The San Francisco call., 1899-04-01

ing our revolvers. began to plug away at some
sharpshooters behind the stone wall 100 yards
distant. owe soon drove them out The dead
were lying all about u.s. and burning shacks
We v; We're standing on a road. keeping our
eyes eTen sfOr sharpshOoters when we saw two
shoot. Before they could shoot some Tennes-
see boys by my side filed them with lead
one of the boys walked over and picked up
rifle, remarking he came back;
Wall / kinder sorter hated to shoot those
fellows. but I reckon it had ter be did. They
The artillery seldom get to see any of their
work. but we We're right in the thick OF IL for
a time l our boys shoot q sharpshooter
al we reached the top of the hill. He jumped
out of his hiding place ana sprans away IKE
deer down the hill \ half-dozen spring
fields rang out and the sharpshooter's 5 last leap
landed him IN eternity.
Along in the afternoon We reached the top Of
the hill and planted our guns out on a point
where the hot tropical sun beat down upon us
hercely. Toward evening we got a llttle 1000,
since the night before.
ab3but a great stone reservoir, which was Gov
er5A and made sort of a fortress. | went on
gtird at dark with a raging headache and
goipg on all about US, but a IelloW soon pc
comes accustomed to such things and pays but
little attention to them. During the night our
other guns came up.
The next morning (Monday, February s. We
began another advance Inside OF mile we
were again on the firing line Inc hrst lntIha- l a
ton had of this was a shower OF bullets
from our left. 4 ditch runs along by the side
OF the road there and we all plunged into II.
The Insurgents sent UP a yell of delight as
they evidently thought they had killed all
our infantry had dropped down the hill below
us and had taken a position in gully Ihe
enemy held ridge and hillside a few hundred
Yards from US and it was with difficulty that
ss,3oLeI.ss nowder When we did locate them
we threw our four guns around for action and
in a short time Filipinos were Tying IN all
di7ections-except ours. one shell struck in a
Hft4rl and aalA
OF insurgents to the four winds.
Right at this point I made the prettiest duck
on record. We had just got the command
Action Left and three of US jumped for
our gun and threw il around. B-r-r-r went the
bullets so close that the wind tanned my 7
broke the record for long tackle, as l threw
myself full length on the ground One does
such things before he thinks.
From then until We arrived here we were
AT the time Of writing Burnett was in the
fields eleven miles from Manila, on the Mara
quina River water works.l
Our destination was the city water works.
which the insurgents held, and they had shut
off the supply of water from Manila This Is
the pumping station, and is eleven miles from
Manila. We had to come out through roll
ing country of wooded ridges, with open val
leys. The only reason we were not all killed
was that the insurgents are poor shots-but
they hit sometimes.
A half mile back the enemy made their last
stand and for a halt hour they held their
ridge crowned with Notifications and had to
ue driven out at the point of the bayonet. Some
OF them would actually hold their ground until
our boys were within twenty feet of them be
fore they would run-and then God pity them.
Our boys are brave, and 1 want to say right
here that the grandest sight ever permitted a
mortal 20 gaze upon is to see a thin skirmsh
line walk up in the face of a whitening fire;
not a man faltering; the line advancing with a
mechanical precision as though it is on exhi-
bition drill Once in a while gap is made; a
couple of arms are thrown in the air for an
instant a fleck of cardinal leaps out on the
blue shirt, and then there is work for the
Hospital Corps
The day after our last skirmish the burying
one spos. The firing line was over mile
long and tie dead and wounded were lying
along the entire length.
just before we got into this fight we came
upon sad spectacle. One of our battery boys
had heen captured that morning and they had
murdered him by the side of the road. His
body was horribly mutilated.
Ones feelings under fire are curious. Fear
passes away except dread that one may be
driven back One looks at others and admires
them, and thinks that everybody is brave but
himself. You wonder why a man standing be-
side you remains there; you think he ls foolish
and probably tell him to get down.
for a while The boys tell great stories about
them. They started back for Manila with 200
prisoners. When they reached the city they
had 200 chickens instead. but none Of the pris-
oners had escaped. They sang Marching
Through Georgia" and other patriotic airs as
they marched ID along along and we gave it back to
Burnett does not complain much. but
he expresses himself in the language OF
another, War is hell and hopes he will
be back at Stanford next fall to play foot
! ball. He is young giant. weighing 20C
pounds, and has magnificent pair OF
his company as he was of his football
team.