“I have five hundred men, but only three hundred rifles,” Rodriguez replied. “Captain Blynn will send sufficient guns to arm all the men by to-morrow. I do not fear an attack until after Espinosa is more recovered. My spies report that he is still suffering from his wound. I suppose I must expect an attack eventually,” he added sadly, gazing lovingly at his daughter and little son.
Within the hour, Lopez appeared and reported all was ready for the trip to Palilo.
“If you want more men,” Phil suggested, “I can speak to Major Marble, the adjutant-general. But I, myself, hope soon to be anchored off your house in the ‘Mindinao.’”
Lopez’s old eyes opened wide. “A gunboat has not been for many years up this river,” he said gravely. “The Spaniards built the bridge after the bloody fight at Matiginao over thirty years ago. It is said that many rocks were placed in the channel by the natives at that time, and after the Spaniards found the river was blocked for their gunboats they built that bridge to endure. It is all of stone and iron. A steam-launch can barely pass through the archway.”
Phil’s heart sank. The channel blocked with rock! If this was true only a careful survey could assure safety for the gunboat. The lead might easily miss the shallow places while the gunboat would discover the obstruction for the first time with its frail bottom.
The lad shook hands with the dignified old man. They regarded him almost with reverence. Had they not seen him stand bravely before a score of his countrymen, who he knew would like nothing better than to murder him, and tell them boldly that he was for the right even if to be so would cause him to be called a traitor! Now he had declared for the American cause and almost every influential native’s hand was against him.
Maria went with them to where the grooms held their horses.
“Señorita, we can never thank you enough,” Phil declared gladly. “You are forever putting us in your debt.”
“Ah, you have forgotten the night you saved Colonel Martinez,” she said softly, and Phil imagined in the moonlight that her eyes shone brighter.
“By Jove, Phil!” Sydney exclaimed eagerly a moment later, after they and Lopez had swung themselves into their saddles and were trotting down the broad roadway, “I didn’t believe it was in any girl to have such grit, least of all one of her race. How on earth did you come to think of such a trick as you played on that dapper little colonel?”