Part 29 (2/2)

”What's that? more rebels?” cried Ben, and listened

”No, no, the Filipinos are retreating!” ca like sheep! Up the hill, fellows; the fight is ours!” And a regular staet to the top of the ridge first The rebels were indeed retreating into a thicket behind the ridge They went less than half a mile, however, and then made another stand, this time on the upper side of a mountain stream,--the very stream at which Larry and his companions had stopped after the escape from the caves under the mountain

To ford the stream would have been an easy uarding the upper bank, it was extree of the brush overhanging the water

”They are straight ahead, boys,” said Major Morris, after his scouts had reported to hiht Forward, and on the double-quick!”

Every soldier felt that delay would h the jungle to a point where the strea Here an excellent ford was found, and they went over in column of fours They could now enfilade the rebels' position, and this they did so disastrously that the Filipinos speedily thren a large part of their arms and fled helter-skelter into the mountain fastnesses still further to the northward

The battle over, the battalion ca the strea the upon exhaustion, for the hureatly There was not a breath of a breeze, and the water hardly quenched the thirst that raged within them As Major Morris declared, 'It was the primest place to catch a fever in' he had ever seen

Ben was sitting at the foot of a tall tree talking to Gil in two A toabout Larry

The two men proved to be Dan Leroy and Boxer, the scout, and when he mentioned his brother's name to them, both were of course astonished

”Do we know hiether froet out of the prison caves Yes, yes, I know Larry well” And then Leroy told of the escape from the caves, and of how all three of the party had become lost in the swaht ould never get out,”

he continued ”Luckily, we had some caribao meat with us; othere should have starved to death The swamps were full of s, and ere almost eaten up alive, eh, Boxer?”

”So ere,” replied the scout

”But what of my brother?” asked Ben, impatiently

At this the faces of both of the men fell

”We can't say what became o' hiot out of the swaround until we found a regular trail leading to the south Well, our walk took us up to a high cliff overlooking a gorge filled with trees and bushes We alking ahead, with Larry at our heels, as we thought, when Boxer chanced to look around, and the boy was gone”

”Gone!” gasped Ben, in horror

”Yes, gone! We couldn't understand it, and called to him, but he didn't answer Then ent back about quarter of a mile, past the spot where we had seen hinal But he had disappeared totally, and we couldn't find hide nor hair o' hi one, and for several minutes Ben could not trust himself to speak

”And--and what do you think becaed their shoulders ”I'm afraid he fell over the cliff,” said Boxer ”You see, the footpath was narrow and hty slippery in spots”

At once Ben's mind went back to that scene in far-away Cuba, when Gerald Holgait had fallen over a cliff Had a similar fate overtaken his brother? and if so, was he still alive or had he been dashed to his death?

”How far is that spot from here?” he demanded abruptly

”Not over a mile, cap'n,” answered Boxer

”I see you are a scout Can you take me to the place?”