to reach which by water, following the river's windings,
he would have to paddle three or four miles.

Another thing which was unfortunate; that he could not know the
nature of the man from whom he bought the "banca," any better than
he could know the nature of the river, and so did not suspect that he
was dealing with a "tulisane," to whom the little bag of money which
the officer had shown when he had paid for the boat had looked like
boundless wealth, to see which was to plan to possess.

A "tulisane" is to the Philippine Islands what a brigand is to Italy,
a bandit to Spain, a highwayman to England, and a train-robber to
America; a man who lives by his wits, and stops at no means to gain
his object. The "banca," by the way, was stolen property.

This man would have stabbed the American soldier when he stooped to
step cautiously into the slippery boat, and taken the purse from his
dead body, had he not been far-sighted enough to see that the purse
might be had, and much more money beside.

The "tulisane" knew that the American soldiers were at Pasi. Although
he did not find it best to come to town himself, in general, he never
had any trouble finding men to go there for him, and bring him news,
or carry messages. No bandit leader who promptly carves an ear off the
man who does his errands grudgingly is half so feared as a Filipino
"tulisane" whom his fellows know to be the possessor of a powerful
"anting-anting." And this man's "anting-anting" was famous for the
wonders which it had done.

The "tulisane" knew that the American soldiers were at Pasi; and that
the man who led them lived in one of the white tents they had set
up there. This man in the brown clothes, which looked so tight that
it made the Filipino tired just to look at them, could be no common
soldier, else he would not be paying three big silver dollars for a
"banca." If anything was to happen to this man--that is if he was to
disappear, and still not be dead, and the officer in the white tent
should know of it--the leader of the white soldiers would no doubt
pay much money to have his man brought safely back. Consequently the
man in the brown clothes, with the fat money purse, should be made
to disappear.

That was the way the "tulisane" reasoned. It was the three dollars,
the rest of the money in the purse, and the ransom which the leader
of the white men would pay, which influenced the Filipino. It was
not that the Asiatic highwayman cared a l