CHAPTER IX
THE ADVANCE INTO THE JUNGLE
Santa Cruz had been taken, but there was still much to do around theshores of the Laguna de Bay to make it safe territory for theAmericans to hold. From the city the rebels were pursued eastward, anda number of cascos and larger boats were captured. Inside of a fewdays Paete, Longos, Lumban, and several other villages, were visitedby detachments of General Lawton's command, and the insurgents fled ineach instance, leaving all behind them. Nearly a hundred who stoppedto fight were either killed or wounded, and victory was entirely uponthe side of the Americans.
But now it was learned that the forces under General Aguinaldo andGeneral Luna were concentrating once more to the north and east ofMalolos, and much as he regretted the necessity, General Otis wascompelled to order General Lawton and his command back to theterritory above Manila. No garrisons could be spared for SantaCruz, or the other places captured, so these settlements wereallowed to fall once more into the hands of the enemy, after all thefortifications had been destroyed and the arms and munitions of warconfiscated. It seemed a pity to leave these towns and villages afterhaving once taken them, but to garrison them properly would, accordingto General Lawton's estimate, have taken thousands of soldiers.
With the taking of Santa Cruz, the Americans marched through all thestreets and by-ways, looking for lurking rebels and hidden arms, andin this search a squad of infantry came upon Luke Striker, who hadpropped himself up on the sacking in the warehouse and was makinghimself as comfortable as possible.
"Hullo, sailor," cried the sergeant in charge of the squad. "Where didyou come from?"
"Hullo, sailor, where did you come from?"--_Page 82._]
Luke's story was quickly told, and he begged the soldier to look forLarry, fearing that serious harm had befallen the lad. At once twosoldiers were detailed to care for the old Yankee, while the rest wenton a hunt which lasted far into the night.
As we know, nothing was seen of Larry; but from a wounded and dyingFilipino, the soldiers learned that the boy had been taken a prisoner,and must now be many miles away from the city. News of this reachedLuke while he was in the temporary hospital opened up after the firstfight, and the information made the old fellow feel as bad as did hiswound.
"If they've captured him, he's a goner, I'm afraid," he said to JackBiddle, who had come in to help look after his messmate. "Poor Larry!What will his brother Ben say, when he hears of it?"
"Better not tell him right away," suggested Biddle. "Give him a chanceto get strong fust. Besides, Larry may give 'em the slip. He's puttycute, ye know."
The news soon spread that Larry and several others were missing, and adescription of the absent ones was given out. The next day one of themissing soldiers was found dead in the jungle, but nothing was learnedof the others.
"It serves the young sailor right," growled Lieutenant Horitz. "Heknew too much for his own good." He had not forgotten the disaster onthe river, and secretly he wished Larry all manner of ill-luck.During the rush through the woods the Lieutenant had tumbled andstruck his nose on a stone. That member was much swollen and cut inconsequence, and this put him in a worse humor than ever before.
By the time the expedition was to return to Manila, Luke was able towalk around again, and he was put on one of the larger boats and JackBiddle was detailed to look after him. The return to Manila was madewithout special incident, and two days later found Luke on board the_Olympia_ among all his old friends.
But the Yankee tar was thoroughly out of sorts. "I wouldn't care forthe wound at all, if only I knew Larry was safe," he was wont to say adozen times a day. Barrow, Castleton, and all the boy's old friendswere likewise troubled because of his strange disappearance.
It was Jack Biddle who got shore leave and travelled up to Malolos tobreak the news to Ben. He found the acting captain of Company D justpreparing to take his place in the command once more.
"I'm glad to see you lookin' well, leftenant," he said, after shakinghands warmly. "Ye look almost as healthy as ye did on the voyage fromBrooklyn to Manila."
"And I feel almost as well," replied Ben. "The rest has done me aworld of good. But what brought you up, Jack? Did Larry come withyou?"
"No, Larry didn't come," stammered the old tar, and looked down at thefloor. "Fact is, leftenant, Larry--he--he couldn't come."
"Couldn't come? Why, what's the matter?" cried Ben, quickly. "Is hesick?"
"I reckon not--leas'wise, I don't know. Fact is, leftenant, none on usknow. Ye see, he went upon thet Santa Cruz expedition--"
"Yes, yes, I know that. And what of it? Was he--was he--" Ben couldnot utter the words which came to his mind.
"No, he wasn't shot, thet is, so far as we know. But he's--well, he'smissin', an' we can't find hide nor hair o' him anywhere. I might ezwell tell ye fust ez last, though it cuts my heart to do it,leftenant." And Jack Biddle shook his head dubiously.
It was a great shock to Ben, yet he stood it better than the old tarhad expected. He asked immediately for details, and though he drank inevery word his manner showed that his thoughts were far away.
"I wish I had been along," he said bitterly. "If he wasn't killed, theFilipinos must have carried him off a pretty good distance. I wonderif General Lawton tried to find out anything under a flag of truce."
"Everything that could be done was done--I have Captain Gaston's wordon that," answered Jack Biddle. Captain Gaston and Ben were well knownto each other.
Ben sank down on a bench, and for several minutes said not a word, butthe tears stood in his eyes, tears which he hastily dried that nobodymight see them. Then Gilbert Pennington came in, to tell him that theregiment was ordered to move within the hour.
"It's too bad!" declared the young Southerner. "But brace up, Ben,'While there is life there is hope,' and it's a pretty sure thing thathe wasn't killed." And with this ray of comfort Ben had to becontent.
During the days that General Lawton had been in the vicinity of theLaguna de Bay, the regiment to which Ben and Gilbert belonged had notbeen idle. With a number of other troops they started for the town ofSanta Maria, where they came upon the enemy and dislodged them withshells. The town, already in flames, was allowed to burn, and theAmericans pursued the rebels quite a distance into the mountains, butfailed to catch them.
In the meantime the camp of the Third Artillery, situated somedistance to the west of Malolos, was attacked. A fierce engagement inthe swamps took place, and in the end the rebels were driven northwardand began then to concentrate at Tarlac, which soon became one oftheir new capitals--they shifting the seat of government as often asit suited their convenience.
It was now felt by General Otis and others in command that no timeshould be lost in an endeavor to round up the insurgents to the northof Malolos, who were the main support of the rebellion, althoughscattering bands were still operating to the south and southeast. Therainy season was but a few weeks off, and once this set in militaryoperations would be much retarded, if not stopped altogether, for,taken as a whole, the roads throughout the Island of Luzon are bad,and heavy rains render them well-nigh impassable.
In order to make the campaign against the rebels as effective aspossible, General Otis decided to send out two columns, one underGeneral MacArthur to strike out for Calumpit, and the second, underGeneral Lawton, to take a route to the eastward, along the base of thehills leading to San Isidro. By this it was hoped, if the rebels atCalumpit were defeated and tried to take to the mountains, they wouldfall directly into Lawton's hands, and not only have to surrender butalso give up all their war supplies.
It was in the furtherance of this plan that General Lawton left Manilawith his brigade and struck out for Novaliches which was gained aftera small skirmish at Tuliahan River. From here the column moved toNorzagaray to await reenforcements which were coming in from Malolosand vicinity. To these reenforcements belonged the command to whichBen and Gilbert were attached.
It had begun to rain, and those who understood tropical weatherp
redicted that the wet season was at hand. Yet it was very hot, andthe water which fell arose in clouds of steam on the road, renderingmarching anything but comfortable.
"Sure, an' it makes a man feel as if he was takin' a stame bath, so itdoes," remarked Dan Casey, as he swung along on the route step. "Idon't know as I iver see it rain hot wather before, bedad," he added,as he wiped the perspiration from his sadly freckled face.
During the day's march, which was trying to everybody, Ben was silent,wondering what had become of Larry and if he would ever again see hisyounger brother. When the command went into camp under the shelter ofa grove of tall trees, both Gilbert and Major Morris visited his tentto comfort him.
"He is not the only one who is missing," remarked the major of thefirst battalion. "So far I understand the warships have lost about adozen men who went ashore and failed to return. And you know there aresix men missing from our own regiment."
"That is true, major," was the acting captain's answer. "But it's onlywhen it's a close relative that the blow really comes home to one, youknow."
"I suppose that is true, captain. But don't be disheartened. It maybe that your brother is already back at Manila."
"I can't see what the rebels would do with him as a prisoner," saidGilbert. "They have to move around so lively that I can't see whatthey want with prisoners anyway."
And so the talk ran on until it came time to retire. That night Benslept but little, and it was not the rain or the aching of his woundthat kept him awake either. He was bound to think of Larry constantlyuntil something was heard of the missing lad.