and nouns, one might arrive at the conclusion
that these tribes and races, differing so strikingly among each other,
mutually antagonistic, all belong to one great family and have a common
origin. But that is a question for the anthropologists to settle; one
that will give even the professors all the trouble that they want,
and make them wrinkle up their learned foreheads, while among them
they arrive at widely-varying decisions, which will be as mutually
exclusive as the tribes themselves.

It was a rainy day in the dense woods along the Iligan-Marahui
road. The soft ground oozed beneath the feet, and a continual
dripping was kept up from the low-hanging, saturated foliage. The Moro
interpreter, in a red-striped suit and prominent gilt buttons, had come
into camp with the report that one of the dattos at Malumbung wanted
the military doctor to come up and treat his child, who was afflicted
with a fever. The datto had offered protection for the "medico," and,
as a fee, a bottle of pure gold. The guides and soldiers, who were
waiting in the forest, would conduct the doctor to Malumbung if he
cared to go.

"This sounds like a pretty good adventure," said the commanding
officer to me. "How would you like to go along?" The doctor had
accepted the offer of the Moros, and he now reiterated the commanding
officer's invitation. "It's going to be a rather long, stiff hike,"
he said. "We'll have to sleep to-night out in the woods, and there's
no telling whether the Moros mean good faith or not. Remember that,
in case the child should die while I am there, the Moros will believe
that I have killed it, and will probably make matters more or less
unpleasant for us both. I operated once upon a fellow over in Tagaloan
who died under the knife. As soon as the spectators saw that he was
hardly due to come to life again, they crowded around me with their
bolos drawn, and if a friend of mine among them had not interfered,
I would have followed my subject very speedily."

It was arranged that we take with us a small squad of regulars to
carry the provisions and go armed, "in case there should be any
game upon the way." As this arrangement seemed to satisfy the Moros,
though it did not please them much, we started, covering the first
half mile along the clayey road through driving rain, and turning
off into the Moro trail around the summit of the hill. The Moros led
the way with their peculiar lurching stride that covered a surprisi