Adventures of a Boy Reporter

by Alfred Elwes

  CHAPTER XIX.

  RETURN TO MANILA--IN THE HOSPITAL--CONGRATULATED BY ALL--WRITING TO THE PAPER OF HIS EXPERIENCES.

  IT took the regiment much longer to march back to Manila than it hadtaken it to follow the rebels, for the wounded of both sides had to becarried, and the arrangements for carrying them were very imperfect.Fortunately, most of them were able to ride horses, and the officerswere successful in securing wagons enough to carry most of the others,but there were about a dozen who could neither ride horses or lie inwagons, but had to be carried on stretchers all the time. Of course thiswas slow work, and the officers were glad enough when they reached thetown with the three-story building. Here they found things very much asthey had left them, two days before, save that the inhabitants were moreabject than ever to them, now that they had captured most of the rebelforce.

  It wasn't an easy matter to find quarters for so many men, and some ofthe Filipinos were obliged to camp in the public square overnight, whilethe wounded and ill were given beds in the various houses of the town.The inhabitants were required to furnish food, too, for the Americanswere entirely out of almost everything. They still had some hardtack,but of meat and coffee there was none. The people of the town pretendedto be very glad to serve their "masters," but every one knew that thenatives would be only too glad of a chance to cut the throat of everyYankee soldier.

  The officers again occupied the old building which they had used duringtheir former stay, and Archie was invited to share it with them, forthey expected to rest in this town over the next day, before proceedingto Manila. The men's uniforms and equipment generally needed cleaningand repairing, and the colonel was anxious for them all to appear aswell as possible when they returned victorious to the island capital. Sothe next day was spent in cleaning and washing, and by evening mostof the soldiers looked as if they had never left Manila. Then came asurprise for every one, for into the town marched a regiment ofmilitia from Manila, sent out to see whether the first regiment neededreinforcements. They set up a great cheer when they learned that mostof the rebel force had been captured, and the night was spent in acelebration of the great event. A band was scraped up in the town, thegreat hall of the administration building was thrown open, and there wasdancing and music until an early hour in the morning. All the belles ofthe town turned out to welcome the soldiers, hypocrites that they were,and they danced with their enemies as readily as they would waltz withtheir own dear Filipinos. Every one seemed to have a good time, andthe soldiers went to bed just in time to get three hours' sleep beforestarting for Manila in the morning.

  It was a great sight to see the two regiments, with the prisoners, marchout of the town at five the next morning. They made a fine appearance intheir well-brushed uniforms and bright equipment. The townsfolk watchedthem out of sight, and then most likely cursed them for a lot ofvagabonds, but the soldiers didn't mind their curses. They were all veryhappy at the prospect of getting back to Manila again, and no one wasmore glad than Archie. He had somewhat recovered from his wound now, androde in his old place at the head of the column, where he was the centreof interest to every one. The men congratulated him on having provedsuch an excellent mascot, and he laughed and talked with them until hewas tired.

  The outskirts of the city were reached about five in the afternoon,and as they marched through the streets to headquarters a band of musicpreceded them, playing popular and patriotic airs. The sidewalks werecrowded with people, and Archie felt happier than for a long time,because every one was curious to know who that boy could be riding atthe head of the troops, alongside the colonel. He was known to most ofthe other troops in Manila, and received many a cheer from them as theysaw his arm in a sling, and when they finally reached the general'sheadquarters, he was honoured with a handshake and the congratulationsof the commander himself. This was the climax to a very happy day, andArchie went to bed in his little old bunk feeling that he was a verylucky boy for having been wounded in battle.

  Of course the next few days were very busy ones for all the men, andfor Archie, too. He was obliged to tell, over and over, the story of hisexperiences, and how he had managed to escape from the rebels whenthey had him. This story always made the men roar with laughter, andincreased their already strong contempt for the Filipino army. He told,too, about brave Bill Hickson, and that gentleman's cot was always thecentre of an admiring throng of visitors, who shook his hand and toldhim how proud they were of what he had accomplished. And all the poorhero could do was to smile feebly, for he was still too ill to talkmuch.

  Archie felt that he had almost volumes to write about his experiences inbattle, and he did send a very long account of this encounter to Mr. VanBunting. It was written in his boyish way, but one of the officers whoread it said that it was the best thing of its kind he had ever read,so he wasn't at all backward about mailing it. All the other newspapercorrespondents in Manila were wishing they had gone with the regimentand witnessed the battle, but they had stayed in Manila, thinking thatthis would be like the other expeditions of the kind, a mere wild-goosechase, which wouldn't amount to anything at all. They were all veryanxious to get the details of the affair from Archie, but he was shrewdenough not to tell them anything of value. And the other correspondentof the Enterprise in Manila insisted that Archie should send a cablemessage describing the affair, as well as a written account, and thishe finally consented to do. The correspondent added a long accountof Archie's personal bravery, how he had been wounded, and how he hadridden back to Manila at the head of the column. Archie would have beenvery much embarrassed had he known this, for he was still modest, butthe first thing he knew of it was from a letter he received a fewweeks later from Mr. Van Bunting, congratulating him on what he hadaccomplished, and telling him that he had long since more than earnedhis six hundred dollars. But for weeks he was ignorant that any one inNew York knew of his being wounded.

  The days now began to pass as before in the camp at Manila. The woundin Archie's arm was healing slowly, but he was hardly able to use thatmember for a month or six weeks. Bill Hickson did not fare so well. Helay for weeks on his cot in the hospital building, and was hardly strongenough, for awhile, to talk. He was improving slowly, but the doctorssaid it might be two months before he was able to walk about and takehis former active part in the campaign against the insurgents. Thisenforced quiet was very trying to the brave man, and Archie spent manyhours reading to him, and telling of various things he had learned atschool and elsewhere. This constant companionship served to strengthentheir already close friendship, and it was soon known among all thetroops that Bill Hickson and the boy reporter were inseparable. Andevery one who knew the story of their experiences looked upon them asthe two chief heroes of the war so far, because as yet there had beenfew feats of bravery in the desultory campaigning against the rebels.General Funston had swum the river, of course, but many held that noteven that feat compared with the bravery of Bill Hickson in serving asa spy under Aguinaldo's very nose. The more people heard about hisexperiences, the more remarkable they thought him to be, until at lasthe was by far the most popular man in the army at Manila.

  Archie sent many interesting letters to Mr. Van Bunting, telling of theadventures of the brave spy, and one day he received a cablegram tellinghim to send at least one of these letters by every steamer, for peoplehad become interested in hearing about him. So for some time Archiewrote about Bill Hickson rather than about himself, and was glad of theopportunity to do so. He knew that if a letter were published every weekor two in the Enterprise Bill Hickson would soon be famous, and this wassomething he was very anxious to accomplish. He felt that no fame couldbe too great for such a man, and no praise too strong.

  The commanding general decided, about this time, to begin a more activecampaign against the insurgents. It was now the month of December, andwith the beginning of the new year he wanted to inaugurate a series ofattacks against them in every part of the islands. He was beginning tofeel the criticisms of the papers at home, and of the
newspaper men atManila, and he felt that something must be done immediately to retrievehis lost reputation for active fighting. Every one, as soon as thisannouncement was made, wondered what plan would be pursued to worrythe rebels into submission, for it was now generally agreed that theAmericans would hardly be able to capture the whole rebel army. It wastoo evident that they were familiar with numerous hiding-places in theislands. The only thing to do seemed to be to prevent their gettingsupplies, and to drive them from one point to another, hoping that theywould become discouraged in the end and submit to the inevitable.

  So far the campaigning had consisted chiefly of such expeditions as thataccompanied by Archie, and most of these had returned to Manila withouthaving even seen a rebel soldier. It was not surprising, then, that thegeneral was becoming discouraged, and that he was anxious to try a newpolicy.

  No one knew what the new plan would be until one day several cruisersand gunboats made their appearance in the harbour. There had been nowar-ships at Manila for several weeks, and every one was surprised thatso many should arrive at once. There were rumours of a German onslaught,and also gossip saying that Japan had decided to interfere, but allthese were set at naught when the general announced that the war-shipswere to be sent around the islands to bombard the rebel villages, and todrive the rebel troops to the interior of the islands, where it would behard for them to receive supplies.

  This news made Archie very happy, and a plan at once occurred to him.Why shouldn't he and Bill Hickson be allowed aboard a cruiser? It wouldbe the best thing possible for their health, and he set about gettingthe necessary permit from the admiral.

  Bill Hickson was able to be about now, and he was overjoyed when Archiesaid he thought they could arrange to go. "I'd like nothing better thana voyage in the good salt air. I believe it will do me more good thana month in the hospital," he said. Archie secured a very strong letterfrom the general, and one day he stepped aboard the flag-ship in theharbour. He had no difficulty in seeing the admiral, and found him to bea very pleasant man to talk with. He read the letter carefully, and thenshook Archie cordially by the hand. "Yes," he said, "I've heard ofyou, and of your friend, too. Every one in Hong Kong knows how you twotogether bearded old Aguinaldo in his den, and robbed him of most of histroops. It did me good to read about it in the New York papers, too, andto know that you are both getting your just measure of credit for theachievement."

  Archie blushed, and assured the admiral that he didn't do very much,that it was all owing to Bill Hickson's bravery. "Oh, yes, I know,"laughed the admiral, "you lay it to him, and he will most likely giveyou the credit. I've seen your kind before. But I like you all thebetter for your modesty, lad. Of course you and your friend can have aberth aboard ship, and aboard the flag-ship, too, where I can see youboth very often. You can come aboard whenever you wish, and stay as longas you like."

  Archie could hardly thank the good officer for his kindness, and hurriedback to Manila. He found Bill Hickson waiting for him at the wharf, andthey rejoiced together over the good news.