant Ray had 
 two pistols revolvers, and was holding them out by; 
 the muzzles. Take yer choice, he says; take your 
 choice and take your stand, you damnable cur and 
 liar! One of us has to drop right here! And bv 
 
S20 JLietitenant SanDg IRap 
 
 that time I d run in to put a stop to it, and while I 
 was trying to hustle the first one out, what does the 
 other Lieutenant Walker do but make a dive past 
 me an 7 out into the hall, an away he goes like blazes 
 me and the other lieutenant and a whole raft of the 
 fellers after him. He was just crazy with fear, and 
 when I yelled for the guard he dodged away from the 
 stairs and down the whole length of the hall, and then 
 out he goes at the window. When I got there, what 
 with wrestling with Lieutenant Ray to keep him from 
 shootin and having me own rifle to look after, it 
 wasn t till he d scrambled along the ledge, an most to 
 the end, that I could see him again, and then, wid 
 us both shoutin and men shovin to the window, he 
 kind o reeled like, and I heard Corporal Conway 
 ordering disperse, an Lieutenant Ray doin his best 
 to disperse me. Next I heard was the fellers the 
 men yellin he d jumped, an that was the last of it." 
 The last of the authentic story the last of an un 
 worthy officer and man. The matter was all cleared 
 up days before Sandy Ray was in mental shape to 
 give coherent account of himself for his part in the 
 affair, for the fearful strain and excitement, coming 
 when he was still weak from his serious injuries and 
 illness, had brought on a relapse over which the medi 
 cal director of the division gravely shook his head, 
 and presently telegraphed for Colonel Ray. From 
 Major Crawford s orderly it was learned that the 
 lieutenant had darted into his little office, opening on 
 
Lieutenant SanDg Bag 321 
 
 the Calle Real, a block from the barracks, had seized 
 the major s revolver and gone speeding away down 
 the street. This, and the sentry s story, proved that 
 even in his fury at Walker s villainous slanders, Ray 
 never meant to shoot him, save in fair fight. But, 
 however valiant Walker might have been in grapple 
 with a man not half his brute strength, he had no 
 stomach for a fight in which firearms would set them 
 equal. One glimpse of the deadly purpose in Ray s 
 blazing eyes had stricken him with terror. Flight 
 was his sole impulse, until like hunted cat he had lost 
 his grip on the perilous ledge without the window, 
 and plunged headlong to the stony area below. 
 
 But long days before the tragic ending of Walker s 
 career of recklessness and crime, Mrs. Blake had 
 written to Gertrude Dean of the remarkable reports 
 concerning the valor and value of that officer s ser 
 vices in the affair of Balaoag, and, brief hours before, 
 had come her answer, and who needs now to be told 
 what manner of missive that was ? Blake, when he 
 read it, could hardly contain himself with impatience 
 and wrath. Blake was actually on the way to the 
 walled city, late as it was at night, to find his friend, 
 the adjutant general, when stopped by the crowd at 
 the crossing of the Calzada de Herran and the tidings, 
 as first told, that Lieutenant Walker was being borne 
 to the hospital, shot to death by Sandy Ray. Indeed, 
 even Blunt at first believed it, and Crabtree and 
 Prince marveled not, nor greatly blamed ; for, of all 
 
322 Lieutenant San Dp Bap 
 
 the sins with which that low-born soul was stained, 
 the worst in soldier eyes was that which had no place 
 whatever in the charges and specifications submitted 
 to the martial the mortal court. 
 
 Small need to dwell on the days that swiftly fol 
 lowed. 
 
 Colonel and Mrs. Ray had come hastening from a 
 far southern province to nurse their boy, only to find 
 their old friends and long-time neighbors, the Blakes, 
 successfully through with that duty, and Sandy, out 
 of arrest by department order even before out of 
 danger, had been declared convalescent before the 
 transfer of the command from the old general to the 
 new. Perhaps had he been permitted to see some 
 of the pages Gertrude Dean had penned, the recov 
 ery might have been even more rapid, but there were 
 several that Aunt Nannie never showed to him until 
 long after. There were one or two she never yet has 
 shown at all. 
 
 And there were matters connected with his brief 
 sojourn at Boutelle that Sandy, after conference with 
 his father, referred to a solemn little conclave where 
 at Blunt and Prince and Crabtree freed their minds 
 of what the now almost unnamed slanderer had 
 spoken, and then shook hands, soldier fashion, with 
 father and son, on the agreement that in the future 
 there should be no mention of it. But Blunt ruefully 
 admitted that, in his wrath against Walker, Ray was 
 not the only man he had told. Fethers knew of it,. 
 
Lieutenant San Dp map 323 
 
 but would be silent. Shane, who differed with Blunt 
 as to the extent of Walker s iniquities, had been 
 stunned to temporary silence by the thunder of 
 Blunt s revelations, but all who knew Shane and Mrs. 
 Shane knew well that his silence would never with 1 
 stand her cross-questioning. Crab held up his hands 
 in piteous dismay at Blunt s confession. Every 
 woman left at Boutelle, said he, would have the story 
 in full by this time. Pray God Mrs. Blake may never 
 hear of it ! Pray God it may never reach Gertrude 
 Dean! As to this Colonel Ray was less concerned, 
 however, than his juniors. People will scorn the 
 story, he said, even as by this time they must despise 
 the monger. "It will die a natural death, which was 
 more than he could." But, as Sandy recalled the 
 strange words scrawled at the top of the page that fell 
 accidentally under his eye at Blunt s quarters, and 
 "Aunt Nannie s" instinctive shrinking from the man, 
 and Gertrude Dean s utter horror of him, he had his 
 doubts and was not altogether comforted. 
 
 However, there was no sense in borrowing trouble. 
 The reunion that had begun in such anxiety, and pro 
 gressed to such rejoicing, must speedily end. The 
 Eays must hasten back to Zamboanga, the Blakes to 
 Boutelle. There was to be a dinner by way of adieu 
 to their old general, and a welcome to the new a big 
 affair to which no less than fifty officials and officers 
 were bidden, and the resources of Manila had been 
 ransacked to make it a gastronomic success. The 
 
jUeutenam San Dp 
 
 Club and the Club s brilliant manager would see to 
 that. As for the speeches, they must look out for 
 themselves. Much could be expected from the gov 
 ernor, but less from the commanding general, in that 
 line. Four or five star-bearers, a dozen spread eagles 
 and half a score of gold and silver leaves would grace 
 the occasion, but very few, save aides-de-camp, among 
 the junior officers might expect invitation. Crab- 
 tree and Prince, participants in the recent and stir 
 ring affairs with ladrones, had been duly honored, 
 and Sandy was both delighted and surprised when he, 
 too, received a card. Crab blushed and beamed with 
 joy that his should bear the superscription Captain 
 Almeric Paget Crabtree, especially as a famous 
 British sailor, with a captain or two from his fleet, 
 and a distinguished British writer and traveler were 
 among the invited guests. 
 
 And the night of that dinner was long remembered 
 in Manila. A glorious, starry, cloudless, breezeless, 
 night, with the bay all spangled from the skies above 
 and brilliant with the illumination of the war ships. 
 A famous Filipino orchestra played sweetly on the 
 spacious gallery, alternating with the fine band of the 
 artillery in the court below. Everything, said every 
 body, had gone off swimmingly. The healths of the 
 President and of His Majesty, King Edward, had 
 been drunk most loyally, and worthily responded to. 
 The major general homeward bound had been hearty 
 ily toasted and gratefully cheered. His successor: 
 
Lieutenant >anDg Bag 32$ 
 
 had been as hopefully honored, and both had said, as 
 best they could, the things appropriate to the occasion, 
 and then a well-worded toast to the navy had brought 
 every soldier, civilian and foreigner to his feet, and a 
 gallant rear admiral had blushingly acknowledged the 
 compliment, and then another, equally solicitous, had 
 evoked shouts and cheers as the glasses clinked across 
 the board, and Britain s men-o -wars men beamed 
 their appreciation, and their admiral, having been 
 drafted into service when the King was toasted, the 
 captain of the Wonderful plunged valiantly into a 
 troubled sea of sentences "hear, beared" vociferously 
 by Crab and cheered by everybody. Then the civil 
 service had its innings, well handled, despite the fact 
 that the governor general had answered for the Presi 
 dent, and might not, like Costigan of blessed mem 
 ory, respond to more than one. By this time it was 
 well toward midnight, and, the more formal section 
 of the banquet being over, certain seniors and elders 
 cannily withdrew, and a livelier toastmaster took the 
 chair, and a certain few with the gift of thinking on 
 their feet were called into action, and fun and mer 
 riment were flying fast, and all indeed going merry 
 as a marriage bell, when it occurred to a certain elder 
 present, hapless wight (there is always some inspired 
 idiot at such an affair who conceives it his preroga 
 tive to teach the toastmaster his duties) to rise and, 
 addressing the chair, beg leave to call attention to 
 the fact that "We have with us to-night a most dis- 
 
326 Lieutenant %anBp 
 
 tinguished guest and visitor who has not yet been 
 heard from, and I m sure everybody present would 
 be glad if he would say a few words, I refer to the 
 brilliant correspondent of the London Fulminator, 
 now for the first time a sojourner on American soil/ 
 whereat there were glances of consternation, and 
 moans of anguish, among the martial Britons, but the 
 toastmaeter had no alternative, and, with the best 
 possible grace, turned to the gentleman thus distin 
 guished, and again Crab began to "Hear, hear" re- 
 joicefully as that broad visaged, broad waistcoated 
 personage, somewhat ponderously found his feet and 
 presently began his say. 
 
 These were still touchy times In Manila. Men 
 had by no means begun to forget the hideous doings 
 in Samar, Mindanao and even in sections of Luzon. 
 Foul treachery had done to death brave officers and 
 men even in the shadow of the sanctuary they had 
 guarded. Priests and Presidentes had connived at 
 the massacre of unarmed soldiery. Guides had led 
 our columns into ambuscade. Native officials, sworn 
 to the service of the United States, had buried alive 
 our wounded men, and inflicted cruel torture on pris 
 oners and captives our boys in blue and they who 
 befriended them. Beloved officers, unarmed and un 
 prepared, had been knifed through treachery abroad, 
 and others, equally beloved, who had found an infalli 
 ble yet ultimately harmless process of bringing re 
 calcitrant Presidentes to book, had been court-mar* 
 
Lieutenant San Dp iRap 327 
 
 Itialed and punished in deference to a shuddering pub 
 lic sentiment at home. It was bad enough to have 
 to bear that from one s own press and people, but be 
 fore the distinguished guest had been speaking four 
 minutes it was found that he, too, was bent on touch 
 ing on that almost forbidden topic, and a silence such 
 as precedes the coming of the typhoon fell upon the 
 board. 
 
 He took himself seriously, did our visitor. He had 
 read and written far more than he had traveled. He 
 came from a people who for ages had had colonies 
 all over the globe, to a people who were making their 
 first experiment, and therefore should welcome ad 
 vice, suggestion, admonition, and he gave all three> 
 ponderously regretting that, albeit in very few in 
 stances, our unaccustomed hands should have been 
 betrayed into deeds of which Christendom and civili 
 zation, and he was grateful to observe the American 
 people, had expressed their abhorrence. "But," he 
 went on, more hurriedly, for even Crab s "Hear, 
 hear" had been silenced, "let us not dwell on the few 
 errors of the past. Let us rather turn with renewed 
 and earnest purpose to the roseate promise of the fu 
 ture, for after all, are we not of the same blood, the 
 same old sturdy root that has peopled the world with, 
 the sons of the dominant race, and carried Chris 
 tianity and civilization to the utmost confines of the 
 earth ? Let us rejoice in our common heritage, and 
 let me, in conclusion, at this gathering of the repre- 
 
328 Lieutenant 
 
 tentative soldiers of America, propose a toast to the 
 memory of the three really great Union generals of 
 your one great war men whose very names and 
 characters prove the truth of my proposition that it 
 is from our United Kingdom even the United States 
 must trace their attributes as leaders. Fill your 
 glasses, fellow descendants of a common stock, and 
 drink with me with three times three to Grant, who 
 sprang from the heather of the Highlands, to Sher 
 man, who hailed from the lowlands of the Severn, to 
 Sheridan, bred from the banks of the Shannon all 
 of them English." 
 
 Then uprose they all, and tilted their glasses and 
 tried to start a cheer that, somehow, stuck in the 
 ^rop, and a laugh that had no ring to it, and applause 
 that was all too mechanical, and then it was seen that 
 ^Blake, tallest and longest of all about him was lifting 
 still higher his glass and shouting "Mr. Chairman !" 
 and everybody settled back to his seat, leaving Blake 
 on his feet, and every man who had ever known him, 
 or of him, knew well that something was coming, and 
 In a minute it came. 
 
 They who sat close to him could have sworn he was 
 trembling from head to foot, but never a tremor was 
 heard in his voice, never a symptom of wrath or an 
 noy. Smoothly, placidly, humorously, he began, and 
 murmurs were stilled and men craned their necks to 
 look and listen. 
 
 "We have all been delighted with the words and 
 
lieutenant SanDg Eap 329 
 
 sentiments of our genial and gifted friend who has 
 so enlivened us. Underneath the mask of gravity, 
 almost if not quite as sepulchral as that we know so 
 well in the foremost of our own talkers our soldier 
 ambassador to France our new-found friend has 
 concealed a humor even more exquisite. He has 
 launched one jest after another, even while pointing 
 a moral and adorning a tale. And now, in the same 
 broad spirit of comradeship and conviviality that 
 animated his reference to our unschooled methods, 
 let me admit without hesitation that those methods 
 lack the comprehensiveness, the finish, I might say, 
 of the system which blew into smithereens, from the 
 mouth of the cannon, their own particular brand of 
 insurrectos in the days of Bayard Outram and Have- 
 lock. Let us admit, too, that in dealing with the devil 
 incarnate we have much to learn from our experi 
 enced kinsmen of Albion, and finally let me, in the 
 same sportive and whimsical mood which inspired 
 his tribute to three at least of our old-time leaders, 
 bid you again to lift your glasses and then to drain 
 them those who are not still votaries of the water- 
 care to the honor of the only three great generals 
 Great Britain has evolved in a whole century of wars 
 Wellesley, Wolseley and Bobs God bless him ! 
 yes, and we ll count in Kitchener, too; all four 
 sprung from the green sod of Erin; all of them 
 Irish !" 
 
 And then went up a shout that shook the walls as 
 
B30 JLieutenant San Dp 
 
 men sprang to their feet, and drank delightedly, and 
 banged the table with unoccupied hands, and clapped 
 each other on the back, the British sailors leading 
 everybody in the excess of their merriment and joy. 
 Even the Fulminator, after a moment of mental 
 stupefaction, was on his feet laughing like the rest, 
 and it was full five minutes before the fun half sub 
 sided, and the general commanding the department 
 could slip from his seat and, fairly bubbling over, 
 whisper, "Blake, old boy, that s good for two months 
 leave, and Japan, any moment you want to go." 
 
 "Make it transferable, General" said Blake, with 
 twinkling eyes. "Look at Sandy Eay. He needs it." 
 
JUeittenam SanDg Ba? 331 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 AND to Sandy, who indeed needed it, the leave had 
 come, with the recommendation of the medical direc 
 tor that he spend it in a sea voyage to Frisco and 
 back, rather than a sojourn in the land of cherry blos 
 soms and chrysanthemums at other seasons of the 
 year. Which was how he came to be aboard the big 
 and good ship Sheridan, of our transport service, as 
 she steamed into Nagasaki s deep, long and narrow, 
 landlocked harbor, and how and why, with other re 
 turning warriors, he should be ashore a day or two 
 while his bark was off the seas and in the dry dock. 
 They made him welcome and gave him an airy 
 dainty room at the big hotel, facing the crowded bay, 
 and a seat at table that commanded a view of the en 
 trance, and of those who entered. The consul had 
 come to call upon the hero of the Paul-and-Virginia- 
 like, and otherwise romantic, episode of the so-called 
 Balliwag, and had planned a rickshaw run and a 
 dinner at the Club. The quartermaster in charge had 
 come to see him and talk of days at old Camp Sandy, 
 Arizona, where he had served with Kay s father, with 
 Jack Truscott and "Old Catnip" and Bucketts 
 days that young Sandy could never hear enough of. 
 
332 Lieutenant >anDg Rap 
 
 The passenger list of the Sheridan was a record 
 breaker in one way it was the smallest "homeward 
 bound yet known. The general and his aides had 
 elected the run by an "O and O" liner, via Shanghai 
 and Yokohama and Honolulu. There were barely 
 twenty officers, and less than a dozen women and 
 children. Most of the men more or less invalided 
 like himself, and few of them, or their families, peo 
 ple he had ever met before. Yet, unlike him, every 
 mother s son and daughter seemed rejoiceful and 
 happy akbeing once more en route for the home coun 
 try. Sandy, somehow, cared not a whit about going 
 just then to the States. A run through the Inland 
 JSea would have had some attraction: a voyage 
 through the islands to the south would have had more, 
 and if anybody from the Nippon Maru, just in from 
 the Pacific, and bound across the China Sea for 
 Shanghai and the Hong, had said the word "Come 
 over with us," the chances are that he would have 
 tossed his transport order over the rail and sought a 
 berth aboard the liner. Yet what would that brief 
 voyage have profited him as compared with the weeks 
 of ozone to be breathed over the deep blue waves of 
 the broad Pacific. As he sat there on the gallery, 
 aloof for a time from his fellows, and gazing out on 
 that busy scene, his eyes rested long on the black bulk 
 of the Nippon rather than upon a dozen craft of 
 commerce or war far more pretentious or formid 
 able. 
 
JLiemenam S>anDp Kap 333 
 
 "Not once in all those weeks, since last he saw her in 
 the dim light of their leafy refuge that day of the 
 "Balliwag," had he exchanged look or word with Ger 
 trude Dean, save in the way of messages such as Aunt 
 Nannie could transmit To his father, after Blunt s 
 startling revelation, he had spoken of her earnestly 
 and much, and in a way that set the elder soldier to 
 serious thinking. To his mother he had spoken of 
 her hardly at all, the first essay meeting with a silence, 
 or a lack of response, or sympathy, or something that 
 both troubled and repelled him. The story of his 
 adventure was known, of course, all over the islands 
 now, and never could Mrs. Ray hear allusion to it 
 without wincing, as Mrs. Blake was quick to see and 
 then to strive to correct. Whatever the record of the 
 father, and the fault of the brother, and the weakness 
 of the mother, that girl, in Aunt Nan s fond and loyal 
 eyes, stood without a stain, no matter what Paloma 
 had confessed to doing (though Paloma s confession 
 to her young mistress had been as yet by no means as 
 complete as had been Gertrude s compassion and for 
 giveness as complete as, in time, had been Aunt 
 Nannie s, despite the doped coffee and deft pecula 
 tions). Yet Mrs. Blake, with all her love for Ger 
 trude Dean, was still worldly wise enough to know 
 that neither Colonel Ray nor Marion, his wife and 
 her oldest and stanchest friend, could by any human 
 possibility be expected to welcome the idea of Sandy s 
 having fallen in love with a girl of such unfortunate 
 
334 Lieutenant SanOp Bap 
 
 social connections a girl with whom he had been 
 thrown in such peculiar relations, under such ro 
 mantic, perhaps, but none the less positively "uncon 
 ventional" circumstances. 
 
 It was one topic that became "taboo" between the 
 two old and devoted friends, these two army wives, 
 during their brief sojourn in Manila about as un 
 happy a fortnight as Aunt Nan had known in many a 
 year. Even the most intimate and loving of femi 
 nine friends are often keenly alive to each other s 
 failings. Mrs. Hay s girlhood had been spent in far 
 Eastern society wherein there was much that was 
 artificial. Mrs. Blake s earlier years had been lived 
 in a far Western ranch, in the free air of Wyoming, 
 whereby she was ever in close touch with nature. 
 Through quarter of a century of army life they had 
 been dear to each other as two fond sisters, yet there 
 were matters concerning which they differed, as sis 
 ters will, and one of these was what was due to public 
 opinion. Nannie Blake would have it that Marion 
 Ray gave to it too much heed was too conventional, 
 and now here came a crowning example. Just one 
 clash had there occurred, though not until another 
 l year would either admit or allude to it. 
 
 "It is easy for a girl to follow suit," declared Mrs. 
 Nan, "whose people are all that is correct and 
 proper. Here is a girl who is a lady in spite of 
 everything." 
 
 "Do ladies follow suit and men as she did?" 
 
Lieutenant SanDp Bap 335 
 
 asked Mrs. Marion, with averted eyes and acidulous 
 tongue. 
 
 "As she did, and as I did, Marion, when it was to 
 save a father ! This girl not only suffered to save her 
 father s name, and her brother s ; she suffered in sav 
 ing your boy s life." 
 
 "]\ T o more than he did, first, in saving hers. Just 
 see him now !" 
 
 The implied reproach was hard to bear, but the 
 superior will showed in the self-control of the final 
 words : 
 
 "You would have sent him, yourself, as I did, 
 Marion, had you been there." Wisely, then, the last 
 speaker left the room, and dropped the subject ; argu 
 ment with angering woman, even a sister, being 
 worse than useless. 
 
 2Tot a word of this, of course, had come to Sandy 
 Ray, but he knew and read his mother, even as he 
 loved her, and her silence as to Gertrude Dean was 
 more than significant. It told him the topic could be 
 no more unwelcome than the girl. He had written. 
 three letters to Gertrude, before that startling inter 
 view with Blunt, and had torn each to fragments as 
 utterly inadequate. Letter writing was not his forte, 
 he ruefully said, and now as he sat here, solus, on 
 the breezy gallery, he was wondering if he could not 
 do better, and send it with some pretty trifle from 
 Nagasaki s alluring shops, and find perhaps an an- 
 
336 Lieutenant SanDg Bap 
 
 swer here on his return. The Nippon would not sail 
 for hours yet. By Jove, he d try it ! 
 
 He did, and struggled manfully, which is to say 
 clumsily, and came forth two hours later with the 
 finished product buttoned within his breast pocket 
 Another liner had come in, and was anchored within 
 easy hailing distance of the Nippon, a sister liner 
 probably, for sampans and small boats were busily 
 plying between them ; some of them, too, sculling for 
 shore. The evening air was growing chill and he 
 threw his cavalry cape over his shoulders and went 
 forth upon the street. The manager, escorting two 
 ladies in black and wearing mourning veils, was com 
 ing up from the landing, the boatman following with 
 hand luggage and the like. The rickshaw men were 
 eagerly eyeing Sandy, hopeful of a fare, and Ray 
 was speedily jogged away to the heart of the bustling, 
 fascinating city. 
 
 Two hours later, one of the first to enter the din 
 ing room, he was at his seat, refreshed by the air, a 
 bath and the satisfaction so many officers seem to 
 feel in getting into "cits," this despite the fact that 
 few of them look half as well, and Ray, in broad 
 white shirt front and black dinner coat, was no ex 
 ception. But both he and an artillery comrade, simi 
 larly garbed, were of quite the opposite way of think 
 ing, and rather commiserated such of their fellows as 
 entered in olive drab or even dress. Dinner was half 
 over, and the gunner in full flow of conversation 
 
JLieutenant >anDp Kap 337 
 
 when he became suddenly aware of the fact that Ray 
 had neither eyes nor ears for him and, following the 
 astonished gaze in the latter s eyes, the speaker 
 turned to the doorway. The manager himself was 
 escorting two ladies to their seats, one of them a sad- 
 faced gentlewoman, obviously the mother of the tall, 
 slender and beautiful girl who followed; one in the 
 widow s cap, both in deep mourning. A moment 
 more and Sandy Ray had sprung from his chair, 
 hastened half way across the broad and airy room 
 and was bending over them his eyes beaming. The 
 elder looked up startled. The younger gave one 
 quick glance. A wave of beautiful color swept to 
 her forehead, then seemed to slowly fade from tern- 
 pie, cheek and even the parted lips. Her hand, me 
 chanically, had gone out to meet his, but was with 
 drawn and dropped. The sudden, unexpected meet- 
 ing that had begun in such evident emotion on part 
 of all three, seemed closing in constraint. A few 
 words, that seemed to grow formal, were spoken by 
 the elder woman, the girl listening with white, 
 averted face. Ray stood one moment in stupefaction, 
 then bowed stiffly, turned and came back to his place, 
 but neither ate, drank nor talked. Lamely excusing 
 himself he presently arose, left the table and the 
 room. 
 
 That evening he sent his card to the ladies, Rooms 
 41-43, and the answer came that both were indisposed 
 and about retiring. Next morning there were two 
 
338 Lieutenant 
 
 letters at his plate. A mail had come up from Ma 
 nila forty-eight hours after the Sheridan. One was 
 postmarked Dagupan, addressed Lieutenant Sanford 
 Kay, d Cavalry, Care Division of the Philippines, 
 Manila. It had been re-addressed "U. S. Transport 
 Sheridan, Nagasaki." He tore it open and found it 
 -came from Prince, written from camp on Benguet 
 Road. It had lots to say about Walker, more evi 
 dence direct, against him, and the relief they all felt 
 in his self -ended career. It told of Walker s connec 
 tion with the smugglers, and their allies, the la- 
 drones. "They would have killed him sooner or later 
 for his double-faced treachery." But Ray hardly- 
 read, for, on the fourth closely written page, he had 
 seen her name and eagerly skipped to that ; and there 
 were these words underscored : 
 
 "So I hope to God you never gave, and she never 
 saw, the little packet I sent by you !" 
 
 Little packet ? Why, of course ! Ray recalled it 
 well. He had taken it on the sail to Bato, meaning to 
 give it that night But whatever became of it \ More 
 than half of his few belongings he had never seen or 
 heard of since the moment he had been felled there in 
 the darkness. But why should Prince so hope and 
 pray that Gertrude Dean had never seen it? He 
 found the reason soon enough, and left his breakfast 
 untouched : 
 
 "After hearing the full story of how that brave 
 girl made her escape, taking you with her and sav- 
 
Lieutenant >anBp Eap 33^ 
 
 ing your life, I could kick myself, were it anatomi 
 cally possible, for the brutal letter I wrote her in 
 sending back what I then thought was evidence of her 
 intimacy with him at Boutelle." (Sandy s cheeks 
 were burning now, though but a moment earlier they 
 were so pale.) "Of course at that time I had no real 
 knowledge of affairs at Sulpicio her father s and 
 Harry s and never dreamed that it was for their 
 names sake she so risked her own. And when L 
 found that she had actually been there to his quar 
 ters found her little foot tracks in the sand, and 
 that filmy little handkerchief at the very doorstep, I 
 wrote the fool letter that was enclosed in the packet 
 told her that a girl like her had no right to the trust 
 and the sanctuary of a woman like Mrs. Blake, and 
 
 the sooner she took herself away from the post " 
 
 But Sandy could read no more. With a barely stifled 
 cry of wrath and misery, he sprang to his feet, ran 
 up to his room and hurled the offending missive 
 against the wall. 
 
 The consul came to take him a day s pleasuring, 
 across the beautiful hills, and he amazed that official 
 by begging off. Eriends had come, he said, whom he 
 must see friends, as he knew by that time who re 
 fused to see him. Mrs. Dean had almost said so in 
 response to the penciled words upon his card. They 
 were breakfasting in their room and begged to be 
 excused. It must be that that miserable packet had 
 found its way to her while she was nursing Paloma 
 
340 Lieutenant >anDp 
 
 at Bato. It must be that she had coupled this witK 
 the recollection of the constraint and aversion with 
 which he had at first seen fit to treat her, and the 
 two were enough to steel any girl s heart against him. 
 At noon he went in search of Colonel Skinner, and 
 the colonel had gone with the consul s party; but an 
 assistant told him the Sheridan would be floated 
 again by sunset and would sail at dawn. He had to 
 eat something at tifiin, and then betook himself to his 
 room, and for two hours wrote, wrote, wrote to her, 
 then sealed and sent it, begging that Miss Dean 
 would read and then favor him with a reply. The 
 answer, brought by a lady s maid, was from Mrs. 
 Dean to the effect that her daughter at least was 
 sleeping and should not be disturbed. At 4 there 
 came one of the Sheridan s officers to say that all pas 
 sengers should be aboard that night, adding, with sig 
 nificant smile, "Two friends of yours go with us, Mr. 
 Hay. The quartermaster got the order this morn 
 ing, because of Miss Dean s valued services/ it 
 read." 
 
 Then Sandy thanked God. Once aboard the Sheri 
 dan there must come opportunity to speak with her, 
 and until nine o clock his heart was lighter, even 
 though neither mother nor daughter left her room. 
 Then came Colonel Skinner, the quartermaster re 
 ferred to, just to say bon voyage to Sandy, and then 
 to send his spirits down to zero with "I thought I d 
 have a pleasant piece of news to confirm, but there s 
 
Lieutenant ^anDp mag 341 
 
 something queer about it Mrs. Dean sends the word 
 
 they ve decided to stop over." 
 
 "Then, by the Lord," said Sandy, "so have I !" 
 And that was the news that went back to Zam- 
 
 "boanga and Boutelle. 
 
 * * * * * # * * -x- * 
 
 But it was by no means all, for the Blakes, at least> 
 had received advices from Shanghai that measurably 
 prepared them. Other letters, later letters, had come 
 from Gertrude, full of affection for Aunt Nannie and 
 of anxiety for her father. He had never really ral 
 lied from the prostration at Boutelle. His trouble 
 had been aggravated by bodily exposure and mental 
 distress. He had been all too easily led into evil 
 courses, both at Manila and Sulpicio, through blindly 
 trusting subordinates, he said, who had been thrust 
 upon him by superiors. "He had hoped and expected, 
 to meet the revenue officers and to put them in pos 
 session of all the facts in the case." Possibly this 
 became known to his confederates and was the real 
 cause of the sudden, if temporary, wealth that enabled 
 him to flit expensively to refuge in Chinese territory, 
 and then to send for his family. Once there, how 
 ever, his friends and funds both began to fail him, 
 and his strength to follow suit. Dean was a doomed 
 man when he set foot in Shanghai, and all the devoted 
 nursing of his wife and daughter could not -save him. 
 In their extremity the long alienated brother had 
 come to their aid. Then Dean slipped peacefully 
 
342 Lieutenant %anDp Bap 
 
 into the long night, and the cabled tidings brought 
 cabled answer, and ample funds from America. The 
 one thing that so long had stood between the brother 
 and sister had vanished, and the mother and daugh 
 ter were summoned home. 
 
 But not once did Gertrude mention Sandy Ray, 
 though she had much to say of Paloma Paloma who 
 had been her faithful and devoted slave Paloma for 
 "whom she had so much to plead in extenuation 
 Paloma who had no idea how, in serving her young 
 mistress, she had sinned against so many. Paloma 
 was to wed her Pedro and be happy ever after, but 
 Gertrude begged of Aunt Nannie that she would try 
 to forgive her for the sake of what the girl had really 
 accomplished, and to find out, for Gertrude as yet 
 could only guess, what money had been stolen that 
 could be laid at Paloma s door, and from whom. And 
 Gertrude sent a draft for twenty pounds sterling to 
 cover what she knew of Paloma s peculations, and 
 with affection and regard unutterable and assur 
 ances that never, never, never could she forget Aunt 
 Dannie s loving kindness, subscribed herself, devot 
 edly her fond and grateful friend. 
 
 A contrast to this impulsive, even warm-hearted, 
 letter was Mrs. Dean s stately missive, written when, 
 in spite of the cloud of her recent bereavement, she 
 could not leave these shores without at least an at 
 tempt to express her gratitude to Mrs. Blake. In 
 more tangible form she begged Mrs. Blake s accept- 
 
Lieutenant Sana? Bag 343 
 
 ance of the trifles she had ordered sent from Naga 
 saki (they were still in the custom house at Ma 
 nila at last accounts, held up by a ruinously pro 
 hibitive tariff) which souvenirs she trusted would 
 serve sometimes to assure Mrs. Blake of her own 
 and her daughter s appreciation of Mrs. Blake s hos 
 pitality in their hour of distress. Mrs. Dean wished 
 most properly that she could feel for every one at 
 Camp Boutelle the sentiments expressed toward Mrs. 
 Blake, but this unfortunately could never be. The 
 utterly unjust attitude, assumed by so many officers 
 toward her beloved and misjudged husband, "now, 
 alas, at last gone to his reward" ("Gertrude never 
 saw this letter," says Madam Nan, with heightened 
 color, to her chuckling liege) precluded the possibility 
 of her forgiveness. There was very much on this 
 head and in this strain which need not be enumerated. 
 But then came the paragraph at which Mistress Blake 
 gasped in dismay; then turned in amaze upon her 
 husband. 
 
 "And if that were not more than enough, the in 
 sult conveyed to my innocent child, who periled her 
 life to save that of your especial protege among the 
 officers the vile insinuation in the note sent by Mr. 
 Prince, with her handkerchief and scarf, has capped 
 the climax. That Mr. Ray should have taken upon 
 himself the duty of conveying it to her was proved 
 by its being found in his bag at Bato, and I thank 
 .heaven they brought it to me and not to her. Of 
 
Lieutenant SanDp Bap 
 
 the nature of its contents I have felt it my duty to 
 acquaint her, and the shock she sustained is some 
 thing I wish she might have been spared." (How 
 many another do we not know, equally pious and re 
 joicing in rectitude, who so wishes the loved one 
 might be spared this or that undeserved pang, yet 
 cannot deny her or himself the mournful luxury of 
 inflicting it.) "It will be years," continued Mrs. 
 Dean, "before she even partially recovers." 
 
 "The the oh, my Aunt Maria s tabby cat!" 
 wailed the colonel. "Go on, Nan !" 
 
 "Go on!" cried Mrs. Nan, her cheeks ablaze. 
 "What on earth did Prince write and Eay carry?" 
 And, when she was told, an hour was given over to 
 wrath, then three hours, and whole sheets of paper, 
 to letter writing. The missive that went to Gertrude 
 that night by way of Dagupan, Manila and the care 
 of Colonel Skinner, U. S. Quartermaster, Nagasaki, 
 was what Blake called a hummer, and it got there 
 just in time. 
 
 The Sheridan slipped away in the mists of early 
 morning, minus one of the original passenger list and 
 two of the supplementary. Sandy Ray had slept but 
 little that night. Letters had been brought in late; 
 some taken upstairs, some few handed to him. His 
 luggage had come off at eleven and been sent to his 
 room. He had written a page or two, tried bath and 
 bed, but was up, restless and troubled, at four in the 
 morning, and out on the sea wall in the dim light of 
 
Lieutenant Sana? map 345 
 
 dawn. He watched the big white steamer, with the 
 electrics still sparkling, as she swung her head 
 slowly to the south, and bored silently through the 
 flotilla at anchor ; then hied him within doors and up 
 to the second floor and out on the broad veranda for 
 one final peep. 
 
 And there at the farther corner, all alone, leaning 
 against the pillar and only dimly visible, stood a slen 
 der form he knew at a glance. One moment he 
 halted, uncertain, then up and back went the curly 
 dark head, and on tiptoe again, half ashamed, all de 
 termined, he bore swiftly down upon her and found 
 her sobbing her heart out, her streaming eyes fixed 
 on that fast-fading transport. Then, when with a 
 low cry she whirled upon him at sound of her name, 
 his arms barred her escape. He would neither stand 
 aside nor let her go, nor, for the moment, let her 
 speak. He held the floor and Gertrude and he 
 felt his strength returning. 
 
 And he needed it, for Gertrude Dean was no weak 
 ling, mental or physical. He realized that the day 
 the shots came crashing through their shelter on the 
 Balaoag, and she laid her white hands on his shoul 
 der and bore him down. K"ow she braced both those 
 slender hands against his shoulders, thrusting herself 
 far as possible from his bounding heart, with her 
 head thrown back and her eyes jetting blue blazes at 
 him the sweet, soft eyes whose fires but the mo 
 ment before seemed drowned in the flood of their 
 
346 Lieutenant San Dp Hap 
 
 > 
 
 tears. " You shall not ! You dare not ! If you re a 
 man you ll let me go!" she managed to make him 
 hear through the torrent of his own protestations. 
 
 "It s because I am a man I won t let you go ! Hear 
 me you must and shall! You ve dodged me every 
 way until I caught you here." 
 
 "I thought you were gone with " 
 
 "I Icnow you did! and were crying your eyes 
 out " 
 
 "Oh ! Of all the infamous things ! Mr. Kay, you 
 hurt me!" 
 
 "I don t. You re hurting yourself with your 
 furious struggles." For they were indeed furious, 
 and futile. In the vernacular of the game he loved, 
 and had once excelled in, she was tackled and thrown 
 back for a loss, at the corner pillar again, and there 
 was no referee on the spot to penalize Ray for hold 
 ing in the line. Finding it impossible to break his 
 hold, she fell back for a parley. 
 
 "If I promise to listen two minutes will you 
 let go?" 
 
 "For two minutes, yes." But his arm never 
 yielded. 
 
 "I m listening," she panted, presently, her red 
 lips parted now, her white teeth gleaming, but not in 
 smiles ; her bosom heaving, not all in wrath. 
 
 "I m out of breath," said Sandy. 
 
 "Why aren t you on the Sheridan ?" said she. 
 
 "Because you re not," said he. 
 
Lieutenant San Dp dap 
 
 "Now, listen/ she began again, presently. "I 
 don t want you to tell me what you were going to." 
 
 "You ve known it all along." 
 
 "I haven t! But, we re not at all suited to each 
 other." 
 
 "Speak for yourself, please," he began, confidently, 
 then finished half ruefully, "I know I m a runt." 
 Indeed, her bonny head was held at the moment 
 almost on a plane with his own. What was medium 
 height for a trooper was tall for a girl. 
 
 "It isn t that at all," she said, promptly, so earn 
 est in her argument she forgot about the arm, or pos 
 sibly it was only he. "Honestly though," and then 
 the fires were but smouldering again, and speedily 
 the eyes were once more welling over. "It would 
 never do. I know your father and mother." 
 
 "I know yours/ blundered Sandy, "and if " 
 
 But the next was drowned in an impetuous rush, 
 and indignant burst of tears. Breaking away from 
 him she ran to the long Venetian window opening 
 upon the gallery, and beyond that he could not pur 
 sue. 
 
 Not until the day of the Doric s sailing did he see 
 her again, and then only for a moment, against her 
 prohibition, yet when she read the woe in his face 
 and the havoc the week had played, her brave heart 
 melted and I don t know just what happened. In 
 six days Sandy Eay was back in Manila, waiting 
 transport for Zamboangua. In six weeks he was back 
 
348 Lieutenant San Dp iftag 
 
 again in Manila, posting registered, mind you a 
 letter to the Hon. Horace !N". Stetson, Call Building, 
 San Francisco, California, which in addition to an 
 /old-fashioned and punctilious letter to that distin 
 guished man of affairs, contained other missives, 
 quite as convincing, addressed in the hand of Marion 
 Ray, to Mrs. Amos Dean and to Miss Gertrude Dean. 
 Even then something must have been lacking, for in 
 April the society columns of the San Francisco pa 
 pers were having much to say of Colonel and Mrs. 
 Gerard Stuyvesant of New York. Mrs. Stuyvesant, 
 as was well remembered, was the lovely daughter of 
 Captain (now colonel) W. P. Ray, of the Cavalry, so 
 long and favorably known in civil and military cir 
 cles of the Pacific coast. And while their coming 
 had been the signal for a round of brilliant enter 
 tainments it had not escaped the notice of the argus- 
 eyed society reporters that "they were frequently to 
 be seen at the palatial new residence of the Honor 
 able H. !N". Stetson, whose sister and niece had but 
 recently returned from the Orient, in deep mourn 
 ing, which precluded the possibility of their appear 
 ing much in public." What else was lacking must 
 have been supplied in letters from Camp Boutelle, 
 for at least one very soft summer evening Lieutenant 
 Sanford Ray was caught in the act of kissing his 
 colonel s wife, the lady tearfully and rapturously re 
 turning the caress, the aggrieved husband standing 
 
Lieutenant SanOg Bap 349 
 
 shamelessly by and applauding the performance. 
 "Aunt ISTan Aunt Nan!" the young trooper was 
 declaring, "I could never have won her but for 
 you!" 
 
 THE END. 
 
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