sures. A week passed before it was apparent
to the public that he had taken any military action. Meanwhile, he
was urged in vain by his advisers to proclaim martial law. The press
censor would not allow the newspapers to allude to the conspirators as
"rebels," but as "brigands" (_tulisanes_). The authorities were anxious
to stifle the notion of rebellion, and to treat the whole movement
as a marauding affair. On August 23 the leading newspaper published
a patriotic appeal to the Spaniards to go _en masse_ the next day to
the Gov.-General to concert measures for public safety. They closed
their shops and offices, and assembled before Government House; but
the General refused to receive them, and ordered the newspaper to pay
a fine of P500, which sum was at once raised in the streets and cafes.

On August 26, 1,000 rebels made a raid on Coloocan, four miles outside
the capital. They killed a few Chinese, and seized others to place them
in the van of their fighting men. The armed crowd was kept at bay by a
posse of civil guards, until they learnt that a cavalry reinforcement
was on the way from Manila. Then the rebels, under cover of darkness,
fled towards the river, and were lost sight of. The next morning I
watched the troopers cross over the _Puente de Espana_. There was
mud up to the ponies' bellies, for they had scoured the district all
around. The hubbub was tremendous among the habitual saunterers on
the _Escolta_--the Rialto of Manila. For the next few days every
Spaniard one met had some startling news to tell, until, by the
end of the week, a reaction set in, and amidst jokes and _copitas_
of spirits, the idea that the Coloocan affair was the prelude to a
rebellion was utterly ridiculed. The Gov.-General still refused to
proclaim martial law, considering such a grave measure unnecessary,
when suddenly the whole city was filled with amazement by the news
of a far more serious attack near Manila.

About 4 a.m. on Sunday, August 30, the rebels concentrated at the
village of San Juan del Monte, distant half an hour on horseback from
the city gates. They endeavoured to seize the powder magazine. One
Spanish artilleryman was killed and several of the defenders were badly
wounded whilst engaged in dropping ammunition from window openings into
a stream which runs close by. Cavalry and infantry reinforcements were
at once sent out, and the first battle was fought at the entrance to
the village of San Juan del Monte. The