It had an official air to it, too, for had not the colonel
been most anxious, in the beginning, that he should go, and did he not
say that he would reward him handsomely if he were successful in
locating any of the insurgents, or in proving that he had been right
when he said they were near Manila? It was all as perfect an adventure
as Archie could have imagined. He could not have planned a better one
if he had been able to select any trip he could think of.
He planned that it would take him at least three days to walk fifty
miles, and perhaps longer, for the roads were not very good in some
places. He knew that he would find many villages and towns along the
way, too, for the island was thinly settled in this neighbourhood. So
if he were obliged to rest, he would never be at a loss for a place to
get a bed. Archie couldn't help thinking, as he walked along the road
outside Manila, this first morning, that he might find a body of the
insurgents in possession of one of these towns. They were very bold,
he had heard, and they probably knew that there were no American
troops anywhere in the neighbourhood, outside the city of Manila
itself. And, knowing this, he knew they wouldn't hesitate to camp at
the very gates of the city, for they were marvellously successful in
getting away into the interior whenever an American force made its
appearance.
As he thought of this possibility, Archie couldn't help being a little
fearful of what might happen to him should he fall into the hands of
the insurgents, and he began to wonder if he had not been a little
foolhardy, after all, in starting off on such a wild-goose chase.
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