The National tribune., 1902-02-27

skyward and finally come down a couple
of miles back of it possibly, and make
men dodge who in ali conscience ought to
be considered safe from harm. A support
ing line lying behind a rice ridge. with
bullets plowing the ground all around it,
wishes nothing more than that it might
get up on the firing line and send a few
shots back in answer to the compliment
We had gone about two miles before
few shots from an outpost of the enemy
warned us that they knew of our ad-
vance. Our line was then pushed ahead
as fast as possible, but it takes time to
climb over rice ridges, to wade through
swampy, low places in the field, and to
cross deep but narrow creeks and ravines,
and thus the enemy had ample time to
prepare for us before we came to the real
line of defense of the town. This consist
ed of a creek or river running through
deep and bluffy channel and bordered by
timber, which served as screen for the
enemy. This, and the smOkeless powder
used. made it difficult to locate the exact
initial point of the volley of Mauser bull
lets that greeted our line when it was
within about 1000 yards of the creek
Taking it for granted that the defense line
was the timber, volleys were poured into
it from our line, which had taken what
shelter it could in the open fields behind
rice ridges. The supports also took the
same scanty cover about 200 yards far
ther back and amused themselves wonder
ing which of the noisy bullets that dropped
among them were going to hit somebody.
Back of us some 80 yards was a fringe
of bamboo timber growing along n little
ravine, where perfect cover might have
been had if we had returned to it; but 60
ing backward was not In our program,
and so we lay there and listened to the
racket made by the Mauser bullets as they
plOwed through the bamboo tops. One
bullet striking a clump of bamboo and GO
ing through a half a dozen trees or
branches makes noise enough for a score.
A few hundred doing so make a racket
like a heavy engagement. This was what
the Mauser bullets fired high by the en-
envy nearly a mile to our front were do
ing, but the RemingtOns were doing some
thing else. They were dropping to the
ground right around and among us, hav-
ing reached the limit Of their flight. These
were large-caliber brass-covered bullets,
which made a loud, buzzing noise and
pumped into the ground with a sugges-
tive tliud. Lying at right angles behind
rice paddy 10 inches high is fair pro-
lection against a bullet going in a hori-
Zontal line, but not against a dropping one
pumping down almost vertically from the
sky. man in action does not do much
thinking along these lines, but the idle
support has nothing else to do but think
! this time was shown in the majority of
the men turning so as to lie parallel with
| the ridge and thus present less exposed
surface TO the dropping missiles.
| This lasted but few minutes, for the
| firing line was ordered to advance, and it
moved steadily forward, pouring its fire
| into the timber in search Of the concealed
enemy as it did so, with the result that
| the insurgents, as they had learned from
| dear experience TO do, abandoned their DO
! sition before the line was within 500
yards of them and fed back to the town.
1t may be they intended 10 make a stand
| III the stone fort, but | doubt it They
would have been captured to a man had
| they done so.
| BY this time the insurgents had ceased
| TO make genuine stand anywhere that
involved close quarters with the Ameri-
cans. one or two experiences of that
! kind had been all the education they
| needed. Distance lent enchantnent TO
their view of the American soldier, and
so they followed the practice of plugging
away at him at long range and running
AWAY before he got too dangerously close.
Soon we heard the boom, boom, boom
of the Hotchkiss, and hurried our ad-
vance, well Knowing that this meant
speedy evacuation of the town. Holding
the extreme left our men arrived at the
line of the creek and were halted, instead
of being swung around to the left as 1t
doubtless would have done had the topog-
raphy OF the country been better known.
and thus the way was left open for the
garrison to retire along the road leading
north TO Norzagaray, accompanied By the
entire population, or rather preceded by it.
for non-combatants had streamed out of
the place as soon as the first sounds of
lighting warned them that the dreaded