The National tribune., 1900-08-09

was no suggestion of it in their careless
grouping about the company kitchen while
eating their supper of rice, bacon, pota-
foes, coffee and hardtack, with little
extra in the shape of green mango sauce,
nor in the ceaSeleSS flow of army wit at
the eyDense of everybody from the conf
pany cook to the Commanding General,
vet il was there. The entire command
stationed at this exposed place was per-
yaded with an undercurrent of dlstruSt
of the safety of sentineIs on outpost duty,
growing out of some exciting scenes and
tragic experiences of the previous night,
when the camp had been attacked IN the
darkness and some of the men on out
post cue off and killed with bolos.
1.-The Kid" had but Just reported for
duty that day for the first time since the
outbreak. having been for several weeks
in the hospital, and the First Sergeant
had promptly detailed him for outpost
duty, thus thrusting him for his init;a-
ton into actual campaigning into the very
hardest and most nerve-trying position
that falls to the lot of the soldier the
lonely vigil under the silent stars far
beyond the limits of the camp in the d.
rection of the enemy. The situation would
have been trying enough in any event to
q mere boy suddenly transferred from the
hospital to the picket line of an army IN
the field, with an intermediate stop Of a
few days in the purgatory of Camp Cold
foot, but it was made doubly SO by the
talk of the men about what had so re,
Gently happened. All day long he had
listened to stories of the night attack, most
of them grossly exaggerated for his espe-
cial benefit and highly imaginative; how
this man had escaped back to camp by
miracle; how that one had suddenly seen
q whole line of Filipinos loom up III the
darkness but a few yards in front, ana
firing his gun to alarm the camp had run
back at the top of his speed, just touch
l,.a Inf.I. 1t.,Nds INV
signal balloons had been sent up on Doth
sides of camp just before the attack be-
gan, and how the mangled bodies of four
sentinels who had been surprised and
hacked to death with bolos had been
brought in at daylight. The Kid mad
seen these bodies on his way out to the
front from Manila, and now, as he sat
on a rice ridge listening to the talk and
trying to relish his supper, unpleasant VS.
ions of those mutilated forms tloated be-
fore his mind. He was aroused from his
abstraction by the Corporal of his squad
calling to him that it was time to get
ready to go on duty, as the outpoStS were
to be stationed as soon as it was dark,
and darkness comes on with rush after
sunset in the tropics.
This was the first news to the company
at large that he had been detailed for duty
on his first night in camp, and the men
promptly proceeded to make life mlser-
able for him for a few minutes. They de-
picted the dangers and horrors of q night
attack in still more vivid colOrs than be-
fore, and dwelt especially upon the almost
certain death of sentinel on outpost II
he was surprised. They advised him to
take along a blanket to wrap around his
feet; to prop his eyes open with a stick,
and especially to look out for signal bal
looms and take shot at them on sight, for
when those things appeared he might ex-
pect a line Of Filipino soldiers to swoop
down upon him the next minute. be
dumped his uneaten supper into the waste
box and gave his meat-ration can and TIN
cup douse into the water jar by way of
dishwashing, and hastened to his tent to
put on his equipments. The last thing he
heard as he came out again and fell ia
line with the guard detail was the inJunc>
ton to Keep your eye peeled for them
balloons, for if one of them fellers gifts
hold of ye it's all off with ye," followed
by general laugh of the valiant ones,
who found relief for their own nervous
ness in adding to that Of another.
A few minutes later The Kid" and
eight others, under command of Cor
open rice field, in the angle of two rice
ridges, from which three sentinel posts
were thrown to the front about hundred
yards, spreading to the right and left like
a fan. He was placed on post number
one, on the first relief, and was stationed
IN lHe aUSIt DI Two IlurtS IbouL al
hundred feet from road running by the
post in the direction of the enemy. During
his first tour of duty of two hours moth
ing special occurred, and at 10 O'Clock he
was relieved and returned TO the CosSacii
post to sleep for four hours; out his rest
was broken by disquieting dreams Of night
attacks and bolomen, and he was s:geral
times awakened by shots fired On other
outposts, each one of which made HIM
think the expected attack was coming.
When he was aroused to go on post again
at 2 o'clock by the Corporal be was in a
highly nervous condition, yet with no
thought in his mind OF showing ii or shirk
ing his duty. Over in the woods, across
the rice field, mile or more down the
road leading by his post, the dogs were
bowling in a prolonged chorus, and he
yentured to ask the Corporal if this did
not indicate that they We're disturbed by
people passing along the road, possibly
Filipino troops. The Corporal was a sen
sible man, and did not try to stimulate
his fears, as most of his comrades would
have done had he asked them the same
question, SO he replied that the bowling
of dogs around deserted and burned Fill
pino huts was one of the common noises
of the night, and signitied nothing in par
ticular, and that he would soon get used
to such things. In spite of this assurance
he was still impressed that this continuous
bowling all on one side of camp meant
SpecIdl pIDNOcdtlOU III tUIL ulltcllDU, InO
he listened eagerly for some other noises
Indicating the approach of an enemy,
while he strained his eyes into the dark
ness TO catch the first sight of q moving
object.
Just across the road were several
clumps of bamboo, their gracefully bend
ing trunks reaching 60 feet into the air
and gently grating against each other as
they swayed in the breeze. This grating
noise passes unuoted among the multitud-
inous sounds of the day, but in the still
ness of night it is quite distinct, and it
was a new sound to the unframed ears
of the young sentinel. He listened in
tently to discover whence it came, and
soon located it III the trees, and little
more listening satisfied him that it came
from the motion of the trees themselves
and was not caused by the movements of
any enemy; yet it had served to render
him still more nervous. Suddenly there
was q gathering in the nearest clump OF
trees, such as would be made by a gun
barrel being thrust through the dry
branches, and he hastily dropped to the
ground behind the rice ridge and brought
his Springfield to bear upon the trees ex
pecting a shot to be fired from them, We,
he had enough self control not to pull the
trigger. He feared the ridicule of his
companions for firing at 4 mere noise, lit
tie knowing that most of them boasteG
that they always fired when they saw ol
heard anything suspicious, and that tht
shots he had heard on other posts hat