The Hope pioneer. [volume] (Hope, N.D.) 1882-1964, 1900-05-24

for Mrs. Frost. She had barely glanced
at its contents before she was stricken
with a fit of trembling, tore it in half,
and tossed the fragments on the swift
ebblng tide, then rushed to her state
room. There she added a postscript to
the long letter penned to Margaret on
the voyage; and the purser, not her
husband. saw it safely started on the
Gaelic, leaving for San Francisco via
Honolulu that very day. That letter
beat the ordinary mail, for the Queen
was heading seward, wen as the Gaze
lie came steaming in the coral-guarded
harbor, and 4 little packet was tossed
aboard the new troop ship as she sped
away, one missive in it telling Witchie
Garrison that the MAJ whose life had
been wrecked by her sisters enforced
desertion was already in Manila await
ing her coming, and telling her, more
over, that the packet placed in Gen.
Drayton's hands contained only her
earlier letters. In his reckless wrath
Latrobe had told her that those which
bound her to him by the most solemn
pledges, those that vowed undying love
and devotion, were still in his hands,
and that she should see him and them
when at last she reached Manila.
Three mortal weeks had the sisters
been there together, and never once in
that time did Nita venture forth except
when under the escort of her black
browed husband or the protection of
her smiling, witching, yet vigilant Mar
garet. Never once had their house been
approached by anyone who bore resem-
blance to the dreaded lover. All along
the Gale Real, where were the quarters
of many officers, little guards Of regu-
lars were stationed; for black rumors
Of Filipino uprising came with every
few days, and some mems hearts were
failing them for fear when they
thought of the paucity of their num-
bers as compared with the thousands
of fanatical natives to whom the taking
of human life was of less account than
the loss of Il game chicken, and in
whose sight assassination was a
virtue when it rid one, of a foe. Already
many officers who had weakly yielded
to the importantly of a devoted wife
was cursing the folly that led him to let
her join him. The outbreak was i'm
minent. Anyone could see the war was
sure to come-even those who strovc to
Danish alarm and reassure an anxious
nation. And when 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 i%nsurgent army. The crowded
districts in the city, the nipa huts sur
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-
tots were hidden in every house.
Through the clergy, in some instances,
and foreign residents in others, the
statement was set afioat that every
American officers residence vas mapped
and marked, that the Tagals were told
Off by Eame-so many for each housein
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
ficers 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 rumor of Fill
ipino outbreak. She laughed at Frost,
who all too evidently believed in it and
was in hourly trepidation. 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 a win
some smile and word for the sentries as
she passed. 1t wasn't Filipino aggres-
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, white-coated, big-buttoned,
top-booted, impassive 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 wen family re-
sembling poor Latrobe; and Witchie
Garrison was beginning to take heart
and look upon that threatening letter
as a mao piece of bluff" when enc day
the unexpected happened.
ITO Be Continued.l