Lieutenant Tillotson’s face, which had become sorely troubled as the telegram had been read, suddenly cleared. Phil felt that he would have died if a soldier of Captain Baker’s standing and reputation had even hinted at his uselessness, as he had at this hard-skinned, self-satisfied lieutenant.
After a night’s run the “Mindinao” was again tied up to the dock at Palilo. On the trip down the lads had left their unpleasant passenger severely alone, while he had spent his evening writing, filling sheet after sheet of paper with closely spaced lines.
“Official report of a spectator,” Sydney whispered loud enough purposely for Tillotson to hear. The latter looked up and scowled.
After breakfast the next morning Phil reported at the general’s office. Major Marble received him with a grave face.
“For the land’s sake, Perry! What have you done to Tillotson? He denounces you in scathing terms in his official report to the general; accuses you of weakening his authority before his men; humiliating him on your own ship; deliberately shoving off from the ship without him because he did not approve of the entire plan which you devised without his concurrence, and lastly reports you for insubordination when under his orders ashore and treating your superior officer with contempt. In fact,” Major Marble ended, “he has started at the top and gone to the bottom of all the military offenses.”
Phil gasped in astonishment. Major Marble stood gazing compassionately at his young friend, apparently hoping to hear him clear up the mystery. But Phil was silent. He must have time to think.
CHAPTER IX
THE KATIPUNAN SOCIETY
After Phil had reached his ship he scarcely remembered how he had behaved to his anxious and sympathetic friend, Major Marble. The boy’s mind was dazed. He had not believed that Tillotson would dare make charges against him, but now that they had been made, how should he act? The mere words of each charge were only too true but Phil felt that he had had strong and sufficient reasons for acting as he did. But now he must refute these charges or else go before a court-martial. But how could he refute them? There was but one way and that was to go to General Wilson and tell his story, which would be corroborated by Sydney. It would be tantamount to telling the general that one of his officers was an arrant coward and unfit to be trusted with hazardous expeditions. And even then the charges would still hold. They were true in substance, every one of them. As commanding officer of a gunboat Phil was within his rights when he laid his plans as to where the attack of the gunboat should be and the locality to land his own men; but he could only advise the army man from his nautical experience as to where the best place would be to land the soldiers in order that their coöperation might be harmonious. Lieutenant Tillotson was free to accept his suggestions or refuse them as he saw fit. So long as they were both afloat the army officer could give no orders to him, nor could Phil give orders to his superior in rank. To the anxious lad it was certainly a perplexing situation. His conscience was quite clear upon the soundness of the plan he had proposed, and he felt that in carrying it out they had struck a severe blow at the insurrection and had saved the beleaguered garrison. The lieutenant’s action might in feeble minds be excused through the plea of caution, but no strong man would hesitate to say that it was a case where caution should not have been considered.
Sydney was beside himself with indignation when he learned of the spiteful charges of the lieutenant and was for seeking him out and bestowing personal vengeance, but Phil dissuaded him from any such rash act.
“I should have ordered his men out of the boats,” Phil said bitterly, “when I saw Tillotson was not coming. We might have won without them, although they were a great comfort, and if the Colt gun had gone back on us they would have been a necessity.”