ay, and, to our
intense surprise and discomfort, halted. There they stood, with
the first ray of the rising sun resting full upon them, seventeen
horsemen, officers, and just back of them about 5,000 infantrymen,
all within a stone's throw of us. What made our position all the more
precarious, the infantry was standing at a "rest," and were, as all
soldiers do when first halted, looking in every direction in search of
something--an enemy, fruit, a stray porker or a fowl. Our chances of
being discovered were becoming momentarily greater. We could plainly
see them, so naturally, if they would but look in the right direction,
they could see us. What may not five hundred busy eyes discover?

The danger of the mounted men seeing us was not so great, for they
had discovered something interesting in our lines and were active
with their glasses looking over our heads.

Sixteen of these officers were dressed in light blue uniforms of
some thin cloth, wide-brimmed sombreros, russet leather leggings,
and clanking sabers dangling by their left sides, almost trailing the
ground, while the trappings of their horses were enough to make the
eyes of a militia major snap with envy. The other officer, who rode
at the head, and the recipient of the most obsequious attentions,
a man about middle age, with close-cropped hair, small restless
eyes, and somewhat lighter complexioned than the average inhabitant
of those far-away tropical islands, wore a neat-fitting uniform of
khaki cloth over his diminutive body, and a helmet of the same color
upon his well-shaped head. His mount was a beautiful dapple gray
Filipino stallion, some larger than the average-sized native animal,
and much more gorgeously caparisoned than the charges of the other
officers. This pompously equipped commander wore at his left side
a most handsome saber, and on his right he carried a revolver and
field-glass case.

The foot soldiers were of the famous Corps d'Elite, Aguinaldo's
body-guard. We knew them by their bright red uniforms. Where Aguinaldo
goes, there they go also. They are his constant attendants. They were,
of course, all armed with Mauser rifles and laden with ammunition.

We were so interested at the sight of this picked regiment of Tagalos,
of which we had heard so much, that we almost forgot our danger, and
actually raised our heads higher in order that we might have a better
view of them. Just as we were craning our necks and straining our eyes
to the