ver any better men than they," said the colonel, "and I
would almost as soon my own men had been shot." But he bore the ship's
company no malice for their mistake, which he said was a very natural
one.

After the capture of so many rebels, and the killing of so many others,
it was felt that the rebel army in this part of the island was pretty
well disbanded, and that it would soon disappear altogether. It had been
known, from the very beginning of hostilities, that there was a large
force of insurgents somewhere in this neighbourhood, but not until
to-day had the colonel seen anything of them. But it was impossible, all
the officers said, that there could be any more troops about, for these
two thousand represented a very considerable portion of the entire rebel
army. And now that these were done away with, the colonel said there
was no need of his remaining any longer in this place, and that he would
like to get back to Manila as quickly as possible. Hearing this, the
admiral said he thought room could be made for all the men aboard the
cruiser, and that they could all return at once if they so desired. This
generous offer was at once accepted by the colonel, and the next day the
work of embarkation began. By night every man was aboard, and a place
of some kind had been found where he could sleep, but of course, every
portion of the vessel was much overcrowded. This only made things all
the more lively, however, and Archie, as well as all the others, thought
he had never enjoyed any trip so much as these three days spent in
getting back again to Manila. There was always fun of some sort going
on. If some one wasn't dancing, there was sure to be singing. And then
there were several ingenious games which were invented for the occasion,
so that time never passed slowly. Indeed, there were many who were sorry
when the capital was finally reached, but Archie was not among these,
for he expected some mail to be awaiting him from the editor of the
Enterprise. And he hoped that in this mail he would find permission to
return to New York.

All officials were very much surprised when the cruiser anchored off
Cavite, but the admiral explained that he thought it no use to spend
more time in touring the island, even though the month which it was
supposed to take him had not yet expired. He said that he felt sure
there were no more insurgent villages along the coast, because it was
perfectly evident, from all signs, that the rebels