before the grove was gained there was a brook to cross. This was
much swollen, and here a number of the soldiers came to a halt,
fearing that fording was out of the question.

"Don't stop!" came in a loud cry from Major Morris. "You can leap the
stream easily enough. Come, I'm going!" And over he went with a
bound, and a score of soldiers followed. A raking fire came from the
nipa huts, but now the rebels were seen to be fleeing. The Americans
answered the fire with volley after volley from their own guns, and
the huts were surrounded as quickly as possible.

"Captain Russell, you will take the trail to the left," said an
orderly, dashing up. "Major Morris will rejoin you at the fork in the
road."

"The trail to the left," repeated Ben, and turned to his company.
"Forward, boys,--left oblique!" he shouted, and on they went again,
past the nipa huts and down a trail leading along the edge of a rich
plantation. Several more huts were passed, but the inmates were
nothing but women and children, and offered no resistance. Then at a
distance could be seen a stone wall, as if the insurgents had
endeavored to construct a rude fortification in a great hurry.

The company was going at the stone wall pell-mell when Ben called a
sudden halt. "To the right, boys, and come at the end of the wall,"
were his orders, and the command swept around as desired.

Bang! The report was hardly expected, and with it half a dozen of the
stones composing the rude fortification gave way, disclosing a cannon
made of a bored-out tree-trunk, wound round and round with telegraph
wire stolen from the lines along the railroad. This wooden cannon had
been heavily charged with cartridges, old nails, and bits of iron, and
the first discharge rent the mouth into a dozen pieces.

"That was a narrow shave!" cried Gilmore, as he and Ben looked around,
to find all the company unharmed. "Who ever supposed the rascals would
put up such a job as that on us?"

"They'll do anything," replied the young captain. "But that isn't a
new idea. Wooden cannons were used in the Civil War, so I've been
told."

With the discharge of the wooden gun, the rebels concealed behind the
stone fortification had fled. The Americans now made after them, more
"hot-footed" than ever, and the incessant crack of firearms was
followed by many a groan and yell of pain as over a dozen Filipinos
went down, three to their death.

At the fork mentioned by Major Morris, Ben brought his