CHAPTER XVI.
A PLEASANT CAPTOR--BRAVE BILL HICKSON ALLOWS ARCHIE TO ESCAPE--FIRST
GLIMPSE OF AGUINALDO.
FOR a long time Archie lay still upon the floor, being unable to move a muscle
from the shock of his encounter with the men, and because he was tightly
bound with ropes. And then he at last went off to sleep, feeling frightened
because he was in the hands of strange men, and a little satisfied, too,
because he was the victim of some adventure which might turn out in a very
interesting way.
When he awoke, it was morning, and the light came into the room through two
small square windows, set high up in the wall. Archie looked about the room
with great curiosity, but found little there to interest him. There was nothing
to be seen but an old bed without spring or mattress, and a rickety chair
with but three legs, which stood in one corner. The walls, he was surprised
to observe, were handsomely
decorated with tapestries, and Archie at once
made up his mind that this had at one time been a private dwelling-house,
and had probably been owned by some rich Spaniard who kept a store on the
ground floor, and lived in these rooms. The insurgents had probably driven
the family out of the country and had taken possession of the house, which
they had stripped of everything useful, leaving the tapestries and works
of art behind them.
These suppositions were cut short by the entrance of a man who appeared to
be a half-breed, and who immediately began to speak to Archie in broken English.
The fellow had a pleasant face, and presented a fairly good appearance, and
Archie wondered how he could have come to this place. "I suppose you have
been wondering," said the man, "why you have been thrown into this room,
and it won't take me long to explain things. You see this town belongs to
us just now, and we don't propose to have any Yankee spies around here to
tell Otis of our whereabouts. There ain't no troops in this town now, but
there's likely to be any minute, and we patriots was sent here to take possession
of things and arrange quarters for our army. Let me tell you that the Filipino
army will be in this town to-day, and if you don't look sharp
you'll be the
first prisoner to be shot. Aguinaldo isn't a man to deal easily with spies,
and if he thought you was out here for that purpose he'd have you riddled
with bullets in a minute." The man came up to Archie and began to undo the
ropes. "I reckon I can trust you free for awhile, for there's no use in your
trying to get away, with the Filipino army all around the town. Sit down
there now, and I'll see that you get some breakfast. You can tell, perhaps,
that I ain't no Filipino, nor never was one. I'm from Arizona, U. S. A.,
and I'm fightin' with these rebels for what there is in it just now. I'm
mighty curious to find out how you come to be out in these diggin's, youngster."
Archie was willing enough to tell all about himself. He liked this man, in
spite of his being with the rebels, and he felt that he would be able to
make friends with him if he were careful to do so. And the best plan seemed
to be for him to tell all about himself, how he happened to go to New York,
and how he had been sent out here as a boy correspondent for the Enterprise.
The man from Arizona listened to the recital with open mouth and eyes,
and he frequently laughed outright at some of the experiences Archie described.
When the narrative was
finished, he seized Archie's hand, and said, "My name's
Bill Hickson, and you can count on me after this fer a friend, youngster.
I'll swan if I ever heard tell of sich nerve in my life. I'll see that you
get out of this scrape all right, but you must be careful to keep up appearances
of being under guard. I'm a big-bug in this Filipino shack, but I wouldn't
dare to let you out openly. So you jist kind of lay around and look despondent,
and depend on me to make things as easy for you as I can. You kin come
down-stairs now, if you like, and I'll present you to my friends. There don't
none of 'em speak no English but me, and all I can do is to interduce you,
and tell 'em that you ain't no spy, and that you are very sorry you ever
ran up agin this here town. And I guess I'll be expressin' your sentiments
exactly, won't I?" Archie nodded, but in his heart he felt that he wasn't
sorry he had run up against the town. This Bill Hickson, in himself, was
a character worth going miles to meet, and if what he said was true, Archie
stood a good chance of seeing the notorious Aguinaldo, with his army of
Filipinos, before the day was over.
When he reached the lower floor, he found several men lounging about in another
poorly furnished room,
and they were all similar in appearance to the men
he had seen at the door the night before. They looked at him in an indifferent
way, and didn't seem surprised that he should be walking about without restraint.
Bill Hickson stepped up to some of them, and, after a few words in some language
Archie didn't understand, motioned for the boy to step up. He was told to
shake hands with "all the gents," and after he had done so he was offered
a cigar, and Archie began to realise that it was a very good thing that he
had a friend at the Filipino court. He thought, too, that if these men were
samples, Aguinaldo had a very poor lot of retainers, and later on he perceived
the real cause for the failure of the rebels to do anything more than keep
up a constant retreat. It was plain to see that the followers of the rebel
leader were "in it for what it was worth." They had no difficulty, any of
them, in getting enough to eat, and often they had opportunities to enjoy
themselves in great fashion by taking possession of some Filipino village
and ejecting the inmates of some particularly fine house, with a well-stocked
wine-cellar.
In looking out of the window Archie perceived that the town looked very different
this morning than when he saw it the evening before. Instead of
drawn blinds
and shuttered windows, there was everywhere an evident attempt at decoration
in honour of the coming army. The streets were crowded with a throng in holiday
garb, and some of the soldiers of the rebel army had already arrived, as
they could be easily distinguished by their ragged dress and ridiculous airs,
walking up and down the street. It was all such a scene as Archie had never
seen before, and would have made a great success as the scenario for a comic
opera. But as a welcome to an army, supposedly victorious, it was a dismal
failure, and Archie wondered what General Aguinaldo would think when he entered
the town and saw such shoddy patriotism everywhere. He hadn't long to wait,
however, before seeing the famous rebel and the effect upon him of the
celebration in his honour. It was about ten o'clock in the morning when he
rode into the public square, followed by about two hundred ragged Filipinos,
armed with all sorts of guns and pistols. Archie saw the arrival from the
roof of the building which was his mock prison, and he could scarcely refrain
from laughing outright when he saw the boasted Filipino "army." It was the
poorest excuse for a body of troops that he could imagine.
Aguinaldo rode a fine bay horse, as did several of
his followers, but by
far the majority of the regiment, if such it could be called, was afoot,
and most of them were barefooted, too. The rebel leader looked very much
like most of his pictures, with the exception that he had an older look,
and some gray hairs about the temples. He was attired in a gaudy uniform
of some sort, with epaulets and a Spanish general's hat, and he carried himself
with great dignity of manner. Dismounting from his horse, he entered the
administration building, where he held a conference with the town officials,
and probably made them pay over whatever money was in the treasury "for the
cause." He remained within for two hours or more, and all this time Archie
stood upon the roof and watched the remarkable scene in the streets below.
The troops had scattered, and were engaged in robbing the housewives of whatever
they had in their houses to eat. And the women seemed willing to provide
them with whatever they could afford, and there was much enthusiasm evident
everywhere. But the celebration was very quiet, in spite of the friendly
reception, There were no bands of music, no cheering, and no singing of
battle-hymns. The whole affair reminded Archie of some camp of a section
of
the famous Coxey army, when he had seen it long ago. The soldiers were
no better dressed than tramps, and there was but little more discipline among
them.
And the celebration and occupation of the town came to a sudden end. While
Archie stood upon the roof at noontime, he saw a runner enter the administration
building in great haste, and in a minute Aguinaldo came hurrying down the
steps. Then there was a great commotion in the streets, and the two hundred
followers of the chief were seen assembled in the square, and before they
were all there the general was riding out of the town toward the interior
of the island. There was no noise, and the inhabitants stood about apparently
speechless, and wondering what had happened. Their reception had come to
an untimely end, and their hero had left them unceremoniously. Soon the last
of the straggling troops were out of the town, and just as Archie was beginning
to think of going down from the roof Bill Hickson stuck his head up and gave
him some astonishing news. "Stay where you're at, young feller, till these
fool Filipinos gits away from here. You saw how they skedaddled, didn't ye?
Well, Uncle Sam is comin' after 'em with shot-guns,
and old Aggy heard the
news just in time. He is bound for the jungle, about forty miles southeast,
and he won't reach it until to-morrow night, anyhow, and if the officers
are quick they may be able to catch him. Now you stay here, lad, and give
'em the news when they git here. They'll thank you for it, and you may be
the means of gittin' this fool of an Aguinaldo captured. If you does, why,
your future's all right. And ye can tell the colonel, or whoever's in command,
that Bill Hickson is still with 'em, and that he's doin' his best fer Uncle
Sam, and tell 'em that Aggy has got about three thousand troops altogether,
but only about a thousand with him. Now, good-bye, lad, and I hope I'll see
ye again."
And Archie saw brave Bill Hickson get down from the roof. He brushed some
tears from his eyes as he realised that here was a brave soldier doing good
work for his country. A moment later he saw him running across the square
with four of the Filipinos, and waving his hat to the "youngster" as he went.
He followed him with his eyes as long as he could, and then he sat down and
made a solemn vow that Bill Hickson should be named among the heroes of the
war.
