«% i|Ii|i||||V|'''i| iwlillitwtii y nip « ""fjit l*|| If) * C tlii t M , ' LT ¦'^° '''¦¦* ¦¦'¦¦¦" ¦ tj^iiiiviii SkM I'rrrn-i fi OUR CONQUESTS THE PACIFIC 'm ' :?^'. OUR CONQ_UESTS IN THE PACIFIC BY OSCAR KING DAVIS SPECIAL CORRESPONDBNT OF THE NEW YORK " SUN " WITH THK ARMY OF OCCUPATION, MAY TO DECEMBER, 1898 ILLUSTRATED $ NE'W YORK FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY PUBLISHERS Copyright, 1898, By The Sun Printing and Publishing Association Copyright, 1899, By Frederick A. Stokes Company 1)5(S79 D38 / S9Q CONTENTS. CHAP. PAGE /. Off for Foreign Conquest 1 //. Transport Experiences 5 ///. Honolulu 13 IV. Hawaiian Hospitality 17 V. Surf Riding and the Hula 23 VI. Troopship Diversions 31 VII. A Matter of To-morrows 38 VIII. The Taking of Guam 44 IX. Some Surprised Spaniards 52 X. Gxiam Surrenders 68 XI. Our Flag Salutes 69 XII. To Jar a Fixed Star 77 XIII. The " New Bully " at Suma 85 XIV. Manila Bay at Last 90 XV. In Camp before Manila 93 XVI. Aguinaldo's Wonderful Band 99 XVII Cavite '. ... 103 XVIII. Going to the Front under Difficulties 106 XIX. " Three Rounds Blank " 127 XX. Concerning the Germans 129 XXI. Reinforcements Arrive ] 34 XXII. Night Alarm in Camp 142 XXIII. House Building in a Rainy Camp 148 XXIV. Inching up on the Dons 155 XXV. Military Station No. 1 158 XXVI. Our Boys Smell Powder 161 XXVII. It Becomes a Business Fight 171 iii IV CONTENTS CHAP. PAGE XXVIII. The Evanescent Enemy 183 XXIX. Some Filipino Questions 185 XXX. The " Night Before the Battle " 188 XXXI. The Play- Acting Spaniards. 195 XXXII. The " Capture ly Assault " 205 XXXIII. After Manila Surrendered 225 XXXIV. About a Civilian Person 231 XXXV. Manila Opens her Doors Again 235 XXXVI. Two Commanders 239 XXXVII. Opening Prison Doors 242 XXXVIII. " Taken an Empire " 254 XXXIX. Puzzling the Filipinos 257 XL. Sunset over Mindoro 277 XLL Iloilo 280 XLIL The McCulloch's Farewell 289 XLIIL Hit-and-Miss Mails 293 XLIV. Cash we Found 295 XL V. Christmas in Manila 306 XL VI. Homeward Bound 309 XL vn. Aguinaldo 313 XL VIIL Dreams of the Filipino Chief 324 XLIX. A Filipino Naboth 334 L. Foreshadowing the End 340 OUE CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC CHAPTER I OFF FOR FOREIGN COlfQirEST U. S. Troopship Australia, May 25, 1898. — Fading a^w^ay in the blue mist far astern the green-clad cliffs of the Golden Gate die out of sight in the closing day. Ahead, just off the starboard bow, the Farallones rise dim and blue in the dying light. Already their ¦wheeling flashlight throws its friendly beam out to welcome and to warn us. Beyond them the sky line and the broad Pacific, on whose long-backed swells the trooper is al ready heaving and rolling in a fashion that makes the land-trained passengers take warning of the fate that is before them. The Australia is in the lead. Behind lum bers the big City of Peking, with the First California and the naval detachment aboard. Still further behind the slow-going City of Sydney rolls along. Aboard her are three companies of the Oregon regiment, for whom there was not room on the Australia, and three companies of the Fourteenth Regular Infantry, just down from Alaska, where they were part of the command of Colonel Thomas M. Anderson, now Brigadier-General of volunteers, and in command of this expedition. Army headquarters are on the Australia, with General Anderson, but the navy is in charge of the expedition, and so the Peking, where Com mander Gibson is in command, is the flagship of the little squadron. We are to proceed with the three ships in echelo7i, the Peking leading, the Australia off her port quarter, and the Sydney on the Australia's port quarter. So now as we pass the Farallones the Australia slows down for her comrades to take position. She is the fastest of I 2 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC the three, but the Sydney, the slowest, must be the pace maker. San Francisco gave us a warm-hearted, royal good-bye. It began early in the morning and continued until the superior speed of the outward-bound troopers left the last cheering, whistling tug behind at the Golden Gate. The Calif or nians swarmed out about the ship to give the boys a last greeting. When the troopers pulled out from their docks last night the throngs on the piers and iu the streets cheered and cheered, the bands aboard ship played " Hail Columbia" and the "Star-Spangled Banner," and over all was the wild uproar and noise that serves the world over to indicate enthusiasm and good- will. To-day it was different. The cheers were there and the shouts. Bands were brought along to help make racket. But under the cheers were the tears and under the tears were the cheers. Sometimes one got to the surface, sometimes the other, sometimes both. Men whose grave faces reflected their sober hearts cheered until their throats refused to utter sound and then took feeble refnge in frantic waving of flags. Women whose hearts were with the bluecoats that thronged the rails of the troopships choked down the sobs that hindered their cheers and laughed and shouted god speeds to their loved ones, while tears that would not be held back ran unheeded down their cheeks. The demon stration of the day before yesterday, when the First Cali fornia marched through a mob of howling, struggling, cheering friends from their camp at the Presidio to their troopship at the Mail dock, was but the preparation. The climax came to-day with the real parting. As the three troopers lay in the stream making their final preparation, and awaiting the , order to sail, the " good-bye boats " flocked about them: There was a new boat every five minutes, but the old oties did not go away. They were of all descriptions, from a ten-foot skiii with a leg-of-mutton sail and a crew of one boy and, a girl, to an ocean liner, her decks black with a tumultuous myriad of hysierically yelling men and women'; Tugs were in the great majority, and they were of all sizes and conditions. They had the best time, for they could drop their fenders and fearlessly come alongside. Their passengers could almost shake hands with the boys OFF FOR FOREIGN CONQUEST 3 on the troopers, and at last one happy-thoughted soldier hit on the expedient of thrusting his rifle out to the laugh ing, tear-eyed woman who was shouting tender messages to him and clasping her hands in make-believe of grasping his. She caught the end of the rifle barrel, and so they bridged over the gap between tug and ship and called it a farewell handclasp. The ferryboats carried multitudes, among whom were many who had friends among the blue- coats. They sailed up to the ships and drifted by on the tide. Each time the bands of the troops did their best, and the bands on the ferryboats played their loudest, but the cheers on boat and ship drowned everything out except an occasional blare. The wildest welcome of all the good-bye boats was got by the big side-wheel steamer that flew the Red Cross flag. The boys had good reason to remember the Red Cross women. From the instant of their arrival in San Fran cisco, through all their stay at the camp, and even up to the moment of their going aboard ship they had been looked out for by these women. Sandwiches and good things to eat had been brought to them by the wagon load. All sorts of little errands and commissions had been un dertaken for them, aud the thousand and odd little ways in which thoughtful women can be helpful to inexperienced soldiers had been used to advantage. So to-day, whenever that red cross floated by, the troopships were rocked with a wilder, heartier cheer than when any other good-bye boat hove alongside. Once, as the boat drifted by the Australia, one of the women took her Red Cross badge from her sleeve and threw it toward the trooper. The breeze caught it and carried it along, landing it finally in the midst of a struggling crowd of soldiers, each doing his best to capture the prize. Dozens of other women followed suit, and soon Red Cross badges were thrown all about the Australia. Roses and bunches of flowers came, too, and oranges, and even boxes of sandwiches. And one over-enthusiastic man rolled up the flag he was waving and threw it, spear fashion, at the crowd along the Australia's rail. It caught one poor fellow just under the left eye, but fortunately did no serious injury. He bowed his head on the rail and the blood dripped down on the deck. Instantly there was a clamour of anxious inquiry from the boat as to his hurt. 4 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC " Oh, he's all right ! " shouted one of his comrades. " He's a soldier. He isn't hurt." Aboard the troopers the bands played three tunes, "Hail Columbia," "The Star-Spangled Banner," and " The Girl I left behind me." The good-bye bands went through all their range, as far as could be told from the occasional bars that rose over the tumult of cheers. The band of the First Nebraska Volunteers, who hoped to the last to be of this expedition, came out on the Red Cross boat, and played " Hail Columbia " with a persistency that gave rise to the suspicion that they were singers of one song. But they switched finally to " The Star-Spangled Banner." And then, as the day was dropping down behind the western hills and the ships were facing the open sea, down the cheering line went the Red Cross boat with the Nebraska soldier band playing a tune that brought a hard lump into the throat of many a boy in blue, as it made him realise that he was looking, perhaps for the last time, on the home land. The Nebraska boys played as if their hearts were in their work, and the song their trumpets sang was : Brave boys are they Gone at their country's call, And yet, and yet, we cannot forget That many brave boys must fall. The flashlight of the Farallones is far astern, wheeling us a constantly dimmer good-night and good luck. Ahead the City of Peking shows off the starboard bow, black against the sky line, her glimmering lights dancing above the water as she bows to the shouldering swell. Off the port quarter the lights of the Sydney respond in uneven waves to our friendly salutation. Far down the western sky a wet new moon prepares to slip out of sight, while the beautiful evening star with which it started its journey for the night climbs further and further into the deep, unflecked blue dome. The boys, tired out with the work and excitement of the last few days, have found their bunks and turned in. Four bells in the first watch. There goes the lookout's hail : " All's well ! The starboard light is burning bright." From the other lookout comes the answering cry : TRANSPORT EXPERIENCES " All's well ! The port light is burning bright." The hail dies away in fine-drawn, falling cadence. The ship answers regularly to the long, heavy Pacific swell. The first armed expedition the United States have ever sent out for the conquest of foreign territory over sea is out of sight of land and — it's time to turn in. CHAPTER II TRANSPORT EXPERIESTCES Thursday, May 26. — Bang ! whang ! smash ! boom ! crash ! rattlety slam bang ! What in thunder is the mat ter ? From a dim sub-conscious consciousness that my thwartship bunk was doing a skirt dance of its own and standing me alternately on my head and my feet, I am aroused from the deep sea slumber of dead weariness by the most infernal clangour that ever broke a healthy man's healthful sleep. Boom ! bang ! smash ! whang ! Dam nation ! what a row ! Then there floats back into the consciousness from some long-neglected cell of memory the recollection of the dreadful gong that beats on an Atlantic liner when the brass-throated, steel-lunged steward shouts " All ashore that's going ! " and leaves you in bewildered doubt. Yes, this is a gong, sure enough, a dreadful, beastly gong, beating in the middle of the night impudently routing peaceful men out of comfortable bunks. It reverberates throughout the whole ship. It's a mile away, but it sounds as if it were just outside my door. And it was as if all the devils in hell were beating it. Now it comes forward along the deck. It turns into the passage and strikes my companionway. " Bang the field piece, twang the lyre ! " Great snakes, what a din ! From the stateroom at the end of the companionway comes a counter sound that cuts the frightful racket with sharp, imperious demand : " Hell and blazes, what's the row ? " It's only a meek little sheep of a steward masquerading 6 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC in this wolf's skin of tumult. What, breakfast ? Why, man, it's the dead of night ! What do you mean by wak ing me up at such a time on such a pretext ? Get out of here ? What, 8 o'clock ? Yes, my blind is drawn, and my room is dark. Caesar's ghost, how I must have slept ! Back goes the blind — it's broad day. The sun is already almost up to the foreyard, and it is only breakfast time. Now it becomes plain whence came that sub-conscious vision of a skirt dance by the bunk. We are taking the long swells on the starboard bow. The Australia is long and narrow. Over she goes to port until I look out of my window at the bluest water the sun shines on. Then back she comes, up and up she goes, until my window opens out on a sky that reflects the colour of the sea. "She's the prettiest roller on the Pacific," says Captain Houdlette, and she is justifying his saying. And if the eyes did not attest it, that sound from the rail out there would. For it's now that the landlubbers begin to remember the pit whence they were digged, and to wish themselves back again. But the day is fine, and the breeze is fresh, and to those of us who have smelled salt air before and seen the ocean when its surface was not like glass, the prospect is glorious. It's jump into your tub of salt water, hustle through your dressing — never mind a shave, there's time for that later in the day. Now it's a turn or two about the hurricane deck, and then breakfast. Troopshipping is not so black as it is painted after all. But after breakfast — dear me, trouble everywhere. "'It's the rolling that affects one," says the chaplain, "not the pitching. Now, I — excuse me," and there goes the chaplain. Further along the blue and white beaded moccasins of the regimental commissary are waving pa thetically about on the inboard side of the rail. His agonised head is somewhere on the other side. But never mind, it'll come back by and by. There's plenty of time on this voyage. We won't get to Manila for a month. But there are those in constantly increasing numbers "who want the commissary to come back right away. His boys have had their first sea breakfast, and they don't like it. There was an unpleasant suggestion for squeamish stomachs about underdone bacon, and it made all the other things TRANSPORT EXPERIENCES 7 visible through a blue glass. The potatoes were not cooked, there was no soft bread, the coffee was too weak, too strong, too hot, too cold, and there was no cream for it. Where is the soft bread ? We're tired of hard tack. In fact, we're tired of everything, even of life, and we remember Beecher's saying that the peculiar thing about seasickness is that for the flrst half hour you're afraid you'll die and all the rest of the time you're afraid you won't. It is the painful fact that the Oregon boys are very sea sick. The suffering oflicer of the guard and his wretched sergeants have had a hard time trying to find enough well men to mount guard. Perhaps the sick lists have been swollen by the knowledge that the plea of seasickness is sure relief from guard duty. There has been no indica tion to-day of the condition of affairs on the other ships, but one can make a fair guess from the way they roll and tumble about. Certainly there hasn't been energy enough to do any signalling. The racks have been on the tables in the saloon, where the officers mess, at every meal, but at the headquarters table there have been only four vacancies. There are fourteen of us. The General is a first-rate sailor and so are his Quartermaster and the other members of his staff. And in spite of the racks it has been a glorious day. The breeze held fresh, and there were just enough clouds in the sky to make picturesque effects with the sun. There were more vacancies at the tables of the Oregon of ficers, it is to be hoped, than there ever will be among them from service causes. The Colonel, a sturdy young man with gray hair, has stood it manfully, but then he sits next to the ship's doctor, who has the head of his table. The run was 225 miles. What do you think of that, you folks who are used to hearing about the St. Paul's 540 or the Lucania's 550 ? Friday, May 27. -She certainly is a beautiful.roller. If you begin to think that there is a lot of this about sea sickness, consider this : there is a lot of seasickness aboard this old hooker. It is the most conspicuous fact aboard the ship to-day. In truth, it is too conspicuous. Lieu tenant-Colonel, Majors, Captains and Lieutenants a plenty have joined the chaplain and the commissary. The chap- 8 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC lain is full of pluck and is giving a fine example of physi cal courage for his comrades to follow. No sooner does he lose a meal than he goes back to hunt for a substitute. " Those little flannel cakes — if I could only get some of those little flannel cakes again. How many times have I picked over the bill of fare lilce a dyspeptic trying to find something good to eat ! Now I'd take it all. But if I could only get some of those flannel cakes — ^you know — those little fellows, I'd be satisfied." He is a private of E Company. He sits on a pile of tar paulins by the starboard rail on the hurricane deck, where E Company has established its day headquarters, and like the old customs collector of Salem, remembers the dinners of days gone by. He was never a play soldier, but when war came he enlisted. When he was at Harvard he was a football man and became accustomed to give and take. He is one of the star players of his Portland athletic club now. He is a "trooper of the forces who has run his own six horses." He can run them yet if he comes back from Manila in the mood. He has cruised in his own yacht and has sailed the seven seas. He is one of " those little dudes " that make up E Company, one of the distinguishing marks of whom is that they turn out with the ship's crew in the morning and sluice down with the hose when decks are scrubbed. When their work is done for the day they sit together and with two mandolins and a guitar amuse themselves with music and sing the songs they learned in days of greater comfort. The boys who started out to have fun with the dudes have learned to their sorrow that soft hands may be doubled into hard fists, and that hard muscles sometime belong to men who take the trouble to bathe frequently. The headquarters of E Company is left inviolate already when only a single dude mounts guard. But this E Company private voices a common complaint. He does not make a violent kick or talk about being treated like a dog. But he calls attention to the self-evi dent truth that raw bacon and half-boiled potatoes are not palatable food, particularly for soldiers half of whom are seasick. He calls attention also to another fact that does not make for the comfort of the men. It is not to be expected that a troopship shall be kept as clean as a man- o'-war. But there is no reason for squirting tobacco juice TRANSPORT EXPERIENCES 9 all over the decks. It is as easy to throw raw bacon and pork and half-boiled potatoes into the sea as under foot, and the ship looks far better for it. These things are indications of a condition which it is not necessary to describe more fully, but which cannot be omitted in any truthful account of life on this troopship. There is another condition, however, which it is not pleasant to be compelled to record, but every hour, almost, makes it more and more plain. "I spent two hours yesterday over my rifle," said one of the privates this afternoon, "and another to-day, and I can't get it fit to take to a hog-killing. It's worn out. The rifling is almost gone and there's no telling where it will shoot. I don't know but it's more dangerous to be behind it than in front of it." Pluck and dash are commonly believed to be the main attributes of the American volunteer soldier. Experience has justified the belief. It is no great boast, if ordinary grounds of judgment hold with these Oregon men, to say that they will not be wanting in pluck and dash when the call for them comes. But they are going against Mauser rifles and they are armed with Springfields. That would not be so bad if the Springfields were in good order. There are 200 new ones in the regiment. They are of the old model, but they are in good condition. For the rest — well, if care and work can get them into fighting shape they will be as ready as can be when their work is cut out. But they are going against Mausers. "I got a new pair of shoes to-day. I wanted eights, but they didn't have any and I had to take tens. I guess I can make paper insoles for them if we have to do much marching. But they're Government shoes, and now I'm a real soldier — or would be if I could get my leggins on over them." This was a sergeant in Company L. When the regi ment was in camp at the Presidio estimates were made of all the articles needed for the complete equipment of the men. The regulations provide exactly what clothing each man must have, and the estimate is not a guess, but a a carefully made up list of all that is required to make each man's outfit conform to the regulations. The esti mates were turned in, but the shoes were not provided. IO OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC There are men on the ship who are nearly barefooted, but where are shoes to come from ? They are not caught in the sea with nets. " Well, I've got my underclothes." This from another Company E man. "They tell me Manila is three degrees hotter than hell. What do you suppose my under clothes are made of ? Canton flannel ! They must have thought they were outfitting an Alaska expedition. '¦" Somewhere in the holds of the three ships there are a lot of suits of brown duck. These are thin and reasonably cool, but there isn't a snu hat or a pith helmet with the expedition, and yet one of the greatest dangers of Manila is from sunstroke. There was a meeting of the Oregon officers in the main saloon this afternoon. In the middle of it some one came to the door and called for " Captain Gadsby." At the end of one of the long tables a giant of an Englishman heaved up his huge bulk in response to the call. His face was reddened by the exposure of camp life. His moustache was long, heavy, and red. One looked at him with wonder and thought of the " Pink Hussars " and the fight at Amdheran and waited with breathless interest to hear him say " Ha— hm ! " But he said " Eh— what ? " instead, and you wondered whether any " white hands clung to his tightened rein" or "slipped the spur from his booted heel " when he set out to war. He has been in the English service, and you notice the effect of it on his men. Saturday, May 28. — The chaplain is getting to be him self again. He is losing the olive-green complexion he has worn for the last two days, and this afternoon he told a story of a wrestling match he had in the postoffice at his home town in Oregon — he is not from Portland — and laughed heartily at the recollection. The regimental com missary, too, is better. He got his head and his moc casins both inside the rail this morning, and things have moved better since. It develops that a good share of the trouble of the men was condition. As for the food, as the condition of the officers returned to that of normal health their inspection of the cooking became more rigid and less perfunctory. They began to devise means of increasing the facilities of the ship's galley. They divided up the work. They got all the variety out of the rations that TRANSPORT EXPERIENCES II could be devised. My friend in Company E still mourns for those little flannel cakes, but for the most part com plaint has stopped. Still, however, the boys are careless about the ship, and keep her in a condition that would make a sailorman faint with astonishment. Maybe inspec tion will stiffen up enough by and by to remedy that, too. Things livened up to-day aboard the Peking and the Sydney. There were wigwag signals from both of them, and the Sydney even felt good enough to send over a sar castic invitation to dinner. It was a good deal more lively on the Australia, too. The boys have pre-empted the hurricane deck, and they gather there in the daytime and sleep there at night. They flock by themselves in curious company clannishness. The skylight from the saloon opens up in the middle of this playground, and it affords amusement for both men and ofl&cers. This evening at dinner one of the boys looked through the skylight, and then turned and called to his fellows : " Hey, look here I Butter, real butter ! " SuNDAY,May 29. — This was a glorious day. Pair skies and fresh breezes all day and a temperature that even if it is the forerunner of desperate days to come, is just right for to-day. The shaking-down process is developing rapidly and satisfactorily. Equanimity is sufficiently re stored so that the clothing issue is completed as far as sup plies aboard will go. Rations are served on better time, in better condition, and in proper quantity. The boys are happier and more contented. There is a distinct improve ment even over yesterday. On the starboard main deck amidships this afternoon a portable tarpaulin bath-tub big enough for a man to swim several strokes in, was rigged up. A three-inch stream of seawater was turned into it, and the boys followed. Such a time as they had ! They couldn't get in fast enough, and they had to get out far too soon in order to satisfy the demands of the fellows who hadn't had a chance. At 3 o'clock Chaplain Gilbert held services on the hur ricane deck. The band came up and played a few hymn tunes, and the boys sang with a hearty good-will. The chaplain preached about duty, a simple, straightforward talk. The soldier's first duty, he said, was to himself, his second to the man at his elbow, his third to the friends at 12 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC home, his fourth to his superior officers, his flfth to his country, and his sixth to his God. There were those who heard the chaplain who didn't agree with his ranking of the duties exactly, but they did agree that the chaplain had taken the measure of his audience, which is an ex ample for chaplains. This afternoon the flying fish began to play about the ship. Some of the Oregon men had been very sceptical about the existence of such things. At first they took the fish for birds, but when one flew aboard and smashed his head against the deckhouse, he hit it so hard the boys gave up, and admitted that there are fish that can and do fly- Monday, May 30. — Flags at all the trucks and the en sign staff for Memorial Day. A perfect day. You're playing golf and tennis and riding road races, and going to baseball games to-day, and we're rolling southwest a quarter west, and wishing the old Sydney could only hit it up a little. Everybody has got his appetite back in full now, and a bit to spare. The boys have put in the whole day on the hurricane deck, singing, reading, sleeping, watching the flying fish enjoying themselves. At 3 o'clock there were Memorial Day services, patriotic tunes by the band, war songs — " Tenting on the Old Camp Ground" in particular — a talk by Lieutenant Colonel Yoran on the duty of the private soldier, Kipling's " Hymn Be fore Action," and " The Relation of the Soldier to his Officer," by Major Gantenbein. Then more songs, more band music, and " Auld Lang Syne." Tuesday, May 31. — Down the home stretch to the half way house — or, rather, the third-of-the-way house. Every body is writing letters. The men lie about on the decks, every fellow with a pad and a pencil. The officers are spread out all over the tables in the saloon, writing away as fast as those storied Chinese whose pens flew like dragons over the paper. No time to watch flying fish to day, and only the briefest response to the cry of " Whale ! " which turns out to have been caused by a porpoise. The less occupied Peking sends a wigwag man out to ask the Australia to practise with him. Bnt the Australia is busy and he turns to the Sydney. Even the daily lesson to wigwaggers by the first mate is abandoned. There will be HONOLULU 13 a fine chance to corner postage stamps when this expedi tion strikes Honolulu. There's just a ripple of reviving interest when the big Occidental and Oriental steamer Belgic swings down out of her course from Honolulu — which she left yesterday for San Francisco — to dip her flag and wish us all success. She's flying the Union Jack of England over the taffrail and we cheer her good wishes. CHAPTER III HONOLULU Wednesday, June 1. — The last furlong. Why don't we hit it up and run away from our slow-poke compan ions ? Honolulu is just beyond there, and in Honolulu there are no one knows what delights. But, wait a bit. There's the measles. That confounded farmer from Mc- Minnville, Ore., who brought the thing to camp ! We wish he had never left McMinnville. We'll be quar antined, sure. Two new cases to-day, and measles is worse than smallpox in Hawaii. It kills the natives by flocks. What a prospect — three days in quarantine in Honolulu harbour with nobody going ashore ! How about those white ducks waiting for us in Nuuanu Street ? Noon at last and the run is posted. Wonder of wonders, 305. And just as it goes up Molokai comes in sight, a faint blue line in the clouds far off on the port bow. Even letter-writing is deserted for a time, while everybody crowds to the rail for a glimpse — it's only that — of the land. Land it is sure enough, and soon after luncheon the bold top of Diamond Head shows almost dead ahead. Now we are sure of seeing Honolulu this afternoon — but the measles — will they quarantine us ? We pull Diamond Head out of the faint mist, sharp and clean and beautiful. Beyond it there — see that^a great big, beautiful United States flag flying from the top of a tall, straight pole ! Glo rious old flag ! Beautiful land ! Letter-writing is laid aside now. We remember that there will be no mail from Hono- 14 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC lulu for a week after we get there. There'll be time enough to write ashore, and we must see the harbour as we go in. There's the Peking slowing down. A steam launch goes alongside — it's the pilot. Cheer, cheer again, the launch is headed our way. A small boat is in tow with four gigantic Kanakas at the idle oars. In the stern is the pilot, another man with him. That's the doctor, and we'll be quarantined sure ! The launch is alongside ; the pilot comes aboard. It's not the doctor with him. Where is the doctor ? Not coming ! What, he never boards Gov ernment ships ? No quarantine, boys ! Shore to-night ! Hurrah ! Cheer and cheer. The man in the launch turns and cheers. " Have you got a pie in your boat ? " asks a soldier. "No, but we've got a spread for you all ashore." Cheer again and more cheers. Now we're in the chan nel. Honolulu lies just ahead there. See the flags ! A perfect forest of poles, and the Stars and Stripes on every one ! No, there are some Hawaiian flags there on the Government buildings — this is a foreign land, yon know, if Americans do own and live in and rule it. The little boats put off from the shore in swarms, black with people, or black and white, for half of them are in duck. There's the Charleston over there, her fighting tops full of jackies already. The Bennington lies just be yond, all her men on deck or swarming through the rigging. Here comes a little steamer. There's a band aboard play ing " The Star-Spangled Banner." This is the Committee of Reception. See the white badges ! How everybody cheers ! The crowded wharves rock with the shouts, and we send back cheer for cheer. The third mate stands by the whistle cord all the time, and the whistle shrieks in constant response to the salutes. There goes the Ben nington's siren. The Charleston joins in, the jackies cheer, the soldiers cheer, everybody cheers. How happy we are ! A small boat shoots across our bow, pulled by two strapping Kanakas. There's a lady in the stern. A soldier spies her. Instantly off conies his hat. "There's a woman," he shouts. "Hurrah." What a cheer ! We have done some yelling before, but not such as this. The Captain has to shout his orders in the ears of his men. The pilot himself takes the wheel. HONOLULU 15 We fairly crawl in. It is almost dark. Over on the point by the quarantine station a big bonfire flares up. There go some cannon. Rockets shoot up, and all the time a steady roar of cheers. There goes the hawser. It's fast on the pier and the steam winch clacks. Warp her in. Our friends are on the pier by the thousand, and we can't wait to see them. ' ' Aloha ! Aloha ! " they shout. Now we're close in. Bananas come aboard in a shower, thrown from the pier, and wreaths of flowers, cigars, cigarettes, oranges. Was there ever anything like it ! The Peking is docked and we are, but the Sydney must lie in the stream until there is room. The whistles keep up and the cheers, and now the bands add to the din. A couple of young men in uniform jump aboard the Australia. They are officers of the National Guard of Hawaii. Straight to the General they go. " Welcome to Honolulu, General Anderson. We shall be glad to see you on shore, by twos, by threes, by hundreds, or by thousands, without arms or with them, as you like." Will they never stop cheering ? There are brought aboard beautiful wreaths all strung together, red and white and blue. Somebody brings a bunch of bananas. Over goes a rope. Hitch it on quick. Up she goes, but it never reaches the hurricane deck. The boys on the main deck grab it and the bananas disappear. Now a message from Colonel Smith of the first California on the Peking. How about shore leave ? Captain Glass of the Charleston comes to call. We send for the Health Of ficer because we take no risks with the measles. He looks the sick men over and says they must be kept apart from the rest, but the well may go ashore. Cheer again ! To night for the officers, to-morrow for the men. The gang plank is lowered. Down it we go. Honolulu at last. Now, cheer in earnest ! What people these are ! They greet us as if we were long-lost brothers. Everybody is everybody else's friend. " Come up to the club. We're waiting for you." Hustle around to Nuuanu Street and order your duck suits. The Chinese tailors will work all night to get them ready for you to-morrow, and then come and see Honolulu. Over the mountains out there, just back of the city, a white l6 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC cloud hangs all shining silver in the bright moon. The tall cocoanut palms stand straight up in the front yards along the streets ; date palms are mingled with them. Banyan trees make dark blotches with their thick shade. It is so light you can see the purple of the Bourgain- villiers. Here and there are trees full of bright yellow flowers, dark green foliage is spotted in places with light green, and occasionally an electric light gleams through the abundant leaves like a huge firefly. The air is soft and warm and still, and as we reach the hotel we hear the volleying cheers still coming up from the piers. Honolulu, June 3. — When Honolulu devotes itself to the business of entertaining 2,600 soldiers and their officers there's something going on. These people have set them selves the tremendous task of showing every soldier in General Merritt's Philippine army what Hawaiian hospi tality is. The whole city has had a holiday for three days, taking care of the First Brigade. There are nine other brigades as big as this one to come, but Honolulu con templates the undertaking and laughs. Let them come all together if they will, Honolulu is ready. From the time the men of this brigade hit the beach, as sailormen say, there hasn't been an unoccupied moment, and the possibilities have not begun to be exhausted. The recep tion to the officers at the club the first night broke up when daylight was sliding down the western slope of the mountains that crown the eastern edge of the city and stirring the dwellers at the mountain's foot to early work. There was hardly time to see where one's bed was and to admire the beautiful canopy of mosquito netting over it before it was the hour for doing something. Breakfast, then a spin through the town, and go to the " Charleston." Queen Dowager Kapiolani is giving a flag to the ship. When Kalakua died in San Francisco several years ago the Charleston brought his body home. Now his widow, through her nephews Prince David and Prince Cupid, presents a beautiful flag to the cruiser. The United States Minister, General Anderson, the Consul-General, the Vice- Consul and the officers of the cruiser, the gunboat Ben nington and of the soldiers on the troop ships heard Prince David read his address. Captain Glass responded, accept ing the flag, and then the ship's company were called to HAWAIIAN HOSPITALITY 1 7 quarters, the old ensign was hauled down and the new one run up. Then there was luncheon on the Charleston. In the afternoon there was a reception by President Dole to General Anderson and the officers of the troops. Then there were dinners and all sorts of entertainments for the officers. The men had the freedom of the city. They simply couldn't spend their money. Street cars were free and bicycles and horses were to be had for the simple signifying of the desire. The beach at Waikiki swarmed with soldiers. All the bathing places were thrown open to the boys, and a thousand or more of them went into the surf. There were concerts by the Govern ment and the Hawaiian bands in the parks. The men of the Hawaiian National Guard were the special escorts of the soldiers, but the citizens of Honolulu generally took the boys in tow whenever they appeared and piloted them about. To-day it was the same thing over again, with one very large change in the programme. In the morning there was a public and formal address of welcome to General An derson. It was delivered by Chief Justice Judd on the steps of the Government building. Justice Judd closed by saying, in the language of the natives, ' ' Wele ke hao," which is an expression of encouragement, which had ori ginally the idea of strike while the iron is hot, but has developed into slang use as a substitute for " there'll be a hot time in the old town." The Chief Justice was inter ested in having the General strike the Spanish in Manila swiftly, surely and successfully. CHAPTER IV HA^WAIIAN HOSPITALITY U. S. Transport Australia, June 4. — Back to blue water again ! Hospitable Honolulu almost shrouded in the illusory mist that ever envelops her bluff mountains. The strains of " Auld Lang Syne," played by the Hawaiian band, mingling with those of " The Star-Spangled Ban- 1 8 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC ner," done by the Government band on the steamship piers, dying away in the rapidly increasing distance. Two glorious days only a memory ! Now lined along the rail we face toward Diamond Head, that stands like a rugged sentry over Waikiki, and give three throat-splitting cheers and a " Wele ke hao !" for the people and the place that have written these two days in the history of the First Brigade of the Philippine army. Captain Houdlette of the Australia, who has been run ning into Honolulu for nineteen years, had told us on the way down that we would get a great reception in the Hawaiian capital, Vice-Oonsul Boyd, who was a passenger on the ship, had emphasised Captain Houdlette's prophecy. But no one dreamed that it would be anything near what it was. The whole city gave the reception, and the natives took as cheerful a part in it as the whites. On both sides it was a wonderful performance. Prom the moment of landing until the last ship rounded out of the channel and turned her nose toward her western goal there was not the slightest hitch. In the matter of executive ability the Hawaiians gave a demonstration of the force that has enabled the existing Government to establish and main tain itself. It is no small task to prepare for and take care of an army numbering nearly 3,000 men for two days and have no detail overlooked. At the great banquet in the Government grounds yesterday 2,500 men sat down. Tables were filled, cleared, filled again and everything went as smoothly as if it had been drilled again and again. Yet there had been no drill. Such a thing was impossible. That was a noble picture. Under the heavy shade of the beautiful palms and banyans the long tables were set up. The white linen, glistening glass, and gleaming silver sharply contrasted with the greens and yellows of the turf and the trees. In marched the boys in their dull army blue and ranged themselves about the tables. Immediately they were crowned with flowers. Great stores of leis had been prepared by the ladies who had charge of the feast. Many of the boys had already received leis from friends on the way to the banquet ground, but now the decoration was systematic and complete, for every man there was a wreath, and all the varied hues of nature's gorgeous tropi cal paint box were in them. HAWAIIAN HOSPITALITY 1 9 But the banquet was only a part. The privates of the National Guard of Hawaii had been detailed especially as guides of the visiting soldiers. They were assisted by every able-bodied man and boy in Honolulu who could get away from his work, and that included nearly everybody in the city. Such guides never were seen before. They knew every nook and cranny of interest in the place, and they saw to it that the soldiers visited them. Every man was occupied every minute he was ashore, and most of them got ashore, most of the time. And to their everlasting credit it is recorded that not once did they overstep the bounds so far as their hosts were concerned. With the city absolutely belonging to them, their money of no possible use, there was no drunkenness, no boisterousness, no rough behaviour. Some of them overstayed their shore leave ; the wonder is that there were so few. Some of them drank, bnt no one made any trouble in the city or misbehaved himself seriously. It was astonishing to see so many soldiers let out of restraint, and just off ship, behave so well. For the officers of the National Guard of Hawaii, the officers of this brigade have only unbounded admiration. Outnumbered as they were — ten to one — they stood to their task manfully for three nights and two days, and not a man fell by the wayside. In all the clubs, and especially in the Officers' Club, there were such a cracking of bottles and popping of corks as suggested a fire in the sun-dried reeds of a Kansas slough. Drinks came up as if served by the ammunition hoist for a quick-fire gun, but if, when it all was over, there were any blind faces that cried and couldn't wipe their " eyes," they were not in Honolulu. Honolulu says the reception to the First Brigade is only the starter ; that what she will do for the other brigades as they stop over on their way to the Philippines will be on a greater scale. But Honolulu views the situation with over-sanguine eyes. When the ships pulled out of their berths this morning you couldn't buy a potato in all the Hawaiian capital. The commissary of the expedition had bought all the supplies the city had, and still did not get all he wanted. The city had been devastated, in liquid supplies as well, as if the Ancient and Honorable Artillery 20 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC of Boston had stayed there a week. If the next brigade gets along before a supply fleet reaches Honolulu it will get a glad hand and a warm reception, but it will go dry and hungry. To the very last the city kept up its pace. Late yester day afternoon Captain Glass of the Charleston sent word to General Anderson that he would like to sail early this morn ing. General Anderson at once issued orders to be in readiness to sail at 7 o'clock. It got about the city that we would start even earlier, possibly at 6. There was little sleep in Honolulu. All night carriages rattled about the streets. All night there was singing and cheering at the clubs. Prince Cupid and Prince David gave a great hula dance and luau, and most of the officers, including the General and his staff, saw it. There had been dinner parties before it which broke up when the diners went to the dance. After the hula there were supper parties at which they gathered again. The early birds that got up at sunrise to sing the daylight over the mountains with the sun, saw the flrst of the throngs that later crowded the piers, setting out toward the berths of the steamers. In constantly increasing numbers the carriages turned toward to piers. By 6 : 30 the whole city, afoot and on wheels, was headed for the transports, or crowded about or on them. A fresh breeze blew down from the moun tains and snapped the thousands of star-spangled banners and kept them straining at their staffs or tugging at their halyards. Over the dull roofs and the green and yellow foliage and the gorgeous flowering trees the beautiful red, white and blue flag greeted the morning sun, out-number ing a thousand to one the broad bars and cross of the Ha'waiian republic. There had been leis before, in number that seemed without limit, but now there were myriads more. The carriages that swarmed about the docks brought them in heaps. The pedestrians carried them in armfuls. Every officer who was seen was stopped and covered with them. Every soldier and every man connected in any way with the expedition was loaded down with them. They hung about the necks of the men in dozens. The General came aboard the Australia with half a dozen bright wreaths about his neck, and one great circlet of bay leaves over HAWAIIAN HOSPITALITY 21 them all. Colonel Summers's white suit was picked out in gorgeous colours with wreath after wreath of bright flowers. Captain Houdlette, who is a great favourite in Honolulu, loaded the table in his cabin with the leis he took off to make room for the new ones his friends showered on him. It was the same on the other ships. They were bowers of beauty. Along the waterfront where the troopships lay, the piers were crowded as they were when the expedition arrived on Wednesday evening. Both the Government and the Hawaiian bands were doing their best, and that is the best that can be done. Finally, at 7 o'clock the City of Peking moved out into the main channel. Her band was play ing, and both bands ashore were at it, too, but over the roar of the vast crowd rose the shrieks of the siren whistles of the Charleston and the Bennington. Then came the sharp staccato cheers of tlie California boys on the Peking. The roar ashore kept up and deepened a little if possible as the cruiser Charleston, which is to convoy us to Manila, slipped her moorings and prepared to follow the Peking. With her whistle going and her ensign dipping in ac knowledgment of the salutes of the shipping she passed, the lead-coloured cruiser moved out after the first ship of her convoy. The crowds of friends ashore and aboard the Australia keep increasing. Chinese tailors who have worked all night on duck suits or light clothing for the officers hurry down to deliver their goods. A few last belated supplies come aboard. The cabin boy gets out his big gong to warn ashore all not going with the expedition. A messenger rushes down with a bill for supplies for the men. The cheers that died away after the Charleston pulled out start up again with sudden energy. The Sydney is mov ing. The cheers deepen into a hoarse blur of sound, to which whistles and bands and an occasional gun from a merchantman in the harbour add. It is time to take in the gang-plank. But the sentries have not been recalled. Some of the officers, too, are standing with friends on the pier. A man with a basket stands at the gangway collect ing letters, which he will mail for the boys. There is to be a special issue of postage stamps for this purpose. There are the buglers. They troop down to the foot 22 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC of the gang-plank and all together sound the "as sembly." How that call thrills ! It rises above the din of cheers and blare of bands and shrieks of whistles, and sounds clean to the end of the pier. The sentry posted there hears it. He has been waiting for it for a long time. He grasps his gun in one hand and starts down the pier on a run. The others he passes fall in and all reach the ship together. They scramble over the rail, not waiting for the gang-plank up which the last officers are hurrying. Hawsers are cast off, the engines move, and the old throb of the screw is felt again. We're off — twenty days to Manila. If the friends ashore cheered before, what did they do now ? The cries of the Kanaka boys swimming alongside and diving for coins thrown into the water, even the sound of the playing of our own band drawn up on the spar deck, are drowned by the tumult of cheers from wharves and piers. But there comes a lull, and over the roar of fare well sounds rises "Auld Lang Syne." The two Hawaiian bands are playing together. On the Australia the band stops playing and the noise ceases. Ashore the people grow quiet. The bands swing quickly into " The Star- Spangled Banner. " Instantly comes the answer from the ship, a burst of frantic cheering that dies away, repeats, dies and repeats again. Then with hats off to the colours, we pass along the star-spangled waterfront, swing into the main channel, bow to the first long swell from the Pacific, swing out of the channel as the last sound of music and cheers dies out ashore — and there's Waikiki and Dia mond Head abreast. One cheer more for the friends ashore, and then we face the west and the work before us. Two glorious days in Honolulu, the most hospitable, as it is one of the fairest, of earth's cities. Over the business houses and over the dwellings floated the ensign of the United States ; up the streets we marched under the Stars and Stripes ; we dealt in American shops with Americans for American goods, and we paid in American money. We met Americans and were entertained by them ; they were of the same blood, but over their Government buildings floated a strange flag. We were in a foreign land. SURF RIDING AND THE HULA 23 CHAPTER V surf RIDING AND THE HULA June 4. — Of all that Honolulu showed the soldiers two things stand out particularly, surf riding and the hula dance. Surf riding is a sport for kings : as for the dance — well, when you have seen it you will know whether you want to see it again or not. Surf riding is one of the great sports of all the South Sea islands. The natives are ex perts both with boards and in canoes. White men be come expert with canoes, but rarely with boards. The canoes are dug out of big logs. They are very deep and narrow and seats are stepped near the gunwale so that they would tip orer at a glance if it were not for the enormous out- riggers they carry. Across the gunwales are lashed two short sticks, one fore and one aft, which extend about eight feet out on the port side and curve down to the water, where they are fastened to a four-inch log of an extremely buoyant native wood. Getting swamped is mighty dangerous business, for the surf booms in so rapidly and heavily that it is an impossibility to bail out the canoe and it must be taken to the beach, a task of great proportions in a heavy sea and one that demands that the men with the canoe shall be good swimmers. The canoes almost never upset, but unless a comber is handled well it is likely to break over the canoe and fill it with water, and then there is trouble. The canoe is manned usually by two big husky Kanakas, who can fairly smell a big breaker long before it lifts its head above the sea. Some of the white men who were born in Honolulu are nearly as expert as the Kanakas. I went out with " Billy" Dimond, who has spent nearly his whole life in Honolulu, and as Tao-hai, one of his Kana kas, says, is a "ver good man." We paddled along the beach to a place where the surf was running high — about as it booms in along the Jersey coast under a fresh breeze. Then out to sea we went until we were beyond the line of 24 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC the breakers. There we lay, watching the sea, which was so quiet that I could hardly distinguish the long, regular heave of the Pacific swell. Suddenly Mr. Dimond began to shout to his two men in Kanaka. Instantly a feeling of wild confusion and excitement pervaded the canoe. The Kanakas and Mr. Dimond drove home the broad pad dles and shouted in the Hawaiian language. The other passengers and myself paddled on as hard as we could and shouted, too — anything that came into our heads — we couldn't help it. Straight toward shore we drove the big canoe, almost lifting it out of the water. The long, broad- bladed paddles whipped through the water, and the shout ing was like that when the cowboys repulse the Indians at a Buffalo Bill performance. Three other canoes were out near us. They were working for the same breaker we were trying to catch, and all were yelling as hard as they were paddling. In one of them Lieutenant Sidney A. Cloman, Fifteenth Infantry, the commissary of this expedition, was having his first experience in surf riding. He, too, was the guest of Mr. Dimond and old Tao-hai was in charge of his canoe. The whole outfit of us were in bath ing suits, with pajama coats to prevent the sun from burn ing, and a conglomeration of skull-caps, toques, and straw hats for head gear. The Kanakas wore bright yellow sweaters and gaudy bandana handkerchiefs tied on their heads as turbans. The canoes were bright yellow, the colour of the sweaters, trimmed with a black line at the gunwales. The day was bright and fair, with the usual storm over Punchbowl, the mountain back of Honolulu, and little clouds breaking away from it occasionally and drifting down toward Diamond Head. All abreast the four canoes shot in toward the beach. The paddles ripped the clear blue water. The spray dashed over the bows. Everybody yelled. No one looked behind, but all knew that the big, rolling sea was over taking us. If we did not have sufficient way on the canoe the comber would go by us and we should be left the objects of derision of all the yelling crews that caught us. How we yelled a mixture of Kanaka and English, every body shouting at full lung power, the Kanaka exclamations coming with sharp, explosive force that contrasted with the slower English like the crack of six-pounders with SURF RIDING AND THE HULA 2$ the roar of guns ! On we go, and there's hardly time to notice that we are just a little ahead of the other three canoes when " There she comes ! " shouts Mr. Dimond. There is a sudden lifting of the stern of the canoe, an in stant response in the yelJs of the crew, a lightning increase in speed, and we've caught the roller. The others have caught it also, and all four abreast we dash ahead. Now paddles are at rest, and down the inshore side of the roller we slide, always just ahead of and just under the curling crest that breaks into foam almost under the sharp stern of the canoe. The speed is tremendous. It seems as if we were outrunning the Empire State Express. Lucanias and great Kaisers never dreamed of such speed. From the sharp cut-water of the canoe the foam flies in two lines back up to the crest of the roller. The spray dashes over us in streams. And all the time everybody yells. It is like the performance of an amateur fire department trying to scare out a fire by noise. It is half a mile to the beach, but there is hardly time to catch sight of that gorgeous rainbow under the black cloud that hangs over Diamond Head, we are in so quickly. Not yet though, not yet. There is a little back swell, caused by the beating back of the big surf from the beach. The watchful Mr. Dimond at the helm catches sight of it, and his shouting takes the form of directions to his Kanakas. The paddles that have been dripping little silver balls into the foam, leap forward again. There is a sudden spurt by the canoe in response. Two or three seconds it lasts, hardly long enough to shout " Wele ke hao " and we're over it. That long-drawn wolf howl from the next canoe is Cloman, voicing his satisfaction that Tao-hai has caught the swell too. The others are managed well and no one has been left behind. Now the four still abreast drive straight at the beach. We are on the left flank, Cloman and Tao-hai are next, the others beyond. Mr. Dimond shouts to Tao-hai and gets a staccato re sponse. We are not twenty yards apart and almost on the beach. Down goes Mr. Dimond's paddle to port, hard held against the rushing sea. Tao-hai follows. Off to port we swing and slide by the beach in line, in half a foot of water. Skilfully managed were the other canoes also. At the instant that we swung to port they swung 26 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC to starboard, and now, all head back toward the reef where the breakers start ; we are standing up in the canoes, drenched with the salt spray, but yelling like Indians with the pure joy of it. A sport for kings, but one that few kings know, and most of these the world regards un civilised. De Quincey found the glory of motion on top of a six-horse coach. Others have caught the same spirit ual intoxication in the wild, free forward sweep of a fast locomotive. De Quincey mused from the top of his coach that the heart of a man was the all-compelling power of his glory. It is the heart of nature that heaves the surf and drives the surf rider's canoe. Out beyond the reef again, waiting for another swell ! Down through the glass-clear water we see the coral grow ing at the bottom. Mr. Dimond speaks to one of his Kanakas. Over the big fellow goes, yellow sweater, red bandana and all. The little column of bubbles that followed his descent has all disappeared, and down at the bottom we see him tugging at a coral bunch. Presently up he comes with a beautiful great piece of coral and a broad smile on his face. We take the coral from him and he goes down for another piece. Starflsh, crabs, tiny lob sters, and dozens of small bright-coloured fish, in appear ance much like fresh- water sunfish, have made their homes in the folds of the coral, and now they crawl and flop about the bottom of the canoe. The Kanaka comes in with the second bunch of coral, and is about to dive again when Mr. Dimond shouts to him in apparent excitement. A seaward look shows no appearance of a swell to me, but in climbs the Kanaka with all haste, and at the paddles we go, might and main. The other canoes lying further in shore take the warning and dart away. We are going now at racing speed and just in time. The swell behind us has developed into a giant. Just as it begins to break we catch it and away we dash for the beach. It is the first race over again, but this fellow is bigger. The bow of the canoe dips under water. Instant shouts from Mr. Dimond and the Kanakas and all three paddles are jammed into the water, holding hard, to stop the tremendous headway. The moment's check serves the purpose. The long stem of the canoe rides on top again, and on we go. Now Mr. Dimond shows us a trick that requires con- SURF RIDING AND THE HULA 27 supimate skill and judgment. We are shouting a de risive challenge to Cloman in the other canoe, when Mr. Dimond drives down his paddle broad across the course. Sharp off to port swings the canoe on the very top of the giant roller. The foam breaks all about ns and gallons of it come aboard. The Kanakas laugh and shout, but the passengers hold their breath. The outrigger rides free of the water and we are broad away on top of the wave, rolling beachward beam on. Still Mr. Dimond holds his paddle hard to port. Presently the canoe answers. The outrigger drops into the sea again, the roller passes out from under us and leaves us headed out to sea. Some where out of sight, on the other side of the swell, rise the shouts of Cloman and Tav-tai, fooled for a moment into thinking we have lost the comber. " That is what we would have to do," says Mr. Dimond quietly, " if we saw a swamped canoe just ahead of us." It was marvellously done ; even the Kanakas were moved to praise the skill of their master. Now back outside again for a swim in the Pacific beyond any reef. What a beautiful picture Honolulu is from here. Nestling down in the foreground in front of a semicircle of mountains. Diamond Head at the right, just at the end of Waikiki, the beautiful beach rises bluff and rugged almost out of the sea. Beyond it in the centre is Punchbowl, covered on its smoother slopes with cultivated fields, cut by sharp-edged gorges, and crowned eternally with ever-shifting yet always remaining clouds, and to the left at the sea's edge the Pali, with the dreadful cliff over which Kamehameha drove his victims when he conquered Oahu. All the hundred shades of green show in the foliage which hides the buildings of the city, specked with yellow and white and blue and purple and violet and lilac where the flowering trees show through. And over all a myriad of flags, always the Stars and Stripes, with two exceptions, where over the public buildings float the cross and bars of Hawaii. Along the beach swarms of soldiers, the water full of them, surf-riding canoes here and there, the white sails of a few small yachts dotting the bay, and over all the bright sunshine, with that persistent rainbow hanging over Diamond Head, one end in the sea and the other just at the foot of Punchbowl. 28 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC Now, the swim over, one more roller, and then back along the beach to the cottage. One plunge in the deep pool where the coral has been blasted out, a cold fresh-water shower, and " Here's your drink, sir," along, slender glass, with ice in it, and Scotch and soda. Then the last exhibi tion by the Kanakas. An ordinary tumbler two-thirds full of clear Scotch down at one gulp, and repeated, with a grin and the response to the offer of water : " Too much drink. Make drunk." Then a cigar on the veranda, under the cocoanut palms, and a song, with banjo and taro patch fiddle accompaniment, and the broad, blue Pacific for outlook, and the surf booming in almost at the front door step. The sun has dropped from his basket of clouds into the western ocean, the electric lights begin to twinkle, and — there's dinner. Who wouldn't live at Waikiki ? Now the dance — the hula-hula — national dance of Hawaii, it has been called. As such it was exhibited at the Chicago Pair in 1893. This one was on the lawn of the residence of one of the largest planters in Hawaii. A marquee stood under a bunch of tall palms and there was spread the luau, or feast. About the tables gathered half a hundred natives. They were garlanded with leis and crowned with flowers, and they ate poi with their fingers in the good, old-fashioned -w&j, while the white strangers looked on and commented audibly, to the evident amuse ment of the natives. In front of the marquee was spread a mat about ten feet square. Squatting cross-legged be hind the mat were two men who had each a hollow gourd, shaped something like an hourglass, except that one-haLE was larger than the other. In each gourd were a lot of dried seeds. With their left hands the men lifted the gourds, and brought them down smartly on the ground, at the same time beating them with the open palms of their right hands. The seeds rattled and the result was music— if the musicians are to be believed. To this ac companiment the men sang. Most of those who heard the song describe it as weird, and I guess it was. It was all on one note, a flat level monotone, absolutely without in flection, droned out with a nasal twang and with eyes closed. But it served the purpose as admirably as clapping does for a darkey dance. Out on the mat there stepped two Hawaiian women— by SURF RIDING AND THE HULA 2g courtesy called hula "girls." Beyond doubt they were lithe of body, as the subsequent demonstration showed. They wore thin white waists and short, thick salmon- coloured skirts that came a little below the knees. Legs were bare except for anklets of the same soft material as the skirts. Feet were bare. In the glorious days of old, before the missionaries ruled the islands, the hula girls wore grass skirts and anklets, aud that was all. These two girls were short and thick-set. Their faces were round and flat, their black hair was oiled until it glistened. Their arms were bare and about their necks they wore leis. The music struck up. They stretched out their right arms, ejaculated something that sounded like "Melican man getta da gooda banan " and began a series of most amazing abdominal contortions. The only leg motion was a short forward jump, most of the time both feet together, and the necessary retreat to keep on the mat, usually made at the close of the particular dance in which the advance occurred. Each dance lasted from three to five minutes, and was supposed to exemplify some particular phase of life, or to accompany some particular prayer, or to have something to do with some particular kind of worship of something or other. Por the contortions, language is weak in ade quate description. The most eminent contortionist who ever performed in all the circuses of the world fails mis erably in comparison. The abdominal display began by being simply protuberant, and the repression of the mis sionaries had contrived only to heighten the effect by the skilful concealment brought about by the flimsy waists the dancers wore. From simply protuberant the display progressed rapidly through all the movements of the soldier's manual. Advance and retreat, right and left- oblique and wheel were easy. It was when the manual was exhausted and the complications came in that the exhibition became lively. Practical illustrations of the cissoid of Diodes, the conchoid of Nicomedes and all the spirals, coils, curves and twists that mathematics knows followed the simpler movements. And it all wound up with a grand climax of wriggling, hips and shoulders motionless meanwhile, aud then the arms were extended again and the old chant was repeated, " Melican man 30 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC getta da gooda banan." Throughout this performance the arms kept up a continual delineation of imaginary geo metrical figures in the air. The gourd gentlemen pounded, shook, and chanted, and the man in the moon beheld it without a grin. Seated about the square mat were the spectators, the white ducks and blue uniforms of the men contrasting with the soft colours of the dresses ofthe women. A flar ing torch here and there gave a flickering, uncertain light, and the background was the deep green of the turf and the trees. General, Colonels, navy Captains, army Cap tains, Lieutenant-Colonels, Majors, and Lieutenants sat together, and it was a great time. Part of the time four girls danced at once on the mat, and when it rained, as it did for a few minutes, the mat was moved inside the tent. It was all over by 11 o'clock, and the First Brigade of the Philippine army had seen the hula. Of course, you knew all about the protests made by the representatives of the French and Spanish Governments in Honolulu to the Hawaiian Government about the re ception of the United States soldiers, but there is a joke about the Spanish protest which you may not have heard. The Spanish representative is a German whose personal preference is for the annexation of the islands to the United States. As a German annexationist he subscribed to the fund for the entertainment of the boys. Then, as the Spanish representative, he protested. And he pro fessed great grief that his protest had so little effect. Honolulu and her mountains are out of sight now. Ahead the dull gray Charleston leads the way toward Manila, steaming about nine knots an hour, with two curious square sails set, one on each mast. The three troopships follow in line abreast, the Sydney on the right, next the Australia, and the Peking on the left. The stars come out and for the first time we raise the Southern Cross, much vaunted in poetry and story, five faint stars that show little brilliancy to repay the fine things that have been said and written about them. To the north the Dipper, a far brighter constellation, shows low down to the horizon. Behind us the moon rises round and full, out of the low-lying bank of blue-black clouds that fringe the horizon. Ahead, through a rift, brighter than ever planet TROOPSHIP DIVERSIONS 3 1 flared, Venus, the evening star, marks the west. West by south, half west the compass shows the course — and out there beyond the dim skyline, five thousand knots away and more, lies Manila, the goal. CHAPTER VI troopship diversions United States Transport Australia, en route to Manila, at Sea. Sunday, June 5. — At breakfast this morning probably not half a dozen of the 1,000 men aboard the Australia had ever heard of Guam or the Ladrone Islands. Now everybody is studying the map or a chart or reading whatever can be found about the islands in the chaplain's library. The Captain's copy of " The North Pacific Directory " has been the rounds among the officers, and we all know the latitude, longitude and climate of the place we are going to capture. It created a great stir aboard the convoy this morning when the signals from the Charleston were made out. At sea the Charleston is boss of the little squadron, because Captain Glass, her commander, is the senior naval officer. There had been a lot of signalling going on among the ships of the convoy on the way down to Honolulu, for practice, and some of the officers on the Australia were getting proficient enough to read wigwag signals with considerable accuracy. This morning, when the Charles ton called the Australia and began a message to General Anderson, there was an interested group along the rail trying to find out what it was all about. They caught just words enough to start a lot of excitement and speculation and there was great satisfaction when Lieutenant McCain, General Anderson's Assistant Adjutant General, made public the message. This is what it said : "Gen. Anderson : My instructions require me to cap ture the Spanish forts and vessels at the islands of Guam 32 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC en route to Manila. The transports will accompany this ship to Guam, as only two or three days' delay will occur. This may be made public. Glass." The first inclination was to cheer, but almost instantly there arose the doubt that will not down, which is very disturbing. Action, sure, and we shall see it. That is the first thought. But shall we see it ? There's the doubt. Will the Charleston go in alone and do her work, or will the troopships accompany her ? The whole afternoon has been given up to this absorbing question. It hardly stopped for service, which the chaplain held on the hur ricane deck. It has interrupted, accompanied and punc tuated the assiduous study of all that was obtainable in the way of information about the islands. One of the ship's Quartermasters is an old whaler. Twenty-five years ago he touched at Guam for wood and water, and in his opinion it's a " just no-account place whatever." The third mate, Mr. Hallett, has been there within a few years, and he's blessed if he ever saw a fort there. But we know they are there. The Pacific Direc tory says there are two of them upon the hills, and there's likely to be a fine bombardment. And maybe we shall have to land some troops. Perhaps some of the Spanish gunboats that fled from the Philippines have taken refuge there. We don't know for sure that any got away from Dewey, but we hope some did and that we shall find them there. And perhaps there will be some transports to take. Nobody can tell just what transports would be doing at such a place, but then they may be there, and, by jingo, if they are The only sure thing about it is that Guam is at least two weeks away, so we shall have plenty of time to decide these minor as well as the weighty questions of what we shall do some time before we get there. Yesterday, when we pulled out of Honolulu, the Oregon officers were a picturesque lot, they came aboard after their brief stay m Honolulu arrayed in immaculate white duck, cotton and linen — in white duck that was once im maculate, but will have shrunk a lot in the wash before it is so again — in all shades of brown and speckled linen and wool crash, in seven different kinds of caps, some all white and some white and black, and scarcely any two TROOPSHIP DIVERSIONS 33 shaped alike. They wore white canvas shoes of sharp toes, round toes and square toes, high cut and low cut ; brown canvas shoes of as many varieties or more, for some of them had white straps on the brown shoes ; black and tan leather shoes and patent leathers. Their coats showed a curious and interesting diversity of opinion in the matter of braid. They showed also a childlike and confiding trust in the knowledge of the Chinese tailors of Honolulu as to what the " regulation braid " is. Some were braided and some were not. Those that were bore braids of all ¦widths, but mostly of the same pattern. Some had brass buttons with anchors on them, others had brass buttons with guns, and some just plain brass. Some had pearl buttons and some bone. Some had the proper little slits in the side for the sword, and some had curious little im itation shoulder straps. All were worn with perfect un concern and self-complacency as "uniform." General Anderson took one glance around and held a short conversation with his Adjutant. At luncheon all the Oregon officers appeared in the regulation blue. It was hot, but it was uniform. This afternoon it got so hot that the General relented. Perhaps he found the blue a bit uncomfortable. His own white duck is faultless, but Oregon is more picturesque than ever, for it has added Chinese bath slippers to its list of footgear. Also, some of them have fished out big red silk handkerchiefs, such as the privates have, and wear them carelessly about the neck. A few stick to blue and sweat. They looked like a combination of Pire Zouaves and Amoskeag Veterans, but they were in the way of being cool, and that is greatly to be desired. The sea is very quiet, but the Australia lives up to her rolling reputation, and to-night some of the officers and men who had lost their sea legs in the two days in Honolulu were seasick again, very much to their disgust and the amusement of their comrades. All day bunches of soft, downy cotton and black velvet clouds wandered aimlessly about the sky. The horizon was ringed with them constantly, and the sun -went blaz ing down into them, throwing its red light behind it and lighting them up like a furnace glare on a dark night. The Charleston tested her searchlights this evening, and 34 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC where the long beams tipped the waves and touched the little hillocks of water uplifted on the crests there gleamed a series of silver flashes that a score of times brought the outcry : " Look at the lights." In the east a single battle- mented tower of black rose straight out of the sea, and behind it, fringing its edges with pale gold, came the full moon. Straight up between the battlements of the gloomy tower it rose, and its soft light spread in a broad shifting bar to where the wake of the Australia, star-dusted with the broken phosphor flame of the southern sea, disappeared in the waste behind us, a broad, white, spangled track. Up on the hurricane deck the string band of E Company have been playing some of the old home songs. Just now they are singing : I know a valley fair. So do we all — fair and far. Tuesday, June 7. — The troopship has been resolved into a schoolship. There are three schools a day, with some times an extra session thrown in. The first is in the morning, when the volunteer officers gather in the main saloon and listen to a lecture on the regulations by one of the staff officers. Sometimes the Quartermaster is the lecturer ; sometimes the Assistant Adjutant-General is the schoolmaster ; sometimes the commissary talks. All sorts of conditions which may arise are discussed, and all phases of army life explained at length. The regulations are taken up seriatim by sections. The volunteer officers fire all sorts of questions at the regulars, who are perfect encyclopaedias of military information. The morning school has devoted itself particularly to department work, subsistence and quartermasters, and now there is to be an evening school in tactics. The morning school lasts until luncheon, and soon after that is over the non-commissioned officers of the First Battalion face their Major and begin the recitation of regulations and minor tactics. This is a very businesslike school. The Major conducts it with decision, precision and celerity. The Sergeants and Corporals are required to memorise certain parts of the regulations. The regulations provide that such work shall be done. They have been paying particular attention to the duties of sentries, pickets and TROOPSHIP DIVERSIONS 35 outposts, and the first thing each afternoon, after the non- com, roll is called, is for the men to recite in turn : " My general orders are to walk my post in a military manner," etc., through all the list of a sentry's duties. The men take to the school kindly enough, but some of them seem to have trouble in committing the regulations to memory, al though they remember the substance of them well enough. As soon as the First Battalion school is dismissed the newcomers of the Second Battalion take their turn with their Major. The Adjutant of this battalion acts as recorder, and, carrying out the idea of a school, has a marking system and grades, the work of the Sergeants and Cor porals. The Major told the men at the first session that these records would be kept for reference in the future as part of the men's records. All the non-coms, did their best to put their school masters in the " sweat box," and once they neatly suc ceeded. It was in the matter of saluting the Colonel. The First Sergeant replied that if he were on post No. 1 and saw his Colonel approaching he would turn out the guard. Right. If it were after dark he would challenge. Right again. Up bobs another Sergeant. "Sometimes," he says, " the order is not to challenge until after 10 o'clock. What would you do if the Colonel came between retreat and 10 o'clock ?" This was to the Major, and he hadn't thought of that contingency. "As you were directed," he replied after a moment. The Sergeant sat down with a puzzled grin on his face, and a Corporal jumped up and finished the trick. "Who would direct us," he asked, "and what would the directions be ? " The Major got red in the face and the discreet Adjutant consulted his record. "We will settle that to-morrow," said the Major, " and go on now with the lesson," and all in the world the sentry does do in such a case is to salute and call the Corporal of the guard. It appears that in the army, as in other professions, little points are over looked sometimes. Here is a curious fact about this Oregon regiment. Congress went out of its way to frame the law for the calling out of troops in such a manner that the National 36 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC Guard would surely be taken. It worked as far as the officers were concerned, but not with the men. Company H has the largest number of guardsmen of all the Oregon companies, and Captain McDonell has just twenty-nine members of his old company with him. That is about 34 per cent. If that holds good throughout the country, the army of " trained soldiers " which was to be recruited from the National Guard is two-thirds green men. Wednesday, June 8. — West by south, half south, steadily toward Guam the course has been since leaving Honolulu. At flrst it was just going south to the 20th parallel, but then the signals from the Charleston set the course still to the south instead of dead west. The orders to Captain Glass to take Guam were sealed, and he did not open them until he was a full day out from Honolulu. Now that we are getting down more and more toward the enemy's country there is increasing speculation as to the chance of falling in with a Spanish ship. There has not been much serious consideration of that possibility aboard the Australia, but the Sydney has a fully prepared scheme of defence. At Honolulu one of the naval officers aboard the Sydney entertained General An derson's staff with the details of the plan. At sight of the Spaniard the Sydney is to run. If it appears that the Spaniard is too fast for her she will heave to and have re course to this plan : When she heaves to all the volunteers aboard are to be sent below. The three companies of the Fourteenth Regulars will be ordered to lie down on the decks along the rails, concealing themselves completely from the sight of parties approaching in small boats. To them will be served a full supply of ammunition, and they will all have their new army rifles, which are very high- powered guns. The flag will not be struck when the Sydney heaves to, so that this will all be fair fighting. When the boarding boats, coming alongside, get in proper range, the regulars will open fire and the boarding pa'rty will be annihilated. As soon as firing begins the Sydney will go ahead at full steam and trust to luck and the con sternation of the Spaniards to get away. Isn't that a great scheme ? The Peking and Australia are simply relying on the Charles ton. If she should fail in the almost inconceivable emer- TROOPSHIP DIVERSIONS 37 gency, and we could not run away, why you won't see this ¦ — at least, until after it is intended and expected you shall. _ But, joking aside, there has been and is some attention given to the matter. The sailing orders of the convoy, as originally given, contemplated only resort to all possible speed to get away. To-day these orders were modified by the Charleston. Three sets of flags were going on the cruiser at once as she wigwagged this message to the skip pers of the transports : " These signals wiU be used in case a strange vessel is sighted at night. A rocket followed by a blue light will be used for a sailing vessel. If a steamer is sighted the blue light will be followed by a rocket. The danger sig nal at night from the convoy will be a rocket followed by a red Coston signal ; from the Charleston it will be three red lights shown from the foremast. When the Charles ton shows the danger signal the vessels of the convoy will stop and await orders. Glass." We're getting so expert a wigwagging on the Australia that the message was all taken down by several little groups of officers. There was a buzz of talk about it, as it revived the old speculation. Presently Captain Glass modified the order by adding : " If you have no red Coston signals, show a red light at the masthead for a danger signal at night." So now we have our code made up, and the " night owls " who take their enjoyment of the cool night breeze awake and on deck will have an added incentive for crowd ing the bridge and bothering the officer of the watch. We begin to wonder what the temperature in Manila is like. The books say that it is hot and humid. It is hot here, and humid, too, but not unendurably so, and we are as far south as we shall be at Manila. If there were ice on the ship and the galley were not such a furnace that the whole ship responds to its warming, and if she did not roll so that the ports below could be kept open a little for ventilation, and if a few other things ¦were different ¦we would be much more comfortable and life on a troopship — this troopship, anyway — would be much less undesirable. 38 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC CHAPTER VII A MATTER OF TO-MORRO^WS Thursday, June 9. — To-morrow we cross the 180th meridian, and thereby arises a complication, for there will be no to-morrow. We just drop it out of the reckoning. This is June 9, Thursday ; the next day will be June 11, Saturday. If you consider that a bit you will recognise a very anomalous condition. To-morrow, to-day will be day before yesterday. To-day, to-morrow is day after to-mor row, and to-morrow, day after to-morrow, instead of being to-morrow will be to-day. To-day is to-day here and in Honolulu, but to-morrow will be to-day where we are and yesterday in San Francisco. When it becomes to-morrow in San Francisco it will be day after to-morrow with us. Yesterday, to-day was to-morrow, but to-day, to-morrow is day after to-morrow. It's as clear as the demonstration for squaring the circle. The parson has been in hot ar gument about it with all comers all the afternoon. He's fairly talking cotton, bnt he's game to keep it up for days yet. This crossing of the 180th meridian is a great per formance. You don't do it very often. If you could only manage it once a day you could live to be just twice as old as you will where you are. It's like living in a balloon and letting the world swing under you. Old time would go by with never a care for you. The parson has been figuring it out how it comes that this day is dropped com pletely out of the reckoning, how it is that you can start a twenty-four-hour run on the 9th and finish it on the Ilth. He argues that as we have been travelling west day by day, it has taken the sun a little longer each day to catch up to us and get directly overhead. We've been storing this added time away in our inside pockets each day and saying nothing. Now all of a sudden we wake up to the fact that we have actually sequestered a whole day, and in order to A MATTER OF TO-MORROWS 39 square ourselves with our consciences and the rest of the world, we've got to set it free again. The parson's a great controversialist. He's a blue Pres byterian, in spite of the fact that his grandfather drew lots with his grandmother to see whether she would marry him or not. He operates, therefore, as a second cause of a gamble, and as the Westminster creed or some other creed that the Presbyterians use particularly disclaims divine responsibility for second causes, his position is anomalous, but he holds his own with the whole Oregon contingent in pitched battle, and stands ready at any time to add muscular force to persuasive logic. Crossing the 180th meridian has been a godsend to the intellectual life of this expedition. The subjects of dis cussion were getting a bit worn. The main one, of course, was the possibility of taking Manila with this expedition. All sorts of theories were advanced. Dewey can and Dewey can't, and we can and we can't. Dewey will land all the ¦way from 400 to 3,000 men, and that will be plenty with our own 3,000. All the possibilities of capture and govern ment are considered and every difficulty brushed aside. When that subject flags, and the parson has been badgered into weariness, there is the subject of getting mail at Manila, and the mailing back from Honolulu of the mil lion or fewer letters we wrote there. Flying fish have got rather old, and the science of wigwagging has been so well learned as to have lost its first interest. The Ladrone Islands pall, and Spanish grammars and books on tactics put one to sleep indifferently. So this meridian gag revived old desires and furnished new vigour to the discussion. The fact of the business is that the trip is monotonous enough for most of the men. It's hot all the time, the thermometer hardly gets below 85° at night, and it's humid all the time. Hot weather was expected, and there's no complaint about it to speak of ; but it's wearing, and the Oregon men remember the cool nights in their pleasant valleys and now and again are homesick. The days drag, in spite of all the things there are to do — all the work and all the schools — and it will be a great relief to reduce Guam. After that a week or ten days will put us in touch with Dewey, and action will set the sluggish blood going again. 40 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC Saturday, June 11.— Slap, bang, smack, right square over the dividing line between day after to-morrow and day before yesterday we steamed at 3 o'clock this morning, and all the anomalous conditions we were discussing last night— it really was last night, although in the calendar it was day before yesterday — have come to pass. But there is no apparent difference in fact. There wasn't the slightest disturbance when we crossed the line. Most everybody was asleep. It's just as hot as it ever has been, and no hotter. All day the clouds have fringed the skyline just as usual, and doubled up their fists and shaken them at us and wagged their silly heads in foolish, ineffectual threats. All day we dared them to come on and show us some rain, but they never once got up their courage to the saturation point. We celebrated the coincidence of crossing the meridian and Saturday night together. It was General Anderson who arose at the close of the dinner, when the glasses had been charged all around, and proposed " Sweethearts and wives," in the good old way they do every Saturday night in the navy, " May our wives always be our sweethearts and our sweethearts always become our wives." Then everybody " drank out " — there was ice from somewhere for the fizz — and everybody cheered, and it remained only for one irreverent young army officer to say, way under his breath to his next neighbour, " Sweethearts and wives, may they never meet." After " Sweethearts and wives " there was the health of General Anderson, who made a little speech, and of Colonel Summers, who responded for the Oregon boys, and said they were ready for what might come. And then Lieutenant Holcombe of the navy responded for his service, but Captain Houdlette of the Australia dodged, and everybody came on deck, where it was a few degrees cooler than in the saloon, to continue the celebration. The band came down and played, and some of the boys did songs and pieces with their mandolins and guitars. Major Jones, the Quarter master, danced a jig, and everybody sang the old home songs and swore new allegiance. "They change their skies above them, but not their hearts that roam." Priday, June 17. — We are going to play a scurvy trick on an estimable Spanish gentleman in the "island of Guam, A MATTER OF TO-MORROWS 41 unless that gentleman has already removed himself from his bailiwick. The intention is to give him a free trip to Manila, where it is likely he has friends. That part of it might please him well enough, but the attendant circum stances are likely to be vexatious ; for he will go as a prisoner of war, and that is held to be distressing to the personal comfort of Governors-general. Last Friday, the 10 th, was the day we didn't have. This morning, just when we had got the chaplain into a most perspicacious discussion of the question of where we were a week ago to-day, there began a vigorous wigwag ging on the Charleston. The chaplain was endeavouring to controvert the proposition that a week ago to-day we were in the same place we were in at the time of the argu ment, the proof against him being the well-known logical demonstration that we were in some other place than no place, which place this place is. About the time that the chaplain was getting most in earnest about such fallacious reasoning the Charleston's wigwags began to take this shape : " Charleston will heave to at 2 p. m. for target practice At same time Captain Glass will go on board Australia to see General Anderson and Captain Houdlette." That meant a conference about Guam surely. The Peking and Sydney got a lot of wigwagged orders about what to do, and at last when the Charleston set the signal to heave to the four ships were close together. The cruiser signalled the Australia to come abeam, and then Captain Glass called away the flrst whaleboat and came on board the Australia. Very soon afterward Commander Gibson and Captain Smith came over from the Peking and then Captain Pillsbury from the Sydney. There was a con ference in Captain Houdlette's cabin with General Ander son and Lieutenant Holcombe, the naval officer on the Australia. The charts of the Ladrone Islands were gone over, and Mr. Hallett, the third mate of the Australia, who has been to Guam several times, told the officers what he knew of the harbours. It -was decided that he shall go to the Charleston as pilot when we reach the island. The con- 42 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC ference decided that the Charleston shall go into the har bour of San Luis d'Apra alone, the troopships lying o-ut- side. It is possible that one or more fugitive Spanish gunboats may be lying there. There are two forts, St. lago and Santa Cruz, with an old ruin, San Luis. The Charleston will batter down the forts and take the gun boats — if any happen to be there. Then the scurvy trick will be played. Over in his stone house at Agafla the military Governor may be waiting for callers. He might as well wait there as anywhere else, better in fact, for that's about the only comfortable place on the island, which is only twenty-seven miles long by less than ten wide. General Anderson will land several com panies of the Second Oregon from the Australia and visit the military Governor of Guam in state. He will require the Governor to remove the Spanish flag from his residence, and gently but firmly will invite him on board the Australia, to accompany the First Brigade to Manila. Then hurrah for Monday ! We shall sight Guam that morning, and then the fun begins. While the conference was going on in Captain Houd lette's cabin, the Charleston was whaling away with her big guns. The target, the usual pyramidal arrangement of white cloth with a black spot on each face, was set adrift, and when it was about two miles away the cruiser opened on it with her forward 6-inch gun in the port broadside. The solid shot went straight at the target, but high, and struck the water about half a mile beyond it. A great column of spray and water shot into the air when the shell struck, and for a few seconds the cruiser was hidden in the cloud of blue-white smoke that floated away quickly in the fresh breeze. Then the midships 6-inch gun of the port broadside let go with a solid shot. This, too, was high, but better than the first. The after gun of the three in the broadside took its turn and improved on the other two, but was still high. The target, you know, stood about six feet up from the water. The first shot probably would have gone over a ship, bnt the other two would have struck an enemy squarely. After the broadside fire the Charleston swung around so that her after 8-inch gun bore well on the target and let go an armour-piercing projectile. It was a capital shot. The big A MATTER OF TO-MORROWS 43 lump of steel struck the water just short of the target and ricocheted to the right, cutting a chunk out of it just above the bull's-eye. The spray fiew all over the target, and for a moment buried it out of sight, so that a shout went up on the Australia that the target had been de stroyed. The day was clear and fine, and the cruiser was only about two miles from the Australia, so that the work was perfectly plain. The fresh breeze kicked up a little sea, enough so that one of the jackies in the boat from the Peking was made seasick by the bobbing of his boat along side the Australia. The target bobbed up and down on the short seas, and the Charleston rolled a little, so that it was difficult shooting. She swung on and gave it to the target with the starboard broadside, one gun at a tihie, and it was pretty work. Shells were used several times, and one burst right beside the target. All would have hit the mark if it had been a ship instead of a bit of canvas. Then the forward 8-inch gun was tried, and the work of the captain of the after gun's crew was almost duplicated. Aj-ound the ship swung again, and each gun took another crack at the target. Not a shell or projectile went far enough wide of the mark to have missed a ship, and some of them were beautiful shots. The smoke from the shells when they burst sometimes hid the target for a few seconds, they went so close to the mark. When it was all over the Charleston picked up her target, the Captains went back to their ships, and we stood on our course again. Hurrah for Monday morning and Guam ! To-night when the Charleston tested her signal and searchlights the red and white lanterns of the Ardois system spelled out " On the road to Guam, as sung by the Charleston sextet : " When we hit that good old town of Guam We will make the Spaniards cuss and damn. We'll introduce them to their Uncle Sam. There'll be a hot time in the old to-svn that night." You know the tune. 44 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC CHAPTER yill the taking of guam On Transport Australia, Port San Luis d'Apra, Island of Guam, Tuesday Night, June 21. — The Mari ana or Ladrone Islands are under the Stars and Stripes. It was just a little before 2 o'clock this afternoon when the first broad red stripes of Old Glory rose above the ruined battlements of Port Santa Cruz, down the harbour, and the 6-pounders of the Charleston roared at the twenty-one guns that proclaimed to all the world that Guam is ours. At the same time the bands of the Second Oregon on the Australia and the First California on the City of Peking played " The Star-Spangled Banner," and the full-throated cheers of 2,500 American soldiers and sailors rang over the harbour of San Luis d'Apra from headland to reef, and echoed on the battlements above which flew the starry banner. It was the national salute to the success of the first step away from the old policy of the nation into the broader field of expansion and development. When the reckoning was made at noon on Sunday it showed only about 130 miles yet to go to Guam, and it became apparent that we should do some loafing that night so as to reach the island early in the morning. The near approach of what everyone felt would be an event ful day revived the somewhat excited interest in the pos sibility of a fight which the heat and the dragging days, had helped to flag. To travel at half steam, day after day, over a sea dead flat and calm, where the temperature is never below 83°, and what little breeze there is follows the ship dulls energy and interest. It takes an event of some importance to rouse much spirit under such circum stances, and this first conquest of foreign territory over seas was such an event. Sunday evening, when the Charleston had gone through her regular 7 : 30 test of her lights, the Ardois lanterns began their spelling-match again. The system is a curi- THE TAKING OF GUAM 45 ons complication of ones and twos. A white light stands for 2 and a red light for 1. The letters are made of com binations, as J is 1122, D is 222, Y is 111, and so on through the alphabet and the digits. It is purely an ar bitrary code, but by this time many of the officers on the Australia have become conversant with it and can read the signals without difficulty. This Sunday night mes sage from the Charleston was to all the ships of the con voy. It said : " Keep sharp lookout for land and vessels. Passing signal station on Guam. Charleston will hoist Japanese colours. Other vessels same or none." The chart and the directory say there is a signal station on the north end of Guam. It had been arranged at the Priday afternoon conference to pass to the west of the north end of the island, far enough to avoid being seen by the signal man. But there was a chance that we might not do it, and so this precaution was taken. It seemed at first a bit humiliating to show an alien flag, but the pro fessional soldiers on the Australia told the volunteers that the ruse was recognised in international law as legitimate, and they went to bed satisfied and eager for the morning. The first faint flush on the eastern horizon found half the men on the Australia up and about. Captain Houdlette was on the bridge with Mr. Lawless, the first mate, and Mr. Anderson, the second mate, who was standing the watch. Mr. Hallett, the third mate, had gone over to the Charleston the afternoon before to pilot the cruiser through the crooked channel past the coral reefs. As the more privileged army officers climbed up on the bridge with the ship's officers a faint line appeared above the horizon to the eastward. It hung in the cloudbank a little above the low swells, and recalled the first appear ance of Molokai the day we got into Honolulu. It was the first the First Brigade of the Manila expedition saw of Guam. The Australia set her signals to tell the Charleston that she had sighted land, but there was no response from the cruiser. The warship was ploughing along in the lead at the same old nine-knot gait she had held all the way from Honolulu, and gave no sign of having seen the land. So it went for a quarter of an hour, with the Australia'^ 46 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC signals flying, when there was a commotion on the Peking, whose squadron position to port of the Australia brought her nearly half a mile nearer the land. Signals went up, and when there was no response from the Charleston a rocket was fired. The cruiser's only answer was to alter her course inshore, but it was apparent that her lookouts had made out the land. Then through the glasses we could see the men at work on the decks of the warship. She was clearing for action. It was nearly 5 : 30 o'clock. The day broke cloudy and threatening, bearing out the assertion of the North Pacific Directory, that it rains con stantly at Guam. Little squalls of rain swept over ns con tinually, and there was no sunshine between them. The land rose out of the sea slowly as we advanced. We could see that it was very green with heavy foliage and thick growth of trees. Along the shore was a line of sheer cliffs, with a narrow sand beach in front of them. The beach was fringed with palms and a heavy tropical growth, which sometimes climbed the face of the cliffs. We had sighted the little projection just north of the bay of Agaiia. As we steamed along slowly to the southward the bay opened out gradually ahead of us. Every fifteen minutes or so a rain squall hid it entirely from view. The Charleston signalled the convoy to form column on her starboard beam, the Peking 800 yards from her and the others 800 yards apart in the rear of the Peking. The Charleston drew further and further inshore and in the intervals between squalls advanced rapidly. The convoy got pretty well in and then swung off toward Devil's Point, at the west end of Agaiia Bay. The cruiser went in as close to the reefs as was safe and made a thorough examination of the bay. Then she swung and rejoined the convoy. Prom the transports we could make out an occasional thatched roof of a native cottage near the shore, and on the line of the hilltops several more in what appeared to be cocoanut groves. Just beyond that hill line lay Agafla, where lived the governor we had come to take. Down past Devil's Point, close up to the shore, we went, the Charleston ahead and inside, the others in column following. We could see that the cruiser was cleared for action and the men were at quarters. The boats had been THE TAKING OF GUAM 47 gathered together on the superstructure and covered with wet canvas, lashed down. The wardroom furniture and all that would burn or splinter that was possible to move had been stowed below the water line, the guns were shot ted and ammunition was served all around from the mag azines. She was ready to make the fight of her life. Her crew had been picked up in San Francisco, and many were green men, but the month's work on the way down had got them into good shape and their spirit was fine. In the forward fighting top Mr. Hallett, the Australian's third mate, had taken his station as pilot. He was where he could look down into the water and tell from its colour the location of the reefs. The water of the Pacific is the deep blue of indigo, but where the reefs rise it shades off into a lighter blue, and in shallow water takes on a green tinge. So we came down until we saw and heard the great swells break and smash over the Luminan reefs at the head of Apepas Island. Reefs and island stand the north ern guards of the beautiful harbour of San Luis d'Apra. Between them and the Orote peninsula the water is very deep and the anchorage fine over the greater part of the bay. But inshore the coral has been growing very fast and reefs abound, making navigation difficult and mighty dangerous. The channels are narrow and tortuous, and the coral rocks are sharp enough to punch holes in the bottom of a stout boat. Just off the western end of Apepas Island the transports halted. The rain squalls continued, and it was impossible to make out whether anything was in the harbour or not. In fact, from the Australia we could not make out the harbour, and thought it was beyond Orote peninsula. The Charleston went on, and when she reached Point Orote we cursed our luck, for we thought we were not going to see the fight or the bombardment of the forts. A minute later we were cheering her with might and main, for she had turned to the eastward again and was following the narrow but deep channel along the north side of the pen insula. A giant boulder stands at the head of the peninsula, detached from the main cliff by a little stretch of water about 200 feet wide. As the cruiser passed this open space 48 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC we made out that she was on one side of the rocks. Then she disappeared as suddenly and mysteriously as if she had steamed into a cavern. We looked for her with anxious eyes, and every glass on the convoy was searching for her. Along the cliff there were occasional white spots, where the foliage, which in many places covered the rocks, left a bare space. Finally some one on the Australia saw that one of these white spots was moving, and sung out. We looked the closer, and made out that the moving white spot was the Charleston. It was the canvas over the boats on the superstructure. Against the blue-grey and the greens of the cliffs, through air thickened by the con tinual mist or rain, the lead-coloured cruiser was absolutely invisible. With her boats overboard instead of on the superstructure we could not have made her out. The ships of the convoy moved up closer, under the common desire to see the fun. As the Australia came clear of the west end of Apepas Island, Mr. Lawless, the old first mate, who was using the big long glass, jumped away from the bridge rail and began literally to hop up and down. He waved the glass about and shouted : " There she comes ! there she comes ! by gorry, she's a cruiser ! There's a cruiser, and she's coming out with a bone in her mouth. Now we'll see a scrap. Get ready for the shooting. It'll begin in a minute." Sure enough, there was a tall, white ship of some sort just beyond Apepas. At first sight she looked as if she were coming out, bnt as the Australia got further in and the ship came out clearer behind the island, we made out that she was at anchor. The Charleston steamed slowly along, and her forward motion was the only sign of life aboard her. Presently we made out the ship as a brigan- tine, with taller spars than any warship carries. But her nationality was still unknown. Then there fluttered at the main truck a small white flag. By this time Mr. Law less had got over his first enthusiasm, and the excitement his announcement had created on the bridge had quieted down. The Oregon soldiers were crowded along the rails, straining their eyes trying to make out what was happen ing inshore. Some of them had climbed into the main and mizzen rigging, and the fore rigging was full of offi cers. Some had climbed up to the foreyard and were THE TAKING OF GUAM 49 seated along it, their white duck suits blackened and smutched in streaks and spots by the soot and grime on the rigging. Some of them were in the fore topmast shrouds, and even as high as the fore to'gallant yard. " D'ye make out any red in that flag ? " shouted Mr. Lawless from the bridge. There was only a slight breeze, but it whistled through the rigging with such a noise that the mate's hail was not heard. Presently he followed his question up the rigging and took a look for himself. It was with a sorrowful face that he turned away. He had seen a red ball in the middle of a white flag. " She's a Japanee," he said and hope of a fight in that direction fled. But there was still some forts to be considered : possibly they might resist. The Charleston had made out the brigantine some time before the Australia did aud had had her own little bit of excitement. She was so close in by Apepas Island on her way oyer from Agaiia Bay that she saw the spars of the brigantine over the island. Apepas is a long, narrow, low strip of rock covered with a heavy growth of short palms and thick underbrush. When the spars were first made out it was decided quickly that they belonged to a merchantman, but when the cruiser got be yond the end of the island and the tall white sides of the brigantine showed over the breakers on Luminan reefs Captain Glass turned on the bridge and shouted to Lieu tenant-Commander Blocklinger, the executive officer : " By George ! just my luck. She's a cruiser." The grins on the faces of the silent men at the guns showed how the Captain's "bullies" hoped it was his luck, but they were doomed to disappointment. The watchful traders on the brigantine were not long in making out the Stars and Stripes flying from every point of vantage on the Charleston, and they recognised her for a United States warship. They knew about the strained relations between the United States and Spain when they started out on their voyage, and they lost no time in hoisting the colours of a Japanese merchantman, a white pennant with a red ball in the centre. There was keen disappointment on the Charleston when the peaceful flag floated out at the main truck of the brigantine. At first they thought it 4 50 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC was a white flag and that the vessel was Spanish, but had surrendered without trying a fight. Then they made out what the flag really was, and saw that no guns were car ried, and knew that they had no prize to take, with or without a fight. But there were still the forts, and, as on the Australia, they turned hopefully to them. The target practice they had had on the way down from Honolulu had made the men confident of their ability to smash any Spanish for tification to pieces. They had been drilled at the guns until they could work them blindfolded, and half the men in every gun crew were fit to be gun captains. So she crossed from the end of Luminan reefs, alraost to Orote Point, and turned east into the harbour. Prom there the whole harbour lay open before them, and her officers could see that but for the Japanese brigantine it was empty. Hope lay only in the forts. All this time the Charleston had been proceeding very slowly and with the utmost caution. Solid shot were in the forward 6-inch guns and a shell in the big 8-inch rifle on the fo'c's'le. The gun captains stood with lanyards ready to pull, and at the secondary battery the gunners had their shoulders on the rests. A short distance in from Point Orote an old fort crowns the hill. The cliffs along the north side of Orote peninsula rise sheer from the water almost 200 feet. There is a fringe of green at the bottom and a heavy growth along the crest. Three hun dred yards from the point a little sand beach stretches along for a couple of hundred yards, and back of that there is a little cocoanut grove. Just to the east of this grove the basaltic rocks tower straight out of the sea. There the cliff juts out a little beyond the general line, and at this point the Spaniards built their fort. With proper guns and gunners, a modern fort there could stand off the natives of all the world. The chart showed the presence of this old fort. St. lago, but there was no in formation as to its condition. The channel is less than 300 yards wide. Squarely in the middle of the channel, at less than half speed, the Charleston steamed ahead. Not a sound came from her except the " hush-hush " of escaping steam from her exhaust, and the soft lapping of the little waves about her bows and along her side. Fairly THE TAKING OF GUAM 5 1 under the old Fort St. lago she went, so close that the Spaniards could have hurled hand bombs and dynamite on her decks, but there were no Spaniards and no bombs, and she rounded the little point beyond the old fort and was out of range, with never a sign of resistance. The Peking, Australia, and Sydney were lying outside the reefs watching with all eyes the movements of the cruiser. The day had cleared a bit, and the watchers, grown accustomed to the appearance of the lead-coloured warship against the dull background of cliffs, could follow her more clearly than at first. As she rounded the point beyond Fort St. lago she raised Fort Santa Cruz, built on a low coral reef, out in the middle of the harbour. Cap tain Glass called to Lieuteant Commander Blocklinger to try out the fort with his small quick fires and see if he got a response. Mr. Blocklinger spoke to the officer in whose division the 3-pounder rifles are and the little guns furthest forward on the starboard side responded. The watchers on the transports caught the flash and saw the smoke, and a cheer such as the island of Guam had never heard rose from the three ships. The little shell flew straight for the fort, but fell a little short. The forward gun on the port side followed, and the gunners profited by the trial of the starboard gun. Fair over the middle of the old fort the shell burst. The flash of it was caught by the spectators on the troopships and a wild yell went up from them all. They thought it was a response from the fort. The Charleston was too far away for the reports of the guns to reach the transports, but for a few minutes the flashes and the puffs of smoke as the 3-pounders were flred filled the souls of the soldiers with glee and the cheering was tremendous. Then the firing stopped, |the cheering died out and the action at Guam was all over. From first gun to last it was just four minutes and a half. It began at 3,000 yards and ended at 2,400. Seven shells were fired from the starboard 3-pounders and six from the port battery. It was 8 : 30 o'clock on the morning of Monday, June 20. Then there was a long wait that tried the patience of the eager spectators on the transports. The Charleston crawled along up the little peninsula for a few hundred yards and apparently stopped. 52 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC Outside the reefs we drifted idly about and strained our eyes to the headache point trying to make out what it was all about. The rain squalls that occasionally hid the cruiser and the shore from our view drenched us as we sat in the rigging and flecked the glasses with drops of water so that it was a continual case of clean glasses. At last we made out one of the Charleston's boats that had been cleared away and was lying under her counter. At that time the cruiser was lying directly off the little point that jots out to the northward, about half way down Orote pen insula. What the boat was doing nobody could tell. Presently two small boats appeared from behind Apepas Island, beyond the Japanese brigantine, pulling toward the cruiser. It was a long, hard pull, but they kept at it steadily and crawled on their course. As they came clear of the "Japanee "we made out the Spanish flag flying bravely from the stern of the boat in the lead. More boats appeared about the Charleston from nowhere that we could make out and the mystery deepened. One boat from the cruiser started back along the peninsula toward where the Peking lay outside the reef, and we thought surely a message had been sent to her. Then two other boats put out, one toward the middle of Luminan reefs and one in toward the place beyond the Japanese trader indicated on the chart as the landing-place. CHAPTER IX SOME SURPRISED SPANIARDS. While the Charleston's boats were out the two Joats from shore got to the cruiser. In them were Lieutenant Garcia Guiterrez of the Spanish Navy, Captain of the Port of San Luis d'Apra, and Surgeon Romero of the Spanish Army, the health officer. They came up to the gangway which had been rigged out on the starboard side of the Charleston and saluted the officer of the deck. They had with them Francis Portusac, a native of Guam who had SOME SURPRISED SPANIARDS 53 been educated in the United States and who was natural ised in Chicago in 1888. He is a merchant in Agafla and happened to be at the landing at Piti when the Charleston came along. He came with the officials to call on his " countrymen " on the Charleston and to act as interpreter for the Spaniards. Through him the officials asked after the health of the warship. The officer of the deck had sent word to Captain Glass, who now came to the gangway and asked the Spaniards and Mr. Portusac to come on board the Charleston. They replied that they had merely come out to see about the Charleston's health and the nature of her business in San Luis d'Apra. Captain Glass repeated his invitation, and in such fashion that they felt they had better accept it. So they went up the cruiser's gangway and followed Captain Glass down into his cabin. When they were seated there Lieutenant Gutierrez, the port Captain, set the ball rolling with this soft observation : " You will pardon our not immediately replying to your salute. Captain, but we are unaccustomed to receiving salutes here, and, are not supplied with proper guns for re turning them. However, we shall be glad to do our best to return your salute as soon as possible." The port Captain spoke in Spanish. Captain Glass is sufficiently familiar with the language to need no interpre tation of the Port Captain's speech. His reply was short and surprising to the Spanish officials. "What salute ?" he asked. The Spaniards looked at each other with raised brows. It was odd that Captain Glass should ask such a question. " The salute you flred," they responded together. " We should like to return it, and shall do so as soon as we can get a battery." The puzzled look on the face of the American Captain faded into a suppressed smile as the meaning of the Spanish declaration dawned on him. " Make no mistake, gentlemen," he said; "I fired no salute. We came here on a hostile errand. Our country is at war with yours. When I came in here I saw a fort and I fired a few small shells at it to unmask it and see if there was any response. When there was none I concluded it was unoccupied and ceased firing." The Spaniards were astounded. This was their first in- 54 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC timation of the fact that war had been declared between the United States and Spain. They had not even known that the relations between the two countries were strained so as to approach the danger point. Por a few moments the blunt announcement that war existed, and that this was a demonstration against them personally almost over came them. They sat as if stupefied. When at length they recovered their composure they asked for more infor mation. The last mail they had had was on April 14, bringing news from Manila of date of April 9. It had said nothing to warn them that war was imminent or even possible. The mail steamer visited them once in two months, and the June boat was nearly two weeks overdue. There was no explanation for them of what the matter was. They simply waited with what patience they could command for the boat and the news. Captain Glass quickly explained the cause of the delay of their mail boat. He told them of the battle in Manila Bay and the annihilation of the Spanish fleet by Dewey's squadron. It seemed as if it was impossible for the Span iards to comprehend the magnitude of the disaster to their cause. They were very unhappy, but Portusac, the Amer ican citizen, had difficulty in keeping his politeness above his satisfaction and his amusement. Captain Glass took the Spanish officials a little bit out of their depression by questioning them about their island. It was very fertile, they said, and its appearance bears them out. Coffee, rice, corn and sugar-cane are grown with little effort, and cocoanuts, limes, lemons, bananas, pine apples and bread fruit grow in abundance. By the time they had got through with the population, which they put at between 8,000 and 10,000 for Guam and 26,000 for the Mariana group, nearly all Chamorros — natives — Captain Glass gave them another jolt, this time one of severe per sonal effect. " You understand, of course, gentlemen," he said, " that you are my prisoners ? " The unhappy Spaniards apparently had not thought of it in that light, and they were more than ever disconcerted. Captain Glass went on : " You have a Governor here ? " " Yes, at Agana. Agana is the capital." SOME SURPRISED SPANIARDS 55 "How far is that from here ?" "Four miles." " Who is the Governor ? " "Don Jose Marina." " I will parole you, gentlemen, for this afternoon, and I want you to send word to your Governor that I want to see him on board the Charleston as early this afternoon as possible." There was conflicting emotion in the bearing of the Spanish officials. Hope that they were to get off after all struggled with fear that they would not. This demand for the Governor might yet mean their liberation, and they assured Captain Glass that they would see to it that his mes sage was delivered. Then there was more talk about the island and its resources and its government, and finally the Spaniards went away and Mr. Portusac went with them. By this time the Charleston's boats had come back to the cruiser and the object of their mysterious movements was apparent. They had been buoying the dangerous places in the reefs. The rain squalls had ceased and there was a faint glow of sunshine which brought out sharply the cliffs of Orote peninsula and the rugged hills beyond the harbour. From the sea side of the reef it is impossible to see that Apepas is an island, and so it appears that the harbour is a deep bottle-shaped cut into the hills with a tri angular patch stuck on at the south side, extending down toward Apra. The ultramarine blue of the water proclaims its great depths and Luminan reefs run so close to Point Orote as to form a very narrow gateway into the beautiful harbour. Beyond old Santa Cruz the hills rise with steep slopes almost to mountainous height, and straggling, wind- tossed palms range along their ragged crest. Here and their their slopes show cultivated fields, and almost in the peaks of some of the narrow little sword-cut valleys stand groves of palms or lime trees or bananas. The Spanish officials were hardly on shore again when one of the Charleston's boats put out for the Peking with orders for that ship— which was chartered by the Navy Department — to go inside and anchor close to the cruiser. There was coal in plenty on the Peking, and the Charleston needed some of it. By the same boat Captain Glass sent a letter to General Anderson informing him of the results of 56 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC the morning's work and suggesting that the Australia and Sydney — which are under army charter, and so not in Cap tain Glass's command in such matters — would be more com fortable inside the reefs. The Australia promptly signalled the Sydney to come in and follow the Peking. As we steamed along under Port St. lago and got a close view of it we understood something of what they felt on the Charles ton as the cruiser passed in such easy range of the old fortification. Attack would have been so simple and easy from that bluff, and defence was so impossible. There was not a gun on the cruiser that could have been brought to bear on the old fort ; not one could be elevated sufficiently to throw a shell to the top of the steep basaltic cliffs. When the Australia drew near where the Peking had an chored, the lead was set going, but there was no bottom at twenty fathoms. Finally Captain Houdlette was as far up as he dared to go, and the starboard bower was let go. Down she went and out roared the cable. " Forty-five fathoms under water, sir," shouted the first mate, " and the anchor doesn't hold yet." Out went the cable again, and finally when the sixth shackle showed that ninety fathoms were gone the anchor held. How is that for a deep-water harbour ? The Syd ney had not made out our signals and remained out side. By the time the Australia was safely at anchor the Charleston's jackies were at the Peking's sides at work on the coal. It was packed in sacks in the Peking's bunkers, hoisted out, and stowed in the biggest sailing launch the cruiser had, and then towed by a twelve-oared barge over to the warship and hoisted in. It was stiff work and distressingly slow. Until it was known definitely whether the Governor would surrender or not there would be no permission to go ashore, and so we stood about on the transports and watched the afternoon sun slide down be hind Orote peninsula over a bewildering path of rose and scarlet and crimson and lilac and apple-green and blue- black clouds and hide the green hills and cocoanut palms in darkness. It was a case of content yourself and wait for the morrow. Captain Glass had told the two Spanish officials to send him a pilot for the harbour channels, so that his small boats could make the landing without difficulty or danger. SOME SURPRISED SPANIARDS 57 With the close of the day this pilot came off from the shore in a boat manned by some of the same Spanish naval infantry who had rowed out the Port Captain and the sur geon in the morning. The pilot brought a formal commu nication from Governor Marina to Captain Glass, which gave the cruiser's commander a curious sensation. " The military regulations of Spain," wrote the Gov ernor, "forbid me to set foot upon a foreign ship of war. It is therefore impossible that I should call upon you on your ship. However, I shall be happy to see you at my office in the morning, and hope that we shall be able to reach a satisfactory understanding." There was a mixture of nerve, plausibility and manana in that which made Captain Glass hesitate between laughter and wrath. He detained the pilot and by the soldier boat men sent a note to the Governor, saying that he would either see the Seiior Doii Lieutenant- Colonel himself in the morning or would send one of his officers to represent him. Then he had his dinner, called away his gig and came over to consult with General Anderson about the strength of the party to be landed the next morning. It apparently had become a question of seeking the Governor in his own haunts and abstracting him therefrom by force. While a party of us from the Australia, who had dined on the cruiser that evening, were sitting in the " bull ring," as they call the space about the after 8-inch rifle, and vociferously chanting the determination of us all to make the "Spaniards cuss and damn when we introduced them to their Uncle Sam." Captain Glass and General An derson were deciding on the next day's operations. Finally it was determined to send forty marines from the Charles ton, and ten from those on the Peking who were going out to join ships in Admiral Dewey's fleet, and Companies A, Captain Heath, and D, Captain Prescott, of the Second Oregon, each eighty-five strong, under the command of Lieutenant Myers, the marine officer on the Charleston. The soldiers were to have forty rounds of ammunition and one day's rations, and to be ready to move at 8:30 A. M. Lieutenant William Braunersreuther, navigator of the Charleston, was to be in command of the whole force, representing Captain Glass. There was hilarity on the Charleston in the evening, 58 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC and the last of the ice helped it along. The boats that had been sent out to examine the forts reported them to be old ruins, overgrown with grass and shrubbery, and apparently in disuse for years. Old San Luis was a bas tion fortress of rock, which had been formidable in its day, but that was long ago. Now a big palm tree grows fairly in front of one of the gun-ports. Behind Santa Cruz the fishermen set their traps. One had been there in the morning when the firing began. They had seen from the Charleston a man rowing away from behind the fort with energy and determination such as win at Henley, and had thought he was the sole occupant of the fort. But he wasn't : he was a fisherman who had been tending his nets. CHAPTER X GUAM SURRENDERS Everybody in the expedition was about early this morn ing. The night was cool, and everybody had a good sleep. The climate of Guam has taken the whole brigade by sur prise. The sun is very hot when it does appear, but most of the time it is hidden behind clouds, and there is a con stant fresh land breeze which keeps the temperature down to the point where the soldiers are comfortable in their heavy woollen shirts. It was blowing very fresh this morn ing, and there was a sea on even in the sheltered harbor that made it practically an impossibility for the landing party to row ashore in the big boats. By 8:15 ammunition and rations had been issued to the Oregon boys, canteens had been filled with tea, rifles looked over for the last time and Companies A and D were ready for whatever the day might bring. They were permitted to leave their blouses behind and go in their blue shirts, carrying haversacks and canteens. The Charleston's barges and whaleboats came down to the Australia, and the Peking's boats fol lowed. Then about 9 o'clock came Lieutenant Myers with his forty bullies and their Lee rifles, a fine-looking lot of GUAM SURRENDERS 59 men, well set up and soldierly in appearance. The ten marines from the Peking came down and, as far as the men were concerned, the party was ready to land. As the marines left the Charleston the cruiser's steam launch started for shore towing a whale-boat, in which were Lieutenant Braunersreuther and Ensign Waldo Evans, with a crew of four jackies, all armed, and a fifth man, also armed, who speaks Spanish and was to act as interpreter if necessary. Lieutenant Braunersreuther went to represent Captain Glass at the meeting with the Governor. He carried a written communication to the Governor, and his orders were to deliver it to Lieutenant-Colonel Marina in person and give him half an hour in which to make reply. If there was no answer in that time. Lieutenant Braunersreuther was to return to his ship for further orders. These further orders had been drawn up and signed by Captain Glass and Lieutenant Braunersreuther had seen them. They directed him to take command of the landing party and to proceed with all expedition to Agana, there to capture the Governor and all officials, to take the soldiers prisoners, and to destroy all fortifica tions ; to capture all Spanish flags and all ammunition and war supplies, rifles, and accoutrements : to protect life and property as much as possible ; to prevent any looting or marauding, and to get back to the ship at the earliest possible moment. So he went to meet the Gov ernor fully informed as to what Captain Glass expected to accomplish. The steam launch towed the whaleboat in to where the reef rose too far up in the water to let it go further, and then with a white flag of truce fluttering in its bow, the whaleboat was rowed on to the landing-place, and the launch returned to the cruiser. Directly opposite the eastern end of Apepas Island — south, across the little shallow channel — a boathouse stands on the beach of the main island. It projects out from the edge of the beach over the water, and » float or landing stage rides in front of it, fastened to the piles at the outward end of the boat- house. Steps lead from the float up to the floor of the boathouse. Behind the boathouse and about a hundred yards inshore there is a big whitewashed tile-roofed stone house, built for the Captain of the port. There he has 6o OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC his office, and there his men live and make their head quarters. He himself has his home in Agana. Fifty yards to the north of this same house is a smaller one, similarly built, and whitewashed, which the Governor uses as an office when he is at the landing. Beyond this little office there are twenty-five or thirty native houses, two or three of stone, a few of wood, and the rest of bamboo, all with roofs made of bamboo rafters and shingles and thatched with the leaves of cocoanut palms. The wooden houses are built of heavy boards of red mahogany, rough hewn, but sawed on the edges with a whipsaw. The boat- house is built of mahogany uprights and girders, with a bamboo and cocoanut palm roof and a heavy mahogany floor. When the steam launch reached the cruiser she was sent at once to the Australia, bringing Lieutenant-Commander Blocklinger, the executive officer of the Charleston, who was to have charge of the organisation of the landing force, and see that it got away from the Australia all right. Lieutenant George R. Slocum was in command of the launch. A 1-pounder was mounted on its bow and the crew were armed with Lee rifles. Lieutenant Myers and his men were put in the first boats and then the men of Company A followed. The launch was to tow the boats as far in as she could go and they were to make the rest of the way as well as they could, rowing as far as possible and then wading. The day had dawned clear and bright, with warm sun shine, but by noon the rain squalls were coming again, driving across the bay at short intervals and keeping the temperature down to a fairly comfortable point. No one minded the rain, but the fresh breeze had kicked up a sea that made considerable delay. Finally, about half -past ten, the launch started with six boats in tow, the first third of the landing party. She pulled the boats along slowly but steadily, and as they passed between the Peking and the Charleston the soldiers and sailors on the trans port and the cruiser gave their comrades in the small boats volley after volley of cheers that ricochetted back aud forth between the two ships like echoes between two cliffs near together. The launch kept to her course until she came alongside the Japanese brigantine, and then she GUAM SURRENDERS 6l stopped. The brigantine was the Minatogawa of Tokio. She had been boarded the night before by Lieutenant Slo cum and a party from the cruiser, and her papers had been examined. They were satisfactory. Now we made Japan an ally by heaving a line from the first boat aboard the trader. It was made fast, and there the first detachment lay while the launch went back to the Australia for the second detachment. The remaining men of the landing party were embarked in eight big boats, and the launch had just put off from the transport with them in tow when a terrific rain squall came along. Por fifteen minutes it rained in sheets. The floodgates were open, and it seemed as if all the water that had been evaporated from the Pacific since we left Hono lulu had been condensed again and was coming down at once. In the boats of the first detachment rations had been broken out and a hearty luncheon of canned corned beef and beans and hardtack had been made. It was fin ished just in time to let the rain wash up the tin camp dishes. Everybody in both divisions was soaked to the skin. Just as the rain slacked up and showed signs of stop ping, those in the first detachment made out a man stand ing up in a small boat off the Minatogawa's port bow waving a white flag. It was a wigwag signal. Lieutenant Myers stood up and answered with waves of his white cap. The wigwagging proceeded, and slowly we read the dis heartening command: "Return to your ship." It was Lieutenant Braunersreuther going back to the Charleston. He had succeeded. Governor Marina and his staff were prisoners in the whaleboat. Lieutenant Braunersreuther came close in to our boats and hailed Mr. Myers, who told him we would wait for the launch to tow us back. There was not a cheer from our boats as the whaleboat went by. Some one called out : " Have you got any Governors aboard?" The answer was a slight wave of the hand by a man in the bow of the whaleboat, the motion indicating a swarthy man who sat with head bowed down next Lieu tenant Braunersreuther, in the stern sheets, his figure al most hidden in a huge black rain coat. Next this man sat another very dejected young man in a brown mackintosh, and opposite them sat two others, eyes in the bottom of 62 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC the boat and heads bowed forward, both in heavy rain coats. These four were the only ones in the boat pro tected against the storm. They were the prisoners. The captors were as wet as if they had been overboard. It was almost noon. The whaleboat went on and, just ahead of the Peking, came up with the launch and the second detachment of the landing party, which had left the Australia just in time to get thoroughly soaked by the rain. There was more wigwagging, the flag of truce being used as the signal flag, and then the long line of boats put about and went back to the ship. Presently the launch came out again to the Japanese trader, picked up the six boats of the first detachment and towed us back to the ship. Then she took the Charleston's marines back to the cruiser. The ten marines from the Peking rowed back to their ship. Ammunition was turned back to the ordnance officers and unused rations to the commissary. Boats were hauled up on their davits or sent back to their ships, rifies were cleaned up and dry clothing put on, and that was the end of the first landing party. The gallant Duke of York, He had ten thousand men ; He marched them up a great high hill And marched them down again. But if there was disappointment in the souls of the men who had been detailed for the landing party, there was joy in the hearts of Lieutenant Braunersreuther and the men with him, for they had succeeded completely. The written mes sage to Governor Marina, which Captain Glass sent ashore yesterday evening, had been delivered, and it had its effect. When the whaleboat with the flag of truce reached the land ing pier at the boathouse. Governor Marina was there to meet it. With him were Captain Duarte of the Spanish Army, his secretary, and Lieutenant Gutierrez, Captain of the Port, and Dr. Romero, the army surgeon and health officer. There was a brief, formal greeting, and Lieutenant Brauners reuther and Ensign Evans were presented to all the party. Mr. Braunersreuther went at his business at once. He had a written communication from Captain Glass for Governor Marina, which was a formal demand for the immediate GUAM SURRENDERS 63 and unconditional surrender of all the Spanish possessions in the Marina group. It gave the Governor half an hour in which to answer. As Lieutenant Braunersreuther handed the envelope to Governor Marina, he said, speaking in Spanish, and not using his intepreter : " I have the honour to present a communication from my commandant, who has instructed me that you are to have one-half hour in which to make reply. In presenting this communication I call your attention to these facts. We have, as you see, three large ships inside the harbour, and a fourth outside. One of the three ships in the harbour is a modern warship of very high power and mounting large guns. The others are transports full of soldiers, as is the one outside the harbour. We have a large force of soldiers. I call your attention to these facts in order that you may not make any hasty or ill-considered reply to this com munication from my commandant." Lieutenant Braunersreuther paused, and Governor Mar ina bowed and said, " Thank you." Lieutenant Brauners reuther pulled out his watch and continued : " It is now fifteen minutes past 10 o'clock. If within thirty minutes I have not received your reply I shall pro ceed according to my further orders." Governor Marina bowed again, repeated his thanks, tooK the envelope and went inside his office with his staff. The five armed jackies from the Charleston were posted on the wharf at the entrance to the boathouse. Lieutenant Braun ersreuther and Ensign Evans paced slowly up and down the wharf. Lieutenant Braunersreuther with his watch in his hand. The long hand of the watch clicked around its dial, and for twenty minutes there was no sign of any activity inside the Governor's office. Twenty-five minutes and still there was no reply. From the window of his office, if he chanced to look out. Governor Marina could see the six boats of the first detachment of the landing party in tow of the launch coming along toward the landing-place. _ If he saw them or not he never said so, but when twenty-nine of his thirty minutes had elapsed and Lieutenant Braun ersreuther had almost made up his mind that it was a case of take by force. Governor Marina came out of his office followed by his staff. In his hand he held a sealed envelope addressed to Captain Glass. Lieutenant Braunersreuther 64 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC stepped forward to meet him. The two men saluted, and Governor Marina handed the letter to the naval officer, saying : " It is for your commandant." Lieutenant Braunersreuther ripped open the envelope with one sweep of his hand and took out the inclosure. " It is for your commandant," repeated Governor Mar ina in protest. " I represent my commandant here," replied Lieutenant Braunersreuther, and then he read the letter. It was written in Spanish, and this is what it said : " Sir : In the absence of any notification from my Government concerning the relations of war between the United States of America and Spain, and without any means of defence, or the possibility of making a defence in the face of such a large opposing force, I feel compelled, in the interests of humanity and to save life, to make a complete surrender of all under my jurisdiction. " Trusting to your mercy and your justice, " I have the honor to be your obedient servant, " JosB Marina y Vega. " Captain Henry Glass, U. S. S. Charleston." The four Spaniards and two Americans stood in absolute silence while Lieutenant Braunersreuther read the note of surrender. A second time the navigator of the Charleston read the letter, and, when he realised all it meant and looked up, it was with difficulty that he could repress a smile of satisfaction. The four Spaniards stood with bowed heads in utter dejection waiting for what was to come next. It came quickly. " Gentlemen," said Lieutenant Braunersreuther to the three staff officers, "your Governor has made a complete surrender of these islands to the United States. I am sorry for your personal discomfort, but you are now my prisoners, and under my orders. I am compelled to take you on board my ship." Governor and staff seemed very much surprised by this announcement and protested with much earnestness. They were not accustomed to such swift action and were not prepared for it. The word manana plays a large part GUAM SURRENDERS 65 in the easy-going Spanish life, but there was no "to morrow " in this business. Lieutenant Braunersreuther had been instructed to proceed with all expedition, and he was carrying out orders. "We have had no opportunity to say farewell to our families," protested Governor Marina. "We have no clothes except what we wear now. It is very hard to take us so unprepared." " I am very sorry," repeated Lieutenant Braunersreuther " for your personal discomfort, but I cannot help it. I must obey my orders. As for your clothing, you may write what messages you like to your families or your friends, and whatever clothing or supplies they send you in response will be taken aboard ship for you, provided they are here by 4 o'clock this afternoon. I will even promise that if your wives or members of your families come here to bid you good-bye they shall be taken on board the ship and shall have ample opportunity to see you. More I cannot do." " It is very hard and very strange," said the Governor again. " You come ashore with a flag of truce, and in half an hour you tell me I am your prisoner and must go aboard your ship. Is it a just use of a flag of truce ? " That warmed up Lieutenant Braunersreuther a bit. "I came ashore," he said, "with a flag of truce to deliver to you a formal demand for your surrender. You replied to that demand by snrrendering absolutely and without conditions. That ended the truce. You are a soldier, and you know as well as I that when one surrenders he is a prison«r. You have surrendered to my command ant through me, and until I turn you over to my com mandant you are my prisoner. You must go with me." For a second it suggested itself to Lieutenant Brauners reuther that there might be trouble after all. He had only five men, but he knew that the shotted guns of the Charles ton were trained on the landing-place, and that at the first sign of fight the cruiser would open up. Also he knew that the first half of the landing party were almost within striking distance, and that they would get to his assistance in a very short time if he needed them. But there was no need of guns or men. The Governor shrugged his shoul ders in reply to the Lieutenant's declaration, and submitted 5 66 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC to the inevitable with the best grace he could muster. He turned to go back to his office, and Lieutenant Brauners reuther said : " You have soldiers here ? " " Yes," replied the Governor, halted by the questions. " How many ? " " Two companies." " There are officers in command of them ? " " Yes." "Where?" "In Agana." " You will write an order to the officer in command of your troops to have them all at this place at 4 o'clock this afternoon, with all their arms, ammunition and accoutre ments. I will give you ten minutes in which to write such an order." " It is impossible," protested the Governor vehemently. "They are miles away. They cannot get here at that time." "It is quite possible," replied Lieutenant Brauners reuther, looking at his watch. " It is not yet 12 o'clock. Agana is but four miles away. A messenger can reach there within the hour. The soldiers must be here by 4 o'clock and you must write the order. You have ten minutes in which to do it." Again the Governor shrugged his shoulders and turned away, and again Lieutenant Braunersreuther stopped him. "You have Spanish flags ?" " Yes," replied the unhappy Governor. " How many ? " " Pour." " Include in your order to the commanding officer an order to bring all the Spanish flags with him." The Governor fetched a big sigh and went into his office to write the order. He was overwhelmed by the calamity which had befallen him so suddenly. He had not dreamed that he would be molested even if the United States should go to war with Spain. He was so far out of the way that he would be absolutely safe. Yet here was a great force sent for his capture and he was com pelled to surrender without even the poor satisfaction of firing a single shot in resistance. He had no inkling that GUAM SURRENDERS 67 this assault on him was merely a side issue. There had not been the slightest thing to indicate to him that the expedition was bound, in fact, for Manila. As far as he knew, or could know, it had been designed simply for him, and he was, as he wrote in his note of surrender, without the possibility of defence. So he sat down and wrote the order to the commandant of his troops to march them down from Agana and have them at Piti with all their equipment that afternoon by 4 o'clock. When he had finished he mournfully held the order out for Lieu tenant Braunersreuther to see. It was satisfactory, and he sealed it up. A messenger was found, who was soon gal loping along the road to Agana with the order. Then Lieutenant Braunersreuther said : " Now you may write to your wife." " How much time shall I have ? " asked the Governor, in a quivering voice. " All you want," replied Lieutenant Braunersreuther. The Governor turned to his desk and began to write. In the meantime his staff officers had been busy over their own messages to their families. The Governor wrote stead ily for half an hour, and Lieutenant Braunersreuther waited. At last the Governor finished. He had filled three large sheets almost the size of foolscap. He gathered them up with a mournful sigh and offered them to his captor. Lieutenant Braunersreuther shook his head and waved them away. " That is a private letter," he said, " and I have nothing to do with it." The Governor was completely overcome by this simple politeness. He put his head down in his crossed arms on the desk in front of him and cried like a child. When at length he regained control of himself the letter was sealed up and a messenger found to deliver it to the Seiiora Marina in Agana. By this time the other officers had suc ceeded in sending their own messages, and it was time to get into the whaleboat and put out for the Charleston. The Governor and his staff were all in uniform, but none wore side arms. They went sorrowfully down the wharf to the boathouse and stepped into the Charleston's boats. The jackies who had been standing at the shore entrance to the boathouse had returned to their places in the boat. 68 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC and now they set out to pull back to their ship. Just after they left the landing-place the squall broke. But the rain had no discouragement then for the Charleston's men. The prisoners were moody and silent throughout the trip out to the cruiser, but not a man in the boat blamed them. Lieutenant Braunersreuther said afterward that he was especially glad that there had been no cheering from the boats of the landing party when his boat passed by. On the Charleston the prisoners were taken at once to Captain Glass's cabin, where there was a general talk. The Governor's letter of surrender was turned over by Lieutenant Braunersreuther to Captain Glass, who read it and then heard a brief verbal report from the Lieutenant of what had occurred. After that Captain Glass made temporary provision for his prisoners in his own cabin. While this had been going on Captain Pillsbury of the Sydney had come in in a small boat for a conference with General Anderson and Captain Glass. He reported that he had been unable to make out the Australia's signals yes terday, and so had remained outside the reefs over night. Now he was ordered to come in and take position near the Charleston. Captain Glass had no room on the cruiser for his prisoners, and he ask^d permission from General Ander son to put them on the Sydney. There was plenty of room on the transport, and, as General Anderson was willing, it was decided to m.ake her the prison ship. So Captain Pillsbury took Mr. Hallett, the Australia's mate, with him for a pilot, and came in with the Sydney and anchored beween the Peking and the Charleston, and a little astern of them. The four officers were transferred to her from the Charleston at once. There were comfortable staterooms for them, and they were assigned to quarters without delay. Governor Marina drew a room with Lieutenant Gutierrez, the port Captain, and Dr. Romero and Captain Duarte took another stateroom. Armed guards are stationed outside their doors, but considerable freedom is, nevertheless, allowed the prisoners. They will mess in the saloon at a table by themselves, and will have plenty of opportunity to talk together and to get such exercise as can be had on shipboard and to read aud smoke as much as they like. OUR FLAG SALUTES 69 CHAPTER XI OUR FLAG salutes When this had been arranged Captain Glass and Lieu tenant-Commander Blocklingler took a big flag and, in the Charleston's barge, went over to old Port Santa Cruz. It was pretty ticklish business getting to the fort because of the coral reefs which run about in all sorts of shapes throughout the upper part of the l^ay. There is a little narrow channel which leads to the rear of the fort, how ever, and the boat finally found this and made a landing. Captain Glass found a most dilapidated old apology for a fort, the thought of shelling which made him laugh. Such as it was the fort occupied nearly the entire space of the little island which had been bnilt upon the reef. It was built in the form of a rectangle, about sixty feet east and west by forty feet north and south. The four corners were braced by heavy stone buttresses. The entrance was in the centre of the south wall. The walls were of heavy masonry, of the same basaltic rock as the cliffs along Orote peninsula, but long ago the plaster had crumbled between the stones and the huge blocks themselves had begun to disintegrate under the stress of the constant storms that sweep over them. Grass, reeds, weeds and shrubbery had overgrown the whole place. Ruin and desolation held the island, — not Port Santa Cruz. Along the south wall, clear across the southern front, except at the entrance at the centre there had been the quarters of the men. The little cell-like rooms had been built of stone, which had fallen into little heaps almost before the oldest man in this expedition learned to walk. The door in the wall against which these cells had stood opened directly against the heavy south side of what seemed to be a solid block of masonry, which rose about ten feet from this south wall to a height of perhaps ten feet. Directly opposite this door, at the top of the pile of masonry, stood the coat of arms of Spain. Now it is moss- 70 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC grown and worn away. The big gravestone-like slab on which the arms were carved has faded and crumbled until now it is impossible to decipher in detail what was carved on it originally, but there remain the outlines of the Spanish arms, and at the bottom some lettering. The name of the King who reigned when the fort was built probably stood there once, but now there is only a blur, at the end of which is decipherable " Aiio 1801." That was before Trafalgar, when there were a glory and a main that were Spain's. Almost a century this old fort has looked out over the reefs beyond Orote peninsula, and there was a time no doubt when it would have met a ship of the line with a royal welcome, but now the coral on which it was built is coming to its protection, and in a few more years it will be impregnable because no hostile hand can reach it. To the left as one enters this door that faces the old coat of arms rises the ramp that leads to the terreplein. It is perhaps ten feet wide with steps at the southern side built of stone. To the right, under an arched doorway, is the long vacant magazine, foul and ill-smelling now from its years with no ventilation. The terreplein seems to be solid. The battlemented parapet rises around it about four feet in some places, but for the most part the parapet has all fallen down. Originally there were probably four embrasures on the north side and perhaps as many more on the south, with half that number east and west. Grass and bushes grow thickly on the terreplein. About the parapet Captain Glass found indications where four of the shells from his 3-pounders had struck, but the old fort was little the worse for its bombardment. The terre plein presented a curious problem. It is hard to believe it is solid, there is so little room on the speck of an island occupied by the fort ; but if it is supported by arches there is no indication now to be found of any door leading to the chambers beneath it. Yet it seems more than probable that there are such chambers. Who knows now what dungeons are beneath that terreplein that was built before Navarino was fought, and was in the first flush of its youth when fate upset Napoleon at Waterloo ? Who knows what hoards of Spanish doubloons and pieces of eight may not be bursting out of their rotting chests be neath those grass-covered arches ? One 8-inch shell from OUR FLAG SALUTES 7 1 the Charleston would have laid bare the whole mystery, but Captain Glass is a matter-of-fact man and the 8-inch shell is still in the magazine of the Charleston. At the southeast corner of the terreplein there rises the wreck of an old flagstaff. Beside it grows a tree almost as tall as the staff. On that staff the flag Captain Glass had taken from the Charleston was hoisted. Lieutenant Brau nersreuther, who had been left in command on the cruiser while the Captain and executive officer were away, had wigwagged over to the Australia and the Peking to keep watch with him for the first appearance of Old Glory above the ruined battlements of Santa Cruz. The bands" on the two troopships were ready, and the crews were at the salut ing guns on the crusier. The clouds had broken away and the harbour and its hills stood out clear and sharp in the early afternoon sun. The old grey fort, in its setting of green grass and shrubbery, marked the foreground. Over this grey-green spot in the blue water rose the radi ant glory of the Stars and Stripes. As the first glint of colour above the battered parapet caught the eye of Lieuten ant Braunersreuther he gave the order to sainte the United States flag. A thundering roar from the forward 6- pounder gun of the Charleston's starboard battery was the first response. Instantly the port gun answered. The echoes beat back from the cocoanut covered cliffs of Orote peninsula and flung themselves against the hills on the mainland of the island. Back they came, diminished in force but increased in number, and caught the deep boom ing of the guns as the Charleston continued the salute. Soon all the harbour was filled with the noise, and occasion ally, as it died down a bit, came the strains of the " Star Spangled Banner " from the two transports, and the ring of eager cheers from the thousands of soldiers and sailors who watched the beautiful flag rise to its place at the top of the staff and float out over the old fort. The island of Guam was formally in possession of the United States. Six thousand miles to the westward the starry banner had been pushed at one stride. When it rises over Manila and) the Philippines — never to be hauled down, as this expedi-l tion hopes — the sun will never set on " the land of the I free and the home of the brave." Leaving the old flag floating gloriously out on the after- 72 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC noon breeze. Captain Glass returned to the Charleston, He reached his ship at about 3 o'clock, and at once Lieutenant Braunersreuther started with Lieutenant Myers and forty marines to receive the surrender of the Spanish garrison of Guam. The men embarked in four boats, -n'hich were towed by the steam launch, under command of Lieutenant Slocum. Ensign Evans and Dr. Farenholt accompanied Lieutenant Braunersreuther. The tide was nearly at ebb slack, and it was impossible for the launch to get over the reef that runs along the inside edge of the harbour close to Apepas Island and the main island. The boats were cast loose from the launch and went as far in as they could with oars. Then the men got out and waded, pushing the boats along. It was a ticklish position for the men if the Spanish soldiers should conclude at the last to make a stand for it. Lieutenant Braunersreuther took his men as far in toward Apepas as he could. He knew that the Charles ton's guns were shotted and trained on the landing place, and he gave them as much room as he could. They were ready to open up at the first sign of resistance from shore, but they never got the signal to fire. Lieutenant Braun ersreuther kept his men as well together as possible and or dered them to be ready to shoot at the least indication of trouble, and to shoot low and to kill. Straight into the landing place the four boats went, and there were the Spaniards, sure enough, waiting for them in the boathouse. The Spaniards had been on time, but the Americans were late. The difficulty of getting over the reefs had delayed them, and it was well past 4 o'clock when Lieutenant Braunersreuther climbed up the steps into the boathouse and returned the salute of Lieutenant Ramos of the Spanish naval infantry, in command of the surrender ing garrison of Guam. Behind Lieutenant Braunersreuther came Ensign Evans and Dr. Farenholt. There were two companies of the soldiers, one of Spanish regulars and one of natives — Chamorros. They were • drawn up in line in the boathouse, facing in, the Spaniards on the south side and the Chamorros on the north. Lieutenant Brauners reuther spoke to Lieutenant Ramos, who gravely presented Lieutenant Berruezo of the Spanish naval infantry segundo cabo of the garrison of Guam. Lieutenant Berruezo saluted, and Lieutenant Braunersreuther announced that OUR FLAG SALUTES 73 he had come, representing Captain Glass, to receive their surrender, as ordered by Governor Marina. The soldiers looked on in wonder at the proceeding, but the Chamorros were not unhappy, and their faces showed it. While this talk had been going on Lieutenant Myers and his forty marines had filed quietly through the boathouse and formed in line on the wharf across the entrance, facing the water front, and looking down through the boathouse. It will be understood that there are neither sides nor ends to this boathouse, simply a floor and a thatched roof sup ported by four uprights. The left end of the line of ma rines moved forward left oblique, forming an obtuse angle in the line and covering the rear and left flank of the boat- house as you face the water. There were four armed bluejackets in each boat, sent to man the oars and act as boatkeepers. Half of these men were left in the boats, the others were formed at the right of the marines, at an obtuse angle to the line, covering the right flank of the boathouse. Then the Spaniards were in a trap, and if at the last they should try to fight, they would be practically surrounded and have no chance. Then the disarming began. Lieutenant Braunersreuther stood well in the boathouse toward the centre, in the open space between the two lines of Spanish and Chamorro soldiers. Ensign Evans stood near the front of the boat- house with Dr. Farenholt. Two bluejackets stood near Ensign Evans to receive the arms. Lieutenant Brauners reuther told Lieutenant Ramos to command his men to de liver their guns to Ensign Evans. The Spaniards were in light marching order, having only their guns, cartridge boxes and bayonets and haversacks with them. Their extra ammunition was in two big boxes behind their line as they stood in the boathouse. Lieutenant Ramos gave the order as Lieutenant Braunersreuther directed. In response the man at the left of the line, nearest Ensign Evans, stepped forward and saluted ; then he threw open the breech block of his Manser rifle and showed Ensign Evans that it was not loaded. He passed the gun to Mr. Evans with the breech block open. Ensign Evans closed the breech block and handed the gun to one of the blue jackets, who passed it along to another, who stowed it in one of the Charleston's boats. Then the Spaniard took 74 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC off his belt, with cartridge box and bayonet, and his haver sack, and handed them to Ensign Evans, who turned them over to the bluejacket as he had the gun, and they were stowed in the boat. The disarmed Spaniard saluted and returned to his place in line. The next man stepped for ward and the performance was repeated. One by one the fifty-four Spanish regulars gave up their arms and accou trements. One by one the guns were examined and stowed away in the boat with the cartridge belts, bayonets and haversacks; The rifles were all Mausers of '96 make and in good condition. Each soldier carried six boxes of cartridges, three clips in a box and five shells in a clip, ninety rounds in all. When the regulars had been disarmed the Chamorros were put through the same drill. There were fifty-four of them also, a full company, according to the Spanish regulations. They were armed with Remington breech- loading rifles, 45-90 single shots, and carried their car tridges loose in boxes on their belts. Not a gun of them all was found loaded, but they had a great reserve of shells piled loose in a box, about two bushels of them, in addition to those in the boxes on their belts. The soldiers of both companies disarmed. Lieutenant Braunersreuther asked the two Spanish Lieutenants to step out of the boathouse with him. He stopped near the right of the marine line, and, facing the two Spanish officers, said : " Gentlemen, it is my unpleasant duty to be obliged to disarm you also. I am compelled to ask for your swords and revolvers." As he spoke the marines came to "present arms" in salute. The Spanish officers bowed and in turn presented their swords to Lieutenant Braunersreuther, with their belts and revolvers. Up to that time it apparently had- not occurred to them that they would be taken away from Guam. It certainly had not dawned upon the soldiers that such was the pos sibility. The first intimation the men got of it was when, after all the disarming. Lieutenant Braunersreuther said to Lieutenant Ramos : " Now, tell your men that they may say good-bye to the native soldiers." OUR FLAG SALUTES 75 It was not necessary for Lieutenant Ramos to repeat the order. Regulars and Chamorros alike had understood Lieu tenant Braunersreuther. There were grins and smiles on the faces of the natives, for it told them that they were to be set free, but there were outcry and protest from the Span iards. _ It was the scene of the morning over again, but in less dignified and more vehement measure. The Span iards embraced their native comrades with wailing and tears, and there were many doleful adieus. The Span iards protested that they had no clothing, they were not prepared to go away, and they had had no time for fare wells to friends or families. To all Lieutenant Braunersreu ther replied that they could send what messages they liked by the Chamorros and that whatever responses in cloth ing or outfit the messages brought, would be put aboard the ship for the men. Then there was another tearful embracing of the Chamorros, who were so happy that even under such lugubrious circumstances they could hardly re press their smiles, and then Lieutenant Braunersreuther said it was time to get into the boats. He told the Chamor ros that he would parole them, and they went away ready to cheer, but hardly daring to try it. As soon as they re alized that they were free from the Spanish yoke they be gan ripping the Spanish brass off their uniforms. But tons and collar marks they threw away by the handful, and the bluejackets of the Charleston gathered them up as curios. It almost made the marines break ranks to see the jackies getting all the souvenirs, while they could get none. The boat containing the captured arms had been towed out over the reef and anchored there as soon as all the rifles and ammunition had been stowed in it. Now a big flat-bottomed barge that was anchored just south of the boathouse was brought up without any great search for its owner. The fifty-four Spanish soldiers were put in it, and it was put in place in the line of small boats. Then the two officers were put in Lieutenant Brannersreuther's boat and the marines re-embarked. In obedience to the Governor's order Lieutenant Ramos had brought four Spanish flags, all the official flags in Guam. These were stowed iu Lieu tenant Brannersreuther's boat and the party started out for the Charleston, the last of the Chamorros cheering them as ^6 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC they pulled out. The tide had begun to come in while the disarming was going on, and there was now water enough over the reefs for rowing. Outside the reefs the launch picked them up again and towed them down to the Charleston, first the captured ammunition, then Lieutenant Brannersreuther's boat, then the soldier prisoners and then the marines. In response to the messages the Governor and his staff sent in the morning to their families, hand bags had been brought to the pier for the Governor and some of the others, with word that the heavier baggage would be down in the morning. This light luggage was taken along as Lieutenant Braunersreuther had promised. The tow ran alongside the Charleston, and Lieutenant Braunersreuther went aboard with Lieutenants Ramos and Berruezo to make reports. After Captain Glass had had some talk with them they were taken over to the Sydney, where the other officers had preceded them. The soldiers were taken, too. Preparation had been made for them on the transport and supper was served at once. They were sent down below in the steerage and armed guards stationed over them. The two Lieutenants got a stateroom near their superiors. The captured flags were taken in charge by Captain Glass, who found a place for them in his cabin. The rifles and ammunition wore also taken on the Charles ton and the gunners stowed them away. The boats were hoisted in, the steam launch went back to towing the coal barge to and from the Peking, a business which had been interrupted sadly by the events of the day, and the cap ture of Guam was complete. At sundown this evening Captain Glass sent the dinghy to Port Santa Cruz to take down the flag. He hoisted it merely for the purpose of saluting it, and has no intention of leaving one here. TO JAR A FIXED STAR JJ CHAPTER XII TO JAR A FIXED STAR. With the surrender of Governor Marina and the hoisting of the Stars and Stripes came the removal of the restriction to ship which had kept everybody from going ashore be fore except the fortunate few who had been concerned in bringing about and receiving the surrender. Just opposite where the Charleston lies, or perhaps a little to the south ward, the tall cliff fronting the water gives way to a sandy- beached point that juts out a short distance from Orote Peninsula and forms the base for a coral reef that runs across the bay to Santa Cruz. A cocoanut grove covers most of this point, and under the shade of the broad leaves of the cocoanut palms the forty or fifty houses and the old stone church and schoolhouse of the Chamorro village of Soumaye, or Suma, are sheltered. The flrst boat from the Australia was half way to the Charleston when the salute to Old Glory was fired by the cruiser. It held straight on to Point Soumaye and brought up dolefully against the coral reef 800 yards from shore. A dozen Chamorros ran along the beach as the boat came in, and one young fellow waded out on the reef. He wore a soft, tough hat that seemed to be made of straw. Its broad brim flapped about his face as he came swiftly out along the reef to the stranded boat. He had on a thin blue cotton shirt and trousers that went to the knee. His feet apparently were bare, and it was amazing to see him skip about over the sharp coral. As he came he tucked his flapping hat under his arm for an instant while he stripped off the incumber ing shirt, which he rolled up in a little knot and stuck on his head under the hat. Evidently he was preparing for business of some sort. He kept motioning with one hand toward where he seemed to think there was water enough for the ship's boat. Occasionally he made some ejacula tion in his native tongue. He was a short, slight fellow, rather broad of shoulder, and with a depth of chest and 78 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC length of arm, the best things about him physically. His face was broad and flat, with round brown eyes, short, straight, black hair, and a feeble little black moustache. He came straight out to the boat and said " Good morn ing " in English, with a grin that showed a double row of betel-stained teeth. Everybody in the boat replied " Good morning," too much astonished at his use of English to say more at first. Then some one said : " Where is the channel ?" The young Chamorro grinned and replied. " Here. Plenty water." " And that," said Lieutenant-Colonel Yoran, " would jar a fixed star." The Chamorro did his best to take the boat in, but it was too heavy and had too many passengers. He waded along and pulled it behind him for several yards, but it drew too much water, and he could not manage it in the tortuous little channel between the coral bunches. At last he gave it up and begun to pull up pieces of the brilliant coloured coral to show us. It was much more beautiful than the coral at Honolulu, and some of it was in delicate shades of violet and lilac. But it had an all- pervading and powerful odour which was most disagreeable, a soft, penetrating odour, that seemed not unpleasant at first, but became almost nauseating in a very short time. And the longer the coral was out of water the stronger the odour became. While he was wading about after coral the reason for his agility over the sharp rocks was dis closed. On his feet he wore broad leather pads, cut like the sole of a boot, and fastened about the ankles with a thong which ran down across the top of the foot, between the great and second toes, and was fastened there to the pad again. The natives on the beach had been watching the work of this young fellow closely, and, when they saw that he could not get the boat in they began to come out in their small, flat-bottomed, bargelike affairs. The first boat that came along was manned by two men, and the young fellow who had waded out first joined them immediately. The two Chamorros hopped out into the watei and said to the men in the ship's boat : " Get in." TO JAR A FIXED STAR 79 " How many ? " asked some one. " Three," was the answer. So three got in, and off for shore the boat started, the three Chamorros wading alongside and pushing it. The young fellow with his shirt under his hat acted as guide. His brown skin gleamed like copper in the sunshine, and the lithe muscles rippled under it as he bent to his work on the boat. As he walked along he talked, and it was not very difficult to understand his English. " Americano," he said — "half Chamorro, half Amer icano. My fader Americano, my moder Chamorro. Then he laughed. " Good Americano," he went on. "One day good Espanol, next day good Americano." He laughed again, and the men in the boat laughed, too. " Good Americano to-day ?" they asked. " Good Americano to-day," the boy replied, with an other laugh. " One day big Americano ship come, go boom ! boom ! " His eyes flashed and he struck his hands together hard in excitement. " Make Chamorro much fright. Ever' man run, goddam. Not come back bimeby. Nex' day, maybe, come back. Boom ! boom ! big ship make boom ! boom ! Ever' man run, goddam ; make boy run ; child, woman, ever' man run." He laughed again heartily at the recollection of the scare the little bombard ment of Santa Cruz had given his village. "Nex' day come back," he went on ; " big ship make much boom ! boom ! All run quick, cocoanut trees, banana, maybe sug' cane. Not come back bimeby. No got scare me. Goddam no. What hell got scare for ? Big boom ! boom ! No got hurt. " My fader ver' good man, Americano. Got big house. I show you. He ver' good man. That my fader walk by house there. You see ? Good man, ver' good man." He pointed at a little bent old Chamorro who was walk ing along the beach toward the landing place. The old man was dressed as the young man had been before he took off his shirt, and there was no evidence of his great prosperity in his appearance. But one could not doubt the filial love that asserted him to be a " ver' good man " Half the village seemed to be waiting at the beach for the boat, but there were no women. Men, some of them fairly well dressed, boys and swarms of children. The 80 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC children usually wore a single coat-like garment of thin cotton, which more often was unbuttoned than not. The landing place was like the boathouse at Piti, where the Governor and his soldiers surrendered, but not so preten tious. It stood on small piles at the edge of the beach and had a series of mahogany steps leading down to the water. Its roof was of thatched bamboo. The floor was of a dark hard wood that did not look like mahogany, but the natives did not know the English name of it. They called it a name which they pronounced " iffet." At the other end of the street of which the boathouse stands at one end is an old stone church, the bare, trampled clay for its floor and wooden bars for its window. It faces to the east. It is just a barn-like structure, about forty feet long by twenty wide. The altar is decorated lavishly with pictures and tinsel and little shells from the sea, and in front of the little gate in the centre of the chancel rail, or what passes for it, hangs a big inverted glass bowl, suspended from cords that run across the building from side to side, about eight feet from the floor. In this big bowl there is a small glass cup, half filled with water. Cocoanut oil floats on the water, brimming the cup, and at its edge a little glass saucer, with a small hole in the middle, keeps upright the small wick. This is the light that has been burning before that altar since before the old "ver' good Americano," who has been there sixty-three years, can re member. At the left of the altar there is a door leading into a tiny box of a room for the padre. The padre is Jose Cavaurtas, a full blooded Spaniard, very old, who lives in Agat, down across the peninsula, and comes once in a while to visit his children in Soumaye. Beside the old church, and like it cleanly white washed, stands the Escuela Publica, but there is no mas ter now and the children are not bothered. They can roam the banana groves without fear. By and by the padre will come to Soumaye to stay, and then there will be school, and the children in Agat will be happy. Church and school both have thatched roofs, and the solidly closed door and windows of the schoolhouse do not look as if they had been opened in years. The village is laid off in squares, with wide, regular streets. Most of the houses are of wood, two are of stone. ' TO JAR A FIXED STAR 8 1 and a few are bamboo. All the living quarters are well up from the ground, and the wooden houses have open spaces of from three to flve feet under their floors. Only the stone houses are of two stories. Back of each house and at the same level is a shack-like kitchen. Four posts serve to hold up the floor and the lean-to thatch. In one corner a forge-like stove is built, where the women make a fire of wood over which they cook. A running board set on posts the same level as the floors leads from house to kitchen. Any man gets fresh water by digging a little hole in his backyard. Usually there are four houses in a block ; sometimes there are more. Each block is likely to flnd in one of the backyards an elaborate oven. It is built up solidly of masonry, and is shaped like a beehive. Over it is the protecting thatch of cocoanut leaves, tough, strong and impervious to water. In a corner of every house or yard stands an upright stone hollowed out to make a big mortar. There the women grind the corn or rice. They have big, heavy sticks like a paver's rammer, and maul the corn until it is pounded into a fine flour. In two of the backyards of Soumaye there are big copper stills where the Chamorro owners manufacture a species of aguardiente which is a concentration of liquifled live wire and all the flres in hell. It is so volatile that its evaporation would almost make ice, but it will produce a jag that -will not evaporate or be reasonable. However, the simple pastoral natives swallow it by the half bottle, nor yet defile their throats with water. To the left of the boathouse, as you start down — or up — the main street of Soumaye, stands a big stone house. Just beyond it the first cross street runs at right angles to the street of the church and boathouse. Across this narrow — in comparison with the others — street stands the other pretentious stone house of the village. These two houses are owned, the first by Vincente Diaz, and the second by Nicolas Diaz, his brother. Vincente Diaz adds to his autograph "1st policeman," and Nicolas writes " 2d policeman." They have just reversed places. A few months ago Nicolas was first and Vincente second. In a few months more they will shift again. There has to be an evening-up of honours in this Diaz family. In spite of their names the Diaz brothers say they are full-blood 6 82 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC Chamorros, and their families have lived at Souir.aye as long as they know — they never heard of any other place or home. These Diazes speak the best English in the village, and they explained how it is that every able-bodied man in Soumaye can understand and make himself under stood in that tongue. They do it with the single word " whaler." Then they go on to say that for many years it has been the custom of whalers to come to Guam to get oarsmen. Along the beach in front of Soumaye there are a score or more of fine whaleboats. Each boat is pulled well up out of the water and stands under a little house of its own, the peaked roof of which is the inevitable thatch of cocoanut palm leaf. The Soumaye Chamorros are expert men with the oars, and very valuable in the crews of whalers. They are small but tough, and do not wear out, and they work for small wages. On the whalers they learn to speak English more or less well. The Diaz brothers began that way and have kept it up by practice with the whalers, who have come to Guam since they became suffi ciently far advanced in property to quit such service. Now they trade with whalers and sell them pineapples, bananas, cocoanuts, limes, and such things. The house of Vincente Diaz has a big door through the thick stone wall at the ground. There is no floor, but the ground has been packed hard by much tramping. Above the ground about seven feet is the first floor. The space below the floor is divided by two partitions into a room at each end and a sort of central hall which leads to a door in the back wall, where a flight of rude steps made of logs roughly hewn leads to the living quarters on the floor above. These end rooms on the ground are used as storerooms and fllled with piles of the various products of the fertile land of Guam. The floor of the living rooms is made of broad, rough-hewn boards of red mahogany. There is a large room in the middle, about twenty-one feet long by sixteen wide. At each end is a small living room, sixteen feet across the house by eight feet. At the east end a gallery is built out beyond the end of the house. There is a window in this gallery, and there the women sit to gossip and do their " samplers." The furniture of the house is rough mahogany, except a few cheap chairs with cane seats. The tables are heavily built of the heavy wood, and there TO JAR A FIXED STAR 83 are several heavy benches used for seats, with rough open work backs, the spindles of which are rudely worked down apparently with some sort of an axe or hatchet. The bed steads are of the same rough mahogany, corded like those our great grandfathers had, and at their heads, in Vin cente Diaz's house, stand little shrines, with cocoanut oil lamps, which never go out — at least never in theory, for these people are good Catholics, and have been almost ever since the great Magellan discovered these islands, before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth. To the house of Vincente Diaz the first boatload from the Australia were invited with great cordiality as soon as their feet touched land. The children and the men of the village gathered about the Diaz door and posed for their photographs with grave good nature. The women looked out of the window of their gallery and got themselves in cluded in the group. Then everybody went upstairs and was presented to Mrs. Diaz and her mother and her sister. As soon as that was over the women promptly disappeared, and thereafter were seen no more. Vincente Diaz boasts of his pure Chamorro blood, but his children cannot, for his wife has red hair and light eyes. Do you remember that flaming-headed Namgay Dooley, who gave the heathen King in India such a peck of trouble until he was made policeman ? Far be it from me to suggest that that is why Vincente Diaz is first policeman of the district of Soumaye but there is an analogy. The women were rather good-looking. They are entirely different from the Hawaiian women, smaller, more compactly built, similarly round of face, but not so thick-lipped. They are appar ently of Malay descent, these Chamorros. Their colour is a clear red copper, with occasionally a yellowish Mongolian tinge. The women are broad-faced, with well marked cheek bones, but usually of good features and nearly always with fine eyes. Their hair is long, straight and black, and rather inclined to be coarse. Their hands are small and well shaped, but their feet, from never wearing shoes, are large, broad and thick. The men are mostly like the women in feature, except that they are not so full faced, and some of them have a decided Spanish cast. They have fine, straight noses and sharp chins. Some of the 84 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC men are handsome, and some of the women, particularly the younger ones, are beautiful. When the women of Vincente Diaz's household had disappeared the master of the house set himself about the entertainment of his guests. He and his brother were dressed in cotton jackets and trousers, and wore very good-looking, sharp-pointed yellow shoes. Their jackets were cut close about the neck and buttoned straight up to the throat like a uniform coat. One was striped with blue and red and white, and the other in blue and white, like tennis players. All the men wore hats like that of the boy who piloted in the boat. They are made of the ubiquitous cocoanut palm leaf, and are very tough, better than any Panama hat, even better than the famous and extremely expensive Kona hat of Hawaii. They can be rolled up and jumped on, poked in any shape, twisted, pulled, hauled, soaked, abused outrageously, without com plaint and seemingly without damage. The whole crowd from the street, men, boys, and children had followed the Americanos into the Diaz parlor and now stood about, leaning against the wall and occasionally putting a word in the conversation, when their stock of English happened to enable them to do so. First of all there was talk. The Diaz brothers explained their official position and produced the tax rolls of the village. The rolls showed 239 inhabitants of Soumaye last year, seven births (that was apparently inaccurate), and six deaths. There are sixty-four families, thirty-four un married men and thirty-six unmarried women. The tax is seventy-five cents a head every six months, with a further tax for every birth (that may account for the apparent inaccurancy of the list), every death, every wedding, in fact almost every act. There are taxes on all sorts of property and products. Everything is taxed, and it makes the poor Chamorro hustle to get money enough to pay. If it were not for the occasional ship to which he sells bananas, cocoanuts, and pineapples he would be likely to fall short. He lives easily enough. Nature looks out for that. But nature never had any conception of Spanish taxes. When the tax list had been exhibited the resources and condition of the island were exploited. The Chamorros gave much the same account that the Spaniards had given Captain THE "NEW BULLY" AT SUMA 85 Glass. Coffee growing is beginning and will pay. The great rainfall, evenly distributed, is what coffee needs most. There are no violent winds to strip the bushes, and there are plenty of sheltered hillsides on which to plant them. The soil is of a clayey nature, with a rich subsoil of red clay. On the lowlands rice grows plentifully. Sugar cane is far richer and bigger than in Hawaii, and all sorts of fruits are abundant. There is almost no attention paid to the very profitable growing of cocoanuts. The natives simply take what grow wild, with no thought of the possi bilities of development. The pineapples of Guam have never been cultivated, and are very small compared with the big fruit of Hawaii, but they are far juicier, better in flavour, and sweeter, and they do not exhaust the land, as is the case in most pineapple countries. No great effort has been made with tobacco. It is probably too wet for successful growth, and, besides, it is plenty enough and cheap enough as imported from the Philippines. Potatoes grow in plenty, but they are a sort of yam or sweet potato. No effort has ever been made, so far as the Diaz brothers know, with Irish potatoes. CHAPTER XIII the " NE-W BULLY " AT SUMA While all this talk about their country was going on Vincente Diaz produced cigarettes and cigars of Manila make and a bottle of hell-flre aguardiente of his own dis tillation. Then from some mysterious inside nook he brought out a new and shiny accordion. He gave it to a vacant-faced and bashful young man and commanded him to play. The Americans joined in the demand at once and asked for a dance. But Diaz replied that the Cham orros had no dances. The boy tried the accordion a while and began to play. The first bar made every American in the room cock his ears and stare at his neighbour. No weird, fantastic music of any sort could have surprised 86 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC them. They expected that. They would have called it native and been well pleased with it. But this was familiar. It wasn't exactly as they remembered it, " bnt as the song grew louder " it developed unmistakably into the " New Bully," and when it struck the chorus the whole crowd joined with a roar in yelling : When I walk that levee roun' I'm lookin' f er dat bully 'n' he mus' be f oun'. The applause that followed this performance so aston ished the young artist that he stopped playing. When he was persuaded to go on again he played " Ta-ra-ra-boom- de-ay," amid the wildest cheers. The reception the Americans gave his music surprised him very much. There were loud inquiries as to where he learned the tunes, but this was the only question, almost, that the Diazes could not answer. They " guessed" that it was from a whaler, and probably they guessed right. But the "New Bully " is not so very old, and it was mighty queer to hear it ground out on an accordion under a cocoanut palm thatch in Guam, when it was just the other day that May Irwin was singing it in New York. Finally we did get the young fellow to play a native tune, and three other young chaps sang. It was a curious tune of four notes, and the song was all la-la-la through set teeth with a harsh nasal twang. It was all with the same emphasis and there was no accent. There was no evident reason for its ending and it inight just as well be going now. The concert wound up with " Peek-a-Boo " waltz and two Chamorros danced just a plain waltz step. After that the whole party filed out in procession and went through the village. We saw the church and school- house, and a plantation where women were grinding corn, aud a still in operation, and bullock carts drawn by water buffalo — one big blue-black bull, like the one Mowgli drove up for Gisborne Sahib to see. We went into half the houses of the village, aud every time the women bowed and smiled and disappeared. Then back to the boat out on the reef, and to the ship — but not in a minute. There were things to get — cocoanuts by the bushel, bananas by the bunch, pineapples by the hundred, as long as we had change to pay for them. THE "NEW BULLY" AT SUMA 87 Pineapples are very expensive in Guam — a dollar a hun dred. There were machetes, too. One of the things we saw in the village was a forge and blacksmith shop where a sturdy Chamorro was hammering out machetes from a band of steel. The blades were short, broad and heavy. A hard wood like lignum-vitfe was used for the handles, which were fastened to the hafts of the knife blades by big copper rivets. These are carried in soft leather sheaths swung from leather belts by cords made of the always use ful cocoanut palm leaf. This cord is soft and very pliable, and tough and strong. Cocoanut palm leaf should make very serviceable rope. The women weave from these leaves baskets of all sizes, shaped like bags, with gathering strings of the same material. The children filled these little baskets -with curious, bright-coloured shells picked up on the beach, and gave them to the Americans. So, with our boat loaded down with fruit and curios, we got back to the ship for dinner, tired out after an unusually energetic day. To-morrow we get away on the last stretch of the long journey to Manila. Wednesday, June 22.— All night the boats of the Charleston kept at their work of packing coal across from the Peking to the cruiser, and this morning by 10 o'clock the work was done. By that time the heavy baggage for the Spanish prisoners aboard the Sydney had come down to the landing-place. Boats were sent in for it and it was delivered to the prisoners. First it was searched, but nothing was found which was not turned over to the Spaniards. After the searching had been over for some time — the men had been searched, too, when they came aboard— Governor Marina turned to Lieutenant-Commander Phelps, the naval officer on the Sydney, and said that his little penknife had been overlooked in the searching. He wanted to know if there was any objection to his keeping it. Commander Phelps said certainly not, and so the Don kept his knife. There was a lot of baggage for the officials. That came in leather trunks and bags. There was very little for the soldiers. One friend came to say good-bye. He was a Chamorro merchant from Agaiia. He talked awhile with the Governor and then with the others and went away. There were more visits to Soumaye this morning, and at 88 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC 2 o'clock the squadron began to leave the harbour ; first the Australia, then the Sydney, then the Peking, and last the Charleston. Just as the Charleston was getting her anchor two boats put out to her — one from each shore. The one from Piti came under sail and brought more things for the Spanish officials. The one from Soumaye came by hand power and brought a soldier who had been left in the vil lage. He, too, belonged on the Sydney, and as the cruiser cleared the reef she signalled the transport to send a boat. The Sydney did so, and got her soldier and the Spaniards' baggage. Of all the residents of Guam with whom members of the First Brigade came in contact Nicolas Diaz was most impressed with the capture of the island by the Americans. To him it was the fulfilment of prophecy. Three years ago, he said, an American whaler said to him : " Nicolas, yon wait. Some day before long a big American warship will come around that point and take this place." Nicolas waited. He kept his own counsel, because, as he said, " It was not good to talk too much in Soumaye about the Spanish." He kept his faith, too, and sure enough the warship did come, and three other ships with it, and Guam is American. They are a simple, hospitable people, these Chamorros. They sold their machetes to the soldiers, who wanted them as curiosities, for a song, and getting more is mighty dif ficult. They use the machete for everything, — all the pursuits of peace and war. In peace they can make a shift to do without machetes, but, in their small rows it is different, as one old woman said when her husband parted with his big knife for two silver dollars : " Not can fight, with money." Last night a party from one of the ships went in bathing on a little sand beach that lies south of Soumaye. In dressing one of them left his revolver. This morning early a boat put out from Soumaye with the revolver, and made search of the transports until the owner was found. Undoubtedly Guam would be a valuable possession for the United States. Its resources have never been touched ; development of them has never been dreamed of. The climate about San Luis d'Apra and Agafla is delightful. THE " NEW BULLY " AT SUMA 89 It is almost better than Honolulu, and there are no mosquitos. It rains every day, and at irregular hours : sometimes rains hard, but the squalls do not last long, and are very refreshing. They keep the temperature down and the air free from distressing humidity. One does not mind the rain. If you get wet it makes no difference. Your clothes are not hurt by the rain in the least, and you get dry almost immediately. You do not even take the trouble to shift. The breeze always blows fresh and cool, and it's really very pleasant. If Manila is only half as endurable we shall get along very well. The taking away of the Governor of Guam and his staff and soldiers leaves the island in a curious situation. In theory it is in possession of the United States. The Spanish flags have been surrendered and the Stars and Stripes raised aud saluted. But no representative of United States is left to rule in place of the Spaniards taken away. The Spanish have not concerned themselves much with the administration of the affairs of the Chamorros. They have left that to the natives themselves. All they have looked out for is the collection of the taxes, which they have imposed on almost every simple act of life, such as killing a pig, or buying a pony, or planting a field, or selling a barrel of cocoanuts. Civil process, such as it is, has lain with the Chamorro chief. The "policemen" appointed by the Spanish have been simply the tax- gatherers. Police work as we know it has been done by the soldiers. The military force maintained by the Span ish has been just enough to hold the simple and mild- mannered natives by a show of strength. The one com pany of regulars was enough to insure the impressment service of the company of natives, who were not so well armed as the Spanish regulars. The natives were com manded by a native Sergeant. Captain Glass talked with Mr. Portusac, the one American citizen in Guam, about the status of the country after the Spanish rulers were removed, and came to the conclusion that it was not necessary to leave any representative of his Government in the island. Portusac was quite satisfied that affairs would go along in their usual smooth, quiet course. The collection of taxes had caused the greatest and practically the only trouble, and now the freedom 90 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC from Spanish taxes would do away with that. The civil process would not be disturbed. Portusac was satisfied that his own interests were all right without any sort of forceful protection, and there it was left. Theoretically Guam is a United States possession ; practically it is an independent island. The Mariana or Ladrone Islands were discovered by the great Magellan on the cruise which ended in his death in the Philippines. There are a dozen or fifteen of them. Guam is the largest, and Agana is the capital of the group. The Spaniards called them first the Ladrones because of the thieving propensities of the natives. Sometimes they called them the Latteen Islands because of the latteen sails used in the piratical prahus of the natives. But in 1668, when most of the natives had been killed by the Spaniards and the remaining few thoroughly subdued, the name Mariana, in honour of Maria Anna of Austria, widow of Philip IV. of Spain, was given to the islands. The population of the entire group is estimated variously but is probably about 26,000 or 27,000. That of Guam is in the neighbourhood of 12,000. Agaiia has about 4,000 ; some of the natives say 5,000. The islands can be made immensely valuable. The harbour of San Luis d'Apra can be made a magnificent coaling station at very slight ex pense. It is almost in the direct line between Honolulu and Manila, and the whole island is capable of the easiest and best defence. CHAPTER XIV MANILA BAY AT LAST U. S. Transport Australia, Cavite', July 1.— At last ! After thirty-six days of ocean the First Brigade set eyes at last on the Star-Spangled Banner flying from the ships of their countrymen, and such cheers went up as drowned for a tirae the roar of cannonading over north of Manila, where the insurgents of Aguinaldo were hammer ing at the Spanish gates. Every gun the flagship Olympia MANILA BAY AT LAST 9 1 fired in response to the salute Captain Glass flred from the Charleston to Admiral Dewey's flag got a response iu cheers from the troopers. It was a noble spectacle. The dull grey ships of Dewey's squadron lay close in together off Cavite. With them lay half a dozen little fellows that they had captured, and the colliers and auxiliary ships they had hired. To the left lay Manila, white-walled ini front of its background of heavy green, and in front of' it warships — the ugly, ram-bowed Frenchmen, the white, stuffy-looking Germans, four of them in a bunch, and the trim, black Englishmen. It was good to see that " white ensign." One thought of the English response to the proposition for armed intervention, and was glad that the flag of England fronted the impudent white and black of Germany's war lord. It was half-past 1 o'clock on Tuesday afternoon when we made Cape Engaiio, on the north end of Luzon Island the rendezvous where we expected to meet a ship from Dewey's squadron. Away to the east a faint blue on the horizon showed the presence of a steamer. " Pull speed ahead," signalled the Charleston, and away we went at that pace. The lookouts beneath the blue had sighted us, too, and presently it grew distinctly into the smoke of a steamer. Then two masts with military tops appeared, then a funnel, then the hull, and it was the Baltimore. How the boys cheered. She came full speed down to the Charleston, cleared away a boat, and sent over to Captain Glass his instructions. It was all over in a few minutes, and then the convoy resumed its regular position, and on we came. The Baltimore dropped astern and circled round the troopers, frantically cheered by every ship, and show ing in return how Uncle Sam's jackies can yell. That night the Baltimore showed the troopers some fun. She went ahead of the Charleston at sundown and scouted about. About midnight she sighted a steamer, and down at the stranger she went full tilt, twenty knots an hour. One of her forward searchlights never left the stranger, and the other kept sweeping the horizon. But nothing else was sighted. The cruiser heaved a shot across the stran ger's bows and he hove to in a hurry. The Baltimore stopped right across his course and sent a boat aboard him. 92 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC While the boat was gone the red and white lights on the Baltimore's foremast spelled out this message : " Am boarding strange steamer." On the troopships we waited in breathless silence for the result. Presently the red lights winked again, the attention signal. And then came this raessage : " Strange vessel is English." What a dis appointment that was ! Full speed ahead again and on toward Manila. Four o'clock brought another steamer and all the excitement over again. But again it was an Englishman. Then we struck the China Sea. Now, this is good advice to fair weather sailors : Let the China Sea alone. There blow the monsoons, and when the southwest one flnishes the northeastern takes it up. One is just as bad as the other. Either will stand you alternately on your eyebrows and the back of your neck, and don't fool your self into thinking you can get in your bunk and sleep, because the gentle monsoon will promptly toss you out. Well, we got through the China Sea and came into Manila Bay, green and fair. Right at the entrance, opposite Corregidor Island, in a little bight, lay three German warships, the big cruiser Kaiserin Augusta in the lead. As we passed in she got up steam and impudently followed, trailing along hardly a cable's length away until the Charleston had saluted Admiral Dewey's flag. Then having seen all of the first expedition that she could by her flagrant impoliteness, she tried to smooth over the impertinence by breaking out the Stars and Stripes at the fore, saluting, and going on to join the other Germans, four of them, the French and English, anchored in front of Manila. How glad we were to get in and how glad the fleet was to see us ! The insurgents have been pressing the Spanish hard. They are hammering at the outskirts of Manila every day. They have 3,000 prisoners, including the family of the Governor, which they caught out driving in the suburbs one day. The surgeons of the fleet go over to insurgent headquarters near Cavite and look after their ¦wounded. Aguinaldo's men are well armed, partly with rifles they took from the Cavit6 arsenal when Dewey cap tured it, partly with rifles they have bought, and partly with guns taken from the Spanish, or brought over by IN CAMP BEFORE MANILA 93 native soldiers, some of whom have deserted by the bat talion ; and they have plenty of ammunition. As I write this I can hear the cannonading, as they are attacking Manila. Yesterday they took a small water battery north of the city. To-day the Spaniards are wasting ammunition from their 8-inch Krupp guns in trying to drive them away. Admiral Dewey called on General Anderson almost as soon as the Australia was anchored last night and acquainted the commander of the troops with the situation as he knew it. This morning they went ashore and selected a camping place for the troops in the navy yard. Now the men are getting their kits into shape, and already the lighters are coming alongside to take them ashore. The spectacle presented by the bay about Cavite can hardly find adequate description. All around lie the wrecks of the Spanish ships. Three or four of them would do fairly well in appearance as wrecks of the Maine., The naval men do not attempt to explain how it was they were not hit themselves in the fight. It rained and hailed shells. The Spanish gunners hit all around the American ships, but always missed them. CHAPTER XV IN CAMP BEFORE MANILA Cavite, July 3. — On shore again at last ! After thirty- eight days at sea, all across the Pacific at half steam, it is good to be on land once more, even if the land is in Cavite. Cavite itself is not prepossessing, and San Roque, across the causeway, is worse. There was once a learned and clever gentleman who objected to Cologne because of its " two aud seventy stenches and as many separate stinks." But he never had been in Cavite or San Roque. He never had seen the gentle Filipino on his native heath. It was no easy task getting the three big transporfei loaded in San Francisco, but that was by-play to the work 94 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC of unloading them. An immense amount of stores had been stowed away in the holds of the troopers. The single item of rations gives some notion of it. There are nearly 2,400 men in the First Brigade, and the equipment order provided rations for six months for them, or nearly 440,- 000 rations. Each ration weighs four pounds, or a total of nearly 1,000 tons simply of rations. Then there was ammunition, tons of it. Enough for a hard campaign with a lot of fighting. Tons more of commissary stores for sale to officers. More tons, many of j;hem of Quarter master's stores, camp equipage, tents by the hundred, men's kits, kettles, pans, boilers and patent stoves. And besides all this stuff for the army, the Peking had more than 2,000 tons of stores for the navy. The. Q^vite_navv yax-d has a pier big enough for vessels of 9,500 tons, out too small for the troopships, so all this stuff had to be lightered ashore. Well, the lighters would make you laugh. They are Philippine affairs, called cas- cos, big, flat-bottomed dumping-scow contrivances that draw little water and carry from 60 to 125 tons. They are built of teak — everything here is either teak or mahog any — and are strong enough to knock stones out of a solid masonry breakwater. They are from six to eight feet wide, the same beam throughout, and from forty to sixty feet long. At the stern and bow they are decked with bamboo for about ten feet, and there the casco men live with their multitudinous families. Along the centre of the casco, about three or four feet above the gunwales, runs a bamboo pole, and over this bamboo thatches are slung, completely protecting casco and cargo from rain. Along each side of the casco heavy teak beams are stepped at intervals of about ten feet. These beams extend out board about two feet. Bamboo poles, four inches or less in diameter, are bound to the under side of these beams by cane thongs, making a sort of running board such as open trolley cars carry. Across the gunwales three or four heavy teak beams are lashed to tie the sides of the casco together. The big teak planks of the hull are tied together by heavy double copper rivets, shaped like the old-fashioned inverted U carpet tacks. The seams are calked and pitched, and a grating of bamboo covers the bottom. I IN CAMP BEFORE MANILA 95 was wrong in saying that everything was made of teak or mahogany. Everything is made of bamboo except what is made of teak or mahogany. Tiie rudders of these cascos are enough to jar a sailorman off the foreyard. The old packets make such slow time that there is hardly steer age way on them, aud it takes a rudder of some size to make them answer. The result is a contraption of teak planks four feet wide at the post and tapering to eighteen inches at the outboard end, fully a foot thick. It is oper ated by a ten-foot tiller, which keeps the after-cabin tenants hopping abont from side to side, as it swings when the ship is in motion. Sometimes, when it is desirable to turn in less than a mile or so and the helm is put hard over, the tiller swings clear of the sides of the casco, and the patron, or coxswain, stands on it and, bracing himself against his roof thatch, forces it out. It is heavy enough so that he is sure of not falling into the sea by a sudden swing too far. The bamboo running boards present a curious problem to a Yankee because they are bound beneath their sup ports instead of on top of them. There is no sense in it. A lashing breaks and down goes the running board, and whoever happens to be on it goes into the water. But the natives do not care about that. They swim like fish, and are wet through two or three times a day. They wear only the thinnest kind of cotton shirts and trousers, and water is the least of their few troubles. To tow these cascos back and forth between the ships and the piers there is a fine collection of old steam launches and small boats. They were all in use in and about the navy yard here when the Spanish cruisers and gunboats went down in that Mayday fight. When the navy yard and arsenal were surrendered to Admiral Dewey he took such of the launches and steamers as he could use and gave what were beyond profitable repair to the insurgents. They are big and little and of all sorts. They are operated by crews and natives, Chinese, men from the ships and combination crews. But they do a lot of work despite their nondescript appearance. The Rapido has been tow ing the four or five cascos put at the disposal of General Anderson by the Admiral. She is a nice boat, but she ought to be called the Slowido, or the Slowerido. Some 96 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC sort of speed could be made in loading cascos at the ships because there was apparatus to work with, cranes, whips, derricks, and tackles, but at the pier it was hard work, and that by natives who did not understand the language of their employers and had peculiar notions about work ing, anyway. If you work the average Filipino five hours a day and pay him by the hour, taking the even hours all through the day to pay off for the work done in the odd hours, you will get about twice as much done as if you worked him ten hours a day and paid at night. If you pay at the end of the week, heaven help you, the natives won't. The first thing to be done, of course, in the matter of taking the First Brigade ashore was to select quarters. That was comparatively easy. The navy yard and arsenal were full of big, barrack-like buildings that had been used for storehouses and machine shops. In some of them there were fine living rooms. In the navy yard the Com mandant had a fine, great house with superb quarters. His Adjutant had a beautiful house for himself near that of the Commandant. Old Port San Felipe furnished more quarters, and barracks, too. The old hospital was used for its original purpose, and the barracks which had been occupied by the Spanish naval infantry and other troops stationed here were put in use again by the California and Oregon boys. They were brought ashore, a hundred or more to a casco, the day after the transports got here. They had two days' rations with them, and the rest of the supplies have been following ever since. Order will begin to appear out of the chaos in a day or two, but just now everything is piled in heaps. Regimental Quartermasters are hard at it straightening out their stores. The Brigade Commissary and Quartermaster have got their stores started ashore, and several casco loads are piled up in the big shops they have taken as storehouses. The general store which the Commissary will open for the service of the officers has for a stock now a fine lot of canned roast beef and nothing else. The Quartermaster has some shovels and tents ashore and hopes for more. But it is all coming. There's some comfort in that. At first there was hesitation about landing the stores. General Anderson learned from the Admiral of the starting IN CAMP BEFORE MANILA 97 of the Spanish expedition for the relief of the Philippines. Admiral Dewey, down in his heart, is sure he can whale that Spanish squadron with his ships he has here now, but if you talk with him about it he will put on a solemn face and gravely discuss the possibility of having to leave Manila Bay if the Spanish fleet comes. Por a day or two General Anderson apparently took that talk seriously, and he de termined that stores should go ashore only as needed. But now he has changed his mind and everything is to be taken out of the transports at once. The Brigade Quartermaster, Major Jones, having solved the problem of native help by paying at the end of each half day, the work of unloading is going on fairly rapidly. To the Quartermaster belongs all the work of transporta tion, so he has to get all the stores ashore. His clerks have caught the art of making natives work. The natives are small-bodied men but very muscular. With the right sort of encouragement they keep at it well and get a lot done. They easily outwork the big Oregon and California soldiers. Last night seventy of them unloaded a casco and a half, more than 100 tons of cargo, and carried the boxes a hundred yards and up a flight of stairs into the Commissary's store house, between 7 and 10 o'clock. Major Jones says Filipino labor is the best he has ever seen, and he has had a great deal of experience. The quarters occupied by the men are fairly comfortable, and those of the officers are fine. The men are all close to the ground, and therefore not in such dry places as are desirable, but they have cleaned up their barracks thor oughly and made them sanitary. They can stand a long stay here with no bad effects from the character of their quarters. Each man has a bed, built of bamboo, which stands nearly two feet off the floor, and if it were not for the mosquitoes they would be fairly content. They have got their own messes and their own tooks, and the com plaints about food which were constant on the ships are heard no more. The officers are almost palatially housed. The Spaniards who were stationed here knew how to live. The rooms are immense, with ceilings at least fifteen feet high. The fioors are of teak and are kept bare. The furniture is of mahogany. The rooms were furnished beautifully when 7 98 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC the Spaniards went out, but there was only enough left for ns to show what it had been. The insurgents who looted Cavite when the Spaniards went out, had not stopped at the navy yard gate. Great mirrors, chairs , beds, desks, tables, settees, sideboards, all were taken, and when Admiral Dewej' found out what was going on and set a marine guard in the yard to stop the looting, only the heavier pieces were left. The tables are beautiful and the beds are wonders of wood -working skill. They are enor mous affairs, each with great high canopy frames of finely carved mahogany. The frames are solid mahogany and the corner posts are carved out in mahogany logs. In place of springs the posts and side-boards are bound to gether with woven cane, such as is used to seat chairs in the States. The desks are fine and roomy, and beautifully made. The one at which this'is written would gladden the heart of any New York lover of old mahogany. It is built like a chest of drawers, with heavy brass handles like the drop handles on a sailorman's chest. The top drawer pulls out and the front of it swings down, showing a double row of pigeon-holes and giving a wide writing table. It was stowed in the back corner of the old navy yard paint shop and filled with yellow ochre, so the loot hunters overlooked it. The Spaniards have more kinds of chairs than a Grand Rapids factory, most of them made of mahogany, but some of bamboo. As a rule they are big easy fellows, with backs well tilted back and broad rests for the arms. Seme of them escaped the thieves, b-.it most of those the looters could not carry away they smashed with gun butts. Cavite is full of this stolen furniture. Nearly every house shows two or three pieces. Even the Cascos have big bamboo settles. They are fine beds for the men. Well, we are ashore and in quarters, and our stores are coming ashore as fast as they can. Drills begin now, and target practice, and scouting parties will go out, and work be done while we sit around and wait for the next expedi tion to come. The lights of Manila blaze in our faces nightly. The mountains invite us to places that are cool. But we are in quarters. AGUINALDO'S WONDERFUL BAND 99 CHAPTER XVI aguinaldo's wonderful band July 4. — There mav not be gains for all our losses, but SUrelv there a.rP fnr aom^ nf t.hAir. The tJlintf whichtt was least expected we should flnd out here is her6. — gooT! 'music.. A wonderful band marched un the muddv Uam de ISan Francisco from Aguinaldo's headquarters this morning and for an hour serenaded General Anderson with playing that would set the music-lovers of New York wild with excitement. The average Filipino does not present the appearance of a musician or a music lover. But for hjp V»ri',(Tlit ^pfpl- ligent ''ypg b^ yould look like a stupid Patagonian sheep "Kerger. There are few musid&l ihstrumentsin the native villages. Once in a while one runs across an old tin-pan- toned, cracked piano horribly out of tune, and two or three places have harps. But this band, composed entirely of Filipinos, is worthy to rank with the bands of the world. It was the famous military band of Manila, where it used to furnish classic music on the Luneta when the aristocratic Spaniards went out for their evening drive or promenade. And occasionally, or oftener, it was turned out to play while a few dozens of the musicians' people were shot for the edification of the multitude on the charge of sympathis ing with insurrection or some other trumped-up accusa tion. In Manila there were seventy-two members. Sixty of them managed to get away with their instruments and music. This morning forty-eight played on the little plaza in front of General Anderson's headquarters. And such playing ! It was recompense for every discomfort, every vexation, every disappointment, every hardship of 7,000 miles in a troopship, the last 5,000 at half steam in a tropic sea. You shut your eyes and heard the orchestra of the Royal Opera at Vienna, the great Budapest Band, the famous military band in Berlin, the Boston Symphony lOO OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC at its best, Seidl's finest work, anything in the world. With never a note in front of them, they played what you liked, any part of any opera, the grandest music ever written, or a simple Strauss waltz or a folksong. And the bass drummer was the leader. You will never hear a bass drum really played until you hear that Filipino do it. He makes a bass drum talk, sing, cry, shout. It fits the mood and movement of the music. It is subordinate or dominant, soft, subdued, or loud and roaring ; it laughs and chuckles like a thing alive ; it raves and protests like an angry soldier, and all in perfect harmony and sympathy with the rest. The ambition of the average bass drummer is to develop the muscles in his arms. He pounds the un complaining drum as if he were swinging clubs for exercise. But with this Filipino it is science and an art, and he is master of both. It is a curiously organised band — one bass drum, two snares, a lyre, five tubas, eleven saxophones, big and little ; eleven clarinets, eight cornets, one ballad horn, aud four altos and tenors. They played songs from " Faust," and I sat again in the Metropolitan Opera House and heard and saw the vast audience get to its feet with frantic cheers when Calve and the two De Reszkes finished the prayer song. They played, but no telling describes what they played. Come out when we take Manila and sit under the arc lights on the Luneta and hear them play for yourself. The 10,000 miles you have come from New York will drift away into nothing, and you will hear only the music and be glad you are alive. This Fourth of July, 7,000 miles from our nearest home shore was a great day. It was one of the fairest days that ever shone over a fair land. The sun rode through clear heavens all day, but a brisk breeze tempered his tropic rays and made even the sunshine delightful. And now, in the full moonlight, with the stars gleaming like white diamonds in the far blue sky, the boom of cannon and the rattle of rifles rolling across the bay from Malate, where the Spaniards and insurgents are at it, gives the only re minder of the grim work to do. In accordance with the usual custom all work except the necessary police aud guard duty was suspended on shore and aboard ship, and soldiers and sailors had a day of rest. aguinaldo S WONDERFUL BAND lOI The sun rose from behind the mountains back of Manila to see the ships of the squadron dressed out in all their many-coloured flags swung in a string from stem to stern over the triatic stay. Across the bay a few miles the advancing day showed two significant things. A cloud of smoke marked the German ships, and presently out of it they came, and in sullen silence steamed down to Mari- veles Bay, opposite Corregidor Island, with only their own flags flying, and with no disposition on board to burn powder in saluting the birthday of the Stars and Stripes. But over the English ships floated the many-hued symbols of rejoicing, and when noon came and our deep-voiced gun gave a double three times three, and then three more to the nation, back across the bay rolled the answering thunder as the British ships broke out the Stars and Stripes and answered gun for gun our own salute. In the morning the entire brigade was reviewed by General Anderson and Admiral Dewey. Aguinaldo had been in vited to be present with the General and the Admiral, but he sent word that he was " indisposed," and that probably was true. But he sent his band in his place, and it is no doubt true that every one at headquarters would rather have heard the band once than seen the insurgent dictator a great many times. There was not much room in front of headquarters for the review, but the boys marched -well and presented a fine appearance. They are a fine-looking lot of sturdy young fellows, with splendid spirit as far as their work is concerned, and they ought to give a good account of themselves if the time ever comes when they are called upon to meet the Spanish in the field. I02 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC CHAPTER XVII cavite July 6. — If you turn the State of Massachusetts upside down so that Cape Cod runs out to the west instead of to the east, you have a fairly good representation, on a some what larger scale, of Manila Bay and Point Sanglei, on Avhich Cavity is situated. Then Boston would represent Manila, and Provincetown Cavite, with the towns and those villages down to Middleboro standing for the vil lages around this narrow neck frora San Roqne through Cavite Viejo, Imus, San Francisco, Malabon, Bakor, Pa- ranaque, Malabay, Pineda, Malate and Ermate to Manila. There is this additional difference, that this point is double, with a small but fairly deep bay cutting in between the Cavite navy yard and Point Sanglei. The country "around Manila Bay is beautiful, it is heavily wooded down to the water's edge, and in the back ground, all the way from the Sierra Mariveles, the main land north of Corregidor Island, clear around to the south of Manila, back of Old Cavity, mountains rising to an average height of 5,000 feet, with some of them going almost 7,000 feet up toward the sky. Most of them are of regular outline, big, sharp-peaked fellows whose tops look from the water as if they would be uncomfortable seats. The arsenal and navy yard, with the barracks and buildings for officers, occupy about half or two-thirds of a mile of Cavite Point. At the tip end of Sanglei the Span iards had a battery of two 10-inch guns, which went out of action soon after the 8-inch rifles of the Olympia and Baltimore got after them on Mayday. Behind this battery on Sanglei is a little village, which the natives call Canacao. There an Englishman named Young has a ship yard and coal pockets. In the little bay between Sanglei and Cavite lie the wrecks of the best three ships the Spaniards had — the Reina Cristina, the flagship of Admiral Montojo ; the Don CAVITE 103 Antonio de UUoa, the best ship of the enemy's fleet, and the Castilla, which suffered probably the largest loss, pro portionately in killed, of all the Spanish ships. They lie little more than awash, bnt at low tide are exposed enough to show the _ sorry work done on them by the American shells. It gives one a curious sensation of sympathy mixed with pride to see the pitiable spectacle the Spanish wrecks present, and then to hunt through our ships for marks of the conflict. The Baltimore carries almost the only scar._ There is hardly a mark on the other ships. The Baltimore's was made by a 6-inch shell that struck her just at the gun deck, went across the ship and was turned by a gun shield, recrossed the ship above the deck and fell to the deck without exploding. The tip end of Point Cavite is occupied by an old fort. There were mounted on the heavy stone parapet a lot of old 6 and 8-inch smooth-bores. The insurgents are lugging them away now, and dragging them with infinite labour and pains up behind their trenches near Malate. Some day before long they will open with grape and can ister on the Spanish breastworks about 300 yards in front of them, and then they will gain that much more ground from the little Spain now holds. Por the Spanish will run when those guns open up as surely as they are alive. Behind this old fort stand the buildings of the navy yard and arsenal, great big machine shops and storehouses, occupied now by the Quartermaster and Commissary, and as quarters by some of the brigade officers. The machine shops are in charge of engineers from the fleet and of Naval Constructor Capps, who came out on the Peking. All sorts of repair work is going on, and there are complete facilities for almost any sort of naval work. The insur gents are permitted to work in the shops and they are making the most of their opportunity. They have stripped the guns from some of the sunken Spanish ships, and are making new breech-blocks to replace those thrown into the sea by the defeated Spaniards, or ruined by the fires which destroyed that part of the enemy's vessels which was not submerged when the ships went down. Fort San Felipe backs up the navy yard with its solid stone wall. There the California artillerymen are guard- 104 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC ing the sixty prisoners from Guam. Facing San Felipe on the Bakor Bay side of the point are the big houses of the Commandant of the yard and the gentleman who was called Ayutante Mayor. The Commandant's establish ment furnishes quarters for the Fourteenth Regular Infan try and its officers, and there are superb quarters reserved for General Merritt and his staff when they come. Gen eral Anderson occupies the Adjutant's house with brigade headquarters. In the barracks beyond the California vol unteers are located, with a separate building for hospital and another for regimental band headquarters, and a long row of little office-like places for the officers. Outside the gate are the Oregon quarters, and a field big enough for a brigade review. Beyond these buildings and this field lies Cavity, a place of indefinitely numbered inhabitants, where Spaniards were plenty but are so few as to excite much comment by their appearance. It is a narrow streeted, vile-smelling, filthy old junk shop, where all sorts of sewage is thrown into the streets and nobody cares. Insurgents are in force in Cavit6. The fine great mansions once occnpied by the Spanish now furnish quarters for Aguinaldo and his lieu tenants. One great building he uses for headquarters. Another he took as a prison, and there and in its yard he confined more than 2,000 Spaniards. In one little shop near the navy yard gate a beehive of Filipinos is in opera tion cleaning and reloading cartridge shells. So it goes everywhere. The insurgents make everything serve their purpose. But now Aguinaldo has promised to evacuate Cavite in order to give room for the soldiers of the Second and Third Brigades, and even now he is moving his head quarters across the bay to Bakor. The buildings of Cavite are mostly of stone and two stories high. The npper part is used for the dwelling and tho lower part for a shop or storage. Nobody lives on the ground floor, it is too damp. Nobody ever heard of a Street Cleaning Department in Cavite. The streets are not even guttered. If they were the tremendous rains would do a great deal toward keeping them clean. Water is had anywhere at a depth of a few feet, but it is not safe to use it for drinking. Each house has a tank for the storage of rainwater. All water used by the troops is sup- cavite 105 posed to be boiled. The men are not particular about it, bnt the officers filter the water after it has been boiled. On the whole the situation of the troops is fairly good. They are more comfortable than they would be in camp and probably can be kept in better health. The weather is hot and humid, but the nights are cool, and before morn ing one usually needs a blanket. At first guard mount was at 10 o'clock, but after a few men had fainted from exhaustion or been overcome by the heat it was moved up to 8 o'clock, and by and by it probably will be at 6, where it ought to be. Five in the evening would be better. The first call goes at 4:45 a.m. and reveille at 4:55. Drill begins soon after 5 and lasts an hour. Then breakfast comes. Work is all supposed to be done before guard mount, so that the heat of the day finds the men with nothing to do. The camp is being settled rapidly, and the streets and grounds cleared and cleaned. There is talk of turning all the natives out of Cavit6 when the next brigades come and giving the place a thorough clean ing up. It would be a good thing, and perhaps General Merritt will do it. It would be no hardship on the natives, for most of them are squatters, who have come in since the Mayday fight. One of the most interesting spectacles in Cavity is fur nished by the wreck of the Spanish shops. The insur gents looted with a nice discrimination after the Spaniards crossed the causeway and retreated toward Manila. They let the shops of the Japanese and Filipinos entirely alone, but the Spanish places were utterly destroyed. One big store on the Calle de San Francisco looks as if a big pole had been sent down through the roof and swung round and round. All that was valuable was taken away, and the inside is now an indiscriminate pile of debris that looks as if it had been stirred up by a gigantic poker. The men are anxious to get on to Manila, but it is doubtful if they would be as comfortable in Manila as here. Every breeze that blows, from whatever direction, strikes their quarters here, and there are no stone pave ments to store up the frightful heat of the sun and radiate it back at night. But Manila is the goal, and they want it. Io6 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC CHAPTER XVIII going to the front under difficulties Cavite, July 16.— There is a musical note in the whistle of a Mauser bullet through the air, a slightly vibrant note with a carrying quality that makes it distinguishable at a considerable distance. If it were not so one could not tell much about the Spanish firing because the bullets rarely come close to the object aimed at, and as the Manser am munition is smokeless one never can see whence the fire comes. I have spent several hours in the insurgent out posts in the last few days and have been literally under Spanish fire — it all went very high — long enough to get pretty thoroughly familiar with the sound of it. The first sensation of being shot at is a little disconcerting. If one's notions of rifle-shooting have always been connected with the idea of sport, big game — deer, bear, antelope — it is a bit startling to realise suddenly that the whistling bullet one hears go by was meant for himself. But if you are in an insurgent trench that feeling soon passes by, as the bullet does, and one becomes like the Filipinos, rather in different to Spanish poor marksmanship. It is reported here that General Shafter lost from 800 to 1,000 men in an attack on Santiago de Cuba. If that is so the Spaniards have better riflemen there than here. Going out to the front ! That has a warlike sound about it. One involuntarily invests the proposition with visions of wounded men, field hospitals, firing lines, men in action, and all the concomitants of business-like warfare. As the troopships bearing the First Brigade of the Philippine ex pedition drew up to their anchorage, with the ships of Dewey's fleet on June 30, smoke was rising from many flres along the shore both north and south of Manila, and the roar of big guns and the th-r-r-ump of machine guns and volley fire drifted out across the bay. It sounded like a big battle all along the line, and those who had been here a month or so told us that in fact a great fight was GOING TO THE FRONT UNDER DIFFICULTIES IO7 going on. The firing continued for an hour or two. At intervals in the night there was more of it, and daylight brought a sharp rally. That afternoon word went around that the insurgents had taken a water battery between Malabon and Tambobong, two native towns north of Manila. That night there was more shooting, the dull, distant boom of cannon punctuating the rattle of small arms. At insurgent headquarters they answered our questions with the polite response that they had had no reports from the front. I have learned since that they never do have them, except when they are of interest to the insurgent cause, but at that time that response was complete if disappointing. Every day as we were getting into quarters ashore the firing continued, and on the night of the Fourth there was a special celebration, as if in honour of the day. The 5th, it rained all day, and there was no movement, but on the morning of the 6th we started, five newspaper men, an interpreter, and " Colonel" Johnson, an American soldier of fortune, who is here as Aguinaldo's chief of ordnance. He ran a hotel — the Astor House — in Shanghai for a while, and came down here on a cinematograph proposition. Now the insurgents are guarding his machine in Lipa, and he is showing them how to handle smooth-bore cannon here. We had with us Mr. Charvet, a Frenchman, born in New York, who was Johnson's partner in the cinemato graph. He speaks Spanish fluently. Early in the morn ing the party started across the bay from the fleet to Paraflaque. The American flag flew from our boat, which was pulled by four Filipinos. Paranaque is within range of the Krupp guns in the Spanish fort at Malate, but the Spaniards know that firing on a small boat carrying the American flag will provoke a bombardment of Manila, and so they do not try such target practice. Paraflaque is on both sides of the Paranaque River, into the mouth of which we pulled. A hundred yards up the river it is crossed by a bridge of bamboo, with the girders, bound on the under side of the stringers by cane thongs, and no apparent reason why it does not come down forty times a day. The flooring of the bridge is of bamboo, thin strips woven into pieces about six feet square and laid down on the girders, wherever there seems to be need of it. I08 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC When we had tied up at the bridge we flrst engaged conveyances to take us toward the front. The natives are extremely friendly to Americans and will put them selves to no end of trouble and inconvenience for our pleasure or profit. The first intimation of what we wanted sent a dozen men scurrying after the waggons. The only vehicle known to the Filipino as a transporter of persons is the carromatta, a two- wheeled affair with springs and axles of prodigious strength, that will accom modate two passengers. Motive power is furnished by Filipino horses. A Filipino horse would be the dearest delight of the average American boy or girl. It stands from 7 to 11 hands high — the 10-hand fellows are ex ceptionally large — and weigh from 550 to 650 pounds. They are a little better shaped than the Shetland ponies, trimmer, not so thick-set or big boned, but very sturdy. There are very few geldings ; most of the ponies used in carromattas are stallions, and they are of good mettle, tough and ambitions. I have seen one drag a heavy carromatta with four men in it, much more than his own weight, nearly four miles over the toughest sort of road. For comfort the carromatta is worse than an Irish jaunt ing car, but it does its work, and one cannot march over this country and make distance or time. Our carromatta engaged, we started for the old convent, where insurgent headquarters had been established, to call on the General commanding the forces at the front. Paranaque, we understood, was very near the lines. Since Dewey's fight the insurgents had forced the Spanish steadily back through San Francisco, Malabon, Cavite Viejo, Imus, Bakor, Los Pinas, Paranaque, and Malabai, and were now fighting in front of Malat6, the last outpost but one in front of the walls of old Manila. The guards at the door of the old convent presented arms as we came up, and from some invisible place inside a dozen or more soldiers sprang out to lead us to the General. We followed across a courtyard and up a flight of broad stone steps, through a long, broad room like the banquet hall of a German palace, across a hall and into a big, square room, where at a huge table in the centre sat a square-shouldered, heavily built, bullet-headed but pleasant-faced young Filipino in the dark blue gingham uniform worn by in- GOING TO THE FRONT UNDER DIFFICULTIES 109 surgents and Spanish alike. He jumped to his feet as we entered and with a friendly smile extended his hand and said, " Good-morning." His face was of the yellowish red of old copper, his eyes were a very dark brown, almost black, and very bright. He had the flat nose, broad face and high cheek bones of the pure-blood Filipino, with a square under jaw. His appearance suggested solidity and strength, but there was something of lethargy, too. This was Mariano Noriel, General of Brigade, in command of the "First Zone." Beside him stood a slender young fellow, similarly dressed. He was Lieutenant Colonel- Juan Cailles segu,ndo cabo in the Primera Zona de Manila. There with more alertness and energy in the attitude and appearance of the Lieutenant-Colonel than in the General. His bearing and manner suggested impetuosity and eager ness. One recalled Colonel Nestor Aranguren, the impet uous young Cuban whose " dashness " led him to his death, Lieutenant-Colonel Cailles has something Spanish in his features. His face is narrow aud long, with a straight, clear-cut, fine nose, sharp-pointed chin, firm, small mouth, thin lips, deep-set, wide-open, piercing black eyes, like the " gimlet eyes " of Inspector Javert, " at the same time sharp and penetrating." A silky black moustache curls over his upper lip and partly conceals his mouth. There was a spring in his step which was wanting in the ponderous tread of the heavy young General, and a restlessness in his manner that betokened a liking for action. Involuntarily one pictured him in the front line of the advance, a hard fighter and a good leader. There was nothing about the uniform of either to indicate his rank. But the red and blue ribbons with red, white and blue cockades on the hats of each, and the fact that both wore boots, showed them to be officers. It is the certain mark of rank when a Filipino puts on boots. Each carried also a sword and a riding whip. Salutations, over, cigarettes and cigars passed around, we said we wanted to go to the front. The eyes of the Filipinos danced with pleasure. The dozen or more aides and attendants in the room smiled and talked together in Togallog, the native language. General Noriel said he would be glad to have us go to the front, and he hiraself and Lieutenant-Colonel Cailles would go with us. Very good. iio our CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC Young Captain Guzman — all these insurgent officers are young, some of them little more than boys, Noriel is twenty-eight — developed a silent laugh that spread all over his face, and sat down at the table to write out passes. He is the General's Adjutant. At that some one remem bered the pass he had acquired from General Don Emilio Aguinaldo, Dictator and President. Guzman laughed again when he saw Don Emilio's signature, and promptly vised the pass. Then the other passes came out, and then there were more cigars and cigarettes. The room was plainly furnished, but the furniture was all, like the General, square and solid. Great reclining arm chairs, half a dozen of them, in a double row by a window that looked out over the village ; a massive old clock in a tall mahogany case, such as our great-grandfathers used to stand in the hallways ; a case, made as if for books, with a pile of music in it, all the operas, and the best the best have written. Some little talk of the situation, the distance to the trenches, the formation of the lines, the condition of the two forces, number of men in the trenches (Spanish and insurgents), losses in the fighting, and then we start. But not for the front. General Noriel has sent an aide to the house of one of his friends in Paranaque — his own home is in Bakor— to say that seven Americans are with him and they need refreshments. We start out in the rain and walk half a mile to a big house built of molare wood and thatched with nipa palm. It stands well up from the ground on solid molare posts, and is surrounded by a flower garden and by mango trees. The whole house hold greets us cordially, and it is announced that soup will be ready very soon. Meantime we sit down and make mutual exhibition of our weapons. The sides of the house are pierced by windows made of small panes of translucent shell, something like mother-of-pearl. The panes are per haps two and a half inches square. They are set closely to gether in wooden frames two and a half feet wide by four feet high which slide back into the wall. Over the windows hang thick nipa thatches which are propped up with bamboo poles and form awnings, effectually keeping out the rain. These windows run completely around the honse. As we sit by the open window the Filipinos crowd around GOING TO THE FRONT UNDER DIFFICULTIES III to see our revolvers. The new hamnierless weapons most of us carry excite their liveliest admiration. They inquire eagerly as to the cost, and when told that such a revolver costs S35 in Hong Kong — silver — reply that they would give $50 for one here. They have old-fashioned, cheap, English, German and Belgian revolvers, all six-shooters and double action. But they recognise the great superi ority of our guns. Their ammunition is gathered from the corners of the world. In one revolver I saw cartridges from Bridgeport, Conn. ; from Russia, from England, from Germany, and from Belgium. It is common to find three makes in one revolver. The Filipinos have swords of all sorts, most of them taken from the Spaniards. They do not value them very highly ; it is easy to get them. Spanish officers of high and low degree are surrendering alraost every day in this or some other province. One of our party bought a fine Toledo sword for $10 Mexican, 84.45 in our money. The exhibition of arms over, the daughter of the house comes in and plays the piano. It is a very dry, cracked, tinpan-toned old piano, but she manages to get a lot of music out of it. She has had good instruction, and has a fine, natural touch. One of the Americans is an artist, and he starts to make a sketch of her as she plays. Im- mediatelyshe jumps up and runs away. Then there is a long argument, in which all the rest of the household try to persuade her to sit for her picture. At last she goes into an inside room with the other women, and with much laughter and talk is arrayed in a great flowing skirt of soft red material like crepe, with a piiia cloth waist, the sleeves of which flare out more than those in style at home two years ago. This pifla cloth is made of the fibre of pineapple leaves, and is very fine and gauzy. Her hair, which was hanging in a heavy, black mass down her back, she has tied up in a Psyche knot, and, if she only knew it, she is not nearly so picturesque as she was in the one- piece contrivance she wore at first, with her waving hair. Somebody brings out a flask of cocktails, mixed in San- Francisco and more precious than fine gold. The Gen eral, Colonel Cailles and the rest taste it politely, but do not drink. It is so everywhere. The Filipinos have no appe tite for our liquor. They skirmish about and find some 112 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC aguardiente and aniseed brandy for us. But we want no more of that than they do of our cocktails. At last soup is served — a thick broth with native-made spaghetti and a liberal flavouring of garlic. Coffee goes with it ; good coffee and well made. After soup, cigars, cigarettes and betel nut to chew. We sit at the table for a few minutes, and at last it dawns on us that there is no other course. Soup was the entire meal, and we get up, rather guiltily, afraid we have shown that we expected more than Filipino hospitality had prepared. Only the men sat at the table. The women either served or stood about in the roora and looked on. The dining-room was detached from the main room, where the piano was, and connected by a narrow hall-like passage. The floor was of narrow strips of bamboo, fine and cool. Now surely we shall start for the front, but first the sketch of the young lady of the house must be exhibited all around for general approval. Frora the artistic point of view it is very clever. It has caught the spirit and ac tion capitally, and is a very good likeness. But the Filipinos take it line by line. There is too much embonpoint, not enough shading in the hair, forehead too high here, not high enough there, nose too sharp, ear too small, even a defect in the window that showed behind the girl. The poor artist sat in dismay, unable to explain how true the effect was, and the girl laughed heartily at him. The picture examined, criticised, and put away in the artist's portfolio, raore cigars and cigarettes passed around, and we begin to get into our rain coats and strap on re volvers and canteens again. At last it surely is tirae to start for the front. But hold on, there is something else. We have heard that the Filipinos are great cockfighters. Every man or boy has his gamecock and is ready to bet his last centime and his hope of salvation on its prowess. Already the General has sent out to get the best cocks in Paranaque, and we must not think of going on until we have seen a battle. At last the men come in with the cocks, half a dozen of them. Some one produces a case of gaffs, villainous-looking little blades shaped like swords and razor sharp. They bind the gaff on the cock's left leg so that it sticks straight out behind. Then they tease the cocks until they are thoroughly angry and let them go. GOING TO THE FRONT UNDER DIFFICULTIES II3 One of the two prepared for our amusement was a big, ungainly white fellow with long, featherless legs. The Filipinos said he was a Filipino, but the brown, agile- looking one was a Spaniard. As the cocks were thrown into the street in front of the house for lack of a better pit, some of the backers of the Filipino began to offer bets, bnt there were no takers. The Filipino was well chosen. The fight lasted less than half a minute and the brown Spaniard lay dead on the ground. He had four terrible cuts, any of them mortal, but the Filipino bore only two slight scratches to show that he had done battle. Living and dead were both exhibited and then at last we made a start for the front. The jolting carromatta took us over three and a half miles of road full of mud and ruts. One minute it was slam bang up against one side of the cart, and the next it was hang on or be pitched out bodily over driver, pony, and all. The driver, smiling and cheerful through it all, squatted on his heels on a board that was fastened to the shafts, just in front of the body of the cart. There he balanced like a slack- wire performer and grinned at the wildest jumps of the carromatta, and all the time he shouted at and urged his pony to yet more vigorous efforts. The tough little beast was plunging forward regardless of the condition of the road. The country was even and flat, but a few feet above the sea. The road runs practically par allel with the beach between it and the Paraiiaque River. To the west, the land between the road and the beach is a little higher than on the east of the road, of a sandy character, and fairly good camping ground. There some of the California men are to make camp in a few days, and probably a large part of the second and third expeditions, when they arrive. The road is lined on both sides with a thick row of bamboos — heavy bamboos with long, tough thorns, very sharp and stiff. To the east there are rice fields and bean patches and thick scrub and bamboo — country almost absolutely impassable for our soldiers. Only men accustomed to it, as are the Filipinos, who know every twist and turn, and can stand heat, rain, wind, and humidity with equal indifference, can get about in it with any sort of certainty, speed or ease. As we drive along we pass several natives at work in the paddy fields. 8 114 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC Here is one ploughing with a great blue bull Nilghai. Just beyond one has a swinging scoop, and is throwing water from a ditch over a dike, scooping it up a shovelful at a time and jerking it out of the open-ended bucket with a sudden dexterous wrist twist. Along the road runs a line of green bamboo poles, four or five inches in diame ter, carrying a single telegraph wire. The Filipinos have arranged telegraphic communication with field head quarters. Three miles north of Paranaque is Malabai, half a dozen native huts gathered in a group. All along the road the houses stand but a few rods apart, sometimes so close to the road that the indwellers could almost touch travellers from the windows. At frequent intervals there are little shelters, or rest houses, just a thatched roof and a bamboo floor, a couple of feet above the ground. Nobody stays on the ground in this country any longer than he can help, not even the natives. At Malabai there is a sort of market. Natives, men, women, boys and girls, are squatting in the streets in front of the houses or in the windows with big flat bamboo baskets full of mangoes, bananas, pineapples, rice, sugar, cigars and cigarettes and a dozen other things for sale. All along there are big round crates full of chickens, women with big baskets of eggs, fish of several kinds curious to American eyes, little flat fellows with staring eyes and big round scales, spotted like our sunfish. Two or three fellows have ollas, earthenware pots or jars for keeping water comparatively cool by evaporation through their porous sides, with all sorts of other pots, some for chocolate, others for tea, coffee pots, lemonade pots, and curious little furnaces for fish cooking. Just beyond this market village the road turns east, and half a mile brings us to Pineda, or Pasay, a considerable village, with what passes for a square in the middle of it and two or three big stone buildings about the square. In one of these, with a big sign declaring it to be the " Tri bunal"" over the door, Noriel has his field headquarters. There we stop and the General and his Lieutenant-Colonel climb down from their carromatta. A great crowd gathers to greet us. Soldiers salute and present arms and women and children crowd around. They are very respectful and polite, but mightily interested in these Americans. GOING TO THE FRONT UNDER DIFFICULTIES II5 All along the road we have been saluted by everybody ; even the children stood at attention as we passed. Just inside the door of this tribunal headquarters stands a Krupp six centimetre breech-loading rifle, captured from the Spanish in a flght below Malabai. The Filipinos have no ammunition for it, but they have gathered up two boxes full of shot that the Spaniards had fired at them, and are trying to make shells to carry them. The copper rifling bands of the shot have all been ribbed by their pas sage through the gun, but the Indians are hammering them down into shape again. By and by they will be used against that old stone fort at Malate, just south of Manila, the last fortification that protects the city wall. We examine this gun and admire it, and the pluck that captured it, and the energy that is finding ammunition for it. Noriel says it is one of six, all taken at the same fight. They are first-class field guns. Our array would be ranch better equipped for the work in hand if it had several batteries of them. They are about the only guns that can be transported over this country and that are at the same time effective. Now that we are past the gun we go into Noriel's office and the General blandly asks us if we like rice. Great Scott, is it time to eat again ? Fortunate for us that we started early in the morning. It is now long past noon, and the front is still in front. If we are going to see the trenches it means that we can not get back before sundown, and so must stay here for the night, for Admiral Dewey permits no movement of boats about the bay after dark. No one could tell what smuggling into Manila of provisions and supplies there might be but for that regulation. We admit to the Gen eral with what grace we can muster that we do like rice, and he sends a man or two with a message to some one to prepare us a meal. Then cigars and cigarettes are passed around again, and we notice a Spanish soldier sitting on the edge of a bed in the corner of the room. Our inter preter gets to work, and we improve the time we must wait for the meal. The Spaniard says he is Corporal Manuel Roviroso of the Third Company, Thirteenth Regiment, of the line. He was in the trench facing the insurgents, just beyond Pineda. Yesterday his officer beat him in the face, and 1 16 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC last night he watched his chance, jumped over the breast work and ran into the insurgent lines. Both sides shot at him, but he escaped unhurt. He had not been paid for months and had been half starved — he looked that — but he had stood it until he was beaten in the face by his officer in the presence of his comrades. Then he deserted. This Manuel Roviroso is a well-informed young man, if his story contains anything of truth. He has been orderly for some officers in Manila, and there he has seen and read the despatch which told them help was coming from Spain. Five battalions, says Roviroso, are in the transports, one from Madrid, one from Vitoria, one from Valencia, one from Barcelona, and one from Burgos. Each numbers 1,054 men, under a Lieutenant-Colonel. They are in the transports Antonio Lopez, City of Cadiz, Buenos Ayres and Montevideo, and are convoyed by the battleship Pelayo, the armoured cruiser Carlos V., two other cruisers, two torpedo boats and two destroyers. There is great re joicing in Manila because these ships and soldiers are coming, and great determination to hold out until they arrive. But Manila is in a hard way. There is no meat but horseflesh and a little buffalo bull beef. One cannot buy a mango for love or money, and bananas are twenty-four cents apiece. Flour is almost gone, and rice will hold out not more than a month. The rich get along well. It costs them a great deal, but then they can afford that, and they live on the best and keep fat. But the poor soldiers, with no money and only rice to eat, have a hard tirae. And they raust stand and sleep by their guns. They are on duty all the time, for there is no telling when the Filipinos or the Americans will attack. And now this Corporal who deserted reveals the best of his story. If we only knew whether it is true or not. Alemanes, he says, the Germans, and the interpreter is all attention. He has been at the wharf and with his own eyes seen the Germans land 300 bags of flour in one day. His comrades have told him that they have seen the Ger mans land two big guns, all wrapped up and packed in cases like furniture. He has seen German officers in the trenches talking with Spanish officers, but was not close enough to hear what was said. He was in the infantry GOING TO THE FRONT UNDER DIFFICULTIES I17 and does not know whether Germans have given instruc tion to artillerymen or not. He has heard that they have. It is the Archbishop who is really at the bottom of the Spanish resistance. On that day when tlie Americans destroyed the Spanish fleet, Captain-General Augustin caused the white flag to be raised over Manila. This Roviroso and his fellow-soldiers were ordered to be ready to march out and surrender. All day they were ready and the white flag flew, but the Americans did not come. That night Senor Don Perrain Jaudenes, segundo cabo, deposed Captain-General Augustin and assuraed command. The white flag was hauled down and the red and yellow of Castile run up again. It was the Archbishop who brought this about — that same Archbishop who, in April, pro claimed that the Americans were ravishers and plunderers, whose sole object in attacking Manila was to loot, outrage and destroy. When Jaudenes took command the order to be ready to surrender was rescinded, and resistance began in earnest. Now it is desperate. Buildings have been saturated with oil ready for the torch. Parapets have been thrown up and guns mounted outside the wall and on the wall. Dynamite has been laid in the streets up which the Americans will have to march if they take the city. Buildings have been destroyed to give better chance to resist landing parties. When Manila is taken it will be a city of bones and ashes. The Spaniards will die resisting and their city shall never surrender. How much of this is true there is no telling. Prom several different sources the oiled-buildings story has come. Natives who escape tell it. As for the dynamite, that is a case of marching Spanish prisoners ahead of, and with, our troops and let the Spaniards kill their comrades if they will. It is true that Jaudenes deposed Augustin and assumed command. It is true that the white flag was up for hours. It is true that the food supply is almost exhausted. It is true that as the Spaniards retreat before the insurgents they burn what they can. As to the Ger mans, they have annoyed Admiral Dewey in every way they could, as has been told before, but it seems hardly likely that they would go so far as to land guns. That is making war, and Admiral Dewey has told the German Il8 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC Flag Lieutenant that the way to make war is to clear ship and go at it. Still we are not at the front, but there is a distinct advance. We have come three and a half miles from Pa ranaque, and that rice is ready. We walk through half of Pasay and find the house. It is much like the one in Paraiiaqne — all of them are, for that matter — but not so large. We have not long to wait here. The table is set at once upon our arrival, and again the men sit down and the women wait and watch. At one end of the table sev eral platters heaped with pieces of meat are set. The plates are passed to the platters. A woman picks up a piece of meat with her fingers and puts it ou a plate and starts it back up the line to its owner. Rice she scoops out of a big platter with a spoon. Before each man there is a small bowl with a few spoonfuls of salted and pep pered cocoanut oil as dressing for the rice. The meat reeks of garlic, but we eat it as fast as we can, for we are in a hurry to get to the front, and the sun is slanting ou the far side of Cavite, well west of us. The meat is fresh killed and tough, but it is beef and nourishing. Then comes a plate of liver and garlic and more rice. And then a plate of fried chicken, with only a suggestion of garlic this time. If this keeps up we shall all be Italians before we get Manila. After the chicken mangoes — how good they are — and bananas, and a curious thick-skinned fruit like an apple with a terrible Togalog — native — name. Cigarettes, cigars and betel nut, and — there goes a bugle. We go to the windows and see a lot of barefooted soldiers stringing along Indian fashion to a big thatched roof shed just across the narrow alley-like street. Every other man carries a big banana leaf. He is using it as an umbrella, and we wonder why all do not have them. The soldiers are going to have a meal, says Noriel, and we must see thera. So to the shed we go. Then it appears that this shed really shelters a cockpit. Can it be that we are to have another cockfight ? AVe begin to wonder if there is any front anyway, or any fighting, or any war. But the soldiers are getting their rice. It has been cooking for them in great earthenware receptacles shaped like the flat, broad fruit baskets the native women carry. The soldiers with banana leaves divide them and give half of GOING TO THE FRONT UNDER DIFFICULTIES II9 each one to the soldiers who came without them. Each man slings his gun over his shoulder, takes off his straw hat, lines the crown with the banana leaf and scoops it full from the big pot, using his hands as spoons. Then, holding the hat with one hand, he walks about scooping rice into his mouth with the other hand. They laugh and talk and are perfectly contented. It will be hard work to subdue men like them. God send we don't have it to do ! Now at last we make a move that has some promise in it. We go back to the " tribunal," where our carromattas are waiting. We are about to get into the ramshackle liver regulators when, bless my soul ! we get a surprise. Noriel says we are at the front. Por a minute or two that fairly takes our breath away, then we recover, and argu ment begins. It develops that there is a front much more warlike than this peaceful tribunal headquarters, with its silent Krupp gun. There are trenches with men in them armed with rifles — Mausers, mostly taken from the Spanish — and they are waiting patiently for the chance to shoot or capture more Spaniards. Moreover, the Span iards have trenches not far from those occupied by the insurgents, and they are shooting all the time. It is very dangerous to go near the fighting lines, and the General doesn't like to have the Americans try it. We ask for figures of Filipino losses in the trenches, and the General becomes rather reticent. Shooting there certainly is, as we can hear the rifles cracking all the time. And here comes a boy shot through the left hand. He was nearly half a mile behind the insurgent lines, walking down the road toward home when the bullet hit him. He exhibits the hand rather proudly, and when everybody has exam ined it, goes into the tribunal to find the doctor and have it dressed. He is perhaps fifteen years old, bnt a veteran. This evidence of danger makes some of the party a little shy, but most of us are for going forward. We have come a long distance, been jolted a lot and eaten a great deal of garlic, and we are entitled to some recorapense. We have come to see the fighting line. There is a fighting line, and now we want to see it. At last Noriel agrees, and away we go with ponies thoroughly refreshed by the long rest. Back to the Camino Real, the main highway, we I20 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC go and turn north. Now we begin to notice that the tops of the bamboos are broken down. Closer inspection shows that they have been shot through. The Filipino driver says that is the work of the Spanish. " Alto," he says, the Spaniards always shoot high. That is why it is more dangerous behind the trenches than in them. As we go along more and more treetops are broken down, and oc casionally there is the mark of a bullet not far above the ground. These are mostly the work of spent bullets, fall ing after a long flight through the air. Half a mile of this road brings us to a little clump of native huts, where a narrow trail crosses the Camino, running east and west. Here we halt and get down from the hygienic transports. A barricade blocks the far side of the cross road. Behind it a ditch has been dug, and close behind the ditch stand two gigantic old 8-inch, smooth bore can non that Admiral Dewey gave Aguinaldo when he took the Cavite navy yard. They had been mounted in the old tumble-down fort at the tip end of Cavite Point. With in finite labour, pains, and patience the insurgents had hauled them out of the fort, dragged them aboard scows, towed them across to Paranaque, got them ashore and dragged and pushed them over that three and a half miles of terrible road. Now they were stopped by their own ditch. Bnt the fighting line had gone forward a few hundred yards and maiiana the smooth bores would go too. As we had come along we had met or passed many men coming from or going to the trenches. All carried rifles or cartridge belts or boxes. There was no system or or ganisation about it. Apparently they came from the front or went to it as they liked, and they marched like the old woman's geese, two alone and one together. When a man in the trench got tired or hungry he went home and slept or ate. When he was rested or fed he went back to the trench. The whole country is in arms. Every native is an insurgent, and so are all his relatives, particularly his sons. There is no regular organisation, but there are so many flghting men that there are always soldiers enough in the trenches. When we halted at the barricade where the big guns were these men were marching by us both ways. They saluted and went on, paying no attention to what was going on there, and entirely unconcerned about GOING TO THE FRONT UNDER DIFFICULTIES 121 the Spanish shooting. Somewhere ahead we knew there was a Spanish trench, for the rifles were cracking all the time, and occasionally we heard the sing of a bullet over our heads, or a bamboo twig was cut and fell down near us. Now Noriel refused to go further or to let us go. It was very dangerous, he said, and it would never do to have one of the Americans get hurt. It might make trouble for Aguinaldo with the Araerican commanders. But the Filipinos were going in and coming out without the least concern, and sorae of us insisted that we could go too. Besides, the risk was entirely our own, and there could not possibly be any trouble if we got hurt through our own recklessness. At last the General said we raight go on on our o^wn hook, but he would not be responsible for the result. He himself would remain behind. Lieutenant Colonel Cailles said he would stay too. He looked very serious and shook his head ominously. At last flve of us started. We marched straight up the road, and a couple of Filipinos went along, too. About 500 yards in front of the barricade that stopped the guns was another one, which completely blocked off the view of the country be yond. To the left of this barricade the country was com paratively open, and we could see a black line where the insurgents' breastwork ran down to the beach. When we were half way between the two barricades there was a roar of rifles soraewhere in front and to the left. One of the Filipinos grinned. The Spaniards had fired a volley. Half a rainute later there was the whistle of bullets over our heads, and some twigs carae down frora the tops of the baraboos along the road. In a second or two came the report of another volley. We marched along pretty lively, but before we reached the barricade another volley was fired, harmless as the first two. Behind this barricade to which we now came were fif teen or twenty Filipinos. As we came up they scrambled out in line, and some one said. " Present arms ! " In first-rate order and with nice precision the command was executed, but the appearance of the soldiers was enough to make a clown laugh. Some were tall and some were short, some wore grey-headed and sorae were boys not_ as long as the guns they carried. Some wore white shirts and blue trousers, some wore blue shirts and white 122 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC trousers. There were combinations of white and red, blue and red, brown, white, red, blue and striped. Some wore straw hats, some white caps, some black derby hats, and some had no hats at all. The only thing that all had was bare feet. Not a man had boots except the offi cer who commanded them to salute, and that was the only distinguishing feature of his uniform. The barricade where they had been resting was composed of two thatched huts set in the road, with a breastwork thrown up in front of them. Pieces of thin bamboo, interlaced to form a mat, had been set upon edge, backed by bamboo poles. They made two parallel fences five feet high and about four feet apart clear across the road. Between them dirt had been piled and packed down. It settled harder with every rain and made a first-rate earthwork. Behind the two houses thatches had been put up, and under these the Filipinos squatted on benches or sat on their heels and ate roasted corn or chewed sugarcane. At last we were at the front. Nearly the whole day had been put in getting there, and it was far too late to think of getting back to Cavite that night. The Spaniards had tired of volley firing and were taking a siesta or some other kind of a rest behind their trench. It was thoroughly peaceful. From the barricade a good-sized trench ran west'a hundred yards across an open field of fairly high ground. The trench was about three and a half feet wide, and, as I have learned since, four feet deep ; but then there was so much water in it that it was impos sible to tell its depth. The dirt had been thrown out in front of the trench, forming a very good breastwork, at intervals pieces of nipa thatch were thrown over the trench, one edge resting on the breastwork and the other sup ported by short stakes set up behind the trench. Wherever the trench was thus roofed, stools, chairs and benches were gathered for the comfort of the soldiers. In one place a bed had been set up under the roof, a good place for a tired man to sleep, but in rather an awk ward position for use as a field hospital. A hundred yards from the road the field was divided by a thick row of bamboos. Then there was another field sirailar to the first with just such another trench. The edge of this second field was almost at the beach line. Bamboos were /. V -^4. ^' 'v^> IGORROTE BOWMEN. GOING TO THE FRONT UNDER DIFFICULTIES 1 23 thick there. The trench continued to the water's edge. On the sandy beach old boats had been filled with dirt and sand and piled up to make a formidable work. This was the most dangerous place along the trench, for the beach was clear all the way to the Spanish work about 400 yards away, and in plain sight of the men behind the insurgent work. As we stood behind the barricade in the road wondering when the row would begin again the Filipinos were walking up and down with absolute unconcern behind their trench. Spaniards might shoot if they pleased, these fellows didn't care. In front of the trench abont forty yards ran a line of bamboos, very thick at the west end, bnt thinned out a great deal near the Camino. Why Noriel did not dig his trench at that line of bamboos in the first place there was no ex planation. Why he did not advance it there any night was similarly unexplained. The bamboos afforded excel lent cover for either side, and the only reason apparent why the Spaniards did not crawl up to thera in the night and take the insurgents unaware at daylight is that the Spanish do not fight in that way. The trench couid not have stood one good determined rush, and it was fine country for such work. It could not have resisted our men one day. Behind the insurgent trench there were perhaps eighty men and boys with guns. Some were going away and others were coming in all the time, so that the number remained approximately constant. All were completely in different to the Spanish fire. Sometimes it carae in volleys sometimes in single shots, but always high. The treetops were the only sufferers. The Filipinos said that the Spaniards were afraid to stand up in their trenches and ex pose themselves enough to take an aim that would send their bullets anywhere near parallel with the earth. Cer tainly their shooting was all high. Their trench did not run parallel with the insurgent line. It started about 400 yards away at the beach, ran back at a slightly divergent angle a little more than half way to the road, where there seemed to be some sort of a square breastwork thrown up like a miniature fort. Prom this fort the line ran back with the road about seventy-five yards and then turned to the northeast and ended with the Spanish left on the road. 124 <3UR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC Behind their trench and close to the road the insurgents had built a battery of bamboo and dirt for their two big smoothbores. They had a lot of villainous grapeshots with which they were going to open upon the Spanish fort-like breastwork when everything was ready. We asked when that would be and they replied " Manana." The Filipinos are wonderfully energetic compared with the Spaniards, but the maiiana habit is firmly fixed on them, and we concluded not to wait. Two days later I went back again and saw the guns moved into place. Last Sunday night they opened up. Whether the grape- shot did the work or whether the noise was more potent and terrifying I do not know, but the Spaniards retreated made a little stand at a trench half way to Malate and then ran back into the last ditch before Malate. And Malate is the last post in front of Manila on the south. After we had examined the battery and the trench near the road we walked along behind the trench to the little group of huts at the line near the beach. As we went down the line the Filipinos fell in in squads of from one to eleven and presented arms. It reminded one of the old Continentals who stood in their ragged regimentals flinch ing not. Beyond this cluster of huts the Filipinos said was the danger zone. They made signs to us to get down behind the breastwork and crawl down to the beach. They set the example and we followed it. Prom behind their old dirt-fllled boats we had a good view of the Span ish work. The Spaniards kept well under cover. They had learned that precaution from experience, for when the Filipinos do shoot they try to hit, and they sometiraes succeed. Ammunition is too difficult for them to get to be lightly wasted. We squatted there for ten or fiteen minutes and the glasses failed to reveal any movement behind the Spanish line. Then eight or ten of them sent us a warning to keep on lying low. It was entirely un expected and quite unseen. I was watching the line closely with good glasses, but saw no indication of the fire. Smokeless powder is difficult to detect on a rainy day. The bullets went very high, for we did not hear them whistle, and for once the treetops escaped. I looked back when the report reached ns and saw that four or five of the Filipinos who had got tired of squatting down were GOING TO THE FRONT UNDER DIFFICULTIES 1 25 standing up. They laughed when I looked around, and one said " alto, alto," high, too high. Yes, indeed, much too high. Nowhere near close enough to make a Filipino duck. It was getting well on toward dusk when we left the trench and started back. There was only one place we had not examined, and only Noriel's urgency kept us from that. It could npt be made to seem to ns that such fire as the Spanish was dangerous. Just beyond the line of bamboos that crossed the field in front of the insurgent trench stood the shell of a big, white, iron-roofed house, which looked as if it might have been a place to dry to bacco or a barrack. It had been riddled with the bullets of both sides, but it offered such a fine view of the Spanish work that some of us wanted to sneak up to it and have a look. The best view of the Spaniards we had had, except that on the beach, had been from the top of the battery for the smooth hores. There the bamboo was a little thinner than further down toward the beach, and the glasses brought the Spanish line out fairly clear, but not with such distinctness as was desirable. But Noriel, who had come up to the front by this time, said it was too dan gerous for us to go to the house, and so we turned back. As we walked do-wn the road to the barricade, where we had left the caromattas, the Spaniards sent a volley after us that still further crippled the poor treetops, but hurt nobody. When we got back to Paranaque it was almost dark, and we went to the house where we had had soup to stop for the night. Supper was something of a repetition of the dinner at Pasay, but it added dulce de cocoa, and great is the fame of dulce de cocoa throughout this land. It is made of fine shreds of cocoanut boiled in sugarcane syrup until it is about the consistency of marmalade. And now that the commissary's store has sold all its blackberry jam there is a great cry for dulce de cocoa. Noriel said they made it in a province four days from here, and if the sup ply he ordered for us is not delivered very soon we are going to ask Admiral Dewey and General Anderson to send out a scouting party to bring it in. That night we slept on the floor all in one room, each with a sleeping mat and two pillows, one for his head and one to put between his 126 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC knees. Noriel turned in with the rest of us, but young Captain Guzman sat up and sparked the daughter of the house. They sat in the room where we were all trying to sleep, and talked in ordinary tones, and it was after mid night before we could get sufficiently used to it to sleep. The girl was stirring about at 4 o'clock, and I don't know whether she sat up all night or does not require much sleep. Por breakfast they gave us rice boiled until it was a gummy gelatinous mass. They eat it with sugar and shredded cocoanut, but Americans would use it with grape and canister to clear roads or stop charges. In all the time the Americans have been here, or rather in all the time the revolution has been going on, for Aguinaldo came two weeks or more after Dewey's victory, this was the flrst time that Americans had been up to the insurgent flghting line since the Spaniards had been driven from Cavite Viejo, below Bakor. It was in consideration of this that when we got ready to start back from Para iiaque, General Noriel gave each of us a Spanish flag, taken somewhere along the road as the Spaniards surrendered or fled. Mine was taken at Paraiiaque. General Anderson was glad to get our report, and the next day he sent Lieutenant McCain, brigade Adjutant, to make further examination of the country abont Pasay. Lieutenant Calkins, navigator of the Olympia, and I went along. This time we did not delay with Noriel and Filipino hospitality, but went straight to the front. We found Lieutenant-Colonel Cailles getting the smoothbores into the battery, and as we started back he asked us to report to Aguinaldo that the guns were in position at 1:30 that afternoon. This day we turned off from the Camino Real at the first barricade and went into the country, following the trenches around Manila. The trenches are not con tinuous, but really a series of detached outworks from a quarter to half a mile apart. Usually they are simply barricades across footpaths or little roadways that lead through a country elsewhere impassable. As we sat down to rest at each breastwork the Filipinos told us that they had another still further on. Each time the Spaniards were in view behind their barricades, which always faced the insurgent works at from 150 to 300 yards. All day there was desultory firing, and once or twice it was pretty "THREE ROUNDS BLANK" 127 close. There was one place where a Spaniard had crawled up from his line to an old stone pile not more than twenty yards from the left front of the insurgent works. Frora the breastwork we could see very plainly a dozen or more Spaniards behind their barricade, 250 yards down the road. They were standing ujo, moving about and smok ing. We stood up to look at thera and the fellow behind the stone pile let go at ns. We ducked lively, but of course it was long after the bullet had gone by. If the beggar had had nerve enough to stand up and take aim he could have drilled us, sure. There was thick shrubbery between him and us and he had good cover, but he wouldn't risk it. After that sixty Filipinos waited all day for him to show his head. But he didn't show it. That was the last outpost we saw, but they extend clear around the city. In character they are all much like the first and the fighting at all is the same. Once in a while the insurgents fire a rifle. The Spaniards reply with vol leys and it sounds like a terrific battle. But nobody is hurt. However, the insurgents can flght like devils and sometimes they do. CHAPTER XIX *' three rounds blank " Cavite', July 27. — The quavering wail of a fife ! Curi ous time for a man to be playing a fife. One o'clock in tho afternoon. It's coming down the navy yard street, and other instruments are with it. Odd for a band to be out now, with the rain pouring down as if Cavite were the cistern for all the gutter pipes of the heavens. They come nearer, and the tune rises to the point of recognisability. Now it is plain. They're playing the funeral march. Some poor fellow has answered his last roll call, and they are going to bury him in the new national cemetery over on the desolate sand spit on Point Sanglei. Down the street comes the little procession, tothe slow time of the mournful march, and heads for the dock where 128 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC lies the gunboat Leyte, waiting to carry the body and the funeral party across to the burial place. The sullen sky hangs just over the treetops and sends down its unceasing flood upon the sodden ground, which refuses to soak up more and turns it off in rivulets to the sea. Por three full days it has rained this way, and the earth is sick with the deluge. At the dock the band halts. The musicians are wet through now, and it is not wise to send more men than are necessary over to the grove to risk themselves in the terrific rain. They stand there playing the march, and the sobbing tune rises and falls as the little funeral party goes by to the ship. A new flag covers the body, its bright red and blue in sharp contrast with the grey, leaden day. Behind the body march the dead man's comrades, the members of his company. At the ship's side they halt. The body is taken aboard. Washed-out wreaths of flowers lie on the dripping flag. The Captain is in his blue uniform with white gloves. His sword swings by his side. " Two squads from the left for the firing party," he The two squads fall out and climb aboard the little steamer. The rest fall in behind the silent band and march back to their quarters. The rain drives down with undiminished force. It carries through under the awning over the quarterdeck and splashes against the soaked flag and bedraggled flowers. The chaplain climbs aboard with the Captain and the bugler, and away the Leyte goes. Under the dreary sky, in the pelting rain, the little procession, much smaller now than at the start, forms again on the pier by the cemetery, the Captain, the chaplain and the bugler, the body under its new flag, bright as if snapping in the breeze and the gay sunlight at the head of its company swinging into battle, then the firing party. The last mournful march is soon ended, and by the open grave the chaplain bares his head to the sweeping storm. " I am the resurrection and the life. . . . Man that is born of woman hath but a short time to live. ... for they rest from their labours. Earth to earth, dust to dust, ashes to ashes." Slowly the body is lowered into the new-made grave, still CONCERNING THE GERMANS I29 under the beautiful flag. The firing squads fall in. With one impulse the fingers move the triggers, repeat, and fire again. " Three rounds blank," the salute to death. The bareheaded musician lifts his bugle to his lips, and across the dismal waste of sand and over the bay to the quarters of his comrades there float the notes of " taps," the last call for Sergeant Watson. Lights out for Sergeant Watson ! On this point the Spaniards had their best battery. Here they made their best fight that glorious day when Dewey overmastered them. Here raany a brave man died defending the sover eignty this brave young American came to attack. Side by side they lie in the sleep that shall not be broken until the last great reveille summons us all to the final muster. CHAPTER XX concerning the GERMANS Cavite', July 17. — It is more than doubtful if the gravity of Admiral Dewey's position here has been understood at home, or the seriousness and delicacy of the work he has had to do. Sitting on the quarter-deck of the fiagship Olympia the other afternoon he pointed out toward the wrecks of the Reina Cristina, Castilla, aud Ulloa, lying awash off Point Sanglei, and said : " The little fight out there was one of the least difficult things I have had to do here." Then he looked over at the four or five German warships lying close in to Manila and said : "Before I left Washington to come out here they promised me that if there was any trouble I should have the Oregon. I wish she were here now. " We shall be glad enough to see the Monterey," he added, after a minute. " I warrant she will get a cheering when she comes in." It needs no soothsayer to interpret all this. The plain fact is that the Germans have been making the Admiral all the trouble they can. They have been going just as 9 130 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC far as it was safe to go in annoying hira, and several times they have made him talk of war. He has not hesitated to use plain language when the occasion required it. But two or three times when he has talked that way he would have felt a great deal better if he had an armourclad or two and sorae big guns to back him up. The Admiral's position has been most difficult. His victory on Mayday was so striking that the impression at home has seemed to be that Dewey can do anything he wants to do, and there apparently is not a full realisation of what the situation has been here. The Americans are at the gates of a walled and fortified city. The ships are able to batter down the fortifications when there are troops enough to hold the reduced city. At present there are here fewer than 2,500 soldiers, not enough to protect themselves, to say nothing of holding a city whose popula tion is more than 300,000. More troops are on the way, but until the third expedition arrives there will not be force enough here to justify taking Manila. In the meantime the Spanish have started an expedition for the relief of the beleaguered city. The expedition had been held up at Port Said, according to the last in formation Dewey received from Hong Kong. That was late in June, and since then there has been no news. The Admiral frankly says that if that expedition comes on and gets here before the Monterey and Monadnock it may be necessary for the fleet and the troops to get out of Manila Bay. It was that situation which caused General Anderson to delay in unloading the stores from the trans ports for a few days after the first brigade arrived here. But all the time that the Admiral has had this question to consider the Germans have been active in their annoy ances. It has almost seemed at times as if they meant deliberately to provoke war. The trouble began several weeks ago, almost as soon as the first German ship got here. Every ship the Germans have on the Asiatic station except two has been here all or part of the time, and the great part of the squadron is here constantly. Prince Henry is on tho Deutschland, and that keeps the armourclad well out of the danger zone. Admiral Von Dlederichs's Flag Lieutenant put it recently: CONCERNING TIIE GERMANS I3I "If we only did not have the Prince. But he must be taken care of all the time." The Kaiser, the sister ship of the Deutschland, is Von Dlederichs's flagship. She is a 7,700-ton vessel with a com plete belt of 10-inch armour and eight 10-inch guns, one 8- inch, and seven 6-inch. Besides the Kaiser there are out here the Gefion and the Kaiserin Augusta, which New Yorkers may remember from her visit there in 1893 ; the Irene, the Princess Wilhelm, and the Cormoran. These fellows have seemed to take special delight in violating naval proprieties and disregarding Admiral Dewey's regulations. Instead of establishing his blockade at the entrance to the bay, Dewey drew the imaginary line across from Cavite to Malabon. That gave foreign war ships the right to corae into the bay to observe operations. Several nations have sent ships here. The British usually have two or three, the French two, the Japanese one or two, and the Austrians have one now ; but Gerraany sent nearly her entire squadron. Admiral Dewey had ordered that there should be no movement of ships or boats about the bay at night with out his knowledge and permission. That was necessary to an effective blockade, and in order to be legal, a blockade must be effective. The Germans began at once to disre gard the regulation. They sent launches about after sun down as if there had been no such regulations. The launches were stopped by our patrol boats and some of them were turned back. The result was friction between the two Admirals. Von Diederichs protested. Dewey re plied that his regulation must be observed. The Germans kept up their work and Dewey's ships have watched the Germans at night with their searchlights. It is particularly offensive to one warship to be the target of another's searchlight, but that has happened to the Ger mans several times as the wheeling American lights ex arained the bay to see what was going on. Von Diederichs did not like it. Dewey sent word that he regretted the necessity of such work, but he was compelled to keep in formed of what went on in the bay at night. He inti mated that the Germans were acting as if they thought that they were blockading Manila instead of the Ameri cans. 132 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC The Germans have been making great use of the Bay of Mariveles, opposite Corregidor Island. Nearly all the time they have a ship or two there, and they come and go be tween there and the anchorage off Manila constantly. Every time they come in Dewey sends a launch or a larger vessel to meet them and find out who they are and where from. It is quite within his right as the blockader to do this, but Von Diederichs protested. The German Admiral twisted Dewey's contention and construed it as a claim of the right of search. The American Admiral had never set up claim to such a right, but he insisted that he had the right to know the character of every ship that came into the bay and its business, and that the mere fact that a ship flew the German flag did not prove, that she was German, because it is recognised in international law as a right of any warship to fly any colours desired. While the discussion of the matter was going on several little things occurred which did not help the situation. One was when the troopships of the First Brigade came in. There were three Germans lying in Mariveles Bay when the transports passed by. Before they had got be yond Corregidor the Kaiserin Augusta had got her anchor and was following. She came along slowly in the rear for a time, but as the transports n eared Cavite she drew along side the Sydney, passed her, then came alongside the Australia so close that her name was plainly legible, went on and passed the Peking and then steamed up by the Olympia, when she broke out the American colours from the fore and saluted. Inasmuch as she had saluted once, another salute was unnecessary, and it looked as if she had given it merely to furnish an excuse for coming so close to the American ships. Matters kept getting worse. German launches were stopped and sent to their ships. Permission to move in the night time was refused on some occasions, and finally Admiral Dewey took occasion to say to the German Flag Lieutenant that certain things meant war and the Ger mans were approaching dangerously near them. Then he added in substance that if the Germans wanted war they could have it, now or at any other time, here or at any other place. CONCERNING THE GERMANS 1 33 In reply .,0 this Von Diederichs took a pacificatory tone and disavowed any intention of violating proper usages or the American Admiral's blockade regulations. Meantime stories kept coming to Admiral Dewey to the effect that the Germans were lending material assistance to the Spaniards. They were reported to have landed fiour and other supplies and even to have landed guns. Their officers had been at the Spanish front and inspecting the Spanish fortifications. The Admiral heard from indispu table authority that the German Consul had been told in the club in Manila that the Germans were landing supplies and that Spaniards of reputation and position were ready to swear that such was the fact and that the German Con sul was unable to deny it. Then came the Subig Bay incident. The insurgents were attacking Isla de Grande. They had captured a steamer from the Spanish and they sent her down to Subig with men. She came back one afternoon and reported to Dewey that the cruiser Irene had prevented her from at tacking Grande Island, and had forced her to haul down her insurgent flag and raise a white one. Dewey sent the Raleigh and Concord there at once. They went in cleared for action at 8 : 15 the next morning, ready for what might come, German or otherwise. As they went in on one side of the island, the Irene came out on the other at full steam. The two American ships took the island with 623 prisoners nearly all Spanish soldiers, and 600 rifles, with an immense quantity of ammunition. Prisoners and arms were turned over to the insurgents, the prisoners to be guarded for us at our expense until wanted. When the Irene came back the McCuUoch spoke, but did not stop her. This brought a protest from both sides. Von Diederichs objected to the hauling up of his ships. Dewey declared that the Germans were lending aid and comfort to our enemies, thereby making theraselves openly Spain's allies. He sent a message to the German Admiral, the substance cf which was : " Is there peace or war between our countries ? If there is war I want to know it. If there is peace I want you to change your course. The way to make war is to clear up ship and go at it." Von Diederichs replied with an apology and an explana- 134 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC tion. He said the Irene had not interfered with the insur gents, but had refused to answer signals from the insurgent steamer because they could not be answered without recog nising the insurgent flag. She agreed to answer signals, however, if a white flag was raised on the insurgent ship. After he had thought about it a day or so. Von Diederichs apparently thought he had been too complaisant in his tone and then tried a different attitude. He wrote to Admiral Dewey the note in which he mis construed Dewey's contention about the right to speak incoming ships, and said he would lay the matter before Commander-in-chief of neutral vessels now in the harbour. Since then Dewey has heard nothing from him, but he has heard what happened when Von Diederichs called on Cap tain Chichester of the Immortalite, the senior officer of the English squadron. The Englishman showed the German his instructions, by which he was ordered to do what Dewey had been contending that the Germans should do. After that Von Diederichs put a hypothetical question to Captain Chichester. " Suppose the Americans should give notice of their intention to bombard Manila," he said, " and suppose the Germans should interfere, what would be the attitude of the British ? " Captain Chichester replied in his softest voice : " Why don't you ask Admiral Dewey ? " There the matter stands now. Admiral Dewey waits for the arrival of the arraonrclads and Admiral Von Die derichs "deviseth wicked imaginings." The searchlights have been keeping at work all night, and the Germans have been warned that if their launches move around promiscuously without Dewey's knowledge they will be fired on. The outcome remains to be seen. CHAPTER XXI eeinforcbmbnts arrive Cavite, Philippine Islands, July 19. — The Japanese cruiter Matsushima had been due for three days, and it was expected that she would bring a lot of much-desired mail REINFORCEMENTS ARRIVE 1 35 from Hong Kong. So when the smoke of a steamer was sighted down the bay and the McCuUoch went scurrying out to meet her, everybody thought the long-looked-for " Japanee " had come. But when the smoke came closer and there drew up around Point Sanglei the tall spars of a flue big merchantman, a cheer went up all along the line as the Cliina, first transport of the second expedition, was recognised. She came in slowly, and, dipping her ensign to the ships of Dewey's fleet, let go her anchor near the Olympia. Launches and gigs and barges swarmed about her quickly from the warships, and there were hearty sal utations and eager queries for news. The China was the flagship of the second squadron, with General Francis V. Greene in command of 'the expedition, on board and Cap tain C. L. Hooper of the revenue cutter service as naval officer. She had steamed away from her consorts after the Boston met them at the north end of Luzon, and hur ried in. The officers and men of the First Colorado and Utah Light Artillery were extremely glad to see Manila Bay, and they returned with a lung power that attested the hygienic benefits of a high altitude the rousing cheers of the bluejackets — no, they are all whitejackets now — of the fleet. General Greene went at once to call on Admiral Dewey and later came ashore to report to General Anderson. Preparations were begun at once for the debarkation of the troops. General Anderson had had all the preliminary arrangements made, and Major Jones, the Chief Quarter master, was ready with cascos to be used as lighters. Gen eral Greene reported that the other transports would be in the next morning, and there was no reason why the work should be delayed. Some of his officers came ashore that night, and Major J. Franklin Bell, Chief of the Office of Military Information, got his office assigned to him at once and began the removal of his luggage and supplies from the ship. One battalion of the First California had been sent into camp about three and a half miles south of Man ila in the middle of the week. They were landed at Par anaque and marched up to a level stretch of comparatively high ground about two and a half miles toward Manila, where they pitched their camp. General An d erson decided to put all the second expedition except a few regulars and one battery of the Utah Artillery into the same camp with- 136 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC out landing them in Cavite. He decided also to send the rest of the California men into camp at once. On Sunday morning the Senator, Colon, and Zealandia came along soon after breakfast and got a reception of tremendous cheers. All the troops reported a smooth, quiet voyage, but their health had not been so good as was that of the First Brigade. There had been many cases of mea sles, several of pneumonia and typhoid peneumonia, and some of meningitis. Four deaths had occurred, three since leaving Honolulu. One was that of Second Lieutenant Jacob Lazelle, Eighteenth Regular Infantry. Lieutenant Lazelle had a very hard time of it with seasickness, and was exhausted when he got to Honolulu. He had been flat on his back all the way from San Francisco, and was completely worn out physically. He recovered a little of his strength in the two and a half days' stay at the Hawaiian capital and professed confidence in his ability to stand the rest of the long voyage. But he did not stand the sea trip any better after leaving Honolulu, and nothing could be done for his relief. Then he caught the measles and the combination killed him. His body was brought on to Cavity and that Sunday afternoon he was buried in the old fort at Cavite Point with full military honours. A guard of his regiment came ashore with the body, and after Chaplain Gilbert of the Second Oregon had read the funeral service they flred three rounds blank over the grave. " Three rounds blank and follow me, Thirteen rank, and follow me. Oh, passing tlie love of women. Follow me, follow me home." The second expedition had some diversion on the long voyage as well as the first. In some unaccountable man ner — there had been no supply ship meanwhile — Hono lulu found provender and liquid refreshments for them as she had for us of the First Brigade. She kept it up for two days and a half, and high on the roll of honour with the Second Brigade, as with the first, stand the names of Captain John Schaeffer and his fellow-officers of the Hawa iian National Guard. Now that Hawaii has been annexed REINFORCEMENTS ARRIVE 1 37 these fellows may be expected along here any fine day, in a ship of their own if they can't find any other way. After leaving Honolulu the China headed for Guam, where it was thought Admiral Dewey might send a ship to meet them. On the morning of July 4 Wake Island was made out. Sixty years or so ago the American flag was hoisted on Wake Island, and General Greene thought that would be a good place for an Independence Day celebra- bration. So the China hove to and sent a couple of boats ashore while the other ships kept on. General Greene, Captain Bates, his Adjutant, Lieutenant-Colonel Jewett, Judge Advocate General, Major Bell and several officers, with Captain Seabury of the China, made the landing. The Stars and Stripes were hoisted, and a record of the landing, with a map and souvenirs of the occasion, was left. Captain Seabury took an observation and determined the island to be in longitude 166° 33' E. latitude 19° 11' N. It is merely a coral atoll, about twenty-five miles long by from one and a half to two wide. It rises about flfteen feet above the sea, and is uninhabited. There is no fresh water on it, and very little vegetation. There were signs of guano deposits. General Greene made a Fourth of July speech, and then the landing party returned to the ship. There is no landing for large boats or ships, as is the case with almost all such coral islands. The course into the central lagoon is narrow and tortuous, and extremely difficult to follow. With a high surf running it would be impossible to land. Then the ships headed on for Guam. Six days later, July 10, in the afternoon, they raade the chief of the La drone group. They steamed along down the west coast of the island by Agana Bay and to the harbour of San Luis d'Apra. There they saw only a brigantine — probably the Minatagawa, which was there when the first brigade stopped there— and a schooner, so they did not stop. Sundown showed Guam fading out on the horizon, and the second expedition was off on the last stretch of its 7,000-mile voy age. There was hardly a ripple on the Pacific for the next six days, and the heat made the soldiers remember the stories they had read of the terrible climate of Manila and the Philippines. They were following the trades, and no breath of air relieved the terrible rays of the tropic sun. 138 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC There was a lot of target practice on the way down from Honolulu, both with small arms and with the heavier guns of the Utah artillery. A regular target was built by the carpenter of the China. Occasionally the China would steam ahead of the other transports and drop the target over. Then the batteries and rifles would whale away at it. The Utah batteries had practice three times, the first time firing twenty rounds, the next forty and the third fifty. Eleven per cent, were hits and nearly all of the rest were good shots, many of them being very close. The rifle shooting, too, was very good. The experiences of the soldiers of the second expedition were much like those of the first. The ships were crowded, particularly the Senator, the smallest ship, which had the entire Nebraska regiment. There was in no case the sharp discipline necessary to make the men as comfortable as they could have been made. The men were not made to keep either their quarters or themselves clean, and the transports were in a wretched condition when they got here. I thought the Australia was a disgrace. Compared with a warship she was beyond description, but the Aus tralia was alraost a cruiser in comparison with the China. There was loud complaint about the rations all around, and on the China it extended even to the officers, most of whom signed a resolution not to pay the price agreed upon with the steamship company, because the food was so bad. The Zealandia developed an interesting situation for Dr. Harrell, an old New Yorker who came out as Acting As sistant Surgeon, and wears U. S. on his collar. The doc tor is a Democrat and he doesn't deny it. Also he pro claims himself a patriot. He says he was instrumental in raising the New York regiment, which is known as the 114th of Brooklyn. He declared one day on the Zealan dia that " John Brown's Body " was not a national air, and that John Brown was not a martyr but a murderer, who was hanged justly for his crime. Thereupon, as Dr. Harrell tells it. Colonel Hawkins had the regiment drawn up on deck and addressed them to the effect that Dr. Harrell was a traitor, adding that in '61 -'65 they had a great many such in the North. The Tenth Pennsylvania is re ported to be one of the crack National Guard regiments of the country, but Dr. Harrell is not impressed with the dis- REINFORCEMENTS ARRIVE 1 39 cipline which will permit a Colonel to go through such a performance. So he replied to Colonel Hawkins : he says that if he were a traitor he should be conrt-martialled and shot, not publicly humiliated in such a manner before the regiment and without charges or a hearing. No New York regiment, says the doctor, would ever see such a thing. There the meaning and the practice of discipline are understood and observed. All day Sunday work went on rapidly in getting ready to land the troops and put them in camp. As usual, it was found that the stores had been loaded on the ships in hit- or-miss, helter-skelter fashion, so that it was almost im possible to get at what was most needed. In one case it was ammunition, in another one kind of stores, in another, an other. Much stuff that was not wanted had to be handled twice in order to get other stuff that was needed. General Greene went with General Anderson to inspect the camp ground and get some notion of the country around it. Yes terday morning cascos were sent alongside the China early, and the men of the First Colorado and their equipage and supplies were loaded on them. It took until well into the afternoon to get the lighters ready for their trip to the shore. The men took 150 rounds of ammunition, fifty in their belts, and fifteen days' rations. It was well along in the afternoon when the Rapido pulled away from the China with the whole First Colorado in tow in cascos. The lit tle procession steamed straight for the beach opposite the camp of the California boys, but the tide had gone out and the cascos couldn't cross the bar, little water as they draw. It was almost dark by this time and there was no chance of getting anything ashore from the cascos. A few native boats came out and took the officers and some of the men ashore, but for most of the men it was a simple case of wade. The water was warm and not deep, and there was no particular discomfort in the wading, but it was wet as water usually is, and there was no chance to get dry. Also there was no chance to raake coffee or cook supper. Water they had in their canteens and their blankets were in rolls on their backs. Back in the field, where it was comparatively dry, they went, and on their arras they slept. It was beginning soldier life in earnest, but the Colorado men were used to it. Most of them had seen I40 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC harder service in the big Leadville strike. Just to remind them of old times in the mountains, it rained in the night. Sometimes it drizzles here, sometimes it makes believe, sometimes it showers, and then again it rains. When it rains there is a business-like character about the downpour that recalls stories of Ararat and the most ancient ship builder. However, none of the Colorado boys were drowned or floated into the bay, and this morning they felt so good that straightway two companies marched up almost to the insurgent trenches and established their picket lines in sight of the Spanish works. It gave them a comforting and home-like feeling to be able to hear the occasional ping-yang of a bullet. This morning the Second Battalion of the California regiment went away in two cascos behind the Rapido. Father McKinnon went along disconsolate. He had just got the little chapel opposite headquarters fixed up in proper shape, and he fancied that he was to have some peace, at least for a few days. As the tow arrived along toward the beach opposite the camp a signal went up on the Olympia. The Boston answered, and presently she got her anchor and steamed along toward the point at which the Rapido was aiming. The American camp is not very far from the old stone fort at Malat6, where the Spaniards have some good guns. They are said to be 8-inch Krupps, and they talk like it when they are addressing the insurgents in their nightly conversation. The Boston went in until she had the old fort fairly under her guns and dropped her anchor. It almost seems as if the commanders out here had taken some profit frora the tactics of certain pro fessional gentlemen whose business is on the stage and pleasure in the prize ring. Por instance, the Spaniards have been warned that we have a chip on our shoulder, and if they make a move to knock it oft' we will bang them one in the solar plexus. So they sit idly by and watch us coming closer and closer, and increasing in strength until we are quite ready to do the trick, and they make no talk about it at all, at least that we can hear. So when the Boston took the camp under her wing the Spaniards looked on and kept still. The sun was shining brightly, and all the movements of cascos and cruiser were in plain view of the defenders of the beleaguered city. Can you imagine REINFORCEMENTS ARRIVE I4I what the feeling would be to be shut up in a city sur rounded by your enemies, to be able to watch the enemies constantly strengthening themselves, waiting for months for the time to come to strike, unable to help yourself, and knowing that in the end you must surrender or die ? So it stands to-night. The boys of the Third Bat talion of the Californians are getting their supper aboard cascos as I write, and the sounds of their work come in through my open window and furnish a staccato bass to the zwanging and the zwinging of the 'skeeters, the only reminder of New Jersey in all Cavite. The Nebraska boys are going ashore too, and the dandy Thurston Rifles, Omaha's own pet boys, will have a chance at soldier life as a business and not a picnic. By Friday night the camp will be settled with all the men there who are likely to go. The feeling grows that the fall of Manila is very near at hand. The air has been as full of fake stories all day as a yellow journal bulletin board, and I've nearly run my legs off chasing them down. They began with the movement of Spanish prisoners across the bay by the insurgents about sunrise. That started the yarn that some of our boys were going into camp over Mala bon way, north of Manila, and that the attack would be made that way. Then came the gold brick that Dewey had sent the bombardment notification to the foreign Con suls at Manila, and that the fleet was ordered to have steam up to-morrow. Anybody would think there was a new yellow journal bureau with a brand new managing editor out here, or at least a city editor to run it. The ships lie here usually with fires drawn, and anchored, and the story is that to-morrow fires will be made again. That, perhaps, foreshadows in a way the approaching attack, but it won't come to-morrow or the next day, unless the tired Spaniard concludes to take a whack at that chip and have it over with. It is more likely that it simply means that all ships shall be ready for the contingency of an attack, chance or otherwise, on our men. There is this to be considered also : Admiral Dewey has received information that the Spanish fieet that was to have rein forced Manila has been ordered back to Spam. That at once places hira at liberty to dispose his ships about the bay by taking away the possible necessity of sudden con- 142 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC centration. To-day he began the scattering of his fleet by moving the Boston in close to the new camp, for its protection. The prize gold brick of the day, however, was the story that the California men had been fired on in their camp last night. That was just a lie out of whole cloth. There was one guess which might be deemed a little worse than the shooting yarn. It emanated from the Oregon quar ters and was scattered by a foot-racing tidings bearer, who breathlessly informed everybody he met that Manila had surrendered. Word had been sent out to Admiral Dewey early in the evening and everybody would go in to-mor row. " Such stuff as dreams are made of." CHAPTER XXII NIGHT ALARM IN CAMP July 20. — The sun came up over Mount Maui, behind Manila, this morning with another prize yarn, but this time there was some foundation for it. The story was that in the night the Spaniards had attacked our camp and that some of our men had been wounded. What happened was this : The two companies of Colorado raen who were sent forward as pickets established their line only a short distance in the rear of the insurgent trench. The Spaniards in Malate varied their usual evening performance by drop ping a shell or two into the insurgent lines. Such ac curate shooting on the part of the Spaniards was decidedly unparliamentary, no notice having been given, and the insurgents got out. They were going down the road in a somewhat excited manner when they passed the Colorado pickets. The men from the State of old Blood-to-the- Bridles Waite say that the Filipinos were running. It was a bully rout, that was what it was, and the blood thirsty Spaniards would be upon them in a few minutes. So Major Moses, in command of the guard, sent word to Colonel Hale of the danger he was in. The messenger reached Colonel Hale's headquarters blown and sweating from a lively run. It was about 9 o'clock, and some of the NIGHT ALARM IN CAMP I43 men, tired out with their hard day's work in making camp, were already sound asleep. Others were taking an evening dip in the bay from the beach in front of the camp. The Colonel lost no time in turning out the reg iment and the " assembly " hurried the sleepers and the bathers alike to their guns. Colonel Smith turned out his California regiment, too, in mighty short order. Seven minutes after the drums began to sound the California men had formed a battle line in front of their camp. The Colorado boys were close behind them, most of the swim mers having stopped only for shoes and trousers. The two regiments moved forward and the California raen took positions frora the beach up to the road that runs behind their camp and leads along the beach to Manila. To the right of the road, about a mile north of this camp, a narrow road leads off to the interior. Along this road Colonel Hale posted his Colorado men, and they waited for their pickets to come tumbling in. But the pickets didn't come. It was a false alarm. The Spaniards were not chasing the insurgents. Some of the Filipinos who had been in the trench until they were tired were going home, that was all, and they were hurrying so as to lose no sleep. The Spaniards never chase the insurgents, any way, now. They have had enough of it. The insurgents have a nasty way of crawling into the brush beside the road and hopping out with bolos as the pursuer comes along. They chop open a few Spanish heads, grab a few Spanish rifles and get out. So the regiments and the pickets waited in vain. In the meantime Colonel Hale had wigwagged to the Boston, which is only half a mile off shore, with a couple of candles, and asked that General Greene be notified. The Boston passed the signal along to the flagship, and a steam launch was sent to the China at once for the Gen eral, who had not yet established his field headquarters. General Greene went over to the camp with all speed. He found the men of the two regiments resting on their arms and still waiting for the pickets. The camp had been left under a guard of one company each. The General satis fied himself that there was no advance of the Spanish and sent the men back to their camps. Then he returned to his ship. To-day he moved into his headquarters in the 144 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC field. He has a native honse right in front of the Cali fornia camp, but is arranging to get under canvas. The men were putting up his tents this afternoon. All day there was sharp work in taking men ashore. The Third Battalion of California troops was ordered to be ready to move out from Cavite at 6 : 30 o'clock this morn ing. At 7 o'clock General Anderson came down to the dock and the men were not yet ready. The General was greatly displeased, and placed the Major who was in com mand of the battalion under arrest. 'The Major had been in charge of the property left behind by the other two battalions, and the work of storing that with the property of his own battalion was too much for the time he had, but the excuse did not satisfy General Anderson. The First Nebraska boys were taken from the Senator in half a dozen cascos, and all the afternoon they were busy setting up their tents and getting their stores up. The campground is a level stretch of comparatively high land between the beach and the Manila road, about two miles north of Paraiiaqne and as far south of Malatfe. Part of it is in turf and part under cultivation. The soil is pretty sandy, so that the rains will not make much trouble by reason of mud. The Nebraska boys are camped in a peanut field. This afternoon an old Filipino, who wore no shirt and had his cotton trousers rolled half way up his thighs, was wandering about the field asking every man he met who was not in a private's uniform for pay for his ruined peanuts. At last some one told him to go to the General, and ultimately he found his way to General Greene's headquarters. There he could not make his trouble understood, so he said he would get an interpreter. He came back presently with one of Aguinaldo's Captains, and the Captain interpreted by telling General Greene not to pay any man for the peanut field, because two or three would claim it, but to send the money to Filipino head quarters and there the right man would be found. Yesterday afternoon the big British bark Ancenis came working her way in by Corregidor. The Concord went out to meet her. The Ancenis was very light, and she re ported that she was fifty-five days out from Yokohama, here for cargo. The Concord turned her back, and when night fell she was threshing out past Corregidor again. NIGHT ALARM IN CAMP I45 Fifty-five days ago they knew in Yokohama that war had been declared and that this port was blockaded. They knew it was useless to come here for cargo. But there were men here who greatly desired cargoes of certain kinds. Just before the Concord steamed out to meet the An cenis the insurgent steamer Pilipinas came in loaded down with men. If there had been transferred to her hold a valuable cargo from the Ancenis no one was the wiser. The insurgents surely have a great many good rifles and great quantities of ammunition. They are better armed than our volunteer soldiers. July 21. — The Colorado boys have thought up a story to account for their performance of the other evening. It was drill, that was all. Everybody in the regiment knew what was coming. Colonel Hale had prepared the plan very carefully. The trouble was that the courier from the front made a mistake. It was the plan that he should bring the false alarm into his own camp. There every body was waiting for it and nothing but good drill would result. But unfortunately the courier stumbled through the bamboos and across the fields into the camp of the First California and the whole trouble resulted. That is a first-class after-explanation bu t for two things. There is an article of war which makes the bringing of a false alarm into a camp at night in the face of the enemy a mighty serious business. By making that explanation of his action Colonel Hale hops into the fire for sure. But even that explanation fails in face of the signal to the Boston and to the Olympia. That broke out the Admiral at half-past nine, and again after midnight when General Greene returned to his ship, and that's carrying a joke a long way. The Tenth Pennsylvania, the battalion of the Eight eenth Regulars, and one battery of Utah Light Artillery got away from their transports to-day and joined the camp. Work was going on all day, too, hustling out stores frora the ships of the Second Brigade. They are coming ashore in a fashion that makes the storekeepers hurry up to get one load stored away before the next ar rives. The last of the troops will be out of them to morrow, except the guards over regimental property, and the stores will all be unloaded in a few days. There will 10 146 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC have to be lively work to get it all done before General Merritt arrives with the third expedition. The figuring is that he is only eight days at most behind General Greene, and that ought to bring him here on Monday, the 25th. He will save at least four days by not going to Guam. Two Swiss gentlemen, Alfred Noll and Enrique Schaub, wandered into Camp Tambo this afternoon with passes from the Captain- General in Manila in and out of the lines. They were representatives, they said, of one of the largest trading houses in Manila. They were buying notes of the Philippine Bank in Manila. The natives sell a $5 note for $2 in silver, but the bank is still paying and there is great profit. General Greene concluded that it would be a fair thing to have General Anderson see the two traders. He suggested it to General Anderson's aide. Lieutenant Clark, who agreed with him. Clark invited the two gentlemen to go to Cavite in his launch and they accepted. To-night they are in jail, and there they are likely to stay for some time. Buying bank notes between the lines, with passes from the besieged, is curious busi ness in war time. Noll and Schaub confirmed many of the stories already told about the situation in Manila. They said the food supply was almost gone, that only horse meat was obtainable now, and that the army officials had seized most of the horses. Fruit cannot be had for any price, and a 35-cent chicken costs 13 or more. There is dissension in the army on the question of snrrendering. The Captain-General, who, it seems, is again in the as cendant after his temporary submission to Jaudenes, the Segundo Cabo, is determined to surrender as soon as the Americans advance. Some of the subordinate officers who want to fight to the last are reported to have drawn lots to see which shall kill Augustin if he surrenders, and the plan for his assassination is completed. The volun teers have refused to leave the walls of the city, and so nearly all of the regulars have been sent into the trenches and outworks. This morning Pedro Lapana, a Filipino, came to General Anderson and reported that he had discovered a plot on the part of the Spanish prisoners who surrendered in the gunboat Leyte to escape. These prisoners were turned over to the insurgents to be guarded, and it appears that NIGHT ALARM IN CAMP I47 they were being nearly starved to death. They had smug gled some letters through to Manila, and were prepared to break out of their prison — which would be very easy — steal a native boat, and try to get into Manila. The only possibility of success lay in the carelessness of their Fili pino guards. Spanish prisoners wander all about Cavite and beg from the Americans for money to buy food. No body pays any attention to them, apparently. They are dressed and look like some of the insurgents, and it would be no trick for a bold man to get away. Nine did the other day, and got into Manila. These fellows to-day were turned over to Captain Geary of the California Heavy Artillery, who has charge of the prisoners frora Guam. Now they will not want for food or exercise or proper guard. This was the birthday of her Majesty the Queen Regent of Spain. The ships of the foreigners anchored off Manila put on their best dress of bunting, and at noon flred the national salute. From far over the bay came the muffied echoes of the answering guns of Manila doing honour to the harassed first lady of Spain for the last time probably. Before another fortnight rolls by in all likelihood the crested red and yellow of Spain will have been hauled down from the giant flagstaff by the old fort forever, and in its place the glorious red, white, and blue ribbons of the freest country on earth will " ripple like the rainbows round the storm that shakes the sky." July 22. — It seems that some of the Leyte prisoners who were transferred to Captain Geary's care went at their own request to Admiral Dewey. They had had enough of insurgent care and protested to the Admiral. They were not in any conspiracy to escape. That, it seems, was con fined to the sailormen. The officers, about fifty of them, sent word to the Admiral that they wanted to be under an American guard, because the " Americans were a civ ilized people." So they were transferred. This morning eight of them were released. Captain Geary in taking a census of his new prisoners, found four priests and four civilians one of whom was Juan de Jnan of Madrid, who had been representing a Madrid newspaper in Manila. The eight were all released, and will try to get up to Hong Kong. 148 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC CHAPTER XXIII HOUSE BUILDING IN A RAINY CAMP Cavite, July 28. — The foolish cable that dribbles oc casional bits of half-baked news into Hong Kong, whence they are filtered down to Cavite, tells us that the Govern ment has decided to suspend operations against Manila until the rains are over. Then will the Government please send us a few hundred arks ? We have urgent need of them at once, and if they could reach us by cable it would be a godsend. By the end of the rainy season, in October, there will be nothing left of us with which to resume operations but our gun-barrels, and they will be covered with rust. All the rest will be in solution. We're saturated now. It beats all creation how it can rain out here. Rain is all right in its way. Some of it is a good thing. It keeps things generally reasonably clean and fur nishes drinking water. But one steady, undisturbed, im perturbable, unceasing flood becomes tiresome after a while, and all the time it is wet. You don't mind an occasional soaking. It gives excuse for taking a drink. Bnt one has something to do down here besides change his clothes and drink whiskey. And wet feet bring fever. Windows and shutters clamped as close together as Spanish rain- driven ingenuity can force them keep out some of the rain and all of the sodden air that courtesy calls fresh be cause it raoves. The mercury charges to the top of its glass case in the thermometer and disappears from view in the barometer. The wise men wag their beards and make remarks about typhoons. With body and soul burning up with fever, and the cinchona band playing the Dead March from " Saul " in your ears, somehow you sort of lose focus. Things get out of perspective, and there is a lack of con sistent continuity. You wabble a bit, and the rum you have drunk to help the quinine you have eaten is singu larly ineffective for the desired purpose, but powerfully active in the wrong way. Over in camp they are enjoying themselves mightily — HOUSE BUILDING IN A RAINY CAMP I49 if one has no regard for truth. Uncle Sam's nep_ew in the ranks is like the "bloomin' cosmopolouse," for his work " begins at gawd knows when an' his work is never through. " And the rain hasn't anything to do with it. He turns out at 4:45 in the morning and drills a few hours — poco mas, poco menas [more or less] in the rain. Then he gets his breakfast, seasoned with rain-water. After that he cleans up his rifle and coats it liberally with oil, against the soaking it will get in the morning drill. Guard mount interrupts other things, and if he happens not to be on the guard detail, or the police detail, he gets a few mo ments in his soggy shelter tent to consider the state ofthe weather and to speculate on the subject of patriotism considered as a business. After morning drill he gets a chance to go out into the scrub with an axe and gather some thorn-spiked bamboo. This bamboo, tough, wiry, and covered with briers as it is, is the only genuine, all-around infallible, friend he has. As long as his axe and his wit hold out the bamboo will'do the rest. He cuts down a long pole, perhaps four inches in diameter, and trims off all the little branches and big thorns. Then he cuts it into four-foot lengths. One end he sharpens and in the other he cuts a good sized notch. He drives four of these stakes a foot or more into the ground, one at each corner of his tent. The notches in the upper ends serve as cradles for the long bamboos he lays across them as stringers for the house he means to build. These stringers are just as long as his tent. The sticks that go with the shelter tent are not long enough now, so he cuts a couple of bamboos to serve as tent poles, one at each end. At the back of the tent he swings a bamboo girder between the two stringers, resting the ends in notches in the stringers and lashing them fast with fine strips of the surface of green bamboo, tougher, stouter, and more pliable than wire. His tent spreads at the bottom about seven feet, and he has one chum to help him occupy it. Two feet and a half inside the front corner stake he drives another one on each side. These are notched on top also, and across them he lays two other stringers, resting the rear ends in notches in the girder at the back. This gives him thc framework of two beds, each two and a half feet wide and as long as his tent. Now he splits some I50 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC bamboo poles into thin strips, some just the length of his bed and others just the width of it. The strips are per haps an inch wide, and are trimmed down to about an eighth of an inch in thickness. His sharp little axe is his only tool. He weaves the short strips into the long ones, criss-cross, until he has a mat just the size of his bedstead. At two-foot intervals along the frame he steps little bam boo slats in the bed stringers. Over these he lays his im provised springs, and he has a bed that is cool — compara tively, not even an ice machine is really cool down here — and comfortable. Between the two beds there is a space about two feet wide where he can stand upright. At the rear end of the tent he swings another little woven mat about two feet wide between the beds, and there he has a little table, on which he can put the ¦trinkets he wants to keep out of the wet. Above it, on the rear tent pole, he straps a small piece of board, secured somewhere, and sawed into shape for an arm -rack. There the two guns rest in the intervals between drills and guard duty. Some pegs in the tent poles serve as hooks, and the house is fairly complete. There is space enough between the beds for the men to walk into the tent and for their feet when they want to sit on the beds and read or work. A frame on the rear pole, beside the arm-rack, holds a candle. But the ingenious soldier is not through yet with his devices for comfort. His tent is only one thickness of canvas, and, although it will shed rain, it will not stand against the customary Philippine deluge. He builds a light frame of bamboo over it and covers the frame with a thatch of banana leaves. Or, perhaps, he uses the ever- faithful bamboo. In front of the tent he makes a similar awning. If the sun should shine by any chance, it would serve as a shade, bnt its chief work is in turning rain. Altogether the soldier has built himself a serviceable house. It keeps him fairly dry when he can stay in it, and his bed is off the ground. The tent makes the roof, and the thatch protects that. It is almost as good as a native hnt. Housebuilding such as this is not done, of course, in one morning's respite from routine work, or in an after noon either. It fills up the small chinks between army duty for a couple of days, and until it is finished the sol dier lies on the ground and stands it as best he can. So HOUSE BUILDING IN A RAINY CAMP 151 far he has stood it well. There has been almost no sick ness in camp. In barracks in Cavite these was a great deal, principally due to the fact that the men were so near the native village. They ate all sorts of fruit with as much avidity as if they never expected to see fruit of any kind again. And they drank whatever they could find in the way of liquor, experimentally, and the results very often were disastrous. At first there was a good bit of sickness that was very much like dysentery. General An derson says that there was no dysentery. The medical men shake their heads and say they do not think there was any dysentery. And there you are. The soldier's housebuilding gets a welcome break at noon with " chow," and after that there is time for more of it. Then afternoon drill comes and more work on the wet rifles, and evening parade and supper and more rain, and then back to the tents again and oil up the rifles and crawl away from the edge of the tent, where the water soaks through. The camp extends over a wide strip of land near the shore for about a mile and a half. Now it is to be en larged and pushed further up toward the front. General Merritt's arrival stirred things up a bit. Very soon after the Newport dropped anchor the Provisional Governor of the Philippines had begun to take stock of his province. He took luncheon with Admiral Dewey, and benefited by the vast amount of information collected by the active naval commander. Then he saw General Anderson and heard all about what had been done by the land forces. General Greene was away on a reconnoissance of his own that afternoon, but early the next morning Gen eral Merritt saw him and learned what he had found out. There had been a lot of scouting and several parties had been clear around Manila, making maps and turning in very complete reports covering the character of the coun try and the possibility of transporting the different arms of the service, prospects for foraging, ways of living on the country, camp-grounds, possibilities of artillery being of service, and all those things that a general needs to know about the enemy's country. General Merritt went over all the materials and data that had been collected, and heard all there was about the situation. 152 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC First the artillerymen on the Newport were hustled into camp, with their guns and their supplies. This interfered somewhat with the unloading of stores frora the transports of the second expedition, which had been proceeding with great rapidity, bnt that work was resumed again with the old vigour as soon as the Newport's troops were landed. Cascos were kept on the go all the time, and gangs of natives were running about on shore, carrying the boxes and bales and bags from the docks to the storehouses. Now the ships are nearly unloaded, and by the time the remaining transports of the third expedition are here the Quarterraaster will be ready for thera. It is a task of appalling proportions to unload a transport here by means of the slow, poky lighters and the natives. They are not quick to understand what is wanted, and it does no good to get excited and swear. They keep calm and sit down until you get an interpreter. There is hardly a thing that they can do without debate, and their discussion is animated and long. General Merritt decided at once on the formation of his command into one division of two brigades, one under Gen eral Greene, the other under General MacArthur, who is on one of the ships now due. All will go into Camp Dewey, and General Anderson will leave his comfortable quarters here and go under canvas as division commander. Major Jones, who has been Chief Quartermaster, is sent to camp as master of transportation, and Major Wadsworth comes into Major Jones's place here. Jones is one of the most capable men in the army, a man of tremendous energy and unlimited ability to hustle. And he keeps his men hus tling, too. He has managed all the work of transporting the troops from the ships and to camp and unloading the stores and getting them housed. He has kept everything moving at top speed and has accomplished an enormous amount. Jones was for a straightont settlement of the Aguinaldo question at the start, and he never was happier than when the demand for transportation brought the matter partly into his hands. Then he delivered the first eye-opener the crafty Filipino had. That is the situation to-day. Everybody is hard at work, and all the preparations move toward the coraraon end, the attack on Manila. The fieet is ready as far as HOUSE BUILDING IN A RAINY CAMP 153 the ships now here are concerned, but the Admiral wants to wait until the Monterey gets here with her 12 and 10- inch rifles. He wants them for use against the heavy guns in the shore batteries. There are two opinions about the question of a bom bardment. Admiral Dewey has had the best sort of in formation that the Captain-General has made up his mind to surrender. A Consul, who has been one of the best sources of information the Admiral has, is also a great friend of Augustin, and he told the Admiral several days ago that when the Spanish Commander-in-Chief became satisfled that Camara's fleet, with reinforcements, had turned back, he would be ready to surrender. July 29. — The chief Commissary is feeding Aguinaldo's prisoners by order of General Merritt. If Aguinaldo doesn't like it they will be fed anyhow. There are only a few of the poor devils left in Cavite now, less than a hun dred all told. When there were thousands of them, and the American troops had just landed, they were fed fairly well. Their ration was alraost all rice, but there was enough of that to keep thera in pretty good condition, and it was what they were accustomed to having. But the thousands have been moved out, and this little crowd that is left is having a hard time of it. The men have sold the buttons off their uniforms and the distinguishing marks from their hats, and some of them have sold even their medals given thera by the boy King for valour and loyalty. The little they got for these trinkets went but a short way in providing food, and fruit was all it bought ; no meat. Yesterday the Comraissary happened to go by the old convent where they are kept, and the sight of the thin, wax-like faces peering through the bars of the old cloister windows stopped him. He pushed the Pihpino guard aside and went in. Dozens of the Spaniards sur rounded him, all begging for money for food. They of fered what poor trinkets they had to sell— anything for food. The Commissary reported to the General, and this morning went with two natives with a handcart full of canned roast beef and hardtack. . t ^ There was a great clamour in the prison when the little squad, headed by the Commissary and his clerk, went through the big gate. The poor devils, emaciated, un- 154 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC kempt, ghastly white, straggled out and surrounded him, so eager they could hardly wait for the boxes to be broken open. Their officer was with them, and he bustled about with his little cane and his book in which their names were written, ready to call the roll and see that each man got his share. The silver head was gone from the stick, and he was barefooted like the rest. Not a brass button was left to him or a distinguishing mark of his rank. He was bareheaded. The men were formed in double line across the yard, and at the start the line was straight, but gradually, as the Commissary's Filipinos broke open the hardtack boxes, the ends of the line drew in until the half-starved wretches formed a semicircle about the hand cart and the food. Then the issue began. The officer wanted to call his roll, but the men had not fallen in in order, and it developed at once that there would be a chance for repeating ; one man was at one end of the line and the next at the other. So the Commissary ordered the officer to shut up and the men to keep their places. Then his own men marched along the line, one with an armful of hardtack boxes, and the other issuing one box to each man. As each man got his ration he sidestepped to the right and the next fell into his place. So every man got a box of the good crackers, and before the third had drawn his ration the first two were eating theirs. Then the beef was served out, and this time the officer got along all right with his roll call at the start, but finished in a grand mix-up in less than a minute. There was one can for four raen. The first four men called fell out of line, stepped up to the handcart and got their beef. Then, instead of reforming they moved off to one side a little and began to oi^en the can. The second squad joined them, and in no time there was a tangle. Some ran back to the line to try to repeat and others left the line to try to get their share ahead of the rest. The Commissary stopped the roll call on the spot and reformed the line. Then he raade those who had drawn beef fall out, and the rest he separated into squads as they stood in line, and gave each squad a can. They thanked him with shouts, and were scattering to their separate nooks and corners for the feast, when he stood upon the steps by the big gate and raade them a speech in Spanish. It was neither Cas- INCHING UP ON THE DONS 155 tilian nor OUendorfian, but they understood and shouted assent. "Manana," he said, "todos bianco roba." He rubbed his own spotless white jacket and pointed to their shabby, dirty jackets. " No bianco roba," he went on, " no chow. Blanco roba, chow." ["To-morrow, all clean clothes. No clean clothes, nothing to eat. Clean clothes, plenty to eat."] They laughed and shouted and promised all clean clothes for to-morrow. Water they have in plenty, and they can work for themselves. But it will be a great sur prise if he succeeds in putting them through that process so easily. CHAPTER XXIV INCHING UP ON THB DONS Cavite', July 30. — We are inching up on the Spaniards and turning down the insurgents at the same time. As I said in a previous letter, Aguinaldo has been doing the very best a clever young man with few advantages and small means can do to complicate matters here, and he has had some inadvertent assistance. By the time Gen eral Merritt got here the correspondence between the insurgent chief and General Anderson had grown rather voluminous, and the diplomatic advantage was not with the American. General Anderson had finally been brought to the point of simply acknowledging the receipt of Aguinaldo's letters and saying that they wonld be re ferred to General Merritt. General Merritt has wasted no time whatever with the insurgent leader. The question of the procurement of transportation facilities, over which there had been so much letter-writing, he settled out of hand by sending out Major Thompson, his chief signal officer, with a detachment to seize what animals and con veyances were needed. They pay what they think is a fair price for whatever they take, and the only trouble so far has been that they have paid too much. They are bulling the market and ruining the natives and bankrupt- 156 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC ing the Americans. They have actually paid 100 pesos for a horse that could have been bought for 40. But the satisfactory part of it is that they take what they want, and Aguinaldo's desires or orders do not figure in the transaction. Frora this good start the General has gone further. By his orders General Greene sent the regulars of the Eight eenth Infantry, encaraped at Camp Dewey, forward on outpost work. They moved up close to ¦the trenches occupied by the insurgent lines. The Utah Battery has been moved up into the trenches occupied by the insurgents in front of Malate. Our out posts were so far up that occasionally where there was a brush between the insurgents and the Spaniards, Spanish bullets and shells fired over the Filipinos dropped among our men. No one was hit, but that was good luck only. General Merritt sent word to Aguinaldo asking hira to stop the insurgents from firing on the Spaniards and provoking a reply. Aguinaldo complied by withdrawing his men from the trenches and the Utah men were sent forward. Their guns are in position now less than a thousand yards from the enemy. They are supported by a battery of the Third Artillery as infantry, and a battalion of infantry is held always in reserve ready to move to their reinforce ment at once if necessary. Major Jones is collecting material to transport all the artillery to the front and into the interior. It is the in tention to corduroy the roads. This will be done by covering them with bamboo mats, such as the natives use for bridge flooring, instead of in the usual way at home with logs. The bamboo corduroy will have the advan tage that it can be taken up after the guns have passed and carried ahead to be used again. Our men at the front have orders not to begin any action, but to respond if they are fired on ; as this is written the reports of rifles and an occasional gun are coming across the bay from in front of Malate, but it cannot be told from here whether the flring is at our men or at insurgents further inland. General Merritt has been very active in informing him self about the character of the country around Manila, particularly to the south and east. It is from one of those directions that the attack will be made— if indeed, it INCHING UP ON THE DONS 1 57 comes to a fight. The engineers are also hard at work making maps. Parties are out constantly. They have followed the insurgent lines clear around the city several times and have made accurate locations of the Spanish outposts, besides obtaining a lot of information about the strength of the main Spanish lines and the location of guns on the walls. The engineers are engaged now in taking sights from church towers and tall buildings about Manila on objects in the city and so coming to exact measurements of distances. Aguinaldo does his best to keep at the head of the pro cession, but it is evident that he is falling behind. The question of what will happen to the insurgents after Manila falls is already worrying him. The Filipino object will have been accomplished when the Spaniards are driven out of the city ; that is, the main object. After that there will be no need of an insurgent army, and the ques tion arises. What will the Filipinos do with their arms ? If the Americans are wise there will be a general and thorough disarmament. How to accomplish that is one of the problems General Merritt must decide. Aguinaldo foresees that possibility, and is planning already to fore stall it if he can. He has written to General Merritt, asking as a matter of justice to the Filipinos, and as a great privilege also, that when the city finally does sur render to the Americans his army be permitted to march through the streets. He wants to make a triumphal march through the strong city of his oppressors. It would be a great triumph for him, and a great glory. What political assistance it would give him in the way of pres tige, or influence over the tribes and factions that are op posed to him, is one of the things General Merritt will consider in making his reply to Aguinaldo's request. He has not yet reached a determination. Aguinaldo does not want his men disarmed, and he makes this suggestion to General Merritt to avoid it : That there be formed several regiments of Filipinos, to be officered by Americans, and to be kept as part of the reg ular force of the Americans in the Philippines as long as they maintain an armed force in the islands. The fact which that suggestion brings up most forcibly is the ac tion of the Filipinos in going over by whole regiments to 158 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC the Spaniards in the present rebellion. It would be diffi cult to flnd an American officer here who wonld take such a comraand voluntarily. They recall the great Indian mutiny, and they are not blind to the events that are occurring here almost daily. CHAPTER XXV MILITARY STATION NO. 1 Cavite' July 30. — The new Philippine station of Uncle Sam's Post Office is in full operation. It is only a branch of the San Francisco office, but it is as busy in a way as the head concern. The Postmaster is Mr. P. W. Vaille, who is an inspector in the railroad Post Office, with head quarters at Portland, Ore. He carae down on the China with ten clerks and a safe full of good things in the way of stamps and supplies, registry books, money-order forms, and all that a well-regulated Post Office should have, for this is going to be a big office. When it is established in Manila with the business of 20,000 soldiers to look after, as well as that of the city, it will have a lot to do. The 20,000 soldiers will provide alraost as much work for it as a town the size of Omaha. Mr. Vaille had a notion all the way over that his outfit would be the first thing landed frora the ship. But he was disappointed. There are other things more impor tant to an army in the field than a Post Office. There is the debarkation of troops, and that requires all the cascos that might be used for taking a safe full of postage stamps ashore. After the men are all in camp their stores must follow, and as the stores are always loaded hit and miss in a troopship, so that they must be handled two or three times in order to get out what is wanted, it takes a lot of time to get the army things out and be ready at last to handle the Postmaster's safe. Then, too, the Postmaster wants an office. He must have it. Now the buildings in an army post are in the custody of the Quartermaster, and the Quartermaster just now is the busiest man in the lot. He is in charge of a few hundred other things as well as MILITARY STATION NO. I 1 59 the buildings and all of them require immediate attention. He is the big boss of the fleet of cascos and the tug mis named Rapido, and he just has to " make ice cream " all the time, with no chance whatever to look after the selec tion of Post Office buildings. Besides, mail is a matter of secondary or tertiary impor tance to an army in the field. It is a fine thing to get a lot of letters, especially letters from " Polly," but the heads of affairs are old grey-headed men ; who ceased to be troubled by considerations of ' ' Polly " long ago, and are more intent on getting army work done than they are get ting letters or writing them. Which, undoubtedly, is good for the army, however the spruce young West Pointers and their numerous " Follies " may feel about it. So you see how naturally Mr. Vaille was mistaken. But troops and stores were finally put on shore, and the Quartermaster found time to pick out a building for the Post Office and a casco to bring the safe ashore. In the meantime there had been two mails by the transport City of Sydney and Australia, but every fellow had to take his own chance of catching them. There was no Post Office to help him. The building given to Mr. Vaille was a brick storehouse that stands on the south side of the plaza in front of Gen eral Anderson's headquarters, and is only a few yards from the headquarters building. There was a lot of work to do in fitting it up, and all of it is not done yet, but the office was formally opened for business yesterday afternoon. There was a floor to be put in, mailbox racks to be built, and a rack for the mail sacks. It takes a native carpenter a long time to get anything done, particularly when he is working with narra, for the wood is so hard that it ruins ordinary tools, and nails bend and crumple up when one tries to drive them through it. A thorough skirmish through Cavite brought to light three or four old sets of pigeonholed shelves which do fairly well for box racks, and in an abandoned schoolhouse was found a form with its bench, which serves admirably for the general public desk, which is a necessary adjunct of any well-regulated United States Post Office. The Philippine station now consists of two rooms and a hall. The hall is in the centre of the building, and the l6o OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC main door, in fact, the only door, opens into it. On one side, to the left as you enter, a low railing and a screen separate the distributing room from the public hall. In the distributing room are the mail sack rack, Mr. Vaille's personal office, the letter boxes, and Mr. Vaille's bed. The drop box hangs on the railing, and the general delivery window is to be placed beside it. Across the hall, to the right as you enter, are the money order, registry and stamp departments, all in one, with a single window. There the big safe with its precious supplies stands, and there the two clerks, Conway and Kelly, hold forth and have their beds. It is an all-right Post Office, and the troops are mighty glad to have it. But the dearest thing about the Philippine station is outside the door. It is the thing which most of all gives it a homelike air and takes a fellow back to the land where he wishes he could be right now. It is a board hanging on the wall, with a long strip of paper tacked on it bear ing the list of " unclaimed letters." On the other side of the door is a big blackboard, and there yesterday morning some one wrote. " Overland mail four days late." We thought the other transports certainly would be in yester day but when late in the afternoon nothing had been heard of them, the notice on the blackboard was changed to " Overland mail five days late." The blackboard also announced that the mail for home would close to-day at 12 M. Similar notice was sent to all the ships and to Camp Dewey. This morning the mail will be collected and brought over to the Post Office. It goes straight through to San Francisco by the City of Peking, which has been released by the navy from her charter. Men from different regiments have been detailed as clerks in the Post Office, and the mails for the commands in camp will be made up separately and sent directly to the regimental or company postmasters. The San Francisco Post Office did a brilliant thing with the mail that was to come out by the third expedition. It was all put onboard the Morgan City, the slowest ofthe five transports. Two days after the Morgan City left San Francisco, the Newport sailed with General Merritt. The Newport has been here five days, and the transports are still coming. We have the mail for those two days, and OUR BOYS SMELL POWDER l6l we might as well have had the other mail. But then we get two bites at the cherry. 'The new Post Office is a great relief to troubled minds. It settles the much-vexed question of sending soldiers' letters unstamped. The First Brigade left San Francisco just as the Post Office Department issued its first notice of its intention about such letters, and the boys got an idea that they could send anything home by mail simply indorsed "soldier's letter." The first mail went by Hong Kong, and it cost Consul-General Wildman $120 Mexican to put British stamps on the letters. It was almost im possible to get such stamps here. The boys have not been paid since they enlisted, and the officers who had money have used or lent it all. Now, however, it's all right. The Peking will deliver to the San Francisco office a great pile of letters bearing the legend : Soldier's letter, shove it ahead ! Three months' pay due, 'nary a red. Plenty of hardtack, no soft bread, Soldier's letter, shove it ahead ! CHAPTER XXVI OUR BOYS SMELL POWDER Cavite, Philippines, Aug. 4. — The fight in the trenches south of Malate on the night of Sunday, July 31, which resulted in the first loss of life for the American forces in the conquest of the Philippine Islands differed in only one important particular — the one which cost lives — from the occurrences of previous or subsequent nights. It be gan with the usual evening firing by the Spaniards, kept up against the Americans, just as they had kept it up against the insurgents when only Filipinos occupied trenches in their front. The unusual feature of the night's work was introduced by our men in replying to the Spanish fire. They replied as Americans always will, standing up and exposing themselves in order to make their fire effective. The Spaniards shot surprisingly well, and many of those who were exposed were hit. As usual, the most danger- II l62 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC ous place was the open ground behind the trenches. Our reinforcements crossed this ground, and there a large part of our loss was incurred. That the Spaniards also suffered there can be no doubt whatever, but estimates of their loss are all guesswork. Several stories have come in. One man reported seeing five cartloads of dead soldiers hauled into Brmita. There was a report from Manila that the Spanish loss was 300. But just as after Dewey's Mayday fight, there is absolutely no way of arriving at anything like a trustworthy account. The Spaniards do not know themselves, and if they did they could not be depended upon to tell the truth. It becomes more and more clear that it was a mistake, and it cost the Tenth Pennsylvania men who made it dear. There was no need of replying to the Spanish fire. The intrenchment was almost perfect protection. When the men kept well behind their earthwork the Spanish fire was practically harmless. The First Colorado men, who began the trench, and the First Nebraska boys, who finished it, suffered no loss, although they worked steadily through the day as well as at night in throwing up the parapet. There was desultory firing at them much of the time, but it was all wild and they made no response. They paid not the least attention to the Spaniards and went on with their work. The night after the fight I spent in the trench with the First Colorado, Utah batteries and Third Battalion, First California. The Spaniards kept up a terrific fire nearly all night. Por a few minutes after it began the Utah boys kept up a lively fire with their 3-inch guns, and the Col orado boys showed the Spaniards a trick in volley firing. Then our fire ceased and thereafter from the main trench not a shot was fired all night. Not a man was hurt after our firing stopped. They sat behind their parapet and let the Spaniards blaze away. Bullets and shells flew over our heads in whistling chorus until daylight, and then there was a tremendous outburst. Colonel Hale, however, kept his men down, and after a while the Spaniards got tired. It was on the morning of Friday, July 29, that our men first went forward to the trenches. From the time, about the middle of July, when the first battalion of California men located the camp at Tambo, which General Anderson OUR BOYS SMELL POWDER 163 afterward named Camp Dewey, outposts had been stationed regularly somewhere near the insurgent line. When the Colorado men were sent to camp with the other battalions of the First California they sent outposts out also and got into the trouble of which you have been told. Finally, when the camp grew to its present size and there was pros pect that it would grow still larger, it became undesirable to have the insurgents in our front. There was no tell ing when the Spaniards might raake a rush and drive them back, as they were reported to have done that night the Colorado men turned out the whole camp. So General Greene sent to Aguinaldo, in General Merritt's name, and asked to have the insurgents restrained from stirring up the Spaniards every night. The high firing sometimes dropped shells and bullets among our outposts, and it wasn't a good thing anyway to have another force between us and our enemy. So the insurgents were withdrawn from their outposts all along our front, clear over to Pasay as the maps have it, or Pineda, as the people call it, and on Friday our troops were sent forward to take their place. It was the lot of the Colorado raen first to take position directly in front of the eneray. Two battalions went for ward under Lieutenant-Colonel McCoy and the third bat talion was held in reserve. Colonel McCoy saw at once that the old insurgent trench was untenable. It was in a bad place, easily flanked, and there was good cover in front of it. Beyond the right end there was thickly wooded coun try, through which the enemy could make an advance with good chance of escaping observation. Colonel McCoy de cided to advance the line to the old Capuchin Chapel, which stood in the middle of the field in front of the old insurgent trench. He looked over the ground with his engineers and then laid out the line of the intrenchment. It was 1 o'clock in the afternoon when the men went to work on the ditch. It had been raining pretty steadily for a week, and there were heavy squalls at frequent inter- vals that afternoon, bnt most of the time the Spaniards had an entirely unobstructed view of the Americans and what they were doing. They took note of it occasionally in a disinterested sort of way by sending a Mauser bullet down now and then to investigate. The messengers were almost all very high and no damage was done to our 164 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC men, who kept at work, undisturbed by the desultory shooting. The Colorado boys had the making of a good breastwork done when they were relieved in the morning by the First Nebraska Regiment. The ditch, trench, out- ¦work, or whatever you call it, was simply a lot of dirt piled up in a line that ran at right angles to the beach and the main road to Manila — Camino Real — and extended across the 250 yards, more or less, between them. It crossed fairly open country, on ground that is reasonably high for that locality. It is level and perhaps six feet above the sea, highest just at the beach line. A line of bamboos fringes the east side of the Camino Real and a similar line runs all along the edge of the beach. The Nebraska boys kept up their work on the breast work all day Saturday, and the Spaniards paid them no more attention than they had paid to the Colorado boys the day before. The Nebraska men worked on both sides of their parapet, making two ditches, the dirt from both of which they heaped on the long pile that gradually rose to a height of nearly seven feet all along the line. Behind the parapet the ditch was made wide but shallow, so that water would not stand in it. Vain hope ! Water will stand in a boot track anywhere on that field after such rains as we are having now. About seventy yards west of the road stands the ruin of an old Capuchin chapel. It was in good condition when this rebellion began, but many bullets and shells have wrecked it almost completely. In the centre of it north and south a wide hall runs through from east to west. On the east the trench began just north of the big double door that opened into this hall and ran straight to the road. On the west, on the sea side, the trench joined the chapel at the north corner. Earth was piled against the north end of the chapel to the height of six or seven feet, up to the level of the two iron-barred windows. At the beach the parapet jumps forward about five yards and then swings across the eight or ten yards of beach to the wreck of on old caisson, such as the Spaniards used in Cavit6 to fill with rocks and put in front of their ships as improvised armour. At the base of the inside of the parapet there is a solid shoulder projecting out about two feet all along the line for the men to stand on when they rise up to fire OUR BOYS SMELL POWDER 165 over the earth work. Along the top of the parapet there are notches and peepholes for the lookouts. On Saturday, July 30, the work was far enough advanced to place some artillery in position, and light batteries A and B of the Utah Battalion sent forward two guns, each with eight men to a gun, under command of their Lieuten ants. The guns of Battery A were placed on the right of the chapel, about equidistant from it and the road. Bat tery B's guns were placed at the left of the chapel, a little to the east of the line of bamboos that fringes the beach. The Spaniards kept whacking away at our boys occasion ally on Saturday but did no damage whatever at the trench. Further down the road, however, at the barricade where the footpath crosses the road north of the Pasay road they drew the first American blood that was let in the conquest of the Philippine Islands. Private W. H. Sterling of Company K, First Colorado, was the man hit. His regiment had been relieved by the Nebraska boys at 10 o'clock and was returning to camp. As he was march ing along a bullet that had been fired high came down the road, and took him in the muscle in the upper part of the left arm. It stung and it bled, but it didn't hurt very much and did no serious damage. Sterling will soon be about his work again as if he never had been hit by a Spanish bullet. On Saturday night the Spaniards put a little more spirit into their work, and peppered away in lively fashion. The breastwork was nearly finished, and the Nebraska boys took no chances by trying to go on with their work at it. Colonel Bratt had them all inside the parapet. They kept as sharp a lookout as was possible in the nasty night, and for the rest sat tight, making no reply to the Spanish fire. The result was that no one was hurt. They had thrown pickets out to their right, across the road beyond the line of intrenchment. There was no effort to flank them, and the pickets had no work to do. The Utah artillerymen tore up part of the floor of the old chapel and built plat forms for their gnns to keep them out of the mud and water as much as possible, and to make a comparatively easy place for handling them. The embrasures were strengthened and closed up as much as possible, and when that was done the rest of the lumber was turned into shacks l66 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC beside the guns, into which the young artillerymen from Utah crawled and went to sleep, sheltered from the rain, and as little concerned about the Spanish bullets as they were about the water, which fell in torrents from the un friendly skies upon the Nebraska infantrymen. On Sunday morning, July 31st, the Tenth Pennsylvania relieved the First Nebraska in the trench, and a new detachment of Utah men went up to man the four guns of their batteries. The men worked along that day completing the parapet and strengthening it and were undisturbed by the Spaniards, who were hardly wide enough awake to keep up the desultory fire with which they had tried to annoy the Colorado and Nebraska men on the two previous days. The Spanish trench is about 850 yards from that occn pied by the Americans. It begins at the beach south of the magazine, outside the old fort at Malate, and runs northeast until it clears the fort, then turns to the east and runs in a straight line well out beyond the Camino Real. It is a solid-looking fortification, with plenty of rocks in the parapet, and topped with sand-bags. In front of it, to the south, a small creek wriggles about over the low, swampy field. A road which leads from the fort to the Camino Real crosses this creek by a stone bridge, which has been piled high with sand-bags. About 150 yards in front of our trench a little strip of tall grass runs across the open field from the beach to the road. Further north about 150 yards runs the trench the Spanish occnpied at first, but from which they retreated a couple of weeks ago when the insurgents got their battery of old smoothbores at work down the road a little way. The country between the two trenches is low and level. About the Camino Real the field, which is fairly open nearer the beach, is full of bunches of scrub, here and there a banana growing wild, a dump of acacias or a bunch of bamboos. It's just the kind of country for men who are game enough to sneak up on their enemy and try to pot him when he doesn't suspect any danger. East of the Camino Real, behind our position, the country is low and s-wampy, with a few paddy fields, and rnuch bamboo and banana scrub. In front and to the right of our position the field is fairly open, bnt there is considerable scrub. There the ground is higher. OUR BOYS SMELL POWDER 167 Ultimately our work will extend across this field. Just now the trench is little more than begun. Of just what happened on Sunday night there always will be many stories. There are a great many going about now, some of them decidedly contradictory, and raore of them are fulminating. The one which has perhaps more supporters than any other, and enjoys besides the merit, or at least the fact, of having been accepted by General Greene and published in General Orders, is that the Spaniards attempted to flank our line. That may be true but probably is not. There is one circumstance which is accepted by the believers of this story as absolute proof of its accuracy. That is that in the fight which occurred our men going up as reinforcements were subjected to a cross fire. Some Spaniards may have left their trench and crawled out into the scrub in front and to the right of our right of line, then resting in the Camino Real at the end of the trench but I am satisfied that there was no general movement on the part of the Spanish and no attempt to turn our flank. The cross fire undoubtedly was due to the fact that the whole Spanish line, which is much longer than ours, was engaged. The pickets of the Tenth Penn sylvania were driven in. They had been posted for the most part directly in front of their regiment, but some of them were east of the road and ahead of the line. There are two facts against the theory of a Spanish attempt to turn our flank, first, that the fire of the Spaniards was very heavy and that most of it was by volley, which it could not have been from men scattered about in the scrub brush and grass ; second, that the outposts of the second platoon of Battery K. Third United States Artillery, were not driven in and did not corae in until they were relieved at their station on Monday morning. This platoon of K Battery was stationed on the Pasay road in reserve. Lieutenant Kessler sent forward four or five Cossack posts — four men and a non-commissioned officer. These outposts were stationed to the right and ahead of our line, bnt through all the heavy firing of the night they made no report. No Spaniards came their way, a very singular fact if there was an effort to turn our right fiank. It seems much the most probable that this is what l68 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC happened : The Spaniards, having recovered from their lethargy of a few days, concluded to stir things up. They had not been stirred up themselves for several days. The insurgents had not been there to harass them, and our men had orders not to begin an engagement. The Span iards must have known that the insurgents had been with drawn from the trenches and that the Americans were in. There is no more resemblance between our trench and the insurgent affair than there is between a clipper ship and a coal barge. Accordingly, about 10 o'clock on Sunday night, the Spanish fire took on a regularity which showed that there was definite intention and purpose somewhere in the camp. The bullets began to whistle about our fellows in droves. The guns at Malate opened up also, and their roar, the shriek of their shells and the loud cracking report of bursting shells added to the other gen eral evidence to the Pennsylvanians that they were under fire. The Spanish fire, heavy as it was, was harmless as long as our men kept down behind the earthwork. But the Pennsylvanians could not resist the temptation to return the fire, and straightway the trouble arose. It was a terrible night. Rain fell incessantly and in torrents. A fierce wind drove it across the fields and into the trench, under the little shelter the men had thrown up. A quarter moon struggled to force a little light through the heavy clouds and succeeded only in making a ghostly glow, through which all objects showed black and awful. The long bamboos were tossed about by the wind that roared through giant acacias and mangoes with the rush and noise of a Niagara. The little clumps of bamboo and acacia that dotted the field in front of our line bobbed about in the gal^ij and were beaten down by the rain in such fashion that they made the best kind of cover for venture some devils — if there are any such among the Spanish — in crawling out to attack our line. The ditch behind our parapet filled up with thin mud. Little streams of mud ran down the embankment into this little lake. The plat forms built by the Utah boys for their guns were four inches under mud, and still the rain drove down in blind ing sheets. Colonel Hawkins being on the sick-list that night, the Tenth Pennsylvania was in command of Major Cuthbert. OUR BOYS SMELL POWDER 169 son, the senior Major. The Lieutenant-Colonel is in Pennsylvania recruiting the regiment up to its full strength. There are only two battalions here. Major Outhbertson sent Company A in on the left of our line. They manned the trench at the beach. H Company was posted on both sides of the guns of Battery B of Utah. C Company oc cupied the space between Battery B and the old chapel. On the other side of the chapel I Company was posted, with Battery A of Utah Light Artillery. K company — support — was in the barricade, where the old insurgent trench joined the Camino Real, and B Company — also supports — was on the Camino Real at the first barricade. D and E companies, under Major Bierer, were held in reserve, posted at McLeod's house, in rear of the insurgent trench, on the beach, and used by our forces for a field hospital. This house was occupied by its owner, an Eng lishman, when this row began, but long ago he gave it up. It has been shot through and through from both sides and is ruined. Where the Pasay road turns off from the Camino Real Lieutenant Krayenbnhl was posted with the flrst platoon of Battery K, Third United States Ar tillery, as infantry. Up the Pasay road, almost to the village. Lieutenant Kessler was posted with the second pla toon of Battery K, each platoon about eighty men strong, headquarters guard, camp guard and detailed men counted out. This was stronger than the companies of Pennsyl vania raen, who have only about eighty-five to a company, all told, and the details now are very large. Soon after the Spaniards began their regular and heavy fire the Pennsylvania pickets began to come in. They had been posted in Cossack outposts alraost directly in front of our line, about seventy-five yards distant. Some of the posts extended over to the right of our line, and should have been in touch with the posts set by Lieutenant Kessler from Battery K. They were not in touch with the regulars, however, because they returned to the trench and reported that they were driven in, whereas the regu lars never were heard from, and were relieved next morning at their stations. There had been heavy firing on their left nearly all night, they reported, and they had taken some part in replying to it, but no enemy had appeared before them and they had suffered no loss. I70 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC When the Pennsylvania pickets came tumbling back .nto their trench, they reported that the eneray was in force on our right front and was trying to flank us. That was serious business. Major Cuthbertson brought K and B companies up the Camino Real into the trench at once and sent word to Major Bierer to come forward with D and E companies and go in on our right across the road. While this was going on, the flring of the Spanish was maintained at a terrific rate. The crack of their Mauser rifles, short, sharp, spiteful, was like the long roll beaten on a giant drum. It was punctuated continually with the bursting of the shells they were throwing from the fort at Malat6. The American reply was as vigorous. At the start the Pennsylvania men fired by volley and did it well. The roar of their old Springfields all loosed oS together was like the report of a 10-inch rifle. It was almost impossible to tell in Cavite whether it was volley flring or cannonading. At times it sounded as if the Raleigh, which had taken the Boston's place off Camp Dewey, had moved up opposite Malate and opened on the Spaniards with her 8-inch rifles. The artillerymen from Utah were as cool as if they were bathing in their favourite salt lake. They got their four guns into action in a hurry, and kept thera there with a regularity that was undisturbed by the terrific assault made on them by the Spaniards. Small as they had made the embrasures for their guns, they were yet large enough for a hailstorm of Mauser bullets to sweep through. How more of the men were not hit can never be explained. The steel-cased bullets kept up a constant ringing on the metal of the cannon, but only one struck a gunner, and he got off with a flesh wound in the arm. Lieutenant Gibbs of Battery A, standing with his right hand resting on the wheel of one of his guns, got an illustration of how close one may come to being hit. A bullet struck the tire of the wheel just inside his thumb and passed under his hand, leaving a little burned strip across his thumb where it passed. IT BECOMES A BUSINESS FIGHT 171 CHAPTER XXVII IT BECOMES A BUSINESS FIGHT By this time it was a business fight. The Spanish were using their magazines and firing by squads. A great deal of the fire was high, some of it very high, but never before had any of our boys seen the Spanish anywhere near so accurate, and some of the Americans had been under their fire in the insurgent trenches many times. The bullets were flying over their heads in swarms. They whizzed, they whistled, they sang as a telegraph wire does in a wind. They zipped, they buzzed, they droned like a bagpipe far away, like a Junebug seeking a light on a hot night, like a blue-bottle buzzing against a window pane. They beat against the outside of our embankment with a sound like hailstones striking soft mud, like the faint hoofbeat of the horses going up the backstretch in the Suburban as it comes to you on the patrol judge's stand at the middle distance. They rattled against the old Capuchin chapel and ripped through its iron roof with a noise such as children make with a stick on a picket fence running along and drawing the stick across the pickets, or like a man drummiug on a window-blind. Did yon ever hear the cook beating up eggs on a platter ¦with a big spoon ? If that noise were magnified a thou sand times it would give a suggestion of the tattoo the bullets beat on that old chapel. And all this time there were the shells. Men who were in the civil war say the shells came through the air saying " Where is you ? where is you ? " all run together. "They sound like the ripping of silk, and they give you the same feeling down the back that it does to pull string through your teeth. The shells smashed through the poor old chapel and burst inside. They burst as they struck its heavy brick walls ; they burst short ; they struck our embankment and burst ; they burst over the heads of our men ; they flew high and went down the fields, bursting sometiraes among our men hurry ing up to reinforce the Pennsylvanians ; they burst along 172 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC the Camino Real ; they were almost as thick as the bullets, and yet, strange as it seems, there is record of only one man who was hurt by a shell, and he was not at all seriously wounded. He was Second Lieutenant A. J. Buttermore, D Company, Tenth Pennsylvania. A shell burst just in front of and over him. A piece of it hit him over the left eye and knocked him down. It made an ugly cut, but that was all. He got up and went on about his work, too busy to stop and hunt in the dark for the piece that hit him. All this time — it seemed long, but it wasn't — our fellows were pumping away at a great rate, and the roar of our volleys was warning the officers and men in Camp Dewey that there was hot work at the front. The Spanish were giving us a practical lesson of the value of smokeless powder. Every time our guns cracked a line of flame ran along the top of our embankment. Every sheet of flame drew a fresh hail of Mauser bullets. Every time a Utah gun cracked a Spanish cannon was aimed at the flash. There our boys had as good a mark as the enemy, and they did their best. It was only guessing at the range by the time between flash of gun and burst of shell, and there wasn't a stop watch on the line to give greater accuracy. But they did good work, and they fired as coolly as if they were at target practice. Their work was invaluable. Not only were they perfectly calm and in command of themseves, but they helped to steady their friends from Pennsylvania, who were beginning to get excited. Reports began to go along the line that the enemy were getting around the right flank. The infantrymen thought they could detect a change in the direction of the bullets that were whist ling over their heads. More of thera seemed to be coming frora the east, down our line, instead of from the north across it. While this was going on Major Bierer was taking D and E companies into action on our right. To do this he had to cross the open field in rear of our trench. It was a per fect hell he had to go through, a hundred yards of open ground, without sign of protection, swept by a storm of Mauser bullets that came from left, from front and from right, with shells from the Spanish guns bursting among and around them all the time. There the first American IT BECOMES A BUSINESS FIGHT 173 soldier in the Philippines fell before Spanish bullets. He was Corporal W. E. Brown of D Company. A Mauser bullet struck him through the body and he fell dead in his tracks. All about him men were dropping with bullets in the legs or arms. Some who were wounded kept on toward the enemy. A little beyond where Brown fell. Private William E. Stillwagon of E. Company got the bullet that cost him his life. Still the men went on with fine courage, and into position in the open field across the road at the right of our line. There they held their ground, pumping away at the Spaniards as hard as they could. Now a perfectly natural thing occurred with these green troops. Their pluck was as fine as man could ask. They were game to try to do anything they were told, but they had never been " shooted over," as the English say, and they got excited. They lost the regularity of their volley fire and their effectiveness decreased tremendously in con sequence. They could not see their enemy in the terrible night, and they could not see the flash of his rifles. They could not locate him and they were firing absolutely in the dark. With the roar of your own guns in your ears it is hard to judge by the crack of the enemy's Manser where he is. It is difficult to tell where a Mauser is fired when you have quiet and daylight. How almost impossible it is in the dark with battle raging about you, and a howl ing wind driving a terrific rain in eddies and gusts into your face and down your neck. Por an hour the fight had been going on fiercely. The noise of it got out to the ships of the fleet, drifting against the wind, and the searchlights began to wink and to travel over toward the Spanish position. Blessed relief to our men. It gave them now and then a glimpse of the country ahead of them. They could see something of where they were shooting, but still they could see no enemy. Camp Dewey had been awake a long time. Lying in his tent, almost at the north end of the camp. Captain O'Hara, in command of the battalion of the Third Artillery, unable to get sleep, had been keeping track of the firing. He knew our men had but fifty rounds of ammunition with them, and he realised that at the rate they were shooting that would soon be expended. He didn't know what the 174 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC trouble was, but he did know that if they were attacked they would want help when their ammunition was gone, and they would want it mighty badly. Battery K of his battalion was in position as supports, but the orders were not to go in unless the Pennsylvanians were in a pinch. Captian O'Hara counted the volleys until the firing be came indiscriminate and he understood that the boys were getting rattled. He had no orders, but he took a chance and he took it just in time. He jumped out of his tent, called his bugler and sounded the "assembly." As the bugle call rose over the camp, out of their tents tumbled the men of Battery H and into line they ran, Krag-Jorgensen rifles in hand and 150 rounds in their double belts. Down the camp below the Artillery another bugler picked up the call. The First Colorado men heard it and swarmed out with their guns. Nebraska followed suit, and soon half the camp was in arms. Leaving Captain Hobbs in command of Battery H. with orders to be ready to advance at the bugle call and to bring 10,000 rounds of extra ammunition. Captain O'Hara, with his orderly and his bugler started up the road toward the front. A little beyond the corner of the camp he met an orderly from Major Cuthbertson coming on the dead run. The orderly was blown and frightened. He had run through a rain of bullets on his way back for help, and it had increased his excitement and enlarged his notion of what had occurred. "We're whipped!" he shouted to Captain O'Hara. " We're—" But O'Hara didn't care what else had happened. His bugler was already putting his soul into the command " Forward ! " O'Hara heard the answer from Hobbs's bugler and Captain, orderly, and bugler charged up the road to the front with all the speed their legs would give. The bugles sang along the road the steady, reassuring song of " Forward ! " and the men of Battery H, toiling up through the dreadful mud, answered with a cheer and a fresh spurt. Somewhere ahead, O'Hara knew, Krayenbnhl and his own battery were. If they had not gone in already he would take thera. He met men coming to the rear with IT BECOMES A BUSINESS FIGHT 1 75 wounded, and now some coming without wounded, strag gling- " We're beaten," they shouted, and the ready bugler gave them the single reply of "Forward !" The shame faced stragglers fell in with the Captain, the orderly, and the bugler, and the little procession swept on toward the fight. It was hot work in the Camino Real. Much experience had given the Spaniards a first-class idea of the range, and they lined the road with bullets, for they knew that rein forcements would be likely to come that way. The mud was ankle deep most of the way, and, in spite of the rain, which was unceasing, the heat was awful. But there was trouble ahead, and on they went, with the exultant bugle singing its single word "Forward!" Every time the answer came sharp and clear from Battery H, and up the road they doubled for the dear life. At the crossroad and the first barricade, where Krayenbnhl had been posted with his regulars, there were only sorae stragglers, and Captain O'Hara thanked God and sounded "Forward !" — the regulars had gone in. The stragglers swung in with O'Hara, and they went on up the road. The bullets spat tered the mud in their faces and they hugged the bamboos at the sides ofthe road. They advanced in double column, one on each side of the road, and so they escaped harm. Just beyond this barricade Hobbs and his raen of Battery H overtook thera. The bugles coramanded " Forward ! " and on they ran. The song of the bugles carried down the wind to the trenches. The hard-pressed Pennsyl vanians heard it and answered with a cheer that drifted back to the hurrying regulars and put strength for a new spurt into their tired legs. As they went along Captain Hobbs felt a sudden sharp sting in his right thigh. He put his hand down and felt blood and knew he was hit. But his leg worked all right and he had his bugler sound " Forward ! " and went on. O'Hara was right about Krayenbnhl. The young Lieutenant had been keeping sharp watch of what was going on in his front, and when the American firing ceased to be by volleys and ran into an indiscriminate helter- skelter, he concluded that it was about time for him to go in. Then a man came back with the report that every- 176 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC thing was going to the dogs, and Krayenbuhl started, sending a message to Kessler, over on his right, to come along in a hurry. Kessler was expecting the order and was ready for it, and in went the men of Battery K on the jump. Krayenbuhl got there first and he was none too soon. The Pennsylvanians were almost out of ammuni tion. Some of them had four or five rounds left and some of them had none. Those who still had cartridges were potting away indiscriminately, firing at will. Nothing was the matter with them but rattles. They had not been hurt. There had been reports from across the road of the loss D and E Companies were suffering, and some of the men had seen their dead, but in the trench they were all right, and the Utah artillerymen, cool as a New Eng land Christmas, were serving their guns with clock-work regularity, undisturbed by rumour or by shell. As the regulars went in and Krayenbnhl realised what was going on he drew his revolver and jumped among the excited men, who were firing at will, shouting to them to get together, and threatening to shoot the first man who fired without orders. His own men swung into action, and his command and their work had the desired effect. The Pennsylvanians steadied down at once. The first volley of the regulars, fired as if it were only one gun, brought the volunteers back into shape, and they cheered the men of Battery K with a cheer that rang back along the road to O'Hara and Hobbs, puffing up with Battery H. The roar of the Krag-Jorgensen volley told O'Hara and Hobbs that their own men were in action, and the cheer that followed let them know that it was all right. But they did not slack up. Their bugles sounded the old command of " Forward ! " and they kept on. In the meantime the frightened courier had stumbled through the camp and into the tent of Major Jones, the master of transportation. The Major had been up and about for some time, expecting that reinforcements would be sent forward and ready to send extra ammunition as soon as the orders came from General Greene. The courier was almost in hysterics when he found the Major, and he was exhausted with his hard run of two miles through the mud. " Somebody take my gun," he cried. " Help me to IT BECOMES A BUSINESS FIGHT 1 77 General Greene ! Where's the General ? Somebody take me there ! We're whipped ! We're whipped ! Oh, it's awful ! " They almcst picked him up and dragged him across the lot and up the steps to the General's quarters in a native hut just in front of the camp. The General was up, ex pecting a message-from the front. " General," cried the wretched courier, " send reinforce ments — send every man, send every company. We're whipped, we're whipped ! The Utah battery is wiped off the earth. We're out of araraunition. Send help — send"— General Greene put his hand on the frightened mes senger's shoulder, and said, steadily : "Keep cool, young man. It's all right. We'll take care of you." After a little he got a more explicit report, but already he had ordered the general call to arms to be sonnded through the camp and ammunition to be sent forward. At the general call the bugles rang all over the camp, and every man answered with his rifle and his belt full of cartridges. Colonel Smith of the First California was ordered to go forward with his regiment at once, and before the miserable courier had half finished his dreadful story the first battalion under Major William Boxton was doubling up through the fields and the Colonel in the road was overhauling the two artillery Captains and the men of Battery H. The Second Battalion, under Major Hugh Sime, followed, to be held in reserve, and the Third Bat talion, under Captain Cunningham, in the illness of Major Tilden, was left in camp, it being booked for duty in the trench the next day. At last General Greene got the messenger's story as fully as the badly scared soldier could give it, and dismissed him. The poor fellow started back through the camp surrounded by men eager to hear from the front. "Did you hear any bullets ?" some one asked him. " Bullets !" he cried ; "they're like hail." General Greene at once ordered Captain Febiger of the Twenty-third United States Infantry to go out to the Raleigh and tell Captain Coghlan to be ready to engage the Malate battery. A terrific surf was booming in on the 12 178 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC beach in front of the camp, and Captain Febiger had no boat. After a lot of work he succeeded in signalling to the little Callao, which was lying in shore off the Raleigh, to send a boat. Finally the boat got through the surf and Captain Febiger put out. It was a tremendous task, but the Callao's men were equal to it, and the Captain, wet as if he had been dragged in on a lifeline, boarded the Raleigh. Captain Coghlan's orders from Admiral Dewey put him practically under General Greene, and he at once prepared to respond to the General's command. The ship was oleared for action and the crew went to quarters. Meantime Captain Febiger had returned to General Greene, who sent word back to the Raleigh by the Callao's boat that a rocket would be the General's signal for the Raleigh to go in. So the Raleigh stood by with guns shotted and crew at quarters waiting for the rocket, but to the great disappointment of the jackies it was not fired. The reg ulars in the trenches settled the matter, and no help was needed from the navy. Before Captains O'Hara and Hobbs got to the trench with Battery H, Kessler had joined Krayenbuhl with the second platoon of K. The steady, heavy volley of the Krag-Jorgensen rifles of the regulars warned the Spaniards that reinforcements had come, and that a new force was against them. Then came Boxton's battalion of California men and made a terrible mistake. They marched up through the open field under the hellstorm of shells and bullets frora the Spanish. Captain Reinhold Richter of Company I was the first to fall, hit on tlie top of the head on the right side by a bullet which made a pulp of the outer layer of the skull. As the men advanced First Sergeant Morris Justh of Company A fell, instantly killed by a bullet through the body. Every few yards sorae man fell, but the battalion kept on until they reached the old insurgent trench. They had not been at the front before since our own outwork was built and they thought this old trench was ours. They saw firing ahead of them and they heard the bullets whistle by. They did not stop to ask what had become of our men, but opened fire by volley straight into the backs of the Pennsylvanians and the regulars in the trench ahead of them. Colonel Smith who had caught up with the regulars of IT BECOMES A BUSINESS FIGHT 1 79 Battery H and was with Captain O'Hara in the trench, at once sent one of his officers back to warn Major Boxton of his mistake. The officer went on the run, but before his message was delivered three volleys had been fired. It was impossible to tell what the result of the shooting was or whether any of our men were hit. The surgeons say that they cannot distinguish a Mauser wound from a Spring field, but that no man was killed by a shot from behind. One man was hit in the back, but that was by a Mauser bullet, that struck hira as he was lying down in the ad vance across the open field. The bullet struck in his cart ridge belt, and that's how it was shown to be a Manser. When the California battalion finally got to the front it was sent out with part of the regulars to the support of D and E Companies of the Pennsylvanians on the right. There and in the march up through the open field most of our loss was met with. But there were some casualties in the trench. Private Brady of I Company, Tenth Penn sylvania, was killed in the trench, and Private Mcllrath of Battery H got the wound there from which he died the next morning. Mcllrath had been in the regular army for fifteen years, and was a first-class man. He was act ing Sergeant in command of twenty men. When his men got to the trench there was a great deal of confusion and excitement among the Pennsylvanians, and Mcllrath jumped up on top of the parapet and shouted : " It's all right, boys, now we've got 'em. Get together and give it to 'em in volleys." He was walking back and forth on top of the parapet steadying the men, when he was hit in the head by a Mauser bullet and fell back among his comrades. He died in the brigade hospital early on Monday morning. Private J. F. Piulay of C company. First California, especially distinguished himself. Por such work as his Englishmen get the Victoria Cross. Finlay is detail to Major Jones's transportation department as interpreter. His mother was a Mexican, and he learned Spanish before he did English. When ammunition was sent forward Pin- lay was in charge of the train. He had eight carromatta loads of it, each carromatta with a native driver. He started when the Spanish fire was hottest and went straight up through the open fields. The bullets buzzed and whis- l8o OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC tied all about him. They ripped through the tops of his carts, and one of thera hit one of his drivers in the leg. Finlay kept on as if he were going after corn on a pleasant afternoon until he reached the old insurgent trench. Then he halted his train and went forward alone to find sorae one frora the Tenth Pennsylvania to whom he could deliver the ammunition. That last hundred yards into our trench was what Captain O'Hara, a grizzled veteran who has seen a-plenty of hot work called a " very hot place." It was swept incessantly by Spanish bullets. But Finlay hunted around until he found his man, went back and got his carromattas, and started forward. One of his ponies was shot just in the rear of our trench. Finlay took it out of the cart and with the native driver hauled the cart along to its place, delivered his cartridges, and started back. On the way he found Captain Richter lying in the field where he had fallen. He jumped out of his carromatta, put the Captain in, and started on. Pretty soon he found another wounded man. That one was picked up, too, and back he went to camp. Then he turned the wounded over to the surgeons and got orders to take ten car romattas to the front and bring back the wounded. Back over that bullet-swept field he went again, as cool and unconcerned as if on a drive through Golden Gate Park, did his work, brought in the wounded, and turned in to get what sleep he could before the hard day's work began soon after daylight. After he had sent forward everything that he could to help the men at the front. General Greene went out hira self. By this time it was after 2 o'clock and the worst of it was over. The regulars were pumping in heavy volleys, and the Utah boys were cracking away at their undisturbed target practice and the " attempt at flanking " was " repulsed." General Greene stayed at the front until after 3 o'clock, and then returned to camp. At day light there was a sharp burst of flring by the Spaniards, but our men did not respond, and there was no damage done. The wounded were all brought into camp, and the serious cases were treated at the brigade hospital ; the others were taken care of at regimental hospitals or went to their tents. IT BECOMES A BUSINESS FIGHT l8l In the afternoon the eight dead were buried in the yard of the old convent at Maricaban, back of the camp. There were no coffins available, so each man was sewed up in his blanket, and an identification tag was sewed fast to it. They were buried all in one trench, and headboards were set up to mark the graves, bearing the names of the dead. The Chaplain of the Tenth Pennsylvania took a careful description of the place and the graves, with the names and records of the dead. The surgeons worked all day over the wounded and did not get through until 9 o'clock in the evening. They found several very serious cases, some of which have since resulted in death. On Monday two battalions of the First Colorado and the third battalion of the First California were sent into the trenches with a new detachment of the even-tem pered Mormons. They finished the work on the embank ment, and the California men, who went in on the right of the road where D and E companies of the Pennsyl vanians suffered so severely the night before, began to dig a trench for themselves. It was a nasty, slimy place they had and hard work intrenching. Just as they had got a ridge of mud abont two feet high thrown up in front of them the Spaniards cut loose again. A red-hot fire was kept up all night and the Californians responded with vigour. One man was shot through the left shoulder, but it was only a flesh wound and not serious. When the evening performance opened, the Colorado and Utah men in the trenches replied hotly, the infantry men flring volleys that were hard to tell from big gun flring, and the Utah men blazing away in their old level headed fashion. The practice of the Spanish gunners was excellent and the shells burst all about the intrench ment. They paid particular attention to the guns of Battery B of Utah. Finally one shell came through the embrasure and burst on top of the gun, knocking off the sights. The Utah men had a shrapnel shell in their gun at the time, and they let it go. It burst apparently right where the flash of the Spanish gun had been seen, and the Spanish gun was heard no more that night. Whether it was disabled or not cannot be told. Just after the firing began Private Fred Springstead, D l82 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC Company, First Colorado, was killed. He was posted as lookout and was peering over the top of the parapet. A Mauser bullet struck him in the left eye and went through his head, killing him instantly. His head dropped on his hand, but that was a common action with the lookouts, and no attention was paid to it by his comrades until he collapsed and fell down. 'The ball struck him so quickly that it did not mark the eyelid, and when the lid was closed no raark of the wound showed. One man in G Company was shot in the thigh that night. That sums up the loss. Most of the night the Colorado men sat still and let the Spaniards waste their ammunition. At daylight there was a sharp fire by the Spaniards for twenty minutes. They shelled the old chapel with excellent aim, their shells bursting in and around it constantly, but doing no damage to our men. The lookouts constantly reported that they could see Spaniards crawling up toward our line, and several officers urged Colonel Hale to go over the breast work and capture them. But Colonel Hale wisely refused. Some of his men surely would have been killed, and the loss of one man would not have been compensated for by the capture of the whole Spanish advance. We have raore prisoners now than we know what to do with, and the cap ture of these would not have done any good ; it wouldn't have put us any nearer Manila. Captain Richter's case was very serious, but the surgeons hoped for his recovery. The bullet had an explosive effect and smashed the outer layer of the skull into pulp. The inner layer was depressed on the brain so that the Captain was unconscious. Craniotomy was performed and the de pressed bone was lifted. As soon as the Captain recovered consciousness he opened his eyes and said to Dr. Dey- walt, who was watching him, "How are the boys?" His thoughts were with his company. He died this morning. General Greene issued a general order congratulating the Tenth Pennsylvania and the Utah Battery on their " gallant stand in the face of superior forces " and their repulse of an " attempt to turn our right flank." He also complimented very highly the Third Artillery and the First California on their work in advancing "under a THE EVANESCENT ENEMY 1 83 galling fire " to reinforce the frightened Pennsylvanians. This was very nice and let the Pennsylvanians down easy, but the fact reraains that the whole affair was useless and not a life was lost or a man hit necessarily. Nothing whatever is gained by trying to fight the Spaniards at that place. When everything is ready the guns of the navy can chase the Spaniards away very quickly and lay open the way into the city. Until then every attempt to advance at that place is foolish. Admiral Dewey was greatly disappointed about the flght. He had taken the fleet without the loss of a man, and he wanted to take the city the same way. He was confldent he could do it, and was only waiting for the monitors to come so as to be prepared for any possible German trick. If the Pennsylvanians had been content to wait, we might have marched into Manila without a man lost. CHAPTER XXVIII THE EVANESCENT ENEMY Cavite', Aug. 6. — They're at it again to-night over there south of Malate. As this is written the distant dull report of big guns drifts in the open windows over the swash of the waves against the rocks that line the beach. The moon is breaking through the clouds and lighting up the bay, but it does not blot out the long silver beams that start from the American warships and focus on the Spanish fort. Dewey's ships are furnishing light for the gunners in our lines. When the red and white signal lights began to twinkle knowingly to one another this evening they spelled out this message : " Throw search lights on Spanish forts at Malate, but not on our lines to sonth'ard." On the night of Aug. 2, Private W. P. Lewis of E Com pany, First Nebraska, was killed and flve other Nebraska men were injured by the explosion of a shrapnel shell that burst just over the top of the parapet, fairly in their eyes. The next day Colonel Smith took his California men 1 84 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC into the trench with the flxed intention of bringing them all back, and he accomplished it by the simple device of not firing a shot at the Spaniards. Instead of exposing them to blaze away uselessly at an unseen enemy, he kept them well under cover of the breastwork and no one was hit. The night the Nebraska men were in the trench there was the liveliest kind of blazing away all along the line, except by the Utah artillerymen, who crawled into the little shacks they have built back of the breastwork beside their guns and got what sleep they could in the in fernal racket that was going on. The order to the men was to flre by volleys as fast as they could. The fir ing began at 9 : 40 and continued forty-eight minutes. The Nebraska men expended sixty rounds, and some of the Eighteenth United States Infantry, who were with them in the trench, flred more than one hundred rounds. One of the Nebraska men was asked what he was shoot ing at. " I don't know," he replied. " The order was to shoot, and I shot." " Did yon see anything ? " " Not a damned thing." The next night Captain O'Hara, with his Third artil lerymen, formed the convoy, so to say, of the two bat talions of California men. He agreed with Colonel Smith about the firing and his men did none of it. That night the Spaniards fired by squads and kept up a pretty regu lar fire all night. In the morning they let loose a lot of shells, which burst over or near our line, but did no damage. Here is the general order which General Greene issued congratulating the troops engaged on the night of July 31 : general order no. 10. Headquarters Second Brigade, ) U. S. Expeditionary Force, [¦ Camp Dewey, near Manila, Aug. 1, 1898. ) The Brigadier-General commanding desires to thank the troops engaged last night for the gallantry and skill displayed by them in repelling such a vigorous attack by largely superior forces of the Spaniards. Not an inch of ground was yielded by the Tenth Regiment Pennsylvania Infantry, and Batteries A and B, Utah Artillery, stationed in the trenches ; the battalion Third United SOME FILIPINO QUESTIONS 1 85 States Artillery and First Regiment California Infantry moved forward to their support through a galling fire with the utmost intrepidity. The courage and steadiness shown by all in their first engagement are worthy of the highest commendation. The dead will be buried with proper honours under the supervi sion of regimental and battalion commanders at 3 o'clock to-day in the yard of the convent near Maricabon. By command o"f Brigadier-General Greene. A.W. Bates, A. A. G. CHAPTER XXIX SOME FILIPINO QUESTIONS Cavite' Aug. 6. — The insurgents have been so quiet recently that one wonders what has become of all their bluster and the talk and the fear, for that matter, that they might make us a heap of trouble later in the game. But last night they showed an ugly side, and men abont Oavite say that they are beginning to turn sour. I have not seen it myself in the actions of the Filipinos, nor have any of my Filipino friends said anything about it, bnt it may be so, nevertheless. They have been pushed pretty hard lately. The control of the prisoners they have left in Cavite is practically taken away from them by General Merritt's order to feed them in spite of the protest of General De Dios, in command for Aguinaldo in this zone. Now the convalescent hospital has been inspected by Major Cloman, the Depot Commissary, and by Dr. Card- well, the division surgeon, and on their report General Merritt probably will order that the convalescents, who are being slowly starved to death, shall be fed also. The other day General Anderson complained to General De Dios about the filthy condition of the houses and streets of Cavite. The average Filipino is not cleanly in his habits. The mud stands in puddles in his undrained streets, and he throws his slops out of his front door. De Dios admitted that the condition of the j)lace was bad and promised to remedy it, but the promise was never fulfilled, and so word was sent to him to police the city or get out of it. In the army to police is to clean up. De Dios 1 86 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC promised again, but still his promise brought no action, and now this notice has been prepared for publication : To ALL residents OF CaVITE : Inasmuch as the forces of the army and navy of the United States have taken possession of this town, this is to advise aU persons in Cavite who occupy houses w^hich do not belong to them to vacate them immediately and leave Cavite unless they obtain permission to remain. This permission will be given only to officers and persons in the employment of the army and navy of the United States and those persons actually in the service of the Filipino army, and besides to those who have the right, in the opinion of the United States authorities, to occupy houses. This is announced for the knowledge of these persons and their compliance. 'That is the entering wedge, or rather one of them, for there have been several. The press for steam launches has been so great that some of them have been requisitioned from Aguinaldo. Major Thompson, the Chief Signal Officer, to whom means of transportation are an absolute necessity, began by seizing whatever horses he saw that suited his fancy, went on with a demand for three steam launches, and now has taken the telegraph wire Aguinaldo had strung from his front to his headquarters here in Cavite. Of course. Major Thompson pays, or offers to, for what he takes, and the only complaint with his work so far is from Americans, who declare that he is ruining everything by the enormous prices he pays. It is a fact that on the first day he took horses the native who came to the Quartermaster for his pay thought the price of the cheaper one was pay for both. There was some trouble about the telegraph line, and the insurgents are accused of cutting it. They say it broke. What will you ? Early in the week Mr. Williams, the United States Consul at Manila, who lives on the Baltimore and can carry his whole office in his hat, went over to Bakor to see Aguinaldo. He told the Filipino leader very frankly that the United States would not recognise the insurgent flag, and that his little Government was not a representa tive Government, nor could it be recognised by ours. He advised Aguinaldo to give up his private and personal schemes and try to become the open ally of the Americans. Aguinaldo promised to lay the matter before his council. SOME FILIPINO QUESTIONS 1 87 All this makes the Filipino leader cut a figure very ranch like a cat's-paw, and it also makes the young man very tired. He is ready for anything ordinarily, and if he thought it would be to his interest to make trouble for the Americans he would not hesitate. The Monterey had a quiet trip down as far as weather was concerned, but the men had a terrible time with the heat. The Brntus towed her 3,600 of the 4,200 miles to Guam, and with wind and current in their favor they made seven knots an hour. The temperature in Commander Leutze's cabin rose as high as 102°, and aver aged 93° for the whole voyage. When the monitor was under her own steam she made eight knots. She was nine days coming from Guam, the last half of the voyage under her own steam. She came through the San Ber nardino Straits and saved the long journey around the north end of Luzon and avoided the treacherous China Sea. The men suffered greatly from the heat. In the fire and engine rooms the thermometer showed as high as 130° and for days at a stretch was over 120°. There was no ice and no fresh meat on the ship. Below decks, especially in the engine and fire rooms, the men went ahout naked except for a breechclout and shoes, the officers as well. The crew were pretty well exhausted when the Monterey reached here, but already they are picking up again. The work of preparing the monitor for action is going forward rapidly. She is coaling up and in a day or two will be ready for business. Commander Leutze was busy this afternoon with the charts and notes of instruction sent him by Admiral Dewey. " They seem to expect us," he said with a sraile, "to go in and take care of the big gnns down on the water front. Well, we can do it." The appearance of the monitor greatly astonished the natives in Cavite and San Roque. They cannot under stand the joy of the Americans at seeing her here. They see nothing formidable, in her and seem to think she is sinking. Her low freeboard is completely a mystery to them. l88 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC CHAPTER XXX THE " NIGHT BEFORE THE BATTLE " U. S. S. Concord, off Manila, Aug. 12. — All this week it has been " the night before the battle," and the fighting morning has never come. Last week, in the course of an interview. Admiral Dewey frankly said that he would do nothing whatever in the way of making an attack on the city or demanding its surrender until after the arrival of the Monterey certainly, and possibly not until after the arrival of the Monadnock. fie expected the Monadnock between Aug. 11 and 13. He put the case this way : " Suppose," he said, " that I send in my demand to the Captain-General that he surrender and at the same time send word to the Admirals of the neutral fleets over there that I intend to bombard the city. Then suppose the German Admiral replies that he will not permit me to bombard the city. I should send word to the German Admiral that I would sink him flrst, and then I would bombard the city. And I want the monitors here when I talk like that." Of course, he added, if it became necessary he would talk that way to the Germans with such ships as he had whether the monitors had come or not, but he did not in tend to take steps whicii might precipitate such a crisis until he was better prepared by the presence of at least one monitor to meet it. He was not ready to move when he did, but the army compelled him to do so. So on Sun day, Aug. 7, he joined with General Merritt in the formal notice which, for convenience sake, is called commonly the " ultimatum." This ultimatum was sent in simply because in the nightly fighting that was going on between our outpost north of Camp Dewey and the Spaniards in front of Malate our men were being killed. No gain of any sort was resulting. The whole thing was completely useless and there was no justification for the loss of a man. There were two ways THE " NIGHT BEFORE THE BATTLE" 189 to stop this loss. One was to withdraw our outposts to the place where they should have been stationed at the start, and where they wonld have been practically out of danger from the Spanish fire. There was no conceivable reason for having them nearer Malate, it never having been the intention to undertake to capture Malate or Manila by an advance of the land forces. Besides, Malate might have been taken forty times a day without putting our forces practically any nearer Manila. The other way was to move on the city at once with the naval forces and compel the Spaniards to surrender or knock their city abont their ears. The second plan was adopted. The ultimatum was a joint notice from General Merritt and Admiral Dewey that after forty-eight hours they would move on the city whenever they pleased without further notice. Flag Lieutenant Brumby took the notice to Captain Chichester, the senior English officer, on Sunday morning, and it was delivered to the Spanish Captain-General at 12 : 30 that afternoon. Augustin had been removed as Captain- General, this time by orders from Madrid, and Perrain Jaudenes, the Segundo Cabo, had been put in his place. The ultimatum warned Jaudenes to get his women and children and the sick and wounded out of the way. Jaudenes is a slight, spare man, something like Weyler in appearance and in character, fie and the old Archbishop, Bernardino, had been the head of the fighting party all along, and they were much disgusted with Augustin's well- known predisposition to surrender as soon as a perfunctory resistance had been raade. Jaudenes is still for fight. Damn the city, he says, it all belongs to foreigners and is better burned down than in the hands of the " Yanqnis." Damn the sick and wounded, and the women and children, too ; they're in the way and they bother him. Let them get out as best they can. Damn the Yankees, who have made all the trouble. Damn everybody and everything, anyway. Jaudenes is in a bad humour. The new Captain-General talked the whole thing over with the Consuls. Ramsden, the English Vice-Consul acting now in place of Rawson Walker, the Consul who died the other day of an illness contracted in consequence of hardships he suffered in the blockaded city, asked what 190 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC was to become of the women, children and sick. Jaudenes suggested that the Yankees had plenty of ships in the bay : let them take the non-combatants aboard their transports. " Very good," said Ramsden, " if that were possible. How about their food ? " " Oh, let the Yankees feed them," replied Jaudenes ; " they have plenty of sujDplies." So that was the end of that proposition. Then Ramsden, who speaks Spanish like a native, made a speech, fie piled it on thickly, as the Spaniards like it, and told Jaudenes what a great man he was, what noble men the Spaniards were any way, and what a noble stand they had made in Manila : how wonderfully they had de fended the city against overwhelming odds. 'They had done what brave men could and should do. Honour was satisfied by their tremendous sacrifices, and now humanity demanded that they should end the useless struggle. The German Consul, Kriiger, who sat next to Ramsden, put in, in German, that if pressed for his opinion he could not agree that the Spaniards had done all in their power, and that, as he viewed the situation, as an officer in the Prussian Army, honour was not yet satisfied. So the reply of the Spanish was a refusal to surrender, but a request for twenty-four hours more in which to take care of the women and wounded. As a matter of fact, they have few and sorry places for their non-combatants. The insurgents line the walls ready to pounce upon any Spaniard who appears, and are in no mood for a great show of humanity. There is no place in the city abso lutely safe from our shells. However, they got the twenty- four hours' extension, of course, and in the meantime the American ships leisurely completed the business of strip ping down for the fight, which had been going on com fortably and without haste for about a week. The last boats were sent ashore, all inflammable materials were taken to the navy yard, what woodwork could be spared was removed, and some of the top side fittings were sent below. Heavy chains were hung in bights along the sides of the superstructure of the flagship amidships from the turrets, and even the little Callao protected her sides in the wake of the boilers, in the fashion in which the old Kearsarge prepared to meet the Alabama. Word went THE "NIGHT BEFORE THE BATTLE" I9I around that the Spaniards meant to fight, and tnat the action would begin on Wednesday at noon. With the notification to the Spaniards notice had gone also to the neutral warships. As he himself said. Admiral Dewey sent word to the Germans that he " needed that stretch of water over there " where they were anchored. Tuesday morning brought a lot of activity to the neutral warships. There were four Englishmen, five Germans, two Frenchmen and a Jap. The Germans were first to move. Anchored near them directly off the city, were several merchant steamers which had been captured by the Americans on Mayday and turned over to the neutrals as refugee ships. They were flying the German flag, and two of the German warships steamed down the bay convoying the refugees to a place of safety, probably in Mariveles Bay. The other three Germans, the big iron-armoured Kaiser, flagship of von Diederichs, the Admiral : the bulky, homely, three-funnelled Kaiserin Augusta, which had kept impertinent espionage on the transport ships of the First Brigade that day they came up the bay, and the seventh-rate Princess Wilhelm, with their strange, new French friends, the Bayard and the Pascal, steamed a little to the north of their old anchorage and stopped. Then there was a division of the sheep and the goats. The big white Immortalite, flagship of the English squad ron, steamed slowly south across the bay, followed by the Iphigenia, the Swift, and Linnet, and anchored near Admiral Dewey's flagship, the beautiful Olympia. The other Englishmen steamed further inshore and let go their anchors among the American transports. The little Japanese cruiser Naniwa, that has seen bloodier war than any other ship in this bay, came along, too, and anchored near the berth of our Baltimore. So our friends came to their friends, and those who would be our enemies if they dared flocked away to sulk by themselves. At five o'clock on Tuesday afternoon the Concord and the Petrel got under way and steamed across the bay to the north of Manila. All the way they were in easy range of the big 10-inch guns on the waterfront, bnt there was no sign of fight in the Spaniards. These guns have been silent since their gunners got that Mayday message from Admiral Dewey that if they did not shut up he 192 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC would batter down the city at once. The two little gun boats, which did such splendid work in the action when the boastful Montojo lost his fleet, anchored side by side a couple of miles off the city and in such position that their six-inch rifles could make it very interesting for the northernmost batteries of the Spaniards. The men turned in happy ; the long wait was almost at an end ; a little bit more and Manila would be ours and there would be shore liberty. All the afternoon they had been working over the guns, cleaning, polishing, greasing, getting every thing into shape for the quickest possible response to any sudden unexpected call, working the breech blocks and the training gear, giving them a last loving pat. Now it was finished — and one day more — But there is always manana. Instead of one day more, the Spaniards have had several. Wednesday morning was clear, for a wonder. There were clouds, of course, and that was a good thing, for they shut off the sun's heat, but the air was clear, and the shore line stood out sharp and distinct, so that the stadimeters worked perfectly and the navigators had no trouble in finding distances. Break fast out of the way, the last work of clearing ship for action was performed. The surgeons got out their instru ment-cases and fixed up their operating tables. Their as sistants from the pay department went about with cotton for the ears of the gunners and patent rubber tourniquets for the stoppage of hemorrhages. Preparations were made to serve beef tea and light luncheon to the men at the guns, and about 10 o'clock or a little after, " general quarters " were sounded. The ships were about to take station when a general signal floated out from the halyards of the Olympia, " Action is postponed." Then there was an outburst that would have court-mar- tialled half the men in the fleet if it had been reported. Everybody talked, and everybody violated the regulations in a bunch by making remarks which the Commander-in- Chief might have regarded as extremely derogatory to or der and good discipline. But the Commander-in-Chief out here knows the temper of his men, and no one has ever accused him of disliking a fight himself, so he proba bly took good care not to hear any disappointed criticism of his action in delaying. Besides delay was all he could do. THE " NIGHT BEFORE THE BATTLE" I93 General Merritt had come aboard the Olympia from the Newport with the news that the army was not ready. It had things to do. Men must be moved back further around the city so as to head off the insurgents at the surrender and get in first. The Filipinos have been plundered so long by the Spaniards that they are keen for a chance to loot, and mighty little will be left of Spanish possessions if they get in first. So the signal went up. It was hard to take, but it had to be endured. However, the ships were cleared for action and cleared they stayed. The men were released from quarters and had their proper dinner, and the ward-room men got the battle ports off and a chance to breathe. At 1 o'clock there came an order that revived hope. The flagship signalled to the Concord and the Petrel to get underway and proceed to a station one mile off the end of the breakwater. Before the answering pennant was halfway down the halyard after replying to the signal the order " Up anchor " was sounding through the ships. "Stand by the starboard anchor." " Heave up," follow quickly, and almost as soon as " All clear, sir," was shouted from the bill-board the bugle began the ringing call to general quarters. Just as two little bantam hens ruffle up their feathers and stretch out their necks and open their little bills in anger and charge the foe in protection of their chicks, the two little gunboats, with guns agape and trained on the city, scurried down to the new position. Fairly up under the muzzles of the two 9.6-inch guns on the Luneta they stopped and let go their anchors. The batteries along the waterfront of the un happy city were plainly visible without a glass, and with a glass every gun could be made out. We could even see the trunnions of one, and the canvas breech covers of all the big fellows. We could see the men moving abont on the Luneta, and the artillerymen standing by their guns. A great flag hoisted on a staff on the Luneta, near the Archbishop's palace, flaunted its red and yellow stripes in our faces so plainly that we could raake out the Spanish arms on the yellow stripe. There we lay. What it meant no one could imagine. The little gunboats were in such a position that with any sort of work on the part of the Spaniards both could have 13 194 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC been blown out of the water by a single discharge of the big guns. They had time to take the exact range, and the only thing they had to consider was the demand for the broken meats after they had finished their feast. After a while, when it became apparent that the Spaniards were not going to fire, our men lost interest again. The anchors were hardly firm in their grip on the bottom be fore the checkerboards were ont and the men were lying about the decks near their guns, playing checkers at general quarters and growling because they couldn't have their smoking lamp lighted. The magazines were still open and ammunition was lying about the decks, bnt that made no difference to these fellows. They would go into action in a corner of hell and never doubt their ability to keep the fire out of the magazines. No order came from the fiagship to change position or to do anything else, and so when evening fell magazines were secured, but for the rest the ships stood as they were, railings down, guns cast loose, bridges barricaded with hammock rolls — everything ready to let go in half a minute from the call. So they lay all day Thursday, and the officers amused themselves by conning the batteries on shore and figuring out ranges and speculating about what it all meant. To day has been just such another day. Some relief from the oppressive heat of the tightly closed up ships was had by temporarily removing some of the battle ports, and some additional interest was added to the speculative prob lems by the actions of the launch of the Belgian Consul. M. Andre had taken up his residence with his family on the supply ship Culgoa, which flies the Belgian flag, and his launch was running back and forth between the city and our fleet all the time. It was known to a good many of ns that negotiations were going on, with M. Andre as the medinm, but their real nature and their extent were known to very few who were not comraunicative. This evening it turns out that the whole thing is settled. There will not be a gun flred at the walled city unless the Spaniards forget themselves and try a crack at some of us. If they do that, things will break loose all along the line, but it is not likely that they will. They are desperately afraid of the insurgents, and desperately afraid that we will give the Filipinos a chance at them. They know we THE play-acting SPANIARDS 1 95 have an overwhelming force here as far as they are con cerned, and they fear that if they make a flight we will not be particular about keeping the "nigger devils" off. So they are going to surrender. They will do it in their own peculiar " top-of-the-stage " way and we shall bom bard Malate to help them out. They will flre a few guns to "satisfy Spanish honour" and then the white flag will go up. Admiral Dewey has got them without a fight ; his long-cherished hope is about to be realised. He is a master of the art of diplomacy as well as of the science of war. Another item must be added to the things which " greater than all things are." " The flrst is love and the second war ; " now diplomacy demands a place. CHAPTER XXXI ' THE PLAY-ACTING SPANIARDS Manila, Aug. 17. — There was not much in the capture of the Philippine capital by the Americans to satisfy the lover of the spectacular. Considered as a show, it was disappointing. There was no destruction of an ancient city, no splendid sweep of awful conflagration, no soul- stirring, desperate resistance — death in the last trench, blood-and-thunder business, and mighty little roaring of cannon. The " mucho boom boom" that had been prom ised the Filipinos did not amount to as much as the salute to the new flag on the Luneta at sundown. The tragedy lost its tragic character and became a comedy be fore the performance began, and the performance itself developed into pretty nearly a farce, with just enough of serious work in it to provoke regretful consideration. That is, considered as a show. But if the object of the whole performance was the taking of a great city with the least destruction of property and the least loss of life possible, rather than the production of a spectacle for the gratifica tion of the descriptive writers and artists sent out to re produce it for the people at home, then it was a conspicu ous triumph for the management, entitled to rank beside, if not ahead, of the great performance of the first of May 196 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC in Manila Bay. He will have audacity who dares contend that such was not the true purpose. As has been told, the final demonstration had been post poned for several days in order to give the army time to make more desirable disposition of troops, and to get necessary supplies in readiness for transportation. This time was used by Admiral Dewey for the completion of the negotiations for the surrender which had been going on for abont a month. It was just the tirae he needed, and the informal and unofficial work of M. Andre, the Belgian Consul who acted as the medium of communication be tween Admiral Dewey and Captain-General Jaudenes, resulted in success. Fundamentally, the Spaniard is a theatrical person. Jaudenes knew he was whip^jed before ever he took off his coat to fight. There was no help for him. But the " Spanish honour" demanded consideration, and Spanish honour is the most peculiar, intangible and invisible fact that has come under American observation out here. Spanish honour decrees that the Old Guard dies but never surrenders — cum grano salis — in fact, with a bag of it. The fiction is met, and the requirements fulfilled if the Old Guard plays at dying, like a well-trained dog, and then surrenders, jumping up quickly at the word for the lump of sugar reward for good acting. The once valiant and honourable Castilian has degenerated so far that he actually seems to believe this sort of thing will fool the world into taking his farce for a tragedy, and he is so well pleased with his acting that if you are not satisfied with it and willing to help it along he will fight yon, with the dog like patience and indifference which passes for Spanish courage and bravery. Admiral Dewey knew that, and so he yielded in great part to the Spanish theatrical propensity, and accepted that condition as an amendment to his terms of surrender or fight. Therein the Admiral showed his wisdom and his diplomatic finesse. If he had stood for unconditional sur render the result bade fair to be fight. No man will ever accuse Dewey of shirking a fight when fight was the thing to do, but here fight was to be avoided, and the price was cheap at a hundred shells fired at a half-deserted old stone fort. So the Americans played the fiddle and beat the THE PLAY-ACTING SPANIARDS I97 drums while the Spaniards danced, and our flag waves over Manila with not a house damaged except here and there one in the outskirts gimletted by occasional rifle bullets. Saturday, Aug. 13, the day of the "bombardment" —it is easier to call it that than anything else, though it is not a descriptive name — was like the other days of that week, full of wind and rain, with a mirage- forming mist along the shore that gave a false outline for the work of the rangefinders. The morning was grey, with a raw, rough breeze that made one think of a late Septeraber day in New York. The ships of the fieet were under way early and the neutral fleets and the Germans kept them com pany. The Concord and the Petrel left the station they had occnpied for two and a half days a mile off Manila breakwater and steamed, the Concord to her station oppo site the mouth of the Pasig River, where she could engage the 9.6-inch rifle and the battery of smaller guns, and the Petrel back to the Olympia, recalled, as it proved, just in time to get into play. The bluff old Monterey, with her nose awash, slouched along straight in toward the two 9.6-inch riiles on the Luneta. She steamed clear inside the breakwater, and the noses ol her big 12-inch rifles were poked inquiringly out of the forward turret just look ing for the fellow who was going to take a pot shot at them. Behind the Monterey, well outside, lay the cruisers Charleston, Baltimore and Boston, with their 8-inch rifles all ranged toward the big Luneta battery, singularly enough whatever position our ships took to engage the batteries of the walled city, the palace of the Archbishop was always practically in range, a fair mark for any shot that went a little high or wide. Down at the south end of the city — off the old block stone fort aud the powder magazine at Malate we had been looking at so long, the Olympia took station. With her were the Raleigh and the little Petrel, and well inside was the Callao, under comraand of Lieutenant Tappan. The Callao is the pickaninny that steamed into the harbour some time after Dewey's Mayday victory and began a salute to our flag. With the Olympia, also, was the McCuUoch, which had been kept out of the first of May affair. Her men were in no mood to be left out this time if there was to be 198 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC any fighting. On Friday afternoon they sent a committee to Captain Hooper with a petition that, if the ship was not to go into the action with the fleet, fifty of them be al lowed to land and fight with the troops. Captain Hooper was greatly pleased with the spirit of the men, and straight way passed the petition along to the Admiral. Admiral Dewey was also delighted, and the result was that the McCuUoch got a chance to use her 6-pounders. The McCulloch's men, however, were not alone in show ing that spirit. The sick lists of the ships showed how the men felt. Every fellow on the lists who could drag one foot after the other reported himself well and ready for duty, and the poor chaps who had to stay down — they were very few — cursed their unlucky stars. As our ships left their anchorage of Cavit6 and started for their stations, the Englishmen also got under way and then there occurred an incident that set the sailormen of Uncle Sam a- cheering with a will. The big English flag ship Immortalite had been in Mirs Bay that April day when Dewey steamed out for Manila, and as his flagship passed her, the Englishman's band played American airs, winding up with "El Capitan." Now, as the Olympia moved away, the Englishman's band began with " See the Conquering Hero Comes." Before the tune was half through, the battle flags were broken out from every truck and gaff in our fleet. The breeze was fresh and the big bright flags snapped like whipcords. Instantly the English band swung into "The Star Spangled Banner," and every man on every ship stood at attention and saluted as our ships steamed slowly by. Then, as the last bar of " The Star-Spangled Banner" died away, the band of the Immor talite began "El Capitan." The American sailormen remembered Mirs Bay, and their cheers rang across the water. You never have heard men really cheer, you never have felt men cheer till you have heard and felt American sailors going into a fight. Then you understand what it means to be under the Stars and Stripes. There was an incident on the Olympia the evening before which set the men on edge. The insurgent steamer Pilipinas had asked permission of the Admiral to go out of the bay and it had been refused. Nevertheless, she got under way and stood out near the Olympia. The THE PLAY-ACTING SPANIARDS 199 Admiral was at dinner, with M. Andre for his guest, and in the wardroom the senior officers were entertaining some friends. There were guests, too, in the junior offi cers' mess, and all were seated about the tables discussing the possibilities of the next day. To the Admiral carae hurriedly the officer of the deck and reported the Pilipinas moving ont. On the instant the Admiral answered : " Call the men to quarters." Mess gear was spread and the red pennant was up, pro claiming to the world at large that the men of the Olyra- pia were at their evening meal. It seemed as if the officer of the deck had hardly left the Admiral's cabin, when the bugles began ringing through the ship. If you have never heard a bugle in your life, you know what that call means the instant you hear it. Alarm, command and haste are in every sharp staccato note. The first bar was not finished when the men were running to their stations. Spread mess gear was scattered again, and the crews jumped to their guns and cast them loose. In wardroom and steerage the officers leaped out of their chairs with sentences un finished and food half swallowed. The astonished guests had hardly time to rise before the mess attendants were clearing the tables and preparing the rooms for war work. The jackies dashed through on the way to their guns. Officers jumped into their rooms, grabbed swords and belts and ran for their divisions. For half a minute there seemed the wildest confusion. Then order emerged from chaos, and in just one minute from the first bugle call the Olympia's crew were at general quarters. That was long enough, however, for the crew of the Pilipinas to see what was going on and to be very thoroughly frightened. They stopped their ship and sent away a sraall boat, in which Leybe, one of Aguinaldo's aides, came aboard the Olympia. Admiral Dewey received hira with the cheerful reraark : " You had a pretty close call, young man. I had a good notion to sink you. I believe I ought to have sunk you." Leybe protested and apologized and went back to his ship, which stayed in the bay. When the American ships stood over across the bay to their positions off Manila, the Englishmen followed fur ther out. As the Immortalite approached her old anchor age off the mouth of the Pasig, the Germans and the 200 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC Frenchmen got under way. The German flagship Kaiser was directly behind the Concord, in such position that a high shot from Manila wonld have found her an easy tar get. Also she was in such position that the Concord would have been between two fires if she had chosen to open on the American. The Immortalite carae squarely between the Concord and the Kaiser and stopped her engines. The Iphigenia followed, and the Americans wondered what would happen if the Germans tried to interfere that day. But the Germans didn't try. Nobody helped the Span iards play their garae except the Americans, and the per formance went off without interruption. It was 8 : 45 o'clock when the Araerican ships got under way. It took them nearly three quarters of an hour to get into position, and then at 9 : 30 the Olympia swung her starboard broadside toward the Malate fort and let go two 5-inch guns. The range had been given by the navigator as 3,400 yards, but the mist along shore bad-given a false line and the stadimeters did not work properly. The shells fell short, struck the water, threw up clouds of spray and ricocheted over the land high and to the right of the mark. The Petrel followed the Olympia with her 6-inch rifles, and her range, too, was short. Then the Raleigh cut loose her 5-inch quick-fires with the same short range, and it looked from the rest of the fleet as ii the Americans had forgotten how to fire or else were playing at war with a vengeance. The Captains had been informed the day before that the surrender had been practically arranged. They knew that not a shot was to be fired at the walled city unless the walled city fired at them. They understood that the bom bardment of Malate was simply to give the Spaniards a chance to play dead, and to make representations at Mad rid that they had died defending Spanish honour. But the Captains had not thought that the M.ilat6 bombardraent was to be all a farce and they were surprised at the bad shooting. The Callao steamed close in, near the shore, south of the fort. There she was in a position unaffected by the shore mist and got the range accurately. Her one 3.2 gun pelted the old stone fort in lively fashion and with straight aim. Nordenfeldts and Hotchkiss cannon pep pered its walls with 1-pounders and her Colt rapid-fire THE PLAY-ACTING SPANIARDS 20I pounded away 400 shots to the minute with a noise such as a small boy makes by dragging a stick along a picket fence. The tug Barcelo, too, which was taken when Cav ite fell, and was fitted with a Hotchkiss gun in the bow, got into the fight. Both were fired at by the Spaniards, but neither was hit, except that the Callao was in range of the Mausers and stopped twenty-five or thirty bullets with no damage to herself. The firing from the Olympia, Petrel and Raleigh con tinued rapidly for a few minutes, most of the shells fall ing short. Then a blinding rain-squall shut ships and shore and city out of view. It was thicker than Septem ber fog on the Grand Banks. But through it all the firing kept up, and the rumbling roar of the big guns rolled around the bay and echoed back frora the city. The Olympia sent in some 8-inch shells and their angry scream rose above the noise of the smaller fire and made a sound through the rain as if the Monterey had turned her 12-inch guns on the city. Then the rain stopped and the bay cleared up. The mist was gone, and the navigators found out what had been the trouble with the shooting. The shore line stood ont clearly defined now and the stadi meters showed 4,100 yards instead of 3,400 on the range. The firing had slacked up a good bit, except on the Callao, but now it began again, and there was no farce abont it this time. The big shells plumped down in and around the Malat6 fort and sailed ont along the Spanish lines beyond the fort, throwing up stone and dirt and dust of crumbled rock in clouds above the fort. There was more than playing dead in this for the Spaniards, and they scattered out of the fort in all directions and on the run. The flagship signalled the news to the fleet that the enemy's camp was breaking up, and just then the artillery of the army, posted in our line south of the Malate fort, opened up. The work of the fleet was nearly finished. A few more shells were fired, and then at 10 : 50 the flagship set " Negative No. 1," the order to cease firing. Immediately she followed this with international code flags representing the letters D W H B, which mean to the men of all na tions " Surrender." There were a few minutes of delay, with no answer from the Spaniards in the city, and the flagship signalled to the scattered fleet to " close up." 202 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC Then, as the ships came on by the Olympia, Dewey for the second time disproved the saying that he would rather fight than eat by signalling, " Go to dinner by watches." The Spaniards in the city had made no answer to the Olympia's demand for their surrender, nor had the white flag appeared over the city. The arrangements completed by M. Andre and reported to the Admiral fixed the time of raising the white flag and located the building over which it should be hoisted. There was some delay about it, and Captain Lamberton, on the after bridge with the Admiral, turned to the Commander-in-Chief and said : " I don't see that white flag yet over that red roof." Spanish honour takes these serious ways to vindicate it self. So the Admiral had the international surrender signal set again, this time with the interrogatory pennant at the top, asking the question. "Do you surrender?" This time the Spanish answered, and their answer was amazing. It was international " C P L," meaning " Member of Par liament" or "Member of Congress." That was a puz zler, but it was determined finally that it meant that a con ference was going on or was desired, and so Admiral Dewey sent his Flag Lieutenant, Mr. Brumby, in to rep resent him. The transport Newport, on which General Merritt had retained his headquarters since his arrival in the bay, had come up near the flagship. Mr. Brumby stopped at the Newport and reported to General Merritt, who sent Lieutenant-Colonel Whittier, his Inspector- General, in to represent him at the conference. In the meantime our soldiers had occupied the fort at Malate and run up the Stars and Stripes in place of the Spanish flag. From the ships their advance toward the city could be seen very plainly, and just before they reached the wall the white flag Captain Lamberton was looking for appeared over "that red roof "where he ex pected to see it. Mr. Brumby used as a means of getting to the city the steam launch of M. Andre, flying the Bel gian flag at the stern and a white flag at the bow. Mr. Brumby and Colonel Whittier found that a conference was what the Spanish desired for the purpose of establish ing the prelirainary terms of the surrender. General Greene had arrived by this time at the head of some of his troops in the city, and he also came to the con- CLE-\N'IN(; RICE. THE PLAY-ACTING SPANIARDS 203 ference with the Spanish council. The preliminary terms were drawn up. Then Mr. Brumby and Colonel Whittier went back to the Newport and told General Merritt. Mr. Brumby went on to the Olympia and at 2 : 36 the flagship set the signal 4,169, " The enemy has surrendered." Mr. Brumby took the biggest United States flag the Olympia had, a No. 1 ensign, thirty-six feet long, and started back for the city. Two signal boys, Stanton and Ferguson, who had been with him on the bridge throughout the action of May 1, and in the mock action of this day, begged to be taken along to raise the new flag over the city,- and Mr. Brumby took them. He went in his own launch this time. Admiral Dewey gave General Merritt the Zafiro, and the General went into the city with some of his staff and Company F of the Second Oregon as his personal escort. The Spaniards stood in crowds around in front of the palace and many soldiers were by the guns, but the few Americans had no trouble ; they were masters now, and the Spanish knew it. General Merritt found Jaudenes in a little chapel of the cathedral, and there they signed the preliminary capitulation. Then Mr. Brumby suggested that the big Spanish flag which had been flying all day in front of the walls west of the cathedral and the Government building should be hauled down and replaced by the Stars and Stripes. General Merritt agreed and Brumby and his two signal boys started for the flagstaff. In the meantime the steamer Kwong Hoi, with two battalions of the Second Oregon Regiment, which had been held at Cavite when the other troops went ashore, had moved up inside the breakwater close to the city. The troops got ashore after a hard struggle with the surf and shallow water and marched to ward the Government building. While they were form ing up and starting out Mr. Brumby and his signal boys were busy at the big flagstaff. That big Spanish flag flying there so bravely long after the white flag had been hoisted had been affronting the fleet all the afternoon. The theatrical Spaniard wonld hoist the white flag, bnt he would not strike his own colours. The open space about the flagstaff was crowded with Spaniards, men and women, when Brumby and his little following of Americans got there. As Stanton and Per- 204 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC guson laid hold of the halyards to haul down the Spanish banner many of the men and nearly all of the women were in tears. Down the old flag came, standing out stiff on the halyards in the strong breeze until it was well down the staff. The few Americans watched it fall in silence, standing in the midst of a throng of sobbing Spaniards. Then Ferguson and Stanton bent the Olympia's bright new ensign on to the halyards and started it up on the run. Just as it caught the breeze and its folds straightened out over the uncovered heads of the little company of Amer icans, the sun, which had never shown himself during the week, burst through a rift in the clouds over the Sierra Mariveles and lighted up its beautiful stripes and blue fleld. Almost involuntarily the Americans burst into cheers at the omen, and just then the Oregon boys swung into view with their band at their head. The musicians caught sight of Old Glory climbing up that Spanish staff, and the next instant the strains of "The Star-Spangled Banner " were ringing over Manila and over the forts that have defended the Philippine capital for so many years. They were keeping watch on the Olympia, and the beautiful flag had scarcely settled into its new position above the ramparts of the ancient Spanish city when the flagship's guns began their salute to the new sovereignty in the Philippine Islands. Quickly the McCuUoch fol lowed suit, then the Petrel, then the Raleigh, then the Concord, then the Boston, then the Charleston, then the Monterey, then the Baltimore and even the little Callao, twenty-one guns from each to the first free flag over the Philippines. The Oregon band played out its first national anthem and the Oregon men saluted the flag with such cheers as the wondering and downcast Spaniards standing about had never heard. And the last rays of the evening sun dropping behind the Mariveles Mountains streamed across the ruined and desolate Luneta and fell upon the uncovered heads of those Oregon boys listening again to " The Star- Spangled Banner," the evening hymn of this first impro vised evening parade of American soldiers on the famous Spanish parade ground. With the captured flag tied up in a bundle, Mr. Brumby and his signal boys returned to the flagship, .ind the Span ish ensign now lies in the Admiral's cabin. THE " CAPTURE BY ASSAULT " 205 CHAPTER XXXII the "capture by assault" But all this has been abont the navy, and the army had a large part in the day's proceedings, with the only real bnsiness-like fighting that was done. On the afternoon of Priday General Merritt issued this general order : A combined land and naval attack will be made on the enemy's works to-morrow, the 13th inst., at noon. It will consist of a naval and artillery attack. Our lines will make no advance, but will hold the trenches, the infantry covering the artillery. The First Brigade will hold the right of the line, and, operating ou the Manila-Pasay road, have for its immediate objective the Spanish blockhouse No. 14 and adjoining trenches. The Second Brigade will hold the left of the line operating along the beach and the trenches adjoining. The First Brigade will put eight battalions in the firing line and hold three in reserve. The Second Brigade will put three battalions in the firing line and hold eight in reserve. The reserves of both brigades willbe held in column of battalions in the open field to the west of the Camino Real and 500 rods south of the in tersection of the Camino Real and the road to Pasay. The re serves will be under the general direction of the division command er, whose position will be on the Camino Real near the reserves. The men will take one day's cooked rations, canteens filled with water, and a minimum of 100 rounds of ammunition for the Springfield rifle and 150 for the Krag-Jorgensen. The reserve ammunition will be held with the reserves. Brigade commanders will distribute necessary intrenching tools among the several organisations. The general hospital will remain in camp. Ambulance sta tions will be established on the beach in rear of the left, one at Pasay in rear of the right, and one on the Camino Real near the reserves. All positions should be taken up by 9 A. M., the 13th inst., except the reserves, which will take position at 11 A. M. Our line will not advance except under the orders of the command ing General in the field. Breakfast was ordered for the men at 5 o'clock so that • everything could be packed up and in readiness for taking position at 9. The Comraissary and Quartermaster 206 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC departments had been putting in the extra time General Merritt had secured by his request to Admiral Dewey in making preparations to move forward the stores and equi page of the army when the advance came. The brigades were composed of these troops : Twenty-third and Four teenth United States, Astor Battery. Thirteenth Min nesota, First Idaho, First North Dakota and First Wyo ming, First Brigade, General MacArthur ; Eighteenth United States, First California, First Colorado, First Nebraska, Tenth Pennsylvania, Third United States Artil lery, Utah Light Artillery and a company of United States Engineers, Second Brigade, General Greene. A detach ment of the Utah Artillery was sent to General Mac- Arthur by General Greene for the attack and the engineers were divided and half a company sent to each brigade. General MacArthur sent Lieutenant-Colonel French with a battalion of the Twenty-third United States forward on Friday to take position on our extreme right. This ad vance line was made up besides these of the Astor Battery and Thirteenth Minnesota and the two batteries of the Fourteenth. In the Second Brigade the First Colorado boys had occupied the trench the day before and General Greene let them go forward in the firing line instead of try ing to relieve thera. General Greene had also in the fir ing line the Eighteenth Infantry and Third Artillery. They made up the three battalions he was ordered to put in the firing line, and the rest of his brigade was in reserve much to their disgust. The First California ended the column. It was after the lull in the fleet firing that the guns of the Utah Battery opened on the Malate fort. Soon after ward the detachment sent for General MacArthur opened with the Astors on blockhouse 14, which guarded the Pasay- Manila road off to the right of the Camino Real. The artillery kept up a hot fire, and at first the Spaniards re plied to it. But they did no daraage, and the terrible cross fire of the fleet chased thera out very quickly. As the flagship signalled that they were breaking up the advance was ordered. The Colorado boys tumbled out of the trench in front of Malate in a great hurry and wasted a lot of their running breath in cheering. They went over the parapet so fast that several of them were hurt, and THE " CAPTURE BY ASSAULT " 207 one poor fellow, Brady of K Company, was jumped on by a too eager comrade and his side bruised so that he could not go on and was left behind cursing his mate and his luck. The reserves started up the beach, and General Greene, with his aides, pushed ahead to catch up with the Colo rado boys, who were scooting along in the advance. Colonel Hale had had his men out the night before re moving obstructions in his front, so his way was clear, comparatively, for some distance. The engineers who were in advance of each brigade were provided with nip pers for cutting wires and with portable bridges for cross ing ditches. As the Colorado men got near the Spanish intrenchment they halted and flred a few volleys. Then they ran ahead across the stone bridge over Cingalon Creek, jnst south of the Malate fort aud stopped again. A series of trenches leads back from the fort to the buildings in Malate, and through these the Spaniards were retreating, firing occasionally at our men. The Colorado boys responded with volleys, and then Lieutenant- Colonel McCoy and Lieutenant A. McD. Brooks, the regimental Adjutant, ran forward into the fort, mounted to the parapet and hauled down the frayed and faded Spanish flag that had been flying there night and day all summer, and ran up in its place a small Stars and Stripes. The regiment stayed long enough to cheer and then passed on, bnt this delay, brief as it was, gave the First Battalion of the First California, advancing along the beach, time to get ahead. Colonel Smith was in command, and he be lieves in getting to the front. The boys waded through Cingalon Creek, armpit deep, rather than lose tirae by going up to the bridge, and hurried toward the walled city. As the Spaniards retreated they went into the buildings of Malate and flred on our boys frora the windows. The Colorado men were after them in lively fashion along the streets nearest the beach, with the men of the Eighteenth and Third Artillery, further inland, hurrying down the streets toward the walled city and shooting into the windows, marching in two columns at the sides and firing across the streets. The Colorado boys were cheered on by their band, which followed them through Malatg, playing 2o8 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC "There'll Be a Hot Time in the Old Town To-Night." The Spaniards got into the gardens and among the trees and pelted away at our boys merrily, now and then knock ing sorae fellow over. But the Americans pushed them back steadily and at a hot pace, and it was not long before Malate and Ermita were clear and the Spaniards were inside the walled city. Just south of the wall there is a wide open space between the old city and the suburb of Ermita. Across this our men marched steadily, although the wall was guarded by thousands of Spaniards. But the white flag was up and there was no general Spanish flre,_although indiscriminate shooting was kept up for some time. On the whole, the work of the Second Brigade was easy, and there was little loss. It was the First Brigade that caught the fighting. The Twenty-third Infantry held the left of its line, with or ders to keep in touch with General Greene's right. The Fourteenth Infantry was on the right, and the Astor Bat tery, supported by the Thirteenth Minnesota Volunteers, held the centre. The centre advanced along the Pasay- Manila road, and met little resistance at blockhouse 14, where the worse work was expected. The shelling the blockhouse had got from the Utah men and the Astors, helped out by sorae of the big guns of the navy, had raade the Spaniards quite ready to quit. They fell back to Cingalon and concealed themselves in houses and behind a barricade. The Astors pushed forward rapidly and in the village met a hot fire. They tried to advance their guns to a position from which they could shell the barricade, but the fire got too hot for them, and they were forced to abandon their guns and retire to cover. The Thirteenth Minnesota came along just then, and there was a nasty fight for a few minutes. There two Sergeants of the Astor Battery and a bugler of the Minnesota regiment were killed and about thirty men were wounded. Col onel Orenohine with a battalion of the Twenty-third regulars had a sharp brush with the Spaniards in front of Cingalon church. Finally Lieutenant-Colonel French with the other battalion of the Twenty-third came out on the road to the left of Cingalon and the Spaniards de serted their works on the Paco Cingalon road and retreated rapidly toward Manila. It was all over in twenty minutes THE "CAPTURE BY ASSAULT" 209 or half an hour, but it was hot while it lasted. After that there was only a little skirmishing with the retreating Spaniards. It fell to Captain O'Connor's company of the Twenty- third to take the extreme left of the First Brigade and keep in touch with General Greene's right. He was told that somewhere in his front was a bridge, to which he would come finally if his advance was successful. There he was to stop and hold the bridge against the insurgents, who were sure to try to get into the city by any means possible. It was General Merritt's plan to keep the armed Filipinos out entirely. He knew too well how they would plunder and probably shoot if they got in. So our men had orders all along the line to guard every bridge after they had crossed it against insurgents. Captain O'Con nor's company started out on time with the rest of the boys. Its way was the rough brush and swampy fields, and the men became pretty badly scattered. 'The company on General Greene's right was also considerably mixed up, and when Captain O'Connor emerged from the woods into a clear space to the east of Malate he had sixteen men with him, ten regulars and six volunteers, with only half the regulars of his own company. The first bridge he came to was a big one, and sixteen men couldn't hold it, so he went on toward Manila. As his Corporal's guard advanced some companies of Spaniards came in from their rear. The Captain opened ranks and let the hurried Span iards through, then closed up and went along. Finally he came to a little bridge close under the walls that he thought was just about his size, and there he stopped, threw his men across and held the bridge. The Spaniards were lined up in force on the wall not a stone's throw away, but they did not fire, and the Captain had no trouble. Colonel Hale and his Colorado men came very near to a fight with the Filipinos. After they crossed the Malate bridge they left a small guard there and went on to attend to the hot skirmishing ahead. Abont one hundred Fili pinos who came by another bridge got into Malate behind the Colorado men and followed them up the streets doing considerable shooting. Major Jones, the division Chief Quartermaster, was with the advance. He had the flag planted in the middle of the street ahead of the Filipinos 14 2IO OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC and with his interpreter. Private Finlay of 0 Company, First California, started to stop the insurgents. Major Jones told the Filipino Captain that no armed insurgent would be allowed to enter the city. The Captain pro tested and the Major insisted. Finally it got down to " We will," and " You will not." Then the Major drew his revolver and said he would shoot the first raan who advanced. A platoon of the Third Artillery was sent for, but the trouble had been settled before these men got up. The insurgents were disarmed and permitted to go on. Soon after this a band of between three and four hun dred Filipinos under arms came in across the Malate bridge. The alarm was carried ahead to two companies of the First Colorado, who were in the outskirts of Malate. They fell out of the road and let the insurgents pass by. The Colorado men fell in behind them and the Filipinos were trapped. After that they were disarmed without further trouble, and sent back out of the city. There was trouble with Filipinos at several other places, but in nearly every instance they were headed off. A few, however, managed to get into the suburbs and have a good time looting the houses. They were not at all par ticular about confining their work to the houses of Span iards ; any house was good enough for them to loot, and the British flag for once was no protection. The insur gents robbed an Englishman as impartially as a Spaniard. They put guards out in front of a few houses in Malat6, but these guards were disarmed very quickly after our men got well into the city. The insurgents still occupy the priests' residence near the Jesuit observatory in Malat6, and their flag flies from the front window. There has been ample time, apparently, to take care of that, but General MacArthur has not had it removed yet. After the sharp measures taken with his men on Saturday night Aguinaldo got a peremptory order by telegraph from Gen eral Anderson to remove all his men at once from the city. Instead he sent Noriel, General in command of the first zone, forward with a thousand men. The men were corralled very proraptly, and now that is one of the sub jects of dispute between Aguinaldo and Anderson. Before Captain O'Connor left his little bridge with his handful of several commands, a regiment came along with THE "CAPTURE BY ASSAULT" 211 a near-sighted Colonel, who is not very familiar with Gen eral Merritt's face. Captain O'Connor resembles the General a good bit, and as he stood beside the bridge with folded arms watching the regiment advance the Colonel brought his men to port arms and gave the gallant Captain a marching salute. Captain O'Connor lost a company, but found a General's salute. The work of the Signal Corps was extraordinarily effi cient. They followed our left, and at every advance al most kept up with the firing line, one man going ahead with a coil of insulated wire, uncoiling it as he advanced, and others following with the instruments, so there was constant communication with the front, and there was not a hitch. The Signal Corps men entered a house in Malate just as the Spaniards left it, and before they could get their instruments adjusted on a table the firing through the house was so hot that they had to lie down on the floor. The following extract frora a letter written by a staff officer, who was very active in the advance, to his wife, giving her an account of his personal doings, gives also a very clear picture of the work done by our men, of the way in which the city was entered, and of the manner in which the insurgents were dealt with. It recounts the observations as well as the acts of a trained army officer, who, as aide to General Greene, was obliged to go over very much of the ground, and was therefore in position to see probably more of the day's work than any other one man : " Two days before I had made a reconnoissance of the position in our front and accurately located the cannon in the defences. One of them pointed directly up the beach on the edge of the bay, and this one we were unable to see with glasses on the morning of the bombardment. As General Babcock was wondering whether it was still there, I offered to go down and again reconnoitre the posi tion to ascertain with certainty whether the cannon had been removed. I started down the beach, concealing my self in the brush on the way, and had approached nearly to the river, when the bombardment suddenly opened from the ships. All the shells fell short, and as they struck the water they ricochetted and whistled over my head in such numbers that I was compelled to retreat about 212 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC a hundred yards, in order to get out of the line of flre. A slight lull then ensued in the firing, and I returned to my former position, not having had a chance to use my field-glasses while there first. A second time the ships opened fire, and the shells, again falling short, drove me from my position, but I returned a third time and finished the reconnoissance, then ran back to our trenches, report ing to General Babcock that the gun had been removed. I also made this report to General Greene, and he said : ' No, you are mistaken ; the gun is still there. I can see from here about eight feet of it,' and he pointed out the place to rae. Raising ray glasses, I thought, 'sure enough there is the gun.' On our arrival at the trench, however, after the assault, I found the gun General Greene and I thought we saw was a bent piece of corru gated iron lying in such a fashion on top of the trench as to closely resemble a cannon a thousand yards away. "During the early part of the bombardment I climbed to a site on the flat tin roof of a white house, through which our trench ran, and from there could plainly see and report to the gunners the effect of the shots from our 3. 2- inch rifles, which were being served by the Utah Light Battery. 'They did excellent shooting and much execution on the fort, but the principal daraage was done by two large-sized shells landed square in the fort by gun ners frora the fleet. They created havoc and must have killed and wounded raany Spaniards. " Seeing two companies of the Colorado regiment or dered to advance from the trenches I hastily descended and joined them. After advancing about a hundred yards or so this line concealed itself behind good cover to await the bombardment from the ships to grow less dangerous. Pretty soon, however, we were ordered to advance, and I, accompanied by three civilians, led the line through the brush. We stopped once more about three hundred and fifty yards from the enemy's position aud fired a number of volleys. We then made a rush across the mouth of a small river which separated us from the powder magazine at Malat6. We then stopped on tne further side of the streara, the men lyi-ng .down behind cover, and very shortly the rest of the Colorado regiment began to advance in our rear in support. THE "CAPTURE BY ASSAULT" 213 " As we neared the fort I was anxious to be the first to arrive and take down the Spanish flag as a trophy for yon ; so when the advance began again, I, accompanied by the three civilians, rushed forward in advance of the line, but it halted again, and the Colonel called ns back, as he desired to fire some volleys before approaching nearer. _ We reluctantly returned to the rear of the line, which just at that time began another advance, and the Lieutenant-Colonel of the regiment (McCoy) ran ahead of his line, and getting the start of me beat me into the fort and secured the flag for his regiment. As I ran up on the parapet I noticed a very pretty little trumpet lying on the bed in a small room and I seized that and several machetes (called bolas by the natives here) as trophies. Lying under a small nipa shed behind the fort was a poor Spaniard badly wounded in the head and still breathing. I called him to the attention of the flrst hospital corps man I saw and continued in rapid advance with the line. " As we proceeded from the fort back to a building which had been occupied as a barracks by the officers, we came under such a heavy flre from the enemy that the men took to the trenches and stopped to return the flre. I kept on to the house and there captured some valuable papers, among thera one docuraent which earned for a small native boy a reward of $25, a fee I had promised him on the contingency that certain information he gave me should be found to be correct. This was a very bright boy who came into my camp several weeks ago peddling cigars. He said that his father was an American who had now left the country and he was living with his mother, a native woman, in Manila. He spoke Spanish fluently and so I questioned him to know if he thought he could bring me certain information I was desirous of obtaining. He thought he could, and returning to Manila came back in four days, with just what I wanted. I paid him liberally, and then sent him again to count the number of Spaniards who served in the trench immediately in our front. He came back with a report that there were seven trenches, served by about fifty Spaniards each, with a certain num ber of guns. Knowing the trench was a continuous one, I considered his information valueless and thought he was trying to play a native trick on me, so paid hira nothing. 214 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC When I captured the paper I discovered that the Span iards themselves had divided this continuous trench into seven parts, numbering them from one to seven, and that the regular garrison of these trenches was as the boy had stated, about fifty men each. Why they should so divide a continuous trench I cannot see, but they did. The number of cannon he had reported was exactly right. "While I was at this house there was considerable skir mishing between our men and the enemy, and a poor fellow of the Colorado regiment was shot in the neck as he stood near me, and has since died. Hearing some Mauser rifles popping behind a wall I got a Captain of the California regiment to have his men hold their guns at arm's length above the wall and discharge them into the yard beyond to drive the Spaniards away. They were making it uncomfortably warm for men on our side who were ap proaching along the beach from the rear. The California regiment at this point passed the Colorado regiment and took the advance. Joining the California regiment I pro ceeded down the street with it and saw Sam Widdifield's squad (he is a corporal) very gallantly advance on the run and drive sorae Spaniards out of a yard who had been firing at our men approaching on the left. Engleskjon, General Babcock's orderly, had gone back for our horses, which we left in the rear, but not being able to wait I borrowed a captured horse and soon wore him out carrying messages for General Babcock and Gen eral Greene. All this time I was galloping around through the streets of Malat§ (that suburb of Manila through which we were then advancing) in which our men were skirmishing with the enemy. I requested Colonel Smith of the California regiment to leave a small guard over every house flying the English flag, which he did. The English have been very friendly to us in this war and I wanted to see the compliment returned. " I returned and reported to General Greene for duty. He immediately directed me to ride to the front, and, selecting a patrol of ten men from the California regiment, to advance upon the walled city, reconnoitre it and see whether they would fire on me. As Engleskjon just then returned with my horse I got on it and taking him with me we galloped to the front to make the reconnoissance, THE "CAPTURE BY ASSAULT" 215 but just as we came out on the Luneta, an open space be tween the walled city and Ermita, one company of the Twenty-third Infantry debouched from Ermita along the beach and the First Battalion of the California regiment came out of the streets of Ermita on to this open space. I followed them and before we reached the walls of the city we observed a white flag fiying on its corner. They marched to the street which encircles the wall, called the Calle de Bagumbayan, and there halted. " As soon as we had seen the white flag I had sent Eng leskjon to report the fact to General Greene, and after we had advanced to the foot of the wall I returned myself and reported to him that the enemy had ceased firing. General Greene's orders required him to march around the walled city and take possession of the suburbs across the river on the other side. Before starting back myself I directed the halted troops, by his order, to move about a half mile around toward the river and then halt to await further orders frora him. They did move down opposite the road whicii leads up to the walled city from a small town in the country called Santa Ana. It had been our whole plan entirely to prevent the insurgents from getting into the city, in order to protect the inhabitants and houses against their looting propensities, but at Santa Ana a number of insurgents, seeing the Spanish falling back, had been too quick for our troops and had approached the walled city from that direction. Coming up within rifle range they began to fire indiscriminately at our troops (who had halted between them and the Spaniards) and at the Spaniards behind them. This caused the Spaniards to return the fire and for a few minutes here stood our helpless troops (four companies of the California regiment) between two fires, knowing, there had been an error and powerless to correct it. They deserve much credit for being cool enough not to return the fire on either party, for such an action might have precipitated what could have been nothing but a bloody and useless carnage. " During this firing three raen were wounded and one shot in the head so badly that he died soon afterward. The others were not severely wounded, one being shot in the shoulder and the other shot in the hand. I myself afterward helped to dress the wound of the one shot in the hand, as no physician was near at the tirae, all being 2l6 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC occupied with wounded in the rear. All the men carried on their persons small packages of emergency dressings, and now I hope you will never again say that that little package of emergency dressing which I have been carry ing to your discomfort in my grip and trunk for ten years is a nuisance and useless. " When I reported to General Greene he galloped to the front, followed by his staff and myself, and as we were crossing the Luneta, a number of shots were fired at us frora Mauser rifles by Spaniards concealed in native huts off to the right of the open space from which our men had previously advanced. I think these were native soldiers in the service of the Spaniards, . who had been cut off by our rapid advance and were trying to make their way into the city. They had been pressed pretty hard by the columns which had advanced through the streets of Malate which were furthest away from the beach, bnt they had been unable to fall back as fast as our men had advanced along the beach and that street which was nearest the beach. " General Greene rode up to the wall and had a con sultation with an official who came forward to meet him near its corner. Then we turned to the right and started along the Calle de Bagnmbayan to go around the city. When we reached that gate of the wall which enters from the road to Paco we met a number of mounted Spanish officials, whom General Greene stopped to interview. They brought a request that he enter the city to see the Captain- General, and accompanied by his Adjutant-Gen eral, Captain Bates, and by Dr. Bourns as an interpreter, he went into the city, leaving us to await his return. The men were halted, and while resting on their arms freely talked with the conquered Spaniards. It is very strange how soon soldiers of opposing sides will affiliate with each other after one side has given up. While General Greene was in the city. General Anderson and General Babcock arrived, and soon afterward General Greene came out of the city and had a conference with these two Generals. " We then resumed our progress around the walled city, and having reached another road leading into the city from Santa Ana, we found another gang of insurgents in our way, whom General Greene directed two companies to force out of the road on to another street, so as to let his THE "CAPTURE BY ASSAULT" 217 command pass by. One man with a red sash tied around his shoulders and very much excited was haranguing the crowd, and when directed to move his men into the side street by Dr. Bourns, who spoke to him in Spanish, pur suant to General Greene's orders, he said : ' No, we are not going anywhere. We are going into the walled city. That's what we came for, and that's what we are going to do.' I jumped off my horse and pulling my pistol out, shook it in his face and told Dr. Bourns to say to him that if he wanted trouble he could have it right off, but if he didn't want trouble he had better move his men where or dered to, and move them damned quick. He suddenly became very polite, and with many salaams, said ' Si, si, sigHor.' In the meantime two companies had marched up to the side of the insurgents, and, wheeling into line in front of them, pressed them out of our way back into the side street. Then the insurgents went back that street and approached from another direction, but were headed off by Colonel Smith of the First California, to whom I carried an order to force them back across a bridge over the river and hold them there. ' ' General Greene sent me with a battalion across the Puente de Espaiia, the main and principal bridge leading from the corner of the walled city over into the suburbs of Binondo and Tondo. On coming back he sent me with another battalion across the bridge leading into Quiapo. Returning from this duty, I informed him there was an other bridge just above the one leading to Quiapo, and he sent me back with orders to direct Colonel Smith to guard that bridge also. Returning to General Greene, I again got a message to carry to the Colonel of the Nebraska reg iment, who was awaiting orders in the rear, and bringing him up to the front, I accompanied General Greene and his staff until all the troops were posted in positions to guard the principal buildings of the towns and all the main approaches into the outskirts, so that the insurgents could be prevented from entering and looting the place. 'This they were very keen to do. "All this time, while General Greene's brigade was fighting through the city and afterward posting itself for protection against the insurgents. General MacArthnr's brigade, whicii had entered the outskirts of the city to the right and rear of ours, had been fighting near Santa Ana, 2l8 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC Concordia, Paco and Cingalon with Spanish skirmishers, and following up in our rear to take the positions on the outskirts abandoned by our troops, in order to prevent the insurgents from following in our rear. A portion of his command had rather a tough fight near Cingalon, and lost in about five minutes several men killed and fifteen or t'venty wounded. He, however, succeeded in cutting off all but a few of the insurgents, who slipped in too quick for him at Santa Ana. " All along the north side of the town extending from Santa Ana, around in a northerly direction to the bay at Malabon, near Caloocan, the Spanish held their positions and did not fall back ; so we took up our positions in their rear, and although they had surrendered they were not relieved from dnty in these trenches until 4 o'clock on the following afternoon. I don't suppose there ever was another case on record where two armies opposed to each other fought out their differences and agreed to a plan to join hands for the protection of a helpless popula tion against the evil propensities of a third armed party. ' ' The following day General Greene sent me to make a reconnoissance and report on the Spanish line extending from Santa Ana around northward, and the Spanish still being in these trenches, I came in contact with all of them. All the officers appeared very friendly and not resentful, except one, a Colonel Carbo, who was a fire- eating Spaniard and Colonel of the Guias Rurales. He was very theatrical in his manner and objected to surren dering as he did, stating that he much preferred fighting to the death for his beloved country. " That evening late, as I was returning frora my duty, I found a drunken American soldier on the street with a rock in his hand, having an altercation with three or four Chinamen who were trying to keep him out of their house. They complained that he wanted to drink the alcohol out of their shellac. They were dealers in oils, paints, var nishes, shellac, etc. fie was accompanied by a citizen who spoke English and said he was an Englishman, bnt I think he was probably a discharged American soldier who had remained with the command. He also was drunk. I asked him if he was a soldier and he said no, so I arrested the soldier he was with and ordered the citizen to move on and go about his business. He followed me up, abus- THE "CAPTURE BY ASSAULT" 219 ing me for arresting the soldier, and I again went back and drove him away, saying that I wonld arrest him, too, if I had any more trouble with him. I delivered the soldier to the guard and as I was turning away I en countered the citizen again coming to the rescue of the soldier. My Irish was then up and I started for him, but he ran away. I soon overtook him and arrested him, but he resisted and I struck him over the head with my pistol, which cut his scalp and made the blood flow freely. He then accompanied me to the guard. He had told me that ' no damned American officer could arrest him because he was an English citizen,' and I concluded that it was best for the community that "this erroneous impression should be removed. " Here is an incident ofthe entrance into Manila which I forgot to relate. While I was advancing down the streets of Malate with the California regiment some Mauser rifle shots were heard from a small building be tween the Calle Real and the beach. About a dozen California menrnshed into the yard in which the building was situated and, kneeling down, pumped a rain of bullets into the house. I turned away to another place where sharp firing was going on, and presently I saw these men bringing out of the yard three badly scared natives, sol diers in the Spanish Army, whom they had captured in the house, and one of the men remarked that one raan in the house had been killed, and that there had been four of them altogether. They carried their prisoners along with the advancing troops. " While we were waiting on the Calle de Bagumbayan, Major Fitzhugh came into the street from the road lead ing toward Paco and reported to me that some insurgents had entered Malate in that direction and were advancing on the city and that he and Major Jones of the Quarter master's department had taken the flag of the California regiment and going down the street in front of them had planted the flag and ordered them to halt, at the same time pulling their pistols and threatening to shoot the first man who dared to advance. Major Jones afterward remarked that it was simply a bluff on his part, as he didn't have a single cartridge in his pistol at the time. They halted, however, and Major Fitzhugh had returned to report that they were threatening to come in anyhow 220 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC and kill anybody — Americans or anybody else — who tried to prevent them. He thought some troops should be sent there, and I referred him to General Greene, who just then came out of the walled city. He reported to General Greene, and I understand some troops were immediately despatched to prevent their further advance. " I have never before realised what a demoralising thing it is to be shot at and not know where the bullet is com ing from. The Mauser rifle used by the Spanish has a very small calibre and as the Spanish used smokeless powder the noise was very slight. There was no flash or smoke at all. The flash could not even be seen by night. One could only judge of the direction from which the bullet came by the small popping noise of the explosion. This gave one a general idea, but no indication of where to shoot. It gave the Spanish a most decided advantage over all our volunteers, who were armed with Springfields, the fire from which made a great noise and much smoke, as old-fashioned powder was in the cartridges. " The other day I was sent by General Greene to guide certain officers to the water-works, the reservoir and the pumping station. We found both in the hands of the in surgents, and at neither place would they allow ns to ex amine the works until I had shown them an old pass that I had obtained from Aguinaldo when I started to make my first reconnoissance around the city. This proved to be an open sesame, and we had no further trouble. They would not give up the water works, however, without an order, and so on the following day General Merritt directed me to go and see Aguinaldo concerning the matter ; but just as I was making preparations to start in the worst storm and over the worst roads I ever saw, two emissaries from Aguinaldo came to see General Greene about the same question, so I was saved a disagreeable journey. Every thing is still in considerable confusion, but I believe it is straightening itself out as rapidly and as smoothly as could well be expected under the circumstances." On the whole the occupation of the city was quickly and quietly effected. After he left Jaudenes, General Merritt went at once to the Government building. The plaza in front of it was already filling up with Spanish soldiers coming to surrender their arms, and glad, most of them, that it was all over. The Second Oregon Regiment THE "CAPTURE BY ASSAULT" 221 came up to the Government building and General Merritt ordered Colonel Summers to receive the surrender of the arms. The Oregon men were drawn up in line in front of the Spaniards, who stood at parade rest. General Merritt stepped out on the balcony and the Oregon men saluted him. Then his two-starred blue flag was broken out from the balcony, and Manila was under her American Governor. Nearly all that night Colonel Summers worked and kept his tired men at it also. The Spaniards kept coraing in from the outposts and turning over their guns to the Americans. The pile of captured rifles grew. They were stacked in the little park in front of the Gov ernment house. They were piled in the corridors, they were everywhere, and still there were more to come in. Three magazines full were found the first night, and there are still more. No effort has been made as yet to list the property captured, but it is a great lot. The guns in the batteries are mostly obsolete, but sorae of them are good. The morning after the surrender there was a conference to arrange the formal capitulation. The United States were represented by General Greene, Captain Lamberton of the Olympia, Lieutenant-Colonel Whittier, Inspector-Gen eral, and Lieutenant-Colonel Crowder, Judge Advocate. For the Spaniards there were Nicolas de la Pefia, Auditor General ; Colonel Carlos Reyes of the Engineers and Colonel Jose de Olagner Feliu. The city remains quiet and the only apparently possible source of trouble is the insurgent situation. General Mer ritt has sent General Anderson back to Cavite in firactical charge of the matter, to treat with Aguinaldo by diplo macy rather than by force. In other words, there is to be a game of talk. But Aguinaldo is not a talker, though he is clever enough at it when he tries. He has been making things interesting for the United States author ities in Manila by saying little, and that directly to the point from his viewpoint. After the many collisions be tween his men and the Americans on Saturday he sent a commission to General Anderson " in order to promote friendship and a better understanding." General Ander son did some very forceful talking. The insurgents had thrown up trenches oppsite our outposts in some places and acted as if they were besieging us instead of being our "friends." Anderson told them very plainly that that sort 222 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC of thing must stop and that the Filipino troops must be withdrawn from the city. To this they finally agreed, and they also gave up their demands for Manila as their capital. But, as has been said, there is always mafiana in this country. The insurgents have not withdrawn yet, and, furthermore, they do not intend to get out just yet. They have seized the water-works out near San Juan del Monte and they hold on. They occupy the pumping station and Manila is getting into a desperate state. The rains have been terrific, but the builders do not properly drain the houses, and so the rains do very little fiushing. Aguin aldo has promised to take his men away, but he fails to keep his promise, and we may have to use force there, for water must be had at any cost. Yesterday Aguinaldo sent his commission back again with a long speech and ten conditions precedent to the withdrawal of his troops. The long speech was to the effect that he had permitted the Americans to land troops at Bakor and ParaQaque, and had befriended and helped them in many ways ; therefore he was entitled to some of the spoils. The ten conditions were briefly : 1. That his troops withdraw only to certain limits, to be fixed by agreement, close to the city. 2. That he retain certain convents in the city, which were to be agreed upon later. 3. That we exercise sovereignty only over the city. 4. That General Merritt shall consult Aguinaldo about all civil appointments. 5. That the Filipinos shall have the right at all times to enter the river and harbour. 6. That the arms taken from the Filipinos be returned to them. 7. That the Filipinos be permitted to retain control of the water-works. 8. That Filipino olHcers be permitted to enter the city with or without arms. 9. That the Filipinos be permitted to share with the Ameri cans in the booty of the captured city. 10. That all negotiations be put in writing and coufirmed by the commander of the American forces. General Anderson replied that until the Filipinos had given up the water-works and withdrawn their men from in front of our outposts there wonld be no more talk of any sort with the commission. Still, neither has been done, and nearly all the trouble made in the city is caused by the insurgents. There is the bitterest hatred between THE " CAPTURE BY ASSAULT " 223 them and the Spanish. The other night a Filipino officer going along without his arms but in uniform was stopped by a surrendered Spanish officer, who tried to take off his shoulder straps. The Filipino resisted, and the Spaniard drew a pistol — side arms were retained by the terms of capitulation — and shot him in the leg. The same night five Filipinos with knives, went into the house of a wealthy Chinaman and demanded his money. Not getting it, they drew bolas and stabbed the old raan nine times before the row attracted our guard. As it was three of the men got away and only two were caught. The work of establishing the American Government will go forward rapidly and at once. General Merritt is sued his proclamation to-day. Parts of it had been read to Aguinaldo's commissioners, and in response to their very earnest protests some changes were made. In the proclamation as originally drawn it was provided that the Spanish laws governing civil affairs, property rights and for the punishment of crime should remain in force and be administered by local Spanish officials. Aguinaldo's men said the laws were all right, but they could not sub mit to the Spanish officials. They argued so well that General Merritt finally consented to the appointment of Araerican officials in the more important cases. This is the proclamation as it was issued TO THE people OP THE PHILIPPINES. 1. War has existed between the United States and Spain since April 21 of this year. Since that date you have witnessed the destruction by an American fleet of the Spanish naval power in these islands, the fall of the principal city, Manila, and its defences, and the surrender of the Spanish army of occupation to the forces of the United States. 2 . The commander of the United States forces now in pos session has instructions from his Government to assure the people that he has not come to wage war upon them, or upon any party or faction among them, but to protect them in their homes, in their employments and in their personal and religious rights. All persons who, by active aid or honest submission, co-operate with the United States in its eiforts to give effect to this beneficent purpose, will receive the reward of its support and protection. . 3. The government established among you by the United States army is a government of military occupation ; and for the present it is ordered that the municipal laws such as affect private rights of persons and property, regulate local insti tutions and provide for the punishment of crime shall be con- 224 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC sidered as continuing in force, so far as compatible -with the purposes of military government, and that they be administered through the ordinary tribunals substantially as before occupa tion, but by officials appointed by the Government of occupa tion. 4. A Provost Marshal-General will be appointed for the city of Manila and its outlying districts. This territory will be divided into sub-districts and there will be assigned to each a Deputy Provost Marshal. The duties of the Provost Marshal- General and his deputies will be set forth in detail in future orders. In a general way they are charged with the duty of making arrests of military as well as civil oiienders, sending such of the former class as are triable by courts-martial to their proper commands with statements of their offences and names of witnesses and detaining in custody all other offenders for trial by military commission, provost courts, or native criminal courts, in accordance with law and the instructions hereafter to be issued. 5. The port of Manila and all other ports and places in the Philippines which may be in actual possession of our land and naval forces will be open while our military occupation may continue to the commerce of all neutral nations, as well as our own, in articles not contraband of war and upon payment of the prescribed rates of duty which may be in force at the time of the importation. 6. All churches and places devoted to religious worship and to the arts and sciences, all educational institutions, libraries, scientific collections, museums, are, so far as possible, to be pro tected ; and all destruction or intentional defacement of such places or property, of historical monuments, archives or works of science is prohibited, save when required by -urgent military ne cessity. Severe punishment will be meted out for all violations of this regulation. The custodians of all properties of the character mentioned in this section will make prompt returns thereof to these head quarters, stating character and location and embodying such rec ommendations as they may think proper for the full protection of the properties under their care and custody, that proper orders may issue enjoining the co-operation of both military and civil authorities in securing such protection. 7. The commanding General, in announcing the establish ment of military government and in entering upon his duties as military Governor, in pursuance of his appointments as such by the Government of the United States, desires to assure the people that so long as they preserve the peace and perform their duties toward the representatives of the United States, they will not be disturbed in their persons and property, except in so far as may be found necessary for the good of the service of the United States and the benefit of the people of the Philippines. Wesley Merritt, Major-General U. S. Army, Commanding. AFTER MANILA SURREN13ERED 225 CHAPTER XXXIII after MANILA SURRENDERED Manila, Aug. 24. — The Americans have been occupy ing the capital of the Philippines ten days. They have been days full of work, with, at the start, considerable anx iety, but the work begins to tell, system is evolved out of chaos ; soon everything will be as smooth as could be expected under the circumstances, if not as smooth as could be desired. It was a tremendous task, complicated in soul-harrowing fashion by our inability, to speak the language. Interpreters were few and very hard to get. They were occupied constantly and worked to death. Strangely, Manila furnished no interpreters. The Eng lishmen here who speak Spanish like na,tives are all oc cupied all the time with the work of their reviving busi ness, and have small opportunity to be of such practical assistance to their friends, the Americans, as would be de monstrated by talking Spanish for them. Fortunately for the army, there were several men in the Oregon and Cali fornia regiments who knew Spanish, and two or three of the regulars who had served in Texas had picked up a working knowledge of it there. Aguinaldo began to make trouble at the start. His ten demands, which were sent in a previous letter, fairly showed the temper of the Filipinos. As a matter of fact, government of these islands or of anything else by the Filipinos is out of the question, and will be out of it for many years. Only a few of them have reached such a stage of intellectual advancement as to be able to compre hend any of the problems of government or of responsibil ity. The trouble is that these few leaders have the im plicit faith and doglike devotion of their fellows. They have not the wisdom to limit their ambitions, and aspire beyond the wildest possibility. It is the desire of the moth for the star. The water- works are in operation. The whole city has not profited as yet, because, with cheerful imbecility, the Spaniards had broken mains and connections and opened 15 226 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC cocks when the insurgents shut off the supply, doing dam age which it will take several days yet to repair. Now, however, the Filipinos are actually retiring from the out posts along our lines, and it begins to look as if the Amer ican Army really was in occupation. The anomaly of two Captains-General in the Philippines, both exercising full power, apparently, still remains, but that will not last long. There was a great desire among the Americans to put an end to insurgent pretensions at once by force, bnt although it was annoying to see the Filipino flag flying in Ermita and elsewhere close to the walled city, and al though it was not pleasant to contemplate the arrogance and "freshness" of Aguinaldo's men, undoubtedly it was better to endure that for a little while and win out in the end by diplomacy than to win at once by fight. Until it becomes a definitely determined fact that these islands are to be part of Uncle Sara's domain forever, the question of the native can remain in abeyance. One of the moving factors in Aguinaldo's new complais ance undoubtedly was the arrival of the two transports. Peru and City of Puebla, on Sunday morning, with 2,000 more troops. It creates a healthy frame in the Fili pino mind to see the way in which the great strapping American soldiers keep coming in by the thousands or so frora some incomprehensible place down beyond the Boca Grande. The men are bigger and hardier and stronger than any men these chaps have seen before. They come in bigger ships than the Filipino people know. They en dure and accomplish in a way that surprises the poor devils, who are farailiar only with Spanish incompetence and procrastination. And the result is salutary. The Peru and Puebla had a pleasant enough voyage, but they were a disappointed lot who came ashore from the new transports. Eager almost beyond the bounds of restraint to get here in time to take part in the capture of Manila, they lay twelve days in Honolulu. Honolulu is the gar den of the gods. It would be impossible to choose a flner place in which to spend twelve days, but when you have not twelve hours to delay, twelve days, even in Eden, cloy. They did their best after leaving Honolulu. They made the " engines stamp and ring," but when they came up the bay on Saturday evening the light at the mouth of the Pasig told them they were too late. AFTER MANILA SURRENDERED 227 The story of the wounding of Father McKinnon, chap lain of the First California Regiment, is one of the little narratives that have been cropping out since the surrender. Itwas the sixth time that Father McKinnon had had a mighty close call. Most of them he got while trying to get into the city to see the Archbishop. At last, when all ef forts to reach the Archbishop through diplomatic means had failed, the chaplain struck out on his own hook. He walked np the beach in broad daylight, straight toward the Spanish lines. The Spaniards shot at him, and he stopped. Then he waved his hand at them and walked on. They did not shoot again, and he reached the lines in safety. They received him very cordially, apologised for their inability to get him a horse, because most of them had been eaten, and sent him with a guard to the Colonel in command at that point. The Colonel apologised also about the horse, and sent him along to General Rizo, in command at the front. The General made a third and elaborate apology, and Father McKinnon walked into the walled city and met the Archbishop. The old man, who all along has been accused of being the head devil of them all out here, of doing his utmost to prevent surrender, of urging the Spaniards to die in their ditches and of making a bombproof for himself in his palace, and who, without doubt, did issue a most scurrilous proclamation about the American plunderers, heretics, ingrates, barbarians, rav ishers and all that, assured the California chaplain that for months he had been working and praying for peace, that he had advised and voted for it in the Council, and that he knew the Spaniards were overmatched and never could hold out. Then he sent Father McKinnon along to Jaudenes, the new Captain-General, who told him the same sort of a story as to his own actions. Some things are queer in this world. But about the wound. Father McKinnon advanced with his men on the day of the assault, and, on one occa sion, when they were coming up the beach where there was absolutely no protection, the Spanish fire got warm, uncomfortably warm ; in fact hot. The California men lay down. Father McKinnon with them. The chaplain felt a slight stinging sensation in that part of the body which the surgical returns describe as the " right upper third," but paid no attention to it. That night, when he 228 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC went to bed, he found two bullet holes in his trousers, and there was blood on them. He had also an annoying flesh wound which reminded hira of his youthful days and the sensation he had when his good mother wielded her slip per. Por some reason Father McKinnon did not report the wound to the surgeons, and did not apply at the hos pital for treatment. He's all right now and sits again at the mess table. On the Monday raorning after the surrender the Japa nese coast defence ship Matsushima, which got in just in time for the fun, shifted anchorage and saluted the foreign Admirals. She had saluted Admiral Dewey on her arrival. When she had finished the thirteen gun business all around that morning, the English flagship Immorta lity broke ont the Stars and Stripes and saluted with twenty-one guns, the first salute from a foreigner to the new flag in the port of Manila. The Olympia answered promptly, and then when the white ensign of Great Britain had been hauled down, it was run np again with the in ternational signal, " Send boat for fresh meat." Captain Chichester responded gladly, but Tong before the English boat had reached the Olympia the German and the French man and the Jap, who had not saluted and who had not been included in the signal, had got their meat boats along side. There are some things on which Brother Jonathan does not have a monopoly, and cheek is one of them. The opening of the cable last Sunday put new life into the situation here at once. The capture of the city on the day after the cessation of hostilities had placed Gen eral Merritt in a rather peculiar position. Like Judge Cobb, but not for the same reason, he wanted to know where he was at. When the Spaniards heard that hos tilities had ceased before they surrendered they were fllled with regret that they had not held ont a few days longer. They did not know that General Merritt had been ordered to suspend operations also, and that, if the order could have reached him in time, the Americans would still be in Cavite. There is no telling what they wonld have tried to do if they had known that, but, as it was, they pro tested against the American occupation of the city. There they showed again their theatrical proclivities. They are mortally afraid of the " insurrectors." The frankly honest among them admit that they could not AFTER MANILA SURRENDERED 229 have held out against the Filipinos much longer. Jau denes says eight days would have done it. But neverthe less they protested against American occupation. Of course no attention was paid to the protest. Well, when General Merritt got no further word from Washington he finally sent the China to Hong Kong with despatches. Negotiations with the cable company had been going on here all the time and the Spanish authorities had finally consented to release the company from its indemnity deposit. But the wire was sealed up in Hong Kong and authority to open it had to be obtained from headquarters in Madrid. When the cable finally began operations on Sunday morning there was a lot of work to do. It kept the men busy half the night. It was not until yester day that despatches began to come in for the army. Then things began to buzz. The transports had all been held pending the return of the China. She got in this morning, and now they are all to be released and start back as soon as possible. That raeans, of course, that we shall stay here for some time, at least, and the officers are looking around to make themselves as comfortable as possible. Some of them are renting houses and setting up their own establishments. The wives of sorae of them will come ont at once. The fine tirae of the year is coming on, and the climate is not at all bad — no, that is not quite it. The climate is bad from our point of view, but not nearly what everybody had been led to believe. No earthquakes have shown up yet, and the big stone buildings abont do not look particularly trembly. The work of the government is fast getting into running order. 'The provost courts opened this morning for the first time, with Lieutenant-Colonel Charles L. Jewett, Judge Advocate of the Eighth Corps, as chief Judge. Minor courts will be established at once. The city is remarkably quiet. There has been very little disorder, less, in fact, than in an American city of similar size in a similar condition. Arrests are very few, and most of them for trivial offences. There has been one murder, a Spaniard's throat was cut by Filipinos, and there is con siderable horse stealing, but on the whole it is remarkably quiet. The customs and internal revenue collectors are full of business, and they have some difficulty in adrainis- 230 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC tering the Spanish laws because they do not yet understand them thoroughly. In accordance with the President's order organizing the Eighth Array Corps, General Merritt has relinquished its command to Major-General Otis, who is now in com mand of the army of occupation. General Merritt taking over the broader duties of Military Governor. Here is General Merritt's congratulation to the troops on the capture of the city : general orders no. 6. Headquarters Department op the Pacific ) AND Eighth Army Corps, >¦ Manila, P. I., Aug. 17, 1898. ) The Major-General commanding desires to congratulate the troops of this command upon their brilliant success in the cap ture, by assault, of the defences of Manila on Saturday, Aug. 13, a date hereafter to be memorable in the history of American victories. After a journey of 7,000 miles by sea, the soldiers of the Philippine expedition encountered most serious dilHculties in landing, due to protracted storms raising high surf, through which it was necessary to pass the small boats which afforded the only means of disembarking the army and its supplies. This great task, and the privations and hardsliipg of a campaign dur ing the rainy season in tropical lowlands, were accomplished and endured by all of the troops in a spirit of soldierly fortitude wliich has, at all times during these days of trial, given the commanding General the most heartfelt pride and confidence in his men. Nothing could be finer than the patient, uncom plaining devotion to duty which all have shown. Now it is his pleasure to announce that, within three -weeks after the ari-ival in the Philippines of the greater portion of the forces, the capital city of the Spanish possessions in the East, held by Spanish veterans, has fallen into our hands and he feels assured that all otfioers and men of this command have reason to be proud of the success of the expedition. The commanding General will hereafter take occasion to men tion to the home Government the names of officers, men and organizations to whom special credit is due. By command of Major-General Merritt. J. B. Babcock, Adjutant-General. ABOUT A CIVILIAN PERSON 23 1 CHAPTER XXXIV ABOUT A CIVILIAN PERSON Manila, Aug. 25. — He was the only man on the upper deck who did not have a commission. He was just a plain private, and really had no right to be in the place where the officers go. The attendants from the hospital had put him aboard jnst as the tender was about to start on her morning trip from Cavite to Manila. When lie was with his mates at Palo Alto and represented Stanford in athletics he weighed almost 160, bnt seven weeks in the hospital had changed all that. His eyes were deep black pockets in the tightly drawn faded parchment skin that held to gether his brain rack. His legs and arms were like the slender bamboo stems araong which his comrades had been fighting south of Manila. He lay flat on his back, wrapped up in the folds of the brown canvas uniform that fitted him once, fiis ridiculous shoes stuck straight up, except that now and then they wabbled a bit on the feet that no longer fitted them. Under his head was a pair of mouldy boots wrapped in his extra shirt. He wasn't very comfortable, but he was going back to his regiment, to the boys once more, where there wonld be friendly faces and some one to talk to him, and, if his imagination could force itself far enough, something like the breath of home. It was the " civilian person " who " rated " a place with the officers that broke the ice with the cheerfully feeble question : "Been sick ?" Somewhere down in the black caverns the eyes re sponded with the suggestion of a twinkle. Then the voice struggled into audibility : "No," it said ; "been fishing." " Oh," said the civilian person. " Thought you'd been in hospital." " Seven weeks," answered the voice ; " but I'm going back to my regiment." He tried to smile, bnt when the thin lips drew back he seemed to be afraid his jaws would fall apart, and gave it np. 232 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC " Seven weeks," the voice said again, "and I haven't even flred a shot. Haven't done a bit of work since we got here ; haven't seen a Spaniard, not even a Guam prisoner." The thin lips parted again and there was the old sug gestion of a twinkle in the deep eyes. The civilian person sat down beside him, Turk fashion, on the deck. " Pretty comfortable ?" he asked. Somehow he wanted to talk, but he didn't know just what to say. The soldier actually grinned. " Pretty fresh when I started," he said. The voice was almost a whisper. The tug had struck the long roll kicked up by the breeze. " This thing bothers a bit," he went on, " but I'll get along. I'm going back to the boys, you know." The Rapido got out into the bay among all the ships. The sick man rolled his head and saw the new transports and the raen-o'-war. " I never saw these boats before," he whispered. " Would you like to sit up on the bench ? " asked the civilian person. " Can't make it," whispered the soldier. The civilian person thrust one burly arm under his shoulders and the other under his knees, straightened up with him, easily as if he were a child, and sat down with him at the rail where he could see all the bay, and the shipping and the green fringe and white walls and red roofs of Manila and the big bright Stars and Stripes float ing over the Luneta. " Not so heavy as I was," whispered the soldier. " Guess I don't weigh more'n ninety pounds." He looked at all the ships, and the civilian person told hira their names, and when they came, and what troops they brought ; then about the capture of the city and the work the soldier's comrades had done. His company was the first to reach the Luneta, and one of his mates was shot down there. " Say," whispered the sick man, " it's great to have yon talk to me this way. It's all right in the hospital, but the doctors are busy, and they get sort of used to seeing yon 'round, and they can't stop long. And the people that come in just look at you and go away. I used to wish they'd talk to me, but I guess they were busy. ABOUT A CIVILIAN PERSON 233 " Sometimes they died there in the hospital. One night one died right near me. He was pretty sick, you know, and he didn't get any mail. There were lots of letters, but he didn't get any. I don't pray much ; never prayed in my life till that night. I guess it was midnight, any way they were all asleep. I got out of my cot and crawled down on my hands and knees, I couldn't walk much, to his cot and just prayed. And he prayed too. Then he died and I crawled back to my cot, and by and by they found him." The Rapido turned into the Pasig and made for her landing. "How are you going to get out to your company ?" asked the civilian person. " Oh, I guess I'll raake it, soraehow. I ain't so fresh as I was, but I'll make it by and by. How far is it ? " "Two miles." The sick man dropped his head on the rail. " Guess I'll have to go back," he said, at last. "If you'll help rae down I'll just lie here on the deck till she goes back, and it'll be all right." The civilian person had work to do that required his at tention without delay. He helped the sick raan back to his old position, with the shoes for a pillow, and then told a lie. "I haven't anything to do," he said: "if you think you can stand it I'll take you out there. I want to see some of the boys anyway." The pipe-stem fingers twitched and a feeble hand reached out to meet the grasp of the civilian person. There was a light in the deep eyes that was not a twinkle. The Rapido tied up at her landing. " I never was in Manila before," said the soldier with the laugh in his eyes again. " It's a long way from Market Street." The soldier lay on the deck, and the civilian person went out to find a carriage. The stone city lay under the un clouded tropic sun and sent back its heat in suffocating waves. No man walked who could ride, and a long string of negatives answered the queries of the civilian person. But at last, far from the lauding place, he found a man who did not answer "occupied "to his demand. More than an hour had gone before be reached the Rapido 234 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC again. The sick soldier lay on the deck in the sweltering heat and gasped for his feeble breath. The civilian per son picked him up and carried him down to the rickety, jolting cart. The driver jumped down from his place and helped. ''Mucho malo Senor," he said. 'They started away. " I got my pay yesterday," whis pered the soldier. "I wish I could get sorae commissary things. " It was a long way to the soldier's company and the civilian person had work to do. A Filipino pony makes slow time at best, bnt this one must walk those long two miles. The civilian person thought of these things, and lied again. " Let's go by the Commissary's," he said, " I've got lots of time." It was almost noon when they reached the " Sales from 8 to 12 " sign, and the civilian person asked what the sol dier wanted. There's a large list of good things in the Commissary's stores. Most of them are not for sick men, but they were what the soldier wanted. The civilian person bought what he dared give the sick man, and came back to the cart with his arms full of cans. The soldier's look raade him think it would be all right, somehow. Two miles at a mile an hour takes two hours, and the work of the civilian person that would brook no delay was drifting away to another day. A boy came by the car riage selling the frozen cholera that passes for water-ice in Manila. " Wait," said the sick man, " I want some of that." The civilian person put his arm further around the sol dier's shoulder to give him an easier rest and said : " No, you can't have that. Bnt come up to the drug store out here and I'll get you a bottle of soda. " The drug store was half a mile out of the way, and the street was crowded with carriages and porters bearing great bundles on their heads or on their backs. "Ah," said the soldier, when at last he had drained the glass, " that's the best drink I've had ont of America." They made it at last, every foot at a walk and every stone jolting the sick man further from his grip on him self. It was a man of his own company on guard at the regimental gate. He saw his sick comrade and violated the articles of war. "Hullo !" he said, as he left his post and came forw'^rd MANILA OPENS HER DOORS AGAIN 235 to greet his friend, " have they let you off ? I'm mighty glad, I needed relief. Here, take my gun. I'll give you the orders." The sick man dropped his head on his hands, and his heaving shoulders wrinkled the brown canvas coat. He had got back to his friends. The civilian person dropped out of the carriage and started away. An officer standing by the gate said to another : " Who is that big fellow walking so fast over there ? " " That fellow," said the other in surprise, " don't you know him ? 'That's Egan of the San Francisco Chronicle." CHAPTER XXXV MANILA OPENS HER DOORS AGAIN Manila, Aug. 28. — In the country towns of the United States, where the opera-house is upstairs over the leading store and the stage is a lot of planks laid over up-ended barrels, the drop-curtain shows a wonderful city of tall buildings and flaring signs, with windows tight shut and not a soul in the streets. That was Manila the day after the Stars and Stripes were raised, except that in Manila it rained, and the day was a dismal grey that fitted the mood of the people, and that here and there a bedraggled soldier in muddy brown canvas and striped poncho tramped miserably up and down the streets, doing his best to keep the lock of his rusty rifle out of the wet. It was a disappointing picture to those of us who had been looking at it across seven miles of water for two months and a half. From Cavite the green fringe that lined the bay was broken by picturesque domes and towers, white walls, and red-tiled roofs. At night along the waterfront there twinkled a double row of electric hghts, that winked to one another as if chuckling over the pleas ant sights they saw that were hidden from the envious Americans over there across the bay. The sun came up in the morning behind the city and lighted up the red and yellow stripes of the Spanish flags, then hid behind the clouds and brought the misty mirage thfc,t made the city stand out before the watchers as if suddenly raised in air. 236 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC We knew every indentation of the shore line, and we picked out the streets and the angles of the wall. At evening, when the sun had crossed the bay and was rolling down Mariveles Mountains in a ball of flaming cloud, we marked the last faint daylight glow among the palaces and cathedrals, and saw the first gleam of the Luneta lights, and told ourselves that by and by we should be under that radiance and exchange our hardships and troubles for the joys and comforts of the splendid city. We had lost sight of two material factors, the nature of the Spaniard and the blockade. Whatever he was once the Spaniard no longer cares. The name of the race is Ichabod — its glory has departed. He builds great palaces and makes fine houses, he adorns them with works of art, and he lets them alone. From being once beautiful they become picturesque, for the same reason that the moss- grown ruin of a stone wall is picturesque. There is much of that in Manila — the wall is all moss-grown, the moat is filled up with rubbish and weeds, through which a slimy stream wriggles its tortuous way, and almost every block shows its ruin from earthquake and fire. The blockade added another and perhaps natural phase to the picture. It spread the earthquake and fire ruin all over the city, through the beautiful suburbs, and along the waterfront. Yet most of this work simply exhibited anew the theatri cal side of the Spaniard. He had no notion of making a serious defence, yet he wrought desolation in the city as if he meant to leave it only for his shallow soldier's grave. All along the Luneta the grand trees that furnished grateful shade from the blistering afternoon sun were despoiled of their noble branches. The beautiful botani cal garden was wrecked completely, its trees hacked down or denuded of limbs, and sometimes even of bark, the shrubs and bushes pulled up by the roots or cut down close to the ground. The play-acting Spaniard was pro viding for himself a clean sweep from the walls across which he had not the slightest intention of firing a bullet. He moved his family from his palace in the suburbs into a back room in the walled city and left his goods in the lower rooms of his palace, looking as if they had been stirred up like soup with a giant ladle. He shut up his shop in the city and put a dozen padlocks on the doors and the iron bars across the shuttered windows. It was a boarded- up. MANILA OPENS HER DOORS AGAIN 237 tight-shut, desolate city that surrendered to the Ameri cans on August 13. The Spaniard had crawled into his hole like a mole and filled up the entrance behind him. Gradually he has been coming out of his hiding. For two days the shutters were np on all the shops and the doors were fastened and barred. Only the venturesome and peace ful Chinese dared to try to gather in a few stray coppers from the occasional American passer-by. The Tagals, venders of fruit and native brandy, peddled their wares undisturbed. The Englishmen, who had shut everything up and gone to Cavit6 for the "bombardment," came back to their offices, but there was no business. The banks — the chartered and the Hong Kong — opened for a couple of hours in the morning, and carriages and carts that had not been seized for mili1;ary use began to appear on the streets. Then General Merritt had use for the newspapers, and the publishers were persuaded to resume operations. They were vastly surprised at finding that there was to be no cen sorship. General Merritt told them that as long as they printed the truth he had not the slightest care what they said, and as to their truth he wonld judge when they were issued. There came a day that was neither feast day nor rainy, and the city opened out like a new rose in the morn ing sun. The proclamation had been issued guaranteeing the rights of private property. The beer gardens resumed business, the shutters came down all along the Escolta, the streets filled up with all varieties of conveyances, car riages, milords, rockaways, quileses, carromatas, calasines, broughams, carts and traps of all kinds that English fancy makes ; men sauntering and hurrying, messengers, soldiers sightseeing in squads, officers in all stages of uniform, some with swords and some without ; naval officers, sailors of the German, French and Japanese ships ; soldiers on guard ; guard reliefs marching in compact bodies, belts full of cartridges and guns at right shoulder; bullock carts loaded down with army supplies, swarms of Chinese porters carrying enormous loads suspended from heavy bars balanced across their shoulders. Filipino men lug ging bundles of green grass, the only sort of hay used here ; men with crates of chickens on their heads, women with shallow baskets of fruit, bananas, green oranges, strange, fonl-smelling fruits that look like apples and 238 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC peaches, and are good to eat if you have such a cold that you can't distinguish unpleasant odours, soldiers and offi cers riding ponies, Spanish officers wearing their swords, raen of the old civil guard in their blue and red uniforms, artillerymen, infantrymen, cavalrymen, and sailors, blind beggars led by little boys, women with arms full of babies begging, all in a jumble in the narrow, rough-paved street between the low stone buildings and the narrow-gauge, one-horse street cars struggling along through the mud, the driver playing tunes on a whistle that sounds like the toy-balloon affairs they sell for a cent on Broadway. Guards are stationed all along the streets. In the city they pace up and down. In the suburbs, where their posts for the most part are in front of the better houses, they have found chairs somewhere and sit at the gates. All day the throng moves up and down, and the thousand camera fiends among our soldiers snap and snap, and hurry off to wear the life out of the one English-speaking photographer with demands for immediate development of their films. The Spanish gentlemen have begun now to reappear on the streets, and private carriages with fine well-fed ponies dash about. If the afternoon is fair the ladies come out for a drive over the pleasant suburban roads or about the ruined botanical garden. All through the suburbs you see strings of Chinese porters lugging the furniture that was stored so hastily inside the walls back to the country homes, four men to a piano and six to a bed. They advance with a dogtrot step that keeps in rhythm with the swing of the bar over their shoulders, and when one shoulder is tired they turn in on themselves, shifting the burden and facing abont, right wheel and go ahead. This afternoon was clear and fair as a late August day at home. There Avas the same fall yellow in the sunlight that marks the first dropping of leaves in City Hall Park. The air was crisp and cool and the fresh breeze that blew across the bay lifted the heavy perfume of the fiowering bushes and shrubs in the gardens of the suburban palaces and filled the whole city with the fragrance. To-night a three-quarters moon floods the old city with soft light, the ancient wall shows black and shadowy, the red lights of the carriages dart about the narrow, dark streets, the big arc lights along the Luneta sputter and gurgle and wink TWO COMMANDERS 239 to the riding lights of the ships out by the breakwater. To the north the dipper and to the south the cross stand as double guides, and in the west, scarce a pistol shot away, Venus vies with the moon. No sign of war in this peace ful night scene. The surf beats in along the bay with long swing, swash and roll. It might be on the Jersey coast but that now and then from the narrow street in front of the house comes the sharp, ringing cry : " Halt ! Who's there ? " The guards are doing their duty in the captured city. CHAPTER XXXVI ¦ TWO COMMANDERS Manila, Aug. .30. — Uncle Sam's boys in Manila are mighty homesick and the going of General Merritt and General Greene does not help things a bit. The boys show a curious contradiction of feeling. They admit that Manila is not such a bad place to stay, very much better, in fact, than what they had been led to believe when they enlisted so eagerly to come out here. They are just as eager and anxious now as they were then to have Uncle Sam hold on to the islands ; hardly a man of them all is in favour of giving the islands back to Spain or letting the Filipinos undertake to govern them. Bnt the war is over, peace is about to be determined definitely, there is nothing ahead but garrison duty, and let the regular army do that. The volunteers enlisted to fight, not to guard streets or do police duty. Fighting is over ; now they want to go home. The regulars enlist, they say, to be soldiers in peace as well as war times ; let them do the work here. Before General Merritt got the order calling him to Washington some of the more influential among the volunteer officers were doing their best to get recalls or permission to go back. One man who carae out to make a flghting record and has made it, such as it is, finding that he could do nothing here although he was regarded very favourably by General Merritt, worked his pull in Washington to such effect that he is ordered to report there at once and leaves with General Merritt on the China at noon to-day. That is General Greene. 240 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC There was a flood of applications yesterday to General Merritt for permission or orders to return. All of them were denied. Many of them were from the dilettante soldiers of the staff, and it is hard to see why they are not permitted to go, for they are of no good whatever out here and never have been. Whatever ulterior purpose may have been served by their appointment, they have not been of the slightest use to the army. This is not meant to be a wholesale condemnation of such appointments, for there are men among the appointees from civil life who have been doing good work out here. A few of thera have been conspicuously successful. But these men have all been in places where their civil training fitted them to do this work. The dilettante officers are very anxious to get horae now. The glory and the glamour are gone and business interests begin to call. Business interests could be neglected when there was the fun and excitement of wearing a Major's straps and getting in sound of gun fire. And to some of them who have no business interests the joys of the fall season at home begin to appeal with great force, golf and shooting and cross-country riding. These delights are not to be had in Manila, held in truth by the Americans, bnt beleaguered on all sides by the insurgents. The sending of General Merritt to Paris undoubtedly was natural, but just as certainly it was not the wisest selection that could have been made, if knowledge of the situation here or of the complexities of interest involved was what was desired. The one man who, of course, is in the best position to give information is Admiral Dewey. fie has made a thorough study of the whole problem from all sides, and has been so situated that he could ob tain valuable information from all the most trustworthy and best equipped sources. He has a complete grasp of the question. But he does not want to go to Paris or to Washington. He told me the other day that in his opinion, there was much work for him to do here yet. fie had been advised by the Navy Department to hold himself in readiness to proceed by the quickest route to Washington whenever the President requested him to do so. He had replied by cable, giving to the fullest degree possible the information he had gathered about the islands and the situation here, and also his own views as to their retention. Later in the interview he signified what those TWO COMMANDERS 24I views were by pointing to the big United States flag fly ing over the Luneta and saying : " I hope it flies there forever, forever ! " General Merritt, of course, has had the advantage of much conversation with Admiral Dewey, who has placed at his disposal what information he had obtained himself. But the unfortunate fact is that General Merritt has not been in close sympathy with the Admiral. The colossal fig ure of all the operations in Manila Bay is Dewey, who came simply as a commander of naval forces and has developed into a diplomat of conspicuous skill and ability. Far- sighted, keen, shrewd, alert, active, courageous, with a cool, calm nerve that is amazing, the Admiral has risen to and met every emergency, and not once has he made a slip. The administration of the army here has been far different. The army itself recognises this fact, and if the truth must be told the army is jealous of the navy. General Merritt, of course, could hardly be accused of such a weakness, bnt the fact is, as was said, that he has not been in close sympathy with Admiral Dewey, and therefore has failed to make the most advantageous use of his opportunities here for observation and for acquiring information that would be particularly valuable to him under existing cir cumstances. He has had to rely, and is relying, largely on reports hastily ordered and hastily made to hira by such subordinate officers as have improved their time here as best they could. He has given no general or public declaration of his beliefs or impressions, but he told one of the diplomatic representatives here, who has been very largely concerned in the negotiations so far, that while he lived the Philippine Islands should never be ruled again by Spain, nor should the Filipinos govern them if he could prevent it. General Merritt has been about his province very little. Before the fall of the city he maintained his headquarters on the transport Newport and visited Camp Dewey very few times, and Cavite only once or twice. The American soldiers were being worked in the trenches opposite the Spanish lines, with not a solitary advantage of any kind to be gained by the loss of their lives, and the American commanding General was playing whist on a ship in the bay. This is an unpleasant statement, but it is the plain. 16 242 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC indisputable fact. General Merritt is no longer the bold, dashing cavalry commander whom many of the army offi cers here knew a few years ago. He has been bored by the whole performance down here. It has had very little interest for him. The day after he took up his quarters in the Captain-General's palace in Malacaflan he told me that he was tired of it all, and wanted to go home. He said he wonld rather be in his old quarters on Governor's Island by far than in this palace. The work to do here, the possibilities before him, the opportunity for hiraself, failed to appeal to him. He had no interest here. He said in San Francisco that he was no glutton for military glory, and he told the truth. It is no less true that the beginning of an undertaking of such magnitude as this should be in stronger hands. The man who undertakes to manage the starting of the first colonial enterprise of the United States must have his heart in his work, and energy tremendous to accompany his interest. When it became known that General Merritt had been ordered to Paris, the business men and merchants of Manila went to him at once to interest him in and inform him about the situation here. They pointed out the fact that as things now are business is practically at a stand still. The great commerce of Manila is with the provinces. Bnt the provinces are under control of the rebels. There are two Governors-General in the Philippines. The Amer icans nominally hold the power, but Aguinaldo blocks every road. What shall be done ? CHAPTER XXXVII OPKNING PRISON DOORS Manila, Sept. 2. — In the ordinary course of the occu pation of the city by our forces an investigation of the character and the inmates of the Spanish prisons began. So much had been known before of the way in wliich Spaniards treat their prisoners that there naturally was little delay, and as soon as Colonel Reeve was fairly settled in his office of Chief of Police he recommended to General MacArthur the appointment of Captain W. P. Moffett, A OPENING PRISON DOORS 243 Company, First North Dakota Volunteers, as General Superintendent of Prisons. The appointment was made, and Captain Moffett at once began his work. It took a very short time to develop a state of affairs which it will be dif- flcult for Americans in their quiet homes under a free flag to comprehend. There are two principal prisons in Manila used by the Spa,niards for the incarceration of persons accused in the ordinary way or of persons of small importance. Por those accused of graver offences, or those who had great wealth or political importance or possibilities, the military prison of Santiago was reserved with its horrors, which rival the dreadful black hole of Calcutta. The two main civil prisons as they were called, although military and political prisoners were incarcerated there, are the Pre sidio and the Bilibid, or Car eel Publica de Manila. These are supplemented by the various smaller prisons in the po lice stations and the different Government buildings, each with its barred-windowed roora where victiras of official disfavour might be deprived of light and air. The Spanish officials were still in charge ofthe Presidio and Bilibid prisons — as, in fact, they are yet, nominally — when Captain Moffett took charge. The first work of the new Superintendent, or Governor, was to call on the Spanish officials and inform them very definitely that he was the ruler of the prisons from that time forth, and that they raust do nothing without his knowledge and consent. It took some little time for that idea to get clear through Spanish intelligence, but it did at last. Captain Moffett is a young man and not of heroic stature. He was dressed in a well-worn, bine-trimmed linen uniform that most of our officers wear here. He had too much work to do and too few uniforms to keep them always in the spotless, faultless condition of the average indolent Spaniard. Be sides, he was only a Captain, whereas the Governor of the prison under the beneficent and well-bribed rule of Augus tin and Jaudenes was a Commandante, who had on his staff a Captain and a Teniente. The Commandante, with his gold braid and fine cap decorated with glittering braid and brass, ranked the plain little American Captain by several grades and numbers, in his own estimation, at least, and he was displeased at being required thus to submit to the authority of a subordinate. 244 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC But the young man frora North Dakota soon convinced his Excellency Don Commandante that although he wore only a Captain's shoulder-straps he represented in his offi cial capacity and person the sovereignty of 75,000,000 American freemen, and in his own hand he carried, if need be, the powers of that great nation, demonstrated for the Spaniard's unbelief by the presence of 14,000 or 15,000 great husky, hardy, rough-hewn fellows in brown canvas, white canvas, yellow khaki and bine flannel, parading, loafing, slouching, marching about the streets of the con quered city. So the Don Commandante came down. The first job Captain Moffett gave the Spaniards was the compilation of a muster roll of his prisoners. In the Pre sidio and Bilibid prisons alone 2,900 persons were confined. men, women, children and babies. Captain Moffett re quired the roll to show the name of each prisoner, the date of incarceration, the charge, and the court which disposed of the case. Also he required the original commitment papers in each case. The Spaniards are very handy about keeping records. They write volumes about the most trivial matters and file everything away in their archives. Tons and tons of the stuff have been thrown away by the Americans to make room for storehouses for the Commis saries and Quartermasters. The records were so complete that the compilation or the roll desired by Captain Moffett was simply a question of time. That is a great factor in any Spanish transaction. It took the Governor four days to meet the requirements of the young man frora North Dakota, bnt when the roll was finished it was complete, and the action of the American Captain was so swift that it astonished the Spaniard. The first roll rendered was of the persons confined in the Bilibid prison, and it is with them that this story deals. There were 28 women and 1,300 men. Inspection of thc Bilibid rather pleasantly surprised Captain Moffett. We have all heard so much of the Spanish cruelty that he expected to find a horde of half-starved-filthy, abject wretches, crowded into dark damp, foul, ill-smelling holes and subjected to all manner of desperate treatment and torture, surrounded by armed assassins called guards, eager to shoot them down for the first suspicion of an infrac tion of the rules. Well, to the credit of the Spaniards, it was not so. OPENING PRISON DOORS 245 The Bilibid prison is a large, fairly comfortable place. The buildings are something like the military barracks, and there is ample ground around them to give the pris oners exercise. A high, solid stone wall, moss-covered and dingy with age and damp, surrounds a plot of per haps twelve acres. There is a big iron double gate with guard posts, but there are no other sentry boxes outside the wall. Ranged along the inside of the wall, near its top, at wide intervals, are a few bamboo scaffolds where the occasional sentinels used to walk back and forth. There were two astonishing things about the Bilibid prison — it was clean and there was very little cruelty in the form of personal bodily violence. Prisoners were not beaten or shot. There were few guards and they were not armed with rifles. There was plenty of water and the prisoners could bathe frequently and keep their clothing in good condition. They were well fed, also, that is they got plenty of food, such as it was. It was of about the same character that natives have in their own homes, and as most of the prisoners were natives they suffered no par ticular hardship from change of diet or scant food. They were fed by a Chinese contractor, who got twelve and one- half-cents a day, silver, for each prisoner. The average native will get along on half that if he can spend it hiraself. The buildings of the prison are long, narrow structures of brick with tile roofs. There are eight or nine all told inside the wall, most of them radiating from the main gate something like the sticks of an open fan. Across the ends of these fan-stick buildings run two others, and in a cor ner of the wall there are two smaller ones, one in which what are called the cells are, and the other divided into small rooms for prisoners who can afford to pay for them. This building was maintained for the benefit of the Gov ernor, who ran a private boarding-house of his own there, much as the warden of Ludlow Street jail does, except that the Spaniard got much less than fifteen dollars a week from his boarders. The floor of this building is raised well off the ground so that it is a fairly healthy place. The rooms are not large, but they are comfortable and dry. The floors are of the universal teak. The prisoners must furnish their quarters for theraselves, the Governor apparently not having any spare beds, chairs or tables. The building in which the cells are situated is the 246 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC toughest place in the prison. The cells are small rooms and there are no floors. The walls are massive and of stone, damp, foul and noisome. Prisoners were huddled together there and compelled to sleep on the reeking ground. There were no sanitary arrangements whatever, and the poor devils were a filthy lot. They tried all sorts of contrivances to get off the ground, bnt were not per mitted to buy bamboo beds for themselves. There was not room for such luxuries . I saw one poor fellow who had collected a hundred or more sardine cans and had paved a little patch of the ground in one of the cells with them. On these cans he had spread a ragged sleeping mat and there he camped. A dreadful disease alraost invariably attacks the in mates of this prison in a comparatively short time. It affects their eyes, and if they are not removed as soon as it manifests itself they go blind. Of the fifty or more men I saw huddled into two small rooms more than half were affected. The day I visited the Bilibid Captain Moffet had begun arrangements for getting the sick isolated, the prisoners thinned out and the condition of the prison improved generally. The records showed that all of those confined there were imprisoned for crimes, and it was not his purpose to investigate the incarceration of such pris oners until he had finished with those who were accused of political offences. The main buildings of the prison are about a hundred feet long by twenty wide, one-story affairs, with rough cement floors. Down the centre of each stretches a long narra wood table which nearly fills the single room. There is only a narrow passageway around the room near the walls, not wide enough for two men to walk abreast. On the table the men eat their meals and there they sleep. The table is built of broad boards highly polished by the thousands of bare feet that have walked over them. In one end of each building a little altar has been erected. Around the walls are scores of nails where the prisoners who are lucky enough to have it hang their extra cloth ing. The grounds around the building are kept clean and well swept. 'There is a big bathhouse near the wall with plenty of water. In the time when the insurgents had the water shut off, and the prisons depended on the rains as did all Manila, there were pretty hard times for the OPENING PRISON DOORS 247 prisoners, but now they are all right. The last Governor was a man of some love of the beautiful and he had some very good flower gardens between the buildings. It was when Captain Moffett began to investigate the roll of prisoners that he came across the iniquity of Span ish institutions. It stirs an angry feeling in the blood of an American and provokes a wish that after all Dewey's guns had been turned loose on the cruel Spaniards to know such things as went on in the make-believe courts of Manila. It almost justifies the hotly expressed desire of a fervently patriotic Brooklyn woman that every Spaniard on the face of the earth should be exterminated before the war should end. The Spaniards talk and boast of a proud old civilisation. But a civilisation which makes war on women and which sentences men to jail for life on mere suspicion is no civilisation, and the men who possess no better claim to life than that deserve nothing from the world. First on the roll were the women, twenty-eight of them. Engracia Tanoy led the list, and bracketted with her were Maximiana Duran, Tomasa Palupo, Pelipa Quique and Gregoria Tio. 'They are all from the island of Negros, south of Luzon. The record showed, and the commit ments agreed with it, that they had been in the Bilibid prison since July 11, 1889, on the order of the Captain- General, without trial, for the offence of resisting the armed forces of Spain. Five little native women, abont as big as good, healthy 12-year-old American girls, kept in prison for more than nine years for resisting the army of Spain. They are brave men, these Spanish soldiers. Strong, sturdy, chivalrous souls. They go out by hundreds to suppress a rebellion of half a village of rack-ridden natives armed with bolas and a good cause. But these little devils with their sharp knives fight and they have a nasty way of hacking off the heads of Spanish soldiers, armed with Mauser rifles that kill at 2,500 yards. The brave Spaniards do not suppress the riot, but they return with prisoners to demonstrate their value. Five little women they bring back in chains and the giant great heart in the Governor's palace sends them to prison for life without trial. With these five was Eusebia Baculbacnl, taken on Christ mas day, 1889. Eusebia arose single handed on that 248 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC blessed day and defied the armed forces of Spain, if their lying records for once are true. Por this the valiant army, proper reinforcements having hurried out, arrested Euse bia and the noble Governor- General commended their valour and defended their honour by committing the infa mous traitoress to prison for the rest of her life. They were a worthy set of scoundrels who have ruled the Philippines. Then there was Dorotea Arceaga, committed on August 8, 1895, for "sacrilege" after a trial by court-martial. She was the teacher of a little school for native chidren. Soraewhere she had gained the beginnings of an education and to this awful crirae she added that of doing her best to impart something of what she knew to some of her people. Her little school was in Malate, not very far from where this is written. Dorotea was a devout Catholic and went to mass in the old red brick church in Malate where now Aguinaldo's men house themselves. Dorotea was comely, and the priest to whom she con fessed was a devil in a black robe. Dorotea had that in stinctive regard for her own honour which not even the training she had had could remove, and her father con fessor found a spirit he could not defile, a will he could not break. He went to the Captain- General and said Dorotea had stolen a chalice from his church. Thereupon the good-looking little school-teacher was charged with " insurrection" and " sacrilege," and a court-martial sent her to Bilibid to end her days. She told the story very simply to Captain Moffett. The American had made no explanation of what he intended to do with the Bilibid prisoners. She had no more thought of liberty, and the recital was matter of fact and devoid even of passion. Hope had given place to despair. The blue eyes of the young Captain flashed and his firm jaws clenched. He thought of the young wife and the babies in the far-away North Dakota home, and he wished he had that infamous priest in his care to spend a few months in the " cells." The story is all much the same, but two cases showed where the despicable Spaniard had tried to cover his tracks. The record gave the date of commitment of Dofla Maxima Guerrera as July 11, 1890, but it specified no crime. The Captain-General was named as the committing magistrate, and there was no record of trial. Captain Moffett called for the original commitment papers, and there the story OPENING PRISON DOORS 249 was revealed. She had been in Bilibid since 1890. In the summer of that year, when she was fifty-one years old, she had resisted the armed forces of Spain. She was a widow. Her husband had accumulated some property, and she was worth about $40,000. Most of it was in land, which by some means they had managed to keep from the insatiate grasp of the church. There was valuable timber on the land, and one day when the Captain-General needed some money he sold the wood to a contractor of Manila. He didn't mention the transaction to Dona Maxima, and the first she knew of it was when the contractor's men ap peared and began to cut down her trees. Then she fought. The soldiers came to enforce the Captain-General's order and see that the wood was cut, and Dofla Maxima resisted them. She made no denial of that fact. She had been in prison eight years for it, but she would do it again. The soldiers brought her to Manila, and the Captain-Gen eral sent her to Bilibid. Then he sold land as well as wood, and was $40,000 richer, with no one but Dofla Max ima to make complaint — no one but a few natives, who did not count with the Captain-General. Fulgencia Mason was sent to Bilibid on July 11 of that year also, for no recorded offence. The original com mitment papers in her case showed that she, too, had been imprisoned in 1890, when she was accused of uttering forged telegraph stamps. There was no record of any trial, bnt the papers did show that she had been released in 1891 and had been at liberty for nearly a year, when she was re-ar rested on the old charge. She had been in the prison ever since without trial. She could not bring the testimony of corroborating witnesses, as Dorotea, the school-teacher, did for some of her story, but the account she gave the American Governor of the prison had the ground for be lief that it fitted the substantiated stories of the Spanish regime. She said the Spaniards had been utterly unable to procure any evidence against her and so she had never been brought to trial. When she had been in prison a year she found out that for $900 the Judge would liberate her. Her friends helped and with what she had she got together the 1900, bribed the Judge and was let ont of the prison. She had her freedom for nearly a year ; then the Judge went home to Spain, and a new scoundrel took his place. The outgoing Judge had been in office some 250 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC time and had robbed himself rich. He was satisfied with a comparatively small bribe, but the incoming thief was poor. It was a case of a bran-new Captain in a fat pre cinct. He wanted everything in sight. He heard of Ful gencia and demanded $3,000 as the price of her continued liberty. He might as well have demanded $3,000,000, it was as much within her reach. She couldn't pay and had been in Bilibid ever since. So it went on as the Captain's investigation proceeded. Fausta Jose was committed on June 25, 1896, by a court- martial for "insurrection." Clara Ferrer went to Bilibid on September 12, 1897, to await trial for something or other, and the record showed that her case was " procesada " before a court-martial. So with Teresa Leonion, who was imprisoned on March 11 of this year. Pascuela Petafla was imprisoned three days after Dewey whaled Montojo out of his boots, and the Spaniards were still so rattled that they forgot to record the charge or the court, and the commitraent papers had been lost. They evidently had not recovered by June 14, for on that day they impris oned Maria Clemente and Barbara David without record ing why. The Civil Governor did that. About 500 native soldiers were imprisoned that day on the suspicion that they might have intended to desert, and these women may have been suspected of sympathising with the suspected men. On July 30 of this year the Civil Governor of Manila sent Maria Cabiquin to Bilibid for " scandal." It would be interesting, perhaps, to know what the scandal was, but the Spaniards made no record, and Maria says she never was told. So there isn't much chance of finding out. Two days before we took the city, on August 11, they caught Cristina Cabalqiiet carrying thirty rifle cartridges through the street. They knew their shrift was short, so they hurried up and court-martialled Cristina quicker than a Spaniard ever did anything else in his life, barring some of those who ran away from Port San Antonio when the warships began to shell Malate. They tried her the same day and sent her to Bilibid for life. It took Captain Moffett some time to get through the cases of these seventeen women. 'The other eleven were all accused of some sort of crime, robbery being most com mon, with one case of infanticide, so he decided to let NEGRrnis FisniNc, in the pasig, in MANILA, \vrru BOWS AND ARROWS. OPENING PRISON DOORS 25 1 them stand over for a time and began on the men. The first thing he struck was " Catapunan." If you want to go straight to Spanish hell, yon join the Catapunan. It is a society of natives, as secret as these tailless bandarlogs can keep anything, oath bound and altogether terrible from the Castilian point of view. The Spaniards probably are right in being afraid of it, for as nearly as can be found out its main object is the eradication of Spaniards from the Philippines. That is an altogether praiseworthy object from any point of view, other than Castilian, for they cumber the ground and rob it of its fertility. It is said that the Catapunan is a sort of Freemasonry, but it is not such Freemasonry as the rest of the world knows, for it knows no ancient landmarks and recognises no signs or tokens. To be suspected of being "Catapunan" is sufficient ground for life imprisonment in the Philippines, as Captain Moffett very quickly found ont. The political suspects were taken in batches of twenty- five in the order in which their names appeared on the roll, and taken before the new American Governor of the prison for cross-examination. One of the smaller buildings of the prison had been cleared out and was used for an examination room. Across one end of the room a long table was placed, behind which sat Captain Moffett with his clerk, a soldier detailed as an interpreter, and Sandico, Aguinaldo's aide. Sandico had been very much interested in Captain Moffett's work, particularly because the politi cal prisoners were all of his own people. He proved a most valuable assistant, both because of his ability to talk with the prisoners in their own tongue, whatever dialect they spoke, and of his knowledge of Spanish custoras. The Spanish officials of the prison were also present and frequently Captain Moffett asked them if they thought the prisoners under examination were telling the truth. To his astonishment they replied that they did. After ward they pointed out cases of particular injustice and have been of material assistance to Captain Moffett in his work. He can account for it only on the theory that they believe the game is over so far as they are concerned and as they have nothing more to gain they may as well tell the truth for once and so get what credit they can with the Americans. Perhaps, however, they look forward to the time when Spain shall control again in Manila and 252 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC contemplate with satisfaction the bribes they may be en abled to wolf out of the poor devils now set free for not denouncing them again. With the roll before him Captain Moffett began, through Sandico, the examination of the first man of the first batch of twenty-five. The prisoner stepped forward from the double line which extended across the room, and in re sponse to Sandico's rapid questions told his name, the date of his incarceration, the accusation, whether he had been tried or not and if so the sentence. Some of them had been in for years, some for only a few months. Many had been arrested on Jnne 14 of this year. All these had been voluntaries. Some of the men of their regiment had deserted to the insurgents. The rest had been imprisoned in a body because the Captain-General suspected that they would follow their comrades. No doubt he was right. Thousands of others had deserted and Spain had lost much more ground from that cause than she had from defeat in battle. Catapunan came to the front very promptly. Many men had been sentenced to imprisonraent for life for belonging to the society, some of them for being sus pected of belonging. Several of them frankly admitted to Captain Moffett that they were members. They even showed him the marks which proved their initiation. All who join Catapunan sign the roll in their own blood. The third finger of the left hand is pricked at the tip until the blood runs, and with that blood they sign. Then as a sure sign of membership a vein is opened in the left forearm in such fashion that the wound will certainly leave a scar, or a wound is made in the left breast that will leave a round scar like a vaccination mark. As the result of his first day's work in examining pris oners. Captain Moffett recommended to General Mac- Arthur that the seventeen women named in this story and fifty-one men be discharged, and it was so ordered by the Provost Marshal-General. The next morning the sixty- eight prisoners were drawn up at the main gate and Cap tain Moffett made them a little speech. He told them that American soldiers did not make war upon women ; that in America no person was imprisoned for political reasons or for being merely suspected. Every person ac cused had a fair trial, and all persons were equal before the law. 'The Americans had come here, he said, to put an end OPENING PRISON DOORS 253 to wicked oppression and misrule. One of their first acts was to liberate these unjustly imprisoned Filipinos, and now the Americans had a right to expect from the Filipinos loyal and faithful friendship. The Filipinos were dazed by their unexpected good for tune, but when Sandico had finished interpreting Captain Moffett's speech, they shouted, " Vivan los Americanos ! " in a way that drew crowds about the gate. Every day since then the scene at the gate has been repeated, except that each day the number released has grown larger. The second day it was 101, yesterday it was 118, and to-day 150. It will take a week yet to get through with the Bilibid prison, and then will come the Presidio. Now, the Filipinos begin to gather about the gate of the Bilibid prison early in the morning, and when liberty hour comes, between ten and eleven, a great throng of them stand about and listen to the Captain's speech and cheer him when the big gate swings open and their free friends walk out. Many of those still confined have packed all their belongings into little bundles, ready for freedom's call at any instant. They watch Captain Moffett with eyes that miss no motion, and during the sessions in the examination roora they crowd about the open barred windows and listen with breathless, motionless interest to the proceedings inside. Captain Moffett is working eighteen hours a day all day at the prison and half the night over his records in his office, bnt he says he cannot slack np while these poor devils remain "in unjust confinement. Two days after she was released Dofla Maxima Guerrera came back to Captain Moffett with a new complaint. She said that when she was imprisoned she had a lot of money and some jewelry. She pawned the jewelry and gave the tickets and the raoney to a Chinaman for safe keeping, the Chinaman to look out that her pawned jewelry was not forfeited and to have a reasonable amount for his trouble if she ever got out, all if she died in prison. Now the Chinaman refuses to give up money or pawntickets. The case probably will be settled in. the Provost Court. This afternoon a typically Spanish performance was brought to light in the examination of prisoners. Pedro Aragon Poblate, a white-haired, fine-looking old Filipino, was called on for his story. He said he had been arrested on October 26, 1897, on suspicion of being a rebel. He lived 254 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC in the province of Bulacan. fie had been tried and sen tenced to imprisonment for six months. The sentence expired long ago, but when he asked to be released the officials replied that they could not return him to his home in safety because the rebels held the province, fie offered to go home alone, but the Spaniards wouldn't have it. The real reason for their keeping him in prison, he thinks, is that they have confiscated his property. The secretary of Ingenio Rosaro, the judge who sentenced him, he says, has his money and clothes. This is one phase of Spanish rule partly exhibited by our occupation. No one can tell what Captain Moffett's work may yet reveal. CfiAPTER XXXVIII " TAKEN AN EMPIRE " Manila, Sept. 10. — Prom the point of view here, it seems as if the decision as to the future of the Philippines has been made already, so far as the Americans are con cerned, and what may be said by those who have had the small opportunity of observation afforded by our operations here can have little weight. An immense amount of misinformation has been spread through the United States by inaccurate writers who have made the briefest possible visits here and have had the smallest possible facilities for gathering trustworthy in- ormation. This misinformation is probably most wide spread concerning the climate. So far as Marrila aud the country in its immediate vicinity are concerned, the climate bears small resemblance to the dreadful pictures drawn for the soldiers of the expeditionary forces. We jour neyed hither with the notion that we were coming into a hell pit where heat and rain alternated in making men miserable and ill. Now, the fact is that it is not so bad after all. It is hot, but very frequently it is much hotter in New York. It rains, and it rains hard. No United States rain can compare with a good, able-bodied Philippine downpour. Bnt you go prepared for rain in the rainy season, and you do not mind it ranch. And you dress for "TAKEN AN EMPIRE" 255 the heat and do not mind that much. If one observes reasonable precautions and takes fairly good care of him self, the climate need have no terror, and in the fall sea son, which is now coming on, it is delightful. We have had the first week or ten days of fine, clear days, hot, no doubt, at noonday, but cool and delightful at night, with fresh, pleasant breezes and clear air. With Cuba, Porto Rico, the Hawaiian Islands and Guam ours, it seems as if the question of Imperialism, if it be so called, is already decided. Then the question of the re tention of the Philippines by the United States becomes simply one of specific advantage or disadvantage. There are arguments on both sides ; which side has the pre ponderance ? Admiral Dewey sat on the quarter-deck of his flagship the other day and exclaimed : " We have taken an empire here — an empire ! " It is absolutely true. The Philippine Islands form an empire whose possibilities seem almost beyond the bounds of computation. The surface has not even been scratched and already their commerce amounts to many millions. The soil is fertile beyond anything America knows, and it is suited to almost every crop. "The manager of the Ma nila branch of the Chartered Bank of India, Australia, and China said to me the other day that in all his experience in these islands he had never seen a failure of any crop. Whatever was sown, that was reaped. Only the faintest suggestion of development of the islands' resources has been raade. It has been the policy of the Spanish to prevent development. Robbery and personal gain were the only objects of the Spanish officials. Take the single instance of the building ofthe breakwater and pier off the month of the Pasig River. Work has been going on at it for two-score years or more. There were several special taxes devoted ostensibly to the construction of the pier, and the fund was increased by a percentage of the import duties, wharfage dues in the river, lighthouse tax, and other imposts. Yet the pier is hardly begun. When Major Whipple took over the public treasury and examined the books, the first thing he found was proof that Weyler lined his pockets well when he was Captain-General of the Philippines. When he left the is lands he stole 2,500,000 pesos from the treasury. He gave 100,000 pesos to the Judge who had jurisdiction of such 256 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC cases, and 400,000 to the Treasurer and other officials who were in a position to make trouble for him. That shows one limit of Spanish theft. Here is another. The mana ger of one of the largest English business houses in Manila desired to build an outhouse in his yard. It was necessary to get a permit. One almost had to get a permit to breathe under Spanish rule here. He went to the Gov ernor of the city, and had to give a bribe of 100 pesos be fore the permit could be issued. That besides the fee for the permit. No wonder the resources of the islands are not fully known. What is known of them, however, is enough to amaze one. Hemp, sugar, coffee — almost nothing done with them now. 'Thousands of acres of the finest coffee land under the sun lying untouched. Fertile valleys, wooded and shaded, protected against winds, where the rainfall is tremendous and even, a paradise for coffee growers, and the opportunity for no one to say what for tunes. In the islands to the south there are forests of teak, ebony and raahogany that have never been touched. In the floors of the commonest buildings in and around Manila one sees teak boards two feet wide and twenty-five feet long. Mahogany is used as we use pine. Mindoro is covered with such wood, and only the fringe of Mindoro has been touched. These things are just a suggestion of the possibilities. Labour is plentiful, sure and cheap. One hires a man for eight pesos a month, and fifteen pesos is a price never heard of until the Americans came here and began to bull the market. The other side of the question has its strong arguments, too. Some of the islands are inhabited by savages whom the Spanish never conquered. The natives we have seen about Manila are the best of the whole lot. They have had the advantage of two centuries and more of association with such civilisation as the Spaniards possess. They have had more chance of education than their fellows of the re mote provinces. Yet not even the best of thom are cap able of self-government. Aguinaldo himself falls short of comprehension of the requirements, possibilities and dan gers of the institutions he seeks to found. Two hundred years of free government by Americans, with free schools and all that that implies, will not fit these people for citi- PUZZLING THE FILIPINOS 257 zenship as we know and understand it. A successful government of these islands by Americans must be by a modification of the English colonial system, and that in volves a radical departure from all we know. The con quering of the islands from the natives will be a difficult and arduous task in some cases, but we should have plenty of time to do it as we pleased, and results wonld amply compensate. Statistics of the business and commerce of the islands, and of the Custom House and internal revenue here, which will come later, will bear out all these things. This is but the barest outline, a mere suggestion of what can be done with the Philippines. It is a knowledge of these things that makes Admiral Dewey hope that the islands will be held by ns. It was a glimpse of these possibilities that made General Merritt say that, never while he lived, if he could help it, should the Spaniards or the Filipinos con trol the Philippines. CfiAPTER XXXIX PUZZLING THE FILIPINOS Manila, Sept. 13. — The lizard that lives in the hole in the ceiling where the electric light wires run through has just had a fight with what we call a Junebug. He is a little bit of a lizard with a tail nearly twice as long as his body, and that isn't much more than an inch. Rightfully, probably, he is entitled to be called chameleon, that is, if the essential quality of the chameleon is the ability to change his colour. That's what the old fourth reader used to say, and natural history has made few strides, for this writer at least, since his fourth reader days. Most of those few have been backward. But lizard or chameleon, he has had the fight, and as the main busi ness of a war correspondent is to record fights, why here goes. As I said, he is a little lizard, bnt when he stands on the wall, head down, he has as ranch fun a-lashiiig of his tail as any tiger in his royal jungle. He waggles his head, also, and has other personal habits copied frora wise men. Por instance, he opens and shuts his mouth a few 17 258 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC times and says nothing. Just now, as he was travelling through the vast unexplored district of blue wall, just to the left of the electric light wire, a monstrous big bug came thundering in through the open door and did his best to collide with the incandescent lamp. That shows a fair average of Filipino intelligence. He hit the lamp and slid off, gracefully, if not gently, and hammered his head against the wall. That raade him angry, and when just then the lizard stumbled over the rough edge of a nail hole in the wall and lost his temper, too, there was the making of as pretty a scrap as you want to see. The lizard slipped an inch or two down the wall when he stumbled and the Junebug undeniably grinned. Moreover, he wiggled his long antennae most offensively, in a manner no right- minded lizard could endure. The Junebug is a big devil. He's sitting np there on the wall now, snug as a bug should be, with an inch and a half of heavy shell over his back, and waving derision with his long pothooks at a flock of little green gnats that are bobbing about under his nose. When the June bug twiddled his flngers at the lizard, the lizard set his teeth together and tapped the wall three times, decisively, with his nose. " Abre," said the bug, and kicked out his hind legs. " Runca," exclaimed the lizard and patted the wall with his left forefoot. " Alivante proa," shouted the bug, and at it they went. You won't flnd those words in the dictionary. Nobody but the bandarlog knows what they mean. They are used by our boatmen to express excitement and deterraina^ tion at the moment when the swell is hammering the boat up against the companion ladder and you are wondering whether you are to be drowned or just merely smashed. Undoubtedly they express exactly what the bug and the lizard felt just as they started at each other. The ground covered by the charge was about four inches on each side. The lizard made it at a full rnn, but the bug loafed. He knew enough to save his wind. 'They carae together on the high plateau beside the lamp bracket, where the paper has blistered and stands a sixteenth of an inch or so away from the wall. They met with a crash that made the gnats about the lamp jump half an inch. Then the lizard got home the first blow. He hit PUZZLING THE FILIPINOS 259 the bug fairly in the mouth with the horn-hard end of his nose. The bug reached over his enemy's back and wrapped his derrick arms around the lizard's starboard quarter. Consternation in the reptile camp. Instant reply by means of straight jabs in the eyes delivered with light ning-like rapidity with the lizard's nose until the bug's derrick began to be effective. Tlie lizard claimed a foul, but it was disallowed. Por an instant there was a lively mix-up, all legs being employed that were not absolutely necessary in the retention of position on the wall. Then zip — they broke away. The lizard sauntered across the field and gobbled up two gnats and a small bug by way of reprisals. The bug — the big old gladiator bug — idly con templated the electric light and wiggled his long antennae. Once in a while he kicked out a leg reflectively to see if it was all right. It was a draw. These Americans are an incomprehensible people. They come down here, 10,000 miles from home, they bring men, big husky fellows, by the thousand, and a vast equipment to make war, and when they get here they sit down and wait until the enemy gets tired and surrenders without a fight. It's very droll. They have some queer notions, these Americans. What difference does it make to them if a Filipino pounds his horse with a club until it falls down ? The horse, perhaps, is a little balky and will not go. The Spanish officer in the calesin is in the only hurry of his life, and the pony stops. Clearly it is a case for a club. But just when cochero is at his merriest work and the club has beaten a hole in the pony's back from which the blood runs, along comes one of these hulk ing Americans with a gun and a long bayonet, and then goes cochero to the Provost Judge. Por wha"t ? May a man not beat his own pony ? The beast would not go, and why should it not be beaten ? Besides, the senor must arrive very quickly. Yet cochero is taken to the Judge, and perhaps will clean streets for a pair of weeks. Some times a pony has a small sore under his collar no bigger, maybe, than a man's hand. Such things must happen. The collar, perhaps, is too big, but there is no other col lar and it must do. Then come these ridiculous Ameri cans and tell cochero he must not use that pony. If be 26o OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC does, they will punish him, and, worst of all, they do it. Surely that is beyond explanation. There was the boy with the bird-trap, just a little boy, not more than six years, and he must catch birds if he is to live. But these absurd Americans, see what they do. They take his trap. It is not much, this traj), only a bam boo pole. It has a looped string at the end, and it is a good springy pole. If the pole is bent and the trap is set and the bird walks into the noose, why, you pull the lock ing cord, the trap is sprung, and there dangles the bird by the foot. Even a little boy, not more than six years, can work this trap. And if he is a sharp little boy, and ties one live bird to the bamboo pole as a decoy, why he can make perhaps four or six centimos a day, and by and by he will become rich and have a Nipa house of his own and a little boy to catch other birds. There is a tree down there in the Calle San Luis, where those five Americans live, not ranch of a tree if one likes broad branches and thick shade, but big enough to house a sraall family of birds. It would be like the foolish Americans to feed these birds, as they are very tame. Per haps by and by they will catch them and eat them. If now a small boy, not more than six years, should go down there with his bamboo trap and catch the birds, those Americans might give him ten cents and there would be two days' work done. But just see what happens. The little boy goes down by the house where the five Amer icans live and the captive bird on his bamboo pole cries out. The Americans come to the window and look out. Then one of them shouts : " Hey there ! Let that bird go ! " However can a little boy, not more than six years, tell what that raeans ? America is very far away. He has never been there. He does not know what this big man is saying. He has heard that the Americans are pigs, but this is no pig ; it is a giant that is coming towards him, very angry. What can such a little boy do with such a giant, and, besides, there is a peseta in the American's hand. It is best to take that and see what will happen. The foolish American takes out a knife and cuts the string that binds the bird's foot to his perch on the pole. Then he shakes the pole, and the bird flies away. Was ever anything so witless ? It will be hard work to catch an- PUZZLING THE FILIPINOS 261 other without the decoy — bnt there is the peseta. One gets ten cents for a live bird, or maybe six or four, bnt here is a peseta, and the bird is free. Perhaps now he can catch it again and get another peseta. But just when he makes ready his trap ont rushes a big soldier with his gun and takes away the trap and breaks it. Surely it is hard to understand these people. It is not enough to break the trap. This friend of the little boy who comes now to throw a stone at the bird, the soldier takes him quickly, and to-morrow he may go to the big Judge. Just for a bird that is free. They are queer people, these Americans. Olivia she said her name was, with an utterly unspell- able and unpronounceable something else which she added when the interpreter asked "Olivia que?" She didn't differ in appearance from the thousand other Filipino women who carry bundles on their heads about the streets of Manila or manage two-by-four trading stations under the shade of a banana leaf along the country roads. Her hands were sraall and slender and her feet were large, flat and bare, accustomed by long use to travelling unshod over the rough macadam pave ments and through the thorny jungle. The gaudy pifla camisa that slipped half way down her upper arms dis closed the exquisitely moulded, graceful shoulders that are the common heritage of the daughters of the Philip pines. Much carrying of burdens on her head had made her straight-backed and erect. Her cheekbones were high, her face broad, her nose flat, her eyes large and round, her chin very small, her mouth wide and full of teeth that had been white before constant betel-nut chewing had reddened and made them un sightly. Her hair was as black as her eyes, well oiled and smoothed down mirror bright with a knot in the back of her neck. She raust be nearly four and a half feet tall, with a complexion like a copper cent of the mintage of '63. The long full skirt of gay red and yellow sinamay cloth hung over a short white skirt and was draped with black, a short sort of overskirt of which hung jnst below the knees. Between the short camisa and the bright red say a a narrow strip of bare brown showed in curious contrast to the gay colours of the dress. Once in a while the wise men down here see some na- 262 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC tive do something which is just what would be done at horae under the same circumstances. They waggle their wise heads and exclaim : " Ah, human nature is just the same the world over." That is true, too. There are the same samenesses and the same differences and it is only because the differences here are different from what they have been used to at home that they remark the samenesses. But that gets away from Olivia, and she, although not so named before the court, was in reality the party of the first part. It began, of course, away back when there was devised with paradise the snake, but the specific development occurred in Cavite. Just a plain sordid case of man's greed over reaching itself, a " win-by -his-aid and the aid disown" experiment. Mariano Santos provided the aid, and if he had not been caught Benignio de la Cruz would have made the winning. As it happened the game was with chance, and chance won. For Uncle Sam's bright five-dollar gold pieces the banks in Manila were paying ten 'dobe dollars and thirty- five cents. Therein Benignio, who is a thief and a counterfeiter, perceived his opportunity. He was willing to give twenty-two 'dobe dollars, very 'dobe indeed, made in his own special 'dobe mint, for every new gold eagle Uncle Sam had paid his boys for risking their lives in his service, and as the boys had just received a fine new lot of American eagles and always are anxious to get the most silver for them possible, the twenty-two-dollar offer of Benignio had raore favor with them than the more conservative proposition of the banks. Besides Benignio came to them in the person of Mariano, whereas they were obliged to go to the bank, whicii was somewhat difficult, owing to certain restrictions customary to military life. So they fell upon Mariano joyfully and he promptly cheated them. They were from South Dakota, and good judges of wheat or cattle or corn or land, but concerning silver they were raore in touch with the theory than the metal. Therefore they were easy. But the first Filipino vender of wretched anise brandy on whom they tried Mariano's dollars quickly showed them the very 'dobe quality of Benignio's output and there was a descent on Mariano, who was caught with the damning evidence in his pockets. Pursuant to General Order No. 8 establishing the Pro- PUZZLING THE FILIPINOS 263 vost Court, Mariano appeared in due time in the splendid room in the Ayuntemicento, where Colonel Jewett every inorning dispenses justice with the wisdom of the Cadi aided by two interpreters. There Benignio came in, lugged unwittingly by Mariano, who promptly declared that he was but the humble and unworthy tool of the wicked and designing Benignio. There was the first demonstration of the kinship of the world. Now mark the complication and the entry of Olivia. Benignio lived in Tondo. Between his mansion of Nipa and the arm of the law, as represented in the Pro vost Marshal's guard, stretched a line of insurgent sol diers, and there was at that time such feeling between the two forces that rather than risk the provocation of a conflict, the Provost Marshal-General decided to let Benignio go unpunished. Not so Olivia. Mariano had duly paid the priest his price, and he and she were one beyond legal possibility of separation. Moreover, Olivia has a woman's wit when him she loves is in danger. She went to see Benignio in Tondo. Mariano was in jail, she said, bnt she could carry on the business in his place until he got out again. In fact, even at that time in the walled city she had a man waiting ready to buy a large supply of the very 'dobe dollars. The crafty Be nignio fllled his pockets with his counterfeits — fancy the moral degradation of a man who will counterfeit 'dobe dol lars — and followed Olivia into Manila. In the little shop of a Chinaman on the Calle Real, right near the head quarters of Colonel Reeve's Thirteenth Minnesota police, she left Benignio while she went on to the appointed rendezvous to fetch the purchaser. But the man she brought back with her carried a gun, and Benignio fol lowed Mariano to jail, stripped of the 'dobe dollars which had jingled in his pockets when the soldier took him. In court the next morning he said he was the helpless victim of a wicked woman's wiles. Will Adam never get over whining or Eve ever cease to bear the blame ? Now both Benignio and Mariano are in prison, but there is a chance for Mariano. The wise men are right after all. The kinship is demonstrated. For Tondo read Jersey City, for the walled city read New York, and wind up with " in the Jefferson Market Police Court yesterday morning," etc. 264 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC Casa Todos has made a great discovery. There is an expression in Spanish more common than " maiiana." It is " no puede." When a thing is no pv,ede you might as well give it up right at the start. Casa Todos has made determined and persistent effort to demonstrate the con trary, but has wrought only failure. Casa Todos, it might be explained, is, literally, the "house entire." You can make what more liberal interpretation you like. Certain scoffers call it the "house altogether," because it is widely known that there is no latchstring whatever, and in entresuelo, where the ability to speak English is the only password, one may always find something to smoke and something else. Casa Todos does what it can to alleviate the horrors and the hardships of war, and its gates stand open to any man who owes allegiance to a free flag. The Colonel lends it dignity and gives it sage advice. The Colonel sports a coachman of his own, and a footman — at a total cost of eight iron dollars a month — and the Colonel wears grey hair and a ruddy complexion. All this endears him to the hearts of the four other mem bers of the household, of whom one is "our special com missioner," one " our war correspondent in the field," and the other two just plain reporters. But this is like Mis' Wagner's glass eye, something digressive. The dis covery of " no puede " was not made in a sudden burst of inspiration. It has been a slow process. Western activ ity has not yet succumbed entirely to the delightful don't care of the tropical climate, and on the part of the news paper men there occasionally arises something which must be done. The word which is least understood and least used in the Spanish vocabulary is the verb of necessity. The German compromises. He has a lot of words expres sive of the desirability of immediate action, none of which ever accomplishes its result. But the unblushing Spaniard makes no such hollow pretence. He simply remarks "no puede" and that is all there is of it. At the start, when it was a case of "must" with the newspaper men and they encountered " no puede," they raved and stormed and shouted "puede." Now if you only reply to a man who tells you something is not possible in the loud asser tion that it is possible, yon do not advance very far. Most ofthe eavly " no puedes " concerned transportation by boat. They were accompanied usually by remarks PUZZLING THE FILIPINOS 265 from the boatmen to the effect that there was much wind, or a high sea. Much wind, a high sea, big waves, un doubtedly are derogatory to travel in a banca, which is nothing more than a dugout, and may or may not have a bamboo outrigger to steady it. If it happens, however, that a mail steamer is going and you must go out to the flagship, or miss not only the mail but the chance to send a cable to Hong Kong, you are likely to risk a wetting and reply with vigour to your boatmen. Before long the discussion with the boatmen, being confined to the narrow limits of " no puede," " pioecle," and "no, senor," reaches a point where action is imperative. Then you grab the native by the scruff of the neck, kick him " gently but firmly " a few times, and sling him into the boat. You tumble in yourself and make loud and vehement oration, using all the big words you know and explosive force alone. The result may be that the next day yon have to hustle a new crew for your boat, bnt for once you have demonstrated the puedebility of " no puede." The process, however, is wearing. You are sure to get wet ; the boatmen may be trusted to see to that. Every other wave almost will breach the boat, and one man must bail constantly. Wetting is nothing to the boatmen, it is a semi-normal condition. But for you it means quinine and whiskey and perhaps a day or two of fever, not enough to make much trouble, but just to keep yon in the house and make you feel like thirty cents Mexican — absolutely no good for anything. " The Christian riles and the Aryan smiles, and he weareth the Christian down.' That is one phase of " no puede." You charter a steam launch at an unheard-of price in gold dollars per day. You risk heaven and earth to raake the dicker. You for swear allegiance to your own sonl almost to persuade some " neutral " whose war-shijos can put him into Manila to go in and get the launch. He swears he risks his life and the confiscation of his property. You assure him your Government will recompense him for everything and give him a medal of honour, the Victoria Cross and the Cross of the Legion ; you dull his palm with entertainment and then you fill it with diner 0. 'The launch is an absolute neces sity and must be had at any cost. You cannot take the risk of being tied up on shore or on your ship by bad 266 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC weather. You raust be able to go about at will. Well, at last, when yon have lost your soul beyond redemption, when even the bald spot on your head has turned grey, and you have frightened two or three native crews into an early decline, you get the launch, and your troubles on that score are over. Well, are they ? 'The most expres sive word in the English language is "nit," used in its derived and slang sense. You have overcome one " no puede," but a million more lie in wait for you. You tell the "patron "that you will go out to the Olympia at 3 o'clock. " Si, seflor," he says, and that's settled. At 2 o'clock you board the launch. There is a choppy sea on the bay, and you laugh, knowing what a fight you would have had with a banca, but how easy it is with the launch. " Olympia," you shout to the "patron" (give it a long o and accent the last syllable), and he smiles his bland Aryan sraile back at you and replies, 'No puede serlor." " Seven generations of devils in one hell ^or que no 9" you shout. Patron is undisturbed. " No hay mas carbon," he says with a deprecatory gesture. Well, if that wouldn't jar down a stone wall. You have arranged with the Adrairal for coal, you have fixed it with the General and the Quartermaster. You have dickered with the Englishman at the Caflacao shipyard, and literally you have " coal to burn," and this teak-headed idiot of a patron has waited till the last minute to tell you that there is not enough in the launch to steam out to the flagship and back. Did you ever see the picture of the Man of Humanity who tried to save a calf from being converted into veal and was tied up into a corapound, com minuted, quadruple-expansion, double-back action, three- ply bow-knot with himself at the inside end of the lead rope and the calf at the other ? " Oh," says the Man of Humanity, " if I only had a knife ! " That's another style of " no puede." There are others. It is desirable in Casa Todos to have some light occasion ally. For one thing it helps to keep off the mosquitoes, which are of such peculiar habits here that they prowl principally in the dark. It also enables you to keep bet ter watch for the lizards and the honse snakes, and if by any chance a snake should go hunting a rat, as the books PUZZLING THE FILIPINOS 267 about the Philippines say they do all the time, and there should be a flght, yon would want very badly to see it. Therefore you go to the electric light company and arrange to have wires run into the house. The easiest thing in this part of what was once Spain is to arrange for anything you want, the hardest thing is to get it. 'The affable manager of the electric company promises you light in plenty "maflana." Yon know that's a lie, but you have hope for a week. Vain hope. Finally you buckle on your armour of wrathful determination and set out on the trail of the liar. A great accomplishment is the result. A man comes to Casa Todos and walks all around it, counting the number of lights needed. Then he goes away with a smile on his copper face and a false promise in his heart. Another week and you take down your gun. In the gateway you meet a man from the electric light company. The only thing electric he has about him is a flow of Spanish. There is only one thing a Spaniard can do with speed, and that is talk. He can beat the World's Fair Flyer with that. This fellow begins to talk and you listen, amazed, hopefully waiting for a farailiar sound. Yon get it. It comes with the familiarity of paternal ancestry. " No puede." You knew it, there's nothing to be surprised or angry abont. You simply are curious as to why and you ask mildly. The answer develops a condition and not a theory. Something is the matter -with " conta,dor." " Contador " perhaps is the lineman whose business it is to string the wires. You are sorry there is anything the matter with him and suggest that the company get a man to take his place. " No se'flor, no puede. " After all, you could hardly expect a place like this to support more than one lineman, and you resign yourself to fate and the use of candles. However, the Spaniard keeps on talking, and by close application you discover that Contador is dead. That is a pretty mess. The elec tric business probably will have to stop now until his suc cessor can come ont from Spain. You hope they have cabled for him, but are afraid to ask. Then a great light breaks. Contador is not a man at all. It is a thing. Hope revives. Another contador can be made. Yon sug gest it. "Si, seflor," answers the man, pleased as Punch 268 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC that you and he have reached a comraon level at last. Then more electric Spanish with liberal sprinkling of "vapor" and "Hong Kong," and at last the idea dawns on you. Whatever the blessed thing is it must come from Hong Kong. Perhaps, by and by there will be light. The main from the ' ' Depot de aguas potables," about which there has been so much negotiating with Aguinaldo, runs on the other side of the street from Casa Todos. Water is not much of a convenience to the average Spaniard, at least the Manila Spaniard, but to Casa Todos it is a necessity. We started out to get it and in the course of a week, having got as far as the inside door of the inside of fice, we met our old enemy, "contador." Four newspaper men and a Colonel in Casa Todos are ready to make af fidavit that there is no such a thing as "contador." The word represents a purely imaginative object which is sup posed to have something to do with water and electricity. Really, however, it is a synonym of " no puede." We never have seen a " co?i/ac?or." Light we have and water we hope for, but " contador " never has appeared. These are only a few of the things that are " no puede," such as occur offhand. " Mariana" isn't in it with " wo puede." No puede is really the puedeest puede in the whole show. Tattersall came as a coachman, but stayed as cook. He is a person of sorts, with more ability in certain lines of controversy than Rufus Choate. Rufus has been part of the household of Casa Todos since before there was either Casa or Todos. He was carrying boxes of tent pins and barrack slippers from the casco at the wharf in Cavite one day up to the Quartermaster's storehouse, and he got tired. So he put on his blue speckled, red-striped yellow jusi camisa and came up into ray room and announced that he was my muchacho. Valentine Ruiz, the boss stevedore, who had been affecting to serve in that capacity for a few days, but who never did anything but me, had received his dishonourable discharge two days before, and had occu pied the interval in sitting on the stairway, smiling good- naturedly, and talking Tagalog to all applicants for his place, with the result that they left immediately and never came back. Observing this, I had just kicked Valentine deftly downstairs and threatened to use him for shark PUZZLING THE FILIPINOS 269 bait if he ever came back, when Rufus Choate appeared. The effect of his observation of this .somewhat violent per formance seemed to put Rufus in a proper mood, for he left his slippers on the bottom step and came in barefooted as a well-trained and respectful muchacho should. More over, not having had opportunity to talk with Valentine he was not more than 150 per cent, above the ordinary market price of such labour in his demand for pay. In addition to these distinct qualifications, he knows half a dozen phrases of pidgin English and does not sport an inch or two of surplus nail on his fingers. His teeth too, are not stained with betel nut. Considering these things, I bought Rufus Choate for a modest sum, and thereby became possessed of a family of several picaninnies, with a regiment of insurgents as re tainers and half a dozen relatives in Bilibid prison. Also — but that came out later, as did the knowledge of the great responsibility assumed — I became possessed of a first- class walking delegate. George Washington having been blinded by shooting a primer into his own eyes, Rufus Choate speedily made himself a place in ray affections and account book. He began by upbraiding me for paying fifty cents for a pair of slippers which he assured me were worth only forty. That was the first evidence he showed of the willingness which characterised that other Rufus Choate of whom this one never heard. By several such deft little means he assumed the ascendancy over my life and actions, which gradually developed into a general mastery of the honse and all in it. He determined that the doors of my room should be closed at night. Ex planation was " no puede," the doors reraained closed. It being the rainy season, he kept the windows closed. It was too much trouble to get up and shut them if it rained in the night. He regulated my work-table every morning, and he put some things away so skilfully that they have not yet reappeared. Thus Rufus Choate waxed and grew strong in his own domain. There was a slight check when Cervera came. Cervera had been Vice-Admiral and stroke oar in the puUing-boat commanded by Admiral Seflor don Sideache, but Seflor Sideache is worth a volume of his own. When Vice-Admiral Cervera was promoted to command an apart ment in Casa Todos Rufus Choate made the earth-quaking 270 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC discovery that his own pay was smaller than Cervera's by as much as two pesetas a raonth. That alraost wrecked a happy horae. There was a counsel of war in the entresuelo of the horses' quarters, and it was apparent that Rufus had reached a grave determination when it was not half over. Then Daniel and Josephus, named and famed for their wisdom and their works, were called in. Presently the meat in the cocoanut was reached, and there was trouble a-brewing. Rufus Choate led the delegation that waited upon their subjects. The tale was long and principally concerned with " mucho trabajo." Trabajo, it appears, is the lot of every man who sweeps floors with a wet rag and washes dishes with a stick. It appeared that there was an over-supply of trabajo in Casa Todos, and an under- supply of dinero, evidenced by the fair wage received by Cervera and the beggarly pittance of Rufus Choate, Daniel and Josephus. To the practical American raind the remedy was in stantly apparent, but when it was applied it was a tremen dous surprise to the walking delegate and his strikers. It was the simple process of cutting down Cervera to fit the rank of the others. Rufus Choate had never contemplated such a possibility, and the blow was a staggerer. But he re covered before long, and there was the old jaunty swagger in his walk when Tattersall came. What business so emi nent a horseman as Tattersall has to do with the intricate machinery of a kitchen would puzzle even a Rufus Choate, but Tattersall said he was as good a cook as a coachmam. Nothing has developed to show what he knows about coaching, but he is a good cook. Moreover, the price he set upon his labours was less by several 'dobe pesos than that fixed as the scale for the Admiral, the lawyer, the prophet and the historian. We foresaw the trabajo this would produce, and we set out to forestall it. Of course, as cook, Tattersall makes the purchases for the table, and therein lies his op portunity. We knew that, but the union knew that we knew it too, and there was not much show of persuading him to strike for the union scale. Moreover, Tattersall is of stern aspect and forbidding mien, and apparently they hesitated to tackle hira. We watched the uncertain struggle with themselves for two days, and then the blow fell. We summoned an interpreter, and with the whole PUZZLING THE FILIPINOS 271 household assembled, the Colonel, the Commissioner, the correspondent and the two reporters ou one side, and the horseman-cook, the lawyer, the Admiral, the historian and the prophet on the other, we made proclamation. With a single stroke we attained our freedom, and smashed the union scale. Rufus Choate, Admiral Cervera, Daniel and Josephus were reduced to their proper rank relative tothe importance and pay of Tattersall. It was a crusher, but the Filipinos are a patient people. Three hundred years of oppression have fitted them to receive pay only once and a half the market price, and the union succumbed. Now, if Tattersall can be persuaded not to put garlic in everything he cooks, we may be happy yet, you bet. Sideache was the coxswain of the pullboat. He and Cervera, the stroke, and Papa Ravinet, No. 2, and Galileo, the star-gazer in the bow, were among those on the Reina Cristina who learned a thing or two about war frora Dewey on the 1st of May. Papa Ravinet had the creative as well as the detective instinct. If he were sent after sorae special trophy or souvenir and couldn't find it he had one made to order and turned up proudly in due time with his errand well performed. Sideache was and is a master in his way, but his arithmetic is faulty. Having misappro priated four silver dollars given him for the purchase of pifla cloth he failed to return for a week's wages, thereby forfeiting one large round peso. As a linguist Sideache had rather limited attainments. His stock of Tagalog was large and varied and he could hurl more kinds of words ending in " ang " at his men than the four of them could throw back. His Spanish was confined principally to mucho viento, mucho mareada, mucho agua, mucho trabajo and 710 puede. It will be perceived that all are terms of objection to doing something and it was the insistence of the passengers that not the wind or the waves or the rain or the trouble prevented the possibility of doing what they desired that gave the coxswain the sideache. The worst case of pain Sideache had was probably that caused by a trip from the sheep ship lying in the bay over to Paraflaque. Sideache and his men and the boat were the special retainers of one of the reporters. That reporter and myself started from the Culgoa just at sundown to spend a night in the trenches. Sideache declared that it 272 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC was " no puede " to get to Paranaque, and in that he came pretty near being right for once. There was a fresh breeze and the waves were running pretty high. But the wind was in our favour and we got the sunshade hoisted on one oar and sailed along pretty comfortably, only occasionally shipping a sea. It had been a nasty day, close shut in by sullen clouds, and now as we got fairly started a terrible black cloud came swiftly out of the southeast. Sideache was troubled in spirit. The boat had hit a rock some where the day before and there was a bad leak in the bow. It kept one man busy pretty nearly all the time bailing. The wind rose and night fell utterly black and impene trable. In the daylight Paraflaque is distinguishable above the heavy green fringe along the beach bythe dome of the old church. At night there was only the black tree rim to be seen and that night even that was blotted out. Then came a wonderful exhibition of the phosphores cence in the tropic sea. The wake of the boat was a broad belt of flame that trailed yards away behind us and was broken into little gleaming hillocks by the waves. Each oar drove a streak of silver through the water and on the recover dripped little globes of liquid light in a brilliant trail. The crests of the curling waves broke into showers of scintillating star dust and the men and oars were sharply silhouetted in the glow. The black cloud covered the sky and broke. The myriad raindrops beat down uplifted combers and spread a fairy carpet of flery lacework over the bay. Every dfop was a globule of fire and even the native boatmen paused in their work to wonder and admire. The sail came down and we went on through the neb ulous glow with only the oars. Suddenly out of the dark behind us flashed the red and white signal lights of the Charleston, anchored inshore to protect Camp Dewey. We watched them spelling their message through the darkness to the fleet, and before we could realise how far ont of our way we had gone in the inky darkness there loomed up ahead the tall bamboo poles of a fish- trap, swaying gently in the sea, and ringed about with raellow fire. The boat crashed ahead through the poles and left a gleaming chain woven in and out among the poles. Then the boom and the flare of the surf warned us that we had missed the Paraflaque river and were on PUZZLING THE FILIPINOS 273 the bar. A huge roller lifted the boat and hurled it forward, a gleaming firebrand, into the darkness ahead. Then the comber rolled on toward the beach with its blazing crest and left us impotently pounding on the bar. The frightened boatmen tried to turn around, bnt the next swell catching the boat broadside, broke over it in silvery spray, every drop a ball of light. Seflor Sideache turned loose his Tagalog. Instantly the boat's crew re solved itself into a debating society, and for the two pas sengers it became simply a question of when the ducking would come. They managed, however, to swing the boat back head toward the beach, and we crawled in over the bar, pounding the leaky bottom on the hard sand as each swell passed ns. Up and down the beach we struggled, trying vainly to find a landmark. The wall of night sur rounded us, unfriendly, black and impenetrable. Behind us the shining sea marked our pathway. To seaward the fiery surf broke in angry roars over the bar. South we went, pounding along in the shallow water or smash ing through fish traps that twinkled with a million rings of fire. At last a friendly gleam on shore showed us that we were almost at Los Piflas, miles below Para flaque. Back again through blackness, our trail marked by the gleaming water. An hour of hard work brought ns even with the Charleston's lights again. We had passed Paraflaque on the other side. We would have waded ashore, but we had managed to keep fairly dry so far, and we had no desire to get wet before it was necessary. There was plenty of time, anyway. The fight ing in the trenches would not begin until nearly 10 o'clock, and if was not yet 8. One raore try to the south, and this tirae a little further inshore. We had hardly started when bang on the beach we went again and this time the men went overboard. When they had got the boat clear again one of them had disappeared. A fiery streak in the water marked his path toward shore. Presently the glow behind him went out. He had reached the shore. We sat still and waited. By and by the sound of voices came back to us in the lull of the surf. Then a dog barked. Then lights appeared, and Sideache shouted. The oarsmen got to work, the boat turned to the north again, and we started away under the guidance of the shouts from the invisible shore. At length there was a harder shouting than usual. 18 274 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC Sideache responded by putting his helm to port. The boat swung round. The roar of the fiery surf behind us died away. Lights appeared on both sides. The water was quiet as a millpond. We were in the Paraflaque River. In half an hour we were on the way to Camp Dewey and the California boys got their case of whiskey after all. Casa Todos gave a dinner last night. It was entirely impromptu, but it went off like a charm. There was only one accident. That was when the boy who was waving the fly-scarer — the punkah is not up yet — happened to hit the lamp. One of the crystal pendants was knocked off and fell in the sugar bowl. It split off a piece of the bowl and caromed into the lady's soup plate, splashing a bit of the soup on her dress. But she didn't mind. She is a thoroughbred American, the only one here. She followed her husband, who is a " special correspondent," and came down from Hong Kong before the surrender, breaking through the blockade as " stewardess " of a supply ship. 'The boys of Casa Todos — Daniel, the prophet ; Rufus Choate, the lawyer ; Cervera, the sailor, and Jose phus, the historian — were tremendously impressed by the appearance of the American lady at the table, and they put on their widest smiles and their cleanest camisas for the distinguished occasion. The constant watchfulness of the special commissioner, the correspondent in the field and the two reporters — the Colonel had deserted to the fleet for the night — managed to keep things going the lady's way without any serious break, barring the soup in cident, until it came to the matter of finger bowls. Now Casa 'Todos boasts of only three finger bowls in its present economy, and its distinguished staff of assistants has not been trained thoroughly in their management as yet. The special commissioner sent a telepathic signal around the table, and the conversation took on a sudden burst of orig inality and generality. One of the reporters engaged the attention of the lady with his most moving tale, and the special commissioner made signal to Cervera. It was in the international code, but the Admiral misread it. The other reporter and the correspondent in the field set their signals and added hoarse commands meant to be soto voce. Cervera plainly was beyond his depth, and Rufus Choate and Daniel ran to his assistance. Somehow they PUZZLING THE FILIPINOS 275 managed to grasp the idea of the bowl, probably frora the fact that the special coraraissioner had both hands on the one which was used as a salt cellar and was calling in a tragic whisper, " Lo misino, igual, this, this." It was Daniel who achieved this distinction, and he cleared the eight feet between hiraself and the lady at one jurap and set the bowl proudly in front of her. She smiled aud said, " Thank you." It was empty. The reporter let out a new leaf in his moving tale, and the special commissioner grew red and blue in the face. " Agua," he hissed across the table. "Agua, you pumpkin- headed square-face. Agua." A gleam of almost human intelligence crossed the face of Rufus Choate, the chief bandar, and he grasped she water monkey. With a quick, deft yank he snatched a long glass from the sideboard, set it in front of the lady and filled it to the brim. There was agua a-plenty. Right there the lady won the special decoration of the order of Todos, less ancient, indeed, than the star and garter, but more exclusive and honourable even than the famous order of Enchados. Not a smile was suggested by her expression and she listened with all attention to the moving tale of the reporter. The story went on with renewed vigour. It crossed mountains and leaped valleys, traversed deserts and vaulted over oceans. The lady was attention itself and the special commissioner, the corre spondent in the field and the other reporter decreed field target practice in the morning, with the distinguished staff as the targets. The correspondent in the field was further afield just then than he ever had been before. Even his all- serviceable word esta failed him and the omnipotent " todos " availed him not. He whispered hoarsely " Otro " and the other reporter twisted a napkin into a fan and worked it vigorously for his benefit. The distinguished staff stood amazed and perplexed. Then Cervera reached the crowning distinction of his life. He grasped the idea that water was wanted in the finger bowl. Then he grasped the finger bowl. He snatched it deftly away from in front of the lady, knocking her fruit knife into her lap and up setting her coffee cup, which, by the favour of heaven, was empty. He carried the finger bowl to the sideboard, filled it to the brim frora the water monkey and replaced it in front of the lady with a smile that would have moved the Sphinx 276 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC to tears. The correspondent in the fleld collapsed, the other reporter lost his artistic self in contemplation of the tortoise shell on the wall, and as for the special commis sioner, " his hope was crushed, his after fate untold in martial strain." The husband of the lady sat like a graven image. The distinguished staff rocked on their bare feet with anxious uncertainty. The fly-scarer was forgotten. The moving tale was flnished and the narrator was silent. The lady turned and looked at the finger-bowl and the gale that swept around the festal board of Casa Todos carried with it the sound of genuine, hearty, free American laughter. Casa Todos's impromptu dinner was a success. "There are some of the horrors of peace," said the Colonel, " which we who have come to war have escaped. We have been here now three months, and not a yellow journal has issued an extra, nor has the crime of '73 been mentioned yet." In the old days, when the Major was a Second Lieutenant and vegetated through long seasons at frontier posts in the Southwest, Thursday — that isn't his name, but it's mighty near it — was a gentleman. " The only gentlemen down there," says the Major, "were the gamblers and barkeepers." Thursday ran a bank, and a wheel, and a round game or two, and in a gentlemanly way did a gentle man's business, as Arizona and New Mexico understood it. Thursday made money. He wore fine clothes and kept himself as a gentleman should. The Major — he was a Lieutenant then — was shifted to another post, and Thurs day dropped out of his range. By and by the war came, and the Major was sent out here. Thursday was an almost obliterated recollection. The other night word came in to the Major in his quarters that a private soldier wanted to see him downstairs. The Major had guests for dinner. He stepped down to the entresuelo and there stood Thursday, smooth shaven, soft- handed and clean as in the old days, but in the brown canvas of a private soldier. The Major could hardly be lieve his eyes. He caught the soldier's hand and gave it a shake. " For God's sake, Thursday," he exclaimed, " what are you doing here ? " SUNSET OVER MINDORO 277 Thursday -aughed. "I got patriotic," he said, "and here I am." Patriotism was a good thing while there was chance of action, but garrison duty had no spice in it for the gambler. Briefly, he wanted his discharge, and could the Major do anything for him ? The Major could not, and he said so frankly. "You're up against it, Thursday," he said, "and you've got to serve your time." Thursday laughed again. " Well," he said, " I'm game to serve it." But if he had to stay in the army he must have some sport, and sport required money for a start. " Certainly," said the Major ; " what do you want ? " The position had been reversed more than once and any thing he had Thursday could get. The soldier wanted only a ten-dollar gold piece, and that was all he would take, in spite of the Major's pressing offer of more. He took the eagle and went away. Last night he came to see the Major again. " Major," he said, " wonld yon mind taking care of a little bit of money ? I don't like to have it about me in camp. It's only four hundred, gold. Hell, no ! I don't want a receipt." CHAPTER XL SUNSET OVER MINDORO Ss. BuTUAN, Sept. 25. — Formal notice was served on the Captain of the Port that the Butuan would leave Manila for Iloilo at 5 o'clock yesterday afternoon. But this was because the ship was owned by Englishmen. The real hour of departure was 6 o'clock this morning, and by that time the natives and Spaniards who began to prepare for a start at the advertised time were ready and aboard. We got word in the middle of the afternoon con- fldentially that the ship wonld not leave her berth until this morning. So we didn't board until midnight. At 5 : 30 there was a fearful racket on deck. Seven or eight ancient Spaniards in steel armour were being dragged up and down by the heels. Nothing else could raake such a row. We rolled out and found that they were only heaving anchor. It's a process which requires 278 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC an extensive knowledge of practical mechanics and higher mathematics, to say nothing of astronomy, navigation, astrology and ethnology, to describe. The amazing thing about it was that it worked, and, after the dreadful ham mering and thumping had proceeded for three-quarters of an hour or more, the anchor was weighed, and we were off down the Pasig. You lie in your big chair and fitfully read, doze and gaze at the far lines of blue-green hills that climb up out of the sea on each side. As the vessel rounds down along the Batangas coast, a bell rings and some one says breakfast is served. It is 10 : 30 o'clock. There are twenty passengers in the cabin, and they all crowd into the 12 by 12 saloon and find places about the two tables. At the end of one is the Captain, a sharp-faced young Spaniard, who spreads his elbows clear across the table and gives a marvellous example of sword swallowing. The meal be gins with wine and ends with boiled custard and guava jelly — and they call it breakfast. But you'd better eat it. 'There'll be no raore until 5 o'clock. The hills of Batangas fade out in purple mist and disap pear. Over the starboard bow rise out of the shining sea the green wooded uplands of Mindoro. Dark clouds hang over them occasionally veiling them in mist. So all the afternoon, bright sunshine on Luzon, gloom over Mindoro, and the sea alternately green and flashing under the un clouded sun, or sullen and lashed into foam by a veering squall. And the sunset over Mindoro, a sunset that filled all the world with glory and died away in a last sanguinary stroke only when the moon tinged with silver the blood stains on the cloudbanks. It began far away in the east, where a single pillar of white fleecy cloud suddenly set its danger signal of flame along its length. The little spots of white that had surrounded it at respectful distance for the last hour or more turned rose pink and huddled to gether, as if in fright or dismay. A careless wanderer in the south blushed to the eyes at the sight. Athwart the north flashed a lance of gleaming scarlet. Then down be hind the high, dark hills the sun unmasked his batteries for the last onslaught of the day. Charge after charge of molten fire he hurled up into the solid cloudbanks gathered above the hilltops. Streaked and spattered with flame aud blood, they stood to their SUNSET OVER MINDORO 279 work, but their ranks were broken and scattered by the fierce attack. Their dull grey uniforms took on the hues of battle, and in detachments they were purple and blue and black and bronze and deep violet. The warning sig nals that had flashed round the heavens brought reinforce ments from every quarter. From the cold north along column of Royal Lancers in brilliant apple green supported the charge of the dull red heavy dragoons. In the east the beacon fires flamed up in a last desperate call for help. In the south the first reckless wanderer was gathering a violet host. Over Mindoro the conflict raged and the glory of it filled the heavens. Half way up a blue-black hill, a solid col umn of steel-grey stopped and threw a bridge across a pre cipitous valley to the huge blue-black hill beyond. 'The flame-coated warriors of the sun, advancing frora their in- trenchments on the eastern slopes, gained the heights and tipped the peaks with fire. For an instant the contest held an equal balance, then back on their supports on the blue-black hills fell the hosts of purple and grey. Across the hilltops the flarae soldiers threw a brilliant banner of yellow that flecked with the myriad red stains of con flict stretched from the cold green north far over the co horts of violet gathering in reserve in the south. From blue hill to blue hill the steel-grey reinforcements swarmed across this bridge to renew the attack. The violet squad rons of the south moved up in solid column. Slowly the flame coats gave way. Back over the gronnd they had won they went. Their brilliant banner of yellow came down from the peaks. The green lancers from the cold north streamed after them. The grey hosts climbed higher and higher, and massed in triumph on the hilltops. But the flame coats were not beaten. Down through the pre cipitous valley they inarched, and, flanking the grey-clad armies on the peaks attacked the bridge. Little detach ments of flame scouts and skirmishers ran along_ its tim bers and arches and beams and turned them into flre. The glare of the conflagration shot up to the hilltops and warned the green lancers and their grey and purple allies. Por a moment there was commotion and uncer tainty. A great rose-pink courier leaped off the highest peak and dashed down to the bridge. But it was the last rally of the flame coats. The violet squadrons from the 28o OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC south engulfed them at the instant of their success. A single beacon flamed in the south, proclaiming the victory. In the cold north a spire of green responded. The gorgeous conflict was over. CHAPTER XLI ILOILO Manila, Oct. 19. — All the way down to Iloilo we sat on the deck of the Butuan and admired the low-lying, far away mirage-like islands that dotted the horizon. Covered as they were with tall, slender, bushy-topped cocoanut palms, they somehow explained the charm and the glamour which they cast over the immortal Stevenson, and we understood, as we looked at them, how possible it seemed to him for any man to surrender all that ordinarily makes the more populous haunts of civilisation delightful, and to settle himself forever in the South Seas. Of course these are not the South Seas, speaking with strict refer ence to latitude, but in climate and characteristics the islands are practically the same. One couldn't help think ing, with these islands in view, how easy and how delight ful it would be just to take one of them and be a king. Can't yon imagine the picture — the wide, low bamboo house on the beach, surrounded by all sorts of gorgeous flowering trees, protected by the stately cocoanut palms, the broad white stretch of sand in front, the long lazy rolls of the ocean, the thick green foliage behind, the broad verandas under the heavy thatch — and just nothing to do but be a king ? Somehow it gets over one ranch as even Louis Beck's terrible stories of blood and awful wicked ness of the licentious, brutal South Sea white men weave their spell in spite of their subjects. In the morning, just after we had made the seventeenth or twenty-fourth selection of the islands where we would set up our special kingdoms, we rounded the north end of Panay, and there loomed up on the coast line, tall and gaunt. Pan de Azucar (sugar loaf), and it took us back in an instant to Champlain and old Hurricane. Then for railes we saw the beautiful White Mountain scenery done over again in these tropic seas, only now and then approach ing close enough to shore for the distinguishing foliage ILOILO 281 of the great cocoa palms and the bananas to rob ns of the pleasant illusion. We forgot all about being kings. We were willing to surrender all our interest in the Philippines for the smallest legal consideration. Good old New York was good enough for ns, and anybody could have these islands who wanted to corae and take them. There were four of us in the party, the first Americans who had tried to get beyond the limits of Luzon : McCutcheon, who divides the honour of hailing from Indiana with Colonel Jewett and draws pictures and writes things for the edification of the Windy City ; Bass, who carried a camera along the firing line the day that General Merritt took Manila by " assault " ; Mrs. Bass, who was the first American woman down here, and is the most expert jusi shopper in these old Spanish possessions, and myself. We had started out with the modest inten tion of travelling about the islands for a general " look-see " and with characteristic American freedora had forgotten our passports. That didn't bother us particularly until one of our fellow-passengers, Mr. Balfour, manager of the Iloilo branch of the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank, told us that probably we wonld not be allowed to land in Iloilo. However, he said he would see Mr. Duncan, the British Vice-Consul in Iloilo, for us and discover what could be done. Presently we struck a common bond with Balfour in our admiration of Robert Louis Stevenson, and it developed that the Iloilo banker is a first cousin of the great story- writer and a member of the family to which the venturesome David Balfour belonged. After all, it wasn't so difficult getting into Iloilo. After we had gone by the little bunch of islands at the month of the harbour, which they call the Seven Sins, and had dropped anchor off the old fort, a steam launch came out with some officials and a lot of Civil Guards. The Civil Guards stood at the gangway with their guns, and it was rumoured about the ship very promptly that nobody was to be allowed to land. But we were reassured by seeing Mr. Balfour get aboard the launch with his luggage and his boy and go away. Then the Captain told ns that the ship would lie at anchor until about 5 o'clock waiting for the tide, when she would go up into the river to her berth. As we lay there waiting we had ample opportunity to observe a characteristic Spanish trait. The harbour of 282 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC Iloilo is practically an open roadstead between a little tongue of low-lying alluvial land through which the river runs, and the bluff, hilly island of Guimarras, about a mile and a half or two miles away. The town, instead of being built on the high ground of Guimarras, where there is excellent opportunity for proper drainage and sanitation, is placed on the flat river bank, where every spring tide or unusually high water inundates the streets, and drain age is absolutely out of the question. Fever runs its course unchecked in Iloilo, but across the deep roadstead healthful Guimarras laughs at the sickly city. 'About 5 o'clock a steam launch came back from the city with a very dapper little Spanish officer, who was the Captain of the Port. He sainted us gravely and we shook hands and bowed and smiled and said everything about Iloilo was extremely beautiful and were jnst as polite as if we had pockets full of passports. They set the infernal windlass going, and after awhile hauled up sixty or seventy fathoms of cable and got their old mudhook aboard, and np the river we went. There was great speculation in the American colony of Iloilo as represented on the Butuan as to what was going to happen when the ship reached her berth. Mrs. Bass announced that she was going ashore that night, and had her boy collect the baggage and bring it up on the forward deck. Bass was non-committal, and McCutcheon and I were doubtful and unenthusiastic. Bass was fortified with an old cedula which he had thoughtfully stored away in his pocket-book. It was only a memento of his Manila experience, and was made ont in the name of another man, but he seemed to think that on a pinch he could bluff it through. At last we were tied up alongside the river bank in front of a big go-down, and a couple of long planks were thrown out to the shore. Then some Spanish officials came aboard, and the dapper little Cap tain of the Port shouted to a man whom he saw in front of the go-down to come over and interpret. The interpreter talked in rapid Spanish for a minute or two with the Captain of the Port. The Captain bowed and smiled, we bowed and smiled, and the interpreter told us that General Rios, who had succeeded General Jaudenes as Captain-General of the Philippines after the surrender of Manila was waiting in his palace to receive us, and would be charmed to have us call upon him at once. Our ILOILO 283 baggage was to be sent ashore immediately, if desired, and a carriage was waiting for us. We were overwhelmed. We bowed and smiled and shook hands with the Captain of the Port, the interpreter and the Captain of the ship and any one else who came around and said we were over joyed, and would immediately present ourselves to his Excellency. Then we lost no time in hustling our baggage off the ship, and promptly followed it down. Mr. Balfour was there to meet ns, and then we learned the wherefore of this amazing reception. Mr. Duncan had been to see his Excellency in our behalf, and had assured him that we were quite harmless, and merely desired to see something of the beauties of the wonderful Philippines before we hurried away home to America, where we were going very soon. General Rios had expressed himself as being very much pleased to offer us the hospitality of Iloilo, and of all the islands in his jurisdiction, and from our point of view the prospect was lovely. Now another complication presented itself of which we had not dreamed. There was no hotel in Iloilo, no sign of a public place where we could stop. It was the Spanish custom for travellers to go to the Tribunal, or office ofthe public administration, and it was the business of the Government to put them up, furnish to them attendants and horses and carriages, and in all sorts of ways admin ister to their comfort and their pleasure. Bnt this was not to be expected for us under the circumstances. How ever, it appeared that there never had been any question in the minds of the Englishmen of Iloilo as to what we were to do. It was understood among them without ever saying a word that they were to put us up, and they did it in a fashion which can never be adequately de scribed or repaid. They said they were glad to see us. They had been looking for Americans anxiously and hope fully for a long time. The subsequent proceedings bore out their assertion that they were pleased. It remains for us only to express the feeble hope that sorae time we shall have the opportunity of meeting them on our heath. They took us at once to their horaes and they said with Spanish courtesy that their homes were ours as long as we chose to stay, and the only difference between their asser tion and a Spanish assertion of similar import was that they meant what they said. It was the Stars and Stripes 284 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC and long may they wave from start to finish throughout our stay in Iloilo. We went at once to the Hong Kong Bank " and then they drank a health all round." 'The first peculiarity apparent about the Englishmen in Iloilo was that they were all Scotch. We were met most enthusiastically by two Thompsons, a Buchanan, a Balfour, a Murray, a Grey, a Fleming, an Underwood, two Chienes and a dozen or more others, besides Mr. Duncan, the Vice-Consul, who is act ing as the American representative in Iloilo and had assisted so admirably in arranging our unpassported admission. The first thing was to go and call on the General, and we went without waiting to get into white clothes or prepared for any formalities. At the Governor's residence we were very cordially received and informed that the General would be very glad to see us undoubtedly, but that, unfor tunately he was out at that time and would we kindly come in the morning. So we left our cards and went away, glad that it was so. That night there was celebra tion of the arrival of the first Americans in Hoilo, celebra tion in the good old way, with a continual call of " Uno ! Uno ! Trae whiskies y sodas " and much singing of the good old songs, and it was 1 o'clock or maybe earlier when " God Save the Queen " and " The Star-Spangled Banner " shut up the piano and quiet brooded over the first night of the American invasion. The first thing in the morning was the call on General Rios. We went formally and in state, all four of us, in company with Mr. Balfour and one of the employes of the bank as interpreter. General Rios received us in his pri vate office, fie is a fine big man with very pleasant manner and handsome face. His hair is very soft and fine and silver-white and his beard shows only here and there an evidence that it was once black. He was very gracious and suave. We told him that we desired to see for ourselves the far-famed beauties of his island. He smiled and said they were indeed beautiful. Then he suggested that after we had seen the notable objects of interest about Iloilo we should go to Mindanao, fie himself had served in Min danao. He was in command there when Augustin and Jaudenes surrendered in Manila, and he had been promoted to the supreme command of what was left of Spanish pos sessions in the Philippines. ILOILO 285 He was very familiar with Mindanao. He told us that there were many objects of great interest in that island. He suggested that we should go to Iligan. We were charmed. Iligan was the main object of our desires so far as Mindanao was concerned. General Rios said that it was a very interesting place, fie suggested that when we had seen Iligan we should take a trip back into the in terior to the lake. We were delighted. If there was one thing which we desired more than to visit Iligan it was to visit the lake, and it was especially good of his Excellency to afford us facilities for that journey. General Rios smiled and bowed and said that he would be very glad to give us a letter from his own hand to the General com manding in Mindanao which wonld facilitate our move ments about that island. No further passports would be necessary, and we could go wherever we pleased. We thanked him again, and he suggested that we should go to Cottabatta, on the south coast of Mindanao and make a trip up the Rio Grande. That is the great show of Min danao, and we were overwhelmed. We had difficulty this time in expressing our gratification and our thanks to his Excellency. Then General Rios made his star play, fie told us that the natives of Mindanao had many curious weapons, spears and knives and old guns and curiously wrought shields of hide and armour made of hard wood and hides, and that undoubtedly we would be pleased to accumulate specimens of these weapons and take them back to Amer ica with ns as mementos of our visit to this curious and- half-civilised island. The matter-of-fact Anglo-Saxon speech completely failed to convey adequately our expres sions of gratification at this suggestion of the General, and we were compelled to leave it to the flowery eloquence of our Spanish interpreter. I don't know what he said, but he was a long time about it and apparently it was very successful, for his Excellency bowed and smiled and said muchas graciaos and there he was thanking us apparently for being willing to go down to the rascally old island that the Spanish have never been able to conquer completely. We rose to go and everybody bowed and smiled. The General said that we should take no thought whatever about our transportation to Mindanao ; that whenever a steamer was going he would notify ns, that we would have 286 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC ample time to go aboard. Wily old General Rios ! fie knew all the time, what we didn't find out for several days, that he had impressed every Spanish steamer in the islands for the transportation of troops from one place to another, as the exigencies of his campaign against the in surgents required, and that there was no probability of a steamer going to Mindanao for a month. He knew also that the trip frora Iligan to the lake is made only once a week by a Spanish guard and that never a guard goes up that is not attacked by the Morros, and that if we should undertake to make the journey wi^th the guard there was a first-class chance of our never getting back to America. But he is very polite. General Rios, and an extremely pleasant person to meet. As I have said, the Englishmen were very glad to see us. They had waited a long time to see the Americans and they had been very hopeful of seeing some warships fiying the Stars and Stripes. They are in a very ticklish position. All of them are either in business for themselves in the Visayas or represent firms, which have large in terests there. A great deal of English capital is invested in the hemp and sugar business in those provinces, and just now it is in a very precarious condition. Thousands of dollars have been advanced on the crops to the native planters. If the insurrection envelops those islands that raoney will be lost. There will be no sugar crop. Hemp stripping will cease. The planters will have nothing with which to meet their obligations and the English loss wiU be very severe. 'The Visayas are on the lid of a kettle which is simmering over the fire of revolution. The na tives are naturally more peaceful and less inclined to rev olution than their hardier fellows of Luzon and the northern islands, but they have been greatly excited by the success of the Tagals and they have been stirred up by the advent of the Americans in the Philippines until they have reached the point where they will no longer submit to Spanish domination. Spain is done as far as the Philippines are concerned. She never again can control these islands. She might be able to maintain widely separated posts, but it is just as certain as that the sun shines and the rain falls upon these green-clad hills that that is all she could do. She could maintain these posts, but there would be no ILOILO 287 business done. The native population wonld engage in a war which would never end. The Visayas and Tagals alike would fight Spain forever. The patience of these people and their persistency in such a purpose when it is once formed are amazing. Men who have spent twenty or twenty-five years among them and know them thoroughly are unanimous in saying that the attempt of Spain to restore peace and to maintain quiet in these islands would fail utterly. It would resnlt only in the destruction of all business enterprises and the reversion of the island to a condition of practical savagery. The natives would cease to raise articles of commerce and would devote themselves to war. On the other hand, the natives stand waiting for the Americans with outstretched hands. They do not know the Americans personally. They ask the Englishmen who are engaged in business throughout the southern islands, not only what we are, but also what we look like. The Englishmen assure them that the Americans are just the same in appearance and in purpose as themselves. The natives understand something of what the Americans stand for in the way of liberty in general and personal freedom, and they recognise that under American pro tection or under American government lies the possibility of the largest attainment of their own dearest ambitions. So they stand waiting to see what we are going to do. If it turns out that we are to keep these islands, we shall have no trouble whatever in the south. 'They will receive us gladly, quietly, peacefully. But if it turns out that we go away, there remains for the Visayas only a prospect of fire and blood and utter devastation. It has been said repeatedly, and the story has had great credence here, and has been largely circulated from here, that Aguinaldo has small influence with the people of the Visayas and the south. It has been a common as sertion that there is great division among the natives them selves, great suspicion of Aguinaldo and his motives, and that there certainly will be factional strife among the in surgents should Aguinaldo ultimately attain the success for which he is striving. I found none of this in the Visayas. The leading men of Panay, Negros, Samar, Cebu, Leyte and Masbate say that Aguinaldo is regarded with the highest esteem throughout the Visayas. He is 288 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC the idol of the people there, because he stands for all that they most dearly desire, and they will follow him even more blindly than his own Tagalogs, among whom there is, in truth, a great deal of division. This is undoubtedly the actual situation in the south. There was a time when nearly all the business of the Philippine Islands was in the hands of the Americans. The great firms of Russel & Co., Peele, Hubbell & Co., and Warner, Blodgett & Co., handled nearly all the hemp and sugar produced in these islands, but one of the most salient characteristics of the American business man operated to change all that. The irresistible temptation to speculate ultimately brought these great firms to their downfall. They shipped great cargoes of hemp and sugar away from Manila and Iloilo unsold, and they lost thou sands and thousands of dollars by it. Their trade went over to the more conservative English houses, and now many an Englishman who began business out here in the employ of Americans is at the head of a British firm. It is, of course, possible, for the Americans under American control of these islands to regain a great measure of their commer cial importance, if not their old supremacy, but they must do it on conservative lines. One thing more, one of the most delightful things which came under my observation in Iloilo. It was a single action of Mr. Duncan, the Vice-Consul, and was an illustration of a British characteristic which is one of the things that make British supremacy so sure and certain throughout the world. The British gunboat Rattler came into Iloilo while we were there and a lot of the crew got shore liberty. Shore liberty for the Anglo-Saxon sailorman the world over means that he is going to get drunk and have his fling. That's what he goes ashore for ; that's what is expected by his officers. It gives him a chance to let off steam after three months' bottling up on the ship. The Rattler's jackies came up to Iloilo, went to the solitary cafe in the place, had several drinks and ordered a meal. It took a long time to prepare the meal, and they sat around waiting for it and having other drinks. Some of them went to sleep. It happened that this caf6 was very much frequented by Spanish officers, and in the course of the afternoon, as they began to drop in, they found the place practically pre-empted by the British sailormen. THE M'CULLOCh's FAREWELL 289 They were angry and objected. They wanted the pro prietor to throw out the jackies. The proprietor was will ing to oblige them, but he couldn't do it ; the jackies wouldn't go. They had contracted for a meal, and they meant to have it. It was a public restaurant, and they couldn't be put out off-hand that way. Finally the Span iards appealed to Torrealto, the Governor of the province of Hoilo. He came around with his gold-braided uniform and his gold-headed cane and ordered the British tars to get out. There was a row in a second, in the course of which one British sailorman heaved a chair at the head of the Governor, the result of which was that the Spaniards cleared out and the British sailormen stayed there and had their meal and went away when they got blessed well ready. That night I met Mr. Duncan on his return from a snipe-shooting trip. I had heard only a rumour of the fracas in the cafe, and I wanted to get the details, which, I supposed, of course, Mr. Duncan would know. So I asked him. " I don't know what it was," he said. " Our fellows haven't been ashore for three months. Of course they had some fun. They're entitled to it. Heaved a chair at the Governor's head, did he ? Hum, he's all right." That was lovely, and my admiration for Mr. Duncan increased amazingly. CHAPTER XLIl THE M'CULLOCH'S FAREWELL Manila, Nov. 16. — All this morning there floated from the main truck of the McCuUoch a long red, white and blue pennant. It streamed far out over the taffrail, and oc casionally, as the breeze died down, it drooped until the gilded float at the tip of it touched the sparkling blue water of the bay. It was more than 200 feet long. Por twenty feet or more from where it swung on the halyard its blue field was spotted with a double row of white stars. It was fair and bright and new, and it proclaimed to the great grey ships lying about Cavity and in front of Manila, and to all the world who saw, that the trim little ship from whose masthead it floated was " homeward bound." Homeward bound ! Oh, lucky dogs, you chaps who live aboard her ! 290 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC Well, we'll give you a cheer and a godspeed when yon start and a hearty, earnest wish for a flne voyage. Of course the men on the other ships had known for several days that the McCuUoch was going. The officers and men had been raaking up little boxes of souvenirs and relics to send horae by her. It always happens when a ship leaves a foreign station for home. But there was something more than this charm in the departure of the handsome little revenue cutter. For six months or more she had been a ship of the navy. She had borne her part on the glorious 1st of May, and she had done her work in the long anxious watch that followed. She had had her share in the flnal achievement, the capture of Manila, and now the navy had returned her to the Treasury Depart ment, from which she had been borrowed, and she was starting on the final stretch of the long journey from Balti more to her regular station at San Francisco, which the war had interrupted so violently. She was the first ship of the little squadron that dealt Spain such a terrific blow in Manila Bay to start back to God's country, and there was a sentiment about the joarting with her that made those who stayed behind surprisingly active with their handker chiefs. Twelve o'clock was the appointed time for sailing, but there were two friends of Captain Hooper who had had no chance to bid him good-bye, and he waited nearly two hours, so that they might have opportunity for a last brief visit. One of them had corae out from Baltimore in the ship, and it gave hira a hard wrench to see her go away. It was a little before 2 o'clock when the final preparations were made. The little ship was very trim and pretty. In a fresh coat of paint, as clean and fine as care and work could get her, she was ready to make her final bow to her big bluff comrades of the sharp fight and long vigil. All hands were in their newest, cleanest white and their hap piest smiles, and they leaped forward with a will at the command " Stand by the port anchor." On the other ships the lookouts had been watching the McCuUoch for two hours, and every ten minutes or so responding to the question of the officer of the deck, " Not under way yet, sir." But at last the answer changed. " The McCuUoch is under way, sir," was the hail of the lookouts, and " Stand by to lay up," shouted the deck THE M CULLOCH S FAREWELL 29 1 officers. The white-clad sailormen on the other ships — big, clean, hearty fellows, whom it warms your heart to see — tumbled along their decks to their places abreast of the rigging, and stood in groups eagerly watching the handsome little cutter as slowly and gracefully she began her Admiral's sweep. Throughout the squadron it was "All hands to cheer ship," and all hands were ready. As the McCuUoch left her anchorage and got way on, the long, homevrard-bound pennant streamed far ont astern, the gilded ball at its tip dancing up and down in the shift ing air currents. She swung slowly to port and passed outside the raonitor Monterey. Her forecastle deck was white with the spick-and-span uniforms of her crew. Her officers were gathered on the bridge and on the high poop deck, and over her taffrail floated the biggest and bright est Star-Spangled Banner that ever graced her flag locker. As she passed the Monterey, we who were watching from the Baltimore saw the wild waving of hats on the monitor and then the frantic gesticulation on the cutter. Then there floated across the bay the roar of cheers. You will never hear men cheer until you hear our sailormen when the battle-flags are broken out for action : bnt they sent np a roaring godspeed this afternoon to their fellows home ward bound that somehow clutched the heart and brought a lump into the throat and made one remember what that fine old American wrote for his English friends : The bravest are the tenderest, the loving are the daring. On past the Monterey and her cheering jackies, and down by the Monadnock, slowly steamed the McCulloch. There again the men shouted out their feelings with full- throated emphasis, and the sound of it drifted across to the Baltiraore in a confused roar. Then the handsome pick aninny of Admiral Dewey's triumphant squadron swung and carae by the Baltimore. The band on the cruiser had taken station on the poop deck. As the cutter stood down toward the cruiser, her flags standing straight out in the freshening breeze, with a fine roll of foam curling away from her sharp cutwater, she was very proud and handsome. The afternoon was fine and clear. The little waves of the bay sparkled and glistened in the bright sunshine. Behind the ships, across the low green fringe along the shore, the tall blue hills stood ont sharp and distinct in the background. 292 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC " Lay aloft ! " shouted the officer of the deck on the Baltimore, and up the rigging swarmed the agile sailor men. The cutter's crew followed the action and raced aloft. Then, as she drew nearer, to pass under the big ship's stern, the Baltimore's officer shouted, "Now, all together ! " and the cruiser's men sent the cutter's crew a cheer that will be echoing in their hearts long after they have reached their homes and greeted their old friends in God's country. The answering roar from the McCulloch's decks and rigging had hardly died away when the Balti more's band began, and the tune they played was : Should auld acquaintance be forgot ? In perfect silence the two crews listened to the music. The cutter swept swiftly under the cruiser's stern, and the band swung into " The Girl I Left Behind Me." Some how the wild exuberance of the men who had been yelling the membranes out of their throats but a moraent before was all gone. Perhaps they were seeing the pictures of the home land, 8,000 miles away. The homeward-bound pennant flew far out behind the cutter, bnt the gilded float at its tip, caught in the draught behind the ship, darted forward, as if hurrying to reach the goal, and car ried the end of the pennant ahead in a broad, graceful loop. 'The officers of the cruiser and the cutter gravely saluted, and then the Baltimore's band broke into a lively quickstep. "We're sorry to part," the music had said, "and we hope you'll not forget. We're glad you're going home to your loved ones, and we wish you a fast, safe, and pleasant voyage." Around the Baltiraore and on to the flagship went the McCulloch. The Olympia's men flocked on the super structure, crowded the turret tops, and swarmed aloft. One big fellow lay out on the end of the main gaff and fran tically waved his hat as he cheered. The flagship's band had gone ashore, so there was no music there for the home ward bound, but the cheers seemed to have added strength. Then across the bay to where the Raleigh was standing guard off Manila steamed the happy cutter, and there again the farewell shouts were repeated. Then, with her flag and pennant proudly standing out in the breeze, the McCulloch turned her bow toward the Boca Grande, and the long homeward journey was begun. HIT-AND-MISS MAILS 293 Happy ship, fortunate men, who have endured life and braved death for the honour and the glory of the flag you loved and served so well. What joys await you in your own land when freedom's soil shall indeed be beneath your feet, as freedom's banner now streams o'er you ! May you all be there at the last to know and enjoy to the full ! CHAPTER XLIII HIT-AND-MISS MAILS Manila, Nov. 29. — Occasionally the kindly fate which watches over the lives and fortunes of Uncle Sam's soldiers and sailors intervenes with the mail destroyers of the pos tal service and a few sacks of letters get through. On be half of about 18,000 men in the land and naval service of the United States remarks have been made about this sub ject before, sometimes by cable, bnt they have had no ap parent resnlt. The arrival of the new batch of transports brings the subject up afresh just now, because there is a new instance of the apparent disregard of the feelings of the men out here with which postal affairs are handled at home. Probably there is no use in trying to make the "sheltered people " understand how eagerly the men await their mail, with what joy and pleasure they get their let ters, or how terriflc is the blow when they get none. Just yesterday afternoon I was talking about the mail with a man who has been in the hospital for sixty days with typhoid fever, and he told me the story of a man who died in the cot next his own. The poor fellow held out well until the mail came in. He was longing with all the intensity of his fever-racked soul for letters from home. When the mail finally was delivered nearly every man about him got letters, but this chap had none. It fairly broke him down. Half the night he lay face down on his cot and cried like a child. And after that it seemed as if his grit was gone. His will to get well was broken. He just didn't care to live, that was all, and he didn't live. When mail comes so far and is so long in coming its value to the recipients increases in geometrical ratio with the miles travelled. When mails come so infrequently it is a knock-down blow to get the postmaster's negative shake 294 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC of the head, and I have seen big husky fellows who would go forward cheering under fire fairly stagger away from the general delivery window. Perhaps the people at home do not write. It is a beautiful demonstration of the worth of friendship to put it to that test. Even kinsmen grow careless. Those things have to be borne as best they may. To go back to the beginning. Nearly all the ships of the American lines running out of San Francisco were taken by the Government for transports. Thereupon the Post- office Department declared that its mail service Vf^as broken up. The War Deiiartment jumped into the muddle and ordered the mail sent forward by transports. There was a line of express steamers running- from Victoria to Hong Kong which made the trip in three weeks with the regu larity of Jersey City ferries, and which was not in the least disturbed by the war or the transport service. But this was a foreign line and could be utilised only in emer gencies. There was no hesitation about using the foreign- owned line of ships that ran from San Francisco to Hong Kong. But these ships take from twenty-eight to thirty- one days for the trip the others make in twenty. If every bit of the mail had been held for Victoria express steamers, no doubt it would have reached here. Often it might have got here had it been dispatched by another route, but there would have been this tremendous advantage, that the service would have been regular and to be relied upon, whereas as it was nothing was to be depended on. It was hit and miss, take your chance and trust in Providence. That, however, is, after all, only one phase of the ar rangement. It was when the determination to forward mail by transports was put into effect that the bright and shining light of some overmastering intellect began to dazzle the Western world. There was the case of the Morgan City. Many on the east coast know the Morgan City. She is the old craft that was fitted up for the Klon dike trade, and when she left New York last December all South Street made pools on the point of her collapse. Well, she got around to 'Frisco, after being reported as repairing on the way, and was sent ont with troops and mail. Of course they put the mail on her. There wasn't another thing so slow on the Pacific Ocean, and it was too good a chance to lose. Two days after she left San Fran cisco the Newport sailed with General Merritt and his CASH WE FOUND 295 staff, bound through in the shortest possible time. In Honolulu the Newport had a chance to take the mail from the Morgan City, but the Newport's people said: "She left before we did. She hasn't any mail for us." So the Newport came along, and five days after she reached Cavite the Morgan City came in. On August 20 the Arizona left 'Frisco. On August 27 the Scandia followed, with the accumulated mail of the week. In Honolulu they met, and the Arizona came on as fast as she could, but do yon suppose she brought the Scandia's mail ? Not the Arizona ! The Belgic, which left 'Frisco on September 3, reached Honolulu before the Arizona left, and placidly kept on to Hong Kong with her week's mail. The skipper of the Arizona couldn't be bothered with it. The Arizona went back to Honolulu from here for troops and stores. When she left Honolulu to come back here the Indiana, Ohio, and Zealandia trans ports, and Doric, liner, lay in the harbour there, all with mail. The Arizona is the fastest of all these ships, and she was coming through at top speed. The Indiana had the mail from October 20th to the 27th, the day on which she left 'Frisco. The Ohio started from 'Frisco the next day with one day's mail. The Zealandia left on thc 29th with one day's mail, and the Doric on the 30th with another day's mail. With this nine days' mail lying there in Hon olulu, the Arizona steamed out and hustled across to Manila in fourteen days and never brought a letter or a paper. Since then the Ohio has come in with her one day's mail, and the Indiana with her batch is somewhere on the Pacific. The Doric's mail will come down from Hong Kong some time by and by, and we hope the Zea landia will get in safely. CfiAPTER XLIV CASH WE POUND Manila, Dec. 23. — When Major Kilbonrne, the custo dian of public funds of General Otis's Government of the patch of the Philippines ruled by the United States, shut up his office this afternoon and started for his drive on Maiecon and the Luneta, the books he locked up behind 296 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC him showed that since the Americans began to do busi ness in the old building where the Spaniards ran a lottery they have taken in the rather comfortable sum of $2,929,396.97. Of course that is silver, and has to be divided by two to show the amount of human money re ceived, but three millions even of 'dobe dollars would make a pretty effective wolf fence. This includes, however, the $890,144.25 which was seized in the Treasury and the Mint, and has remained sealed up ever since, waiting the deter mination of the fate of the Philippines. That leaves a little over $2,000,000 as the receipts of about four months, or a trifle over $500,000 a month. In the same time the expenditures have been only $1,172,667.44. Even in the circumscribed condition of affairs at present this shows a surplus of over $216,000 a month. General Otis's ad ministration is making and saving money. Of course that does not include the enormous expenses of the army, but in flguring on what the country can do just now it is hardly proper to count such military expenses. When Manila surrendered, Lieutenant-Colonel Potter and Majors Keleher and Kilbonrne were detailed to take over the Spanish Treasury and Mint. Major Whipple was appointed custodian of public funds. 'That was when General Greene, as Intendente-General de Hacienda, had charge of all fiscal affairs. The first business of the three Ameri cans was to get into the Treasury and the Mint and find what was there. The Treasury building is very near the Ayuntamiento, or headquarters building, and is rather an imposing structure. It is built of stone, and is of massive heavy architecture. On the gronnd floor there are the Treasury vaults and a few offices. The second floor is given up to offices and to the lottery, which was one of the mainstays of the Philippine finance. This lottery, by the way, cut both ways. In the last drawing before the battle of Manila Bay ten of the sailor men of the Concord bought $1 tickets. Seven of them got one-tenth tickets of the sarae number, and that number drew a $10,000 prize. When the first man asked Commander Walker for leave to go ashore to collect his $1,000 the skipper granted it, but by the time the fourth man got along he was very suspicious. However, the jackies all got ashore and all got their money, and there was a high old time in Hong Kong that night. CASH WE FOUND 297 Everything about the Treasury building was locked up, and the first difficulty the Americans had was in getting the doors open. The Spanish system made three men responsible. No one of them trusted the other two — in fact, the law did not permit him to do so. Therefore, everything that was locked bore three locks, each different from the others. Each official carried a key which would open one lock, and the whole three had to be present whenever anything that had been fastened up was to be opened. The three Spanish officials were the Treasurer and his two chief assistants. They were notified by the Americans to be present at the Treasury building very early in the week after the surrender, but at the appointed time they were not on hand. For a few days after that it was a game of hide and seek — some of the Spaniards would come, but the others would not. Then when finally all were present some of the keys had been left behind. At last threats of arrest brought the reluctant officials to terms, and they all went to the Treasury together, each with his keys. Everything was locked up. Even the big, wood-covered water tanks in the courtyard were fastened with three big padlocks. The Americans proceeded with the utmost care. The Spaniards had protested vehemently against the seizure of the Treasury and had renewed the protest with added vigour when they learned that the peace protocol had been signed before they surrendered. So the Spanish officials were required to witness everything the Americans did. After they had opened the vaults and the rooms where stocks or securities or other valuables were kept, they were required to stay and watch the connt. They didn't like it a bit, but that didn't bother the Americans, who worked away at the count. It didn't take very long to count the gold in the Spanish Treasury. All told it was only $4,200, and that on a silver basis, so there was only $2,100 of gold. But there was about $130,000 in silver coin of several brands, all 'dobe, and that was a more tedious business. Then there were bank-notes and checks and bonds and such things, and about 2,000 sacks of cop per coin, so that, altogether, it was a job of several days to make the count. Whenever the count was suspended there was a per formance the like q| which th? Spaniards were not accus- 298 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC tomed to see. Not only was everything locked up — it was sealed. And not only did the Americans seal against the Spaniards but they required the Spaniards to seal against them. The Spaniards regarded all that as just so much flummery, done for show and subserving no legitiraate purpose whatever. They did their part in the sealing more and more languidly, and at last forgot their seals. Major Kilbonrne supplied the deficiency. He used his own ring for the Spanish seal and then gave it to one of the Spaniards to keep until the whole party met again to go on with the work. Afterward that was done regularly until the count was finished. It took several days to complete the count. As each vault or compartment was examined and the money or securities counted or listed a statement of the contents was made out, which the three Spanish officials were re quired to sign. This was kept by the Americans, who gave the Spaniards a receipt setting forth the items thus seized. The valuables were kept in several places about the treasury. There were some compartments which were not pointed out by the Spanish officials and which were discovered by the Americans only after some time had elapsed. In all such cases General Otis appointed a board of officers to examine the property found, count or list it, and make return tothe custodian of public funds. There is one compartment which the Americans have not ex amined yet, because the keys have not been forthcoming, and until the matter of ultimate control of Philippine finance is decided they are averse to breaking it open. It has been sealed up. The Spanish officials who say they haven't the keys, also say there is nothing in this com partment. At the Mint there was no difficulty whatever in making the count. There, as at the Treasury, there was the three- key system, but the superintendent had collected the keys from the officials and there was no delay. The superin tendent turned over the keys to the Americans, witnessed the count, saw everything sealed up, took his receipts, signed the statement for the Americans, and went home to wait in peace for the ship to come along to take him back to Spain. There were also separate funds found in the safes in the Ayuntamiento, oi- headquarters building, and in the CASH WE FOUND 299 office of the Civil Governor. These also were counted and sealed up, and guards were stationed at the Mint and Treasury. This is the itemized statement of the seized fund, as taken from the various safes. Since then some other items have been found which increase it a little : SPANISH general TREASURY. Gold coin $4,200 00 Silver coin (Mexican and Filipino mixed) 129,632 21 Notes of the Banco Espaiiol-Filipino 194,180 00 One accepted check on Banco Espaiiol-Filipino 160,205 50 One accepted check on Banco Espaiiol-Filipino 10,000 00 162 sacks copper coin said to contain §50 each 8,100 00 1,928 boxes copper coin said to contain $150 each. . . 389,200 00 Total $795,517 71 SPANISH MINT. 30 sacks Mexican dollars, §1,000 each $30,000 00 29 sacks Spanish medio pesos, $1,000 each 29,000 00 10 packages Spanish medio pesos, in -wooden boxes.. 50 00 Total $59,050 00 One bar gold, 870 fine, ¦weight 6310 grammes, and one bar gold, 999 fine, weight 313 grammes, all of the estimated value of 3,806 08 Total $62,856 08 FUJfDS OF THE A^VDNTAMIENTO. Notes Banco Espaiiol-Filipino, copper and silver coin $3,624 83 " FONDES LOCALES,'' OFFICE OP " GOBERNADOR CIVIL." Notes Banco Espaiiol-Filipino and coin $956 02 FUNDS OP THE PHILIPPINE LANCERS, THIRTY-FIRST REGIMENT CAVALRY. Copper coin $950 00 Making the grand total as indicated above of . .. $863,904 63 There is to be added first $26,049.62 which was found on deposit in the Banco Espanol-Filipino and which was left there. Also there are some securities which may be good and may not, depending in large measure on the fate of the islands. Por instance, there was an iron con trivance in the Treasury building which was known as a " reserve safe." In this safe was a box of provisional bonds, issued by the Philippine Government to meet certain provisional expenses. Probably these expenses were con nected with the '96 revolution, though there was nothing 300 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC to show definitely what they were for. Neither was there anything to show whether they were valid. There was $14,000,000 worth of them, and to all appearances they were perfectly good. There was nothing to show whether they had been issued or not. In another reserve safe there ¦were $1,000 in bank-notes, a certified check that had never been cashed, $700,000 in bonds apparently good, and some Treasury notes, worthless or not, according as we deter mine. In still another place the Americans found this list of things : Silver coin and bank-notes $6,950 63 One certified check 671 00 Two drafts on a Barcelona bank, non-negotiable 34,343 14 16 packages Treasury bills 70,098 00 1 package bonds Banco Espanol-Filipino al,800 00 Deposit warrants, not indorsed, and so worthless 18,719 91 Stock Banco Espanol-Filipino, apparently good 18,800 00 All these things are specified in detail in the treasury manifest, if it may be called that, of the seized fund, and receipts for them have been given to the Spanish officials. Also the Americans receipted for one box of Fire Depart ment medals, one carriage, two horses, one set of harness, two halters, one stable bucket, one curry comb and one brush. In all this there is a first-class opportunity for some per sons to make trouble for some American officials by and by, and to cause a lot of worriraent and perplexity. Every thing the Americans seized from the Spaniards is sealed up all right and ready to be returned exactly as it was when seized — except, perhaps, the horses, carriage and currycomb and brush — in case that is the decision. But suppose we keep the islands. Are we going to take over the treasury responsibilities along with them ? If we do we are in for some fun. The Spanish records, as far as the Americans have been able to discover in a search of sev eral months, were all of one kind. They kept track of receipts in fine shape. Apparently no detail was too small to be recorded when it concerned money coming in to the Government, although there is nothing to show that the numerous entries of receipts are accurate or trust worthy, and there are many facts which tend to throw suspicion on thera. And so far not a single record of dis bursements pf any sort has come to light. 'There are CASH WE FOUND 301 books and books of deposits, but not a scrap or leaf to show what became of a cent. Also there are records which show that the general treasury received trust deposits. There are records of many such deposits, but nothing to show that the funds or securities so deposited have ever been withdrawn. By and by, when we have set up business for good in this old treasury, some chap may come along and demand a million or two, alleg ing that he had deposited it with the Government for safe keeping. Some fellow will want some of those bonds or treasury bills or other things whose value depends simply on whether they had been issued or not. "There isn't a record so far found that will solve this problem, and the search has been very thorough. It seems impossible to credit a Spanish official with any sort of honesty. Our own men down here always seem surprised when they find that one has told the truth, even though it concerns only a minor matter. Sim ilarly, or is it dissimilarly, they are not surprised at any sort of deception or dishonesty. It will be noticed that the list of seized funds shows about 2,100 boxes and sacks of copper coin, containing about $300,000. This was all in one and two-cent pieces. The sacks and boxes made a huge pile in one end of one of the largest rooms in the treasury building. It puzzled the Americans for a long time, the finding of this relatively enormous amount of copper, with so little silver and paper. There is a scarcity of copper in the city and surrounding country. The needs of business demand a much larger stock than there is. Several years ago there was plenty of copper, but now most of it has disappeared, and one frequently finds in Manila and nearly always in the neighbouring villages that the Pilipinos are using the old cuarto pieces, which were discarded when the new coinage came in. These cuartos have the advantage that any chunk of copper of about their weight will be accepted as a cioarto without much question as to whether it has ever been minted. Finally, however, the mystery of the $300,000 in copper was ex plained. It seems that a few years ago there was a defal cation in the Treasury. The Treasurer himself got the credit of getting the money. Maybe so, maybe not so, as old Yarmouni said. But whether he profited alone or divided, the Treasury lost $1,300,000, and it is carried on the 302 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC books to this day as an asset, "Defalcation, $1,300,000." It was to cover np this defalcation that this copper was withdrawn from circulation and sacked up. Each sack of copper simply took the place of a sack of silver. The pile did not appear to have been changed, and it was not until some time after the theft that an unusually cautious official took the trouble to examine one of the sacks and discovered the fraud. Besides this defalcation the books show another of $4,500. That fellow must have had few friends or have been exceedingly unskilful, for apparently he was found out very early in the game. In the lot of coin seized at the mint there was a large quantity of silver that had been damaged by fire. Several years ago a ship came into the bay with a lot of Mexican dollars aboard. Mexicans were contraband under the Spanish rule, but smugglers used to get them in sometimes. This ship took fire and was destroyed, but before she was burned up she had been hauled into the river where the Pire Department could work at her. When the wreck was examined the Mexicans were discovered. Promptly the Spaniards seized them and as proraptly the owners got into the courts with the contention that they had had no intention of trying to smuggle the Mexicans into Manila ; they were simply taking the silver to Chinese ports where it would pass. In the courts the matter has been ever since, and now who is to decide it ? The various offices in the treasury building presented a curious spectacle to the Americans when they first took the place. Room after room was all confusion. The most skilful spoilsmen our style of politics ever produced would turn green with envy at a glimpse of the Spanish placemaker. These treasury rooras were filled with long rows of desks, each with places for four clerks. There must have been nearly 150 of these clerks. Each one had kept his own records. Those of receipts and deposits were kept in books, all properly labelled. Besides these there were rows of racks along the walls, all filled with sheets of paper tied up in bundles. On these sheets various records had been kept, but as far as yet discovered they were not records of disbursements. When the Amer icans entered the building they found these record books and bundles of leaves strewn about the desks and tables and thrown promiscuously about the floor. They lay in CASH WE FOUND 303 heaps or singly and some of the bundles looked as if they had been opened very hurriedly and some of the leaves taken away. Whatever order there may have been in the arrangement of the books and bundles in the racks along the walls had been destroyed completely, and now it will be a herculean task to get the records into anything like intelligible shape. One book was found, however, which showed a state of affairs which is likely to interest a good many persons by and by, including the Americans who have to try to straighten out the mess. It is a book showing deposits, of which there were sev eral kinds. There were two general classes of deposits, "necessary" and "voluntary." The "necessary" were deposits made in the nature of bonds, to secure perform ance of contracts or faithful service in office, or some such thing. They were also made by the holders of all licenses of whatever character, butchers, venders, theatrical, liquor, and so on. They were in " money," meaning bank-notes, or in " metal," meaning probably gold. The voluntary deposits were of two classes, interest and non-interest bearing. In sorae cases, apparently, the Treasury did a sort of banking business, by allowing interest on time de posits as our own banks do. Most of these deposits, how ever, as far as one can determine from the books left behind, were made simply for safe keeping, and the Treas ury bills and bonds and stock of the Filipino bank found in the reserve safes were probably of this class. The cer- tifled checks may have come under the deposito necesario class, but there was no way by which the Americans could distinguish the classes of deposits. This book of deposits contains entries made on August 12, the day before the city surrendered, showing that to the very last the Spaniards kept open for business at the old stand. It also shows that the total of deposits which ought to be on hand in the vaults and safes was something over $3,000,000. Yet the seized fund is less than $900,- 000.. What became of the difference nothing has been discovered yet to show. If the missing funds were trust funds, or voluntary deposits, how much responsibility attaches to the American successors to the Spanish thieves in the matter of the distribution of the little there is left ? It will be a pretty problem for some one by and by. 304 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC Under the Araerican regime things run a little differ ently. There are only four sources of revenue, the cus toras, internal revenue, fees of the office of the Captain of the Port and fees collected by the Provost Marshal-Gen eral. The main source of course, is the customs. As yet the Custom House is not conducted on a satisfactory basis. There has been a lot of difficulty in adjusting the new American tariff. The Americans were ignorant of the old Spanish methods of administration and of the law, and the outgoing Spaniards left practically no records which were of any appreciable service to the Americans. Smuggling goes on constantly, both by importers and ex porters, and there has been a good deal of stealing of goods hetween the ship and the Custom House. Recent arrangements, however, have been made, by which Gen eral Otis hopes to have matters put on a much more satis factory basis. He has been much displeased by the de fects in the customs administration. The Administration at Washington has not seen flt to send customs experts to Manila, and the result is that the collection is in the hands of soldiers, nearly every one of whom is entirely inexperienced in the work. One man who has been in the customs service a good many years carae out, but he was not made collector and did not have much authority. It is not at all certain that he could have made things run smoothly under the circumstances even if he had had full swing. It is probably due to the inexperience and consequent inefficiency of the men in the customs office that so many irregularities go on and that there is so much smuggling. The merchants of Manila have come to regard the matter as something of a joke. One of them told The Sun correspondent this story the other day and laughed at the easy way in which he had got around the custoras officers. He had six cascos of tobacco to ship, and the stearaer's agent notifled him to have it alongside the steamer by 3 o'clock in the afternoon. He sent to the Custom House to have an appraiser inspect it in the cascos and fix the duty. The appraiser was busy or away on a visit and couldn't come. So the shipper sent the cascos to the steamer and loaded the tobacco aboard. In the afternoon the appraiser came, but the tobacco was gone. Apparently the appraiser made no report to the collector, for that was the end of the business. Now, CASH WE FOUND 305 says the shipper, he sends one casco to the Custom House and pays the duty on it, and all the rest he sends to the ship. Importers simply reverse this process. The Chi nese are especially wily, and there have been many reports that bribery of the soldier customs men were going on. So far no man has been caught taking a bribe. General Otis has been watching this reported funny business very sharply. It won't be pleasant for any man who is caught. Next to the customs as a source of revenue comes the internal revenue and then the Provost Marshal-General's office. To the internal revenue collector under the Span ish regime every industry paid a tax, every merchant paid for the privilege of doing business. The law hovered abont everything that was worth having and made the chap who got the cockfighting monopoly whack up hand somely. In return he got the exclusive privilege of run ning the public cockpits, just as the opium contractor got the sole right to sell opium. These taxes were collected by the Administration, but the Americans have divided the business and the internal revenue collector gets part and the Provost Marshal-General the rest. The Provost Marshal collects all the license fees from the markets, butchers, cemeteries and such things, and fines. Here is the way the books stood this afternoon, showing what had been collected and paid since the Americans took hold : RECEIPTS. Seized fund $890,144 35 Internal revenue coUections 156,378 97 Customs 1,811,358 21 Captain of Port— fees 1,833 24 Quartermaster 58 00 Subsistence Department 3,150 15 Eefund 90 16 Fines— Provost Court 10,455 81 Waterrents 37,06083 Markets 13,96698 Butchers 23,07504 Cemeteries 4,167 43 Licenses 11 ,039 91 DISBURSEMENTS TO NOV. 1. Treasury $1,00000 Provost Marshal General, for schools, street cleaning, sanitary department and flre department 193 963 47 Internal Revenue office, including $7,000 refund of taxes illegaUy collected 10,183 24 Custom House, general expenses 17,754 16 20 306 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC Chief Commissary, for support of Spanish prisoners. $537,244 74 Captain of Port, for clearing river of obstructions and for launch hire 24,870 88 General expenses — stationery and printing 495 66 Medical supplies for Spanisli prisoners 1,284 95 Chief Quartermaster, general expenses, mostly transportation 300,424 75 Chief Ordnance Officer, arsenal repairs 1,200 00 These items show very well the way in which the Americans rnn things finacially in Manila. 'The depart ure of the Spanish prisoners will cut off the principal source of expense, and the improvement of general condi tions will increase the revenue. One thing about the American adrainistration of the gen eral Treasury strikes the visitor to the building as being evidently in sharp contrast to the old manner of doing things. In the long main room just outside of Major Kilbourne's private office sits a solitary man. He is J. H. Greefkens, the chief clerk. He faces a double row of desks, where twenty-six men used to sit, and he does the work of the whole lot. Spanish office hours were from nine to twelve in the morning, and each Spanish clerk had from two to four Tagals to do his work. Greefkens works from nine until twelve and from two until five and does not feel overworked. The general condition of the building has not been changed in the least since the Spaniards quit it in haste last August. The books and papers lie strewn about the floors of the unused rooms as the Spaniards left them. Dust lies thick on everything, but there will be no clean ing up until the cleaners know for whom they are work ing. CHAPTER XLV CHRISTMAS IN MANILA Manila, Dec. 26. — Yesterday was Christmas. If that seems a striking statement, several circumstances may be cited in proof. On the whole, however, demon stration seems unnecessary. In view of the fact that the newspapers had been proclaiming daily for two weeks that yesterday would be Christmas, the weather consider ately took the hint, ;uid the thermometer, mindful, no CHRISTMAS IN MANILA 307 doubt, of the old truth that a green Christmas makes a fat graveyard, dropped almost out of sight. The mer cury went down nearly to the 75° mark, and one thought of winter and overcoats. The convent bells were aware of the day, and began to gossip about it long before the gun of the Sixth Artillery got ready to proclaim across the darkness that day wonld begin very soon. They call that gun the sunrise gun, prompted, of course, by ancient tradition, but they fire it just after midnight, as many in Manila will swear, just as they sound off retreat, and have evening parade in the middle of the afternoon before the sun has begun to tinge the peaks of the Sierra Mariveles with sanguinary glory. The clamouring bells kept their scandalous tongues wag ging until the day was full born and after, and even then occasionally some belated monk or sleepy friar would suddenly realise what day it was and try his best to renew the racket. Racket was all it was : it couldn't be called anything else. The melody has been jangled out of all these Manila bells for years. Their voices are cracked and querulous now and they are old and cross and disappointed and bad-tempered. They hang around churches that are moss-grown and musty, and not for years have they seen anything clean or heard anything sweet and true. So over the green-over-red roofs and down the narrow streets, sometimes one by one in mockery of their ancient solem nity, sometimes clamorously all together, they shout their useless gossip and bear their idle tales. For now nearly all of the pomp and show that once attended their clangour is gone. Those who were wont to heed their noisy calls are occnpied with matters of more instant im portance, or perhaps have fled to Spain. Night before last little processions of Americans wandered through the dark streets asking one another where "the mass "was to be said. But no one knew, and no bell from any idle tower bestirred its tongue to tell. But when midnight came and the last of us had given up the hunt and gone home leaving only the statuesque sentries pacing lonely along the streets, the bells began all together in a sym phony of jangles to tell the now useless story. So Christmas began in Manila. Then came the gun, that cataclysmic gun that makes one leap from his bed and 308 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC dash to the window, expecting to see old Taal come danc ing up from his southern province and settle on the Arch bishop's palace, spouting fire and smoke and red-hot lava all the way. Smack behind the gun came the bugles, and just as on the first raorning when the thing was done and just as on every morning since, Casa Todos turned out. To sorae noises one becomes accustomed. The roar of elevated trains disturbs the sleep of few New Yorkers. I have known men who could sleep through all the tumult of a foggy night on the East River. But never a morning brought that gun and those bugles out in Manila that did not bring us with them. Sick or well, the complaint of " I can't get 'em up, I can't get 'em up " had never to be said about this casa. The new call will be " I can't keep 'em up, I can't keep 'em up." It's the bugle of the Sixth Artillery that starts. The report of the gun has hardly set the echoes rolling down the Calle Nozaleda when the call begins. Sometiraes you hear only the last part of it, because the first has been lost in the echo of the gun. But hardly has this regular finished his work when the other fellows take it up. The Signal Corps, quartered in the same barracks, and sleeping under arras many nights because their commander believes insurgent rumours, turn out soon after artillerymen, and then in the next street Wyoming blows a bugle. Montana, just around the corner, follows suit. Prom far down the Noza leda Washington complains that "the Sergeant's worse than the Corporal," and over in the Calle Real North Dakota makes reply that the " Captain's worst of all." By this time even the Fourteenth has been waked up, and its bugle is adding to the call, bnt Casa Todos has found out that it is not an earthquake but only reveille, and has gone back to the sleep of the just. But yesterday we stayed up. First it was Christmas, and we wanted to see what had been put in our stock ings. We had nailed them outside the window so as to give old Santa Claus a fair chance, there being no chim ney in the honse. Oh, well, some other tirae will do to tell about what was in our stockings. A few years ago I wonld have said they were filled with hydrogen and oxygen and such things. Now I know there was a lot of argon. There's no telling what another year will disclose. Besides, this wasn't to be about what we got on Christmas HOMEWARD BOUND. 309 Day. Anyway we didn't get nearly so much as some people got. There was«the Twenty-third, for instance, it got nearly the whole Spanish army in Manila. It is the business of the Twenty-third to police part of the walled city, and that night, the night before Christmas, the Spanish soldiers started ont to celebrate. It was all right for a little while, but then the Twenty-third had to take them in and put 'em to bed in their churches. We stayed up because we were going out to visit the fleet — the whole fleet — every ship in it. Just set down on paper that conveys no sort of idea of what we intended to attempt. n you have ever spent all summer with a fleet of men-o'- war and have friends aboard every ship in the fleet, you'll understand what it is to try to call on more than two of them, at the outside, in one day. Well, we started early in a special steam launch. The sun could hardly be seen when we reached the first ship, to say nothing of being over the foreyard, bnt they made it a special day and a special occasion. They lowered away the foreyard so the sun shouldn't have such a hard time getting over. I'm not going to try to tell yon how we did it, but we got around the whole squadron. One ship helped us out a great deal. The ward-room mess had had a smoker the night before. You know. At last it was the Olympia, and there the Admiral had been giving a tiffin to all his commanders. They were all out on the quarter-deck together, and there they took us. " Lucky dogs " they said we were, but that was because ofthe "P. P. C." part of it. Curious, wasn't it, how all those men wanted to get home ? They had done their work, and would be glad to stay if there was more work to do, but — why, don't you know, that wasn't any more like Christmas than it was like what we think heaven will be. But yesterday was Christmas in Manila. CHAPTER XLVI HOME"WABD BOUND Steamship Yuen Sung, Dec. 28.— Toil, tumult, bustle, and then delay, marked the beginning of the American occupation of Manila. There was a wild rush to catch the transports, a tremendous straining of nerves to get 3 ID OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC them loaded, a wonderful march through the streets of San Francisco, when the first troops went aboard, and then the transports lay in the river nearly a day waiting for somebody else to raove. Lying in a long chair on the hurricane deck of the Yuen Sang night before last and watching the lights of Manila and Cavite fade ont into the moonlit distance, all that riot of beginning came back to raind vividly again in the marked similarity of the per formances attendant upon leaving Manila and starting home. Always, in Manila, home seemed not only very, very far away, but also up a very, very steep hill, ex tremely difficult to climb. It needed a lot of packing up and arranging. All kinds of temperatures are to be met on the journey, and one's blood, thinned out by the tropic living, will need considerable comforting in the way of warm clothing. Packing with reference to all the con siderations of the forty days' journey can hardly be done in a short time, but if there is only a short time in which to do it, why, then it must be done, if it takes all night, and so it did. Morning brought the appalling problem of transporting all the boxes, bags, bundles, and trunks to the steamer, "anchored in the deep," as the Spaniards say, dis tinguishing from ships in the Pasig. It was a case of cariton, and "Symphony of the Angels," the No. 2 boy was sent to look for the bull-cart. "' Symphony " is a good boy, with a long upper lip and a large mouth full of white teeth. His name, as he wrote it down so that he should not be called out of it in his recommendation, is Sinforoso de los Angeles. Looking at him, one recalls the twelfth century angels on the walls of the Cologne gallery, and wonders if connecting links have not been misplaced. Those twelfth century angels remind one of the " big giraffe with asthmatic laugh, and legs all out of joint." So does Sinforoso. He is a rectangular sort of angel. When he walks his joints move forward first, and the rest of him follows after in jerks. It suggests the motion of a broken cornstalk wabbling in the wind. But he is sure, and we knew of a certainty that if we sent him for that bull-cart at seven in the morning, he would keep after it all day, if necessary. That was because when we sent him to look for a qniles, one night, and he came back and reported "no hay," we sent him to stand on the HOMEWARD BOUND. 31I corner until some should " hay." We called him Symphony, because that was what he was. When he fitted the floor cloths on his big splay feet at 6:30 every morning, and began to scrub up the front room floor, it was a perfect symphony. He danced, he hopped, he skipped, he glided, he slid over the polished hardwood until it glis tened with mirror surface. He did jigs in the corners, pirouetted in the open, and wiggled his toes under the big chairs. All the time his body was erect, and a seraphic grin exposed his teeth no betel nut had ever defiled. At the end of the morning Sinforoso brought the bull cart. The caritonero loaded on two trunks, a basket and a summer hat, and asked where he should go. The answer grieved hira. Then he unloaded the hat and the basket, surveyed the pile of duffle in the yard and remarked " no puede." The entire flock of boys of the house flew at his head at once. As a precautionary measure in the matter of insuring their loyalty, not one of them had been paid for his month's work, and they were keen in their service on the last day. Such a deal of mixed Tagalog and Spanish arose that the yard was fllled with it, but it had its effect, for very soon the boxes and bundles began to go aboard the cart, and in a short time, as such things go in Manila, the cart was disappearing down the Luneta road toward the mole. There were a thousand things to do — or fewer — and men to see, and the last launch left at 2 : 30 sharp. There was no time for tiffin ; it was dash at top speed to place after place. Headquarters could not be cut short, so most of the others were dropped out completely, good friends were missed entirely, and just at the last moraent the launch was caught. Away we went down the muddy Pasig for the last time. The sun shone brightly on the picturesque old wall. Fort Santiago stood out in the afternoon sun, its grey, musty old wall beautified by patches of brilliant green. Over it flew the bright new flag with which the Tweaty-third Infantry had replaced the one Lieutenant Brumby hoisted on Aug. 13. At last the launch was alongside the steamer. Our luggage was aboard, everything was ready and the Stars and Stripes flew from the foretruck as a " homeward bound." But we did not go. We were waiting for the shipping clerk — th$ one who had told us that the last 312 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC launch would leave at 2 : 30 sharp. We sat on the hurri cane deck and watched the sun drift down through the bank of clouds that always caps the Mariveles Mountains. The red tile roofs of Manila faded into a blue indistinguish able from the grey iron. The deep purple of the moun tains beyond the city changed to black. A regiment of white-clad soldiers marched out onto the plaza beyond the Luneta and went through evening parade. Par across the bay their bugles sounded, playing retreat — the last time for us. Down came our Stars and Stripes from the Yuen Sang's foretruck. One by one the carriages gathered along Maiecon and the Luneta. The electric lights came out. We heard the band playing in the big stand, and then the shipping clerk came. We had had our hurry and work and wait, and now we could go. West we went to the Boca Chica. The moon, almost at the full, sailed up the eastern sky straight behind us. Her yellow wake fell like a golden streak behind the ship, and the water, churned white by the whirling screw, fringed it with silver. With the feeble lights of Cavite winking at the south and the bright Luneta lights twinkling behind us we steamed away. How different those big Luneta lights looked now. In July, when we watched thera at night from Cavite or Camp Dewey, they seemed somehow just about to go out. Now they burned stronger and stronger, and one could almost recognise his friends in the carriages dashing along beneath them. Down through the Boca Chica where now forty smokes an hour make no commotion whatever. It seems only a day or so ago that " smoke in the Boca Chica " turned every glass that way and sent a warship scurrying out from our fleet, with crew ready to go to quarters. Past Corregidor, his great red and white eye slowly and sol emnly winking at us as we go by, just as he solemnly winked in the days before we came. Along up the coast we hold for a time, but further and further away it grows, until the last light goes out — and that's the last of the Philippines for a few weeks at least. AGUINALDO 313 CHAPTER XL VII AGUINALDO Cavite', Philippine Islands July 22. — Seflor Don Emilio Aguinaldo y Famy — there was a time not so long ago when he left off both the front and rear ends of that name — is a very clever young man. He has read the story of a young man from Corsica, who made considerable history at the other end of the century. Par be it from any carping critic to suggest that he endeavours to iraitate that master of artillery. But there are certain marked traits which the two men have in common, even to the desire to wear gold collars. They say he is twenty-seven years old, and he looks it. It is a noticeable fact that all the leaders of the Filipinos are young ; that is the resnlt of the conditions which make the background of the re volutions, which make, in fact, the leaders themselves. In the days when young Aguinaldo was neither Senor nor Don, but just plain Emilio, he was servant boy for a Jesuit priest, and there lay the beginnings of his fortune, for this Jesuit, true to the traditions and teachings of his order, however false to the policy of his Church, gave the boy the foundation of the education whicii by its develop ment has given him the mastery over his people. The native wit got the tools with which to work, and bound less ambition drove it on until achievement is assuming proportions beyond the wildest dream of boyhood servant days. He left the priest and studied medicine. He went to Hong Kong and saw something of other peoples and of other intellects than degenerate Spanish or undevel oped Filipino. In this growth to manhood and this struggle for educa tion young Aguinaldo found personal experience of the amazing blindness of the masters of the islands. The rule of the Spanish in the Philippines is almost beyond belief. Nevertheless, the testimony is convincing. The nation which deliberately does all in its power to retard the progress of learning, to prevent the education of its people, has small claim to civilisation. In these islands it was practically a crime for a Filipino to achieve any 314 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC education. If he came to the notice of the authorities it was more than probable that, if he were not disposed of more effectively, he would be exiled. Aguinaldo suffered this punishment for his ambition, and now he is taking revenge. His friends, his relatives, suffered similarly, and now strive with him for vengeance on the Spaniard. He has taken his vengeance by what means he could, and if his methods have not always been most consistent with our standard of honour, it must be remembered who were his masters and from whom he learned the lesson of good faith. I shall not try to tell the story of the Pilipinos. A spot here and there shows the trend of their o-wn develop ment, and of their work. They are stoical in endurance, one benefit of three centuries of Spanish oppression and misrule. They can endure and be still, endure physical pain and suffering, with the outward indifference of a red Indian. They have the patience of Pambe Serang, limit less courage of the fighting sort, and ambition, in the case of their leaders, that knows neither metes nor bounds. In manners they are polite and agreeable, and intercourse with European civilisation has given some of their leaders a distinguishing polish. They affect the hauteur and the reserve of their old Spanish rulers, and thereby attach to themselves the dignity of position. The people are sim ple, open-hearted, hospitable, with an unshakable faith in the wisdom, the ability and the truth of their leaders. Especially is this true of Aguinaldo. By whatever means he acquired his hold on the Pilipinos, his word now is law with them, as General Anderson has found out in his brief experience here. Father Cecilio Damian, pastor of the church at San Roque, the village across the Causeway from Oavite, told me that there was but one real cause for the rebellion, though that one cause produced many second causes. That one cause was the priests. This is a Catholic country. " How many people are there in all the Philippine Islands ? " I asked Father Damian. " Eight millions," he replied. " Perhaps a few more ; perhaps a few less." " How many Catholics are there in the Philippines ? " I asked. AGUINALDO 315 " Eight millions. Perhaps a few more ; perhaps a few less." Altogether there were about 1,500 priests when the Filipinos rebelled. There were Augustinians, Dominicans, Franciscans, Lazarists, Recoletos, a few Capuchins, and Jesuits. All bnt the Jesuits had " malam- f amain" throughout the islands. Father Damian did me the honour to endeavour to understand my Latin, which no one else has ever been able to do, but that, after all, was not so much. Father Reany, chaplain of the Olympia, be ing the chief talker. Latin being the only common ground between us, the range of the interview was not wide. It began with our inquiry for the twenty-three priests who had been imprisoned in the old convent at Cavite. Father Damian agreed with our assertion that there had been twenty-three priests. There he stopped for a long time. Finally, by dint of English, Spanish, German, French, and Latin, a large measure of the first which he failed completely to understand, and a small scattering of the others, which he grasped at in the tradi tional fashion of the drowning man and the traditional straw, we drove it through his head that we wanted to know where those twenty-three priests were. They had been moved that morning, and I wanted one of them who had been getting some material for me. When the mean ing of our remarks finally dawned on Father Damian his face lighted up with a smile that was beautiful to see. Always before he had replied "non ititelligo," but now surely we should get a more satisfactory reply. But this time he said " nescio." He understood what we wanted at last, but he didn't know the answer. We returned to the priests of the " bad repute " and got along better. I had been told that some priests had been shot by Aguinaldo a few days before. Father Da mian is one of Aguinaldo's supporters. He admitted that priests had been shot, bnt not by Don Emilio's cora mand. " Who did command the shooting ? " " No one. The soldiers who took them prisoners shot them without orders." " Why ? " " Because of the insurrection." — Propter insurrec- tionem. 3l6 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC A dozen times we got around to that same question, why were these priests shot ? and every time the answer was the same, " Propter insurrectionem." That sort of baffieraent produces a fine frenzy for the study of lan guages. You try it half a day or so and you will have a firraly fixed resolution to learn all the tongues and dialects spoken if you ever go away from home again. Finally we got it through Father Damian's head that we wanted to know the particular act which led to the particular shoot ing of any particular priest. He smiled again and said there were many causes, so many that it was irapossible to enumerate them. Then he made his most expressive assertion, and he did it without words. He raised both hands and spread them out as if he were going to pack cotton down in a barrel. Then he pushed them down. The action was repeated with flashing eyes and angry gesture several times. One needed no interpreter to spell "oppression" out of that sign language. So we got it out of him, little by little, how the priests had abused their office, violated the sanctity of the confessional, bribed, corrupted, robbed, seduced women, borne false witness, raade false accusations against innocent men, grown rich and fat on their plunder, and in all ways prostituted their great calling to their personal and wicked ambitions. All this has been confirmed by all classes of the Pili pinos, and by every European who has lived here any length of time whom I have seen. The waiter man, the cook, the stevedore, the boatman, the sweet seller, the tailor, the druggist, the watchmaker, the intelligent young men who have travelled a little, or been exiled, some of them, for the crime of seeking an education, all have only one cause for the rebellion — the priests. " It is not a revolution against the Church," says one of the most intelligent of Aguinaldo's aides. " The reli gion is all right, but the administration of it is all wrong. The priesthood is rotten — saving always the Jesuits — and if the Filipinos are to live and to progress, the priesthood must go." All these things, known to him from his boyhood, driven into his soul by Spanish misunderstanding and ignorance, make the basis for Aguinaldo's schemes. Per sonally, I believe him to be only a great adventurer, like AGUINALDO 317 that man at the other end of the century whom he imitates in his small way. His arabition is as boundless as Napo leon's, but he has less with which to work. His oppor tunity is not as great, his tools are not as fine, but his spirit is as daring and his will is as dauntless, fiis cour age is limitless, and is of the dashing type which has given him the ascendency over his people which he now holds. The humblest, peasant speaks of Don Emilio as a "terrible fighter." He has surrounded himself with brave, clever men, most of whom are apparently thor oughly patriotic. They are devoted entirely to Aguinaldo because they believe that that way lies the best chance of success, but they are not blind to his ambition or to his schemes. The loot of a splendid city like Manila would be a tremendous thing for Aguinaldo. And he wonld not hesitate. He has a hard, cold, cruel face, and a hard, cold, cruel disposition. His methods show him to be un scrupulous and suspicious of every man whora he cannot dominate completely. It is not safe to be too conspicuous in his government or to have opinions which differ too much from his own. The raost successful leader, except himself, Atachio, who conducted the movements in the north of Luzon in the last revolution, and quarrelled with Aguinaldo over the division of the Spanish bribe which bought the peace the Spanish arms could not win, has disappeared. On his part, when the quarrel was settled, he gave Aguinaldo his loyal support in this rebel lion. Aguinaldo arrested him at the first chance, and his brother, his cousin and two nephews as well. Atachio is gone, and they whisper it around the headquarters at Bakor that he has been shot. The other four await the summons. Sandico, most brilliant of them all, who is in his native country now after ten years of exile, and who brought about the settlement of the trouble between Aguinaldo and Atachio, is in a house in San Roque "awaiting orders." Every day sorae one of his Araerican friends goes to headquarters to ask after him, and so he is kept alive. He would have been taken with Atachio, but he heard of it in time to get out to the Olympia. Aguinaldo assured him no harm should come to him, but not until the promise was renewed to Admiral Dewey did Sandico go ashore. 3l8 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC Sandico's crime is knowing Don Emilio, and why Don Emilio fights. He has told the Dictator that his aim is not possible of attainment. The dream of a Filipino republic is fine for conjuring with the natives, but they are not capable of self-government. Aguinaldo knows that, too, and he does not mean that there shall be real self-government, but only its shell, with himself as the centre, the mainspring, the Dictator, the Government itself. "A Filipino republic," says Sandico, "would be the victim of the ambitions of all Europe." Aguinaldo knows this to be the truth, but before Europe realised on its ambition, he would have had the looting of the richest and most valuable islands in the East, a prize for a king, a pearl without price. A liberal government, patterned on our own, with Fili pinos in it when they have demonstrated their fitness and ability, under the protection of the Stars and Stripes, with Americans to guide until the people reach such a stage of advancement that they can help themselves, free speech, free worship, and free life, that is the dream of Sandico, who thinks not for himself, but for his people. Both men look to the Americans for help, Aguinaldo, crafty and clever, for the furtherance of his own schemes, San dico, brilliant and patriotic, as the hope of his people. "I may not live to see it," says Sandico, with a smile and a shrug of his shoulders. " Some day I may follow Atachio, but I hope." When the American soldiers landed in Cavite on the first of the month they found Aguinaldo in full possession beyond the navy yard gates. The first unpleasant indica tion of his presence was in the practical arrest of Lieutenant Clark, General Anderson's aide. Clark was walking about Cavite when a Filipino soldier told him Aguinaldo wanted to see him at once at Filipino headquarters. Clark went there and Aguinaldo asked him what he was doing in Cavite. Clark said he was Anderson's aide and was on the General's business. Aguinaldo said very well, he would give Lieutenant Clark his permission to go about the place. That night General Anderson sent word to Aguinaldo that he was in command in Cavite and his officers and men must not be interfered with. On the Fourth of July Aguinaldo was indisposed and AGUINALDO 319 could not accept Anderson's invitation to see the review of the First Brigade. He sent his wonderful band instead, and that was better than his presence, intrin sically, if not in army courtesy. A day or two later he called on General Anderson, and then the American made a mistake in diplomacy of which the clever Filipino has not failed to make the most. The Filipino was re ceived with military honours. A company of the Four teenth Regulars presented arms as he came to the head quarters building, and the trumpeters blew the General's salute. The young insurgent leader was cautious and re served in manner. He had already proclaimed himself first Dictator and then President of the Philippine Republic in order to forestall the Americans as much as possible, and now he wanted to learn as much as possible of the Araericans' intentions. But he had no confidences to ex change. Finally he asked directly what the Americans intended to do in regard to the Philippines. " We have lived as a nation 122 years," replied General Anderson, through his interpreter, "and have never o'wned or desired a colony. We consider ourselves a great nation as we are, and I leave you to draw your own inference." The face of the young Filipino was like a mask, and no fleeting change of expression showed how quick he was to grasp the tactical error, but his eyes danced, and he said to his interpreter : " Tell General Anderson that I do not fear that the Araericans will annex the Philippines, because I have read their Constitution raany times and I do not find a provision there for annexation or colonisation." When Aguinaldo returned to his headquarters he found there a letter from General Anderson saying that another American expedition would soon arrive and that room would be needed for these soldiers. He replied at once, suggesting the use of the old convent of Cavite. Gen eral Anderson had it inspected by his surgeons, who pro nounced it unsanitary. Then there was more corre spondence with Aguinaldo, who finally moved his head quarters across Bakor Bay to Bakor, and has within a day or two ordered his men out of all the places they occupied in Cavite. To comply with this order the 2,000 or more Spanish prisoners he holds have been shifted ont 320 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC to the provinces controlled by the insurgents and scat tered around. There are bullets enough for all who make any show of trouble. It was when General Anderson decided to send a bat talion of the First California over to camp near Tambo, on the shore of Manila Bay, south of Manila, that the friction between Americans and Filipinos first became apparent. There is no doubt that Aguinaldo fears very much that he will lose his great prize through the actions of the Americans. He recognises the fact that practically all the success of his second revolution has come through their assistance. Bnt if they annex the islands, or rule them after their capture, the great object of his work will be lost. There will be no loot of a rich city if they control it, and he will never be Dictator of their govern ment, fie might have made great headway in his rebel lion without the Araericans. He had nearly $500,000 in gold, the bribe of the first peace, with which to arm and equip his men for the new war, and he justified the new rebellion by the charge that the Spanish had not given the reforms which they had promised when he stopped the first rebellion. Bnt the Americans had helped him very much, and he wanted to make at least a show of friendli ness in response. So he was in a peculiar position when the Americans began to land troops between his head quarters and his lines. That was notice that the Amer icans were going ahead without regard to his actions or the disposition of his troops. He was not to be consid ered in the final action or the disposition of the prize. Then Major Jones, the Chief Quarterraaster, demanded active assistance from the Filipinos. He needed labour and material for the transportation of the men and their sup plies to the camp. They were landed at Paraflaque, and Camp Tambo was two miles up the road toward Manila. Major Jones talked with the natives, and found he could get neither carts nor raen without Don Erailio's permis sion. He found one of Aguinaldo's officers and demanded carts and men to help with the work. The officers said there were no carts ; but the Major found them. The men would not work, but the Major persuaded them. At last, late at night, the California men got into their camp. But that was only the beginning. There was an army division almost to be put into that camp, and not a mere AGUINALDO 32 1 battalion, and that day's work couid not be permitted again. There were carromattas and ponies and bullock carts and bullocks in the country in plenty, and he meant to have them. He went to Bakor the next morning to see the young President. Dictator Aguinaldo was "indis posed." The Major waited a while and then went again. This time Aguinaldo was asleep. Then the Major wrote a letter which, for the first time, came out fiat-footed and said what the Americans were doing in the Philippines. This is what he wrote : "General Anderson wishes me to say that, the second expedition having arrived, he expects to encamp in the vicinity of Paraflaque from 5,000 to 7,000 men. To do this, supply this army, and shelter it, will require cer tain assistance from the Filipinos in this neighbourhood. We shall want horses, buffaloes, carts, etc., for trans portation, wood to cook with, etc. Por all this we are willing to pay a fair price, but no more. We find so far that the native population are not willing to give ns this assistance as promptly as required. But we must have it, and if it becomes necessary we shall be compelled to send out parties to seize what we may need. We should regret very much to do this, as we are here to befriend the Filipinos. Our nation has spent millions of money to send forces here to expel the Spaniards and to give a good government to the whole people, and the return we are asking is comparatively slight. " General Anderson wishes you to inform your people that we are here for their good, and that they must supply us with labour and material at the current market prices. We are prepared to purchase 500 horses at a fair price, but cannot undertake to bargain for horses with each individual owner. " I regret very much that I am unable to see you per sonally, as it is of the utmost importance that these arrangements should be made as soon as possible. " I will await your reply." The reply did not come, and the Major was compelled to return to Cavit§ without it. Hard behind him came one of Aguinaldo's aides to General Anderson demanding to know whether the Major's letter was by authority or 21 322 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC not. General Anderson replied that it was not only by his wish, but by his order, and, furthermore, that when an American commander was indisposed, or asleep, some one was in authority to transact business of importance. The next day Aguinaldo replied formally to the letter. He was surprised that there should have been any sugges tion of unwillingness on the part of the Filipinos to aid the Americans, for the Pilipinos knew that the Americans " did not desire a colony," and were here only to drive out the Spaniards and turn the islands over to the Filipinos for government. The Pilipinos were only too glad to help the Americans, but they could not furnish so much transportation, because they did not have it. Then Aguinaldo calmly asked for a definite statement of the American intentions. He had called General Ander son's hand. General Anderson replied, simply acknowledging the receipt of Aguinaldo's letter, and saying that it would be referred to General Merritt. The next day Major Jones found that Aguinaldo had caused to be made a list of all the horses, carts, carromat tas, and vehicles in the Bakor-Paraflaque district. Notice had been sent to all owners of means of transportation that they were not to engage in any service for the Amer icans that might interfere in the performance of any service for Don Emilio. The Pilipinos understood, and when they took their carromattas home they took oif the wheels and hid them. The Americans could seize the carts, but they would have to make a house-to-house search for the wheels. That night Major Jones reported the facts to General Anderson, but nothing has been done. The Major is working like a horse to get the men and their supplies into camp without facilities. Every thing is landed on the beach directly opposite the camp, and the men hustle the supplies up as best they can. The proclamation which Aguinaldo issued the other day shows more of the man than many pages of descrip tion can tell. It recalls irresistibly the work and worry of Napoleon making rules for his court abont uniforms and dress. Aguinaldo is clever and he is ambitious and he is unscrupulous. He has a slight advantage diplo matically now. We shall be lucky if we do not come to an open rupture. Here is the proclamation : aguinaldo 323 Don Emilio Aguinaldo y Famy. President of the Revolutionary Government of the Philippines and General-in-Chief of its Army : In conformity with the precepts in the decree of this Govern ment, dated June 23, ult., and the instructions which accom panied it, I proclaim as follows : Article I. Senor Don Baldomero Aguinaldo is appointed Secretary of War and Public Works ; Seiior Don Leandro Ibarra, Secretai-y of the Interior and branches comprehended therein ; Senor Don Mariano, Trias, Secretary of the Treasury and the annexed branches. The conduct of the Bureau of Foreign Relations, Marine and Commerce will be in charge provisionally, for the present, of the Presidency, until there is appointed a Secretary who is considered more apt. Art. 3. The gentlemen named will assume charge of their respective offices, previously having solemnly taken on the day designated for that purpose by the President, the following oath : " I swear by God and my honour to carry out the laws and deci sions and to fulfil faithfully the duty I voluntarily accept, under the penalties established for the same. So may it be." This oath will be taken before the President and the digni taries who are invited for this solemn act, the interested person placing his right hand on the New Testament. Art. 8. The directors and chiefs of provinces and villages, on receiving their respective titles, will take a similar oath before the President and the Secretaries of the Government. The prominent counsellors, as well as the delegates and sub- chiefs, will take the oath before the chief of the province and the chiefs of villages previously invited to the solemn act. Art. 4. In the reports and similar documents presented to the authorities and in official correspondence there will be em ployed before the name of the official the title "Senor "or " Ma- guiilor" (Tagalo), according to the character and importance of the same. "When the official is not so addressed the personal title " Usted " will be used when directed to an inferior or an equal, but when addressed to a superior the title ¦' Vosotros " will be employed. Art. 5. The Secretaries are empowered to sign by order of the President, such resolutions or decisions as are of small importance and those which expediency requires should be put into effect, but final decrees and resolutions will be confirmed by the Presi dent and the Secretary. Art. 6. The chiefs of provinces are permitted to use as dis tinctive of their office a cane with gold head and silver tassels. On the upper part of the cane there will be engraved a sun and The chiefs of villages may carry a similar cane, but with black tassels. The sub-chiefs also may carry a cane with silver head and red tassels. The provincial counsellors are authorised to wear a triangular badge of gold, pendent from a collar and a chain of the same 324 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC metal : on the badge there shall appear an engraved sun and three stars. The delegates will wear a similar badge but of silver ; also the chain. Art. 7. The President will wear as a distinctive mark a collar of gold from which depends a badge similar to those heretofore described, and also a whistle of gold. The Secretaries will wear a similar collar with the badge, and the directors, also, but of silver. The President will carry also a cane with head and tassels of gold. Dated at Bakor, July 5, 1898. The President of the Revolutionary Government, Emilio Aguinaldo. CHAPTER XLVIII DREAMS OF THB FILIPINO CHIEF Manila, Sept. 2. — In the opinion of the men in Manila best informed on the subject, and who have the most trustworthy and extensive sources of information, the in surgent situation is developing a serious aspect. Agui naldo plays a crafty game, and he is a skillful player. Nominally the Araerican occupation ol the city is peace ful. There is comparatively very little lawlessness for a city of the size of Manila, and things go smoothly. But business, although apparently reviving, cannot go very far, because the insurgents hold the provinces, and the coraraerce of Manila itself is only a part of the business of the port. Hemp, sugar, tobacco and wood come from the interior and furnish the bulk of Philippine trade. All these are shut off, and there is no telling now when the embargo will be raised. Meantime the Americans sit tight awaiting developments at home and in Paris, and Aguinaldo waxes. He has sent part of his men into the fields to plant rice for future war necessities, but scores and hundreds of others take their places, dra^wn from other parts of the island, and although in the city and close about it his adherents are peaceful and quiet, out side the territory held by the Americans his war wi"th the Spanish goes on with increasing vigour on his part, and the sarae story of siege, deraoralisation and defeat on the side of the Spanish. Aguinaldo is a born leader of men, of undoubted shrewdness and ability. In spite of all that has been said about the bribery deal by which the last insurrection DREAMS OF THE FILIPINO CHIEF 325 was settled by the Spanish on payment of several hundred thousand dollars to Aguinaldo and sorae of his principal followers, in spite of the legal row they got into at Hong Kong over the distribution of this "prize raoney," his friends and those who know him best assert that Agui naldo is honest and sincere. They cite in proof that he is poor. He is not particularly well educated, but, con sidering the circumstances of his birth and early years, it is rather to his credit that he has any education at all than derogatory to him that he is not a learned man. Years, or the lack of them, are also against him on this score. But, educated or not, he has without doubt the personal magnetism that draws men of his race to him. Among certain elements of the Filipinos — using Filipinos in the broad sense as meaning natives of the islands — particularly among the Tagals, his own people, he has un doubtedly a very great popularity, and by nearly all the natives of whatever tribe or class he is held in high esteem. Many of the Pilipinos, particularly the genuine Filipinos — using the term now in its specific sense of Spanish- native half-caste — are better educated than Aguinaldo, and have won greater wealth. Sorae of these do not con sider him to be fitted by nature or training for the re sponsible post of head of their Government. Except for his work in the insurgent cause his experience in ad ministration was gained while he was "little Governor," as the Spanish call it, a sort of sub-chief, or tax collector, of a small town in one of the provinces. Aguinaldo has dreamed great dreams, as strong, am bitious men do. There was a time, not so very long ago, when young Sandico, the bicycle-making professor of languages, who is one of the cleverest as well as one of the raost honourable of Aguinaldo's followers, was in rather serious trouble, suspected as to his loyalty, by his chief, and in actual fear of his life, because he had had the temerity to warn Aguinaldo repeatedly, and to insist on his position, that an independent Filipino republic would be independent but in name, and even that for only a short time. "We should be the victims of the ambitions of all Europe," said Sandico, and Aguinaldo sent him to live in San Roque alone, ont of the councils of the Gov ernment, and uncertain as to his fate. Now, however, Aguinaldo professes to see that Sandico was right and so 326 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC he says he has modified his own views. Sandico is again in favour, and at the present is one of Aguinaldo's most useful men in Manila, where he is asort of Coraraissioner- General, bearing an oli^ve branch and an oil bag, ready to be peacemaker wherever and whenever there threatens the slightest collision between the Americans and the insurgents. Retrocession from his original idea of independence has fixed Aguinaldo with apparently immovable purpose in a new position but little removed, so far as he is concerned, frora the old one. The great dream, he now admits, was only a dream, but the ambition that persuaded itself for so long that it could vault to such heights will not be con vinced, by peaceful arguments at least, that the next lower elevation is still too lofty for its attainment. Aguinaldo is done with colonial governments. While he has guns to shoot and men to fire them he will be no more a " colon ial. " Rather be a rebel all his life and die on the gallows or be shot like a dog. And it is not only a Spanish colonial government that he will fight, but it is any colonial gov ernment, Spanish preferred if it must be fought, but American just as earnestly if that becomes the necessity frora his viewpoint. While Aguinaldo leads, the insur gents will not submit peaceably to being a colony of any government on earth. Aguinaldo gives up absolute inde pendence and falls back on a Filipino republic under the protection of some strong power, preferably the United States. In that position it is a case of " .T'y suis, j'y resfe. " Por other reasons than that he would becorae ambi tion's victim Aguinaldo is wise in renouncing his dream of independence. The Pilipinos are uniit for self- government. It is fair to assume, and testimony of men familiar with the peoples of the islands bears out the as sumption, that the Tagals are the most advanced of all the native tribes. They have had the advantage, such as it is, of association with Spanish civilisation. That is not the greatest good fortune that could have befallen them, but it is a tremendous advance over the other fellows, who have had for associates simply themselves or other savages. Ideas of government are in the crudest state among them, and even among the Tagals and pure Pili pinos. Spanish half-castes — there are comparatively few men who understand the scope and responsibility of self- DREAMS OF THE FILIPINO CHIEF 327 government. There are raen in Manila, sorae of them officers of our army, who have had extensive dealings with Aguinaldo and his leaders, who are satisfied that some of them are honourable raen, thoroughly trustworthy, and quite capable of self-government. But even these friends of the insurgent chiefs admit that the capable and trustworthy men are too few in number either to organise or conduct a government of their own. It might be of the people, but neither for nor by the people. These friends of Aguinaldo are convinced that they are correct in\heir estimate of him and his principal leaders, bnt there are other American officers who have had ex perience with him who hold exactly opposite views. They believe him to be purely selfish, a shrewd, crafty schemer for personal advantage, as utterly unworthy of trust, as incapable of organising or managing an equable or stable Government. To such an extent is opinion divided. There is this fact to Aguinaldo's credit, that only strong men so divide the estimates other men make of them. Aside from the question of the integrity and ability of Aguinaldo and his chiefs, however, the question of their self-government presents other practically insurmountable difficulties. They would be obliged to fill many of the more important official posts and all the minor ones with men whose only standard of government is that set them by the Spanish, a system of corruption, treachery, deceit, bribery, robbery, tyranny and meanness almost beyond the comprehension of upright men. Equity and justice are qualities but slightly developed in the average Fili pino. Their actions since the Americans have occupied Manila have demonstrated clearly this fact. Under the pretence of collecting subscriptions to the insurgent cause a regular system of blackmail has been practised. Men apparently authorised by the sub-chiefs to make levies have gone among the native residents of the city and enforced contributions. It is probable that not much of this money reached the insurgent treasury, the larger part of it being divided among the sub-chiefs. The natives living in the outskirts of the city have been sub jected almost daily to the demands of small bands of marauders whose sole object apparently was loot, for that is about all it amounts to. In several cases the Ameri- 328 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC cans have caught the freebooters once or twice redhanded, and if the business is not stopped speedily there will be some severe punishment of the offenders. Still another demonstration of the inability of Agui naldo to achieve self-government and maintain it is found in the fact that even in his own camp there is difference of opinion. It is a common assertion that every Filipino is an insurgent by nature and from desire. No doubt that is true as it stands. But not every Filipino is an Aguinaldo man, and recent developments have made the situation more difficult for the young chief. The more impetuous and hot-headed araong thera are chafing under the restraint imposed upon them by the American oc cupation of the city, and particularly by the regulations which forbid them entrance into the city in force or with their arms. Their hearts were set on marching into the city with their army when the Spanish flag carae do^wn. So, indeed, was Aguinaldo's and his longing for a Roman triumph led him to ask General Merritt for permission to take his men in behind the American soldiers. The re quest was ignored and Aguinaldo cloaked his disappoint ment as best he could and made a show of restraining his men. This gave rise to suspicion of his motives, among some of his leaders. Now there is undoubtedly divided loyalty among the chiefs, and great differences of opinion exist among them. There are among his subordinates men who are dishonest and unworthy of trust. Some of them have conducted themselves in such a manner as to cast great discredit on the insurgents. Aguinaldo knows this, but either he is powerless to prevent it or he is afraid to make the effort for fear of open insubordination, which amounts to the same thing. He is making a serious effort to stop the petty maraud ing, blackmail and lawlessness in the suburbs and out skirts of the city, and at the same time he is making a politic appeal for support to some of the influential Fili pinos in the city who have not heretofore been affiliated with his cause. Under the Spanish adrainistration the city was divided into districts, administered by officials under the title of " little governors." These districts are subdivided into barrios, at the head of whicii were sub- chiefs, their principal business being the collection of taxes. Now Aguinaldo has appointed a comraittee of DREAMS OF THE FILIPINO CHIEF 329 thirty substantial and well-respected Filipinos in the city, called a " Junta Directiva,"to look ont for the general welfare of the insurgent cause in Manila. This Junta has appointed a sub-committee for each district, which shall have charge of the collection of funds voluntarily subscribed to the insurgent cause. Each sub-committee authorises an agent in each barrio to make the collections, and Aguinaldo hopes by the establishment of these author ised and responsible collection agencies to put an end to the plundering by the lawless. He is fairly well supplied with funds at present. He is credited with having about $500,000, silver, all told. These are public funds, and he is using them for the public uses, as the insurgents see them. The insurgents have a cartridge factory, which employs 400 persons. In the face of all obstacles Aguinaldo still persists and dreams great dreams of power and place, fondly believing that they are within his grasp. To the open-minded American, wanting only a fair, complete, unbiased view of the situation in order to make np his raind as to the retention of these islands by the United States or the sur render of them to the Filipinos, how does the picture appeal ? Does it show the ability for self-government or does it not ? Por the men here who are familiar with the situation on the spot there is only one answer. Fili pino self-government, to paraphrase the pyrotechnic ex-statesman from Kansas, "is an iridescent dream." Pew even of the Junta here are favourable to the effort for self-government. The more honest, unprejudiced, and fair-minded Spaniards of the commercial class, who have not profited by officialism, the most influential, wealthiest, and best educated Filipinos, and the Britishers to a man, they who control the largest financial and busi ness enterprises and have the largest interests at stake, are praying that the Americans will hold the country, and that the Stars and Stripes will float over the Luneta, as Dewey hopes, " forever, forever." These are the perplexities which beset Aguinaldo and the facts which will operate against the realisation of his dream. There is another side of the picture, or rather, in stricter truth, another picture of the Pilipinos — that which shows their successes in the field. Since he landed in Cavite, in the third week in May, Aguinaldo has done 330 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC some wonderful things. It is true that at the start most of his successes were obtained by the desertion of his people from the foolish Spaniards, who deluded them selves into the belief that the voluntarios would be loyal to the death. By the steady process of desertion Agui naldo chased the Spanish line nearly fifteen miles in what was practically one day. But now it is more like fight ing. Success comes slowly, yet it keeps on coming to the insurgent arms. It is practically irapossible to estimate the number of insurgents under arms in the vicinity of Manila. There is no effective organisation of the army. No Captain knows how raany men exactly he has in his comraand, and it is doubtful if he has the sarae number or indeed the same men two days in succession. When a Filipino gets tired of staying at home he takes his gun and goes to the front. When he gets tired of staying at the front, he takes his gun and goes home. That's all there is of it. But in a general way the officers know what men are in the country and who have gnns. To add to the general difficulties of enumeration the raen are being sent con tinually to other provinces to aid in the fighting against the Spanish garrisons which still hold out. Besides this, many of the fighting men have followed Aguinaldo's advice, taken a rest from active warfare now, and gone to planting rice against the time when warfare shall become likely again and there will be no time to wait for crops to fill hungry bellies. The most accurate estimate of the insurgent forces around Manila must be based upon the number of arms known to be in the possession of Aguinaldo, and even that makes use of other estimates, which are really little better than guesses. The principal source of supply from which Aguinaldo drew to arm his men was the Spaniards themselves. They armed and equipped abont 12,000 natives, who, when the time came, went over by companies and regi ments to the insurgents, taking guns and equipment with them. Next in point of numbers came the Spanish prisoners captured with arms in their hands, and the arms the Spanish left in places which they abandoned to the insurgents. These guns number about 8,000. When the rebellion began there were in the hands of the Fili pinos about 15,000 guns. They got from the arsenal in DREAMS OF THE FILIPINO CHIEF 33 1 Cavite about 500 more and they bought from a firm of " gentlemen adventurers," who managed to deliver the goods, 2,000 more. In all they have had nearly 40,000 guns. It is probable that the Spanish got back a few thousand of these by the old successful method of bribery, apparently the best weapon for offensive warfare a Span iard knows. They offered amnesty and $50 to each in surgent who surrendered himself and his gun, and the loyal followers of Aguinaldo held themselves cheap at fifty 'dobe dollars. This is the estimate of an army officer, who has made special investigation of the subject. In several particulars it is very liberal. The insurgents have claimed 6,000 prisoners at the most. They got 500 rifles from the arsenal at Cavite and 500 more from the Spaniards taken at Isla de Grande in Subig Bay. It is doubtful if now the insurgents have more than 30,000 rifies. They are of several makes, principally Mansers and Remingtons. They have been most abominably misused, and undoubtedly have lost largely in effective ness. But armed as they are and with such ammunition as they could get, Aguinaldo's men have pushed a vigor ous campaign. Aguinaldo is preparing to transfer his headquarters from Bakor to Malolos, on the railroad about half an hour north of the city. This is a good strategetical move. Bakor is between the American forces at Manila on the north and Cavite on the south, with the La- guna behind him. A sharp, swift advance from both points at once would crumple him up between the two forces, or send him scurrying into the mountains behind Imus. In the north, however, he takes no such risk, and there is plenty of country behind him easy of access for his men, but extremely difficult for our soldiers to traverse. At the time Aguinaldo proclaimed his republic and appointed his Cabinet he left vacant the office of Secre tary of State, announcing that it was reserved for " the man who should be deemed most fit " for its difficult duties. He had in mind at the time, and still has, Cayetano S. Arellano, who has the reputation of being a clever lawyer and the best man among the native popula tion, fie is believed to be in favour of the annexation of the Philippines to the United States, and has declared his belief that his people are not sufficiently advanced to 332 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC be able to govern theraselves. He has been in Pagsanjan during the present rebellion, and although Aguinaldo has sent for him several tiraes he has always returned an excuse and stayed away. His best excuse was that he could not get through Santa Cruz, but now that the Spanish there have surrendered, that excuse has lost its force, and he probably will come in. Por Secretary of the Interior Aguinaldo appointed Leandro Ibarra, a lawyer who is considered generally an honest man. The Secretary of War is Baldomero Aguinaldo, first consin of the insurgent leader. He was once a school master and is always a conceited ass. Mariano Trias, the Secretary of the Treasury, is one of those wooden-headed raen of whom the best that his friends can say is that he is " an honest fellow who means well." Among the people he probably stands next to Aguinaldo himself in popularity. He was Vice-President of the insurgent Government in the last rebellion. Among the commanders. Generals and subordinate officials Aguinaldo has some able, honest raen and some scoundrels. Brigadier-General Pio del Pilar, who is in command of one of the zones adjacent to ¦the city of Manila, is regarded as one of the biggest of the scoun drels. He is instigating or winking at a series of crimes in the outskirts of the city which will bring him into the hands of the Americans before very long, and there he will get short shrift. Aguinaldo knows him and a shrewd guesser would say that the insurgent leader would not be sorry if Pio del Pilar ended his existence before a file of Araerican rifles. Sandico is just the opposite of Del Pilar. He is one of the cleverest of the Filipino leaders, and is an upright, honourable man, with a clear understanding of the limita tions of his people and of the circumstances and difficulties which surround their struggle for liberty. One of the cleverest men associated with Aguinaldo is his secretary and interpreter, Escamilla. He is an ac complished linguist, speaks Spanish fluently, English very well, and Latin and French, besides the native dialects. He is also a musician, and gave piano lessons in Hong Kong before the rebellion began. Aguinaldo's navy of two or three steamers, including DREAMS OF THE FILIPINO CHIEF 333 the Pilipinas, whose crew murdered their Spanish officers, is commanded by Estefan de la Rama, who carries the title of Commandante de Marina. He is educated, rich and has a reputation for honesty and ability. Among his councillors Aguinaldo has some good men. It is reported here that Don Felipe Agoncillo is to be one of Aguinaldo's emissaries before the Paris Coramission, that is, if Aguinaldo's men get a hearing. Agoncillo has been the insurgent agent in Hong Kong. He is a lawyer and clever. Among his generals Aguinaldo has most any kind of a man you want. The ranking officer is Riego de Dios, who is a Lieutenant-General. He is the Military Gov ernor of Cavite, and would be of more service, perhaps, if he were better educated, which is his misfortune rather than his fault. At least he is reputed to be honest. Major-General Ricati, who has command of the zone south of Manila, is another "means well." Pante- leon Garcia, who is in command of the operations to the north of the city, is not very well educated, but is honest. Besides these there are a lot of other Generals. Noriel, a bullet-headed, good-humoured young man, of whom I have -written at length before, likes a cockfight and a good square meal and has both. Also he has won the reputa tion of being a good soldier. Estrella, who commands the forces in Cavite, has a reputation for honesty if not for ability, which is about all that can be said of Mas- cardo. Young Gregorio del Pilar has a good education and is honest, but he has a lot to learn about the art and science of war. Of the lesser lights none perhaps has come more fre quently into contact with the Americans than Colonel Montenegro, who was once a clerk in a hotel in Manila, where he learned his "honesty" and also picked up English. Most of Aguinaldo's Adjutants are young and clever fellows, who belong to the best Filipino families. They are usually active, alert and well educated. Par ticularly is this true of Arevela and Guzman, both of whom are on Noriel's staff and had considerable to do with the Americans when they were in Camp Dewey, near Paraiiaque, where Noriel has his headquarters. Arevela got his education largely from an American and is very friendly to us, as is Noriel. 334 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC CHAPTER XLIX A FILIPINO NABOTH Manila, Sept. 10. — The occupation of Manila on August 13 was not so complete or so effective as it might have been if the elaborate and well-digested plans of the movement had been fully carried out. This has been suggested, I am sure, in the descriptions of the event which will have been published long before this letter reaches you. But the situation here is now so critical that whatever may be the outcome of the present troubles a frank statement of the causes which led up to them will be, perhaps, of some interest even long after quiet has been restored to this town and province. The memorandum of verbal in structions given the general officers at Camp Dewey just before the assault on the Spanish works south of Manila contains certain instructions which show the intentions of the comraand ing General to fulfil the implied promise to the Spaniards that the insurgents would not be permitted to advance into the suburbs of the town. General Mac- Arthur, who commanded the First Brigade and held the right of the line, was directed, in case he was able to pass the enemy's works, to leave a force in the trenches in structed to prevent any armed bodies other than American troops from crossing the trenches in the direction of Ma nila. He was further ordered to hold certain bridges in the suburbs over which the insurgents would have to pass if they succeeded in escaping the vigilance of the troops left to guard the Spanish works. General Greene's brigade was on the left of the line from the seashore to an im passable swamp on the east side of which was the First Brigade. The instructions given to General Greene con cerning the occupation of the Spanish trenches were the sarae as those received by General MacArthur, and he was further ordered to advance through Malate and Ermita, the suburbs south of the walled town, and to cross the Pasig and occupy the suburbs on the north side of the river, leav ing MacArthur to take possession of the southern suburbs and to relieve the guard in the trenches by detachments of his own troops. The advance which was to follow the bombardment by the fleet and by the fleld guns on the trenches was carried ont by the Second Brigade as planned, A FILIPINO NABOTH 335 without any serious losses, but the First Brigade met with stubborn resistance at the strongest point of the Spanish works, blockhouses 13 and 14, and did not succeed in driving out the enemy until long after the Second Brigade had pushed on through Malate and Ermita and had ceased aggressive operations on account of the display of a white flag on the walls of the old town. MacArthur not being able to move np so as to keep in touch with Greene, an opening was left in some way so a large force of insurgents pushed through unchecked, and, with an effrontery that was scarcely to be expected even of the natives, they marched into Malate and established a large post in a building on the seashore, fairly cutting in two the First Brigade. One can scarcely understand how these armed bands were to be kept out as the orders directed, unless force could be used, and yet the injunctions were not to use force or, at least to use force only as the last resort. The occupation of positions within our own lines would seem to be an act which might call for the use of a leaden argument, bnt there was not, so far as I have been able to learn, so ranch as a protest against this action. In other parts of the circle of Spanish defences their game was played much easier. That portion of their forces on the south which did not come into Manila was moved around to attack the Spaniards on the east, and shortly after the preliminary articles of capitulation were signed General Merritt began to receive despatches from various Spanish commanders, saying they could not hold out against the insurgents much longer unless they had reinforcements. I raust reiterate here that the Spaniards, ¦who have a great fear of the insurgents on account of their savage raania for revenge and their love of plunder, believed that the Americans were bound to keep the rebels out of the town that is, outside the line of works. This, it will be remembered, was the original intention and for all that is known to the contrary, was a stipulation tacitly granted to the Spaniards, if not ac tually guaranteed them. In reply to the calls for reinforcements. General Merritt sent word to the Span iards at the outworks on the east and north to retire and come into the walled town to lay down their arms, and he, at the same time, declined to send out any American troops to take their places. Thus there were many roads left open 336 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC to the insurgents to raove up into the suburbs without let or hindrance. This they proceeded to do with great alacrity, and in a few hours they were swarming around the town in all directions and pushed up to the very out post on the streets of the northern suburbs and down to within a few hundred yards of the Governor-General's palace at Malacaflan, where General Merritt took up his official residence. Then, having gained a great step toward sharing the occupation of the town and holding the water-works and all the Spanish lines except the fort on the beach which the fleet bombarded, to give weight to his claims, Aguinaldo made the ten demands described in a pre vious letter. The most extraordinary demands were that the Governor-General's palace at Malacaflan and the Archbishops' palaces in the southern suburbs should be turned over to the use of Aguinaldo and his officers, and further, that an equitable share of the booty captured in Manila should be handed over to him. These items, innocently persisted upon in every communication of the many which the young dictator wrote General Merritt, indicate better than columns of explanations and descrip tions of personal character the turn of mind of this bump tious and vain individual who has now gone so far as to en courage openly the belief among his troops that he is a ruler by divine right, that he has a charmed life, that at times his glory shines with too brilliant a light to be looked upon by mortal eyes. Tlie superstitious natives carry in their mouths when they go into action slips of parchment with their God-like leader's name written on them, assured that this charm will preserve their lives. For several days after the occupation of the town there was no water to be had except rain water, which was caught in the cisterns and iu other receptacles. Fortu nately it rained frequently at this time, else there wonld have been a water famine. General Merritt took no steps to get possession of the pumping station, which is about five miles from the town, nor did he even go so far as to occupy the filtering reservoirs, which are within the old Spanish lines. But instead of seizing these important points he wrote Aguinaldo asking him to start the pumps. In reply he was assured that orders would be given to that effect, but three days passed and nothing was done. A FILIPINO NABOTH 337 Finally, on the morning of the fourth day, the weather becoming settled and the rainwater getting low, two companies of the Colorado regiment were sent out under command of an engineer officer to occupy the pumping station and the reservoir. Arrived within half a mile or so of the latter, they were met by a force of insurgents who had advanced during the negotiations about the water-works much nearer our lines, and they were told that Aguinaldo had ordered them to stop any foreigners from going up to the pumping station. General Merritt, in reply to a request for positive directions for action in case the insurgents should resist the proposed occupation, had given only indefinite instructions which might be inter preted by a man of military instinct as encouragement to carry out orders at any cost. Therefore the officer commanding the small detach ment was preparing to force his way past the insurgents when an orderly galloped up bearing an order from head quarters to retire if the insurgents opposed the advance. So the little force, full of fight and feeling keenly the humiliation of the position marched back again, and the insurgents still hold the water-works and at their own sweet will permit the pumps to be run and the necessary material and workmen to be moved through their lines. Encouraged by the inertia of the Americans, Aguinaldo lost no time in crowding forward on all sides until he occupied fourteen blockhouses, every part of the Spanish trenches except a few yards adjoining the Port San Antonio de Abad on the beach, the suburbs of Santa Ana and Paco and a large area in the heart of Malate which completes their circle of occupation from the waterfront on the south to the bay on the north of the town, thus completely investing the American lines and holding strongly intrenched positions around them, except in the one place above spoken of. An indication of the situa tion, which it must be confessed, is the most extraordi nary and unmilitary position imaginable, is best given by showing how confused is the occupation in the immediate vicinity of the official residences. If an officer of General Merritt's staff wished to drive to the Manila Club in Malate he had to pass through a mile or more of insur gent territory where they were often actively engaged in collecting tolls from the peasants and searching every one 338 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC who passed, except foreigners of course. After passing this zone, the road was held by our troops. If he wrote a cable despatch at the club and wished to send it off he had to pass ont of our lines, through the insurgent zone and almost up to our lines again, to flnd the cable office. The insurgents did not interfere with his trip, but they were very strict about passing a Spaniard, and for a long time would let no supplies be carried to the cable station. Further, they kidnapped several Spaniards on the way to the cable office, a proceeding which has so terrorised the others that they seldom venture, even at this late date, to go out there, except in the company of an Englishman or an American. This was exactly the state of affairs when General Mer ritt left. He had temporised with Aguinaldo, and had so far recognised him as a belligerent that he had consented to grant him certain concessions, and without saying as much, he had apparently led him to believe that he could get all he persistently claimed. Aguinaldo's letters be came less and less courteous, and the last one, written on August 27, was absolutely unprecedented in its dictatorial statements. General Merritt did not reply to this, bnt left it to his successor to deal with the situation as his judgment directed. The departure of Generals Merritt, iBabcock and Greene on the 30th, with several staff officers left various offices in the military government without incumbents, and there was a general turn-over in the different departments. General Otis found, theref ore,that he had not only to begin work all over again, but had to struggle with the confusion which naturally resulted from the brief occupancy of office by those who suddenly went away. Although he is an extraordinarily active man and a tireless worker General Otis was absolutely unable to take up the insurgent question until the last week, and then ho settled it beyond the possibility of any further controversy of words. In terse and direct language he replied to Aguinaldo's claims, proved beyond argument that they had no equitable foundation, and then gave him an authoritative notice to withdraw his armed forces from the suburbs of Manila before the 15th or suffer the consequences. The notice was given in very nearly these words : " It only rem;uns for mo, therefore, to notify you that my instructions compel me to demand that your A FILIPINO NABOTH 339 armed forces evacuate the entire city of Manila and its suburbs, and that I shall be obliged to take action to that end within a very short time if you refuse to comply with my Government's demands, and I hereby serve notice upon you that unless yon remove your troops from the city ol Manila and the line of its suburbs before the 15th of September, I shall take forcible action, and my Gov ernment will hold you responsible for any unfortunate consequences which may ensue." It is only proper to add that Admiral Dewey fully agreed with the terms of this ultimatum, and that word was sent Aguinaldo to this effect. There have been, as might be expected, continual irritating disturbances between the insurgents and our troops. In a brawl at Cavite, a few days ago, one of our men was killed anc^ another was dangerously wounded. Marauding insurgents, bearing passes from General Pilar, who commands the district to the east of Manila, have on one or two occasions been shot by our men because they refused to halt when they were running away to avoid arrest. But no serious conflicts have yet taken place, a fact which bears testimony to the remarkable patience and self-control of our troops, who are often subjected to considerable humiliation at the hands of the insurgent officers. Aguinaldo has moved his headquarters up to Malolos, about twenty miles north of the tov\»n, and on the day of his arrival there the ultimatum was handed hira. His conceit was apparently not darapened by the prospect suggested in General Otis's letter, and he cele brated quite a triumph at Malolos with music and a ban quet and barbaric pageantry. The chief reason for mov ing his headquarters up to the north is probably because he finds it difficult to contrcl the different factions frora a distance. Further, he has the railway line, occupies ex cellent strategic positions, and is an easy distance of the insurgent stronghold at Viacnabato, where the Spaniards sued for peace last December and bought Aguinaldo off with the promise of reforms, accompanied by a douceur of cash. The Indian nature is not strong enough to endure suc cess, and the temporary position of importance to which the insurgents have been raised by the help ol our fleet and army has been too ranch for them, and they are quite 340 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC off their balance now. No one can tell how serious the disaffection of their leaders may be, or how widespread is the jealousy and distrust of Aguinaldo. Scarcely any one has now a good word to say for him, although he still keeps his organisation together. He is pursuing the fight with the Spaniards with unflagging activity, and scarcely a day passes that his forces do not capture men and arms at some remote Spanish post. The whole of the island of Luzon, except Manila and Cavit§, is now in his possession, and he has men and ^steamers enough to carry the campaign into Panay and capture Iloilo, which he will probably do soon unless diverted from his purpose by the situation at Manila. It is a curious fact that although he professes to desire to be recognised as an ally of the Americans and dilates on his friendly sentiments in al most every one of his effusive conversations, he did not call upon General Merritt, nor has he yet presented him self to General Otis. Before General Merritt's arrival he was approachable and communicative, but since the troops landed he has been a frequent sufferer from convenient illness and has acquired the habit of taking a great deal of sleep, in which he must not be disturbed. CHAPTER L FORESHADOWING THE END Manila, Sept. 12. — A very narrow line for the last few days has seemed to separate us from war with the insur gents. Many of ns have warm personal friends araong them. Nearly all of our friends recognise the grave pos sibilities of the situation. They have done all within their power to avert a clash. Now it seems probable that for the present, at least, they will succeed, but ultimately a clash is almost inevitable. When war is impersonal and you do not know, perhaps never have seen your enemy, when you have heard and believe all sorts of stories of his faithlessness, brutality and dishonour, then the pomp and glamour of it affect you. You can idealise it away from the sordidness, from the misery, the suffering and the hardship and you can go out with light heart and stout determination, strong in the fixed conviction of the righteousness of your FORESHADOWING THE END 341 cause. But when you fight men you know and esteem, men who are your friends, who represent a people whom you know to possess many lovable traits of character and who you know desire nothing so much as to be on terras of peaceful friendship with you, it gives you a sinking of the heart and it fills you with rage at the unskilful or careless management which has produced out of a situation possible of such satisfactory development only a tangle the sole solution of which is the arbitrament of armed force. I believe that conflict between the Americans and in surgents in the Philippines is absolutely needless and criminal. I believe that a personal meeting between the leaders of both sides, a full, frank discussion of the ques tions at issue, and a clear understanding of all sides of the situation, such as would result frora such a discussion, would remove the acute danger, and settle the trouble satisfactorily. But that possibility is only a dream. Things have gone too far. The Americans have taken a position and made a stand. They cannot recede, and the man who cannot understand how he is in the wrong must take the punishment for believing hiraself right. It was in the beginning that the Americans were ¦wrong, and there their fault lay principally in a lack of candour, that is, to a lack of complete candour on the part of the array officers. The beginning of it all goes clear back to Hong Kong, where the original negotiations were held with Aguinaldo in May. Williams and Wildman, the Consuls at Manila and Hong Kong, did the talking for the Americans. Williams says that it was understood distinctly that Aguinaldo was to corae down here and be permitted to land at Cavite and conduct his operations practically under the sheltering wing of Admiral Dewey, only on condition that he should be subject at all times to American control. Aguinaldo has not acted in conformity to this condition and the Americans probably are respon sible for letting him get out of bounds. The first slip on the American side, which gave Aguinaldo the opening through which to escape that condition, after it had be come irksome, was made on July 5, when this speech was made to Aguinaldo by General Anderson : " The United States have been a great nation for 122 years and have neither had nor desired a colony. I leave you to draw your own inference." 342 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC For Aguinaldo that was a distinct recession from the original condition, fiis own inference, of course, would be the one that best suited his desires and best fitted his situation. Undoubtedly that inference was that the United States had interfered in the Philippines on behalf of the rebels, and meant in the end that they should profit by the American victories. Moreover, the statement of General Anderson was equivocal and one which he had no right to make. Discussion of the intentions of his Govern ment was beyond the limits of his authority. He was here simply as a soldier to carry out specific instructions, beyond which he had no right to go. Those instructions contemplated neither action against Manila on his part nor negotiations of such character with Aguinaldo. But if he had been entirely within his instructions in thus talking to the insurgent chief, it was unfortunate that he should not have been candid enough to say frankly that not even in America was it known at that time what the United States would do ultimately with the Philippines. He knew that there was a tremendous and growing senti ment in favour of holding them, and that there was lively and powerful opposition to that policy. It would have been far better to say so frankly and openly than to make a speech from whicii Aguinaldo could justly take the im pression that the operations here would be for his benefit. Por that matter, it would have been far better for all concerned if long ago some one here had been authorised officially to explain the American position of uncertainty to Aguinaldo. Consul Williams did go to Aguinaldo and tell him exactly and plainly the status of the question in the United States. But he was compelled to go unoffi cially and simply as a friend of the insurgent chief, and Aguinaldo chose to take his warning and advice as the opinion of one man far from the scene of the controversy, imperfectly informed of the real situation and acting for himself only, without the authority of his governraent. We know that this was a mistake on Aguinaldo's part, but there can be no question that he was within his rights in so taking Mr. Williams's talk, and he cannot be con demned for it. Soon after that unlucky speech of Anderson the fric tion began. In the correspondence which went on be tween Anderson and Aguinaldo, the young insurgent FORESHADOWING THE END 343 leader took clever advantage of every opening the Amer ican General gave him. fie succeeded in establishing himself on the plane of negotiating with an equal, and entirely broke away from the irksome bonds of the condi tion on which he was brought down from Hong Kong in an American ship, that his actions always should be sub ject to the control of the Americans. Also he contrived to make it seem that the Americans were forcing him to appear in a false light ; that is, as if he were doing under their compulsion things in the way of rendering them assistance which he was in reality willing and glad to do. This may have helped him with his own people, but it gave rise to or increased American suspicions of his actions and motives, and there certainly arose from it the feeling of resentment and indignation among the Amer ican soldiers which has reached such an intensity now that a great majority of the men are eager for a fight with the insurgents. The contact of the men in Camp Dewey with the Fili pinos about them did not help matters. The Americans did not understand the natives' language, customs or beliefs. They called the natives " niggers " and treated them as such. They were high-handed, abrupt and often unjust. Naturally this produced resentment on the part of the natives and increased the misunderstanding. The natives overcharged the soldiers for their work and wares and this produced resentment among the Americans. But all that would have been purely temporary and soon effaced if other matters had not led to the present acute stage of the affair. As it is, it has produced a false spirit among our men, and even among some of our officers, whicii will render more difficult a settlement after a conflict. General Greene came, blunt, aggressive, forceful, with no particular admiration for the natives or consideration of their views or feelings. His style of diplomacy is mod elled on the sledge-hammer principle, and that is a prin ciple which the Filipino does not understand. If you attempt to drive the Filipino he usually sits down and refuses to budge. He has more patience than a mountain and will wear you out every time. But he can be led like a child. In this hit-and-miss fashion, without clear understand ing on our part of the people with whom we were dealing. 344 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC and apparently without very much concern for the pos sible results, matters moved along until General Merritt came. General Merritt probably had less genuine interest in affairs down here than any other officer of the entire expedition. His heart was in America and his desire was to take the rest of himself there after it. Aguinaldo did not call on him. General Merritt was piqued, and some how the impression spread from the Newport that he had refused to see Aguinaldo or have any communication with hira. Matters went from bad to worse until the surrender of the city was arranged, and then began the last stage of the difficulty. Meantime our officers had been going about the city reconnoitring and raaking raaps of the Spanish positions and of the country about the city. Everywhere the in surgents had been raost friendly to them and had ren dered them raost valuable assistance. They had entertained our officers with simple, genuine hospitality, which never failed to produce the best it could supply, and they had hesitated at no trouble or labour or expenditure of time in doing what the Americans wanted. The officers who made these expeditions and met these people in their horaes and learned to know them for themselves are now their friends. They are the ones who best understand the situation, and they are the ones who are most regret ful that a conflict is among the possibilities. On the day before the surrender of Manila, after Gen eral Merritt had issued the order arranging the disposi tion of his troops for the attack on the city, and relegat ing Anderson, the ranking officer after himself, to the command of the reserve, he ordered Anderson to prevent the entrance of the insurgents into the city. Previous to this Aguinaldo had expressed the desire to march his troops into the city. He wanted a sort of Roraan triumph. This request had been conveyed to General Merritt and ignored. Now it was answered by the order to Anderson. Anderson at once telegraphed to Aguinaldo at Bakor that the insurgents raust not advance on the next day, and that it would be irapossible for the Araericans to permit them to enter the city. That night Aguinaldo replied with a laconic message consisting of only two words, " Too late." He had made his arrangements for participating in the attack and had FORESHADOWING THE END 345 issued his orders. He would not rescind them at that late date. The insurgents, from his point of view at least, had been co-operating with the Americans in the operations against Manila. They had acted as our allies, whether they were recognised as such or not. They had completely outgrown the terms of the original compact in Hong Kong. They had chased the Spaniards from Cavite Viejo to Manila, had invested the city completely, had shut off supplies from the country and now demanded a share in the reward. Readers of these letters know what happened on the day of the fall of Manila. They will remember how the insurgents hurried along, sometimes behind our men, sometimes beside them, by footpaths and trails that par- ralleled the main roads taken by the Americans, and in a few cases ahead of Uncle Sam's soldiers. In , pite of our efforts several hundred of them got into the suburbs. They took possession of private houses and established guards in front. They looted a few houses, smashing open the safe of a Spanish official who lived in Ermita and taking $7,000 out of it. They occupied several public buildings, convents and barracks and got several good positions. In the evening a few hundreds of them were rounded up by our men. Three companies were dis armed. Some were forced back out of the city and about a thousand were surrounded and held in Malate, after ward being sent back outside our lines. Next morning there was trouble. General Merritt sent word to get the insurgents out of the city at once. Gen eral Anderson asked whether he was authorised to use force or not. The staff officer -who brought the message from General Merritt did not know, and so without speci- flc instructions to go at them with his troops, Anderson telegraphed Aguinaldo to withdraw his men at once. Then the clever young insurgent chief got in his best stroke in the whole game, fie replied that he had sent commissioners to General Anderson to discuss the matter with him and lay sorae propositions before hira, and Ander son fell into the trap. He received the commissioners and heard their propositions. Then the matter became one of discussion and diplomacy and not one of action. Aguinaldo had got his hold and for the time being, at least, would keep it. The young man at Bakor was ap- 346 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC parently familiar with the story of Naboth. The proposi tions which Aguinaldo's commissioners made were ten in number, and some of them were most astounding. They provided : 1. That the insurgents would retire to a line running from Malate to Paco, thence down the Paco Creek to the Pasig, up the Pasig to the bridge of Aviles, along the Calle a Aviles to Santa Mesa, thence through Sampaloe, San Lazaro and Tondo, to the beach at the north. This would have given them Malate and Paco and important positions on the east and north of the city. 3. That the Filipinos should retain certain convents in Malate, Paco and the northern suburbs, and should have the Palace of the Captain-General in Malacaflan. 3. That the Filipinos should have the free navigation of the Pasig for their vessels and the " protection of the Patria." No body knows what the Patria is, or has been able to find out, but subsequent negotiations showed that it had something to do with our protection of their ships in all waters under our control. 4. That the Filipinos share in the booty of war. 5. That the civil offices be filled entirely by North Americans. If General Merritt desired to appoint Filipinos to any such places, Aguinaldo suggested through the commissioners that he would be glad to consult General Merritt about such appointments and to recommend men for them whom he knew to be fit for the places. 6. That the Filipinos should retain control of the reservoir and pumping station of the water-works. 7. That the Filipino officers should be permitted to enter the city at all times wearing their side arms. 8. That the arms taken from the Filipinos on the night of August 13 should be returned. 9. That the American troops should retire within the lines pro posed by Aguinaldo, and should not pass beyond those lines with arms. 10. That all regulations should be in writing, and to be bind ing should be confirmed by the Commanders-in-Chief of the two forces. The last nine of these demands were the condition precedent which the modest young ?.Ir. Aguinaldo, who had come down here subject to American control, made to the withdrawal of his forces to the line specifled in the flrst proposition. To put it mildly General Anderson was surprised. He held the notions to whicii the Ameri cans have clung ever since with considerable pertinacity, that the city had been surrendered to our forces and that only the Araericans were responsible for the protection of life and property within its limits. The insurgents had not been mentioned in the articles of capitulation, and FORESHADOWING THE END 347 General Anderson did not contemplate the sharing with them of the responsibility devolved upon his Government by that capitulation, fie replied to the commissioners that he had a condition precedent to make — just one. It ¦was that the insurgent troops should retire at once to the line which he would draw before there should be any fur ther negotiations. His line ran from the Bocano de Vistas to San Lazaro, Cemeterio de Sampaloe, Block house 5, Blockhouse 6, the Depot des Aguas Patables, the Spanish works beyond San Juan del Monte, thence in a straight line to San Pedro Macati, thence in a straight line to Blockhouse 14, on the Pinda road, thence in a straight line to the beach at Maytubig south of the pol- vorin at Malate. But the mistake had been made in listening at all to the insurgent proposals. Anderson's conditions of withdrawal to the line he specifled should have been precedent to the original reception of the pro posals, and not to further discussion of thera. The commissioners promptly showed this by appealing to Caesar. Anderson felt that he was compelled to admit the appeal, and to Csesar they went. American General and insurgent commissioners together. General Merritt was busy, but this was rather a matter of importance. He heard the insurgent propositions, and then a peculiar thing happened. Anderson had been told that he was to take sole charge of the negotiations with Aguinaldo. Now Merritt asked the commissioners for time in which to consider the propositions they had made and promised an answer later, but with reasonable dis patch. He left Anderson waiting at headquarters and went out to consult Admiral Dewey. In the meantime the insurgents not only did not withdraw, but they followed the example of Naboth and strengthened themselves where they were. Merritt came back from his consultation ¦with Dewey and told Anderson to go to Cavite and stay there in charge of the detached command to which his rank entitled him. Anderson has been there ever since, pondering mightily. He knows that something dropped, but what it was and where it fell he has not yet deter mined. Then Merritt set himself to the task of replying to the insurgent proposals. Having taken the palace at Malacaflan for his own use, he declined to move out for 348 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC Aguinaldo's comfort. The convents having been surren dered to the Americans -with the rest of the city and the Americans being bound by the terms of the capitulation to protect private property, he demanded that the insur gents get out of them and withdraw from the jurisdictional limits of the city. The Americans being solely responsi ble for the protection of life and property, could not agree to the joint occupation of the city proposed by Aguinaldo. "Protection ofthe Patria " General Merritt did not understand, but all questions as to navigation he referred to Admiral Dewey. Booty of war not being recognised by the Americans, they could not share it with the Filipinos. He was grateful to Aguinaldo for his proffer of assistance in flUing the civil offices -with suitable men and would remember it. The Pilipinos having cap tured the water-works without American assistance, it was proper that they should retain control of them, but it was necessary for the welfare and comfort of the Americans that the water should be turned on at once, and he asked that this be done. Permission having been given Spanish officers by the terms of capitulation to wear their side arms, it was extended also to the Fijpino officers, but it was suggested that in order to promote peace and good order they leave their revolvers at home. The arms captured from the Pilipinos wonld be returned when the troops ¦withdrew from the city. That was the only condi tion precedent Merritt made, fie ignored the tenth pro posal formally, but by writing his own reply tacitly agreed to it. This communication from General Merritt to Aguinaldo was delayed two or three days, and in the meantime the insurgents held on in the city and bettered their position. More men managed to get in with arms in spite of the precautions taken by the Americans, and the situation from our point of view grew worse rather than better. In response to Merritt's letter Aguinaldo sent three prop ositions, his former long list having been cut do"wn by Merritt's concessions. These three propositions were a demand for the original line proposed by his Commission ers, the protection of his vessels by the vessels of our navy in waters controlled by the Americans and the assurance from Merritt that in case the Americans should return tbp city to Spain as the result of the work of the Paris, FORESHADOWING THE END 349 Commission, the insurgents would be left in possession of all they now hold. General Merritt left for Paris without answering this let ter, and General Otis picked up his inheritance of trouble. fie had to go over the whole correspondence from the beginning and to pick up all the threads and ends of the situation as best he could. He sent word at once to Agui naldo that it would take some time for him to familiarise himself sufficiently with the matter to answer the last letter intelligently. Aguinaldo didn't care, of course. It gave him more time to occupy the places he held in the city without conflict, and the longer he held on that way the better his position grew. There were constant accessions to his strength in the city, his principal hold ings being in Tondo, Paco, Sampaloe, Ermita and Malat6. Every one of the flve principal roads leading from the city is occupied by his forces at some point or other, and there are several barracks, convents and schools in which his men are quartered and over which his flag flies undis turbed. All told, he has between 3,000 and 4,000 men in the limits of the territory surrendered by Jaudenes to Merritt. General Otis made as careful and exhaustive a study of the whole situation as a man could who had not been a participant in the earlier proceedings. The dominant fact, of course, is the legal impossibility of the Americans permitting the existing situation to continue. We can not divide the responsibility and we cannot share occupa tion with a people for whom we cannot undertake to be responsible. We are bound absolutely by the terms of the capitulation, and whether that was wise or not has nothing to do now with our actions. If it was a mistake, we must abide by the consequences. Not the less must we insist upon our rights under it, and obtain them by force if necessary. All this General Otis wrote to Aguinaldo in a long letter, which was a clear concise review of the whole situation, and made a careful suraraing up of the opera tions of the Americans and the insurgents against Manila. General Otis ascribed full praise and credit to the insur gents for their work, but he added that we could not for get the help the Americans had given Aguinaldo, or how impossible it would have been for him to achieve anything like the measure of success that had been his had it not 350 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC been for the American fleet, which not only destroyed the Spanish war-ships, which could always have prevented Aguinaldo from capturing Manila, but had prevented the sending of reinforcements of men and ships to the be leaguered city. He added that when provoked to conflict the Americans counted neither the cost nor the obstacles, and served notice on Aguinaldo to remove his forces from the jurisdictional limits of Manila by September 15 on penalty of having them forcibly removed by the Americans. 'The substance of this letter, with its outline of the pro posed course of General Otis, was telegraphed to Washing ton and approved by the Governraent. Now, as far as the Americans are concerned, it is a case with Aguinaldo of get out or flght. Which will he do ? The letter of General Otis was delivered to Aguinaldo at Malalos on the day on which the insurgent chief trans ferred his head quarters there from Bakor. It was a great day for Aguinaldo. He was king among his people. They gathered in crowds to welcome him and pay him homage. They called him the George Washington of the Pilipinos. They spread him a great feast and made him speeches, and celebrated with music and song. Bands played and banners decorated the city. I was waiting for an inter view with Aguinaldo, and I saw in the crowd the army officer who had in his pocket the letter from General Otis. It was more than a skeleton at the feast. The skeleton had put on a uniform of United States Army blue and was walking about mingling with the revellers. And none of them knew what a sword hung over the head of the Filipino republic they were toasting and cheering so joy fully and trustfully. Aguinaldo received the letter and read it carefully. He knew all it meant to hira and un derstood what a terrible danger stood in the way of his raost dear arabition. Yet he came back among his glad people and moved about talking to them, with a smile on his impassive face, and that in his bearing which was a perfect mask for whatever care oppressed his heart. He had found time after reading the letter to give me a short interview. I asked hira to make some statement to the American people of his own hope for his own people, of their desires and of the object for which they are striving. He said : "When the rebellion began the sole idea of the Fill- FORESHADOWING THE END 35 1 pinos was the attainment of their independence, but since the Americans have been forced by their war with Spain to interfere in the Philippines, the Pilipinos hope to gain some reward from the Americans in return for their arduous work and their sacriflce of life, of blood and of treasure in the line of recognition of their liberty. It was said after careful deliberation, and it was trans lated carefully. It had been understood for some time that Aguinaldo had receded from his ambition of absolute independence for the Philippines, but this was the flrst public acknowledgment of his change of view. Later in the afternoon I had a long talk with two of Aguinaldo's most influential councillors. We discussed fully and frankly the terms of General Otis's letter and what it meant for the Filipinos and the Americans. There was apparently complete candour on both sides and no beating about the bush. It began with a request that they tell me frankly why the Pilipinos declined to accede to the demand of the Americans and withdraw from the city. "If we had any assurance," they replied, "that the Americans would not return the islands to Spain, we would do it gladly." " That is a Spanish lie, invented solely in the hope of making trouble between the insurgents and the Americans. Don't you know that the Americans will not give these islands back to Spain ; that is that they will -not restore Spanish power here ? " " We know the Spanish tell the story, but we have no as surance from America that that will not occur," they said. "It is impossible for the Americans to give such an assurance without dishonour. It is impossible for the American Government to make such an assurance while it is treating with Spain. By the terms of the capitula tion Manila was surrendered to the Americans, who are obligated to safeguard life and property. Under that obligation the Americans cannot share the responsibility, and they cannot permit the occupation of the city by them selves and an armed force not their allies." "But," said the councillors, " if there could be a rec ognition of our belligerency it would be all right." ' ' Don't you understand that such a recognition is im possible while the United States are treating for peace with Spain ? How can we grant belligerent rights to her 352 OUR CONQUESTS IN THE PACIFIC enemy when we are negotiating with her on such a basis without dishonour ? " "But our position in the city," they said, "is not against the Americans. It is against the Spanish alone. If we should retire and then the Americans should go away leaving us in a worse position than we are now our people would cut off our heads." " General Otis has been ordered by his Government to insist that the insurgents withdraw from the city. If they do not he must force them out. Do you want a conflict ? " " We should be very sorry to have any trouble, but we must hold our position," said the councillors." " Do you think that you can hold your position against the Americans ? " " No. You are very much greater." " Then in heaven's name what can yon gain by fighting the best friend you have on earth ? Prom which of all the nations on earth can the Filipinos expect the most assis tance if they remain on friendly terms ? " "From America." " Then what can you gain by fighting her ? " " Nothing at all." said one of the councillors, but the other went back to his proposition : " If there was any assurance that we should not be left worse off when the Americans withdraw it would be all right." " But you know that assurance cannot be given. You insist on holding a position to which you are not en titled, and you force us to fight you to protect our own ob ligations and our honour. What can yon gain by that ? " " We can only die." This from both councillors. "Yes, die ; and so can we, and you lose everything and we gain nothing. Don't you see what folly it is ? " " We must hold what we have gained," they said. " We have raade great sacrifices of life and treasure and now if we retire our people will cut off our heads. We must hold our position, and if the Americans fight we can only die. Thus around the circle they argued for two hours. They cannot see our position and we cannot reach theirs. We know that our own honour and faith will not be broken with them. It all means that sometime we shall fight. 3 9002 01527 0235 1 ^ ' t- liJT, llj'l I 1 1 rin'i , +1 h iv# WtJ f 'fl ,tt i ff l.>f , -1,™, ,