"To tell the truth, I didn"t know it," said Sam.
"Well, you did."
"But the general planned everything," said Sam.
"Yes," said Cleary, "but I"ll tell you more about that. I"m doing some detective work, and I"ll have something to tell you in a day or two.
But I wish I"d been with you. I had my kodak all ready. However, they can make up the pictures at home. How"s this for headlines?" and he took some notes from his pocket. ""Great Victory at San Diego. Captain Jinks Turns Defeat into Victory. Hailed as Hero Jinks by the Army.
General Laughter"s Plans Carried Out through the Young Hero"s Co-operation." What do you think of that? We"ll put the part about the general in small caps, because he"s not quite solid with the trust. I"m not going to write up anybody but you and the Mounted Mustangs; those are my orders."
"How did the Mustangs make out?" asked Sam. "They were way off on the left, and I haven"t heard anything about them."
"They did very decently," said Cleary, "considering they were never under fire before. They kept up pretty well with the regulars, and fortunately they had a regular regiment on each side. They really did well."
"Did they make any fine cavalry charges?" inquired Sam.
"Cavalry charges! Bless your heart, they didn"t have any horses, and it"s lucky they didn"t. They had their hands full without having to manage any horses!"
CHAPTER VIII
Among the Moritos
[Ill.u.s.tration]
On the following day headquarters were moved into San Diego. Sam was lodged in the town hall with the general, and Cleary got rooms close by. There were rumors of renewed activity on the part of the Cubapinos, but it was thought that their resistance for the future would be of a guerrilla nature. There was, however, one savage tribe to the north which had terrorized a large district of country, and the general decided that it must be subdued. Sam heard of this plan, but did not know whether he would be sent on the expedition or not, and urged Cleary to use his influence so that he might be one of the party.
"I"ll manage it for you, old man," said Cleary, two or three days after the battle. "I"ve got the general in a tight place, and all I"ve got to do is to let him know it and he"ll do whatever I want."
"What do you mean?"
"Why, he had about as much to do with the San Diego fight as the man in the moon."
"What?"
"Well, I"ll tell you the story. I"ve run down every clue and here it is. You see somehow Colonel Burton got the orders mixed up that morning and addressed every one of them to the wrong general."
"Is it possible?" exclaimed Sam. "That explains why they couldn"t understand the orders there in the Third Brigade, and why I took all day to find San Diego. I wonder if it"s true. Why on earth didn"t Gomaldo win then? It must have been a close call."
"It"s plain enough why he didn"t win," said Cleary. "That chap Garcia was one of his spies, and a clever one too. He got all he could out of you and me, but that wasn"t much. Then he had the native servant of the general in his pay. As soon as you left on the night before the battle he cleared out too, and he got a statement from the native servant of all the general intended to do. He got the news to Gomaldo by midnight, and before sunrise the Cubapino forces were ready to meet each of our columns when they advanced. They had ambushes prepared for each of them. If the orders had gone out straight we"d have been cleaned out, that"s my opinion. But you see, they all went wrong and the columns advanced along different roads, and poor Gomaldo"s plans all went to pot. I believe he had Garcia hanged for deceiving him. You haven"t seen the general"s servant since the battle, have you?"
"Now that you speak of it, I don"t think I have," said Sam. "But he"s a great general all the same, don"t you think so?"
"Of course," answered Cleary.
"I wonder if all battles are won like that?" said Sam.
"I half think they are," said his friend. "And then the generals smile and say, "I told you so.""
"Cleary," said Sam, "I want you to answer me one question honestly."
"Out with it."
"Did I have much to do with winning that battle or not?"
"To tell the honest truth, Sam, between me and you, I don"t know whether you did or not. But _The Lyre_ will say that you did, and that will settle it for history."
Sam sighed and made no other reply.
The expedition against the Moritos started out a week later. It consisted of two regiments, one of colored men under a certain Colonel James, the other of white volunteers, with a brigadier-general in command. Sam was a.s.signed to the command of the volunteer regiment with the temporary rank of major, its colonel having been wounded at the battle of San Diego. For a whole day they marched northward unmolested, and encamped at night in a valley in the mountains with a small native village as headquarters. There had been little incident during the day. They had burned several villages and driven off a good many cattle for meat. Sam was surprised to see how handsome the furniture was in the little thatched cottages of the people, perched as they were on posts several feet high. It was a feast day, and the whole population had been in the streets in their best clothes. The soldiers s.n.a.t.c.hed the jewels of the women and chased the men away, and then looted the houses, destroying what they could not take, and finally setting them on fire.
"It"s better so," said Sam to his adjutant. "Make war as bad as possible and people will keep the peace. We are the real peacemakers."
He heard shouts and cries as he pa.s.sed through the villages, and had reason to think that the soldiers were not contented with mere looting, but he did not inquire. He took his supper with the general at his headquarters. Colonel James and Cleary ate with them, for Cleary was still true to his friend"s fortunes and determined to follow him everywhere. After an evening of smoking and chatting, Sam, Cleary, and Colonel James bade the general good-night and started for their quarters, which lay in the same direction. It was a gorgeous moonlight night, such a night as only the tropics can produce, and they sauntered slowly along the mountain road, enjoying the scene.
"There is a question that I have been wanting to ask you, Colonel,"
said Sam to Colonel James as they walked on together. "What do you think of darkies as soldiers? I have never seen much of them, and as you have a negro regiment, you must know all about it."
"Well, the truth is, Major," responded the colonel, "I wouldn"t have my opinion get out for a good deal, but I"ll tell you in confidence.
They make much better soldiers than white men, that"s the long and short of it."
"How can you explain that? It"s most surprising!" cried Sam.
"Well, they"re more impressible, for one thing. You can work them up into any kind of pa.s.sion you want to. Then they"re more submissive to discipline; they"re used to being ordered about and kicked and cuffed, and they don"t mind it. Besides, they"re accustomed from their low social position to be subordinate to superiors, and rather expect it than not. They are all poor, too, and used to poor food and ragged clothes and no comforts, and of course they don"t complain of what they get from us."
"You mean," said Cleary, "that the lower a man is in the scale of society the better soldier he makes."
"Well," answered the colonel, "I hadn"t ever put it just in that light, but that"s about the size of it. These darkies are great hands at carrying concealed weapons, too. If it isn"t a razor it"s something else, and if there"s a row going on they will get mixed up in it, but they"re none the worse as soldiers for that."
"Let"s go up to that point there and take the moonlight view before we turn in," suggested Cleary.
The others agreed, and they began to climb a path leading up to the right. It was much more of a climb than they had expected, and when they had become quite blown they sat down to recover their breath.
"I think we"d better go back," said Colonel James. "We may lose our way, and it isn"t safe here. The Moritos are known to be thick in these mountains, and they might find us."
"Oh, let"s go a little farther," said Cleary, and they set out to climb again.
"The path seems to stop here," said Sam, who was in the lead. "This must be the top, but I don"t see any place for a view. Perhaps we"d better go back."
Cleary did not repeat his objection, and they began to retrace their steps. For some time they went on in silence.
"The path begins to go up-hill here," said Cleary, who now led. "I don"t understand this. We didn"t go down-hill at all."
"I think we did for a short distance," answered Sam.
They went on, still ascending.