THE MARCH AFTER THE REBELS--THE FIRST BATTLE--ARCHIE WOUNDED.
ARCHIE was awakened at four the next morning by the sound of the bugle,
and, hastily dressing, he hurried down-stairs to learn the plans of the
officers. He found that they were going to start on the march as soon
as the men had drunk their morning coffee, and Archie immediately made
preparations to go with them. The colonel looked on in amazement. “Why
are you packing your knapsack!” he asked. “You surely don’t think you’re
going with us? You never in the world can stand this hard march in the
hot sun.”
“Oh, yes, I think I can,” said Archie. “You see I have walked a great
deal in these last two months, and I don’t think I will have any
difficulty in keeping up with the troops. And I do so want to see some
fighting, and to learn whether you capture Aguinaldo. You don’t object
to my going, now, do you?”
“No,” said the colonel. “If you think you can stand the marching, and
are so anxious to come, why, I suppose you can do so. But you mustn’t
blame me if anything should happen to you.”
Archie was ready enough to promise this, for he had no idea that he
would meet with an accident of any kind, and so he continued to pack his
things in the knapsack. The rebels had emptied everything in a corner,
and had evidently intended taking the knapsack with them when they went;
but they left so hurriedly they couldn’t possibly think of everything,
and so had left it behind, much to Archie’s relief, for he would have
been unable to secure another one anywhere outside Manila. In a very
short time the regiment gathered in the streets immediately about the
square, and soon the men were marching out of the town, much to the
gratification of the residents, who watched them from their roofs
and windows. Archie fell in at the head of the column, and found no
difficulty in keeping up with the soldiers near him, though they were
marching at a rapid rate.
The town limits were soon passed, and they swung into the white country
road, which presented the same scene of desolation which had been
everywhere visible to Archie on his way from Manila. The farm-houses
were nearly all deserted, and there was but little attempt at
cultivating the soil, which would have been productive enough had it not
been overgrown with tangled vines and weeds. And as they went farther
into the country the wilderness increased, until at last the road itself
was filled with growing vines, and the men had difficulty in walking.
Every little while some trooper would fall headlong, tripped by some
vine, and the others would laughingly help him up before passing on.
These little incidents did much to enliven the march, which became
monotonous after the first six or seven hours, and Archie appreciated
the mishaps very much until he took a few tumbles himself. He was
usually, much to the amusement of the officers, marching at the very
head of the regiment, and “setting the pace,” he said, so that he was
more likely to trip than any of the others. He was always the first to
discover a snake in the road, too, and kept a great stick with which to
kill them. He seemed to have no fear of them, but walked up to lay them
out, and on one occasion the colonel warned him just in time or he would
certainly have been bitten by a snake whose bite is certain death. This
experience made him more careful, but he still kept his place at the
head of the regiment, and came to be called the mascot by the men.
At noon the regiment halted at a grassy spot, where there were trees,
and made their dinners from their knapsacks. The officers warned them
to go carefully, or they would find themselves without provisions before
returning to Manila, for they had been so sure of catching the rebels
at the town behind that they had neglected to bring along many supplies.
Now, of course, they didn’t know how long it would take them to find
them,--two days at least, and probably longer.
Archie had stocked his knapsack with some food from the old headquarters
in the town, so that he felt safe for a few days, at any rate. He
ate carefully, however, and was careful not to waste anything, for he
realised that he might be called upon to aid some of the soldiers before
long.
Dinner over, the regiment marched on again, for the officers now began
to think that they had made a mistake in not pursuing the fleeing
rebels the night before. They met several Spaniards, who told them that
Aguinaldo had marched all night long without stopping, so that he was
now at least thirty-six hours ahead of them, and some of the men began
to be discouraged, saying that it was no use following him up with such
a small force. “Other regiments have tried to find him in this way, and
none of them have succeeded,” said one of the privates to Archie. “They
keep us marching for three or four days, and finally they decide to
return to Manila, without having found any trace of the rascal beyond
hearing that he had passed this way or that.”
The officers couldn’t depend upon what the natives told them of
Aguinaldo’s movements, for, almost without exception, they were in his
favour, and always lied to the Americans to try to throw them off the
track. It was due to this that they proceeded very cautiously, and
still, notwithstanding their extreme care, they found themselves, when
night came on this first day, in a small village where no one had seen
anything of the rebel army. There was no denying the fact that they were
off the trail, and the colonel stormed about in a terrible way when he
learned of their mistake. There was no use going back in the dark to
hunt for a trail they had mistaken in the daylight, so the regiment
remained in the village overnight. They were a lot of very discouraged
men, and the officers were enraged at the mistake, for which there was
no one but themselves to blame.
Early in the morning they retraced their way, and started off in an
opposite direction to the one taken yesterday. It seemed that this must
certainly be the path taken by the rebels, but the regiment marched
until nearly noon without seeing any signs of them. Then, when they had
halted for dinner, the colonel decided to let the men rest while two
companies were sent ahead to reconnoitre, and report as to whether there
were any signs of men having passed this way. He was beginning to think
that the whole affair would be a wild-goose chase, and he decided that,
if these companies found nothing, the whole regiment would return to
Manila forthwith, probably to be the laughing-stock of the army there.
The remaining companies had nothing to do now but lay about on the soft
grass, and rest. They were encamped in a stretch of grassy loam in
the midst of what appeared to be a dense forest, and all about were
evidences of the great fertility of the soil. The vegetation was so
dense that one could scarcely see through it, and the glade was cool and
pleasant, though overhead the sun was shining as warm as ever. It was a
lovely oasis in a wilderness of undergrowth, and the men enjoyed it to
the utmost.
About three in the afternoon the sound of firing was heard in the
distance. First there was one shot, then another, and several more at
rapid intervals. Archie was one of the first to jump to his feet, but in
a second every man was at attention, with his musket in his hands. The
colonel listened closely for two minutes, and then the firing began once
more, and this time it seemed nearer. He hesitated no longer, but gave
the order to march ahead. “They’ve evidently found the cowards at last,”
he muttered to Archie. “You stay here, where you will be out of danger.”
But Archie was determined to do nothing of the kind. He felt his pistol
safe in his hip pocket, and when the companies swung out of the forest
and into the road he was marching in his old place at the head of the
column. Again the colonel ordered him to remain behind, but Archie
insisted that he would not, “Then go to the rear,” cried the colonel,
angry for the moment. “I will not have you shot down by a rebel
sharpshooter the very first one.” And Archie knew that he would have to
obey.
The column went ahead at double-quick, and finally broke into a steady
run. Every minute the noise of rifle-shots sounded nearer, and it seemed
probable that the two companies were retreating before the insurgents.
The men were wild to reach the scene of the firing, and the officers had
all they could do to keep them in line. All the time they were running
hardly a sound was heard save the noise of their boots upon the soft
earth, and they all knew that they could probably take the insurgents by
surprise.
Archie’s heart was beating very hard as they drew nearer and nearer to
the scene. He felt that he was about to see his first fighting, and he
determined not to miss any part of it. So he gradually ran ahead until
finally he was almost at the head of the column again.
The troops made so little noise that the two companies, retreating
slowly, were upon them without knowing it. But when they discovered
that their comrades had come to their aid they set up such a cheering
as Archie had never heard before, and immediately faced about and went
ahead again. The rebels were about a quarter of a mile behind, marching
rapidly forward, and firing as they came. Some of them were running
among the trees at the roadside, firing incessantly, and hitting
some poor soldier almost every time they fired. They were the famous
sharpshooters, of whom the soldiers in Manila had heard so much.
When the rebels observed that the Americans had received reinforcements,
they halted suddenly, and before they could turn about the Yankees were
almost upon them, firing volleys into them as they came. Many of the
insurgents fell in the roadway, and the others fled wildly in every
direction. Most of them entered the dense forest, where the Americans
captured nearly a hundred of them after the others had surrendered,
and some were such good runners that they escaped down the roadway. The
whole rebel army presented a scene of wild confusion. Some of the men
knelt and begged for mercy, and some cried out in a horrible way as they
saw the dreaded Yankees advancing. But it was all over very soon. The
prisoners were placed in line, and marched back along the road, and the
dead, of which there were about fifty, were soon buried. Aguinaldo had
escaped in the forest, and no one suggested that he should be followed.
All the officers knew that such a course would be useless, and most of
them were very well satisfied with what had already been accomplished.
The prisoners numbered more than six hundred, and the dead a hundred
more, while there were about seventy-five wounded. So if what Bill
Hickson said were true, not more than two hundred insurgents could have
escaped.
Among the seriously wounded was a man whom Archie recognised immediately
as one of his captors of two days previous, and while he was looking
over the bodies for the other men, he came suddenly to brave Bill
Hickson, lying face downward in the road. He almost screamed with fear
that he might be dead, and when one of the men hurried up to him he told
him who the man was. The colonel was soon on hand, and it was found that
the brave spy was not seriously wounded, and would recover soon under
proper treatment.
When the insurgent wounded were cared for, it was discovered that the
two companies sent out to reconnoitre had also suffered losses, and when
they marched back along the line of their retreat no less than five dead
and about twenty wounded were found. This sad news threw a gloom over
the entire regiment, and when they started back to Manila they marched
in quiet, and without rejoicing over their victory, which had proved so
costly.
Poor Archie, when they started to march, found, to his great disgust,
that he was so weak he couldn’t walk far, and he thought this must be
due to the fright he had received. He was very angry with himself, until
the surgeon examined him and announced that he had a bullet in his arm.
And then Archie confessed that he had felt a stinging sensation at one
time during the firing, but had thought nothing of it. Now his disgust
was turned to great delight, for the idea of being wounded in battle was
glorious to his mind. “I’ll bet I wounded more than one insurgent,” he
told the surgeon, “for I discharged every barrel of my revolver.” The
wound was not at all serious, but he was told to be quiet for a few
days. He was given one of the rebel horses to ride back to Manila, and
he felt like a real hero in many ways.