The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, May 5, 1901, Page 6

THE SUNDAY CALL. T=REQUENTLY history is turned |~ into fiction—there is absolutely L nothing mnew or astonishing about that. But for fiction to be turned into history is a thing practi- cally unheard of. When in December, 1899, Duffield Osborne wrote a purely fiction story for Harper's Weekly on the capture cf Aguinaido Le could not possibly have known that what he wrote would come true just one year and three months later—and true in very fact almost to the letter of his most mi- nite descriptions. Funston captured the real Aguin- aldo by practically thesame ruse that was employed by the licut:nant to 1 P fictional Aguinaldo in Mr. Dufficld’s story. On December 23, 1899, Mr. Duf- fiel story was published in Har- per’'s Weekly and a year and thrc r to the very day, March The Call printed the first egraphic news of the capture of Aguinaldo by Funston. It will bs noted that the plan of the capture s published at that time could well be taken as a synopsis of the story which had appeared over a year before. Here is the history taken literally from The Call of March 23. Read and then read the fiction which was later to become fact. Plan of the Capture. Admire nant Mitch- six veteran scouts outs, all picked landed by the gunboat 2 beach morth of Baler, riand, guided b who betrayed = abode. arranged that ad given the uld lead the the character of le: the daring part of the o throw arry out the programme required a I never-ceasing ca ery. The troope and New Brija and the gunboa were ordered to co-op- capturing party. Aguinaldo’s capture indicates ns of General Funston were news 1y that the ed out su Copyright, 1889, by Harper Bros. EVERAL curious commentaries been written at different showing just how little t people know of what is hap- pening or has happened; nor are the conditions dissimilar even in these a of mewspapers and correspondents telegr when we have come to consider o information most accurate and complete. A few, a very few, know the truth and the whole truth; the rest of only think we do, and argue and praise and condemn our statesmen and soldiers just as if we were not supremely ignorant of the vital facts and the argu- ments t have dictated their action: Often, in the history of the world, the truth has been such that it can never be revealed, even to the most remote pos- terity; sometimes, as in the case of the much dispu Venezuela message, the story may leak out at some not very dis- tant time; while again, as in the present instance, all may be safely made public, end is bound to be when the reasons which dictated the policy of concealment have ceased to ex The rebellion in Luzon is practically over, Aguinaldo is “a prisoner,” and I am merely telling a story which another might tell to-morrow or_the next day or the next. - We pplauded when Wheaton set Gulf of Lingayen; we ap- ful landing on Novem- ver 7, and his advance and pursuit of the strangely evan nt Aguinaldo. Perhaps some of us w red the trifiing re- sistance he encountered and at the sud- den melting away of an organized rebel- lion ch had been supposed to domi- nate nine-tenths of the island. How many of us, though, noted, much less recall, cer- tain nily unimportant cablegrams ty in the files of the newspa- ? For instance: p Cable Dispatch, Manila, Oct. %4.—Some anxiety is felt concerning the fate of Lieutenant Farley of the Marine 3 four privates. Lieutenant Far- cered to lead a scouting party, rted on October 16, since when no news of him has been received.” “Special Cable Dispatch, Manila, Oct. 25.—There is still no 'news of Lieutenant Farle d elt e gravest apprehension is s, It is understood one of great difficulty and , and entirely of his own suggestion. al Otis had little hope of a ful outcome, and only yieided to F eagerness and confidence. Yesterda. ble w in error stating that the missing officer was of the Marine Corps. He is John B. Farley, fi lieutenant Twentieth Infantry. The him are Ser- geant Michael d_Privates T. Smith ntieth Infantry and Corporal Wyllys Desmond of the Ma- rine Corps. All were specially selected by Farley for the servic “Special Cable spatch, Manfla, Oct. 21.—Lieutenant ey and his men ha been practically given up. Wyllys De mond may be remembered by New York- ers as a_comedian of some ability, who left the Eighteenth Street Theater Com- pany and enlisted, in a fit of disgust, be- cause his short sfature stood in the way of his ambition to take serious parts. Prosky is a Pole, and is noted in the army for his ability as a linguist. He speaks Tagalog like a native.” So much for these; and then there was a private message that was sent October 2 to Jdeutenant Farley's mother. Of course, you are familiar with the cable- grams, along the last of October and the first of November, which told of the sud den preparations'for Wheaton's expedi- tion, but, naturally, you are not familiar with a letter received a few days since by & friend of Wyllys Desmond, which reads as follows: - “MANILA, Oct. 15, 1889, “Dear Tim: Well, I've volunteered for some sort of wild scrape. Things have been pretty slow of late, and this may give me something to write about, if I Gon't go under. It was like this: “] was smoking my pipe by the bar- racks gate, when I saw Captain Murray of the corps come along with another offi- cer, gnd I noted that the duck was a first lieutgnant of infantry, and that he looked just like any other lieutenant of infan- v, except that he had a square cut to and that his mouth shut tight when he wasn’t talking. “This is the feliow,’ I heard the cap- saying (méaning me). ‘Take him if You want him and good riddance.’ “Then lieutenant asked the strange and the eise in a low voice, ndy enough—oh, ves! There's noth- ing the matter with his sand.’ hat Lieutenant Farley—for —walked up to me and stood up and saluted, and he looked me over good and careful, and said: » v tell me you've been on the stage, sir sald I; ‘elght years, leading comedy parts.’ nderstand all about make-ups? said * “Yes, sir; all there is to know,’ said I. “+Do you want to volunteer for a dan- gerous ser bout a ome to three chance, and worth it? said he. r, said I, without thinking. sorer all the time. R W “‘Now, boys,’ said he, ‘now that Des- mond’s_made you the right thing and you're dressed and armed, just tuck these revolvers under your clothes. Perhaps youll need them and perhaps you.won’t, but I'm afraid your bolo practice isn’t up to }:‘,hamp}on form, if we should have to fight.” “So we took the revolvers and a ha.nq- ful of cartridges apiece, and I couldn’t help thinking what a decent spoken man he was for a skulker. “ “Tenshun!” said he then, and we straightened up. ‘And now, my men, I'm Lieutenant Farley, U. S. A., and your prisoner. You caught me outside the lines and tied my hands behind my back, tak- ing my sword and revolver, and you're carrying me straight to General Aguinal- do—see?" “He stopped a minute to let that sink in, for we couldn’t open our ears quite as wide as we could our mouths and eyes. “ ‘Desmond’s an amigo,’ he went on, ‘and he and Smith and Evans don't be- long to the same tribe as any one we ‘Tell him to call his corporal,’ moaned Mr. Farley, holding out his hands just as if he was asking us to loosen the cords. “I Jaughed—and it was a good stage laugh, too—and I got in some good char- .acter business by making as if to tie him tighter, while Prosky put some ques- n, and the sentry yelled something, and’ pretty soon along came what he called a corporal, and Prosky went over his tale, and_ the corporal said, ‘Very good; I'll conduct you,’ and through we went and on into the town. ‘At last we came to a good sized stone house with a bamboo hedge around it and a lot of lazy beggars in striped pajamas lying_asleep with their Remingtons un- der them, or playing cards and smoking cheroots and things. Oh, they were a pretty lot of guards, but some of them jumped_up all right and grabbed their rifles when they saw us coming, and what passed for a lieutenant, or a captain or a general, strutted out and asked what we wanted, and Prosky gave him his act— only kind of low and confidential like— and the chap nodded his head and grinned Then T began to think, ant I'm not sure y 2 said it I'd thought first, but t there was no help. I'd not have ad been a one to ten chance. miling. ‘Come to my . and he nodded Ve on_special de- and he turned to go, ‘how long would it take you to make a good Filipino out of a ite man, or a white man out of a Fili- All over, sir? said I “ “Yes, put it that way,’ sald he, ‘and 8o v t crock.” n hour,’ said I, ‘if I had the right tEing ‘Get them and bring them with you ' says he. ‘There must be plenty er supplies in Mani Wil $20 uzh to get the make-up stuff for six each way—without the clothes or the wigs? \ ““‘Plenty, sir,’ said I. And he gave me woney, saying: the is of mine are getting up That’s all you Some_ frier private theatricals— know about it.” “So he wi off with the Cap., and T set to wondering just how much of a fool I'd been , the part begins to look Jike g act, and that means more than It means hang ing, with But I've c for it, so good-by, old man, if you dor If you do, maybe 1 eral, and the! again m Your friend, d good luck to you, of me again. as major gen- ybe won't. WYLLYS.” And now T am going to tell you the story of W Desmond, nearly in his own language a s ng it up where . You may believe it or test it and prove it, just as you ple “Well, I had no trouble to get the grease paints and br s and things, and I reported on time,” said he, “and *his Straps’ ths stuff and ask- ed a few que: showed he wasn't dead green, and before he got through in came three otherfellow an infantry sergeant named Prosky two dough- i ned Smith a > me—no bigge n to tw! why h'd lit on us. ‘His § s,” though, and a head r any nigger and I got kind of chewing on nd wondering whether he was just going to send us off to get our necks twisted, whi he aid bac! and gave orders and took all the credit and ncne of the danger. The thought grilted on me good and hard, for 1 knew mighty well 1 couldn’'t make any Filipino that would ter out of him. “ “Well, b he said, When we all got in, ‘here are your kits.” We're off'—just sudden as ; and we took up the cks and bundles and weapons and followed him out and hiked along down the street and out to the country and through _the lines, till a little after mid- night. Then we struck an empty Fili- pino shack, ard we rolled in and went to sleep. Only Mr. Farley up, near the door, with_his sworé #nd revolver on his knees, and atched out into the night. He didn't seem a bit like a lie-down offi- cer, but how he ever expected to be cast for a nigger was wuat stuck in my crop. “He had us up bright and early next . looking out over the jungle and rice mps—mean country sure enough. Desmond,’ he said to me, just as soon as we'd had breakfast—mo coffee, mind you, or anything d have to cook—‘Des- mond, now’s the time to get in your fine work. Here are four men to be made up into Filipinos.’ “‘Beg pardon, sir, said I, ‘but you didn't ask me about making you up. I'm afraid— ““You're not to make me up until I tell you to,’ he said, a bit short. ‘Aren’t there four of you that are enough of sawed- off: “*Yes, sir; I beg pardon’ said I. But I felt sonr when I set to work, mak- ing Gure we were to go it alone from that on. “Meanwhile he was getting the cos- tumes out of the bundles—four of them, three striped and one amigo rig, and four nasty looking bolos and a musket with half the barrel bitten off and an old horse pistol; and after we were good and well made up he came back and ldoked the job over and laughed ang nodued ins h.?{d It was a good job, i7 I do say it; b mird you, 1 was fee/dng sorer and “Making-Up™ the Aciors in the Plan. t. That's why they keep still. Pros- s a Tagal, and it's his talk that car s us through or leaves us fruit for s. I talk English, which none of you understand; but you want to obey my orders just the same as if you did,’ and Mr. Farley kind of grinned. “I didn't twig what he was driving at yet, but I saw now that he was going with us all right, and I kicked myself E{trd for the rough thoughts I'd had about im. ““I think that’s all I've got to say no says he, looking sideways, as if he casting it up in his mind. ‘We're goi straight to Tarlac, where, I understand, Aguinaldo is. If he’s not there, % going on till we find him. Mind an important prisoner, whom it is_: lutely necessary for him to see and ex: amine at the very earliest opportunity; s0 you've brought me all the way from— Man Naturally, you don’t know any I vords or countersigns. The sto hangs_together all right, and it ought to go. If it doesn’'t—well, I'll give orders as if I was asking questions or favors or something, and we'll do the best we can. “We'd gotten over our surprise by t ming like so m part because the thi funny and part to hide our ; for we could see fast enough had something big up was solemn, though, American, and he went or of fact way to tle nds behind his back and word and revolver. Of had another gun under his clothes all right. Then we struck off through the jungle and made a day of it. ‘“Well, sir, the next days were just jun- gle and rice swamp, and hot and muddy and raining bucketfuls, but our colors stuck first rate. I'd worked a little in- vention of my own on the make-ups, sur- mising it might wash a bit better than the regular thing. Second day out we saw a few amigos at long range. The amigos saw us, too, which was one rea- son why we didn’'t see them closer. An amigo out here seems to be just a plain duffer, who hasn’t an amigo in the world, and who wears his shirt outside his breeches, “The second day out, I think it was, we were held up for the first time by a gang of armed rebels and had a chance to try our disguises and Prosky’s talk on them. Maybe I didn’'t have a bad dose of stage fright at first, but everything went swim- to work in the prisoner’ gather in h course, Mr. Farle: sky’s talk went all right, I say, s the other chaps wanted to take ‘his aps’ off our hands and get the credit of the capture. Of course, we'd have had to fight them first, but luckily it didn't come to that. “Well, sir, we felt pretty chipper over our first night hit. If it was only a bons to the dogs, our costumes and lines and business had caught on big and, what's more, we'd found out that we were on the correct route, and that Aguinaldo was really at Tarlac, with his gold whistle and all the rest of his material. It was like we were all in the profession together and were out for founding a lodge of Elks. I tell you, sir, it stiffens up a com- pany amazingly—a good first night. After that we played to full houses every day with everybody friendly except the ami- gos. Congratulations piled in on all sides. “It was seven days out before we got our big news that Tarlac was only half a day's march ahead. You see, we didn't ant any word of our coming to get be- fore us, so we got a gait on ourselves, and it didn't. Besides, we wanted tb strike- the lines just at nightfall, so it would be dark when we took our pris- oner in. and so we could have just as much dark as possible afterward. ““We fetched it with about an hour to spare, and lay by and got our final or- ders sight of their outposts and—well, sir, it’s all truth, they clean took my bréath away. You Know—now—all about it, but you can guess, maybe, how big it looked then, and poor Evans he mum- bled something about our all going to be the biggest kind of heroes if we didn’t t}.lm very dead. It wouldn't be plain dead, eit] £ “As I was saying, we lay around for about an hour in the densest bit of jungle we_could find, keeping a_ sharp lookout and saying nothing; only I went over the make-ups pretty carefully and saw that everything was all right to perform be- fore 'is Majesty, “‘About nightfall we picked up our traps fid headed straight for the lines, driving ‘L\s Straps’ ahead of us. tied up as if he’d been a royal Bengal tiger, and ‘it seemed to me about three years before we heard the nigger for ‘\Who goes there?’ “That was where Prosky got his cue. ‘“ ‘Friends, says he. (This was the gist of the talk. Proskyegave it to me later, and it sounded as much like as anything ) ““What's the countersign?’ said the sen- throaving out his ch hand toward Mr. > come many G resting, not sleeping, de us now! s He i took him from Ma- nila. 1t is most mecessary that we carry him before the illustrious President at once—and secretly. No one must know of the capture fi would be d ; and when the most illustrious President and gener hall examine him, it he who all be announced, and Is it permitted to what s and when. shall s: to pa “But the idiot sentry mumbled some- i more about the countersign, and y threw some good indignation. id T not tell you how, coming from Manila, mght and day, we- could not krow of countersigns given only to-night »t Tarlac? Delay us af vour neril!’ and threw out his chest.«and talked about the Filipino republic be unconquerable and that sc ward Americans be orisoners, even like this one. s getting under way in good old pellbinding style, and lashing the belief t he was the man who'd caught the prisoner; but Prosky waited for the first let up, and then he put in, quiet like, whether his Excellency wouldn't-please conduct us be- fore,the Pr “Here ‘w ccrporal, he was getting left, when he ; playing to- the big- struck him. At first to keep us all out, gest luck tha the officer v eve but, of course, Prcsky wouldn't have that, and said something about wanting a share of the honor, and how his Excel- len: would need a guard, because the prisoner was a desperate man and had killed two menr before w ook_him: so the officer looked nerv ir. Far- le: compromised on out the corporal, which plea body else. I think it was the talking about sharing of the honor that won us the new angel. “With that we all headed for the door of the stone house, and the guards gawk- ed at us and de; and Prosky prompted the genera orders that we shouldn’t be interrupted and that the other fellows should fall back so they couldn’t spy into the windows or hear what went on, all the while rubbing ft in good and hard that the fewer people who got on to the game the fewer chances there would be for outside clalms. It went, too; and for two cents’ worth more of such talk I believe the general would have sent every jack Tag out of the whole inclosure. “Well, the general led the way, with Prosky whispering® mighty confidential, what I learned later was a tip that we were to say that we were his men, whom he’d sent to cateh this very prisoner, hav- ing knowledge of his staying out late of nights, and promising to look out for us, which he could do much better than we could, with the big pull he’d have after such a service. He'd have looked after us all right; no doubt of that. But Prosky was bright enough to fall into the scheme, using it, as I've said, to get the guard or- dered away. “The upshot of it all was that, after one or two questions and answers and some delay, we slid into the door and shut it behind us, and were shown into a room where Aguinaldo himself was sit- ting behind a table looking dignified; and there wasn’t another genuine Filipino within fifty yards, barring the general and Aguinaldo's secretary, who stood at the end of the table. Everybody stood— the general tald us it was etiquette—in the presence of the President. “There he was, sir, at last—ratty eves, pompadour hair and all, just like the pic- tures—and ke made a-sort of motion and said something soft, and we p ed Mr. Ferley forward. Of course, the rest crcwded up with him, he being such a particularly dangerous prisoner, and Agui- naldo frowned. You see, we'd pulled our bolos—partiy to salute with and partly to keep the prisoner in order. “Aguinaldo began by _firing two or three questions at him—first in Spanish, and, when he shook his head at that, in a sort of pidgin English he’d picked up in Horgkong and on our ship There didn’t seem to be any cail for our play- ing off longer, though. We might have been interrupted or suspected or some- thing ard, as it was, we were good and well bunched, in easy reach of one an- other’s throats. Agulnaldo, of course was across the table, but that was only a good jump for an active man. The Whole thing looked so easy that I found myself beginning to grow very cool, which, T'll_admit, I hadn’t been before— only I wished the lieutenant would give the sienal. “Pretty soon Aguiffaldo began to get excited and leaned forward and then Mr. Farley leaned forward too, as if to make him understand, he having just mum- bled two or three things the President couldn’t quite get. It happened pretty quickly then. You see, the cords on Mr. Farley's wrists were almost cut through, and they came off like thread; and he had the little monkey over the table by his yelow throat, sputtering and trying to get loose, which didn't quite go. “About the same minute Smith and Ev- ans, who had been standing back with drawn boles, cut down the secretary and general, and I ran around the table to help the lieutenant with Aguinaldo. Then Mr. Farley jumped over, and we had him down and the chloroform under his nose just as we had planned it out. “Smith and Evans had finished up the other two by this time, which had to be done. We couldn’t afford to take any chances, and anyhow 1 don’t belleve either of them would ever have got up from the first strokes. Bolos are made to cut for keeps. Altogether the job was finished dead easy, and, barring the scuffle, there was no more noise about it than passing the time of day with a friend on the Rialto. The secretary’s screech was all that could have carried outside, and Prosky ran to the door, ready to explain how the illustrious Presi- dent was merely trying to induce the de- testable orisoner .0 answer a few ques- tiol No one came to inquire, though. 1f ¢ / like enough’ took the © rt for granted. There we were, then, with two dead natives and a very quiet and orderly enor Presidente of the Filipino republic n our hands, and now it was my time to take the center of the stage again. Aguin- aldo and the lieutenant were just to change parts, that was all. Prosky stood at the outer door, ready to answer ques- tions; but, Lord bless you! I don't be- Jieve a blooming one of the gang would have dared to come near the house after what they had been told. Discipline don't amount to much among those fellows, so far as the style end of it goes, but if a chap don’t do as he is told in certain re- s something drops on his neck quick hard. hat's why T wasn't interrupted except y my own thoughts, and at the end of an hour or thereabouts the lieutenant was retty good Filipino, barring his height, and Aguinaldo would pass in the dark well enough for a lieutenant of United States infantry. Mr. Farley's clothes were on Aguinaldo, and the = secretary” y's covered as much of Mr. Farley as they could. That was the best we could do for him, and I admit that his feet and inches wor- ried me. I will say, though, that I never saw a man quite so sharp to look out for everything. “ *Now, then, said he, ‘up with him and out we go. I'll get well under his weight, so as to have good reason for stooping. ‘We're carrying out the prisoner, sergeant, under the President's orders, and the President is not to be disturbed.” “With that we started, locking the in- ner door and taking the key. We didn't dare lock the outer door for fear some one might see us and get wind of some iy e Jaizsd Aguinaldo by rhqéi;Jhroat. funny business, though every door count- ed now, every minute of deiay ] wasn't much question as to what happen if we were caught. “Through the courtyard and past the guards we slid_alc with our eyes on the ground and ou 1 shifted so that g dow squint in : but we di the head and fac light or even a close would have done for us, run up against efther. “Prosky spoke short, and the who'ad started to crowd up when we came out, fell back into the sh: uickly Prosky's busin was fine take the biggest fool of them that the President had bee pleased to do the pris and _for his wouldn't be 11 along outposts it were ju guard, was th s quick to as w to want tk Ir. Farley had reason way, and it was reason: A you thought about it. N the biggest r Just - vor. kor i ce, we > stop and get tangled up i nations, because I den’t believe in their lines ha r befor 5 body knew we e 1 brought in a pr t seem a bit surprised W bringing him out on the hori the secretary’s bloody clothes on Mr. Fa helped e thing aleng. the mc s President 'K tne throat cut, what more natural tf that the valiant patriots who did the a and carried out the corpse sk be trifie bloody? So it was easy all the way to the outpost wh we came in. Maykbe the nativ Sy et grin when they saw us coming, and tho t all. He corporal’'s was the broadest drew his finger across his throat and nodded cheerfully, and Pro nodded back and repeated the gesture. “‘Carrajo! exclaimed the corporal. ‘W you return when you have buried him “Not till we catch another, laughed Prosky. “The corporal bowed in respectf ad- miration and envy, and Mr. Farle him three or four dollars Mex. “‘So that all valiant patriots ma joice in our reward,’ says Pro melodrama hero, and we pass the lines and out into the jung “It was qulet out in the jung even than in the rebel lines, every second rce we left th around Aguinaldo’s quarters hearing the howl that was sure t when the natives got on to our g It hadn’t come, really, and unl bucked up hard against our p wouldn’'t come for some hours not until morning; but I heard it, same, right along. “Meanwhile we pushed on faster. it was slow enough work at b dope on our hand come out of it now, 2 behind his back and stop him up with in ¢ 4ny of his crowd. 1 think it w stake we were playing for d the we were to winni it, that ve me cold feet, more than the danger, because that had been there all along and I hadn't turned a hair. “We were making for the west now—the nearest point om | making hard. Mr. Farley t three or four of the little gunboats were to be sprinkled along at different to pick us t f it behooved it was, ea hors all coast o had time, yme around pretty and we let him walk, which made traveling lighter. His gag had been fitted dly but firmly, a rope tied aro neck in_case balked any. Mr. v and Prosky hiked along on either with drawn revols vers, and told h how he'd be ot fuil of holes before e was rescued, but that to Manila all safe he'd o marooned on a ! if we got hi be comfortabls ary. I guess he bel fast enough, if he d he just rolled his eyes. “As I was saying, I think were the worst, and we didn’t have those thres ble, either, right down to tae , till we struck the beach all with the jungle running to it, and the little Juanita half a mile and the flag any tro last m a sudden, down ying out ajout fluttering on her “Meanwhile they couldn’t have found out about us back at Tarlac until morn- fng. Then they moved fast enough. no doubt; but we hadn’t heard a sound ex- cept the yelling in my ears, and we hadn’t seen a soul except half a dozen natives twice, and Prosky had gone ahead and explained that we were taking along a prisoner to be disp orders of his Bx enough. It looked al it wouldn’t be just the thing to investigate such matters too closely. “Now at last we were on the beach and everything had gone just like clockwdrk, end the signals were made and a little boat was dancing in over the surf. The lieutenant and I and Aguinaldo were down by the water, and the rest lay back along the edge of the jungle—just inside, you understand—to hold off possible in ference at the last moment. Heaven knows why I felt sure it wouid come, but I did, and just abcut the moment the boat shot through the breakers and crunched on the beach we heard a gun go off behind us. “We had Aguinaldo in the boat, Jying down along the bottom, in about two shakes, and the lieutenant and I stood in the water at each side to push only neither pushed, and we looking at each other brush. G “‘Nobody had broken tHrough right be- hind us. But away up the beach, in each direction, we could see running out and 'shooting. and ts_began to splash, and pretty soon the Juanita joined in with her one-pounders. “You see, it like this, and Mr. Far- ley and I understood it fast enough. It was our business to get into that boat ana get our prisoner out—quick. We botn knew well enough what we ought to do, but it was leaving the boys in the bush that choked the order down in his throat, and we knew those boys wouldn't come out—were just going hold_there till they went under and give us time to get away. That was their business and they were doing it. “By this time the one-pounders and the Colts had cleared each. We knew the rebels were awling down along_the edge of the jun: though, and their shots kept uropping in occasionally. “All of a sudden the lieutenant got it in the shoulder and nearly toppled over, and they pulled him into the boat, and the ensign was just saying, ‘Now, then when the jungle in front broke loose. You see, they saw us getting off with the y saw Mr. Farley drop, and »uldn’t ‘stand it any lomger. Colts . so they’d just rushed Prosky and the others, and Prosky and Smith came out with them, laying about like and the Colts and the one-pounder on the muss, and the men in boat let go. You see, there wasn't chanee in twenty for our three boys, any- how, and that rush had to be stopped “It was. The rebels couldn’t stand i Prosky was down when they went back, but Smith _Fick&d him up and ran fast to the boat. They had a dozen or so g and holes between them. But we were off at last, pulling like mad, and the Juan- ita pumping metal over us intoethe bush, and the Mausers and Remingtons splash- ing up the water all around. ““That's about all. You know now what was left of us got back to Manila. Mr. Farley'll be all right, they say, in two or three weeks, and Smith is going to pull through, and maybe Prosky. Poor Evans dropped 'in the jungle just before the reb- els made their break for the boat, and Smith says he was dead fast enmough. I'm all right, and we’'ve got Aguinaldo, v;hlchhllre bothb lmporml.nt items; and it the whole row here isn’t over here in t wWeeks I'm a Tagal 8,