CHAPTER XVIA FILIPINO MARTYR
Philand Sydney were hard pushed to keep up with the native as he spurred his horse forward over the dark road.
“The ranch is being attacked!” Lopez cried in a voice of fear. “My poor master will surely be killed!”
Phil’s thoughts were only for the frail girl whom he had begun to look upon as his own especial charge. He knew the cruelty of the Filipinos when once their anger was aroused and he believed that her part in Espinosa’s betrayal must now be known to that treacherous leader. Probably Colonel Salas himself formed a part of the attacking force, and the lad thought fearfully of the vengeance he would take upon the helpless girl if she fell into his hands. As they approached the ranch, the volume of fire increased alarmingly.
“They are in force!” Phil exclaimed, hisheart sinking within him as he urged his tired mount forward.
The ranch with its surrounding orchard of fruit trees now lay just below them and the white road winding down the hill glistened in the dim moonlight. Tongues of flame darted here and there from the shadows of trees and shrub, even close to the house itself, while further in the background toward the river a line of flame resembling fireflies on a summer evening told him the soldiers of Rodriguez were stubbornly resisting the main attack from their solidly built trenches. As they plunged madly down the hill road, his alert eyes tried to disentangle the situation. He saw many moving figures flitting through the trees, the moonlight glinting on their bright bladed bolos, while toward the river a long line of flashing rifles told of a rescue party approaching, from whom the flitting figures were fleeing.
Three white figures appeared suddenly from behind a tree close to the retreating bolo-men and the lad’s heart gave a great leap of joy as he recognized even in the dim light the stalwart figure of O’Neil.
Then as he charged forward with his companions close beside him, Maria’s cry made his heart sink and at the same instant he saw the figure of a man emerge from the house and dart away after the retreating bolo-men.
“Where are we needed?” a familiar voice shouted from the company which had now halted at the house, and the anxious lads, after firing their revolvers in vain at the fleeing figure, were shaking Captain Blynn’s hand.
“In the trenches, sir,” O’Neil volunteered eagerly. “They are hard pushed, sir.”
Captain Blynn gave a hurried order and his company of American soldiers rushed eagerly toward the thick of the firing, followed by O’Neil and his men. All were eager to again try conclusions with the elusive foe.
Phil and Sydney followed the anxious Lopez to the house. As they entered the hall they were horrified to find everything in confusion. The furniture was wrecked in many places, and there were blood-stains on floor and wall, showing there had been a terrible struggle. A light was burning dimly in analcove. In the corner lay the white form of an American sailor mutilated and dead. Further up the stairs they saw the other poor sailor breathing his last. Clearing the body with a bound the lads gazed with sinking heart upon the dead face of Señor Rodriguez, lying on the floor of his bedroom, while all about him was confusion and ruin.
“Where is the girl?” Sydney asked in a faint, fearful voice.
“Señorita!” Phil called hopelessly.
A faint sob came to their ears from an inner room. Rushing in they found the girl on the floor, her hands and feet securely bound. About her mouth a gag had been placed, but it had fallen, leaving the mouth free.
They quickly released her and placed her tenderly on the bed.
“She managed to get off the gag and scream,” Phil whispered with admiration, “before she fainted. Bring that light, Syd, she may be hurt.”
The light was soon brought, and the lads were relieved to find that she was unharmed.
Lopez meanwhile had stayed at the bedsideof his dead master, moaning piteously. The noise caught the girl’s ear as she awaked from her stupor under the administration of the midshipmen.
“It was Espinosa himself,” she exclaimed in an anguish of sorrow. “They forced the door and killed the brave sailors. My father defended himself but he is no match for five men. Espinosa struck him down from behind. I ran to guard little Juan, but they caught me and bound me.”
“The money is gone too,” groaned Lopez. This to him seemed as great a sorrow as the death of his master.
“They lowered it out the window,” Maria said. She entered her father’s room, walking unsteadily between the two midshipmen, and knelt in prayer before her father’s couch.
Phil’s eyes fell before those of the girl as she arose dry-eyed and calm. He saw the anguish in her face, however, and vowed that he would lighten her task wherever it lay in his power.
“Is Juan safe?” Lopez asked suddenly, his mind at last grasping the horrible calamity which had fallen on his master’s house andrealizing that his first duty was with the living.
The girl nodded.
“Inez brought the alarm that the house was surrounded. She hid the boy and herself. Espinosa searched for him and his intention was to carry us both away as his prisoners.” Then a sudden fear came into her voice and her eyes flashed with excited terror. “He said that Colonel Martinez had been killed. Is it so?”
The lads shook their heads.
“We have no news, Maria,” Phil said kindly. “No, it cannot be so. It was but prompted by this cruel man to taunt you.”
She sighed hopefully.
“If he had known of this attack and was alive he would have prevented it,” she exclaimed suddenly, her hope turning to dejection.
While they were talking the fusillade slowly diminished and soon ceased altogether and in a short time Captain Blynn’s voice was heard in the hall below.
In the large living-room the army and navy men sat, until the daylight sifted inthrough the shell windows, talking of the perplexing situation, while Maria was made to go to bed and sleep. The doctor who accompanied the captain regarded her with eyes of grave concern.
“She must not be overexcited. She is outwardly calm but her heart acts queerly. It may snap at any moment,” he had told the lads.
“I have received a long letter from your friend, Colonel Martinez,” the captain exclaimed to the midshipmen after disposing of a steaming cup of coffee. “He said he would willingly surrender to General Wilson if the price on his head were removed, and he sent me papers and documents which I have already sent to the governor-general in Manila which prove Martinez’s innocence of certain crimes committed in Luzon and implicate a Filipino now high in the good graces of the government.”
Phil thoughtfully sent Lopez to Maria to tell her of Captain Blynn’s news and then gave Captain Blynn the story of the recent tragedy on the floor above.
“Poor Rodriguez,” the captain murmured.“If he had taken the other side he would now be alive. The money,” he added, his face troubled—“I am too late. I promised him I would come, but I was delayed by important matters with the general.”
“A search at once,” Phil exclaimed rising hastily from his chair; “they can’t have gone far with those heavy chests.”
Lopez smiled grimly.
“Señor, it would be impossible to follow them. By now the treasure is either carefully hidden or else in a banka hurrying up the river to Espinosa’s stronghold. We must capture Espinosa; where he is the money will be also.”
“Quite right, Lopez,” Captain Blynn agreed. “It’s not pleasant to hike in this country at night either, young man,” he added to Phil, whose sudden show of excitement in the prospect of another fight had died down; “every trail is trapped, and I don’t relish a green bamboo spear through me even for all old Rodriguez’s money. Espinosa undoubtedly has planned this attack carefully and in the darkness we would simply be wasting our time and be losing sleep.
“Some of our friend Espinosa’s plotting, in the light of this affair, is now quite plain. Rodriguez was in his way, and so is Martinez, but I don’t exactly see why; and this attack was made easy through his winning of Garcia, the trusted friend of Rodriguez. But how did he learn of this money?”
“Why,” Phil exclaimed, a scowl on his face, “Lopez tells me that Garcia alone knew of its existence and coveted it, and readily persuaded Espinosa to help him obtain it and share it. With that amount of money they can make this war very difficult for us or they can escape with their booty to Hongkong.”
“Well,” said the captain yawning outright, “I must get some sleep. The bridge is clear; I’ll wait here until you bring up the gunboat. The general is coming himself to look over the ground. We’ve had reports that the rebel army is massing at Matiginao, where supplies for a year have been collected.
“We’re going to have the biggest fight in the history of the war,” he added in a sleepy voice as he lay full length on the wicker lounge. “By the way, old man Tillotson promises all kinds of rewards to any one whowill rescue his son. He’s coming down himself—sailed from Manila the day after he got the news.”
Although the midshipmen and their men would have liked nothing better than to follow Captain Blynn’s example for a few hours’ nap, they felt that the startling news that the entire rebel army was collecting upon Matiginao made it imperative for them to leave the situation at the Rodriguez ranch in the hands of Captain Blynn and return to their gunboat. So far their work had not been crowned with success. True, they had exposed a traitor, but in doing so the American soldiers had acquired a new and sagacious enemy in Espinosa. The remaining members of the Katipunan society had taken flight, and had fled before the vengeance of Captain Blynn whom they all hated and feared. Rodriguez had been killed, and enough gold to continue the war indefinitely had been taken almost before their eyes, and they had been powerless to prevent it. This was not a pleasant retrospective dream in which to indulge as they watched in silence the even breathing of the complacent army man.
“We seem so powerless against them,” Sydney complained. “Our enemies are everywhere. One moment the natives about us seem friendly, and the next they are sticking us in the back with knives. When we start on an expedition the enemy know just how many men we have and where we are going, so there can be no surprise, while they always take us unawares.”
“But now, it’s different since Espinosa and the Katipunans have been forced to leave Palilo,” Phil exclaimed. “In the last few days Captain Blynn says our soldiers in the provinces have surprised several bands of insurgents. So you see they have ceased to be kept posted by spies at headquarters.
“Espinosa is collecting all his men in Matiginao with the idea of safety and a hope of being able to capture Palilo before the two extra regiments arrive, but General Wilson will checkmate him by withdrawing half his men to surround him in his mountain stronghold. Now we have some chance; before, they simply knew when we were coming, and if they couldn’t meet us with three times our number they kept out of the way. Butcome,” he added suddenly jumping to his feet, “we are wasting time.”
The Americans returned down the river in their cutter, this time the midshipmen taking turns at the oars, and it was nearly eight o’clock before they stood once more on the deck of the “Mindinao.” The bodies of the dead sailors were sent at once to the army hospital for burial.
“Major Marble has been here twice to see you, sir,” the quartermaster informed Phil; “he said he’d return again in an hour.”
“Breakfast first,” Phil shouted to the Chinese steward, who came aft, smiling blandly at the return of his officers, steaming coffee in hand.
While they were still at table Major Marble arrived, and was told all the news of the river.
“The audacity of those beggars,” he exclaimed, “attacking in force within ten miles of headquarters. It’s a shame, the few men we are allowed to cover this entire country. The general sees now that what is needed is concentration, but if we withdraw our entire garrisons from the towns it will mean thatthe innocent people there who have befriended us will suffer.”
“I suppose you are right, major,” Phil said thoughtfully, “but in war it seems to me that one can’t stop to consider the feelings of innocent people where the success of the cause is concerned. Espinosa has twice as many troops as the general, and they are fighting on their home soil. They know every footpath. Some are not armed with a rifle but are far more dangerous to us with their bolos and fanatical bravery. We did not see his stronghold, I am glad to say,” he smiled grimly at the words, “but we know that one thousand men held it successfully against five times that number of Spaniards a generation ago. From what I have seen I say concentrate every available man and crush this fellow Espinosa before he gets any stronger.”
Major Marble nodded his head in agreement with the views of the young navy man.
“If we could always do what our military training dictates,” he answered sadly, “this war might not have begun.”
“I shall go up the river in an hour,” Philannounced, “and if the general wishes I shall be honored to have him on board.”
“The general is waiting anxiously to know that,” the major replied promptly; “that was my mission here, but your exploits so interested me I had nearly forgotten my mission.”
Within the hour the “Mindinao,” flying the blue flag with one white star at her main truck in honor of her distinguished passenger, General Wilson, cast off from the dock and steamed up the river.
“That was a fine piece of work,” Phil exclaimed in admiration, as he examined the cleverly constructed drawbridge built within the twenty-four hours by the army engineers. Its width was just sufficient to admit the “Mindinao.”
Phil stood on the bridge beside the man at the wheel, piloting the gunboat through the ever-changing shoals, while O’Neil in person heaved the lead in the chains, calling out the depth in feet.
After leaving the town the river ran through several miles of nipa swamp land, the home of the carnivorous land crab, the crocodile and the bandit Filipino. Thegunboat continued cautiously, Phil keeping the sharp bow within the deep water, sometimes so close to the thickly wooded shore that he could have reached out and touched with his hand the overhanging trees.
Before noon the “Mindinao” had anchored off Rodriguez’s ranch and the general and party were landed to view the scene of the recent fight. The shore was lined with curious and excited natives, those of Rodriguez’s men, who had been spared from the fierce attack. To them the presence of the gunboat so far up the river was almost a miracle. They pointed knowingly at the big guns and clapped their hands in savage joy at the thought of what they could do against the enemy.
Captain Blynn had taken the situation in hand and had distributed the soldiers of his company to reinforce the native companies. A feeling of relief was now manifested by all. They were confident that no attack would be attempted while the gunboat’s guns frowned menacingly out there in the river.
“That’s worth a regiment,” Captain Blynn exclaimed as he saluted the general and helped him from the “Mindinao’s” cutter tothe bamboo pier, pointing to the graceful white ship, standing sharply against the dark background of jungle grass and banana trees. As they walked toward the house Captain Blynn dropped behind and took Phil’s arm confidingly.
“After you had gone my men found a native tied up in all sorts of sailor knots with silk neckerchiefs, just under Rodriguez’s window. Señorita Rodriguez recognized him at once as a former friend of her father who she said had betrayed him. He was pretty well frightened and to save his skin, for he believes we are going to kill him, he has offered to show us the trail to Espinosa’s stronghold.”
Phil shook his head in mystery.
“I don’t know how he got there, unless——” He turned and called O’Neil from the boat. “O’Neil, do you know anything about a native securely bound with sailor neckerchiefs?”
“Sure, sir. It was the one that crawled out of the window,” he explained hastily; “the young lady saw his face spying on her father. His name is Garcia.”
“Do you know,” the captain said knowingly,“that he is the only prisoner captured? There wasn’t a single wounded man in sight this morning. It isn’t the custom of the country, you see.”
Phil involuntarily shuddered. “How callous one becomes,” he thought, “in war time. Think of maybe a hundred wounded men cruelly butchered by brother natives.”
Before they reached the house the party was startled by a rifle-shot from behind them. Glancing about quickly they saw a large canoe manned by natives appear from behind the trees and paddle directly for the gunboat; a large white flag flew prominently from the bow of the boat. Phil and Captain Blynn walked quickly back and sent O’Neil and his cutter out to learn the meaning of the flag of truce. The general and the rest of the party halted and waited, eager to see what this strange move might mean.
The boat came quickly back and Phil took a letter from a native’s hand scanning it with beating heart. “For the general,” he said.
All watched the general break the seal and fumble with his glasses. It seemed ages beforehe finished the few short lines and handed the letter to Captain Blynn.
“Lieutenant Tillotson is my prisoner. I will surrender him safely in exchange for the deserter Colonel Martinez. If you attack me I shall have him shot.“Espinosa.”
“Lieutenant Tillotson is my prisoner. I will surrender him safely in exchange for the deserter Colonel Martinez. If you attack me I shall have him shot.
“Espinosa.”