some
vine, and the others would laughingly help him up before passing on.
These little incidents did much to enliven the march, which became
monotonous after the first six or seven hours, and Archie appreciated
the mishaps very much until he took a few tumbles himself. He was
usually, much to the amusement of the officers, marching at the very
head of the regiment, and "setting the pace," he said, so that he was
more likely to trip than any of the others. He was always the first to
discover a snake in the road, too, and kept a great stick with which to
kill them. He seemed to have no fear of them, but walked up to lay them
out, and on one occasion the colonel warned him just in time or he would
certainly have been bitten by a snake whose bite is certain death. This
experience made him more careful, but he still kept his place at the
head of the regiment, and came to be called the mascot by the men.

At noon the regiment halted at a grassy spot, where there were trees,
and made their dinners from their knapsacks. The officers warned them
to go carefully, or they would find themselves without provisions before
returning to Manila, for they had been so sure of catching the rebels
at the town behind that they had neglected to bring along many supplies.
Now, of course, they didn't know how long it would take them to find
them,--two days at least, and probably longer.

Archie had stocked his knapsack with some food from the old headquarters
in the town, so that he felt safe for a few days, at any rate. He
ate carefully, however, and was careful not to waste anything, for he
realised that he might be called upon to aid some of the soldiers before
long.

Dinner over, the regiment marched on again, for the officers now began
to think that they had made a mistake in not pursuing the fleeing
rebels the night before. They met several Spaniards, who told them that
Aguinaldo had marched all night long without stopping, so that he was
now at least thirty-six hours ahead of them, and some of the men began
to be discouraged, saying that it was no use following him up with such
a small force. "Other regiments have tried to find him in this way, and
none of them have succeeded," said one of the privates to Archie. "They
keep us marching for three or four days, and finally they decide to
return to Manila, without having found any trace of the rascal beyond
hearing that he had passed this way or that."

The officers couldn't depend upo