Page:A Sailor Boy with Dewey.djvu/191

Rh me to tumble over my chum and go crashing in the brush back of him.

"Oliver! you are hit!" he gasped. "Oh, this is too bad!" and he caught me up in his arms.

"I—I guess it's not much," I faltered, putting my hand up and withdrawing it covered with blood. Getting out a large linen handkerchief, I bound it over the wound, which was but a scratch, even though fully as deep as was desirable.

The crash in the brush had attracted the attention of the Spanish soldiers, and now they saw the Tagals and heavy firing recommenced. We were in the very midst of this, and several bullets sang alarmingly close to our ears. We wished that a better shelter than the brush was at hand, but nothing was in sight and we had to make the best of it.

Inside of a quarter of an hour it looked as if the rebels would get the best of the fight, but suddenly some Spanish re-enforcements came up, and in a twinkling the Tagals were sent flying toward the hills to the eastward, leaving a score of dead and wounded behind them.

"They are leaving us!" muttered Dan, when without warning several Spanish soldiers appeared, running directly toward us. Each had his gun up ready to shoot, so resistance would have been foolhardy.