gone on in advance had reported the way to
be clear, and the force was being hurried up to get through a ravine
which it was approaching, so it could go into camp for the night on
high, level ground just beyond the valley.

Suddenly a man's voice rang out upon the hot air; an English, speaking
voice, strong and clear, and coming, so it seemed at first to the
troops when they heard it, from the air above them:

"Halt! Halt!" the voice cried.

"Go back! There is an ambush on both sides! Save yourselves! Be--"

The warning was unfinished. Those of the Americans who had located
the sound of the words and had looked in the direction from which
they came, had seen a white man standing on the rocky side of the
ravine above them and in front of them. They had seen him throw up
his arms and fall backward out of sight, leaving his last sentence
unfinished. Then there had come the report of a gun, and then an
attack, with scores of shouting Tagalogs swarming down the sides of
the ravine.

The skirmish was over, though, almost as soon as it had begun, and
with little harm to any of the Americans except to such of the scouts
as had been cut off in advance. The warning had come in time--had come
before the advancing column had marched between the forces hidden on
both sides of the ravine. The Tagalogs could not face the fire with
which the Americans met them. They fled up the ravine, and up both
sides of the gorge, into the shelter of the forest, and were gone. The
Americans, satisfied at length that the way was clear, moved forward
and went into camp on the ground which had previously been chosen,
throwing out advance lines of pickets, and taking extra precautions
to be prepared against a night attack.

Early in the evening shots were heard on the outer picket line, and
a little later two men came to the commanding officers tent bringing
with them a native.

"He was trying to come through our lines and get into the camp, sir,"
they reported. "Two men fired at him, but missed him."

"Think he's a spy?" the commander asked of another officer who was
with him.

"No, Senor, I am not a spy," the prisoner said, surprising all the
men by speaking in English. "I have left my people, I want to be sent
to Manila, to the American camp there."

"He's a deserter," said one of the officers. Then to the men who held
the prisoner, "Better search him."

From out the prisoner's blouse one of the soldiers brought a paper,
a sheet torn