the shoe the hoaxed
doctor let drive at his head.

After an hour's investigation of conditions in the village the doctor
was convinced that he could now handle the situation alone and
insisted upon Terry's returning home. His parting injunctions were
worried.

"Now Lieutenant, you watch yourself closely for several days and if
you display fever symptoms, you send for me."

After Terry had ridden down the river bank and into the long homeward
trail, the doctor's overworked conscience smote him hard:

"Hell's bells! I never thanked him for coming!"

CHAPTER IX

MALABANAN STRIKES

Next morning Terry rose as the first sleepy cock challenged the
pink-streaked day. Shaving in the dim light, he watched the plaza
merge out of its darkness and fill with the natives passing listlessly
to field or waterfront. A few short minutes and the day arrived hot
and still: hens sauntered forth to begin their tireless, day-long,
scratching search: bony curs, sleepy after their instinctive vigils
through the night, made couches in the dusty road: across from where
Terry stood at his bedroom window, the four daughters of his Tagalog
neighbor sat in a little circle on a sunny bamboo porch structure,
each intently examining another's loosened hair in a community search
for--well, for whatever might be found.

By nine o'clock he had snapped the company through a sharp drill and
by noon had finished the weekly inspection. The afternoon passed in
preparation of monthly reports scheduled to go on the mailboat
expected in that evening. It is the function of the Constabulary to
know everything that transpires: health conditions, state of crops,
appearance of any strangers, activities of native demagogues,
movements of suspicious characters, morale of the people. Everything
is observed and reported, and summarized at headquarters to form the
basis for intelligent handling of a difficult problem.

Of the epidemic he wrote: "A disease identified as a particularly
virulent form of pernicious malaria appeared last week among the
Bogobos in the barrio of Dalag. The Health Officer is on the scene and
in conference with the undersigned decided that the use of our troops
for quarantine duty was not necessary. It appears that he has the
disease under control."

Under the heading "Recommendations" he set down: "Request that the old
provincial archives be searched to ascertain if a Spanish family
living in this Gulf during the last months o