The National tribune., 1902-08-28

On this occasions We had followed them
up and down Hill, across wet ricehelds
and around raSines, always under ire,
but never able TO put in an effective fire
Of our own, because Of the distance and
the uncertaintyr as to where they were.
At last we entered a long ricefeld, about
a mile across, and were greeted with vol
leys from the brow Of a hill on the oppo-
site side, where we could. see the insur-
gents in the edse of the timber. The dis
lance was so great they made no attempt
to hide. Our cDurse, following our usual
tactics, would have been to have adj
vanced steadilys In line across the open
field under FIRE It'll within good shooting
distance, by which time the enemy would
have vanished. This was what we had
been doing all dAygand the Major thought
dered his trumpeter to sound the charge.
Tie men, who had lain down at the first
fire, at once jumped to their feet and be-
gan yelling, running in the direction
Of the enemy, who took to their heels and
vanished. Thus we discovered that the
American yell had a longer effective
range than the American Springfield.
INsURGENT sHARPsHOOTERS.
When MacArthur's Division was hold
ing the advance line at Caloocan, in front
of Malabon, from the 10th Of February,
when Caloocan was captured, until the
25th Of March, when Otis again ordered
forward movement, there was for
few days considerable sharpshooting be-
tween the Kansas regiment, which held
the left of the line, and the Filipinos, who
had constructed intrenchments some 500
yards distant in the shelter of the woods.
1t did not take the Filipinos long to dis
cover that they could not compete with
the Americans in this kind Of work, nor
to discover their advantages of longer
range guns and smokeless powder. So
they established sharpshooting stations in
the tops of trees beyond the effective
sharpshooting range Of the Springfield.
An insurgent well supplied with ammu-
milton and well stocked with cigarets
could seat himself comfortably in these
treetop perches and enjoy himself as
long as he chose unmolested. Our
men could not reply to this
fire, nor could they tell from which
of the many trees in the distance the bull
lets came that hummed through the camp
at intervals. OF course, at such distance
the Filipinos could not shoot at any par
ticular individual, but scarcely a day
passed that some person was not killed
or wounded in this way. The men be-
came so used to it that they paid no at
tention to these vagrant bullets. One day
was out to the front on visit to the
trenches, and / saw game of baseball
going on between mines of the Kansas and
Montana regiments, the players and spec
tators being shot at constantly by these
sylvan sharpshooters. Another time 1
saw lady and gentleman, civilian WIS.,
itors, who had driven out in carriage,
walking along just back of the Kansas
trenches. Being acquainted with them 1
stopped to talk, and while we were chat
ting one of these bullets came singing
close to our ears.
"Great Scot, what's that?" asked the
man in alarm.
"Only Filipino sharpshooter. He has
his eye Oh you," l answered, jokingly.
The man made dive for the trench,
and even the laughter of his more cOura-
geous lady friend did not serve to make
him leave its shelter till she was ready to
return to the city.
ITO he continuedl