rumbling of impending gloom; his ears were startled by the distant thunder of the voice of war; he knew it to be the opening peal of the awakening insurrection and his attention turned to the more serious matter of the imminent conflict. A more powerful enemy than his late foe menaced him from all sides.

CHAPTER III.

THE INSURRECTION.

The report of a rifle rang down the quiet Santa Mesa hill on the night of February 4th. As the flash of the gun died away in the gloom a dusky warrior fell in death and the spark of an insurrection kindled into flame. Almost instantly the belligerent Tagalans rushed down upon the American outposts; the United States forces from Caloocan to Malate swung into line, and the sturdy Anglo-Saxon and the fiery Malay were matched in combat.

The violent clash caused no look of surprise to flutter across the faces of the American soldiers; all knew that the outbreak was coming, all had waited with expectant excitement for the impending conflict. To the intoxicated native victory against the Spanish seemed too certain to be wrested from him by the conquering American; he had long smarted under the goading reflection that "the wreath of the conquerer" had been snatched away at the moment when it seemed almost within his grasp. This bitter knowledge irritated and maddened him, until he only awaited an opportunity to spring at the throat of his imaginary foe and wrench from him what he considered his own. He remembered the long years of wretchedness under Spanish tyranny and oppression. He suspected that his new masters would prove even more overbearing than his late persecutors. He had not forgotten the daring rush for liberty which his ancestors had made. Their blood coursed through his veins and he determined that he would not relinquish the struggle without one last bold dash for the coveted goal.

It was not alone a love for liberty which spurred onward the dark horde which followed the red banner of Aguinaldo. Since 1896 they had striven with their ancient enemy, with the hope that they might tear from him all his wealth. Their leader had with subtle diplomacy urged on his wary braves with the thought that when they battered down the walls of Manila all that it contained would be theirs to loot and ravage. They loved liberty, but they loved the gold which it would bring still more. So they looked with hungry eyes when they saw the Americano enter the city of their dreams and close the gate against the black hosts who sought entrance to plunder and steal.

During the few months preceding the outbreak the Filipinos had become less friendly to their late allies. "La Independencia," the official organ of the insurgents, frequently came out with loud denunciations against the Americans and called the sullen natives to action against the hated usurpers. It was not an uncommon occurrence to see the walls of public buildings patched over with "proclamos," signed by Aguinaldo, almost openly declaring war against the Americans and asserting the rights of the Tagalans to their independence.

The fourteen blockhouses which had been the Spanish line of defense had been allowed to fall into the hands of the Filipinos, who converted them into a strong offensive and defensive work. When by chance an American strayed beyond these fortifications, the attitude of the native sentries was often violent and abusive. Eventually no soldiers were permitted to go outside of the territory bounded by our outposts, and the Malay line of muskets tightened around the city like the arm of a colossal dragon. Repeatedly there were war alarms, and for several days the men not on duty were kept in barracks. At times the Tagalans at the pumping station shut off the water supply merely as an insolent challenge and an indication of what they were able to do. On certain parts of the line the Filipinos were seen building new intrenchments and reinforcing the old ones.

For several weeks natives had been concentrating around the Santa Mesa, and Lieutenant Webb was sent out to the Nebraska camp with the left platoon of Battery A to strengthen the Nebraska position. The Santa Mesa road was looked upon by the multitude of Aguinaldo as the natural gateway to Manila. It was at the San Juan Del Monte bridge that they had sought in vain to pound their way into the Spanish lines on many a desperate battle night. One of the Utah guns occupied the very gun pit which had been used by the Castilians as a defense from which their cannon barked back defiance to the onrushing fanatical hordes.

Often there were wrangles between Colonel Stotsenberg and the Tagalan officers regarding the line of outposts which the native forces should occupy. Several times the Colonel averted hostilities by a judicious yielding to minor points. Ultimately at the San Juan bridge a stalwart American sentry and a diminutive Tagalan paced in parallel lines. The Filipinos seemed anxious to aggravate the Americans into an act of hostility, and rigorous orders were issued to prevent such an occurrence. Night after night the native warriors clustered about one end of the bridge and uttered curses at the silent Nebraskan outpost. Before the outbreak actually took place several times our sentries were forced back by a howling mob of drunken Malays.

One native officer was particularly violent. Not a night passed but that he gathered a crowd of inebriated Tagalans and tramped down to the bridge for the purpose of scoffing and hurling vile epithets at the taciturn American posted there. They were encouraged by the lenient and apparently submissive attitude of the Americans whom they had begun to look upon as arrant cowards, who could be wheedled and whipped about as they chose.

On the night when the signal shot sang out in the darkness and the battle came, the same haughty officer was coming down towards the American line to repeat his abusive conduct, when the sharp voice of the sentry rang out as a warning to halt. He persistently advanced and at the same time launched some vehement Tagalan curses at the outpost. The next instant he lay dead with a bullet through his heart; the report startled the still night air and an insurrection was born.

All that night the thunders of the united American forces in action were wafted to the Cuartel. The natives were so close that some of the bullets pattered against the walls of the building and some even struck the Hotel De Oriente, nearer town. When the commissary wagons probed their way out to the belligerent front they were fired upon from the houses lining the streets. Every nipa hut in which a private family lived became an arsenal.

The trouble had been anticipated and every officer knew what portion he was expected to defend. Ten minutes after the news arrived in the Cuartel, the heavy guns of Utah rumbled over the streets to different parts of the field.

Those under Major Grant rushed out into the night and were instantly under a vigorous fire near the woods of Caloocan. Captain Wedgewood disappeared in the blackness and took up the appointed position on the Balic Balic road near Sampaloe cemetery. The guns under Lieutenant Seaman dashed out of the barracks and a few moments later their deep bass was added to the Satanic roar. On McLeod's hill surrounded by the Nebraskans two guns under Lieutenant Webb menaced the plain below.

At Santa Mesa the fight began. Three minutes after the opening flash the Nebraskan camp was deserted. As the outposts slowly returned the regiment swept onward to the fray, and soon the angry rattle of the "Long Toms" answered back the viperous "ping" of the Mauser.

The sound of the first shot had hardly ceased echoing upon the hill when the Tagalans, jubilant, confident, flew for the bridge; their onrush was met