Page:On to Pekin.djvu/35

Rh as cautiously as he could, and, reaching an opening at last, peeped forth with care.

He had been right in his guess. The Filipino guerillas, some twenty in number, had encamped in another patch of jungle a hundred yards further up the river; and now several of the party were crossing the stream in two cascoes, as the native small boats are named. A rope was stretched from shore to shore, and a man in each casco was hauling his craft along this by hand.

"If only I had the whole company here!" thought the young lieutenant. He felt that, if this were so, he could readily "bag" every one of the insurgents.

The thought had scarcely crossed his mind when two more rifle-shots rang out, followed by a cry from Stummer.

"Der repels vos running py der rifer!" came from the German soldier. "Shall ve go after dem, lieutenant?"

"No, wait!" ordered Gilbert. He turned to Dan Casey. "Go back as fast as you can, and report a body of twenty guerillas about to cross the river in two boats. We can round them up if we are re-enforced immediately."