# Under MacArthur in Luzon/Chapter 27

CHAPTER XXVII
BEN'S HUNT FOR WALTER
"Captain Russell, here is news which will interest you!" cried Major Morris one day, as he rushed up to Ben, while the latter was cleaning his pistol and his sword.
"What is it, major?"
"Colonel Hare, after a chase of miles through the jungle, has succeeded in rescuing that party of sailors who were lost from the Yorktown last spring."
"That is certainly good news, major," was Ben's reply.
"But that is not all of it, captain. With the party were several other soldiers and sailors, and among them Si Doring, the young fellow who was lost with your brother Walter—"
Ben leaped forward anxiously. "Was Walter with them, too?"
"No, captain; his name isn't on the list. But this Si Doring may know something about him—"
​"Of course he'll know something. Where can I find him?"
"They are over at a village called Cotes, I believe. The colonel gave me the news."
"I am going to see Doring at once—if I can get off. Want to go along?"
"Sorry, but I can't go. You know I am getting ready for my enlistment in the regulars now."
"That's so; I forgot. And Gilbert is getting ready too. Well, I'll be sorry to lose you, I can tell you that."
Without waiting to say more, Ben hurried to headquarters, and half an hour later had permission to visit Cotes, taking with him several men for protection, for the mountains still held Filipino sharpshooters where they were least expected.
Half an hour's hard walking brought him to the place where the rescued ones were resting. He readily singled out Si, and called the young sailor aside.
"You are Si Doring," he began, and as Si nodded, he continued, "I am Ben Russell!"
"Ben Russell!" gasped the young tar. "Say, now, I'm downright glad to know you, Ben—seems like I've known you a long while—through Walter." And a hearty handshake followed.
​"But Walter—tell me of him, Doring."
"I can't tell you much. We went ashore together—you heard about that, I reckon."
"Yes! yes! He wasn't—wasn't—" Ben could get no farther.
"No, he wasn't killed by them heathenish natives. We both got away—by the skin of our teeth—and started to come over the mountains to Manila. We had a terrible rough time of it and were most dead when we fell in with these Yorktown prisoners. We helped some of 'em to escape, and in the darkness Walter and a sailor named Palmer got separated from me and the others. Then I was taken prisoner, and about a week later Palmer was recaptured. He said he had been with Walter and had left your brother in the bushes, with a bullet wound in his thigh."
"And did the Filipinos go back for Walter?"
"No; they were pushing on eastward as hard as they could, and they wouldn't listen to anything we said. Of course I didn't want to see Walter caught again, but I thought that would be better than to leave him alone when he was wounded."
"He must be dead!" groaned Ben, and could scarcely keep back the tears. Then he asked for ​Palmer and had that sailor relate all that had happened while he and Walter were in each other's company.
"Do you know where he was left?" asked Ben, after the story was finished and he had had time to collect his thoughts.
"I did not at the time, but some time later I heard from one of the natives that we had been in the vicinity of a town called Biloguana."
"Biloguana!" ejaculated the young captain. "You are certain?"
"That's what the native told me. Do you know the place?"
"I know of it. A party I once met—a woman named Garabella—came from there. Were you in sight of the town?"
"If we were, I didn't see it. We were in the bushes, you know."
Palmer could tell nothing more, and Ben walked away with a heavy heart.
"I wish I could help you, Ben." It was Si, coming after him, who spoke. "And you haven't told me anything of Larry. Is he safe?"
"Yes. He is on board the Charleston, I think. I am expecting a letter from him any day."
​"I don't know what I am going to do. I feel awfully lonely, now Walter is gone."
"Perhaps you had better apply for a position on the ship with Larry," answered Ben; and this Si did, when he was strong enough for active service. Larry hailed him as a brother, and soon made him feel perfectly at home.
Biloguana was forty-five miles away from the nearest American garrison, but determined to find out what had become of Walter at any cost, the young captain applied for permission to visit the town, taking with him his own company and a detachment under Gilbert Pennington. The proceedings were somewhat irregular, but Ben's record was first class, and General MacArthur gave the necessary consent.
General Lawton's command had been withdrawn to the vicinity of Manila, and the gallant commander himself had met death on the battlefield at San Mateo, on December 19, in the midst of a violent storm, and when the Filipino sharpshooters were out in force. Our troops were now scattered, holding many garrisons in Luzon and also isolated points in various other islands. Where Aguinaldo was nobody knew, but it was a fact that the death of his little child had been followed by the surrender of his beloved wife, ​so that now the self-styled Dictator was left almost utterly alone in the world. Many of his best friends advised him to give up the struggle, but he refused as stubbornly as ever to listen to such advice.
"I will never bow to the will of the American people," he is reported to have said. "We are as much entitled to our independence as they are entitled to theirs." Unknown to many, he was now planning to shift the seat of war again to the Laguna de Bay and the south side of Manila.
The trip which Ben undertook was one full of hardships, for in many places the roads had been utterly destroyed and even the wells were rendered unfit for use. No serious opposition was encountered excepting at the village of Santa Rio, where a handful of natives fired on them from two nipa huts. The natives were quickly put to flight, and those who were afterward captured were compelled to become litter carriers over the mountains.
When Biloguana was reached, the news that the Americans were coming had already been circulated, and every hut and house was surmounted by its flag of white, as a sign of truce. Yet Ben brought the command up with caution, so as not to be taken off his guard.
​On entering the town, the young captain at once set to work to learn if anything had been seen of Walter. At first he could obtain no information, but presently he met a native who directed him to the residence of Inez Garabella.
The woman saw him coming, and on recognizing him, ran swiftly toward him with hand outstretched.
"Capitan Russell, I am very glad to meet you again," she said, in her rich Spanish voice.
"And I am glad to see you, Señorita Garabella,*' he answered in his best Spanish, and with a low bow.
"I know why you have come to me," went on the lady, with a smile. "You have come to thank me for taking care of your brother Walter. But you must not thank me—it was so little to do after what you had done for me."
"I—I don't understand," stammered Ben. "Did you then take care of my brother?"
The Spanish lady looked bewildered in turn. "To be sure I took care of him, until he was quite well. Did he not join you at the American camp last week?"
"Join me? I have never seen him since he came on to the Philippines."
​At this the lady of the house uttered a faint shriek. "And I was so sure Garraand would see him to a place of safety," she sobbed. "Ah, what have I done? What have I done?" And she wrung her hands.
It was a good quarter of an hour before she could make herself perfectly understood to the young captain, and then her story was to the effect that she had placed Walter in the care of a faithful old man named Garmand, who had said that he could easily get the young sailor through the mountains to the nearest American camp. The two had left the lady's home six nights previous.
"I have been expecting Garmand back each day," she continued. "What can have happened to both of them?"
"Either shot or captured!" groaned Ben, and he heaved a long sigh. "Oh, why didn't I try to get up here a week ago!"
He questioned Inez Garabella further, and learned that Walter had left her home in perfect health, although still somewhat weak from his wound and the fever which had followed. She could not tell exactly what course the young sailor and his guide had taken.
​"It was good of you to take care of him," said Ben, later on. "He would have died on the hillside had you not done so." And then he added, "And now I have news for you," and told her about the capture of Friar Ponprè and the recovery of her father's will.
"It is wonderful!" she cried. "Wonderful!" And she came close to embracing him, but he backed out and shifted the subject.
As there was no use in hurrying back to the American lines, Ben and Gilbert, with the others, spent two days at Biloguana, much to the disgust of the natives generally. During this time they were entertained by Inez Garabella, who acted as if she could not do enough for them.
"She has an eye on you, Ben," said Gilbert, slyly. "Better beware."
"I am bullet proof, Gilbert," said the young captain, with a short laugh. " No Spanish beauty for me. An American girl will be good enough—if I ever think of getting married. Yet I cannot but admire her sincere friendship."
On the afternoon when the American soldiers were leaving the town, a native was brought in badly wounded. He proved to be the guide, ​Garmand, and was at once taken to Inez Garabella's residence. When able to speak, he told how he had been attacked in the heart of the mountains by a small detachment of Filipinos under the leadership of a Spanish general.
"I was shot down, and the young sailor was made a prisoner," said the old guide, in his native tongue. "They took him to the southeastward."
This was translated to Ben, and he asked if the guide knew who was in charge of the party. He was much astonished to learn that the Spaniard had been General José Lupez.
"My old enemy!" cried Ben to Gilbert. "I wonder what he will do when he finds out that Walter is my brother?"
"I am afraid it won't help Walter any," responded the Southerner, sadly. "But brace up, Ben; we've found out that he is alive, and that's something. Perhaps he'll come out of this scrape with a whole skin, after all."