The sea coast echo. [volume] (Bay Saint Louis, Miss.) 1892-current, 1900-05-26

bUdt W hdS IONCiSo VIM 'tbiStiI
and danger, but he had forgotten
his troubles and was at rest and
his faith!ess wife had became &
widow before they succeeded il
manning the life BOAT.
We had the 29th Infantry band
along with our part of the regi-
ment and we had a concert every
day to break the monotony, if
there happened to be any aboard,
which | doubt very much, as all
the officers and boys had a high
old time all the way over.
By the wayI [ had forgotten
to mention that we had a stowa-
way aboard our transport. She
was young lady, dressed in male
attire, from San Francisco, Cal,
and claimed to be a newspaper
correspondent. Colonel Hardin
gave orders that she be left at
Honolulu. She went ashore there
and about day and night after
we had left that place, lo'and, be-
holdi our mascot appeared on
deck, still in the guiSe of a male.
She passed for a man for several
days. but was unfortunate enough
to become i'll and require the as
sistance of physician and her Sc
cret was discovered. The Colo
mel was angry when she reappcar-
ed on the ship, but it did not do
any good. The little woman had
outgeneraled him and was deter
mined to wear the breeches to
Manila in spite of all that could
be done or said. But the Colonel
did not show the white feather, he
gave orders for her to be placed
under arrest and confined to her
stateroOm, with a sentinel at the
window and one at the door. The
Colonel vowed that he would
hand her over to the proper Gus
todian of the iron heel of the law,
that she might receive the just
peualty of her crime. But again
the weathcr-beaten old Colonel
was reckoning without the little
woman that was determined to be
the heroine Of the situation, even
If it sent the good old transport, |
City of Para, to the bottom of the !
Pacific ocean, and every soul on
board besides. But during the time
these events transpired we were
nearing our destination and were
all eager to see who was going to
be the Napoleon of the situation,
the stern old Colonel or the lit /
tie woman IN breeches. Well, we
did not have long to wait. for the
good ship had about completed
her voyage of nine thousand miles
across the foaming waters of the
Pacific ocean. and on the evening
Of November 3, 1899, we steamed
INTO the beautiful harbor of Ma
nila, which is 30 miles long and 15
miles wide, and seemed to be
walled in or surrounded by great
except the side on
which the city of Manila:5 situat
ed. 1t was a beautiful sight, The
grim old walls of the Wall City
we're most picturesque. The great
walls Of the Fortress, with It's
port holes seemed to
frown down upon us through the /
gathering gloom of night as if it
was endowed with the very soul
of General Wheeler, but of course
that Imagination was only result
of an association of ideas.
The beautiful city extends for
miles along the bay. The gloom !
soon thickened into night and the
beautiful panorama disappeared,
and nothing was to be seen except |
the hundreds of lights that shown
from the vessels and from the |
city through the dark mists of the |
night like so many stars. But !
this glorious sight of magnificcnce !
to our view by Dame
Nature had no effect whatever
upon the indomnitabIe old iron
willed chlcftain which would cause
him to relent toward the little wO-
man in breeches that dared to de-
fly and ignore his military author
tv. That was an offence the Col
Onel could and would not tolerate
from any one, so he ordered two
additional sentinels that night,
but that did not cause a shade of
disappointment to the sunshine
of her hopes of an early deliver
ance. In the meantime a little
secret meeting was heldin a small
room way down in the stern Of the
boat, where the propeller seemed
to be busy trying to knock a hole
through the bottom of the ship.
The object of that little meeting
seemed to be for the purpose Of
discussing ways and means for the
deliyeraucc Of the CoIonel's pris
oner. Well, the plot was laid,
and the Pacific was crossed, and
the little wOman.in breeches en-
tered the city of Manila both in
triumph and in a large basket of
soiled napkins, sheets and table
cloths; and next morning, when
the officer of the guard came to
post the relief and assume the re-
sponsible charge of the ColoneI'o
prisoner they knocked on the
door, but as there was no response,
the door was opened. On the bed
that the brave little woman had
occupied during her imprisonment
seemed to be the reposing form
of the person in question wrapped
in the coyerletts, but as it was 50
still the officer of the guard
thought she might meet q horrible
death all alone of heart failure,
attouonta6 tn awaken the motion