of eighteen hundred fighting men, stealing upon their prey.

It was not a minute after the whispered command to lie down was given
till all except a few selected for duty on outposts had stretched
their weary limbs on the dewy grass.

The outposts were placed around the main body, some few hundred yards
distant, most of them in the direction of the Spanish lines. The
command was soon asleep. There was the usual number of disturbed
dreamers, and occasionally the snorer would burst out in loud and
long-drawn tones, only to be promptly kicked in the ribs by his
light-sleeping comrade. The nocturnal cigarette-smoker was prohibited
from indulging in his nightly practice, and soon there was a long
mass of sleeping humanity, not a sign of wakeful eyes to be seen.

As sudden as the flash of lightning the woods in the direction of the
Spanish lines was filled with yells, screams, and the heavy falling
of feet in rapid retreat.

The brigade sprang to its feet as if each man had been lying on a
stiff spring and the whole touched off simultaneously by the pressing
of a button--every man with loaded and cocked rifle in hand. Then began
the low, mumbling sound of a suddenly aroused camp. The efforts of the
officers who had kept their heads to keep it down were fruitless. It
was a long line of buzzing sounds like the swarming of bees. But the
screaming and yelling continued and grew nearer.

Shouting at the top of his voice at every jump, "They're
coming! they're coming!" tall, lean, red-headed, and hatless, the
recruit sentry came by leaps and strides, and close at his heels a
half-starved Cuban dog, playfully pursuing him, soliciting some of
the hardtack in the recruit's haversack.

It was near dawn before complete order was restored. Many eyes were
opened by that alarm raised by the panic-stricken recruit that never
again closed till closed in death.

THE CHARGE OF THE HOSPITAL CORPS.

The campaign in the Philippines against the wily Tagalo has been
replete with false alarms, owing to the prowling and sneaking nature
of the enemy, and the unearthly noises made by the animals of that
sun-scorched and water-splashed country.

There is a line of trenches and block-houses around the city of Manila,
the average distance being about two miles out from the suburbs. This
was called the "firing-line." On first arriving from the United
States, regiments were sent out to occupy a part of this position, to
recuperate from th