The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1900-03-30
CHAPTER XIII.

CHAPTER Mi.
Still another expedition was destined
to start for Manila, and keen was the
rivalry among the regiments held to
daily drill at San Francisco. The rumor
was current in the camps that the next
review was to decide the matter, and
that the commands pronounced to be
foremost in discipline and efficiency
would be designated to embark. The
transports that had conveyed the ear
lier expeditions to the Philippines be-
gan to reappear in the bay, and coaling
and refitting were hurried to the ut
most. The man most eager to get away
was Stanley Armstrong; and If merit
were to decide the matter it was con-
coded among the volunteers that in
point of style and equipment the
"Primeval Dudes" "held over" all COM
petitors, even though every competitor
believed itself more than match for
the Dudes II actual campaigning and
fighting were in contemplation. Sen
ators and members from the states
represented by the volunteers at San
Francisco led burdensome lives, for Of
ficers and men were pulling every wire
to secure the longed-for orders for an
immediate voyage TO Manila, when, all
on a sudden, the hopes of all were
crushed. Spain had begged for peace.
"No more men can be sent to Manila"
said the officials consulted, and Camp
Merritt put on mourning forthwith.
But Armstrong had been studying
the situation and was not easily daunt-
ed. He was man whose opinion car
ried weight, and from the very first he
had maintained that while $4,000 or 90
900 might be men enough to hold Ma
Mia, $4,000 might not be enough to sub
due at once the forces of Aguinaldo in
case they should turn upon the Ameri-
cans, which, said he, placidly, they will
most certainly do before we are n year
older
The Dudes, therefore, much to their
disgust, were kept steadily at work.
Other regiments, profting by example,
followed suit; but in others still, a
small proportion of their membership
believing, as they said, that the Zig
was up" took 20 lawless and unhal-
lowed expression of their disgust and
became thereby a nuisance 10 the
! neighborhood. San Francscans, who
had wept copiously when others sailed
away, would have seen these patriots
sent into exile without shedding Il tear,
Every man of this command will
| yet be needed and yet be sent said
! Armstrong. So, too, did the veteran
| division commander, and the brigade
took heart accordingly The last of the
! regulars, with the recruit detachIaents
for regiments already in the Philip
| pines, had been shipped to Honolulu,
| there TO await orders, and September
seemed destined to 60 by without a
change for the better in the prospects
of the men still left in camp about the
! reservation. The Primes, convinced at
| last that the boy they sought was not
J to be found in California, had gone to
! Santa Anita visiting their kindred, the
Lawrences; and Armstrong, buckling
down to hard and constant work, was
striving TO persuade himself that he
! did not care that the mornings no long
er brought with them the carriage and
the fair face of that gentle girl; the de-
partment commander himself had gone
to take a look at his new responsible
| tiles in Hawaii; little Mrs. Garrison
still held court, though with dimin-
ished retinue, at the Preside, when one
| day, just as October was ushered in,
there came message from the adju-
tant general in town. Would Arm
strong drop in at the Office at the first
opportunity? A matter of some inn
portance had come up in the generals
hrst letter from Honolulu, one on
which Armstrong; opinion was de-
sired; and the colonel, hoping for It'd
| ings of a chance TO move even that far
to the front, made immediate oppor-
tunity and took the first car for the
Phelan building. The adiutant gener4
al looked up from Uttered desk as
Armstrong entered.
SIT is good of you to come so prompt
! ly," said he, I'm in stew, to tell the
truth, and l want your advice" Then
he tapped his bell. Excuse me to any
one who comes for the next ten min
utes,' said he to the attendant who
entered. 81 have business with Col.
Armstrong"
No soner did the orderly vanish than
the man of the desk whrled full on
the man of the saddle. Armstrong"
said he, you defended Gray and proved
| him innocent. What else has Canker
| against him?"
Nothing that ] know of-why2"
Because he's got him in arrest again
at Honolulu, and the chief is worked