The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-09-10

! A
pushed them ahead on the run, but the
trail was narrow and crooked, the under
brush thick, and they could not rush ahead
as fast as he could, even on unobstructed
ground. Just as luck would have it, nor
Filipino happened to be lurking along
there that afternoon-yet every second |
! 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 over 10
Cavite, across the bay, and the country
towards Paranaque lay unfolded before
our eyes Even as we stood there. the
mellow notes of a Filipino bugle came
floating on the breeze from a clump Of
bamboo perhaps two thousand yards away.
and there lay the insurgent outposts, and
there we could begin to trace 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 stretching away to both TANKS
Ovenshines brigade manning those to his
right-mine to his left-and then the Cali
fornians came bursting their way through
the underbrush, hot sweating, and say
ing swear words soto voce over the I'M
wonted speed and difficulty of their push
| through the jungle. Lawton smiled grim
ly, but said nothing, as we studied the
ground through our field glasses.
Facing SkfrInish Line.
Then the horses We're brought up by
belated orderely, and, mounting, we rode
| out eastward toward the bluffs overlook
ing the delta of the Pasig and the pic
turesque towns on the islands below. The
Californians were far from their base and
couldn't keep up with Lawton's huge
black horse. My pony had to trot or lope
"a hEaFfN l-uar
supports, with only one orderly and two
Tevolvers.
Wonders where they nearly shot my
boy, said Lawton, placidly, after we had
gone mile, and that had happened when
the slopes toward the river were dotted
with the sktrmishers of the Fourth Cav
airy.
All the line to the Pasig bluffs and back
the way we came not Filipino rife crack
ed, but the North Dakotas had caught
leht of us from their bivouac close to the
river, and had sent out a skirmish line to
see what was up. Lawton commended
their watchfulness. designated points for
their pickets 10 occupy on the ridge that
night, and sent them back to the PaSg
TWO miles away to get their blankets and
supper
Twenty minutes later, all on sudden,
and not more than 1900 yards away 10
the south, up popped a skirmish line Of
at least forty Filipinos, deployed facing
Us They had been watching us, evidently
for some time. and, seeing that the Da-
kotas had disappeared they boldly stood
up in plain view. The immediate question
was, will they attack? OF course we knew
that only a short distance behind them
lay the insurgent camps in the shelter OF
the bamboos, and Furthermore, that they
could speedily summon 100 to our one. The
little squad of Californians were still with
us, crouching or sprawled along the crest,
but Lawtou stood erect, his long legs
straddled wide, and calmly surveyed them
through his glass. If only forty advanced
we could probably stand them off with
our bakers dozen-the sergeant ana
twelve meanwhile Mills, our brave order
ly, galloped to the Dakotas for aid, but
they didn't advance, they didn't even open
fire. They merely wished us to under
stand, apparently, that we had better hot
come their way, and LawtOn began to
twitch in his eagerness for fight.
LawtOn Wanted to Fight.
One thing our corps commander espe-
cially had forbidden, and that was that we
should bring on battle while our force
ON the southeast line was so small. Inc
regulars had all gone to the north to re-
inforce Macarthur just then, and Only
thin line of volunteers interposed between
Noriels swarming camps and the Wdh'
OF Manila
Good Lordr said Lawton, what a
pity we let those Dakotas go! If they
were here now we could go down and clean
those fellows out in five minutes. Do you
think" and here he turned to me anu
then eyed the little squad of San Francis
cans.
He was more than half disposed to TOT.
get his major generalship, imagine himseiI
a subaltern again, and lead our 1.-THE dozeI
down to the attack. For a moment
thought the temptation might be too mucu
for him as our eyes met and grin en-
banded his sun-tanned face, but the Ne'-
eran Indian fighters "horse sense pres
emily rose superior to the troopers iusl
for a fight and with a sigh and more thdH
one regretful backward glance, ne re-
mounted and we rode away.
And Johnny Filipino never seemed 10
know how easily he could have bagged 4
brace of silver stars that hot March day.
and l was very glad he didn't
Charles king,
Brig. Gen, U. S. V.