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Mrs. Hannah Smith, Nurse · Anting-Anting Stories And Other Strange Tales of the Filipinos by Sargent Kayme

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  Speaker 1: Section four of Unting Hunting Stories by Sergeant Kayme. This
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  Speaker 1: LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Missus Hannah Smith, nurse.
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  Speaker 1: The red eye of the lighthouse on Corchidor Island blazed
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  Speaker 1: out through the darkness as a Pacific steamer felt her
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  Speaker 1: way cautiously into Manila Harbor. Although it was nearly midnight.
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  Speaker 1: A woman, one of the passengers on the steamer, was
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  Speaker 1: still on deck and standing well up towards the bow
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  Speaker 1: of the boat, was peering into the darkness before her,
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  Speaker 1: as if she could not wait to see the strange
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  Speaker 1: new land to which she was coming. Surely it would
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  Speaker 1: be a strange land to her, who until a few
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  Speaker 1: weeks before had scarcely in all her life been outside
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  Speaker 1: of the New England town in which she had been born.
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  Speaker 1: People who had seen her on the steamer had wondered
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  Speaker 1: sometimes that a woman of her age, for she was
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  Speaker 1: not young, should have chosen to go to the Philippine
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  Speaker 1: Islands as a nurse, as she told them she was going.
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  Speaker 1: Sometimes at first they smiled at some of her questions,
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  Speaker 1: but any who happened to be ill on the voyage
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  Speaker 1: or in trouble forgot to do that. For in the
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  Speaker 1: touch of her hand and in her words there was
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  Speaker 1: shown a skill and a nobleness of nature which one respect.
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  Speaker 1: A colonel of a regiment stationed near Manila was sitting
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  Speaker 1: in his headquarters and orderly came to the door and
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  Speaker 1: saluted a woman to see you, sir, He said, a woman.
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  Speaker 1: What kind of a woman? A white woman, Sir, looks
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  Speaker 1: about fifty years old, talks American. She, since she has
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  Speaker 1: only just come here, says her name is Smith. Show
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  Speaker 1: her in. The man went out. In a few minutes,
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  Speaker 1: he came back again, and with him the woman that
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  Speaker 1: had stayed out on the deck of the Pacific steamer.
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  Speaker 1: When the boat came past the light of Correhidor, the
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  Speaker 1: colonel gave his visitor a seat. What can I do
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  Speaker 1: for you, he said? Can I speak to you alone?
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  Speaker 1: We are alone now, can't that man out there hear,
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  Speaker 1: motioning toward the soldier pacing back and forth before the door. No,
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  Speaker 1: said the officer, we are quite alone. The woman unfolded
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  Speaker 1: a sheet of paper which she had been holding, and
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  Speaker 1: looked at it a moment. Then she looked at the officer.
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  Speaker 1: I want to see Heber Smith of company f of
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  Speaker 1: your regiment. She said, can you tell me where he is?
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  Speaker 1: In spite of himself, in spite of the self possession
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  Speaker 1: which he would have said his campaigning experience had given him.
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  Speaker 1: The colonel started, are you his? He began to say,
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  Speaker 1: but he changed the question to was he a relative
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  Speaker 1: of yours? I am his mother. The woman said, as
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  Speaker 1: if she had completed the officer's first question in her mind,
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  Speaker 1: and answered it I have a letter from him. Here,
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  Speaker 1: she went on, the last one I have had. It
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  Speaker 1: is data three months ago. It is not very long.
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  Speaker 1: She held up a half sheet of paper written over
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  Speaker 1: on one side with a lead pencil, but she did
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  Speaker 1: not offer to let the officer read what was written.
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  Speaker 1: He tells me in this letter, the woman said that
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  Speaker 1: he has disgraced himself, been a coward, run away from
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  Speaker 1: some danger which he ought to have faced, and that
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  Speaker 1: he can't stand the shame of it, he says. The
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  Speaker 1: woman's voice faltered for the first time, and instead of
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  Speaker 1: looking the colonel in the face as she had been doing,
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  Speaker 1: her eyes were fixed on the floor. He says that
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  Speaker 1: he isn't going to try to stay here any longer,
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  Speaker 1: and that he is going over to the enemy. Is
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  Speaker 1: this true? Did he do that, yes, said the officer slowly.
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  Speaker 1: It is true, he says here. The woman went on,
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  Speaker 1: holding up the letter again, that I shall never hear
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  Speaker 1: from him again or see him. I want you to
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  Speaker 1: help me to find him. I would be glad to
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  Speaker 1: help you if I could, the man said, but I cannot.
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  Speaker 1: No one knows where the man went to, except that
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  Speaker 1: he disappeared from the camp and from the city. Besides,
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  Speaker 1: I have not the right. He was a coward, and
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  Speaker 1: now he is a deserter. If he came back now
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  Speaker 1: he would have to stand trial, and he might be shot.
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  Speaker 1: He is not a coward. The woman's cheeks flamed red.
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  Speaker 1: Some men shut their eyes and cringe when there comes
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  Speaker 1: a flash of lightning, but that don't make them cowards.
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  Speaker 1: He might have been frightened at the time and not
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  Speaker 1: known what he was doing. But he is not a coward.
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  Speaker 1: I guess I know that as well as anybody can
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  Speaker 1: tell me. He is my boy, my only child. I've
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  Speaker 1: come out here to find him, and I'm going to
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  Speaker 1: do it. I don't expect I'll find him quick or easy.
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  Speaker 1: Perhaps I've let out our farm for a year with
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  Speaker 1: the privilege of renewing the trade. When the year is up,
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  Speaker 1: and I'm going to as long as need be. I'm
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  Speaker 1: not going to sit still and hold my hands while
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  Speaker 1: I'm waiting either. I'm going to be a nurse. I
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  Speaker 1: know how to take care of the sick and maimed,
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  Speaker 1: all right, And I guess from what I hear since
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  Speaker 1: I've been here, you need all the help of that
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  Speaker 1: kind you can get. All I want of you is
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  Speaker 1: to get me a chance to work nursing just as
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  Speaker 1: close to the front as I can go, and then
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  Speaker 1: do all you can to help me find out where
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  Speaker 1: Heber is. And then let me have as many as
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  Speaker 1: you can of these heathen prisoners the men bring in
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  Speaker 1: here to take care of, so I can ask them
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  Speaker 1: if they have seen Hebber. My boy isn't a coward,
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  Speaker 1: and if he has got scared and run away, he's
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  Speaker 1: got to come back and face the music. Thank goodness.
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  Speaker 1: None of the folks at home know anything about it,
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  Speaker 1: and they won't if I can help it. The woman
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  Speaker 1: folded the letter and putting it back into its envelope,
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  Speaker 1: sat waiting. It was evident that she did not conceive
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  Speaker 1: of the possibility even of her request not beinged. The
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  Speaker 1: officer hesitated you will have to see the General, missus Smith.
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  Speaker 1: He said, at last, glad that it need not be
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  Speaker 1: his duty to tell her how hopeless her errand was.
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  Speaker 1: I will arrange for you to see him. I will
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  Speaker 1: take you to him myself. I wish I could do
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  Speaker 1: more to help you. How soon can I see him tomorrow?
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  Speaker 1: I think I will find out and let you know.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you, said the woman as she rose to go.
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  Speaker 1: I don't want to lose any time. I want to
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  Speaker 1: get right to work. The next day, the young soldier's
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  Speaker 1: mother saw the general and told her story to him.
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  Speaker 1: In the meantime, apprized by the colonel of the regiment
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  Speaker 1: of the woman's errand, the general had had a report
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  Speaker 1: of the case brought to him. Hebber Smith had been
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  Speaker 1: sent out with a small scouting party. They had been ambushed,
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  Speaker 1: and instead of trying to fight, he had left the
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  Speaker 1: men and had run back to cover. But that don't
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  Speaker 1: necessarily make him a coward, the young man's mother pleaded
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  Speaker 1: with the general. A coward is a man who plans
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  Speaker 1: to run away. He lost his head that time. Wasn't
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  Speaker 1: that the first time he had been put in such
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  Speaker 1: a place. The officer admitted that it was, well, then
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  Speaker 1: he can live it down. He has got to for
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  Speaker 1: the sake of his father's reputation as well as his own.
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  Speaker 1: His father was a soldier too, she said proudly. He
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  Speaker 1: was in the Union Army four years and had a
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  Speaker 1: medal given to him for bravery. And every spring since
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  Speaker 1: he died, the members of his Grand Army post have
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  Speaker 1: decorated his grave. When Heber comes to think of that,
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  Speaker 1: I know he will come back. The general was not
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  Speaker 1: an old man, that is, he was not so old,
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  Speaker 1: but that back in her prairie home in a western state,
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  Speaker 1: there was a mother to whom he wrote letters, a
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  Speaker 1: mother whom he knew to value above his life itself,
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  Speaker 1: his reputation. The thought of her came to him. Now,
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  Speaker 1: I will do what I can, Missus Smith, he said,
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  Speaker 1: to help you find your boy. I fear I cannot
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  Speaker 1: give you any hope, though, and if he should be found,
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  Speaker 1: I cannot promise you anything as to his future. Thank you,
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  Speaker 1: said the woman. That is all I can ask. And
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  Speaker 1: so it came about that Missus Hannah Smith was enrolled
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  Speaker 1: as a nurse and assigned to duty as near the
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  Speaker 1: front in the island of Luzon as any nurse could go.
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  Speaker 1: Six months passed, and then another six came near to
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  Speaker 1: their end. Missus Smith renewed the lease of the farm
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  Speaker 1: back among the New England hills for another year, and
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  Speaker 1: wrote to a neighbor's wife to see that her woolen
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  Speaker 1: clothes and furs were aired and then packed away with
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  Speaker 1: a fresh supply of camphor to keep the moths out
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  Speaker 1: of them. In this year's time, Missus Smith had picked
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  Speaker 1: up a wonderful smattering of the Spanish and Tagalog languages
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  Speaker 1: for a woman who had lived the life she had
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  Speaker 1: before she came to the East. The reason for this,
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  Speaker 1: so her Compaeson said, was her being just possessed to
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  Speaker 1: talk with those native prisoners who are brought wounded to
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  Speaker 1: the hospital. The other nurses liked her. She not only
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  Speaker 1: was willing to take the cases they liked least the natives,
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  Speaker 1: but asked for them, and some time in the course
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  Speaker 1: of their hospital experience, all Missus Smith's native patients, if
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  Speaker 1: they did not die before they got able to talk coherently,
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  Speaker 1: had to go through the same catechism. Was there a
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  Speaker 1: white man among the people from whom they had come,
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  Speaker 1: a white man who had come there from the American army.
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  Speaker 1: Was he a tall young man with light hair and
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  Speaker 1: a smooth face. Did he have a three cornered white
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  Speaker 1: scar on one side of his chin where a steer
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  Speaker 1: had hooked him when he was a boy? Did he
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  Speaker 1: look like this picture? A photograph was shown the patient
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  Speaker 1: from no one, though, did she get the answer that
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  Speaker 1: her heart craved. Some of the prisoners knew white men
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  Speaker 1: that had come among the Tagalog natives, but no one
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  Speaker 1: knew a man who who answered to this description. One day,
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  Speaker 1: a native prisoner who had been brought in more than
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  Speaker 1: a week before, terribly wounded, opened his eyes to consciousness
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  Speaker 1: for the first time after days and nights of stupor.
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  Speaker 1: He was one of these who naturally fell now to
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  Speaker 1: missus Smith's lot, as the surgeons called them. As soon
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  Speaker 1: as the nurse's watchful eyes saw the change in the man,
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  Speaker 1: she came to him and bent over his cot water. Please,
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  Speaker 1: he murmured. The woman brought the water, her two natures
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  Speaker 1: struggling to decide what she should do after she had
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  Speaker 1: given it to him. As nurse, she knew the man
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  Speaker 1: ought not to be allowed to talk. Then, as mother
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  Speaker 1: she was impatient to ask him where he had learned
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  Speaker 1: to speak English and to inquire if he knew her boy.
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  Speaker 1: The nurse conquered. The patient, drank the water, and was
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  Speaker 1: allowed to go to sleep again undisturbed. In time, though
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  Speaker 1: he was stronger, And then one day the mother's questions
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  Speaker 1: were asked for the hundredth time and the last. Yes,
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  Speaker 1: the prisoner patient knew just such a man. He had
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  Speaker 1: come among the people of the tribe many months ago.
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  Speaker 1: He was a tall, fair young man, and he had
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  Speaker 1: such a scar as the senora described. He was a
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  Speaker 1: fine young man. Once, when this man's father had been sick,
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  Speaker 1: the white man had doctored him and made him well.
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  Speaker 1: It was this white man, the patient said, who had
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  Speaker 1: taught him the little English that he knew. Yes, when
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  Speaker 1: he saw the photograph of Heber Smith, that is the man.
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  Speaker 1: He has a picture too, the patient said, two pictures,
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  Speaker 1: little ones sat in a little gold box which hangs
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  Speaker 1: on his watch chain. The hospital nurse unclasped a big
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  Speaker 1: cameo breastpin from the throat of her gown and held
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  Speaker 1: it down so that the man in bed could see
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  Speaker 1: a geryotype. Set in the back of the pin. Was
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  Speaker 1: one of the pictures like that. She asked the Tagalog
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  Speaker 1: looked at the picture, a likeness of a middle aged
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  Speaker 1: man wearing the coat and hat of the Grand Army
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  Speaker 1: of the Republic. In the picture, a medal pinned on
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  Speaker 1: to the breast of the man's coat. Showed. Yes, said he,
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  Speaker 1: one of the pictures is like that. Then he looked
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  Speaker 1: up curiously at the woman sitting beside his bed. The
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  Speaker 1: other picture is that of a woman, he went on,
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  Speaker 1: and yes, still studying her face, I think it must
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  Speaker 1: be you. Only, he added, it doesn't look very much
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  Speaker 1: like you. No, said the woman, with a grim smile.
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  Speaker 1: It doesn't. It was taken a good many years ago,
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  Speaker 1: when I was younger than I am now, and when
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  Speaker 1: I hadn't been baked for a year in this heathen climate.
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  Speaker 1: It's me, though. In time one that was the man's name,
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: was so far recovered of his wound that he was
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  Speaker 1: to be discharged from the hospital and placed with the
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  Speaker 1: other able bodied prisoners. The hospital at that time occupied
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  Speaker 1: an old convent. The day before Hue was to be discharged,
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  Speaker 1: Missus Smith managed her cases so that for a time
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  Speaker 1: no one else was left in one of the rooms
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  Speaker 1: with her, but this man one, she said, when she
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  Speaker 1: was sure they were alone, and that no one was
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  Speaker 1: anywhere within hearing. Do you feel that I have done
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  Speaker 1: anything to help you to get well? The man reached down,
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  Speaker 1: and taking one of the nurse's hands in his own,
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  Speaker 1: bent over and kissed it. Senora. He said, I owe
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  Speaker 1: my life to you. Will you do something for me, then,
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  Speaker 1: something which I want done more than anything else in
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  Speaker 1: the world. My life is the Senoras. I would that
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  Speaker 1: I had ten lives to give her. The woman pulled
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  Speaker 1: a letter from out of the folds of her nurse's dress.
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  Speaker 1: The envelope was not sealed, and before she fastened it,
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  Speaker 1: she took the letter which was in it out and
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  Speaker 1: read it over for one last time. Then, pulling from
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  Speaker 1: her waist a little red, white and blue badge pin,
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  Speaker 1: one of those patriotic emblems which so many people wear
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  Speaker 1: at times, she dropped this into the letter, sealed the envelope,
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  Speaker 1: and handed it to the tagalog. The envelope bore no address.
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  Speaker 1: I haven't put the name of the place on it
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  Speaker 1: you said you came from, she told the man, because
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  Speaker 1: Goodness only knows how it is spelled. I don't. Besides
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  Speaker 1: that it is innecessary. You know the place, and you
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  Speaker 1: know the man, the man who has got my picture
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  Speaker 1: and his father's in a gold locket on his watch chain.
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  Speaker 1: I want you to give this letter into his own hands.
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  Speaker 1: I expect it will be rather a ticklish job for
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  Speaker 1: you to get away from here and get through the lines,
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  Speaker 1: but I guess you can do it if you try.
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  Speaker 1: Other men have don't start until you are well enough
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  Speaker 1: so you will have strength to make the whole trip.
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  Speaker 1: A week or so after that, one of the surgeons
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: making his daily visit reported that one had made his
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: escape the previous night, and up to that time had
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: not been brought back. What a shame, said one of
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: the other nurses. After all the care you gave that man,
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: Missus Smith, it does seem as if he might have
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: had a little more gratitude. Missus Smith said nothing aloud,
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: but to herself when she was alone, she said, well,
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: I suppose some folks would say that I wasn't acting right,
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  Speaker 1: But I guess I've saved the lives of enough of
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  Speaker 1: those men since I've been here, so that I'm entitled
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  Speaker 1: to one of them if I want him. Then she
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  Speaker 1: went on with her work and waited, And the waiting
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: was harder than the work. An American expedition was slowly
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: toiling across the island of Luzon to locate and occupy
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: a post in the north. Four companies of men marched
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: in advance, with a guard in the rear. Between them
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: were the mule teams with the camp luggage, and the
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: ever present hospital corps. No trace of the enemy had
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: been seen in that part of the island for weeks.
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: Scouts who had gone on in advance had reported the
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: way to be clear, and the force was being hurried
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: up to get through a ravine which it was approaching
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: so it could go into camp for the night on
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: high level ground just beyond the valley. Suddenly a man's
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: voice rang out upon the hot air, an English speaking voice,
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  Speaker 1: strong and clear and coming, so it seemed at first
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: to the troops when they heard it from the air
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  Speaker 1: above them. Halt, halt, the voice cried, go back. There
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  Speaker 1: is an ambush on both sides. Save yourselves be The
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: warning was unfinished. Those of the Americans who had located
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: the sound of the words and had looked in the
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: direction from which they came, had seen a white man
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  Speaker 1: standing on the rocky side of the ravine above them,
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: and in front of them. They had seen him throw
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: up his arms and fall backward out of sight, leaving
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  Speaker 1: his last sentence unfinished. Then there had come the report
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: of a gun, and then an attack, with scores of
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: shouting the gallogs swarming down the sides of the ravine.
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: The skirmish was over, though almost as soon as it
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  Speaker 1: had begun, and with little harm to any of the Americans,
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: except to such of the scouts as had been cut
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  Speaker 1: off in advance. The warning had come in time, had
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: come before the advancing column had marched between the forces.
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  Speaker 1: Hidden on both sides of the ravine. The Tagalogs could
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: not face the fire with which the Americans met them.
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: They fled up the ravine and up both sides of
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: the gorge, in to the shelter of the forest, and
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: were gone. The Americans, satisfied at length that the way
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: was clear, moved forward and went into camp on the
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: ground which had previously been chosen, throwing out advance lines
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: of pickets and taking extra precautions to be prepared against
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: a night attack. Early in the evening, shots were heard
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: on the outer picket line, and a little later two
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: men came to the commanding officer's tent, bringing with them
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: a native. He was trying to come through our lines
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: and get into the camp, Sir, they reported, two men
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: fired at him but missed him. Think he is a spy,
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: the commander asked of another officer who was with him. No, Senor,
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: I am not a spy, the prisoner said, surprising all
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: the men by speaking in English. I have left my people.
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: I want to be sent to Manila, to the American camp. There.
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: He's a deserter, said one of the officers. Then to
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: the men who held the prisoner, better search him. From
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: out the prisoner's blouse, one of the soldiers brought a paper,
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: a sheet torn from a notebook, folded and fastened only
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: by a red, white and blue badge pin stuck through
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: the paper. The officer to whom the soldier had handed
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: the paper pulled out the pin which had kept it folded,
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: and started to open it when he saw there was
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: something written on the side through which the pin had
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: been thrust. Bending down to where the camp light fell
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: upon the writing, he saw that it was an address
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: scrawled in lead pencil. Missus Hannah Smith, nurse. Do you
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: know the woman to whom this letter is sent? He asked,
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: in amazement, of the Tagallo from whom it had been taken, Yes, senor.
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: Do you know where she is now? Yes? Senor. She
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: is in a hospital not far from Manila. She is
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: a good woman. My life is hers. I was there
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: once for many many days. Sh through here. He placed
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: his hand on his side, and she made me well again.
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: Do you know who sent this letter to her? Yes? Signor?
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: Who was it? The man hesitated? Who was it? Answer?
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: It is for her good? I want to know it
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: was her son? Signor Was he the man who gave
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: us warning of the ambush to day? Yes? Signor. The
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: officer folded the paper unread and thrust the pin back
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: through the folds. The animal on the badge glistened in
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: the camp light. Keep the tagalog here, he said to
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: the men until I come back, and walked across the
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: camp to where the hospital tents had been set up.
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: Where is missus Smith? He asked of the surgeon in
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: charge taking care of the men who were wounded this afternoon?
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: Will you tell her that I want to see her
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: alone in your tent here, and then see that no
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: one else comes in. Missus Smith, he said, When the
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: nurse came in, I have something here. For you a letter.
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: It has just been brought into camp by a native
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: who did not know that you were here, and who
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: wanted to be sent to Manula to find you. It
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: is not very strongly sealed, but no one has read
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: it since it was brought into camp. He gave the
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: bit of paper to the nurse, and then turned away
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: to stand in the door of the tent that he
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: might not look at her while she read it. Enough
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: of the nurse's story was known in the army now
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: so that the officer could guess something of what this
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: message might mean to her. A sound in the tent
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: behind the officer made him turn. The woman had sunk
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: down on the ground beneath the surgeon's light, and resting
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: her arms upon a campstool, had hid her face. A
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: moment later, she raised her head, her face wet with
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: tears and wearing an expression of mingled grief and joy,
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: and held out the letter to the officer. Read it,
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: she said, thank God, and then my boy, my boy,
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: and hid her face again, dear mother. The scrawled note read,
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: I got your letter. I'm glad you wrote it. It
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: made things plain I hadn't seen before. My chance has
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: come quicker than I had expected. I wish I might
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: have seen you again, but I sha'n't. A column of
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: our men are coming up the valley just below here,
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: marching straight into an ambush. I have tried to get
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: word to them, but I can't because the the Galogs
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: watch me so close. They never have trusted me. The
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: only way for me is to rush out when the
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: men get near enough and shout to them, and that
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: will be the end of it all for me. I
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: don't care, only that I wish I could see you again.
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: One will take this letter to you when you get it,
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: and the men come back. If I save them, I
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: think perhaps they will clear my name. Then you can
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: go home. The men are almost here, mother, dear, good
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: bye your boy. I wish I might have seen him,
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: the woman said a little later, But I won't complain.
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: What I most prayed God for has been granted me.
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: They'll let the charge against him drop, now, won't they.
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: Don't you think he has earned it? I think he
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: surely has. No braver deed has been done in all
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: this war. Don't try to come now, missus Smith. As
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: the nurse rose to her feet, stay here and I
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: will send one of the women to you. When he
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: had done this, the officer went back to where the
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: men were still holding one between them. Your journey is
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: shorter than you thought, the officer said to the tagalog.
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: Missus Smith is in this camp, and I have given
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: the letter to her. May I see her, exclaimed the
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: man not now in the morning. You may have you
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: seen this man her son since he was shot? No, Senor.
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: He gave me the note and told me to slip
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: into the forest as soon as the fight began, so
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: as to get away without any one seeing me. Then
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: I was to stay out of the way until I
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: could get into this camp. Do you know where he
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: stood when he was shot? Yes, senor. Can you take
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: the party of men there to night? Yes, Senor. Most gladly. Afterward,
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: when it came to be known that Heber Smith would
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: live in spite of his wounds and the hours that
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: he had lain there in the bushes, unconscious and uncared for,
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: there was the greatest diversity of opinion as to what
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: had really saved his life. The surgeon said it was
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: partly their skill and partly the superb constitution that years
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: of work on a New England farm had given to
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: the young man. His mother believed that he had been
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: spared for her sake. Hebber Smith himself always said it
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: was his mother's care that saved his life, while one
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: never had the least doubt that the young soldier had
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: been protected solely by a marvelous anting anting which he
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: himself had slipped unsuspected into the American soldier's blouse that
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: day before he had left him. As soon as she
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: knew that her son would live, Missus Smith started for Washington,
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: carrying with her papers which made it possible for her
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: to be allowed to plead her case there, as she
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: had pleaded it in Manilla. A pardon was sent back
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: as fast as wire and steamer and wire again could
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: convey it. Hebbersmith wears the uniform of a second lieutenant,
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: now one for bravery in action, since he went back
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: into the service, and every one who knew her in
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: the Philippines cherishes the memory of Missus Hannah Smith, nurse
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: and of section four recording by maricel Que