CHAPTER XII.
October had come and the rainy season was going, but still the heat ofthe mid-day sun drove everybody within doors except the irrepressibleYankee soldiery, released "on pass" from routine duty at inner barracksor outer picket line, and wandering about this strange, old-worldmetropolis of the Philippines, reckless of time or temperature in theirdetermination to see everything there was to be seen about the whilomstronghold of "the Dons" in Asiatic waters.
Along the narrow sidewalks of the Escolta, already bordered by Americansigns--and saloons,--and rendered even more than usually precarious byAmerican drinks, the blue-shirted boys wandered, open-eyed, marvellingmuch to find 'twixt twelve and two the shutters up in all the shops notconducted, as were the bars, on the American plan, while from some,still more Oriental, the sun and the shopper both were excluded fourfull hours, beginning at eleven.
All over the massive, antiquated fortifications of Old Manila into thetortuous mazes of the northern districts, through the crowded Chinesequarter, foul and ill savored, the teeming suburbs of the native Tagals,humble yet cleanly; along the broad, shaded avenues, bordered by statelyold Spanish mansions, many of them still occupied by their Castilianowners, the Yankee invaders wandered at will, brimful of curiosity andgood nature, eager to gather in acquaintance, information, andbric-a-brac, making themselves perfectly at home, filling the souls ofthe late lords of the soil with disdain, and those of the natives withwonderment through their lavish, jovial, free and easy ways. Within amonth from the time Merritt's little division had marched into the city,Manila was as well known to most of those far-Western volunteers as thestreets of their own home villages, and, when once the paymaster haddistributed his funds among them and, at the rate of ten cents off onevery dollar, they had swapped their sound American coin for "soft"Mexican or Spanish _pesos_, the prodigality with which they scatteredtheir wealth among their dusky friends and admirers evoked the blessingsof the church (which was not slow to levy on the beneficiaries), thecurses of the sons of Spain, who had generally robbed and never given,and, at first, the almost superstitious awe of the Tagals, who, havingnever heard of such a thing before, dreaded some deep-laid scheme fortheir despoilment. But this species of dread lived but a few shortweeks, and, before next payday, was as far gone as the money of theAmericanos.
Those were blithe days in Manila as the autumn came on and theinsurrection was still in the far future. There were fine bands amongthe Yankee regiments that played afternoon and evening in the kiosk onthe Luneta, and every household possessed of an open carriage, or themeans of hiring one, appeared regularly each day as the sun sank to thewestward sea, and after making swift yet solemn circuit of the Andamonument at the Pasig end of the Paseo de Santa Lucia, returned to theLuneta proper, and wedged in among the closely packed vehicles thatcovered the broad, smooth driveways on both sides of the esplanade andfor some hundred yards each way north and south of the band-stand. Alongthe shaded and gravelled walks that bordered the Paseo, within shortpistol-shot of the grim bastions beyond the green _glacis_ and evengreener moat, many dark-haired, dark-eyed daughters of Spain, leavingtheir carriages and, guarded by faithful duenna, strolled slowly up anddown, exchanging furtive signal of hand or kerchief with some gallantamong the throngs of captive soldiery that swarmed towards sunset on theparapet. Swarthy, black-browed Spanish officers in cool summer uniformand in parties of three or four lined the roadway, or wandered up anddown in search of some distraction to the deadly _ennui_ of theirlives now that their soldier occupation was gone, vouchsafing neitherglance nor salutation to their Yankee conquerors, no matter what therank, until the wives and daughters of American officers began to arriveand appear upon the scene, when the disdain of both sexes speedily gaveway to obvious, if reluctant, curiosity.
South of the walls and outworks of Old Manila and east of the Luneta laya broad, open level, bounded on the south by the suburb of Ermita, andin the midst of the long row of Spanish-built houses extending from thebattery of huge Krupps at the bay-side, almost over to the diagonalavenue of the Nozaleda, stood the very cosey, finely furnished housewhich had been hired as quarters for Colonel Brent, high dignitary onthe department staff.
Its lower story of cut stone was pierced by the arched drive-way throughwhich carriages entered to the _patio_ or inner court, and, as in thetenets of Madrid the Queen of Spain is possessed of no personal meansof locomotion, so possibly to no Spanish dame of high degree may beattributed the desire, even though she have the power, to walk.
No other portal, therefore, either for entrance or exit, could be foundat the front. Massive doors of dark, heavy wood from the Luzon forests,strapped with iron, swung on huge hinges that, unless well oiled, defiedthe efforts of unmuscular mankind. A narrow panel opening in one ofthese doors, two feet above the ground and on little hinges of its own,gave means of passage to household servants and, when pressed for time,to such of their superiors as would condescend to step high and stooplow.
To the right and left of the main entrance were store-rooms, servants'rooms, and carriage-room, and opposite the latter, towards the rear, thebroad stairway that, turning upon itself, led to the living-rooms on theupper floor--the broad salon at the head of the stairs being utilized asa dining-room on state occasions, and its northward end as the parlor.Opening from the sides of the salon, front and rear, were four large,roomy, high-ceilinged chambers.
Overlooking and partially overhanging the street and extending thelength of the house was a wide enclosed veranda, well supplied withtables, lounging-chairs, and couches of bamboo and wicker, its floorcovered here and there with Indian rugs, its surrounding waist-highrailing fitted with parallel grooves in which slid easily the frames ofthe windows of translucent shells, set in little four-inch squares, orthe dark-green blinds that excluded the light and glare of mid-day.
With both thrown back there spread an unobstructed view of theparade-ground even to the edge of the distant _glacis_, and here itwas the household sat to watch the military ceremonies, to receive theirguests, and to read or doze throughout the drowsier hours of the day."Campo de Bagumbayan" was what the natives called that martial flat inthe strange barbaric tongue that delights in "igs" and "ags," in "ings"and "angs," even to repetition and repletion.
And here one soft, sensuous October afternoon, with a light breeze fromthe bay tempering the heat of the slanting sunshine, reclining in abroad bamboo easy-chair sat Maidie Ray, now quite convalescent, yet notyet restored to her old-time vigorous health.
Her hostess, the colonel's amiable wife, was busy on the back galleryleading to the kitchen, deep in counsel with her Filipino major-domo andher Chinese cook, servitors who had been well trained and really neededno instruction, and for that matter got but little, for Mrs. Brent'sknowledge of the Spanish tongue was even less than her command of"Pidgin" English. Nevertheless, neither Ignacio nor Sing Suey would failto nod in the one case or smile broadly in the other in assent to herevery proposition,--it being one of the articles of their domestic faiththat peace and happiness, truth and justice, religion and piety, couldbest be promoted throughout the establishment by never seeming to differwith the lady of the house. To all outward appearances, therefore, andfor the first few weeks, at least, housekeeping in the Philippinesseemed something almost idyllic, and Mrs. Brent was in ecstasies overthe remarkable virtues of Spanish-trained servants.
There had been anxious days during Maidie's illness. The Sacramento hadbeen ordered away, and the little patient had to be brought ashore. Butthe chief quartermaster sent his especial steam-launch for "Billy Ray'sdaughter," the chief surgeon, the best ambulance and team to meet her atthe landing; a squad of Sandy's troopers bore her reclining-chair overthe side into the launch, out of the launch to the waiting ambulance,and out of the ambulance upstairs into the airy room set apart for her,and, with Mrs. Brent and Miss Porter, Sandy and the most devoted of armydoctors to bear her company and keep the fans going, Maidie's progresshad been rather in the nature of a triumph.
S
o at least it had seemed to the austere vice-president of the PatrioticDaughters of America, who, as it happened, looked on in severedisapproval. She had asked for that very ambulance that very day toenable her to make the rounds of regimental hospitals in the outlyingsuburbs, and had been politely but positively refused.
By that time, it seems, this most energetic woman had succeeded inalienating all others in authority at corps head-quarters, to the endthat the commanding general declined to grant her further audience, thesurgeon-general had given orders that she be not admitted to his inneroffice, the deputy surgeon-general had asked for a sentry to keep heroff his premises, the sentries at the First and Second Reserve Hospitalhad instructions to tell her, also politely but positively, that shecould not be admitted except in visiting hours, when the surgeon, asteward, or--and here was "the most unkindest cut of all"--some of thetriumphant Red Cross could receive and attend to her, for at last thesymbol of Geneva had gained full recognition. At last Dr. Wells and thesisterhood were on duty, comfortably housed, cordially welcomed, andpresumably happy.
But Miss Perkins was not. She had come to Manila full of high purpose asthe self-styled, accredited representative of any quantity of goodAmericans, actuated by motives, no doubt, of purest patriotism. Thenation was full of it,--of men who wanted to be officers, of women whowanted to be officials, many of whom succeeded only in becomingofficious. There were not staff or line positions enough to provide fora hundredth part of the men, or societies and "orders" sufficient tocater to the ambitions of a tenth part of the women. The great Red Crossgave abundant employment for thousands of gentle and willing hands, butlimited the number of directing heads, and Miss Perkins and others ofthe Jellaby stamp were born, as they thought, not to follow but to lead.Balked in their ambitious designs to become prominent in that noblenational association, women possessed of the unlimited assurance of MissPerkins started what might be termed an anti-crusade, with the resultthat in scores of quiet country towns, as well as in the cities of theEast and Middle West, many subscriptions were easily gained, andhundreds of honest, earnest women were rewarded with paper scrollssetting forth that they were named as Sisters of the American Soldier,Patriotic Daughters of America, or Ministering Angels of the Camp andCot. Shades of Florence Nightingale and Clara Barton! the very voice ofsuch self-appointed angels as Miss Perkins was enough to set the nervesof strong men on edge and to drive fever patients to madness! Even theRed Cross could not always be sure of its selection. It did prevent thesending to Manila of certain undesirable applicants, but it could notprevent the going of Miss Perkins at the expense of the deluded, onships that were common carriers, even though she were a common scold.There she was, portentous as the British Female portrayed by Thackeray.Backed by apparently abundant means and obviously indomitable "gall,"she counted on carrying all before her by sheer force of her powers ofself-assertion and the name of the Patriotic Daughters of America. Butthe commanding general was the most impassive of men, gifted with a keenthough little suspected sense of humor, and no little judgment inestimating motive and character. He actually enjoyed the first call madeby Miss Perkins, suggested her coming again on the morrow, and summonedhis chief surgeon and his provost marshal, another keen humorist, to bepresent at the interview. It has been asserted that this triumviratewent so far as to encourage the lady to even wilder flights ofassertion. We have her own word for it that then and there she waspromised as offices three big rooms in the Palace,--theAyuntamiento,--six clerks, and a private secretary, but an impartialwitness avows that the sole basis for this was a question propounded tothe provost marshal by the chief surgeon as to whether the chiefquartermaster or the chief engineer should be called on to vacate therooms assigned to them as officers in order that the P. D. A. might beproperly recognized and quartered, to which the response was made withunflinching gravity that something certainly should be vacated "P. D.Q." if it took all his clerical force to effect it, but this was _sottovoce_, so to speak, and presumably unheard by the general commanding. Itwas gall of another kind, and wormwood, after these first few flatteringreceptions, to be greeted thereafter only by aides-de-camp or a militarysecretary; then to be told by the chief surgeon that, under instructionsfrom Washington, only those nurses and attendants recognized andemployed by the general government could be permitted to occupy quartersor walk the wards about the hospitals. It was bitter to find hercriticisms and suggestions set at naught by "impudent young quacks," asshe called the delighted doctors of the reserve hospitals, to see thesisterhood of the Red Cross presently clothed with the purple ofauthority as well as white caps and aprons, while she and, through her,the P. D. A.'s were denied the privilege of stirring up the patients andoverhauling the storerooms. Then in her wrath Miss Perkins unbosomedherself to the press correspondents, a few of whom, seeking sensation,as demanded by their papers, took her seriously and told tremendoustales of the brutal neglect of our sick and wounded boys in hospital, ofdoctors and nurses in wild debauch on the choice wines and liquors sentfor the sole use of the sick and wounded by such patriotic societies asthe P. D. A.'s, and hinting at other and worse debaucheries (which sheblushed to name), and involved in which were prominent officers andfavorite members of a rival society "which shall be as nameless as it isshameless." All this had Miss Perkins accomplished within the firsteight days of her sojourn, and by way of Hong-Kong the unexpurgatededition of her romance, thrown out by the conscienceless censor athead-quarters, eventually found its way to the United States. It waswhile in this uncharitable frame of mind that Miss Perkins caught sightof the little procession up the Santa Lucia when Maidie was transferredfrom ship to shore, and the refusal of the best looking of the "impudentyoung quacks" to permit her to see his patient that afternoon augmentedher sense of indignity and wrong. Miss Ray herself went down in theblack book of the P. D. A.'s forthwith.
But all this time the officials remained in blissful ignorance of thetremendous nature of the charges laid at their door by this much injuredwoman, and Maidie Ray, while duly informed of the frequent calls andkind inquiries of many an officer, and permitted of late to welcomeSandy for little talks, had been mercifully spared the infliction of thepersonal visitation thrice attempted by her fellow-traveller on thetrain. That awful voice, however, uplifted, as was the habit of thevice-president when aroused, could not fail to reach the sick-room, andwhen convalescence came and Miss Perkins came not, Maidie made inquiriesboth of Dr. Frank and of her hostess. Frank showed his handsome teethand smiled, but Mrs. Brent showed fight. "I won't have such a creaturewithin my doors!" said she. "I don't believe you were ever intimatefriends, and that she nursed and cared for you in the cars when you weresuffering from shock and fright because of a fire. That's what she saysthough. What was it, Maidie? Was it there Mr. Stuyvesant got that burnon his face?--and lost his eyebrows?"
And then it transpired that Mr. Stuyvesant had been a frequent andassiduous caller for a whole fortnight, driving thither almost everyevening.
But Maidie was oddly silent as to the episode of the fire on the train.She laughed a little about Miss Perkins and her pretensions, but to thedisappointment of her hostess could not be drawn into talk about thattall, handsome New Yorker.
And what seemed strange to Mrs. Brent was that now, when Maidie couldsit up a few hours each day and see certain among the officers' wives,arriving by almost every steamer from the States, and have happy chatswith Sandy every time he could come galloping in from Paco, and wastaking delight in watching the parades and reviews on the Bagumbayan,and listening to the evening music of the band, Stuyvesant had ceased tocall.
Had Maidie noticed it? Mrs. Brent wondered, as, coming in from herconference with the House of Commons, she stood a moment at the door-waygazing at the girl, whose book had fallen to the floor and whose darkeyes, under their veiling lids were looking far out across the field tothe walls and church towers of Old Manila.
It was almost sunset. There was the usual throng of carriages along theLuneta and a great regiment of volunteers, for
med in line of platooncolumns, was drawn up on the "Campo" directly in front of the house.Sandy had spent his allotted half hour by his sister's side, and,remounting, had cantered out to see the parade. Miss Perkins haddeclared on the occasion of her third fruitless call that not until MissRay sent for her would she again submit herself to be snubbed. So thereseemed no immediate danger of her reappearance, and yet Mrs. Brent hadgiven Ignacio orders to open only the panel door when the gate bellclanged, and to refuse admission, even to the drive-way, to a certainimportunate caller besides Miss Perkins.
Three days previous there had presented himself a young man in the whitedress of the tropics and a hat of fine Manila straw, a young man whowould not send up his card, but in very Mexican Spanish asked for MissRay. Ignacio sent a boy for Mrs. Brent, who came down to reconnoitre,and the youth reiterated his request.
"An old friend" was all he would say in response to her demand for hisname and purpose. She put him off, saying Miss Ray was still too farfrom well to see anybody, bade him call next day when Dr. Frank and herhusband, she knew, would probably be there, duly notified them, andFrank met and received the caller when he came and sent him away inshort order.
"The man is a crank," said he, "and I shall have him watched." Thecolonel asked that one or two of the soldier police guard should be sentto the house to look after the stranger. A corporal came from thecompany barrack around on the Calle Real, and it was after nightfallwhen next the "old friend" rang the bell and was permitted by Ignacio toenter.
But the instant the corporal started forward to look at him the callerbounded back into outer darkness. He was tall, sinewy, speedy, and had atwenty-yard start before the little guardsman, stout and burly, couldsqueeze into the street. Then the latter's shouts up the San Luis onlyserved to startle the sentries, to spur the runner, and to excite andagitate Maidie.
Dr. Frank was disgusted when he tried her pulse and temperature half anhour later and said things to the corporal not strictly authorized bythe regulations. The episode was unfortunate, yet might soon have beenforgotten but for one hapless circumstance. Despite her announcement,something had overcome Miss Perkins's sense of injury, for she hadstepped from a carriage directly in front of the house at the moment ofthe occurrence, was a witness to all that took place, and the first oneto extract from the corporal his version of the affair and his theory asto what lay behind it. In another moment she was driving away towardsthe Nozaleda, the direction taken by the fugitive, fast as her coachmancould whip his ponies, the original purpose of her call abandoned.
As in duty bound, both Mrs. Brent and Dr. Frank had told Sandy of thisodd affair. Mrs. Brent described the stranger as tall, slender, sallow,with big cavernous dark eyes that had a wild look to them, and ascraggly, fuzzy beard all over his face, as though he hadn't shaved forlong weeks. His hands--of course, she had particularly noticed hishands; what woman doesn't notice such things?--were slim and white. Hehad the look of a man who had been long in hospital; was probably arecently discharged patient, perhaps one of the many men just nowgetting their home orders from Washington.
"Somebody who served under your father, perhaps," said Mrs. Brentsoothingly to Marion, "and thought he ought to see you."
"Somebody who had not been a soldier at all," said she to Sandy. "He hadneither the look nor the manner of one." And Sandy marvelled a bit anddecided to be on guard.
"Maidie," he had said that afternoon, before riding away, "when you getout next week we must take up pistol practice again. You beat me atLeavenworth, but you can't do it now. Got your gun--anywhere?--the oneDad gave you?" And Dad or Daddy in the Ray household was the "lovingest"of titles.
Maidie turned a languid head on her pillow. "In the upper drawer of thecabinet in my room, I think," said she. "I remember Mrs. Brent'sexamining it."
Sandy went in search, and presently returned with the prize, a short,big-barrelled, powerful little weapon of the bull-dog type, sending abullet like that of a Derringer, hot and hard, warranted to shock andstop an ox at ten yards, but miss a barn at over twenty: a woman'sweapon for defence of her life, not a target pistol, and Sandy twirledthe shining cylinder approvingly. It was a gleaming toy, with its ivorystock and nickeled steel.
"Every chamber crammed," said Sandy, "and sure to knock spots out ofanything from a mad dog to an elephant, provided it hits. Best keep itby you at night, Maidie. These natives are marvellous sneak-thieves.They go all through these ramshackle upper stories like so many ghosts.No one can hear them."
Then, when he took his leave, the pistol remained there lying on thetable, and Frank, coming in to see his most interesting patient just asthe band was trooping back to its post on the right of the long line,picked it up and examined it, muzzle uppermost, with professionalapprobation.
"Yours I see, Miss Ray;--and from your father. A man hit by one ofthese," he continued musingly, and fingering the fat leaden bullets,"would drop in his tracks. You keep it by you?--always?"
"I? No!" laughed Maidie. "I'm eager to get to my work,--healing--notgiving--gunshot wounds."
"You will have abundant time, my dear young lady," said the doctorslowly, as he carefully replaced the weapon on the table by her side,"and--opportunity, if I read the signs aright, and we must get youthoroughly well before you begin. Ah! What's that? What's the matterover there?" he lazily asked. It was a fad of the doctor's never topermit himself to show the least haste or excitement.
A small opera-glass stood on the sill, and, calmly adjusting it as hepeered, Frank had picked it up and levelled it towards the front andcentre of the line just back of where the colonel commanding sat insaddle. A lively scuffle and commotion had suddenly begun among thegroups of spectators. Miss Ray's reclining-chair was so placed that bymerely raising her head she could look out over the field. Mrs. Brentran to where the colonel's field-glasses hung in their leathern case andjoined the doctor at the gallery rail.
Three pairs of eyes were gazing fixedly at the point of disturbance,already the centre of a surging crowd of soldiers off duty, obliviousnow to the fact that the band was playing the "Star-Spangled Banner,"and they ought to be standing at attention, hats off, and facing theflag as it came floating slowly to earth on the distant ramparts of theold city.
Disdainful of outside attractions, the adjutant came stalking out tothe front as the strain ceased, and his shrill voice was heard turningover the parade to his commander. Then the surging group seemed tobegin to dissolve, many following a little knot of men carrying ontheir shoulders an apparently inanimate form. They moved in thedirection of the old botanical garden, towards the Estado Mayor, andso absorbed were the three in trying to fathom the cause of theexcitement that they were deaf to Ignacio's announcement. A tall,handsome, most distinguished-looking young officer stood at the widedoor-way, dressed _cap-a-pie_ in snowy white, and not until, after amoment's hesitation, he stepped within the room and was almost uponthem, did Miss Ray turn and see him.
"Why, Mr. Stuyvesant!" was all she said; but the tone was enough. Mrs.Brent and the doctor dropped the glasses and whirled about. Bothinstantly noted the access of color. It had not all disappeared by anymeans, though the doctor had, when, ten minutes later, Colonel Brentcame in.
At the moment of his entrance, Stuyvesant, seated close to Marion'sreclining-chair, was, with all the doctor's caution and curiosity,examining her revolver. "Rather bulky for a pocket-pistol," he remarked,as, muzzle downward, he essayed its insertion in the gaping orifice atthe right hip of his Manila-made, flapping white trousers. It slipped inwithout a hitch.
"What was the trouble out there a while ago?" asked the lady of thehouse of her liege lord. "You saw it, I suppose?"
"Nothing much. Man had a fit, and it took four men to hold him. Maidie,look here. Captain Kress handed this to me--said they picked it up justback of where the colonel stood at parade. Is he another mash?"
Marion took the envelope from the outstretched hand, drew forth a little_carte-de-visite_, on which was the vignette portrait of her own face,gave one
quick glance, and dropped back on the pillow. All the brightcolor fled. The picture fell to the floor. "Can you--find Sandy?" wasall she could say, as, with imploring eyes, she gazed into honestBrent's astonished face.
"I can, at once," said Stuyvesant, who had risen from his chair at thecolonel's remark. With quick bend he picked up the little card, placedit face downward on the table by her side, never so much as giving oneglance at the portrait, and noiselessly left the room.