ARCHIE STARTS OUT ON AN EXPLORING TOUR AND HAS SOME STRANGE ADVENTURES
AMONG THE NATIVES--SEIZED BY THE REBELS.
THE days passed very quickly in Manila, the regiment was quartered in
an old palace which had once been used as a residence by the Spanish
governors of the islands, and Archie remained in the palace with them.
There was very little to do while they were there. Each morning there
were anxious inquiries for news from the front, but there was always the
same discouraging reply that no trace had yet been found of the fleeing
Aguinaldo. The men were gradually becoming disheartened at the long
wait, and there were frequent statements by the officers that
Aguinaldo would soon be caught if they were sent out after him. The
dissatisfaction with the general in command grew stronger every day, and
at last things reached a point where there was very little loyalty and
patriotism displayed among the troops.
The drilling was continued, however, by order of the colonel, and every
morning the troops marched out to a public square near the palace, and
went through the same old manoeuvres which they had practised for months
past. And it was harder for them to drill each week. At first they were
willing enough to work, for there was then some prospect of their being
able to use their knowledge in a fight, but now it was beginning to
seem that they would simply remain in this old palace for a few months
longer, and then go back again to San Francisco. With this opinion in
their hearts, it is not to be wondered at that most of the men became
slouchy and careless in their manners and dress, or that even the
officers themselves became disgusted at the long wait for marching
orders.
Things had been going on in this way for a long time, when Archie made
up his mind that it was time he was hustling about and finding something
to write about which would be interesting to readers of the Enterprise.
He had sent two articles describing his life with the soldiers in the
old palace, but he knew that he ought to find something more exciting,
and more like his first articles. So, after much thought, he decided
that a good plan would be for him to take a little trip into the
interior of the island, to see whether he could find any traces of the
insurgents. The colonel had held all along for a month, now, that the
Filipinos were probably all about Manila, and still he couldn’t get
the permission of the general in command to go out and investigate
the matter. The colonel figured that it would be an easy thing for the
insurgents to come as near to the city as they cared to now, for Lawton
and Wheeler were far away in the interior after Aguinaldo, and the
troops in Manila were quietly drilling, and eating, and sleeping, with
no thought of doing anything else. This line of argument seemed very
reasonable to Archie, and he volunteered to go out and see if he could
make any discoveries. The colonel assured him that he would be in no
danger, even if he were caught by the rebels, for they would never
suspect a boy of Archie’s age and size of being a spy. So the lad felt
no fear at all, and made what few preparations there were to be made
before starting. He secured a knapsack from the commissary officer,
and in this he placed what few belongings he wanted to take with him,
together with his note-books and some provisions for the trip. Then he
secured a small pistol, which he carried in his hip pocket, and he was
disappointed because the colonel would not allow him to carry a rifle.
And when he had everything ready he said good-bye to his friends in the
regiment, and departed from the palace amid a multitude of cheers. At
the last moment the colonel tried to dissuade him from starting, for
fear he might meet with some accident, but Archie was determined to make
the attempt.
It was his plan not to go farther than fifty miles in the interior, for
he thought that if he found no traces of the rebels in that distance
there would be little use in going farther into the forest, for, it
would be almost impossible to find them there. So he set out gaily upon
his trip of exploration, and Archie couldn’t remember when he had been
so happy before, save on that day when he first visited the office of
the Enterprise. This adventure was exciting enough to please the wildest
boy in America, and Archie could imagine how envious the other boys
would be if they could but know the trip he was having. It had an
official air to it, too, for had not the colonel been most anxious,
in the beginning, that he should go, and did he not say that he would
reward him handsomely if he were successful in locating any of the
insurgents, or in proving that he had been right when he said they were
near Manila? It was all as perfect an adventure as Archie could have
imagined. He could not have planned a better one if he had been able to
select any trip he could think of.
He planned that it would take him at least three days to walk fifty
miles, and perhaps longer, for the roads were not very good in some
places. He knew that he would find many villages and towns along the
way, too, for the island was thinly settled in this neighbourhood. So if
he were obliged to rest, he would never be at a loss for a place to
get a bed. Archie couldn’t help thinking, as he walked along the road
outside Manila, this first morning, that he might find a body of the
insurgents in possession of one of these towns. They were very bold,
he had heard, and they probably knew that there were no American troops
anywhere in the neighbourhood, outside the city of Manila itself. And,
knowing this, he knew they wouldn’t hesitate to camp at the very gates
of the city, for they were marvellously successful in getting away into
the interior whenever an American force made its appearance.
As he thought of this possibility, Archie couldn’t help being a little
fearful of what might happen to him should he fall into the hands of
the insurgents, and he began to wonder if he had not been a little
foolhardy, after all, in starting off on such a wild-goose chase. “But
I will have something new to send Mr. Van Bunting about the interior
towns,” he said to himself, “and if I am captured, why, I will have a
great deal to write about when I am released.” This thought made the lad
happy again, and he trudged along the road with as much vim and energy
as he had displayed during those weary days when he was walking to New
York to make his fortune. And it was a much more interesting country in
which to walk than the New York State counties had been. The vegetation
was rich and luxuriant everywhere, palm-trees, vines, and flowers
growing in profusion all along the road. In every dooryard, in front of
every hut, there grew what seemed to Archie a veritable fairy bower of
the most richly coloured flowers in existence. And they were growing,
apparently, without cultivation. He had seen nothing like them before,
even in California, and he longed to pluck some of them to send home, if
they had only been wax instead of nature’s blossoms. As it was, he kept
his arms filled with them for awhile, but after a time he grew tired
carrying them, and was obliged to drop them by the roadside.
The country looked as if it might have been very prosperous at one
time. There were plantations laid out in excellent fashion, and the soil
seemed rich and fertile. But instead of growing crops, and storehouses
filled with spices and coffee, there was desolation everywhere, and it
was easy to see that the Spaniards had determined to leave but little
behind them for the Yankees. Every other farmhouse and wayside hut was
deserted, their occupants having gone, apparently, to join Aguinaldo,
and the whole country, outside the towns, seemed to be wholly deserted
and left to grow up in weeds and tangled vines.
The sun was warm, the sky was a perfect blue, and it seemed a delightful
day in every way. But it made Archie sad to walk through a district
which had been made so desolate, and he hadn’t walked many hours before
he wished that he might soon reach a town, where he could find some
life, and where he could remain overnight. For by the middle of the
afternoon he was tired walking, and made up his mind that fifteen miles
was enough for any one to do in one day. But he was obliged to keep on
walking for two hours longer before he reached a village, and the great
sun was just sinking behind the blue hills in the distance when he
entered the one main village street, which was long and narrow, winding
in and out among the cabins and huts, as if it had been laid out after
the houses were built, for the convenience of the people. It was a poor
excuse for a public thoroughfare. There had probably been a pavement of
some sort at one time, but now the street was a mass of rubbish of every
sort, straw, dust, old bricks, and bits of stone being thrown together
in every rut, so that it was exceedingly difficult to walk along with
any comfort.
There was no life visible in the settlement. Almost every hut had its
shades drawn at the windows, and there was absolutely no one to be seen
in the street. As he passed down the road, Archie could catch occasional
glimpses of black eyes staring at him through a lattice, or he could
hear some muttered word as he walked close to a window. From these signs
he knew that he was observed, and he felt very much embarrassed as he
continued his walk down this deserted lane, for he felt instinctively
now that hundreds of eyes were watching his every movement.
Finally, he came to the public square, and he sat down here to look
about him. From general appearances, he judged this to be a town of
some two thousand inhabitants, for there was a very respectable
administration building, and a good-sized church. There were but two
streets of any consequence, the one by which he had entered the town,
and another running at right angles in the opposite direction. In this
latter street, as he stood in the square, he noticed a three-story
structure with a sign outside, and he decided to go there and make
inquiries as to where he might be able to secure a lodging for the
night. It looked as if it might be an inn of some sort, or at least a
store, so he walked rapidly up to the entrance and knocked twice upon
the door. This place, in spite of its sign, looked more deserted and
shut-up than any other building he had yet seen in the town, and he
wondered whether he would receive any answer to his knocks. It was
indeed a long time before he heard a sound within, but at last there was
some muttering inside, the door flew open, and Archie found himself in
the arms of three Filipinos, who threw him upon the floor and bound him,
hands and feet. It was all so sudden that he had no time to cry out, and
before he could say anything at all he was thrown into a dark room, and
the door shut behind him.