The Bottineau courant., 1909-04-30
PEPITA
By GEN. CHARLES KING
copyright, by J. B. Lippincott {

Copyright, by ]. B. Lippinco:t Co..
The "chief" and the staff were away,
somewhere out along the line of
blockhouses at the Santa Ana front,
for matters military were looking
squally as did Manila bay this Jan
uary afternoon. Aguinaldos brown.
faced soldiers were obviously spelling
for fight, and as obviously striving,
by taunt, insult and defiance, to pro-
woke the big Americanos to strike the
first blow. On the ground floor of the
breezy mansion two or three clerks
were at work. Over the hardwood
floor of the beautiful, spacious salon,
Manuelito, mo. 1 house boy" was
skating in soft woolen galoshes,
while Victo and Jose, brethren Of
the craft, leaning their arms on
the broad window stills and their brown
chins on their snowy sleeves, stood
on the bayside veranda supervis-
ing his efforts and looking, bar
ring pompadour hair and preposterous
grins, for all the world like Tagalog
| replica of Raphael's cherubs. At the
| side of the servants quarters, close
to the iron fence atop of the seawall,
Manuelito's tiny helpmate was CIV
Ing their little brown brood their
third bath for the day-three pigmy
Tagalogs, duly baptized and registered
In the Roman faith and the venerable
church, few squares up the Gallo
Real. A blithe, smiling little woman
was Pepita, white of tooth, despite
wholesale consumption Of black
skinned cigars, and immensely proud
of her trio of sturdy young Christians.
Pepita would have worked her slim
little hands to the bone to serve the
brigade commissary or the junior
aide-de-camp, who were especially the
friends of her little ones, and if Pepita
had a ranking sorrow it was that she
couldn't do the washing for the whole
staff, and that Manuelito's first cousin,
the wife of Hilario Bellarmino with
the only one peek ninnie,' had been
appointed laundress in ordinary to the
general and most of the officers, and
Hilario's wife was prettier than Pepi-
ia, was cordially hated by Pepita, and
thereby hangs a tale.
On. this very January afternoon,
while the Olympia was signaling to
the MOnadnock down the shoreline.
and mounted orderlies were squirting
at top speed along the Gale Real, Mrs.
Hilario appeared at the iron gateway to
the Casa Arellano, huge basket of
white clothing on her prettily poised
head, big-eyed little brown boy cling
ing to her left hand. In the general
commotion no one saw her enter the
building
Mrs. Hilario-whose own pet name
was Pancha-peered into the generals
room, then down the stairs, then tip
toed across the salon; secuted the din
ing-room, the quarters of the brigade
commissary adjoining it, the highly
ornamented apartment of the adjutant
general over the porte cochere, the
narrow corridors surrounding the main
building. She found box of dulces
in the commissarys room. This she
deftly raided in the interest of her
pigmy progeny.
Busily as worked the slender hands
of the little laundress, her eyes were
everywhere about the room. AS she
deposited a stack Of white trousers on
the doctors oaken chest she con-
trived to try the lid and found it Sc
curely locked. AS she laid the doctors
snowy shirts upon the top of his trunk
she deftly tugged at the same, and it
opened. One instant's glance about
| her, another tiptoed reconnaissance of
the veranda and dining-room, then
back she came, and, kneeling, peered
eagerly into the open tray. The brown
hands stole within and came back
laden with purse of network laden
with cleaning gold. The bunch of
keys hung in the keyhole, and quick
ly, softly, she locked the trunk;
slipped the keys in skirt pocket, to-
gether with the purse; snatched up
her baby boy, and started for the door
just as sputter of pony hoofs sound
ed in 'front.', and the voice of the brig
ade surgeon shouting for Victor. Pan
cha was trapped.
Down from the roof came the dusky
house-boys, Victor leapiny in the lead.
Not 20 minutes before, from: the Seq
ono reserve hospital, had The docto,
dispatched him with orders to get his
KHAKI uniform and await his coming.
There lay the khaki on the bamboo
couch as the doctor came springing up
the stairs. Like rabbit into a burrow,
Pancha dove down the spiral to the
closet below. Noiselessly she dropped
the keys into a dark corner, felt for
the latch, let herself and baby out into
the lower room, slipped her brown feet
into the little wooden clogs, and went
smilingly by the gate guards and up
the street to the Singalong road. There
she turned to the right, and for that
day at least was no more seen.
Ten minutes later, clad in khaki
| and girt with his pistol and sword