To the minarets of the Inland Sea
And the “geishas” of Tokio.
NOTE.
This being merely a narrative of that part of the Samar campaign that fell under my personal observation, without any pretence to an elaboration or an historical account, I desire to say that it would be doing a great injustice to the gallant battalion of marines, conveyed by the flag-ship New York to the scenes of the depredations of the treacherous natives, were I not to inform the reader that, in order to portray in detail the hardships endured by the men of Major Waller’s command, it would be necessary to have a more comprehensive knowledge of the data, and a very keen ability, in order to expedite the union of the composite stages of this diversified expedition: of the harassing and almost incredible obstacles countered; the personal courage, determination, and zeal, each step treading its own dangers; the attack upon the overwhelming force of insurgents in the cliffs along the Sojoton River, where it was necessary to elevate the three-inch field-pieces till they were almost vertical, the cliffs being nearly two hundred
feet high, and well-nigh impregnable; the attempts at scaling these cliffs by means of bamboo ladders; the various engagements in which innumerable insurgents and many Americans were killed; the travel of hundreds of miles through jungle wilderness, by the half-starved, bare-footed marines; the burning of one hundred and sixty-five shacks en route to Liruan, where death lurked in concealed spear-pits; the terrible execution of the Colt automatics; the revolt of the native help, their execution, and the sensational court-martial that followed, attended by the honorable exoneration of the defendants, et cetera; of the admirable work of the army, and fourth company of Macabebe scouts, and numerous side-lights on this novel campaign of warfare, that would tax the fertile brain of the experienced author in their portrayal.
VIII.
The Cowboy Soldier, a Coincidence
Departure for New Orleans—Arrival at the Capital—The Soldiers—Peach Tree Street, Atlanta—Christening of the “Peace-togs”—New Orleans—The Levee—Creoles—The Race-track—A Quadroon-ball—The Farandole and La Bourree—Madame La Bouchere, Goddess of Sorcery—The Mardi Gras—The Plaza de Goiti, Manila—The Coincidence.
One crisp wintry afternoon late in the month of January, 1899, having bade adieu to a party of boon companions at a little railway station in the Blue Ridge mountains of Pennsylvania, I ensconced myself on the cushions of the smoking-compartment of the Black Diamond Express, lit a cigar, and ran through the pages of a popular magazine, possessed with a feeling of satisfaction that my destination, New Orleans, lay under the warmth of Southern skies, free from the bleak winds of the North, and with that suavity manifest in a person whose most