The Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1???-1928, 1909-05-20

many years agoF
| nodded, for | had not only heard
of 1t, but had had nightmares AFTER
wards, based upon the recital.
Long before that | was a soldier In
the infantry, and | was in the regi-
ment which was sent south to Min
danao to suppress the Moro uprising.
| did good service, for | was the
strongest man in the regiment, and |
had a beautiful 'bolo' with blade IA
inches long and as broad as your
grace's hand; and on the back of the
blade | filed a notch for every Moro
| killed with it. 1t was a beautiful
bolo, and the Spanish officers offered
me many pesos for 1t, but | would not
sell It, for ii had belonged to my
father, and he had carved the hilt as
none but he could carve hits of boios.
When we returned to Manila there
were nine notches in the back of the
blade, and was a corporal, for 1t docs
not suit Filipinos to fight as the Span
iards fight, by shooting at great dis
tances and we used to leave the white
soldiers far behind and wait for them
to come up after the fighting was over.
For good conduct was transferred
into the Guardia Civil of Manila. and.
as guardia, | served many years.
had been married, and we had one
son, and he was more than the idol
and joy of his mothers heart,-for my
wife is Visayan, and the love of a
| Visayan woman for her firstborn is
beyond the knowledge of a man. He
grew to be like me in strength and
was proud of him, and prouder yet TO
see how my muier glOried in and loved
/ him for his strength and size, for it
made him like meme, member Of
/ the ever-to betrusted Guardia civil
with my Mindanao medal to wear at
/ the fiestas.
And at last he. our Jose, was en-
| listed in the infantry as ! had been,
and my mujer wept as she stood be-
| side me and saw him march in the
ranks. from pride that her 'muchacho
was the talcst man in the line, and
his shoulders were those of man and
a half,-and Yisayan woman seldom
/ weeps But |, | who had been sol
dier, did not weep, though | felt sad
/ and doubtful. for | knew that the
Spanish officers were not as they had
been in my day, and that there was
discomfort among the lines. But
gave him my bolo TO wear and use
the one with the nine nOtChes in' the
back of the blade, senior. with the hilt
which had been carved by my father.
I'VE saw him but seldom after that.
and knew not where he was stationed,
for the infantry soldier in the service
of Spain has little time but to serve,
and sometimes his mother would
grieve because he was not there with
her and then rejoice because another
day had gone and the end OF bis serY'
ice was nearer.
Then came the mutiny Your grace
knows. sin dudU, how 1t was arranged
that the regiments in Cavite should
kill their officers and the white resi-
dents. and then send up a rocket as
signal to the troops in Manila 10 do
the same and capture the city. But
your grace, perhaps, does not know
that it was through the Guardia Civil
that word of the uprising was sent to
the commandante in Manila; for the
Guardia Civil.-of which | was one,
senor,-whatever its sympathies are,
is true to the cause to which it IL
sworn--as true as the steel of the
bolo-and some loco among The mu
tineers had told a friend who WAS
guardia. And when the rocket vent
up from Cavite. the troops In Manila
had been dsarmed, and We, with The
white troops, were on our way to Ca
vite
when we landed, the mutineers
had fed and were hiding, but they had
done their work, and when | saw it
ah. senior, the poor white senoras and
little children! my blood became like
-he hot yellow wine which the lngleses
drink with saltwater. and | cared not
that the mutineers were my country
men or that the bodies were the Of
spanish. OuI l'dA - AlbNu OhA W.
vengeance, and we Obeyed the orders
to enter every nipa-hut in Cavite and
drive our bayonets through the floor
Tor II was under them that the mn
tineers were hiding-and the sears O.
our bayunets are there in the hufs OF
Cavite to-day. | entered two huts and
thrust my bayonet through the floor
Of each until the screams below had
ceased. Then ! entered a third, and
thrust. and there were no sr~eans
but a hand with a bolo came M
through the floor and gashed my leg
as your grace sees. put my foot on
the bolo and thrust again with all my
great strength: and then the hand re
Taxed and the fingers opened and shut
and tore at the bamboo strips on the
floor like a cats claws-and | saw that
the bolo had nine notches in the back
of the blade and that the handle had
been carved by my father.
"Our son, the pride and JOY of his
mothers heart-a Nisayan womfn's
heart. scnor-was buried in the ditch
in ~evite with the others, and /, his
father. who had loved him and killed