The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-01-14
RAN INTO AGUINALD0.
- OFFICER ENCOUNTERED HIM
WHILE RECONNOITERING.

.n Sharp-ShOOter, But This Lieu
,.nnnt and His One Companion
rtt Not Court Instant Death by At
,.mptfng It-Their Only Care Was
- void DiscOvery-Saved just in
ri,,e by the Bursting of n She'll
-. ira L. Reeves, in st. Louis Globe
Democrat.
f. gs during the early part of the
..,t If June that my company was do
.... utmost duty on the north line at San
,rr.u,Io one of the largest inland towns
,, -ra Island of Luzon. We had been on
tho south line, but on the morning on
,,5i,b this incident took place were di-
battalion Of the same regiment on the
north Inc.
0nr arrival at the outpost was very
carly in the morning; so early that it
was impossible to distinguish a man from
high stump at a distance of 100 feet
THE law of the land was new to me;
hadn't The slightest idea of the contour
Of foot of the ground to be covered by
INV company. After getting my men prop
erIy stationed along the line, guarding a
front of about LOO or 1880 yards, l took
an od reliable sergeant with me and pro-
ceedeQ to reconnoiter the territory to my
front and to make a rough sketch map,
showing on ii what could of the Filipino
trenches and their outposts.
We started just as the sky began to
turn deep red in the East, and the
chuck me- chameleon, the harbinger of
the early dawn, began his morning chal-
lenge our progress was very cautiously
made through the cane fields, banana
groves and bamboo jungles, hating and in
vesugatins the slightest noise, the rust
ling of leaf or the breaking of a twig
not escaping our attention. First l would
take the advance and then the sergeant.
When we passed through cane fields, we
found the plowed grounds but little less
than marshes, for the rainy season had
Just begun with torrential showers, Our
bodies were soon soaked to the skin, for
the leaves of the cane and banana stalks
were burdened with water The cane was
a trihe higher than our heads and the
wide-spreading leaves of the banana hid
the sky from view.
Filipinos Suddenly Appeared.
After wading and splashing along to-
ward the Filipino lines for about 400
yards, We suddenly and very uneXpect-
fringed with bamboo on either side, with
quite a stretch of open ground beyond in
which was lying at the farther edge the
trenches of our enemies, which seemed 10
be at the time swarming with dusky sol
diers preparing their morning meal.
Believing ourselves not to have been OBJ
served, We withdrew a short distance from
the bamboo fringe into banana grove a
position that offered us concealment as
oil To
lions of the position of the trenches and
location of the outposts of the rebels.
was busy making copious notes and
my maps, while the sergeant, with my
field glasses, was making most wonderful
discoveries of masked batteries and gas
pipe cannon, when all of a sudden, a cav
alcade of insurgent officers, followed close
" by a large body of foot soldiers, ap-
peared down the road TO our left, where
there was slight curve, not more than
200 yards away.
What We're we to do? At that short dis
lance from our open-eared and alert re-
bellous fellow citizens, We could not beat
a pfecipitate retreat, or an orderly one,
without disclosing our presence; and that
lact once known to this body of armed
men meant almost certain death, or worse,
70 ne taken prisoner by this half-savage
oand. We held a hasty council of war
IN whispered tones. and decided to hold
our ground till the danger passed.
II was but moment till the little steeds
and their naughty riders were directly in
front of us, not fifty PAGES away, and to
our intense surprise, and discomfort, halt
eI' There they stood, with the first ray
ol the rising sun resting full upon them,
seventeen horsemen, officers, and Just back
OF them about 800 infantrymen. all within
stone throw of US. What made our
posluoh all the more precarious the in
4anti was standing at rest" and were
d. an soldiers do when first halted, look
ing IN every direction in search of some
sN'us-an enemy, fruit, stray porker or a
wi our chances of being discovered
were becoming momentarily greater We
couid plainly see them, so naturally. if
u'ey would but look in the right direction,
Uhty could see us. What may not 500 busy
eyes discover?
me danger of the mounted men seeing
Us was not so great, for they had dis
covered something interesting in our lines
""H We're active with their glasses looking
over our heads
AguinaIdO's STAFF Officers.
9.A'een of the officers We're dressed in
nsal blue uniforms of some thin cloth.
,""e-pflmmed sombreros, russell leather
's7Ihgs and clanking sabers dangling by
."ef sides, almost trailing the ground.
s-o'sh to make the eyes of a militia ma
yo' snap with envy. The other officer, who
oDe az the head, and the recipient of the
- oosequious attentions, a man about
.,l.Eue aged, with closely-cropped hair,
--'I, restless eyes, and somewhat lighter
5u'PleNloned than the average inhabitant
y, nose far-away tropical islands, wore a
r-4'-Httng uniform of khaki cloth over
& U-mnutive body, and helmet of the
p"e coior upon his weH-shaped head.
r'5 mount was a beautiful dapple-gray
"pho stallion, some larger than the
,,ei'sed-slze native animal and much
c c-2'' gorgeously caparisoned than the
n. MYERS. of the other officers This POM
i1s equipped commander wore at his
~. s'9e a most handsome saber, and on
c5 ,9 'ISHt he carried a revolver and field
loot soldiers were of the famous
W. ae Elite, Aguinaldo's bodyguard.
f, new them by their bright-red uni
Where Aguinaldo goes there they
ESQ They are his constant attendants.
Nf were, of course, all armed with
fties and laden with ammunition.
tb' we're so interested in the sight of