THE VOYAGE ON THE TRANSPORT--A STORM AT SEA--ARRIVAL IN MANILA.
THE transport did not remain long at Honolulu, and before leaving Archie
had several things which he wanted to do. In the first place, he felt
that he ought to write the story of his experiences so far, and send
it to Mr. Van Bunting; so he did sit down and describe in detail his
experiences at cleaning vegetables on board the Pacific liner. He wasn’t
sure whether this was anything that Mr. Van Bunting would care to print,
but he decided to send it on, anyhow. He would have been surprised
had he observed the enthusiasm with which this letter was read in the
Enterprise office a month later. He would have been no longer in any
doubt as to whether it was anything worth printing had he read the
Enterprise of the following day, when the letter appeared on the second
page as one of the chief features of the paper.
Before leaving, too, Archie sent a long, cheerful letter home, saying
nothing of his being seasick on board the liner, or of his having had to
work so hard. He devoted his letter to telling of the many interesting
things he had seen, and of his bright prospects for becoming a
successful newspaper man. He wrote a shorter letter to Jack Sullivan,
which was intended to be read to all the members of the Hut Club,
for Archie felt that it was no more than right that they should know
something of his success. He found it very hard to realise, away off
here in Honolulu, that he had ever been a member of the club, and that
he had ever lived in tents behind the barn. He felt very manly now, and
his boyhood seemed far away behind him, so far away that he now felt
like a man of twenty-five rather than like a boy of eighteen. He was
beginning to realise that age is not always governed by years alone, but
that experience does much to make one old.
As soon as the transport had anchored in the bay, Archie went aboard to
present his credentials to the commanding officer. He found the general
very pleasant to meet, and a very appreciative listener as he told of
his scheme for overtaking the transport. The officer was surprised,
of course, that such a young fellow should be going to the islands as
correspondent, but the things he said were very encouraging to Archie,
“I tell you what,” the general remarked, at one time during the
conversation, “I believe that a young fellow like Dunn, here, can find
out a great many more interesting things than an older man could ever
discover. You see the youngster has ambition and energy on his side,
and ambition and energy are two mighty powerful things when they’re
combined. I’d hate to buck up against ‘em myself.” The other officers
agreed with the general in this remark, and Archie began to feel that,
after all, he might not have such a hard time finding interesting things
to write about as he had expected.
The transport remained in port but one day, and in thirty hours after
her arrival Archie found himself sailing again over the blue Pacific.
The weather, for a few days, was almost perfect. A cloudless sky
overhead, a warm breeze from the west, and a smooth sea made things very
pleasant aboard ship, and Archie began to realise that there are times
when it is delightful to be at sea. The vessel was very much overcrowded
with troops, and the sleeping quarters were but little more pleasant
than aboard the liner. Archie shared a stateroom with three sergeants,
and they managed to have a lively time during the voyage. They played
games, told stories, and slept in the afternoons, but all this, of
course, grew rather tiresome after a time, and the voyage was becoming
monotonous, when there came a severe storm which kept things moving for
three days.
None of the navigating officers had expected a gale, so that when it
came every one was taken wholly by surprise, and it came so suddenly
that there was no time at all for preparation. The sky became quickly
dark one afternoon about three o’clock, and soon the whole horizon was a
mass of great black clouds, which every moment seemed to come lower and
lower until they directly overhung the ship. There was great excitement
aboard the ship. Officers hurried here and there shouting orders to
their men, and the cavalrymen rushed about in a frenzy of haste, trying
to devise means to save their horses, most of which were stabled upon
the deck. Archie looked on in breathless interest, and was surprised
to find that he wasn’t at all frightened. He even found himself making
mental notes of the scene, so that he could send the story of it all to
Mr. Van Bunting when he reached Manila.
There was but little time for rushing about, and it was soon evident
that the horses would many of them be lost, because there seemed to be
absolutely no way of saving them if the waves were high enough to break
over the bulwarks. The storm soon broke in great fury, beginning with a
fierce wind which swept the waves before it. There was but little rain,
and the waves rose higher and higher with every minute, until the heavy
ship began to roll and pitch in a frightful way, so that the soldiers
began to think, some of them, that she would certainly sink. Finally the
waves were so high they dashed themselves over the decks, and no one was
allowed above the gangways. The cries of the poor horses, as they felt
themselves being washed overboard, were frightful to hear, and many
a trooper cried himself as he thought of his horse foundering in the
raging sea without. Before many minutes all was as dark as night, though
the watch pointed to but four o’clock, and all lights were burning below
deck. It was impossible to keep a light above, for no lantern could burn
in such a storm.
The waves began gradually to subside at ten o’clock at night, and a slow
steady rain came, which soon calmed the sea to a great extent. As soon
as it was safe to go above deck, it was found that more than a hundred
horses had been lost overboard, and that one mast had been carried away.
Down below nearly every man was in his bunk, for there was scarcely a
person who was not seasick, and most of them wouldn’t have cared if
the ship had gone down with all aboard, such was their feeling of
despondency. Archie was as sick as any of the others, but was able to
make notes of occurrences just the same. And when he grew better the
next day, he wrote an excellent account of the storm to send to the
Enterprise on his arrival in Manila.
After this rough weather experience, every man aboard was anxious
to reach port, and when, after many more days, the Bay of Cavité was
reached, a great cheer went up from a thousand throats, for everyone was
overjoyed at the sight of land.
The transport came to anchor off the forts which had once been Spain’s,
and it was announced that no one would be allowed to land for two days,
until advices could be had from Manila and the interior of the island.
This was very trying for Archie, being obliged to sit on deck for two
whole days, looking at a shore which seemed very inviting, in spite of
the general dilapidated appearance of the various buildings and docks.
Everything looked different from anything he had seen before, and the
boy felt that he could hardly wait to be allowed to explore some of
those streets which were so narrow, and those houses which were built in
such a peculiar fashion.
Finally, the permission came for the troops to land, and Archie received
the permission of the general to remain with them as long as he wanted
to do so. And as he had no other plans, the young correspondent decided
that it would be a good plan for him to stay right with one of these
regiments, for the time being at any rate. He knew that they would be
likely to be sent to the front immediately, and the front seemed the
place for him to be.
And then he was already acquainted with many of the men, and with the
colonel, and he realised that this would be an advantage to him in his
work. So he made his plans to keep with them.
First they went to Manila, where they remained for a week. The quaint
old city was a veritable fairy-land of wonders to Archie, who had never
before been in a city so ancient, and here there were so many unusual
things to be seen. There seemed to be absolutely no end to the winding
streets, delightful old houses, and interesting churches, and the boy
spent many days in exploring every corner of the island capital. The
colonel warned him several times that he must look out for robbers and
other suspicious characters, but Archie laughed at his fears. But the
colonel was right, as he found later on.