They had been used to rice and fish in their homes, yet they grumbled if they did not have fresh meat and bread and coffee on active service, and, more amazing still, their officers took their grumblings to heart, and fussed round to get their 274 food for them. When we reached Catbalogan we found that the Government had suddenly decided to make an attempt to put down the pulajan rising, and, the election being over, was even going the length of allowing the 14th Infantry to garrison some of the coast towns, although as only a few of these remained unburned, and their inhabitants were either dead or in hiding, the step did not seem likely to have much effect on the situation. 275 Outside, along the main street, nothing seems moving. Another, near by, is seeing how long it is possible to spend over the manufacture of a length of twine. There are many rumours in the town, and many theories and plans.
Every white man has a different tale to tell, a different scheme to expound.
According to some, the situation is grave, even alarming. The pulajanes are everywhere, every native is really in sympathy with them, and ready at a moment's notice to take a hand in the gentle game of bolo rushes. The Lord will know His own. Others favour gentler methods moral suasion coupled with the Child's First Reader, and, later on, the square on the hypothenuse and Emerson. And so it goes on.