nd trousers as made in Manila, with a
fine straw hat and white shoes and gloves, but he had a fuzzy beard all
over his face then, and his manner was nervous and excitable. His eyes
alone showed that he was unstrung, bodily and mentally. I set him down
for a crank or some one just picking up from serious illness. The city
is full of new-comers, and as yet no one knows how many strangers have
recently come to town. I saw him only that once in a dim light, but am
positive in this identification."

Two or three non-commissioned officers of Benton's regiment were
examined. Their stories were concise and to the point. The young soldier
had come with the recruits from San Francisco along late in August. He
was quiet, well-mannered, attended strictly to his own business, and was
eager to learn everything about his duties. They "sized him up" as a
young man of education and good family who hadn't influence enough to
get a commission and so had enlisted to win it. He had money, but no bad
habits. He helped in the office with the regimental papers, and could
have been excused from all duty and made clerk, but wouldn't be. He said
he'd help whenever they wanted him, but he didn't wish to be excused
from guard or drills or patrol or picket--said he wanted to learn all
there was in it. Even the rough fellows in the ranks couldn't help
liking him. He had a pleasant word for everybody that didn't bother him
with questions. He made one or two acquaintances, but kept mostly to
himself; never got any letters from America, but there were two from
Hong Kong, perhaps more. If he wrote letters himself, he posted them
in town. They never went with the company mail from the _cuartel_.
Everybody seemed to know that Benton wasn't his own name, but that was
nothing. The main thing queer about him was that he got a pass whenever
he could and went by himself, most generally out to Paco, where the
cavalry were, yet he said he didn't know anybody there. It was out Paco
way on the Calzada Herran, close to the corner of the Singalon road, the
patrol picked him up with his head laid open, and he'd been flighty
pretty much ever since and troubled about being robbed. Seemed all right
again, however, when reporting for duty, and perfectly sane and straight
then.

Two very bright young soldiers, Clark and Hunter, were called in for
their statements. They, too, had enlisted in a spirit of patriotism and
desire for adventure; never knew Benton till the voyage