Page:Under MacArthur in Luzon.djvu/188

162 when the occasion appeared to demand it. Ben's shirt was torn half from his back, yet he never noticed it.

"Hurrah! they are running at last!" It was a cry from the left, and it was true. The rebel line had broken; now it seemed to melt first at one spot and then at another. A ringing cheer arose from the Americans. "The battle is ours! Hike her up! Don't let them get away this time! Hurrah for Old Glory!" And away went the soldiers in a mass, their anxiety of the minute before changed to fierce joy.

The Filipinos were fleeing to the banks of the Zapote River, and this stream gained, they burned the middle planking of the bridge, that the Americans might not follow them across. On the opposite shore they had strong intrenchments, with a well-planted battery. Along the river were numerous huts and houses, many of them manned by Tagalog sharpshooters. As the Americans came up, the sharpshooters brought down several of them. But then the sharpshooters fled, fearful of being surrounded.

Coming to the river, General Lawton saw that he could not get across over the bridge, and