CHAPTER XXX
A RESCUE UNDER DIFFICULTIES
"Nothing here, cap'n."
It was Boxer the scout who spoke. For two hours he, Ben, and LukeStriker had been examining the trail running along the cliff. Theycould find footprints without number, but no trace of Larry.
"He must have gone somewhere," replied Ben, who could not bringhimself to give up the hunt. "He wasn't spirited away. I've a goodmind to make a hunt at the bottom of the cliff."
"As you will, cap'n. But, remember, this air side o' the valley isfull of rebs, and if they catch us--"
"We must be on our guard, Boxer."
"I've got my eyes wide open," put in Luke. "I reckon on it as how Ican see as far as any on 'em, too."
The walk to the cliff had not been accomplished without difficulty.Twice had they come close to running into the Filipino pickets, andonce Luke had been almost certain they were being followed, but thealarm proved false. A night had been spent in the jungle, and at apoint within half a mile of where Larry lay senseless under the bigtree!
The hunt had revealed to the party the series of rough steps mentionedin the last chapter, and down these they now went and continued theirsearch at the base of the cliff.
"What's this?" came from the old sailor, presently, and he pointed tothe broken sapling hanging in the branches of the big tree. With thesapling was a shred of a garment, fluttering in the breeze like asignal of distress.
A close examination caused them to reach a conclusion which was, as wealready know, true; namely, that Larry had come down with the saplingand landed in the big tree.
"And he wasn't killed, either," said Boxer. "For here is where hebuilt a fire and cooked some birds' eggs."
"And he visited the pool, too," added Ben, examining the tracks withcare. "Funny tracks these," he added, a second later.
"He was hopping on one foot," announced the scout, gravely. "Thatlooks as if he had one leg hurt."
It was an easy matter to follow the trail through the jungle, for theground was damp and covered with a moss which was torn with ease. Soonthey reached the clearing where Larry had stopped to examine hisankle.
"Hullo, more footprints!" ejaculated Boxer, his face falling. "Andrebs, too, I'll wager a new hat. Cap'n, I'm afraid your brother hasrun into worse trouble."
"It certainly looks like it," answered Ben. "Where do the footprintslead to?"
Where but back to the very rocks down which they had come but a fewhours before! Soon they were back at the top of the cliff again.
Before leaving the valley Boxer studied the footprints closely, andnow, although there were other footprints above, he followed the partyhaving Larry in charge without making a single error. But it was slowwork, and the encampment of the Filipinos was not discovered untilnightfall.
"We've tracked 'em to a finish," announced Boxer. "Don't go anyfurther, cap'n--unless you are ready to do some tall shooting."
"I can do some shooting if it's necessary," answered Ben, with adetermined look on his face which was not to be mistaken. "I shouldlike to make sure my brother is here."
"We'll walk around the camp and see," said Boxer, and this they did,slowly and cautiously, each with his weapons ready for immediate use.But the Filipinos were busy eating their suppers and smokingcigarettes, and did not discover them.
"There's Larry!" cried Luke, after a while. And he pointed to one sideof the camp. The guards were just taking the lad to the general to besentenced.
"Yes, yes!" answered Ben. He handled his pistol nervously. He couldhardly restrain himself from rushing forward and embracing the longlost. Boxer saw what was in his mind and held him back.
"Don't be rash, cap'n," whispered the scout. "If you are, it may costall of us our lives."
"I will try to be careful," was the answer, with an effort. "But whatare they going to do with him?"
"They are taking him over to yonder tent."
Soon Larry disappeared inside the tent, and they crouched behind thebushes to await developments. While waiting, Ben made a mentalcalculation of the number of the enemy.
"A battalion, or more," he said to Boxer. "I wonder what they aredoing so far from the main body of the troops?"
"Oh, their army is becoming badly scattered, cap'n. General Lawton has'em on the run, and there won't be any of 'em left when he getsthrough with 'em."
As we know, the scene in the tent was a short one, and soon they sawLarry come out again, and saw him tied to the tree. The two soldiersdetailed to guard him sat on either side of their prisoner, on rocksabout six or eight yards from the tree.
"He seems to be the only prisoner in the camp," whispered Ben. "Iwonder if I can't crawl up and cut him loose. I did that once forGilbert Pennington."
"No, no!" interposed Boxer. "Those guards are wide awake and willshoot you in a minute. Wait till it gets darker--we may get a chanceto do something then."
Slowly the minutes drifted by, Ben watching Larry every instant. Hesaw that his younger brother was exceedingly tired and held one footup as if in pain. The young sailor had asked if he might not lie down,but this comfort had been denied him.
Both of the guards were puffing vigorously on their cigarettes, whenone chanced to throw down a lighted match close to the rock upon whichhe was sitting. It set fire to some dry grass, but instead of puttingit out, the guard watched the tiny conflagration grow stronger.
"Playing with fire, eh?" said his mate, lightly.
"Yes," was the slow answer. "How I would like to see Manila go up likethat!"
"Yes, I would like to see that, too, Carlos, and the Americans in theflames. Ah, but the day when we are to take the capital seems a longway off now."
"Never mind; Aguinaldo says he is soon to have reenforcements from thesouth. When they come, let the American dogs beware!"
The talk was carried on in the Tagalog dialect, so Larry understoodnot a word. In the meantime, the fire crept up, making the guard'sseat anything but comfortable.
"That's too much," he observed, and was on the point of kicking thefire out with his foot, when of a sudden he uttered a wild yell thatstartled everybody near him. "A snake! a snake! Oh, what a longcreature!"
For from under the rock a huge reptile had glided, roused up by theheat. It was a snake peculiar to those mountains, and all of ten feetlong and as thick as a man's arm. It struck the guard in the knee, andthen whipped around in increased anger, for its tail had come incontact with the fire.
"A snake!" echoed the second guard, and fired his Mauser at thereptile. But he was too excited to shoot straight, and the bulletglanced along the rock and struck the first guard in the cheek,inflicting a fairly serious wound.
The cries of the two guards' were taken up on all sides of the camp,and especially in the vicinity of the rock from under which thereptile had appeared. All the soldiers recognized the snake as adangerous enemy; and as the reptile moved about, first one and thenanother ran to get out of its way, several in the meantime takinghasty shots at it, but failing to do any serious damage. For severalminutes the prisoner was entirely forgotten.
It was Ben who saw the opportunity,--Ben and the ever-faithfulLuke,--and rushing up, they cut Larry's bonds and fairly hustled himinto the depth of the jungle behind the encampment. The young sailorcould hardly understand what was taking place, but when he recognizedhis brother and his old messmate, he gave a shout of joy.
"You, Ben! and Luke! Oh, I must be dreaming!"
"No, you are not dreaming, Larry. We've been watching you for a longwhile, trying to do something. Can you run?"
"No; I sprained my ankle, and it is still sore."
"I'll carry him," said Luke. "You lead the way, cap'n. And Boxer hadbetter bring up the rear guard."
"Right you are," came from the scout. "Have your weapons ready, cap'n.We may catch it hot, in spite of the alarm over the snake. Those rebswill be as mad as hornets when they find the lad is missing."
Away they went, Ben trying to find an easy path,--which was no smallth
ing to do in that utter darkness,--and Luke coming up behind,breathing like a porpoise, but vowing he could carry Larry a mile wereit necessary. Boxer kept as far to the rear as he dared withoutmissing their trail, and the life of any Filipino who might haveappeared would not have been worth a moment's purchase at the scout'shands.
They had covered but a few hundred yards when the shouting and firingat the encampment ceased. "I guess the snake is dead," said Ben. "Nowthey'll be after us."
The young captain was right; and soon they heard the enemy breakingthrough the jungle in detachments of three or four men each, allhot-footed to recapture the prisoner. They had observed the cut ropesand wondered if it was possible that Larry had severed them withoutassistance.
It was not long before Boxer got a good shot at the nearest of thepursuers. His aim was true, and the Tagal went down without somuch as a groan. His companions stopped short, and then calledsome other soldiers to the scene. "The boy is armed and shoots likea sharpshooter," they told each other; and after that the search wascontinued with extra care. Of course Boxer kept out of sight; and assoon as he could, he joined Ben and the others.
"I think there must be a stream close at hand,--the one we crossed afew days ago," said he. "If we can get to that, we'll have some chanceto hide."
"Let's get to it, then," gasped Luke, who felt that he could keep upbut a short while longer.
"I'll take Larry, Luke," put in Ben, and the transfer was made, inspite of the old sailor's protests. Then Luke plunged ahead and soonannounced that he could see the river through the bushes to the right.Soon they came out on some rocks. The stream was a mountain torrent, arod wide and from two to three feet deep. They plunged in withoutdelay.
As they could not walk against such a current, they followed thestream on its downward course almost to the edge of the cliff, wherethe torrent formed a pretty series of waterfalls. Then they crossed tothe other side, and climbed into a tree growing directly at thewater's edge,--a species of willow, with long, drooping branches.
"We ought to be safe here--at least for a while," said Boxer.
"It's hard to tell where one would be safe here," answered Ben. "Thewhole country seems to be invested with scattered bands of theinsurgents."
He asked Larry about himself, and in a few words the younger brothertold his story. Then Boxer stopped the talk.
"In a situation like this, it's best to have only ears and eyes," hesaid, and all saw at once the aptness of the remark.
But though they remained on guard the larger part of the night, nobodycame to disturb them, and the only sound that broke the stillness wasthat of the water as it tumbled over the rocks below.
Ben was much worried over Larry's ankle, which had begun to swellagain through having stood so long on it while being tied to the tree.He brought a canteen of water up from the stream and bathed it withthis. This moistened the mashed-up leaves once more, and then theinjured member felt better, and Larry caught a nap.
"I reckon we had better be moving again," said Boxer, while it wantedyet an hour to daylight. "Those rebs may be waiting for to see us, youknow."
"Well, my brother can't run, so perhaps it will be just as well ifyou take a scout around and see if the coast is clear," said Ben.
"Certainly, cap'n." And Boxer made off without delay, moving throughthe jungle and along the stream as silently as some wild animal insearch of its prey.
Fifteen minutes and more passed, and they began to wonder when thescout would come back, when a low whistle reached their ears.
"It's all right," came from Boxer.
"Nobody in sight?" questioned Ben.
"Nary a reb, cap'n."
"I'm glad of it," put in Larry, with a sigh of relief. "I never wantto fall in with them again!" And he shuddered. He would never forgethow close he had been to death at their hands.
They came down the tree, and after a drink from the stream, set outagain, this time following the watercourse over the rocks until thecliff was left behind. Here they struck a bit of marsh and had to makea detour, finally coming out, much to their surprise, on what appearedto be a regular highway through the forest.
"Now, if we only knew where this leads to," cried Ben.
"I reckon it leads to San Isidro," came from Boxer. "But we may be agood number of mil--"
"Look! look!" ejaculated Striker, pointing up the road. "The rebels,as sure as you air born! An' they air comin' about a thousand strong,too. Boys, we air lost!"