CHAPTER I
DISMAYING NEWS
"How are you feeling to-day, Ben?"
"Fairly good, Larry. If it wasn't for this awfully hot weather, thewound wouldn't bother me at all. The doctor says that if I continue toimprove as I have, I can rejoin my company by the middle of nextweek."
"You mustn't hurry matters. You did enough fighting at Caloocan,Malabon, Polo, and here, to last you for some time. Let the otherfellows have a share of it." And Larry Russell smiled grimly as hebent over his elder brother and grasped the hand that was thrustforward.
"I am willing the other fellows should have their share of thefighting, Larry. But you must remember that now Captain Larchmore isdead, and Lieutenant Ross is down with the fever, there is nobody tocommand our company but me--unless, of course, Sergeant Gilmore takescharge."
"Then let Gilmore play captain for a while, while you take the restyou have so well earned. Why, you've been working like a steam-engineever since you landed in Luzon. Gilbert Pennington says he neverdreamed there was so much fight in you, and predicts that you'll comeout a brigadier general by the time Aguinaldo and his army aredefeated."
"Well, I believe in pushing things," responded Ben Russell, smilingmore broadly than ever, as his mind wandered back to that fierceattack on Malolos, where he had received the bullet wound in the side."If we can only keep the insurgents on the run, we'll soon make themthrow down their arms. But tell me about yourself, Larry. What haveyou been doing since you were up here last?"
"Oh, I've been putting in most of my time on board the _Olympia_, asusual," replied the young tar. "About all we are doing is to nosearound any strange vessels that come into the harbor. Since theoutbreak in Manila last February, the navy has had next to nothing todo, and I'm thinking strongly of asking to be transferred to themarines at Cavite, or elsewhere."
"I don't blame you." Ben Russell paused. "Have you heard anything moreabout Braxton Bogg and that hundred and forty thousand dollars he saidhe had left hidden in Benedicto Lupez's house in Manila?"
A shade of anxiety crossed Larry Russell's face. "Yes, I've heard agood deal--more than I wanted to, Ben. But I wasn't going to speak ofit, for fear of adding to your worry and making you feel worse."
"Why, Larry, you don't mean-- Has Braxton Bogg escaped from jail andgot hold of the money again?"
"No, Braxton Bogg is still in prison at Manila, although theBuffalo bank officials are about to have him returned to theUnited States for trial. But the money has disappeared. The policeauthorities at Manila went to Benedicto Lupez's house, to find itlocked up and deserted. They broke in and made a search, but theycouldn't find a dollar, either in Spanish or American money, althoughthey did find Braxton Bogg's valise and a dozen or more printed bandsof the Hearthstone Saving Institution--the kind of bands they putaround five-hundred-dollar and one-thousand-dollar packages ofbills."
"Then this Spaniard found where Bogg had hidden the money and made offwith it?"
"That is the supposition; and I reckon it's about right, too. Ofcourse, it may be possible that Braxton Bogg never left the stolenmoney in Lupez's house, although he swears he did. He says Lupez wasan old friend of his and was going to have the bills changed intoSpanish money for him, so that Bogg could use the cash without beingsuspected of any wrong-doing."
"It's too bad; and just as we thought our fifteen or sixteen thousanddollars of the amount was safe. I wonder what the bank people at homewill say now."
"Of course, they won't like it. They would rather have the money thantheir missing cashier; and I would rather have the money, too--not butthat Braxton Bogg ought to be punished for his crimes."
"Yes, Larry, Braxton Bogg deserves all the law can give him, for thedepositors in the Hearthstone Saving Institution were mostly poor,hard-working persons, and the wrecking of the bank meant untoldhardships for them." The wounded brother sighed deeply. "If that moneyisn't recovered, we'll be as badly off as we were when we first cameto Manila," he concluded.
Ben Russell was the eldest of three brothers, Walter coming next, andLarry being the youngest. They were orphans, and at the death of theirwidowed mother had been left in the care of their uncle, Job Dowling,a miserly man whose chief aim in life had been to hoard money, nomatter at what cost, so long as his method was within the limit of thelaw.
The boys were all sturdy and had been used to a good home, and JobCowling's harsh and dictatorial manner cut them to the quick. A clashbetween guardian and wards had resulted in the running away of thethree youths, and the guardian had tried in vain to bring them back.Larry had drifted to San Francisco and shipped on a merchantman boundfor China. He had become a castaway and been picked up by the AsiaticSquadron of the United States Navy. This was just at the time of theoutbreak of the war with Spain, and how gallantly the young tar servedhis country has already been told in detail in "Under Dewey atManila."
Ben had found his way to New York, and Walter had drifted to Boston.After several adventures, the war fever had caught both, and Ben hadjoined the army to become "A Young Volunteer in Cuba," as alreadyrelated in the volume of that name, while Walter had joined thearmored cruiser _Brooklyn_ and participated in the destruction of theSpanish fleet in Santiago Bay, as told in "Fighting in Cuban Waters."
While the three boys were away from home, Job Dowling had overreachedhimself by trying to sell some of the Russell heirlooms which it hadbeen willed the lads should keep. The heirlooms had been stolen by asharper, and it had cost the old man a neat sum of money to get themback. The experience made him both a sadder and a wiser man, and fromthat time on his manner changed, and when the boys returned from thewar they found that he had turned over a new leaf. In the future hewas perfectly willing that they should "do fer themselves," as heexpressed it.
After a brief stay in Buffalo, Walter had left, to rejoin the_Brooklyn_, which was bound for a cruise to Jamaica and elsewhere.At this time trouble began to break out between the United Statestroops in the Philippines and the insurgents who had been fightingthe now-conquered Spaniards, and it looked as if another fair-sizedwar was at hand. This being so, Ben lost no time in reenlisting inthe army, while Larry hastened to join Admiral Dewey's flagship_Olympia_ once more. "If there's to be any more fighting, I wantto be right in it," was what the young tar said, and Ben agreed withhim. How they journeyed to Manila by way of the Mediterranean, theSuez Canal, and the Indian Ocean, has already been related in "UnderOtis in the Philippines." Ben was at this time second lieutenantof Company D of his regiment. With the two boys went GilbertPennington, Ben's old friend of the Rough Riders, who was now firstsergeant of Company B of the same regiment, and half a dozen otherswho had fought with the young volunteer in Cuba. On arriving atManila Larry found matters, so far as it concerned his ship, veryquiet, but Ben was at once sent to the front, and participated withmuch honor to himself in the campaign which led to the fall ofMalolos, a city that was at that time the rebel capital. As Company D,with Ben at its head as acting captain, had rushed down the mainstreet of the place, an insurgent sharpshooter had hit the youngcommander in the side, and he had fallen, to be picked up later andplaced in the temporary hospital which was opened up in Malolos assoon as it was made certain that the rebels had been thoroughlycleaned out. Fortunately for the young volunteer the wound, thoughpainful, was not serious.
Of the fifteen thousand to twenty thousand dollars coming to theRussell brothers, more than three-quarters had been invested by JobDowling in the Heathstone Saving Institution, a Buffalo bank that hadpromised the close-minded man a large rate of interest. The cashier ofthis bank, Braxton Bogg, had absconded, taking with him all theavailable cash which the institution possessed. Bogg had come toManila, and there Ben had fallen in with him several times and finallyaccomplished his arrest. It was found that Braxton Bogg had verylittle money on his person, and the guilty cashier finally admittedthat he had left his booty at the house of one Benedicto Lupez, aSpaniard with whom he had boarded. As all the Spaniards in Manila werebeing closely watched by the so
ldiers doing police duty in thedisturbed city, both Ben and Larry had supposed that there would beno further trouble in getting possession of the missing money. ButBenedicto Lupez had slipped away unperceived, taking the stolen moneywith him, and the Russell inheritance--or at least the larger portionof it--was as far out of the reach of the boys as ever.