Page:Under MacArthur in Luzon.djvu/334

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302
UNDER MacARTHUR IN LUZON

claimed Larry, as the fleeing party turned toward a jungle, up a hillside. "We can never stir them out of that in this darkness."

"They must not escape, Larry," came from Ben. And he added in a whisper, "Remember poor Walter."

On they went with renewed energy, and now Captain Relosus came again into view. Turning, he fired point blank at Larry, and the young sailor received a bad nip in the forearm. Crack! went Ben's pistol, and the sharpshooter staggered but did not fall. He cried to his men to aid him, but nobody paid any attention. Several of the American soldiers ran to him, but he tried to wave them away.

"Mercy!" he screamed. "Mercy! I surrender!" Scarcely had the words passed his lips than a shot came from the jungle, striking directly through his neck. The bullet was fired by one of the captain's own followers, and was meant for an American soldier standing behind the rebel. The noted guerilla did not die on the spot, but breathed his last on the evening of the next day.

Finding they could not hide in the jungle, José Lupez, with only a handful of followers, took a semicircular course behind some rocks, re-crossed