Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-09-09

could not reach them. The regulars, how
ever, came with their long -ranged
"kraSs." and about the first thing Lawton
did was to order the selection of a dozen
crack shots from each company in the LIST
Brigade, and for these he obtained our lat
est model of magazine rifle.
LawtOn's PIucky Son.
This placed us better terms with 1.-The
little brown men, and now Lawton was
ready for an aggressive move. A most
gifted correspondent of a great New York
periodical closed a capital description OF
the general with the information that he
was bachelor. yet the first time Lawton
reconnoitered that ridge a chip of the old
block, a gallant little fellow in his early
teens, followed his fathers movements on
Filipino pony and took his baptism of
fire from the insurgent Mausers far more
cooily, | dare say, than did the devoted
wife and mother three miles away in Ma
Mia the news that her boy had more than
one close shave that afternoon. 1t was
Gods mercy that spared them BOTH for
the underbrush down the westward slope
was full of lurking Tagals. and Lawton
had only squad of troopers to escort him.
A day or two after he rode the old line
with me to get acquainted" as he said.
with the officers of the list Brigade. and
after We had reached Haystack Knoll and
the earthworks in advance of Cemetery
Height, what did he do but diSmOunt, Strad-
die the trenches and go stalking out over
the rice fields straight toward little height
that had never been without it's Filipino
sharpshooters until our fellows got their
Kraigs, and might still harbor a batch of
them. He got over the ground like a stag
hound with long. springy strides, and or
dering a dozen Californans to follow and
to cover the front as quickly as posi-
BILE, ! chased after him. He reached the
top without turning a hair and proceeded
to climb and stand erect on big rock at
the summit-a mark that could be seen for
miles around. l got there blown" and re-
bukeful. After five minutes survey he slid
down and again strobe away toward the
ridge that spanned the horizon directly to
the south. Only our scouting parties had
crawled thither before.
Bullets Did Not Scare Him.
Our Californians looked concerned at his
utter neglect of all precaution, as pushed
them ahead on the run. but the trail was
narrow and crooked, the underbrush thick,
and they could not rush ahead as fast as
he could, even on unobstructed ground.
Just as luck would have 1t, not a Filipino
happened TO be lurking along there that
afternoon-yet every second l expected to
hear the crack of a Mauser or the sudden
rush from their lair of an armed party
bent on our capture. Once at the top we
could see clear to Cavite across the
bay, and the country toward Paranaque
lay unfolded before our eyes. Even as we
stood there. the mellow notes of a Filipino
clump of bamboo perhaps 2.uO yards away,
and there lay the insurgent outposts. and
there we could begin to trace a long line
of intrenchments, stretching away to the
southwest across OVenShine's front. Far to
the west we could descry the stout little
earthWork built by Hawthorne'S gunnerS
around a beautiful grove on the extreme
right of my line. with the trenches stretch
ing away to both fianks-Ovenshine' bril-
gade manning those to his right-mne to
his left-and then the Californans came
bursting their way through the underbrush,
hot. sweating and saying swear words
difficulty of their push through the jungle.
Lawton smiled grimly. but said nothing
studied the ground through our field
glasses.
Facing a SEirmish Line.
Then the horses were brought up by a
belated orderly, and, mounting, we rode
out eastward toward the bluffs overlooking
the Delta of the Pasig and the picturesque
towns on the islands below. The Caifor-
mans We're far from their base and couldn't
keep up with Lawton's huge black horse.
long We were far from any supports with
only one orderly and two revolvers.
wonders where they nearly shot my
10y" said Lawton placidly after we had
some mile, and that had happened when
the slopes toward the river were dotted
with the skirmisherS of the 4th Cavalry,
All the line IA the Pasig bluffs and back
the way we came not a Filipino rifle crack
ed, bet the North Dakotas had caught sight
of us from their bivouac close to the river
and had sent out skirmish line to see