122 



RECREATION. 



After a forced march over beastly 

 roads, and after having been betrayed 

 by treacherous guides in encountering 

 small skirmish parties, when I finally 

 had to do the guiding myself, we arrived 

 on March i at La Lud. There the insur- 

 gents were waiting for us with 2 brass 

 cannons, a heavy detachment armed with 

 Remington rifles, and the most elaborate 

 rock rifle pits and breastworks I have 

 seen in this country. The natives were on 

 the opposite side of a gorge from our posi- 

 tion, with only a narrow trail leading down 

 in front of their works, and they were not 

 over 60 yards from us. They had plenty 

 of ammunition, as we soon learned. We 

 were tired, hungry, thirsty and mad. They 

 opened on us with their cannon and their 

 rifles. We moved in skirmish lines always, 

 and were ready at any moment for an at- 

 tempted surprise. We gave the enemy a 

 hot fire and kept them down behind their 

 works as closely as possible. After 20 min- 

 utes of that I saw what was needed and 

 said to Captain Kendricks, who ranked me, 

 and who is a brave, capable officer, 



"Captain, we are burning up our amrau- 

 -nition too rapidly. If you will allow me 

 I will take 30 men and storm the place 

 while you keep them down." He hesita- 

 ted a minute and then said, 



"Go ahead." I drew my revolver and led 

 the way. As we rushed down the narrow 

 trail and across the brawling stream, the 

 enemy gave us a few shots, but could not 

 stand the American cheer or the deadly fire 

 which they got whenever a head showed 

 above their works. Finally they broke cover 

 and struck for the brush near by. I 

 rushed my men over their breastworks, 

 formed a line and gave them a red hot 

 volley as the last of the insurgents disap- 

 peared. Then we detached a few men to 

 man the breastworks While the rest of our 

 officers marched into the village. 



There I went into a house and received 

 8 Spanish prisoners whom I pulled up 

 through a trap door from a cellar where 

 the natives had them concealed. We found 



8 dead Philippines in the trenches and 

 never knew how many dead and wounded 

 were concealed in the adjacent cane and 

 banana groves. We lost 2 killed and 1 

 wounded. We captured 2 cannon, 8 Rem- 

 ington rifles, a lot of ammunition, bolos, 

 bows, arrows, etc. I have Colonel Legaspi's 

 sword and flag, a roll of blankets taken 

 from a dead artillery sergeant, a pair of 

 amulets, etc. 



We rested that night in the village, had 

 our Philippino prisoners dig graves, buried 

 the dead, and the next day we marched to 

 San Jose. There we took ship in the Bay 

 of Ligony and landed near Mambuloa. In 

 the dead of night I marched at the head of 

 my company, when I had to literally feel 

 for the trail into, the town, which the in- 

 surgents abandoned as we entered it. 



From Mambuloa we marched to this 

 place, a distance of 40 miles, wading rivers, 

 boating and rafting. We saw some mag- 

 nificent old ruined churches en route, be- 

 sides many other interesting buildings. We 

 do not allow our men to destroy or dam- 

 age any property, and we try to persuade 

 the natives who are not bearing arms to 

 return to their homes and yield obedience 

 to our flag. 



This is a great old town. We found in 

 some of the houses much rich and beauti- 

 ful 18th century furniture, which many 

 New York people would rave over. 



This is Sunday and some half-breed 

 Spanish ladies across the street are play- 

 ing on the piano "A Hot Time in the Old 

 Town To-night." They think it is the 

 national air. 



My men are in good health. Have had 

 no rain since December. The climate is 

 like that of Western Colorado in July. 

 The nights are cool enough to make a 

 heavy blanket welcome. This is a rich 

 country. I saw thousands of bales of 

 hemp which would be worth thousands of 

 dollars if landed on South street. New 

 York. Yours truly, 



Luther S. Kelly, Captain 40th Infantry. 



He was holding up one side of the vesti- 

 bule when the milkman arrived. 



"What do you mean by being so late?" 

 he thundered. 



"W-why, sir," murmured the milkman, 

 "it is only five." 



"Doesn't matter ! My wife ripped me up 

 for being late, and I got here at four." — 

 Chicago News. 



