Waterbury Democrat., 1901-04-23
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 Copyrighted. 19OO. by J. B. Lippincott Col
CHAPTER XII.


 October had come and the rainy season was going, but still the heat of the midday sun drove everybody within doors except the irrepressl Yankee soldiery, released lon pass" from routine duty at inner barracks or outer picket line, and wandering about this strange, old-world metrcp- oils of the Philippines, reckless of time or temperature in their deter mination to see everything there was to be seen about the whilom strong hold of ''the Dons" in Asiatic waters.
 Along the narrow sidewalks of the Escolta. already bordered by Amer | ican signs-and saloons-and rem dered even more than usually precar- ious by American drinks, the blue | shirted boys wandered, open-eyed, maryeling much to find 'twixt twelve and two the shutters up in all the shops not conducted, as were the, bars, on the American plan, while from some, still more oriental, the sun and the shopper both were ex--. cluded four full hours, beginning at Il.
 South of the walls and outworks of. Old Manila and east of the Luneta' lay a broad, open level, bounded on. the south by the suburb of Ermita,. and in the midst of the long row of! Spanish-built houses extending from, the battery of huge Krupps at the bay side, almost over to the diagonal avenue of the Nozaleda, stood the very cozy, finely furnished house which had been hired as quarters for Col. Brent, high dignitary on the de partment staff.
 It's lower story of cut stone was pierced by the arched driveway through which carriages entered to the patio or inner court. and, as in the tenets of Madrid the queen of Spain is possessed of no personal. means of locomotion, so possibly to no Spanish dame of high degree may !, be attributed the desire. even though i she have the power, to walk. No other portal, therefore, either | for entrance or exit, could be found at the front. Massive doors of dark. | heavy wood from the Luzon forests,l strapped with iron, swung on. huge hinges that. unless well oiled defed the efforts of unmuscular mankind, A narrow panel opening in one of these doors, two feet above the. ground and on little hinges of it's: own, gave means of passage to house. hold servants and, when pressed for time, to such of their superiors as would condescend to step high and stoop low.
 | To the right and left of the main entrance were store rooms, servants rooms, and carriage-room, and oppo- site the latter, towards the rear, the broad stairway that, turning upon itself, led to the living-rooms on the upper hoor-the broad salon at the head of the stairs being utilized as dining-room on state occasions, and it's northward end as the parlor. Opening from the sides of the salon, | front and rear, were four large, roomy, high-ceilinged chambers.
 Overlooking and partially over hanging the street and extending the length of the house was a wide in- closed veranda, we'll supplied with | tables, 1ounging chairs and couches of bamboo and wicker, its floor coy- cred here and there with Indian rugs, it's surrounding waist-high railing 6tted with parallel grooves in which Elid easily the frames of the windows of translucent shells, set in little four-inch squares, or the dark-green blinds that excluded the light and glare of midday.
 With both thrown back there spread an unobstructed view of the parade ground even to the edge of the distant glacis, and here it was the household sat to watch the military ceremonies, to receive their guests, and to read or doze throughout the | droBsier hours of the day. Campo de Bagumgayan"w what the natives called that martial flat in the strange barbaric tongue that delights in figs" and "ags," in 'ings" and "angs," even to repetition and repletion.
 And here one soft, sensuous Oc- tober afternoon, with a light breeze from the bay tempering the heat of the slanting sunshine, reclining in a broad bamboo easy-ohair, sat Maidie Ray, now quite convalescent, yet not yet restored to her old-time vigorous health.
 heE nOSIeSS, the COlOne1S dInIaDIG wife, was busy on the back gallery leading to the kitchen, deep in coun- sel with her Filipino majordomo and her Chinese cook, servitors who had been we'll trained and really needed no instruction. and for that matter got but little, for Mrs. Brent's know1- edge of the Spanish tongue was even less than her command of 'Pidgin' English. Nevertheless, neither Ignacio nor Sing Suey would fail to nod in the one case or smile broadly in the other in assent to her every proposi- tion-it being one of the articles of their domestic faith that peace and happiness, truth and justice, religion and piety, could best be promoted throughout the establishment by never seeming to differ with the lady of the house. To all outward ap- pearances, therefore. and for the first few weeks, at least, housekeep- ing in the Philippines seemed some thing almost idyllic, and Mrs. Brent was in ecstasies over the remarkable virtues of Spanish-trained servants.
 There had been anxious days dur | =