Page:Under MacArthur in Luzon.djvu/181

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BATTLING ALONG THE ZAPOTE RIVER
155

rifles, with now and then a dull boom from the artillery on the road. Staff officers were rushing hither and thither, and the air was filled with smoke. The hospital corps was now coming up, and those that were wounded or were overcome by the heat were quickly carried to the rear.

"Well, Larry, how do you feel now?" asked Ben, anxiously, as he ran up to his brother, as the latter was reloading.

"All right, but I'm as dry as a fish."

"Here's my canteen; I'm just afther filling it," put in Dan Casey, and thrust the article into Larry's hands. The youth was just taking a good drink, when crack! a bullet hit the canteen, went straight through it, and landed in the dirt beyond.

"Creation!" gasped Larry, and turned deadly pale for the moment. "Wasn't that a close shave, though!"

"I've got him!" burst out Dan Casey, after discharging his rifle. "That Dago will niver shpile another canteen fer me." He had caught sight of a Tagal in a distant tree, and his aim was true, for the rebel threw up his arms, let his Mauser fall, and then pitched headlong into the tall grass.

Another advance was now ordered, and soon Ben