the insurgents who had been fighting the now-conquered Spaniards, and it looked as if another fair-sized war was at hand. This being so, Ben lost no time in reënlisting in the army, while Larry hastened to join Admiral Dewey’s flagship Olympia once more. “If there’s to be any more fighting, I want to be right in it,” was what the young tar said, and Ben agreed with him. How they journeyed to Manila by way of the Mediterranean, the Suez Canal, and the Indian Ocean, has already been related in “Under Otis in the Philippines.” Ben was at this time second lieutenant of Company D of his regiment. With the two boys went Gilbert Pennington, Ben’s old friend of the Rough Riders, who was now first sergeant of Company B of the same regiment, and half a dozen others who had fought with the young volunteer in Cuba. On arriving at Manila Larry found matters, so far as it concerned his ship, very quiet, but Ben was at once sent to the front, and participated with much honor to himself in the campaign which led to the fall of Malolos, 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 main street of the place, an insurgent sharpshooter had hit the young commander in the side, and he had fallen, to be picked up later and placed in the temporary hospital which was opened up in Malolos as soon as it was made certain that the rebels had been thoroughly cleaned out. Fortunately for the young volunteer the wound, though painful, was not serious.
Of the fifteen thousand to twenty thousand dollars coming to the Russell brothers, more than three-quarters had been invested by Job Dowling in the Heathstone Saving Institution, a Buffalo bank that had promised the close-minded man a large rate of interest. The cashier of this bank, Braxton Bogg, had absconded, taking with him all the available cash which the institution possessed. Bogg had come to Manila, and there Ben had fallen in with him several times and finally accomplished his arrest. It was found that Braxton Bogg had very little money on his person, and the guilty cashier finally admitted that he had left his booty at the house of one Benedicto Lupez, a Spaniard with whom he had boarded. As all the Spaniards in Manila were being closely watched by the soldiers doing police duty in the disturbed city, both Ben and Larry had supposed that there would be no further trouble in getting possession of the missing money. But Benedicto Lupez had slipped away unperceived, taking the stolen money with him, and the Russell inheritance – or at least the larger portion of it – was as far out of the reach of the boys as ever.
CHAPTER II
SOMETHING ABOUT THE SITUATION AT MALOLOS
“Do you know if the Manila authorities have any idea where this Benedicto Lupez has gone to?” asked Ben, after partaking of some delicacies which Larry had managed to obtain for him.
“They think he got on a small boat and went up the Pasig River. He is supposed to have a brother living in Santa Cruz on the Laguna de Bay. This brother is said to be in thorough sympathy with the insurgents.”
“In that case he is out of our reach for the present, as the rebels, so I understand, have a pretty good force in and around Santa Cruz. But if this Lupez has the money, I can’t understand how he would join the rebels. They’ll try to get the cash from him, if they need it.”
“Perhaps he is foolish enough to think that they will win out in this fight, Ben. You know how hot-headed some of these people are. They haven’t any idea of the real power of Uncle Sam. I believe if they did know, they would submit without another encounter.”
“It would be best if they did, Larry, for now that we are in this fight we are bound to make them yield. Once they throw down their arms, I feel certain our country will do what is fair and honest by them.”
“It’s the leaders who are urging the ignorant common people on – I’ve heard more than one of the officers say so. The leaders are well educated and crafty, and they can make the masses believe almost anything. Why, just before I came away from Manila I saw a dozen or more Igorottes brought in – tall, strapping fellows, but as ignorant as so many children. They seemed to be dazed when their wounds were cared for and they were offered food. The interpreter said they thought they would be massacred on the spot by the bloodthirsty Americanos, and they had a lurking suspicion that they were being cared for just so they could be sold into slavery.”
At this juncture a tall, thoroughly browned soldier came in, wearing the uniform of a first lieutenant.
“Well, Ben, how is it to-day,” he said cheerily, as he extended his hand. “And how are you, Larry?” And he likewise shook hands with the young tar.
“I’m hoping to get out soon, Gilbert,” answered Ben. “But what’s this – a lieutenant’s uniform?”
“Yes, I’ve been promoted to first lieutenant of Company B,” returned Gilbert Pennington. “I tell you, we are all climbing up the ladder, and Larry must look to his laurels. I understand you are to be made permanent captain of Company D.”
“But where is First Lieutenant Crunger of your company?”
“Disappeared,” and the young Southerner’s face took on a sober look. “That’s the only thing that mars my happiness over my promotion. After the taking of Malolos, Jack Crunger disappeared utterly, and we haven’t been able to find hide nor hair of him, although half a dozen scouting parties have been sent out and the stream has been dragged in several places.”
“Perhaps he was taken prisoner,” suggested Larry. “I heard some of the Kansas and Utah men were missing, too.”
“We are afraid he is a prisoner, and if that is so, Aguinaldo’s men have probably taken him up to San Fernando, where the insurgents are setting up their new capital.”
“And what is going on at the firing line?” asked Ben, eagerly. “Are they following up the rebels’ retreat?”
“I’m sorry to say no. General MacArthur made a reconnaissance in the direction of Calumpit, but it amounted to little.”
“I understand that the Charleston has sailed up the coast and is going to shell Dagupan,” put in Larry. “Dagupan, you know, is the terminus of the railroad line.”
“That’s good,” came from the sick brother. “If we can get a footing in Dagupan, we can work the railroad territory from both ends.” But this was not to be, as coming events speedily proved, for the shelling of the city by the warship amounted to but little.
Gilbert Pennington knew all about the Braxton Bogg affair and listened with interest to what Larry had to relate.
“It’s too bad,” he declared. “I’d like to give you some hope, boys, but I’m afraid you’ll have to whistle for your fortune. That Spaniard will keep out of the reach of the Americans, and if the worst comes to the worst, he’ll slip off to Spain or South America; you mark my words.”
Larry’s leave of absence was for forty-eight hours only, and soon he was forced to bid his brother and his friend good-by. “Now take good care of yourself, Ben,” he said, on parting. “And do stay here until you are stronger. Remember that a wounded man can’t stand this broiling sun half as well as one who isn’t wounded, and even the strongest of them are suffering awfully from the heat.”
“I’ll make him stay,” put in Gilbert, with mock severity. “Surgeon Fallox won’t give him clearance papers until I tell him, for he’s a great friend of mine.”
“I’m going to have a word with Stummer before I go,” added Larry, and hurried to the ward in which the sturdy German volunteer had been placed. He found the member of Ben’s company propped up on some grass pillows, smoking his favorite brier-root pipe.
“Sure, an’ I vos glad to see you, Larry,” cried Carl, his round face broadening into a smile on beholding his visitor. “Yah, I vos doin’ putty goot, und I peen out on der firin’ line next veek maype. But say, I vos sorry I peen shot town pefore we got to Malolos. I vos dink sure I help clean dose repels out.”
“Never mind, you did your duty, Carl. I’ve heard they are going to make you a corporal for your bravery.”
“Sure, an’ that’s right,” came in an Irish voice behind the pair, and Dan Casey, another volunteer of Ben’s company, appeared. “It’s mesilf as has the honor av saying it