g fire
upon them. The skirmishers withdrew, but were rallied by General
Lawton and other officers, who themselves picked off some of the
enemy with rifle-shots. Encouraged by this example, the skirmishers,
with one cry, suddenly rushed towards the insurgents, scattering them
in all directions, and safely reached the main body of the brigade
with their wounded comrades.

The only bridge across the Zapote River was strongly defended by
the insurgents, who had trenches forming two sides of an angle. By
noon their battery was silenced, and the Americans then attempted
to ford the river, whilst others went knee-deep in mire across the
paddy-mud flats. Then a deep stream was the only boundary between
the contending parties. The Filipinos were hardly visible, being
under shelter of thickets, whilst the Americans were wading through
mud under a broiling sun for over two hours to reach them, keeping
up a constant fusillade. The whole time there was an incessant din
from a thousand rifles and the roar of cannon from the gunboats which
bombarded the enemy's position near Las Pinas and Bacoor. The strain
on the Americans was tremendous when the insurgents made a flanking
movement and fired upon them as they were floundering in the mud. The
14th Infantry eventually swam across the Zapote River, and under cover
of artillery charged the insurgents, who retreated into the woods. The
Filipinos displayed a rare intelligence in the construction of their
defences near the Zapote River and its neighbourhood, and but for the
employment of artillery their dislodgement therefrom would have been
extremely difficult. After the battle was over General Lawton declared
that it was the toughest contest they had yet undertaken in this war.

At Perez Dasmarinas, in the east of Cavite Province, a battalion of
infantry narrowly escaped annihilation. News had been brought to the
American camp that the insurgents had evacuated that town, and that
the native mayor was disposed to make a formal surrender of it to the
Americans. The battalion forthwith went there to take possession, but
before reaching the place the enemy closed in on all sides, and a heavy
fire was mutually sustained for four hours. The Americans had only just
saved themselves from destruction by a desperate bayonet-charge when
they were rescued by General Wheaton, who arrived with reinforcements.

Three months of warfare had wrought dissension in the insurgent
camp. Organization was Agu