ff just below here."

"And you live to tell it? Impossible!"

"No, it is true. I fell into a large tree, and that broke my fall. But
I was badly scratched up, and my ankle was sprained."

"A rare fall truly, boy. It would have been better, though, if you had
been killed."

"Thank you; I like that!"

"I say it because you are a prisoner who has tried to escape from us.
Do you know the fate of all such?"

At these words Larry could not help but shiver. He knew what the
officer up at the cave prison had said,--that any prisoner trying to
escape would be shot at the first opportunity which presented itself.

"Surely, you would not kill me for trying to get away?" he cried
quickly.

The under-officer shrugged his shoulders. "It is not for me to change
our regulations of war, boy. Your words prove that you knew beforehand
the risk you were running."

"Yes, yes--but-- You would try to get away too, if our soldiers caught
you."

"Possibly--I understand you treat your prisoners very badly."

"Our prisoners are treated as well as yours. And we would not kill a
Filipino for having tried to escape,--unless, of course, he was shot
in the attempt."

"It is you who say that--I have heard vastly different stories; how
our men were starved and shot down without mercy,--not one man, but
hundreds of them. I have it from friends in Manila that your General
Otis is a monster who would rather kill than save at any time."

"Your friends have told you that which is not true!" exclaimed Larry,
warmly. "If anything, General Otis is too kind-hearted, especially
with those who have done their best to put the city in a state of
rebellion and those who have tried to burn it to the ground. I suppose
your friends had a purpose in telling you what was not true."

"I take my friends' words in preference to yours, boy," was the angry
answer. "Who are you that come to take our country away from us--the
country that we tried so hard to liberate from the iron grasp of
Spain? The land is ours, and no Americans shall govern us. We will
fight to the last,--from the cities to the towns, and from the towns
to the villages, and then to the mountains, from one island to
another,--and you shall never conquer us, no matter how large an army
you send from across the ocean. But, bah, I am talking to a mere boy,
when I might have better sense." And turning on his heel the
under-officer strode away, out of humor with himself as well as with
Larry.