THE FIGHT IN THE CONVENT
"Halt! Who goes there!"
A shot rang out in the stillness of the night; it was answered at
once by another closer in. More shots followed, gradually increasing
to a fusillade as the scouts and pickets came running back. Men
sprang up from the ground, but even as they did so another volley
reached them, and three men dropped with a groan and lay still.
The alarm sounded clear from the bugle and echoed back from the
surrounding hills. A sharp command came from the throat of the
sergeant; the company seized the stacked rifles. Captain Groce
gave another order; the formation to repel attack was made in an
incredibly short space of time. There was no disorder; no confusion.
The little officer was as cool as if on dress parade.
"Steady, men! Wait until they're nearer!" They had not long to
wait. From all sides a horde of shouting, firing men were rushing
on the little square. "Steady, men!" was still his only command.
Then, when it seemed almost a physical impossibility to restrain
their itching fingers from pulling the triggers, the longed for
word was given.
"Here they are! Now, then, boys, fire!"
Volley after volley rang out. The foremost of the enemy fell
at their feet. Hand to hand was the fighting; the bayonets lunged
with deadly effect, but seemed powerless to thrust the mass back
on itself. Men shot, hacked, stabbed and clubbed each other. It
was a whirl of uplifting and descending rifles and bolos.
Fierce oaths vied with the shrieks of the wounded for supremacy.
The grunt of men who slaughter; the gasps of the victims when the
steel went home were heard on all sides. At times the soldiers
could not see on account of the sweat and blood pouring from their
faces; the very air was foul from the steam from the living and the
dead. They could not breathe; a sort of vertigo overpowered them,
and they only kept their feet by grappling with the enemy.
To Bansemer, it seemed that all his life he had been doing nothing
but warding off and ring blows. Fighting side by side with Rogers,
he saw, with horror, that the soldier's rifle had been torn from
his hands, and that he had no weapon to defend himself; but before
he could see just how it happened, this individual combat had altered
its aspect: Rogers had grabbed a Filipino's gun and was doing the
clubbing. With renewed zest Bansemer finished with the bayonet
his own assailant, and saw the man fall on top of poor Adams and
Relander.
Suddenly there was an exultant yell from the enemy. Instinctively
Bansemer knew that one side of the square had given way. Quickly
turning, he rushed to give his aid, and just in time caught the
arm of a native about to slash him with a huge knife. With the two
gripped hands high in the air struggling for mastery, the adversaries
became separated a bit from the rest of the chaotic mass of friend
and foe, swaying out to one side of the plaza, and under the walls
of a convent. Bansemer was facing it; and just at the moment that
he felt his strength giving way and could see a grin of triumph on
the fiendish face, there carne a flash and a report, and his adversary
fell at his feet. Glancing up to ascertain who had fired the shot
that had saved his life, he thought he saw a figure disappearing
from one of the windows. The incident acted as an inspiration.
Gathering together a few men, he reached the Captain's side and
communicated his plan. The opportunity was not to be lost. Groce
gave an order; Connell repeated it. Then interpreting a temporary
lull in the murderous struggle as their vantage, the men with a
cheer, and dragging the field piece, broke for the building; and by
bayoneting and clubbing the insurgents out of the way accomplished
the dash with slight loss. The soldiers hurled themselves against
the stoutly barred door; it fell with a crash.
Guards were stationed and all openings and windows manned. Singularly
enough, these defensive actions seemed at least, temporarily
unnecessary, for the watchers peering out of the windows reported
that the dead alone occupied the recent field of battle. Not a
single Filipino was to be seen on the plaza.
Every village has its convent or barrios. Generally speaking, their
size corresponds in a certain ratio with the population. But this
particular building was an exception. Dimly lighted, it gave the
impression of ranking in size with many of those in far larger
villages Immediately the thought came to the invaders that the church
might have sheltered the insurgent leaders. Aguinaldo or Filar
might have directed the attack from inside these walls. Orders were
given to search every corner and crevice to ferret out concealed
foes. A rear window was open, proving that flight could have been
by that means of egress. Bansemer was almost positive that the
bullet which had killed his assailant had come from one of the upper
windows, but whether from friend or foe, was undeterminable. Was
it possible that he had been mistaken? Had his eyes been so blinded
with the smoke of battle that they had played him false? Were they
not in a cunningly planned trap of some kind?
Considerably perplexed, Bansemer decided to keep on his guard. He
was ruthlessly searching the chancel when a deep groan caught his
attention. Presently, as he paused to listen, a dark figure leaped
towards him from a recess back of the altar. The flash of a pistol
blinded him, and momentarily, a sharp pain shot through his arm;
but he recovered in time to throw his tall frame forward upon the
slight, almost indistinguishable figure. There was a short struggle,
and before his comrades could reach him his adversary was safely
pinned to the floor. A moment later the torches in the hands of his
friends were burning brightly above the figure of his captive--a
slender boy who choked with terror and rage.
"Who the devil are you, my young friend?" asked Bansemer, holding
the boy at arm's length.
There was no answer from the tightly closed lips; and Bansemer shook
him a little roughly. Then, for the first time, he perceived that
he was not a Filipino. His skin was dark, but not the skin of the
native; the handsome, boyish face had regular features, European
in character.
"Spaniard?" inquired Bansemer, a trifle more gently; and again the
boy flashed a look of hatred into his captor's eyes.
"Look here, my young spalpeen," said Connell, gruffly; "Filipino
or Spaniard, if you want to save your hide, you'd better answer
questions--and no lies, do you hear?"
At this threat, a deep groan was heard to come from somewhere back
in the recesses of the chancel. The men were startled. Involuntarily,
the boy cast a furtive glance in that direction. Connell noticed
it, and leaving the boy with Bansemer, hurried away and soon was
looking down into the face of a prostrate man, young, but aged with
emaciation.
"You must not touch him! Don't you see that he is dying?" cried
the boy piteously in broken English. "He cannot fight you--he's
dying;" and then, in a perfect frenzy of rage to Bansemer: "Let me
go--pig!"
Not until afterwards did Bansemer recall that in the general
excitement it was the boy who dragged him along to the spot. And
in spite of the solemnity of the scene, there was something in his
manner of delivering the insult that amused rather than angered
the American.
"Plucky little devil!" he said, half-aloud.
Again the sick man groaned, tried to rise from the blankets and
speak, but only to fall back moaning. Connell cautioned him against
exertion and promised that no harm should come to either of them.
While he reported the discovery to Captain Groce, he had the man
carried to another part of the church and there made comfortable.
For the first time now, Bansemer began to notice the pain in his
arm. Somewhat angrily, he turned to the boy:
"Come! Give an account of yourself! How came you here?"
"Prisoners," was the sullen answer.
"Of the Filipinos?" Bansemer asked, in surprise.
"Yes."
"Then why did you try to kill me?"
"I hate you both! We Spaniards, have we not as much to fear from
you? What difference does colour make in brutes?"
"By the holy apostles! you're a gritty, young 'un!" growled the
returning sergeant. "Who's the other chap?"
"My brother--he's dying," said the boy, his voice softening. "Holy
Virgin, save him! For weeks, we've been in the hands of Aguinaldo's
men. He's been so ill, all the time; have you a doctor?"
"A surgeon will probably be with us before long," was the sergeant's
evasive reply.
Bansemer looked searchingly at Connell. What he saw in the other's
eyes caused him a sharp pang of grief. Both men turned their faces
away for a moment and it was with a gulp that Connell continued:
"Your brother will have the best of care if we get out of this
mess. You are both safe. We are not fighting the Spaniards;" and
then, pertinently: "So these were Aguinaldo's men?"
"Yes, he was here directing the fight," the boy answered.
"Aguinaldo here!" This and other ejaculations of surprise and
anger burst in chorus from every throat; but as suddenly they were
followed by expressions of chagrin. For, by contrasting the present
situation with that which they had anticipated, this information
had succeeded in intensifying their mortification.
But notwithstanding his share of the universal disappointment,
a hasty reflection of preceding events convinced Graydon that
personally he had little ground for complaint against the late
occupants of the convent. For unintentional as undoubtedly had
been the act through which at the very point of death his existence
had been preserved, there was no evidence to refute the hypothesis
that the shot which had killed his assailant in the plaza had been
fired by one of the insurgents under cover.
"Great Scott!" was the exclamation to which he gave utterance. "Once
more, I suppose, I owe my life to the blundering marksmanship of
a Filipino!"
This half-hearted acknowledgment of his strange indebtedness educed
from his companions no recognition other than a puzzled stare from
the sergeant and an enigmatical smile on the face of the young
Spaniard. Connell proceeded with his examination:
"Why did they leave you here?"
"They had no time to take us with them when you broke in," was the
boy's answer. "Aguinaldo was on his way to some village where his
family is in hiding. The scouts told him of your presence; then
he determined not to wait for Pilar, but to surprise you. We never
rested day or night. My poor brother--how he suffered!"
"Yes, yes, but why are they carrying you on a march like this?"
"My brother is the only man who knows where the Spanish gold was
hidden when our war was ended--I mean, the gold that came up with
guns and ammunition. Aguinaldo is looking for the hiding place. My
father, a high officer in the Spanish Army, died of the fever last
winter. We were stolen from our house in Manila by Aguinaldo's
men, and have been going from place to place ever since. We have
not told of the hiding place. The Americans do not need gold, no?"
The boy laughed sarcastically.
"How many men has Aguinaldo?"
"Three hundred or more. I would advise you to look out for Pilar.
He, too, may come at any moment."
Scarcely had the words left his mouth when a storm of yells came
from outside the convent; and immediately the boy rushed to his
brother's side.
"Great Caesar, there's a thousand of them!" cried Rogers.
Instantly every man made for the position assigned to him. The gun
was in readiness. Outside, the Mausers rattled, bullets coming from
all quarters and thumping sharply against the opposite walls with
a patter that warned the Americans against standing erect.
Occasionally, a scout would peep from a window and take a shot
into the darkness, but these ventures were few. All lights were
extinguished; the men fired at the spots from which burst the flames
of rifles, then dropped suddenly. After a while the firing of the
Filipinos dwindled into a shot now and them.
"Keep low! They don't dare risk a charge! Be ready to defend the
door!" Captain Groce commanded.
The night wore on, and, with the cessation of hostilities, confidence
increased. Reinforcements were not far off, and it did not seem
possible that the sounds of battle could not be heard. The men,
worn out by the exciting events of the day, were generally silent;
Sergeant Connell, however, was an exception.
"Get us I Not a bit of it!" he was saying. "The dirty, little cowards!
Major March will be here in the shake of a dead lamb's tail."
An hour later Bansemer, his rifle in hand, sitting near one of the
windows, suddenly felt someone tugging at his arm. Turning, he saw
the Spanish boy.
"Won't you come and help me to carry my brother behind the stone
altar wall?" he was saying. "He is exposed to the bullets and cannot
move himself."
"Willingly!" and Graydon followed his lead. As if he was a child,
he picked up the gaunt Spaniard and carefully bore him to the place
of shelter. But despite all that he could do to hide his suffering,
the pain in his arm, which the removal of the man had increased,
was such, for a moment, that he felt faint and staggered. The boy
was quick to notice it, and quickly asked:
"What is the matter? Wounded?"
"It's nothing--merely a scratch."
"Oh, I know--why, it's your arm--and I---" The boy's face crimsoned
with shame and contrition. Through the semi-darkness the blush
escaped Graydon's notice, but not so the truly feminine, little
shriek of dismay, as he touched and felt the wet sleeve.
"It was I who did it! Oh, how can you ever forgive me?"
Graydon, dumbfounded, stared in wonder.
"What?" he exclaimed; "you're a girl?"
"Yes--I'm his sister," pointing to the dying man; then, with some
embarrassment: "These clothes? They are the only ones they would
give me. You see a girl would have been a burden; a boy none at
all. Do you think that had I been a man you could so easily have
overpowered me? No!"
The slim, little figure drew itself up straight and defiant before
him. Despite the loose, ugly garments of the Filipinos, Graydon
noticed, for the first time, that the figure was perfectly moulded
and high-bred. She swept off the wide hat she wore, and the man saw
a mass of dark hair done up tightly on her head. But even while
he gazed her mood changed; she became subserviently anxious and
begged him to let her attend to his arm. She pleaded so hard that,
to please her, he yielded. Water was obtained from somewhere; the
slight flesh wound washed; and then, disappearing into the darkness,
to his amazement she returned almost instantly with some bandages
and dressed his arm.
While this surgical operation was going on, Graydon, for the life
of him, could not resist the temptation to ask her again why she
had tried to shoot him. At first, so terribly in earnest did she
take the question and beg for mercy, that he smiled at her; and
then, seeing his amusement, she said, coquettishly:
"How could I possibly have known that you were so nice? Besides,
I had always heard you Americans referred to as brutes."
Graydon laughed, then suddenly his face became very grave. The
realisation of her terrible situation had dawned upon him. A woman
among a crowd of rough soldiers! Her brother and protector dying!
And all surrounded by hordes of savage enemies who at any moment
might kill them! The thought dismissed all pleasantry from his
mind. Something must be done, and at once. Presently, he asked:
"What is your name?"
"My father was Colonel Ramos Jose Velasquez; that also is
my brother's name, except that he is not an officer. I am Teresa
Fortune Velasquez. My mother was English--a sister of Sir William
Fortune. She is dead. For ten years we have lived in Manila."
"You won't mind if I call the sergeant, will you?"
The girl nodded a slightly bewildered assent as Graydon moved
rapidly towards the others. Shortly, he returned with the gallant
Irishman.
"Senorita," began Connell, mopping his forehead and assuming his
most polite manner; "you are perfectly safe with us, and as quickly
as possible your brother and yourself shall be sent back to Manila.
You are a brave slip of a girl, and we boys respect bravery in
whatever dress--boy or girl."
She looked at him in grateful surprise and her lips trembled.
"But I am not your friend?"
"Possibly, senorita;" he bowed low with almost Chesterfieldian
grace; "but we are your friends."
Outside, once more the Mausers were rattling, and Connell, with a
word of parting hastily took his leave. Graydon, on the point of
returning to his post, was prevented by the girl.
"You were gentle with me even when I tried to---Don't risk your life
there. Shoot from that narrow gate," pointing aloft; "it's not so
exposed."
Bansemer dragged an altar chair up to the grated window and perched
himself upon it. The girl sat below him, holding her brother's head
in her lap. He was groaning and crying out to the soldiers to kill
him rather than permit him to fall into the hands of the natives
again.
Suddenly there was a great commotion, and crashing of timbers in
the front part of the church, followed by shouts and the rushing
of feet. Graydon dropped from his perch and ran forth into the
chancel. As he did so the banging of rifles close at hand deafened
him. In an instant he saw what had happened. The Filipinos had
charged the door and had forced it. They were crowding their way
into the church in the face of the deadly Krag-Jorgensens. The
chapel was lighted, but not from the inside. Cunning insurgents, in
the shelter of the walls, were holding great torches just outside
of the windows. Graydon could see his comrades firing at the door
from behind every conceivable barrier. Without hesitation he dashed
down the aisle and into the thick of the fray near the door.
The struggle was brief but fierce. The merciless fire of many Mausers
on the outside opened a way through the small band of defenders,
and the rush of the besiegers was successful. Through the door and
windows they came, swarming like bees. Many of them fell to rise
no more, but their comrades took an eye for an eye. Once confident
soldiers toppled over dead until but few were left. Bansemer led
them in a quick dash for the chancel, hoping that the enemy would
not dare attack a place so sacred.
Captain Groce and other officers had fallen; Connell became the
leader of the remnant. Bansemer stood squarely in front of the
altar and blazed away at the horde of Filipinos as they advanced.
They shot at him wildly and without effect; bullets crashed into
the altar decorations behind him. He stood there as one protected
by God, unharmed in the shelter of the cross.
Behind him his comrades cowered and cursed in their dread of certain
death. He heard the shrill cries of the girl urging him to protect
her brother. She was calling upon God and the Holy Virgin to aid
and shield him. And he stood there with a crazy joy in his heart,
savagely pulling the trigger of the Krag-Jorgensen. Finally the
hammer snapped with no report. As he turned back in consternation,
a small figure leaped to his side with a fresh weapon.
He shouted a word of warning to her and wheeled again to confront
the foe. Even as he raised the gun a great shout arose above the
noise of conflict. There was a mighty rush, a new banging of guns,
a sudden stampede and--the chapel was filled with men in khaki!