Page:Under MacArthur in Luzon.djvu/242

214 There was no time to say more, and they crept into the bushes. Soon they heard the other party approaching, the Filipinos berating their captives roundly. They passed, and Palmer crept close to Walter.

"There is one of my chums, and Si Doring, too," he whispered. "I'm going to follow and see if I can't free them." And before the lad could answer he was off.

The hours and the night to follow were sickening ones to Walter. Palmer did not come back, and the young sailor did not know how his newly made friend had been discovered and captured afresh. He waited and waited, his heavy eyes refusing to close in sleep, and his ears on the alert for the slightest sound which might indicate the sailor's return. At last when morning came and the sun arose, he threw himself down on the grass in utter despair.

"He is gone! I am alone, utterly alone!" Over and over he echoed the words, and the tears came to his eyes in spite of himself. Never had the vast solitude of that unbroken country so impressed him as now. As far as his eye could reach he saw nothing but hills and jungles, grassy plains and