Latest / Anting-Anting Stories And Other Strange Tales of the Filipinos by Sargent Kayme / A Question of Time

Transcript

A Question of Time · Anting-Anting Stories And Other Strange Tales of the Filipinos by Sargent Kayme

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Section seven of Untingantin's Stories by Sergeant Kime. This LibriVox
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: recording is in the public domain. A question of time.
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: The native pilot who is to take the gunboat Utica
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: around from Iluilo to Capies is a traitor. I have
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: just discovered indisputable proofs of that fact. He has agreed
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: to run the gunboat aground on a ledge near one
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: of the Gigantes Islands, on which a force of insurgents
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: is to be hidden large enough to overpower the men
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: on the gunboat. In her disabled condition. Do not let
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: her leave Iluilo until you have a new pilot, and
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: one you are sure of the money. Captain James de
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: Mooney of the American Army in the Philippine Islands, folded
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: the despatch which he had just written and sealed it. Then,
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: calling unorderly to him, he said, send Sergeant Johnson to me.
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: Captain Demo, his company was then at Pasi, a small
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: inland town in the island of Panai. He had been
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: dispatched by the American general commanding at Iloilo, the chief
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: seaport of Panay, to march to Capiz, a seaport town
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: on the opposite side of the island to assist from
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: the land side a small force of Americans besieged there
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: by the natives, while the gunboat Utica was to stream
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: around the northeastern promontory of the island and cooperate from
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: the water side of the town in its relief. The
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: distance across the island was about fifteen miles, while that
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: by water by the route which the Utica must traverse
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: was about two hundred miles. Captain Demoni, starting first, had
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: covered half the march laid out for him without incident,
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: until halting at Pasi, half way across the island and
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: well up in the mountains, he had been so fortunate
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: as to obtain the information which he was about to
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: send back to the commander. At Iloilo. Pan Nye had
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: been up to this time one of the most quiet
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: islands in the group. He had met with no opposition
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: in his march so far, and it was believed that
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: the only natives in the island who were under arms
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: were those living in the northeastern part of the territory.
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: It was a force of these that had invested Cappies.
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: Sergeant Johnson, Sir the Orderly reported very well sent him
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: in A young man wearing faded brown duck uniform, tightly
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: buttoned leggings and a wide rimmed gray hat, entered the tent.
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: I have sent for you, sergeant, said Captain de Moony,
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: for two reasons. One is that I want a man
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: who is brave and one whom I can trust. The
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: sergeant bent his head slightly in acknowledgment of the implied compliment,
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: his cheeks looking a trifle darker shade of brown, while
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: the blood had flushed the skin beneath its double deep
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: coat of tan. The other reason, the officer went on,
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: is that I want a man of whose muscle and
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: endurance as a runner, and whose skill as a boatman
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: I have had some proof in spite of the difference
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: in rank and the seriousness of the situation, which the
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: officer knew and the man guessed. The two men looked
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: at each other and smiled, for one was a harvard
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: Man and the other had come from Yale. The gunboat
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: Utica is to leave Iloilo at midnight to night. It
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: is of the very greatest importance that this despatch, handing
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: him the letter be delivered to the American General at
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: Iloilo before the vessel gets under way, I entrust it
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: to you to see that it is delivered. You ought
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: to have no trouble in getting there in ample season.
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: The captain continued, spreading out a map so that the
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: other man could see it. I cannot spare any men
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: for an escort for you, because my force is already
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: far too small for what we have to do. Instead
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: of following back the road we took in coming here,
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: which would be im passable for any one but a
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: man on foot, even if I had a horse for you,
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: which I have not, I think you can make better
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: time by another route. Six miles from here. Pointing to
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: the map, you will reach the same river which we
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: crossed at a point farther up the stream. Get a
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: boat there, and go down the river some fifteen or
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: twenty miles until you come to a native village built
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: at the head of steep falls in the stream. I
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: am told that until you reach there, the river is navigable,
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: and that the current is so swift much of the
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: way that you can make rapid progress. At that village,
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: you will have to leave your boat. But from that
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: place you will find a clearly marked path to Iluilo.
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: The quicker you start, the better, And as I have
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: told you, I trust it to you to see that
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: the General has the dispatch before da Utica leaves port.
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: It was ten o'clock in the forenoon when the sergeant
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: had been sent for to come to headquarters half an
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: hour later. He had started the letter tightly wrapped in
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: a bit of rubber blanket before he had placed it
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: inside his jacket, for he had already had enough experience
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: with the native boats to know how unstable they would
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: be in the current of a rapid river. The five
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: miles from Pasi to the river were easily made in
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: spite of the fact that it was midday, for there
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: was a good path which for nearly all the distance
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: was shaded by lofty trees. When he reached the river,
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: the sergeant bought from a man whom he found there
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: a native bunka for three dollars, a sum of money
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: which would make a native rich. In this boat, he
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: started on his voyage down the river. A native banca
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: is a dugout a canoe hollowed out from the trunk
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: of a tree. It is propelled and guided by a short,
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: broad bladed paddle, and is as unstable as the lightest
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: racing shell, although not anywhere nearly so easy to set
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: and through the water. It was unfortunate for the sergeant
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: that he did not know what he could not, since
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: the map did not show it that the place where
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: the path touched the river first was on the upper
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: side of a huge ox bow bend. If he had
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: kept on by land, a third of a mile's walk
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: farther through the swamp would have brought him to the
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: river again at a point to reach which by water
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: following the river's windings, he would have to paddle three
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: or four miles. Another thing which was unfortunate that he
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: could not know the nature of the man from whom
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: he bought the banca any better than he could know
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: the nature of the river, and so did not suspect
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: that he was dealing with a Tulisan, to whom the
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: little bag of money which the officer had shown when
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: he had paid for the boat had looked like boundless
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: wealth to see which was to plan to possess a
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: tulisan is to the Philippine Islands what a brigand is
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: to Italy, a bandit to Spain, a high wayman to England,
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: and a train robber to America, a man who lives
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: by his wits and stops at no means to gain
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: his object. The banca, by the way, was stolen property.
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: This man would have stabbed the American soldier when he
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: stooped to step cautiously into the slippery boat and taken
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: the purse from his dead body, had he not been
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: far sighted enough to see that the purse might be
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: had and much more money beside. The Tulisan knew that
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: the American soldiers were at Passi, although he did not
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: find it best to come to town himself. In general,
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: he never had any trouble finding men to go there
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: for him and bring him news or carry messages. No
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: bandit leader who promptly carves an ear off, the man
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: who does his errands grudgingly is half so feared as
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: a Filipino Tulisan, whom his fellows know to be the
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: prossessor of a powerful unting unting. And this man's unting
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: unting was famous for the wonders which it had done.
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: The Tulisan knew that the American soldiers were at Pasi,
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: and that the man who led them lived in one
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: of the white tents they had set up there. This
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: man in the brown clothes, which looked so tight that
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: it made the Filipino tired just looking at them, could
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: be no common soldier, else he would not be paying
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: three big silver dollars for a banka. If anything was
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: to happen to this man, that is, if he was
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: to disappear and still not be dead, and the officer
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: in the white tent should know of it, the leader
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: of the white soldiers would no doubt pay much money
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: to have his men brought safely back. Consequently, the man
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: in the brown clothes with a fat money purse should
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: be made to disappear. That was the way that Tulissan reasoned.
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: It was the three dollars, the rest of the money
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: in the purse, and the ransom which the leader of
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: the white men would pay, which influenced the Filipino. It
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: was not that the Asiatic highwayman cared a leaf of
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: a forestry for patriotism, so long as he got the money.
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: White men and brown men were all alike to him,
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: American soldiers and Filipino insurgents. So the native, going into
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: the forest a little way back from the river, looked
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: until he found a tree, the roots of which growing
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: out from well up the trunk had made a sort
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: of great wooden drum, taking a stout stick of hard
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: wood which had been leaned against the tree. He had
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: been there before he struck the hollow tree. Three heavy blows,
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: the sound of which went echoing off through the forest.
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: Then the man listened not long for from far, very
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: far away, there came an answer, one blow, and then,
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: after a moment's pause, two more. The drum beats which followed,
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: and the pauses for the faint replies, were like listening
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: to a giant telegraph. The soldier, paddling steadily out around
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: the river's winding course, heard the noise and wondered curiously
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: what it was. The natives who heard it said, the
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: tree are talking, meaning that some one was making them
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: talk to the Tulissan. The sounds meant that he was
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: bringing his partner to help him, just as at night,
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: the far off, long drawn cry of a panther calls
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: the creature's mate to share the prey. Sergeant Johnson, still
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: paddling after he would have said that, with the help
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: of the current, he had put four good miles of
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: the river behind him, saw a tiny ripple in the
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: water ahead of the boat, but in a stream so
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: rapid thought nothing of it. An instant later, a cocoanut
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: fiber rope stretched taut across the river and just below
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: the surface of the water, had turned his skittish boat
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: bottom upward. The Tulissan you see, had seen the sergeant's
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: revolver and thought it wisest to attack him. Wet, drenched,
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: blowing for breath, before he knew what had happened, the
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: soldier found himself dragged to the bank, disarmed, robbed, his
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: hands bound behind him, and his feet hobbled. He could
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: speak Spanish, and so could the Tulisanes. Words told him
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: that his captors, only two in number, meant him to march,
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: hobbled as he was, along a path which they pointed out.
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: But it took several sharp pricks from a campiland which
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: one of them carried to make him start for The
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: path led away from the river, away from Pasi, from
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: Iloilo and the Utica, which he would have given his
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: life itself rather than failed to reach in time. Only
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: a little way back from the river, the path began
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: to leave the low land, mounting up the hills among
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: which the Tulisanes had their camp. Sometimes one of the
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: brigands led the way with the prisoner between them. Sometimes
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: both drove him before them, secure in the knowledge that
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: in his helpless condition he could not escape. The Captain's message,
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: in its rubber case, still lay undisturbed and dry within
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: the messenger's jacket. For that he was glad, although his
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: heart sank as every stepp carried him farther away from
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: the destination of the despatch and from the chance of
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: its being delivered in season. The means which Providence uses
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: to accomplish the ends which it desires are marvelous, and
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: those of us who do not believe in Providence say
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: a strange coincidence. The day before, back among the mountains
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: of Panay, a little old montesse woman who had never
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: heard of God or of America, and whose only dress
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: had been thirty yards of fine bamboo plaiting coiled round
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: and around her body, had died. When the dead body
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: had been set properly upright beneath the tiny hut which
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: had been the woman's home, and food and drink placed
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: beside it for the long journey which the spirit was
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: to take. The hut was abandoned, as is the custom
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: of the tribe and the men of the family. The
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: woman's sons and nephews started out with freshly sharpened lances
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: and machetties, for this is the only region of the
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: Montesses that no one must be left to go alone
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: upon the long journey, and so when one of a
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: family dies, the men relatives do not stay their hands
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: until some one the first person met is slain by
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: them to go on the journey as an escort only
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: if they seek three days through the wood and find
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: no human being. Then after the third day a beast
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: may be slain, and the law of blood still be satisfied.
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: The sons and nephews of the Montesse woman had marched
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: for thirty six hours, and the steel of their weapons
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: had not been dimmed by any moisture other than the
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: jew when suddenly rounding a turn in the mountain path,
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: they met three men. The first of the three at
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: that moment was that Tulisan leader, and him in thirty seconds,
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: they had driven six lances through his partner, with a
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: scream of terror, dashed into the trackless forest and disappeared.
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: He need not The demand for a sacrifice was appeased,
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: and the men who had killed. The Tulisan cared as
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: little for his companion as they did for the white
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: man who had been his prisoner. All they wanted now
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: was to get back to the Montesse country and to
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: the new huts which their women would have been building
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: in their absence. The white man's words they could not understand,
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: but his gestures were intelligible, and before they parted, he
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: to hurry back towards the river, and they towards the
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: Montesse country. They had cut the cords which bound the
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: soldier's hands and hobbled his feet, and thus had left
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: him free to make such haste as he could. Even then.
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: The afternoon was well nigh gone when the messenger reached
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: the river at the place where he had been dragged
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: from it, and practically all his journey was yet before him,
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: wearied as he was, for once, though fortune favored him.
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: His dugout had grounded on a sandy island, hardly a
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: dozen rods below where it had been overturned, and swimming
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: out to it, he soon had righted it and was
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: on his way again. At first, the forest on each
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: side was a tropic swamp. Then the river grew more swift,
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: with here and there rapids, in which it took all
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: his skill with his clumsy paddle to keep his boat
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: from being upset. The ground had begun to grow higher here,
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: and back from the banks there were rank growths of
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: hemp and palm trees. A few miles farther, and he
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: was in the mountains, the river winding about like a
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: lane of water, between walls which were almost perpendicular and
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: covered with the densest bright green foliage, in which Paris
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: croaked hoarsely, and monkeys chattered sleepily as they settled themselves
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: for the night. The walls of the living cannon grew
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: narrower and steeper. The river here was still as a lake,
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: and the current so sluggish that only his labor with
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: the paddle sent the bunka forward. It grew dark quickly
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: and fast down in the bottom of this mountain gorge,
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: and by and by the twilight glow on the tops
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: of the banks, when he would peer up at them,
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: grew fainter. The soldier strained his eyes to look ahead,
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: with the living green cannons of that river never end.
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: It was dark now, except that the stars in the
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: narrow line of sky above the gorge sent down light
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: enough to make the surface of the water gleam faintly
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: and mark out his course. He drew his paddle from
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: the water, and holding it so that the drops which
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: trickled from it would make no noise, listened breathlessly for
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: the sound of the falls, which marked the sight of
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: the village he was to find, and at it leave
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: his boat for the land. Again, a night bird screamed
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: in the forest, and then there was utter silence, until
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: a soft splash in the water beside him revealed the
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: ugly head of a huge black crocodile. Following the dugout
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: by and by the stars in the lane of sky
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: above grew dim and a stronger light, which faintly illuminated
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: the river gorge, told him that the full moon had risen,
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: although not yet high enough to light his course directly.
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: After a time, the gorge grew wider, and its sides
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: less steep and high, and then at last he heard
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: the roar of the falls, and found the village and
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: had landed. What time it might be now, the sergeant
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: did not dare to guess. A sleepy native pointed out
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: to him the path stared. When the stranger said he
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: must hurry on to Iluilo that night, and flatly, refusing
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: to be his guide, went back to bed. The forest
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: path was rankly wet with night dew and dimly lighted
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: by the moon. The soldier hurried forward, only to find
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: that in his haste he had missed the main path.
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: Slowly and anxiously, he retraced his way until he found
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: the right road again, and then went forward slowly enough
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: now to go with care, And so at last he
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: saw before him the city of Iloilo, only to learn
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: when he was challenged by a picket, that it was
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: one o'clock and that the Utica had steamed out of
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: the harbor an hour before. Useless as he feared the
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: dispatch might be now, Sergeant Johnson insisted that it be
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: delivered at once, and that he be given an opportunity
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: to ask, to be allowed to tell the general why
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: he was so late. When that officer roused from sleep,
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: had read the dispatch and heard the story briefly, for
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: there were other things to be thought of them, he
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: told the young man, you have done well, for he
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: knew the ways of Filipino Tulisanes. And after all, perhaps
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: you may not be too late. But before he explained
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: what he meant by the last part of his sentence.
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: The General called for one of his aides, and as
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: soon as the man could be brought hastily, gave him
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: certain orders, with instructions that they were to be communicated
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: to the officers whom they concerned as quickly as possible,
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: regardless of how sound asleep those gentlemen might be. Then,
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: because he was at heart a kindly man, and because
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: he felt that the water soaked, thorn torn soldier before him,
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: pale with weariness and anxiety, had done his best, the
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: General told him what the nature of the despatch, and
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: why even then he might yet be in time for
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: by another of the fortunate dispensations of providence, or, if
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: you please, by a strange coincidence. That very afternoon, another
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: American gunboat had unexpectedly steamed into the harbor of Iloilo
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: and dropped anchor. The General had sent messages to the
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: commander of the Ogdensburg explaining the situation to him, and
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: as soon as that officer understood the matter, he replied,
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: you did just write. We will start in pursuit of
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: the Utica as soon as we can get up steam
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: and do our best to overtake her? Could they overtake her?
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: That was the question. She had a good three hours start,
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: for daylight was breaking before the Ogdensburg could be got
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: under way, and the registered speed of the boats was
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: about equal. At any rate, there was doubt enough as
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: to what the result would be, so that when the
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: Ogdensburgh reached the town of concept Schon, fifty miles up
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: the coast from Iloilo, and the Utica was seen to
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: be lying at anchor in the harbor there, the commander
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: of the Ogdensburg said words which were as thankful as
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: they were emphatic, for just beyond concept Schon harbor began
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: the narrow channels of the Gigantes Islands, in some of
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: which he had feared to find the gunboat wrecked. When
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: the captain of the Utica came to know why he
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: was pursued and what he had escaped, he was grateful
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: for the faulty cylinder head which had delayed him, as
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: the night before he had been exasperated by it. The
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: pilot charged with his treachery proved at once that the
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: charge was true by turning traitor again and offering to
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: buy the safety of his own neck by guiding the
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: boats to where they could shell the woods in which
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: the natives were hidden. End of section seven, recording by
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: Marcel quiet Lane