“He was armed,” Phil said quietly, a catch in his voice which he could not control, “and I knew he would not be taken alive. I couldn’t kill him,” he added, “before the girl’s eyes, and there seemed no other way. Something tells me that there is a strong blood tie between those two. I can’t explain, Syd,” he cried in confusion. “It may sound sentimental, but the look in the girl’s eyes when she realized what might happen made me lower the muzzle of the rifle to the ground.”
Sydney was silent. He believed implicitly in Phil and if opportunity had offered he was sure that he would have acted the same.
“But why didn’t you give Captain Blynn your reasons for allowing this insurgent to escape? You must see how he now views the occurrence and a word from you would have set matters straight.”
A sudden anger came into Phil’s face. “I would have told him all, but you saw how he cut off my explanation and arraigned me before that despicable spy Espinosa. After that a mule team couldn’t drag the story from me. I’ll tell it in good time, but not to Captain Blynn. Syd,” he added confidingly, “I don’t like that fellow Espinosa’s looks. He reminds me of a domesticated coyote. He will bite the hands that feed him some day. You see if he doesn’t!”
“I haven’t any use for these men who are traitors to their own countrymen,” O’Neil joined in as he rode up alongside of Phil, the trail having widened to allow three abreast. “The soldiers tell me he is the white-haired old boy with Captain Blynn. It was he that betrayed the Tagalos. How he gets his information no one seems to know. Did you notice,” he asked suddenly, “the expression on his face when I dragged him away from the insurgent colonel? He wanted that man’s life the worst kind, and the girl’s too, I guess. We’ve made an enemy, Mr. Perry,” the sailor added decidedly, “and one who won’t soon forget us.”
Phil gave a mirthless laugh.
“I don’t mind making that sort of an enemy,” he said, “but we shall have to keep our eyes open hereafter, I suppose, for Señor Espinosa.”
It was broad daylight before the expedition arrived in Palilo and after a formal parting from the other Americans, which O’Neil described as “the frozen mit,” the naval men separated from the soldiers and took the street leading to the water-front. There in front of the quartermaster’s depot they saw the gunboat “Mindinao” moored snugly to the stone jetty.
A wave of pride swept through Phil’s body as he took in the trim outlines of his command, one of which any lad would be proud to be captain.
A score of curious faces peered at them from the gunboat as they drew rein at the gangway and dismounted.