on
turned out into the street again, and had expressed their friendship for
their "masters," as they called them. Archie could hardly refrain from
laughing as he saw some of those who in the morning had bowed down to
Aguinaldo vowing everlasting allegiance to our flag, and he assured
the colonel that he couldn't be too careful while in the town to guard
against surprises. "No one knows the beasts better than I do," was the
answer. "I know they can't be trusted."

Archie was invited to remain in the building with the officers, and
while they prepared and ate a lunch he busied himself in writing a
description of his last two days' experiences. He knew that a messenger
would soon start for Manila, and that a boat would leave that city on
the next day for Hong Kong, so he wanted to get his narrative written
in order to send it to Mr. Van Bunting at once. He felt that he had
some very interesting things to write about, for it wasn't every
correspondent who had seen Aguinaldo, and had been captured by the rebel
army. He knew that most of them were content to remain in Manila, and
send only what they could get from the general in command, and that this
description of the rebels would be something new, at any rate. So he
wrote it very carefully, and succeeded in getting it ready in time to
send, so that it would be in the office of the Enterprise in less than
a month. As he sat at the table writing, Archie thought of the great
changes which can take place in one's surroundings in a few weeks. It
seemed ages to him since the day when he left home for the first time,
and the experiences he had on his way to New York seemed now to belong
to the far-away period of his boyhood. He was beginning to feel very old
now, because he had been through so much of late, and he could hardly
realise that he was still eighteen.

He wrote a short note to his mother at home, telling her not to worry,
and assuring her that he was in good health and in no danger whatever
of being captured by the rebels, for Archie felt quite safe after his
experience with the insurgent leaders. He knew that no one of their
prisoners was ever likely to come to a very bad end. They were far too
slipshod in their methods of holding prisoners. He was sorry not to be
able to send a longer letter home, but he knew that this note was much
better than sending nothing at all, and that it would make his mother
very happy to hear from him at all.

The officers, when Archie