Devils Lake inter-ocean. (Devils Lake, Ramsey Co., Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1905, 1900-02-02

uatlOu. AnQ Wnen the call TO arms
should sound, duty, honor and law
would demand each soldiers instant
answer on the battle line; then who was
to care for the women? The very serv-
ants in each household, it was known,
were In most cases regularly enrolled
in the insurgent army. The crowded
districts in the city, the nipa huts ur-
rounding the wealthy homes in the
suburbs swarmed with Filipino soldiery
in the garb of peace. Arms and ammu-
milton, both, were stored in the great
stone churches. Knives, bolos and pis-
tolls were hidden in every house.
Through the clergy, in some instances.
and foreign residents in others, the
abatement was set afloat that every
American officers residence was mapped
and marked, that the Tagals were told
of by name-so many for each house in
proportion to the number of American
inmates-and day after day, awaiting
the signal for their bloody work, were
native devotees greeted with servile
bows and studied the habits of the Of
fcers they were designated to fall upon
in their sleep and Stay without mercy.
Even women and children were not to
be spared; and many a woman, hearing
this grewsome story, trembled in her
terror. For a time, in dread of this new
peril, Mia Frost almost forgot the
other; but not so Margaret. She
scoffed and secuted the m of Fill
ipino outbreak. She laughed at Frost,
who all too evidently believed in it and
was in hourly t%repidation. He begged
that the guard at his quarters might be
doubled, and was totally unnerved
when told it might ever have to be re-
duced. Not so Mrs. Frank. She made
friends with the stalwart sergeant
commanding; always had hot coffee
and sandwiches ready for the midnight
relief; made it a point to learn the
name of each successive non-commis-
stoned officer in charge, and had q win
some smile and word for the sentries as
she passed. 1t wasn't Filipino agrees
sion that she feared. The men won
dered why she should so urgently bid
them see that no strangers-Americans
were allowed within the massive
gates. There were tramps, even in Ma
Mia, she said. When the sisters drove,
their natty little Filipino team flashed
through the lanes and streets at top
speed, the springy victoria bounding
at their heels to the imminent peril of
the cockaded hats of the dusky coach
and footman, If not even to the seats Of
those trim, w~hite-coated, big-buttoned.
top-booted, impressive little Spanish
bred servitors. The carriage stopped
only at certain designated points, and
only then when a group of officers stood
ready to greet them. Not once had they
been menaced by anyone nor ap-
preached by any man even family re-
sembling poor Latrobe; and Witchie
Garrison was beginning to take heart
and look upon that threatening letter
as a mad piece of bluff" when one day
the unexpected happened.
The men Of the house, Frost and
Garrison, were accustomed, when the
latter was at home, to breakfast to-
gether quite early. Then the colonel
would drive off to the Ayuntamiento
in tho walled city, and Frank would
mount his pony and ride away to his
long days duties. Later the sisters
would have their leisurely breakfast,
secure in the protection of the guard,
would give their Chinaman chef his
orders for the day, and send him off to
make such purchases as were possible
in the now scanty market. Then read
ing, writing, receiving callers of their
own sex would fill up the morning.
There would be a brief siesta after
luncheon, an hour or so on the broad
veranda overlooking the sparkling bay,
then dress and the inevitable drive.
Of Armstrong they had seen nothing,
heard next to nothing. He was busy
with his men over toward East Pace.
Of Billy Gray of late they had seen
rather too much. On one pretext after
another he was now forever coming
to the house, and Witchie was begin
ming to wish hat Canker had had his
way; but Canker had failed dismally.
The witnesses he counted on proved
dumb or departed, and it had pleased
the general-in-chief to send him with
a regiment of infantry and a brace OF
guns to garrison an important point
on an adjacent island, and to tell him
that in view Of the impossibility of his
s~ubstantiating his charges against
Gray the youngster had some shadow
of excuse for his violent outbreak.
Rather than bring up a scandal it was
best to drop the matter entirely. Gray
had been sent to duty with the -teenth
before he was thoroughly well, and
a good-hearted battalion commander,
taking pity on his obvious change for
the worse, had found occasion after the
first ten days at the front to send him
back to quarters in Malate. instead OF
necessarily on duty along the threat
ened line toward Singalon church; and
while he seldom came in the evening
when numbers Of visitors were pres
ent, the boy had a way of dropping in
between three and four, when he could
generally count on a few moments, at
least, alone with Mrs. Frank. She had
nursed him we'll in his slow GONZALES
LII ---Jo dow .-~1eesNr m