r, but gave
the order to march ahead. "They've evidently found the cowards at last,"
he muttered to Archie. "You stay here, where you will be out of danger."
But Archie was determined to do nothing of the kind. He felt his pistol
safe in his hip pocket, and when the companies swung out of the forest
and into the road he was marching in his old place at the head of the
column. Again the colonel ordered him to remain behind, but Archie
insisted that he would not, "Then go to the rear," cried the colonel,
angry for the moment. "I will not have you shot down by a rebel
sharpshooter the very first one." And Archie knew that he would have to
obey.

The column went ahead at double-quick, and finally broke into a steady
run. Every minute the noise of rifle-shots sounded nearer, and it seemed
probable that the two companies were retreating before the insurgents.
The men were wild to reach the scene of the firing, and the officers had
all they could do to keep them in line. All the time they were running
hardly a sound was heard save the noise of their boots upon the soft
earth, and they all knew that they could probably take the insurgents by
surprise.

Archie's heart was beating very hard as they drew nearer and nearer to
the scene. He felt that he was about to see his first fighting, and he
determined not to miss any part of it. So he gradually ran ahead until
finally he was almost at the head of the column again.

The troops made so little noise that the two companies, retreating
slowly, were upon them without knowing it. But when they discovered
that their comrades had come to their aid they set up such a cheering
as Archie had never heard before, and immediately faced about and went
ahead again. The rebels were about a quarter of a mile behind, marching
rapidly forward, and firing as they came. Some of them were running
among the trees at the roadside, firing incessantly, and hitting
some poor soldier almost every time they fired. They were the famous
sharpshooters, of whom the soldiers in Manila had heard so much.

When the rebels observed that the Americans had received reinforcements,
they halted suddenly, and before they could turn about the Yankees were
almost upon them, firing volleys into them as they came. Many of the
insurgents fell in the roadway, and the others fled wildly in every
direction. Most of them entered the dense forest, where the Americans
captured nearly a hundred of them after the others had surr