The St. Louis Republic., 1901-10-06

to this fact. but pushed ahead toward the
| town. three-fourths of n mile away.
| on THE MARCH.
| -Four out-flankers only were thrown out
| on each side. and they were plodding
| in fifty yards of the main column. skirting.
| for ease of walking, the back gardens OF the
| continuous row Of houses In consequence
| Jagged until they were opposite the rear OF
| the line. The battalion itself. moving on Il
| wide. solid road, were in rout step. and by
| degrees AZ the men fell TO talking TO one
| another. they had crowded up until they
| were ten or fifteen abreast. The single ar
| 'i!lery piece was in the center. and the
white-topped ambulance In the extreme
rear, close up to the moving men.
1T was situation which should have en-
bolden.d any enemy to great deeds of dar-
| Filipino Is not OF the kind that knows, even
for moment. I'm fight, the ecstasy OF
battle. That Major Bubb and the staff Of
ticers were misled by the statements OF ma
tlves along the line there is little doubt. for
one and all agreed that the insurrectos were
many miles away.
INTO TIE AMBUsCADE.
Suddenly Major Perry. a volunteer of the
California heavy artillery. aid TO Major
Bubb. saw Il long line or Filipino soldiers
who, were parallelline our right and moving
same time the right outhankers. who were
well In the rear, caught sight of them and
blaZed away. There was just one instant's
IlbSt. tlHN a HO"llTS EOiisy tNfbSn,-i
through the battalion for its entire length.
The ambulance. with its high. white can
vas top. vas an excellent mark, and the
bullets whiZZed in and around and through
"An odd. startled exclamation like sud-
don gasp OF surprise, arose au1ibly from the
battalion. and then. quicker than the fias'.
o! a gun. every man lay on his stomach.
huC@ing the yellow road and peering, with
slightly raised head. in the direction of the
firing. There were two sick men overcome
with heat lIirP OD fhp Ift,re I'm no avpl
lance and newspaper man with "A game
leg sitting beside the driver. Like q me-
chanical toy. set to go of with spring.
the ambulance was eTnptied Of its contents,
and four more PROSTATE forms were glued
TO the surface of the road. broiled at that
litterbearers shufHed backward like crabs,
searching with stiffiy-turned heads, for some
covering higher than the slightly sunken
road.
FIRE FROM TWO SIDES.
"The order came. Deploy, deploy. You
men to the rear. and do It quickly" Along
the road the men ran. some crouched, GONE
road In long string. yet reserving their fire
and attempting to locate the insurgents.
Now came the order to fire by volleys
and the solid roar of our nearby guns
seemcd masterful and consoIing beside the
weaker pop OF the distant Mausers. 1t was
only for minute or two that the men felt
dia.e front Of the road and then obliquely
from the left front. and the slight embank-
Tnent which had offered the PROSTATE men
some shelter was pelted with bullets
men. and skirmish line rushed out on the |
left on our right was a large irrigatfug
ditch, which had followed the road for sew
eral miles: II was damned from time 70 |
time to lock back the waters and was from
six to ten feet across at the upper edge OF !
he banks. II was quite Impossible to nut |
the heavy gun over 1t at any place so II |
was finally brought back near the rear to |
the only point where view could be had |
to the right Of the rice fields beyond
THE first shell silenced the eneny's fire I
for the moment, as II screamed through the |,
air and burst in the cane fringed field and
then. as the curling smoke arose. a sudden |
concentration Of their fire on the spot made |
the atmosphere sizzle a man went down. !
then mule. then another man
COMPLETELY SURROUNDED
For Just one hour and five minutes the
battalion grimiy held its ground growing
in the hoarse roar Of its small arms like |
wild animals at bay. We had s,lenced them |
no. not quite Tor now and then a bullet
from distant Mauser sang in the air above /
us or. planed narrow groove in the hard |
road. but at least they were repulsed
'Major Bubb. rode down the highway,
telling the company commanders that they
would now retire. / believe he expressed it:
1--WE were sent out to reconnoiter and
locate the enemy: our work is done and
now we will retire
"It was a mistake to suppose that the
enemy had fallen back. No sooner had Com
fields and divided to constitute an advance
and rear guard than the insurgents opened
with renewed vigor and the horror of II all
was that this time It came not only from
right, or nearly cutting the battalion off
from IT'S horneward way
"The firing became fercer and fercer and