CHAPTER XVI.
A PLEASANT CAPTOR--BRAVE BILL HICKSON ALLOWS ARCHIE TO ESCAPE--FIRST GLIMPSE OF AGUINALDO.
FOR a long time Archie lay still upon the floor, being unable to move amuscle from the shock of his encounter with the men, and because he wastightly bound with ropes. And then he at last went off to sleep, feelingfrightened because he was in the hands of strange men, and a littlesatisfied, too, because he was the victim of some adventure which mightturn out in a very interesting way.
When he awoke, it was morning, and the light came into the room throughtwo small square windows, set high up in the wall. Archie looked aboutthe room with great curiosity, but found little there to interest him.There was nothing to be seen but an old bed without spring or mattress,and a rickety chair with but three legs, which stood in one corner.The walls, he was surprised to observe, were handsomely decorated withtapestries, and Archie at once made up his mind that this had at onetime been a private dwelling-house, and had probably been owned by somerich Spaniard who kept a store on the ground floor, and lived in theserooms. The insurgents had probably driven the family out of the countryand had taken possession of the house, which they had stripped ofeverything useful, leaving the tapestries and works of art behind them.
These suppositions were cut short by the entrance of a man who appearedto be a half-breed, and who immediately began to speak to Archie inbroken English. The fellow had a pleasant face, and presented a fairlygood appearance, and Archie wondered how he could have come to thisplace. "I suppose you have been wondering," said the man, "why you havebeen thrown into this room, and it won't take me long to explain things.You see this town belongs to us just now, and we don't propose to haveany Yankee spies around here to tell Otis of our whereabouts. Thereain't no troops in this town now, but there's likely to be any minute,and we patriots was sent here to take possession of things and arrangequarters for our army. Let me tell you that the Filipino army will bein this town to-day, and if you don't look sharp you'll be the firstprisoner to be shot. Aguinaldo isn't a man to deal easily with spies,and if he thought you was out here for that purpose he'd have youriddled with bullets in a minute." The man came up to Archie and beganto undo the ropes. "I reckon I can trust you free for awhile, forthere's no use in your trying to get away, with the Filipino army allaround the town. Sit down there now, and I'll see that you get somebreakfast. You can tell, perhaps, that I ain't no Filipino, nor neverwas one. I'm from Arizona, U. S. A., and I'm fightin' with these rebelsfor what there is in it just now. I'm mighty curious to find out how youcome to be out in these diggin's, youngster."
Archie was willing enough to tell all about himself. He liked this man,in spite of his being with the rebels, and he felt that he would be ableto make friends with him if he were careful to do so. And the best planseemed to be for him to tell all about himself, how he happened to go toNew York, and how he had been sent out here as a boy correspondent forthe Enterprise. The man from Arizona listened to the recital withopen mouth and eyes, and he frequently laughed outright at some of theexperiences Archie described. When the narrative was finished, he seizedArchie's hand, and said, "My name's Bill Hickson, and you can count onme after this fer a friend, youngster. I'll swan if I ever heard tellof sich nerve in my life. I'll see that you get out of this scrape allright, but you must be careful to keep up appearances of being underguard. I'm a big-bug in this Filipino shack, but I wouldn't dare to letyou out openly. So you jist kind of lay around and look despondent,and depend on me to make things as easy for you as I can. You kin comedown-stairs now, if you like, and I'll present you to my friends.There don't none of 'em speak no English but me, and all I can do is tointerduce you, and tell 'em that you ain't no spy, and that you arevery sorry you ever ran up agin this here town. And I guess I'll beexpressin' your sentiments exactly, won't I?" Archie nodded, but in hisheart he felt that he wasn't sorry he had run up against the town. ThisBill Hickson, in himself, was a character worth going miles to meet,and if what he said was true, Archie stood a good chance of seeing thenotorious Aguinaldo, with his army of Filipinos, before the day wasover.
When he reached the lower floor, he found several men lounging about inanother poorly furnished room, and they were all similar in appearanceto the men he had seen at the door the night before. They looked athim in an indifferent way, and didn't seem surprised that he shouldbe walking about without restraint. Bill Hickson stepped up to some ofthem, and, after a few words in some language Archie didn't understand,motioned for the boy to step up. He was told to shake hands with "allthe gents," and after he had done so he was offered a cigar, and Archiebegan to realise that it was a very good thing that he had a friend atthe Filipino court. He thought, too, that if these men were samples,Aguinaldo had a very poor lot of retainers, and later on he perceivedthe real cause for the failure of the rebels to do anything more thankeep up a constant retreat. It was plain to see that the followersof the rebel leader were "in it for what it was worth." They had nodifficulty, any of them, in getting enough to eat, and often they hadopportunities to enjoy themselves in great fashion by taking possessionof some Filipino village and ejecting the inmates of some particularlyfine house, with a well-stocked wine-cellar.
In looking out of the window Archie perceived that the town looked verydifferent this morning than when he saw it the evening before. Insteadof drawn blinds and shuttered windows, there was everywhere an evidentattempt at decoration in honour of the coming army. The streets werecrowded with a throng in holiday garb, and some of the soldiers of therebel army had already arrived, as they could be easily distinguished bytheir ragged dress and ridiculous airs, walking up and down the street.It was all such a scene as Archie had never seen before, and would havemade a great success as the scenario for a comic opera. But as a welcometo an army, supposedly victorious, it was a dismal failure, and Archiewondered what General Aguinaldo would think when he entered the town andsaw such shoddy patriotism everywhere. He hadn't long to wait,however, before seeing the famous rebel and the effect upon him of thecelebration in his honour. It was about ten o'clock in the morning whenhe rode into the public square, followed by about two hundred raggedFilipinos, armed with all sorts of guns and pistols. Archie saw thearrival from the roof of the building which was his mock prison, and hecould scarcely refrain from laughing outright when he saw the boastedFilipino "army." It was the poorest excuse for a body of troops that hecould imagine.
Aguinaldo rode a fine bay horse, as did several of his followers, but byfar the majority of the regiment, if such it could be called, was afoot,and most of them were barefooted, too. The rebel leader looked very muchlike most of his pictures, with the exception that he had an older look,and some gray hairs about the temples. He was attired in a gaudy uniformof some sort, with epaulets and a Spanish general's hat, and he carriedhimself with great dignity of manner. Dismounting from his horse, heentered the administration building, where he held a conference with thetown officials, and probably made them pay over whatever money was inthe treasury "for the cause." He remained within for two hours or more,and all this time Archie stood upon the roof and watched the remarkablescene in the streets below. The troops had scattered, and were engagedin robbing the housewives of whatever they had in their houses to eat.And the women seemed willing to provide them with whatever they couldafford, and there was much enthusiasm evident everywhere. But thecelebration was very quiet, in spite of the friendly reception, Therewere no bands of music, no cheering, and no singing of battle-hymns.The whole affair reminded Archie of some camp of a section of the famousCoxey army, when he had seen it long ago. The soldiers were no betterdressed than tramps, and there was but little more discipline amongthem.
And the celebration and occupation of the town came to a sudden end.While Archie stood upon the roof at noontime, he saw a runner enter theadministration building in great haste, and in a minute Aguinaldocame hurrying down the steps. Then there was a great commotion in thestreets, and the two hundred followers of the chief were seen assembl
edin the square, and before they were all there the general was riding outof the town toward the interior of the island. There was no noise, andthe inhabitants stood about apparently speechless, and wondering whathad happened. Their reception had come to an untimely end, and theirhero had left them unceremoniously. Soon the last of the stragglingtroops were out of the town, and just as Archie was beginning to thinkof going down from the roof Bill Hickson stuck his head up and gave himsome astonishing news. "Stay where you're at, young feller, till thesefool Filipinos gits away from here. You saw how they skedaddled, didn'tye? Well, Uncle Sam is comin' after 'em with shot-guns, and old Aggyheard the news just in time. He is bound for the jungle, about fortymiles southeast, and he won't reach it until to-morrow night, anyhow,and if the officers are quick they may be able to catch him. Now youstay here, lad, and give 'em the news when they git here. They'llthank you for it, and you may be the means of gittin' this fool of anAguinaldo captured. If you does, why, your future's all right. And yecan tell the colonel, or whoever's in command, that Bill Hickson isstill with 'em, and that he's doin' his best fer Uncle Sam, and tell 'emthat Aggy has got about three thousand troops altogether, but only abouta thousand with him. Now, good-bye, lad, and I hope I'll see ye again."
And Archie saw brave Bill Hickson get down from the roof. He brushedsome tears from his eyes as he realised that here was a brave soldierdoing good work for his country. A moment later he saw him runningacross the square with four of the Filipinos, and waving his hat tothe "youngster" as he went. He followed him with his eyes as long ashe could, and then he sat down and made a solemn vow that Bill Hicksonshould be named among the heroes of the war.