TREED BY BUFFALO BULLS.
“This silent inaction is growing monotonous.”
It was Dan who spoke, and he addressed me, while both of us and Matt
Gory took it easy in front of a deserted house we had chanced upon on a
side road some miles away from Manila.
After burying Gaston Brown our flight had taken us to the north, and we
had rested at the house for two days, undecided what to do next.
“If we try to move past Manila and toward Cavité, we’ll run into both
rebels and Spaniards, and I don’t want to do that,” I said. “I am
rather sick of this fighting.”
“So am I, Oliver. But we must do something. We can’t sit here and suck
our thumbs.”
“Let us try to make our way up past Subig Bay to the coast and find out
what has become of the _Dart_.”
“Sure, an’ that same suits me,” put in Matt Gory. “Oi wants that dudeen
of mine th’ worst way, so Oi do. Bad cess to any haythin’ as has
stholen th’ same!” He spoke of his old pipe constantly, for it had
been his friend for many years.
“Your dudeen ought to be strong enough to walk to where you are, Matt,”
laughed Dan. Then his face grew thoughtful. “It would be a long trip to
the _Dart_, and we may fall in with lots of Tagals.”
“Perhaps not, Dan. I have an idea that all of the natives are now
gathering around Manila, and we will find the coast almost clear.”
“There is something in that. Well, I’m willing. Anything is better than
staying here with hardly anything to eat but cocoanuts and plantains.”
Nevertheless, we did not move away until twenty-four hours later. Our
rest at the house had done us good, and at the place we had picked up
a new pair of boots for Matt, a coat for Dan, and a new straw hat for
myself, besides some canned goods, which, however, we had not opened,
determined to keep them until we could find nothing else.
The day we set off it was cooler than it had been for some time, and as
the road was comparatively level, we made good time, and by nightfall
had covered fifteen miles.
We had met only a few natives, and these of the mild sort, who merely
stared at us in open-mouthed wonder.
“There is one thing certain,” I said, as we went into camp that night.
“Not all of these people want to fight.”
“That is true, Oliver. I believe, if they were left alone, a good
portion of the Filipinos would prove absolutely harmless. But the
warlike class keep the others in a constant state of excitement.”
Several days passed, including a Sunday, when we let up on our travels
and rested. We had now entered the hills, and traveling became more
difficult. We might have lost our way; but from the wreck of the
schooner Matt Gory had saved both a chart and a compass, and these now
stood us in good stead.
The weather remained clear, but knowing that storms are frequent, we
made the most of our time while it did not rain. We had now struck the
seacoast north of Subig Bay, and we calculated that a week’s added
traveling would see us at the spot where the _Dart_ lay and where we
had had so many adventures on first landing.
Two days later we came on a plateau overlooking the sea. It was still
clear, and we had hardly reached the place when Matt Gory pointed out a
sail on the horizon.
“Some ship sailing around, even if there is a war on,” said Dan. “I
wonder what sort of a craft she is?”
“A Chinese junk,” answered the Irish sailor, “Oi kin tell ’em as far as
Oi kin see ’em.”
“Well, we don’t want anything to do with their junks,” I answered. “It
was a Chinese craft that knocked that hole in the _Dart_.”
Soon the sail disappeared from view on its way up the coast, and we
started to continue our journey. We had gone on less than a mile when a
strange tramping behind us brought us to a halt.
“What is that?” I questioned, as I drew my pistol.
“Horsemen approaching, I reckon,” murmured Dan. “We had better hide.”
But hiding was not so easy, as only some tall trees were around, the
ground being too stony for small brush of any thickness.
“They be comin’ closer!” cried Matt Gory. “Sure an’ we had betther take
to the trees, me b’ys!”
“We’ll have to help one another up,” I said. “Come on.”
We chose some mahogany trees, two growing close together. By boosting
and hauling we managed with much difficulty to gain the lower limbs
just as the newcomers came into view around a turn of a hillside.
“Gracious! Buffalo bulls!” cried Dan.
“Sure an’ they are no inimies!” cried Matt Gory, and without
thinking twice, dropped to the ground again.
“Come up here!” roared Dan. “Do you want to be horned to pieces?”
“Will they horn one?” I queried.
“Yes, as quickly as a mad bull at home.”
“Then, Matt, get up, and be quick about it.”
There was no need to tell the Irish sailor twice. A buffalo bull had
spotted him, and with a wild snort, was coming for him, horns down.
“Be the powers!” gasped Gory. “Save me! hilp!” and he made a wild dash
for the tree, but slipped and fell.
[Illustration: “BEFORE THE BUFFALO BULL COULD REACH HIM, DAN’S PISTOL
RANG OUT.”]
I fully expected to see him gored to death, but, before the buffalo
bull could reach him, Dan’s pistol rang out, and the beast staggered
and dropped back, with an ugly wound just below his left eye.
“Come, Matt, get up!” I yelled, and as the sailor made for the tree, I
leaned far down and caught his hand. Just as I hauled him up the bull
made another charge, striking the tree trunk with a shock that shook
the tree from end to end.
In a minute more we found the two mahogany trees surrounded by exactly
eleven bulls, for these curious creatures sometimes congregate in this
fashion, although not always. They were wild-looking beasts, and from
their breathing we felt certain that they had come a long distance.
“They have been pursued,” said Dan. “Usually they are fairly tame,
although not to be trifled with.”
“Sure and Oi’ve had a narrow escape!” panted Matt Gory. “See! see!
phwat is up now?”
He pointed to the wounded bull, that had circled around and, without
warning, charged one of his mates. Instantly there was a counter
charge, and the crashing together of two skulls could be distinctly
heard. Then the wounded bull went down on his knees and several of his
mates fell upon him and tore him into shreds.
It was a disgusting sight, and I had to turn away, for fear of getting
sick and tumbling from the branch upon which I rested. “Now we have a
sample of bullfighting, I suppose,” I said.
“Yes, and it’s simply horrible!” murmured Dan. Matt Gory, however,
seemed to enjoy the contest, and let out a hurrah as the bull fell over
dead.
“It serves the baste roight fer attackin’ me,” he said. “Bad luck to
the rascal!”
After the killing of the bull, his mates withdrew to a distance of
twenty or thirty yards, in the meantime tossing their heads at us and
giving occasional snorts of anger.
“They are aching to get at us,” was Dan’s comment. “And just for the
fun of killing us, too, since they won’t touch meat.”
“We’re in a serious dilemma, Dan,” I answered. “We can’t stay here
forever.”
“Neither can the bulls.”
“But some of them may keep coming and going, and thus starve us out.”
“No; I think if they once make a move to leave, they’ll go in a bunch.”
After this several hours went by, and still the bulls stayed where they
were. Then came a sudden clatter of ponies’ hoofs on the road and the
yells of half a dozen natives.
“The Tagals are coming now, beyond a doubt,” I said.
“And the bulls are running for it,” answered Dan, and he was right; at
the first cries from the natives the buffalo bulls scampered off like
frightened deer, and that was the last we saw of them.
We had scarcely time to draw up into the topmost branches of the
mahoganies when the pony riders put in an appearance. Six short,
wicked-looking Tagals rode the animals.
A shout went up when the carcass of the dead bull was discovered. A
jabbering in a native dialect followed, and two Tagals left, presumably
to find out what had become of the rest of the herd. While this hunt
was made, two other natives cut off a number of juicy buffalo steaks
and placed them in leaves bound with vines.
“I hope they don’t go into camp here,” murmured Dan to me.
“Or that they don’t discover some trace of us,” I returned.
“We had better hold ourselves in readiness for an attack,” put in Matt
Gory, and we thought this good advice and followed it.