ewhere. This constant companionship served to strengthen
their already close friendship, and it was soon known among all the
troops that Bill Hickson and the boy reporter were inseparable. And
every one who knew the story of their experiences looked upon them as
the two chief heroes of the war so far, because as yet there had been
few feats of bravery in the desultory campaigning against the rebels.
General Funston had swum the river, of course, but many held that not
even that feat compared with the bravery of Bill Hickson in serving as
a spy under Aguinaldo's very nose. The more people heard about his
experiences, the more remarkable they thought him to be, until at last
he was by far the most popular man in the army at Manila.

Archie sent many interesting letters to Mr. Van Bunting, telling of the
adventures of the brave spy, and one day he received a cablegram telling
him to send at least one of these letters by every steamer, for people
had become interested in hearing about him. So for some time Archie
wrote about Bill Hickson rather than about himself, and was glad of the
opportunity to do so. He knew that if a letter were published every week
or two in the Enterprise Bill Hickson would soon be famous, and this was
something he was very anxious to accomplish. He felt that no fame could
be too great for such a man, and no praise too strong.

The commanding general decided, about this time, to begin a more active
campaign against the insurgents. It was now the month of December, and
with the beginning of the new year he wanted to inaugurate a series of
attacks against them in every part of the islands. He was beginning to
feel the criticisms of the papers at home, and of the newspaper men at
Manila, and he felt that something must be done immediately to retrieve
his lost reputation for active fighting. Every one, as soon as this
announcement was made, wondered what plan would be pursued to worry
the rebels into submission, for it was now generally agreed that the
Americans would hardly be able to capture the whole rebel army. It was
too evident that they were familiar with numerous hiding-places in the
islands. The only thing to do seemed to be to prevent their getting
supplies, and to drive them from one point to another, hoping that they
would become discouraged in the end and submit to the inevitable.

So far the campaigning had consisted chiefly of such expeditions as that
accompanied by Archie, and most of t