The sun., 1900-02-06
WITH LUZON OUTPOSTS
JUST FOR ONE Day
Simply a Pen Picture Of Daily
Life Of a Soldier-.-Eyery-
one will Appreciate.
BY GEORGE B. RODNEY
The Brave New Castle Lieutenant
Tells of the Episodes Among
the American Soldiers
Who Want a Crack
at"Aggie."
BY GEORGE b. RODNEY, U. S. A.

BY GEORGE b. RODNEY, U. S. A.
A faint gray mist rises from the rice
swamp, long lines of heavy fog from the
valleys The bases of the hills become
visible inch by inch.
Banana and palm trees gradually as
sumo their correct proportions and the
dew and rain drop from the lance-shaped |
leaves OF the bamboo with increasing
regularity. A wind sghs through the
Jungle. The East lightens; cold gray
| light at FIRST and when one looks again
the sun is up and
| ''The dawn comes up like thunder"
with rush, and almost clang, SO glar-
ingly does it come.
Shadowy figures in the fog show the
water buffalo moving to their grazing
ground, each with a native child upon
| its back Birds chatter in the jungle and
tiny green lizards bark at each other
across the wet, smoky rocks.
/ There is flash in the East, where
the sun rise and loud roar from the
West where gun from the flagship
Baltimore tells that another tropic day
has begun. y
Everything is wet, and the men in
outposts have difficulty in finding wood
dry enough to kindle fire. Mia nuts,
however, abound, and one or two pieces
of bamboo heat the CT flee and the men
II in the examining post eat their break
fast Of coffee, hardtack, bacon, with per-
haps some fruit, before the days work
begins.
The sun is hardly up when the traffic
across the lines begins. 1t runs some
what like this:
Il A long line of women and little chill
/ dren appears, each carrying bundle on
, the head, their yellow feet pattering soft
. ly in the mud. They gave "Bueno
.diaz', to the sentry and try TO pass. But
, Eit is not 30 easily done.
IL they 40 toward Manila women and
. children can'pass, carrying all the; food
, tthey desire. III they 60 into the country,
! only two pounds of food literally. per
!. cspita) is allowed. When they 10 into
! the country they are unusually polite,
adding '.muoheo amigo" to the saluta-
Q tion.
q Then comes bad quarter Of an hour
for the embarrassed sentry. he knows
! yery we'll that each of these ten womer
o has from five to ten pounds OF ric'
q hidden in her scanty clothing some
where. But how to get 1t ne does no
= know.
So he halts the detachment, calls tn,
IN sergeant and then the officer of the out
:. post is summoned from the shade of TIN
er bamboo clump, where he is smoking an,
= trying to keep the mosquitoes away witt
y his helmet.
e "El teniente primera," says one. The.
- are not an attractive party. Most O
e them smoke cigars, all chew betel nut
carrying the nut wrapped up in a lea
'n with a quantity of white stuff, like lime
- Every now and then they expectorat
Us the blood-red juice Of the betel nut i
~ generous profusion about them.
n. ~ They have already explained to th
u! sentinel and the sergeant and now swes
ol Justify in Tagalo at the officer. He bow
" and addresses them in his best Spanish
7, II Ii is not understood. The density Of
~ ~ Tagalo brain when it does not want
NJ understand, cannot be surpassed. Fina
T. y ly the officer loses his temper. ,.
;ati "Yuu take that off" he says, pointir
y. ~ to the noisest woman of the group. ST
~ screams and backs away.
a. .'Yo no tenga uada," she says.
us "Take it off," he repeats. Finally
he bags of rice is produced amid black lool
at- from the party.
Il seems simple, but all know th
that rice would go straight to the /
cd through when possible.
at This occurs not once, but twenty tim
he daily.
,p- A "linmbri'' comes next with his ty
nd bundles of grass across his shoulder
be They Weigh perhaps $50 pounds.
sps He comes out early iii the day, Gu
ad- his grass, ties it up into neat bundl
nix about the size of a bunch Of asparagr
srt, loads himself up aud carries it five mil
on into Manila, where he sels it for o
bly, dollar. He has his cedula ddentiit
ach tion card) aud his pass, So he &c
the turough.
At noon the examining post on T
road is surrounded by men who bri
J. great Jars of buffalo milk 70 the lin
Other bt arers come from Manila and b
res it. In this way the milk supply of
city is kept up.
These nen require careful watch
lice they vi exchange jars and genera
I,ief some communication ABOUT our iorces,
fire news f the insurgents. So they me
The ute out the milk IN tiny oampoo Gu
,yce thrustiDg grlmy nnger INTO each W
and sure gnod measure. :,
de- So the work keeps up all day,
oue GUS in dry weather, but 80 lar
eral We al her is not dry. No tents are ALLOW
pst. on the outposts, 40 when rainsto
lem c, mes up, which happens half doi
heir times a day, every one gets wet to
skin.
med Even the aky here is lazy and does
4 re- often take the trouble to cloud up bel
a storm.
d to Finally night comes, just as the da
no came, ith IN twilight
"At one riist crn,.s the dark "
work Aud timn ~ b-t,u,vrs the uutp VI
be ON the qui ,ise.