followed by Lawton's campaign to the Laguna de Bay and to San Isidro, as told in "The Campaign of the Jungle," and General gallant holding of his own in and around the railroad running from Manila to Malolos. Returning to the capital, General Lawton had immediately organized the expedition to the Morong peninsula, thus once again driving the rebels into their mountain fastnesses.
Many towns and villages had been occupied, but the American army was not a large one, and sickness and death had taken fully a fifth of the men out of the ranks; and so it became necessary to give up a majority of the captured places simply because we had no troops with which to garrison them.
The situation was grave, in spite of the endeavors of the leading generals to put a bright face upon the matter. The American holdings extended on the north but thirty-nine miles, to San Fernando, on the railroad. On the Laguna de Bay the only garrison was at Morong, and this was in constant danger, because of its isolation, the rebels again taking possession of Cainta and San Mateo. The line of the city defences extended from midway between Malate and Parañaque on the bay shore, south, in a semicircle to San Pedro Macati, Taguig, and across the
