"But, gentlemen, this is Mysang, the heart of the Moro country, the poison spot of the Philippines." "To take the army out of there at this time is suicide." "I tell you, you mustn't let them do it." "You know what happened at Tagula." "Alipang's on the march, he's taking village after village." "I tell you, we mustn't withdraw the troops from Mysang." "Quite so, Colonel." "On the other hand, I mustn't quarrel with the War Department." "They've ordered the army out of Mysang at once." "And what happens to those poor Philippine natives?" "You train them to defend themselves." "Against Alipang?" "I couldn't get them ready in 10 years." "And I'm afraid Alipang won't wait that long." "He's got thousands of Moro bandits in the jungle just waiting for the American Army to leave." "It'll be slaughter." "You'll have to stop him, Colonel Hatch." "With what?" "Raw native troops?" "Yes, with native troops." "As long as our army's there the Filipinos will depend on them." "Sooner or later, they'll have to take care of themselves." "It's your job to prepare them." "We're making Mysang a sort of test." "If it works out there, it's bound to work out in the rest of the islands." "Well, I can tell you now, as soon as Alipang learns the troops have left, he'll pounce on us." "In 48 hours, I'll be screaming for help." "There'll be no one listening, Colonel." "These are the men who are going to help you." "This is Manning." "We picked him, because he knows the Moro country." "This is Hartley." "The best drillmaster and disciplinarian in the service." "This is Larson." "He never disobeyed an order in his life." "And this is McCool." "He never took an order in his life, but he's the best one-man army in the Philippines." "Who's that?" "This?" "Oh, this is" "Canavan, the doctor." "He's been ordered to Mysang to keep the other four alive." "Your orders, Colonel." " Thank you, sir." " Good luck." "All right, men, fall in." "Come on, Jake!" "Hey, Jake!" "Come on!" "All right, men." "Get in, get in." "Look alive, men." "We, who are about to die, salute you." "Now, Padre, I've tried to tell you..." "We have been praying since dawn for a miracle that would stop the American troops from leaving Mysang." "I'm afraid not even a miracle can change the orders of the General Staff, Padre." "Now, I've been here for some time." "Let me tell you what'll happen here." "I have been here all my life." "I know what will happen here." "And soon." "Soon." "Alipang is bringing together all the Moro tribes on Mindanao." "As soon as the American troops are gone, the Moros will come down from the hills." "They will kill all the men, and carry away all the women and children into slavery." "For you, it will be a report written in ink." "But for my people, it will be a report written in blood." "Hard on your starboard, hard on board, boys." "How many American officers have been left?" "A handful." "One by one, they must be destroyed until they send the troops into the jungle to seek revenge." "Who's in command of the post?" "Colonel Hatch." "We begin with him." "Amal." "Let me carry the bags!" " Let me carry the bags!" " Let me carry the bags!" " Let me carry the bags!" " Let me carry the bags!" " Let me carry the bags!" "You haven't, by any chance, got leprosy?" "What's the Indian sign you've got on those other kids, anyway?" "You're not a Filipino, are you?" "No." "A Moro?" "Oh, so that's it." "What's your name?" "Miguel." "All right, Mike, you can take my bags up to the headquarters." "You bet your life." "Swede." "Look." "It's Bill." "The doc." "Company, dismissed!" "Dismissed!" "Bill, you old sawbones, how are you?" "How are you?" "Hiya, Doc, welcome to Mysang." "How are you, Swede?" "You still boiling your water?" "Did you bring any beer with you?" "How's "Vinegar" Steffens, huh?" "Oh, they call the old colonel "Honey Boy" Steffens now." " I took out a gallstone out of him." " You did?" "Yeah." "Oh, here." "Present for you." "Oh, how did you know?" "All my life, I've wanted a gallstone." "Still collecting orchids, Swede?" " Sure." " Here." "Orchidacea dendrobium." "Hey, I've been looking for one of these all my life." "Ain't that a beauty?" "Colonel Hatch, this is that Datu I told you about, the friendly Moro chieftain." " He's been very helpful." " How do you do?" "Sit down." "Colonel, the Datu agrees that there'll always be trouble as long as Alipang's around." "There will never be peace until you go into the jungle and destroy him." "We're not going into the jungle or any other place." "We're here to preserve peace and train the native troops." "Say, what kind of a place is this?" "What have you got around here?" "Oh, everything." "Malaria, small pox, typhoid..." "Poker, pinochle, blackjack." "...lice, mice, alligators, crocodiles, red ants, white ants, and now rats." "The Smith brothers." "They're collaborating with me on some work I'm doing on beriberi." "The Koran says that rats are creatures of ill omen." "Well, Captain, it's in our laps now." "From now on, the little brothers will have to stand on their own feet." "If they can." "If they can." "Allah!" "You'd better go in, Padre." "I thought I missed when I shot at that juramentado, but I guess I didn't." "He had enough lead in him to sink a battleship." "Doctor, a juramentado is like a horse." "The only place to stop them is right here." "Only you feel sorry for the horse." "I've heard of these fanatics that go berserk." "But I never saw one before." "I wonder what kept the bugger going with all those slugs in him?" "Must be some drug." "The drug that keeps them going is what keeps most of us going." "Faith, good or bad." "The juramentado believes that when he kills an infidel, it is a passport to heaven." "But I didn't know they selected the victims." "I thought they just attacked the first Christian they met?" "I am a Christian, yet he didn't attack me." "Well, perhaps, I am not a good Christian." "Good night, señores." "Good night, Padre." "Well, when you come to think of it, that Moro went right by the bunch of us to get to one man, the Commanding Officer." "I wouldn't be surprised if..." "Bolo cut?" "Do you ever have headaches?" " No." " Dizzy spells?" "No." "I'm perfectly all right." "You must have a skull of cast iron." "Bad place for a bolo cut, the nerve center." "I knew a man up in Samoa..." "Are you the man that owns that coconut raft?" "What were you doing in the jungle?" "Who are these men?" "Couple of Moros who don't belong in the village." "Where did you find them?" "Well, we went for a little stroll and we found them prowling around on the edge of the jungle." "Lieutenant, you know the orders about reprisals." "Captain, all I know is that Colonel Hatch..." "He gave the orders." "Come in to the office." "Captain, look, give me a squad." "Let us try some of this juramentado business." "That's what I want to talk to you about." "Gentleman, I've been looking over Colonel Hatch's notes." "His plan of procedure." "He felt that Alipang would use every effort to lure us into the bush before we were ready." "Well, he was right." "That juramentado was Alipang's first move." "But it won't work." "We're going to stay right in our own backyard." "Here's an order Colonel Hatch prepared forbidding any move into the jungle until the native troops are fully trained." "He never got a chance to sign it." "How am I gonna get any orchids if we can't go out in the jungle?" "Ask him if we can go a little way." " Go on." "Ask him." " Shut up." "Well, it's signed." "Captain Hartley, it's your job to make soldiers out of these Filipinos if you have to work them 24 hours a day." "From now on, it's drill." "Drill, drill, drill!" "Left arm, cut and parry, engage!" "Right arm, cut and parry, engage!" "One, two, three, four." "Right, left." "Hey, you, number three!" "Right face!" "Chest out!" "Stomach in!" "Raise shoulder!" "Forward, double time, march!" "Hurry it up." "Hurry it up." "Come on." "Over the wall." "Come on." "Come on." "Come on." "Come on, come on." "That was lovely, boys." "Left arm, cut and parry." "Over the wall." "Come on." "Come on." "Ready!" "Come on, come on, come on, quicker!" "Like a lot of old women in a sewing circle." "It's still too slow!" "Do it again!" "March, left." "Hup, two, three, four..." "That's it." "Left, right, left." " One, two, three..." " Lieutenant Yabo." "Company, halt!" "Why are these men drilling without shoes?" "Tenyente Canavan, he said take them off." "Oh, he did, did he?" "Have them put them on again." "Sergeant." " Yes, sir." " What's going on here?" "Tenyente say we do this one hour every day." " Tenyente..." " Tenyente who?" "Tenyente Canavan." "What do you mean by telling the men they could drill without shoes?" "Shoes?" "Oh, yes." "Well, it was just a suggestion." "I happened to be passing by and they were having an awful time." "In agony." "They've got to get used to shoes, sooner or later." "Well, don't you suppose it can be done gradually?" "After all, men weren't born with shoes." "Dr. Canavan probably meant it as a health measure." "Is it a health measure to rig up a dummy and have men standing around pulling its nose?" "Oh, that." "Oh, that was just a little applied psychology." "The Filipinos are scared stiff of this what's-his-name, Alipang." "They jump when you mention his name." "That's why I rigged up that dummy." "Stupid." "You wouldn't think it was stupid if you'd seen the shaking lineup of men at sick call after Hatch was killed." "Sick call is a good excuse to avoid work." "Yeah, I know." "And it's true that there was nothing organically wrong with those men, but they were sick just the same, sick with fear." "And when fear becomes so deep and unreasoning, it's a disease." "It'll be cured when they learn how to handle a gun." "You stick to your pills." "And I'll take care of the training schedule." "Captain, there's a man who either has high blood pressure or something on his mind." "Just as I've always dreamed it." "Taken me years to find, but here it is." "As green as Ireland, not a snake in the place, and a beach like powdered sugar." "Have you seen my fatigues?" "Look, Bill, 10 miles south of there." "Mac, don't tell me you've finally found your island?" "Yeah." "And as soon as we finish up this job, I'm moving in." "That'll be the world of Terence McCool." "A darling of an island." "A Garden of Eden." "You better start looking for an Eve." "Oh, no, I want peace and quiet." "Come here." "Where'd you find them?" "Under bed, but it need shine." "No want dinero." "Want him." "What for?" "Anting-anting." "Bring good luck." "Well, didn't you tell me Moros weren't afraid of anything?" "You bet your life." "Well, what you want anting-anting for?" "Moro no afraid of things he can see, only afraid of things he can't see." "Well, what about bullets?" "You can see them." "No see bullets." "Bullets..." "You no believe in anting-anting?" "No." "Then what you got those rats for?" "Oh, well, they're to help me find out something I want to know." "Something you no see?" "That's it." "Anting-anting." "Hey, Doc!" "Come here a minute, will you?" "Look, Doc." "One of Swede's orchids is due for the stalk." "Well, how soon, Larson?" "Any day now." "Do you know, I do a lot of this pollinating in my spare time." "Think it'll have to be a cesarean?" "Well, it all depends." "What kind is it?" "It's a Paphiopedilum." "Just a plain Paphiopedilum?" "Oh, no, it's a Paphiopedilum fairrieanum." "Oh, that's nothing." "You know, I wanna get a white orchid." "That's why I'm down here." "You gotta go an awful long way before you run across a white orchid." "It's called Cragg." "It fires many bullets at once." "How many they have?" "Three hundred." "Bullets?" "Enough." "One of these guns worth 20 bulls." "If we get them, you be sultan of Mindanao." "We must get them now." "No, no, Tuan." "They must attack us." "But why they wait?" "We kill commander." "Why they not send men?" "Perhaps when we send the juramentado to kill the new commander, Manning, they send men." "Oh, Steve!" "Aren't you coming down to the landing?" "I want you to meet my wife." "Yes, certainly." "Go on ahead." "I'll be with you in a few minutes." "Right." "Linda, if you believe in marriage, never say yes to a soldier." "Ever since I've been married," "I've been chasing my husband all over the world." "I haven't seen him this time in over a year." "I know just how you feel." "I haven't seen my father in over four years." "I hope he recognizes me." "Hey." "Hey!" "Do you got a box there for me?" "Larson." "L-A-R-S-O-N." "Bill." "Bill!" "Bill, look, I got a letter from a lawyer in Manila." "I wrote to him just to make quite sure." "And they say they've found the titles to the island." "It doesn't belong to anybody." "I can just move right in." "I don't even have to buy it." "So what I'm going to do..." "Hey, Bill, Mac." "Look, my orchid seeds arrived from Battlement Gordon." "Oh, darling." "Oh, George, my ribs!" "Oh, bless your ribs." "Bless your heart." "Bless you." "As president of the reception committee of the port of Mysang..." "Linda!" "Pardon me." "Linda, this is the man I've been telling you about." " How do you do?" " How do you do?" "Ladies, may I present Lieutenants McCool, Canavan, and Larson." "This is Mrs. Manning and Captain Hartley's daughter, Miss Linda Hartley." " How do you do?" " But, George, where's Captain Hartley?" "He should be here now." "I just left him." " Oh, he's right..." "Will you come with us?" " Yeah!" "Yeah, we know, over here." "How long do you expect to stay, Miss Hartley?" "As long as my father will let me." "I know I'm going to like it here." "Larson here spends all his time in his horticulture, and the doctor has his hands full of patients and things, but I have nothing to do." "I'd love to show you all the sights." "The public library, the art museum." "And we could swim out 10 miles and see my island." "I'd like to show you my orchids sometime, Miss Hartley." "No, I'm not at all busy with patients." "I only have two." "A couple of rats." "One of them's pretty sick." "What's the matter with him?" "Dying of a lonely heart, like I am." "Well, here you are, Miss Hartley." "Here's where you live." "Well, thank you." "Thank all of you." "Linda!" "Dad!" "How did you..." "When did..." "I couldn't believe my eyes." "Didn't you recognize me?" "Well, you've changed." "Where are the freckles?" "What did you do with the skinny legs and your braids?" "You see, if I'd waited any longer, I'd have been an old woman." "After the earthquake at San Francisco, I just made up my mind." "You'll never know how much I worried about you." "Even when I knew you were safe," "I wanted to hop the first boat." "And I beat you to it." "Why didn't you write you were coming?" "I was too smart." "You might have said no." "Oh, you are glad to see me, aren't you?" "Glad?" "Linda, you're the one person in the world I wanted to see most." "I have the cutest little place fixed up in Manila." "Right near the Luneta." "Oh, darling, could you possibly be as happy as I am?" "We're going to have to change our plans a little." "Don't tell me there's been another delay in your leave of absence." "My leave's off." "I'm assigned here indefinitely." "George, it was all arranged." "Sorry, Mabel." "Can't be helped." "The C.O. Died, and..." "Who?" "Colonel Hatch." "You never met him." "So, you see, that puts me in command." "Well, it was a mighty nice little house, but I guess we can make this one do." "Oh, George." "Sorry, Mabel." "All the way over I kept thinking how wonderful it would be to drop in on you like this, as if I'd come from just around the corner." "But, Dad, what happened?" "Oh, I got it last year." "But it's all right now." "We'll paint the town red." "We'll have a wonderful time." "The boat stops over for four whole days." "Four days?" "Oh, no." "This time you don't get rid of me so easily." "I'm here for keeps." "Linda, I'm sorry, but that's impossible just now." "There's nothing I'd like better, but you couldn't have chosen a worse time." "I wouldn't have much time for you, darling." "You'd be alone most of the time." "I've been alone most of the time." "I know." "Manning." "Come on." "Buck up, old girl." "It's your party." "Sorry, darling." "I was just trying to get used to the idea of going back again without you." "Buy you a drink." "And tonight, just before I came over here, the rat that had been getting polished rice died." "Died of beriberi." "No beriberi on my island." "No rats." "No mice." "No doctors." "You should see it as I first saw it, shining in the sun, a pearl set in turquoise." "A pimple in the Pacific." "Excuse me, Miss Hartley." "I'm officer of the day and I won't be able to stay for the dancing, and I thought if you..." "I..." "Here." "Why, thank you, Lieutenant." "Why, it's lovely." "I've never seen one like this before." "It's a Paphiopedilum fairrieanum." "Oh, no, Bill." "It's a Brassocattleya trufuttiana." "Don't let him scare you." "It's just an orchid." "Will you wear it?" "I'd love to." "I brought a pin." "Thank you." "I'm breeding a species of my own, a white orchid, and, well, I'd like to name it after you." "Orchidaceae linda." "If you don't mind." "Well, I'd be greatly honored." "Well, thanks, that's..." "I gotta go now." "I gotta pollinate." "To us." "Linda." "That's Spanish for "beautiful."" "Linda." "That's what I'll call my island." "Linda Island." "Look." "It's 10 miles off there, with a beach like swan's down when you stretch out on it and gaze up at the powder puff clouds." "And the birds sing, and your heart sings with them." "Then the sea steals up and tickles your toes, which is bad if you're ticklish." "Oh, I see." "How long have you been in the service?" "Three years." "I expect to quit next year and hang up my shingle back home." "I'd never quit if I were in the army." "You like the service?" "I think it's the most wonderful career in the world." "When I was six, my greatest ambition was to be a top sergeant in my father's company." "Queer ambition for a girl." "I don't see why." "The happiest time of my life was when I was a kid at the presidio." "Most children had to be satisfied with toy soldiers." "But I had real ones." "Most of my male ancestors were soldiers with a remarkable talent for getting killed." "When I was 10, my father bought me a uniform." "I liked it much better than any dress I ever had." "I guess I should have been born a boy." "Oh, no." "My great-grandfather was Wellington's adjutant." "He lost a leg at Waterloo." "My grandfather, he was only a sergeant major, he drowned in his own blood at the Alamo with David Crockett." " Really?" " My father lies at Chickamauga..." "And lies." "And lies, and lies, and lies." "Datu, there's something I'd like you to do for me." "Very glad." "My wife's going back to Manila, and I'd like to give her a little present." "You deal in pearls, and I thought maybe..." "I could get you some, but not before the boat leaves." "Oh, that's too bad." "I did want to..." "There is a lace peddler outside, with shawls and scarves." "He may have something your wife might like." "Oh." "Thank you, Datu." " Go in, Zeruphina." " Okay." "You better go home and get some rest." "Isn't there anything I can do?" "She's all right now." "She'll need some looking after when she comes out of it, though." "I'll hang around." "She was so happy when I met her on the boat." "All she could talk about was him and how she was going to take him back to Manila with her." "She was so frantic to get here, and..." "What brought you here?" "An earthquake." "The one at San Francisco." "It was ghastly." "Everywhere people were crying out, calling for help." "The living and the dying, all calling for someone." "And suddenly I found myself doing the same thing." "I was calling to my father." "I hadn't seen him for years, he was thousands of miles away, and yet I called to him as if he really could help me." "Funny, wasn't it?" "No." "No." "People always have to have somebody to call to when they're in trouble." "You find that out when you attend the dying." "If they haven't got somebody, they usually invent somebody." "Even when they're not in trouble, people make up people." "I used to do it when I was a kid, my kid sister and I." "I invented my first patient." "Who was he?" "The President of the United States." "Really?" "He had a strange new malady." "Nobody knew what it was." "All the specialists in the world couldn't do a thing for him till they sent for me." "I cured him." "Just like that." "I guess that's what made me decide on the medical profession." "George!" "And from now on, I want double sentry duty." "Larson, round up every Moro living in the village, take them to the guardhouse." "Go on." "Yes, sir." "McCool, I want a stockade built around the fort, and beyond that, barbed wire." "All we've got." "Go on." "Yes, sir." "Yabo, instruct the guard." "Nobody's allowed inside without a special pass." "Nobody." "Go on." "Yes, sir." "Captain, if a Moro can go juramentado, why can't a white man?" "There'll be no expeditions, alone or in groups, under any circumstances." "Those are still the orders." "The Moro that killed Captain Manning had this around his neck." "All the Moros wear anting-anting to protect them." "From what?" "The Moros aren't afraid of anything, not even death." "I am not afraid of death, either, yet you see I wear an anting-anting, too." "It is a symbol of something you believe in." "And if you believe in something, it's so." "That's true." "Take a look in here." "Those men all believe in something." "Fear." "They're all sick with fear." "Canavan." "I'm not gonna stand for this business of turning your hospital into a refuge for slackers." "There are more men in here than there are on the parade ground drilling." "If it keeps up, they'll all be in." "You're right, Captain, but..." "Get them out." "There's nothing the matter with them." "Yes, there is." "That Moro that struck Captain Manning down struck them down, too, but not with a bolo." "They're down with a disease medicine can't cure." "They'll be all right when they learn how to use a gun, when they're properly drilled." "The trouble is that you're trying to drill things into them, when you should be drilling things out of them." "What good's a gun when your finger's so paralyzed with fright that you can't pull a trigger?" "Sergeant, get these men out of here." "Have them report for duty." "From now on there'll be no more of this pampering." "All he knows comes out of a book of regulations." "He's so hipped on uniforms, he never stops to consider what's inside of them." "Like trying to talk to a stone wall." "You said yourself it was a disease that medicine can't cure." "Yes." "But there must be a cure." "If I only knew the Achilles' heel of the Moro." "What he's afraid of." "There must be something." "There is something." "The Moro is not afraid to die, but he's mortally afraid of being buried in a pigskin." " Pigskin?" " Yeah." "Ridiculous, isn't it?" "But not to the Moro." "He believes it sends him straight to hell." "Father Felipe, you've done it." "You've isolated the germ for me." "The pigskin might be the salvation of Mysang." "I'd rather have the American Army." "Hey, hey, hey, hey." "What's going on here?" "I got orders to round up all the Moros in the village and put them in the guardhouse." " Come on." " No, wait a minute." "All the village Moros are friendly." "Hartley says round them up." "Well, Mike here, he's just a kid." "He was born and raised here." "He's a Moro." "Well, you leave him with me and I'll turn him in." "All right, Bill, but you tell Hartley." "I don't want any part of it." "I won't go to guardhouse." "I'll run away to jungle." "You mustn't do that, Mike." "You'll get into trouble." "No trouble for me in jungle." "You know your way around in the bush?" "You bet your life." "Then get a couple of canteens and some rope, and wait for me down at the bridge." " We go to the jungle?" " Yeah." "You better take your anting-anting." "I've got anting-anting." "Now, you better get going." "What is it?" "What is it, Mike?" "Spear trap." "Jungle's full of them." "Alipang's gang." "What are they doing?" "They're fixing juramentado to run amuck." "Alipang sending juramentado to kill Hartley." "Get the canteens." "Tie him up, Mike." "It was such a pretty little house." "Right near the Luneta." "Linda, if you're ever in love with a man, don't leave him, not for a single second." "Well, I guess that's about all." "You'd better run along now and do your own packing." "I'll see you at the boat." "Linda, you know you haven't packed yet." "Any news of Dr. Canavan?" "No." "Linda, don't think I like shipping you out like this." "What do you suppose happened to him, Dad?" "I don't know." "I want you to wire me as soon as you get home." "You can send the telegram to Manila and it will be forwarded to me here." "Aren't you even going to send out a searching party?" "What for?" "When a man deliberately disobeys an order..." "But he's a non-combatant." "Perhaps he didn't realize your order applied to him." "The least you can do is..." "I've told you I'm not gonna risk any more lives searching for an insubordinate fool!" "But he's not." "You don't know him, Dad." "Wherever he is, he's doing something for somebody else." "I don't see how you can be so cold-blooded when your best man..." "Well, one of your best men." "What makes you so interested in Canavan all of a sudden?" "Well, I'm not." "I..." "I'd feel the same way about anybody." "You'd better finish packing." "You don't want to hold up the boat." "I've just been talking to Yabo." "He says if we ever see the doc again, it'll be in a pit, with his head sticking out covered with honey and some ants crawling around him." "Hey, what are you doing, Mac?" "Hey, wait a minute, Mac." "You can't do this." "Hartley's given strict orders." "Nobody in their right senses..." "Who said I was in my right senses?" "I got a touch of the sun." "Wait a minute, Mac." "I got a touch of that sun, too." "Hey, Swede, look." "You, you dimwitted crack, you ought to have been caught and had your head stuffed full of honey" " and put in an ant heap." " You should have fell in a ditch." " Where've you been?" " What do you got here?" "Genus Homo moro juramentado." "Yabo!" "Get that pigskin." "Everybody, come here." "I wanna talk to you." "Come on." "Come on in closer." "This is what you were afraid of when the American soldiers went home." "You were sad, and you should have been happy." "Happy because this is your country." "And if it's your country, you've got to protect it." "But you never will as long as you're afraid of men like this." "He thinks you're only fit for slaves, and that's because you act like slaves." "Fear has made you slaves." "Take a look at him." "If we were to cut him open, we'd find he only had one heart, one stomach, approximately 25 feet of intestines." "No more and no less than you have." "Then what makes him a better man?" "You!" "Because you're afraid of him." "I'll show you what you're afraid of." "Yabo!" "All right." "Now tell him we're gonna bury him in the pigskin." "Put him in it." "All right, let him go." "Now look at him." "Your brave Moro." "Your terrible warrior who won't let you work your rice fields or fish the seas in peace." "How can you be afraid of that worm crawling on the ground, howling for mercy, begging for help, scared out of his skin because of the skin of a dead pig?" "Oh, take a good look at him." "Listen to him muffering." "Is that the man to be afraid of?" " Larson, take this man to the guardhouse." " Yes, sir." " Yabo, get these men back to their drilling." " Yes, sir." "And you, come to my office." "Fall in!" "You knew what my orders were about going out in the jungle." "Captain, you ought to frame that pigskin." "Those men have had a shot in the arm, vaccinated against fear, and I think it's gonna work." "We've deliberately avoided making trouble with Alipang until the troops were properly trained." "Well, you fixed that." "Raiding their camp, capturing a prisoner." "You've got them all stirred up." "In all probability, they'll attack." "No, no, that's not their plan." "Their plan is to kill every officer on the post first." "Hatch and Manning were the beginning." "I found that out." "I don't care what you found out." "You've been a meddling fool right from the start, and now you've disobeyed orders." "I'm warning you." "If you step over the line again, I'll confine you to quarters." "That's all." "That juramentado he captured must have been on his way to kill you." "I imagine Dr. Canavan saved your life." "Yes." "I know." "Next time you're gonna play those games in the jungle, why don't you take me with you?" "I'm rather good at that sort of thing." "I can start a fire by rubbing two Boy Scouts together, and I can even cross a river in a paper bag when I'm in good form." "I couldn't think of it, Mac." "That would be disobeying orders." "I'll be in in a minute, Mac." "You're leaving today, aren't you?" "Well, in case I don't see you..." "I was worried for fear I wouldn't get back in time to say goodbye." "We were all worried, for fear you wouldn't get back at all." "Goodbye." "Goodbye." "Didn't take me that long to say goodbye to her." ""Parting is such sweet sorrow" ""That I shall say 'Good Night' till it be morrow."" " Alack, my friend..." " Shut up, you ape." "All packed, Linda?" "I'm not going." "Canavan?" "I'm afraid I must insist that you take the boat, Linda." "I'm sorry, Father." "I'm staying here." "We must change our plans, Alipang." "They never come to the jungle to fight." "Yes, they will." "They come to jungle." "What's the matter?" "Hey, what's the matter?" "Hey." "What are they talking about?" "Oh, they says the water went down two feet in the last hour." "Perhaps there's been a landslide that made the river change its course." "No, it happened too quickly for that." "Maybe it disappeared into a subterranean channel or something." "Captain, I just came back from the hills." "I saw many Moros carry bamboo, rocks." "Alipang, he dammed up the river." "Another trick to lure us out in the jungle." "But it won't work." " But the river..." " We don't need the river." "The old well, we'll use that." "We'll rig up a still and use seawater." "A man named Cragg invented the repeating rifle and a man named Jenner invented vaccinations." "And if the Philippines ever becomes a nation of its own, who'll get the credit?" "Cragg." "But who will it belong to?" "Jenner." "The whole post's in an uproar about a few Moros when all around them are billions of enemies," "whole regiments of disease, to a few of which you are now more or less immune." "Thank you." "Thank you, too, for saving my father's life." "I heard about it." "Say, what's the matter with your father, anyway?" "What's he afraid of?" "Afraid?" "He acts like a little boy who's lost his way home and is scared somebody's gonna find out about it." "Why doesn't he do something about the river, and why doesn't he..." "Every time you mention my father, you criticize him." "I'm sorry." "Tenyente Canavan." "When you bring in Moro prisoner, you said this is our country, we must protect it." "Tenyente, we are ready now." "Say that again." "Alipang dry up our river." "The people are frightened." "We don't know what Alipang does next." "We want to fight, Tenyente." "We would rather die than live like this." "We think maybe you speak to Captain Hartley." "Come on!" "Captain Hartley, now's your chance." "These boys aren't afraid of Alipang anymore." "He's got them fighting mad." "They want to go now and have it out with him." " Go where?" " Into the jungle, after him." "That's out of the question." "But listen, Captain, if these boys are ever gonna lick Alipang, this is the moment." "We'll lick him by staying right here." "Yabo, take these men back to drilling." "Wait!" "Look here, Captain..." "That's all." "No, that isn't all." "You were sent down here to train these men till they were ready to defend themselves." "Well, they're ready now, and if you can't see that, you're as blind as a bat." " Canavan." " What are you waiting for?" "If this place is the testing ground, the independence of the Philippines rests with those boys." "Well, they say they're ready to be tested." "What right have you got to stand in their way?" "You're forgetting yourself." "They're fighting for existence and nothing's gonna stop them." "And if they let you do it, they're just plain stupid." "Canavan, you're under arrest for insubordination." "Yabo, confine him to his quarters." "Doctor, there are some sick people in the village who need attention." "Tell them to boil their water." "Give them Mag Sulph." "Maybe they need a little drilling." "You better get out and look them over." "I'm confined to quarters." "I've decided to suspend your order of arrest." "And I've decided to remain here during the rest of my stay at Mysang." "I'm sorry." "If you persist in this attitude, you will force me to prefer charges against you." "Fine." "I hope you use your influence to have me cashiered." "Save me the bother of resigning." "Doctor!" "Dr. Canavan." "He is sick." "Very sick." "What is it?" "Cholera." "And up into the corners, the walls, the shelves and everything." "Use plenty of carbolic." "No fresh fruit sold in the store." "No coconuts, bananas, mangoes." "Nothing." "Understand?" "Boil your water." "Scald all your dishes." "And don't serve any uncooked food of any kind." "Understand?" "And tell the other women." "All food for the patients must be cooked in company kitchens." " No food shipped in and out of the harbor." " Yes, sir." "Get some men started digging lime, and post a guard by the well." " And no water to be taken out of it." " Yes, sir." "Doctor." "Here's the list of supplies I need." "Cottonseed oil, calamo, all the canned milk you've got in the storehouse." "Buckets, shovels, and add lime and..." "Don't you think you could read this better if you held it right-side up?" "There's one thing that isn't on that list that we need more than anything else." "Water." " There's the old well." " It's no good." "It's polluted." "That's what started the cholera." "And it's not only drinking water we need, it's sewage." "The whole village is a mess of pollution." "You've got to send somebody up into the hills to dynamite the dam." "It's sure death to send anybody." "It's sure death here unless we get running water." "It's out of the question." "If we don't get running water in Mysang pretty soon, there won't be any Mysang." "Better get down to the village quick, Doc, they're dropping like flies." "No more water." "Put it back." "Dr. Canavan said, anybody who tries to get water here, shoot him." "All right, come on, step it up." "The doc needs the lime." "Step it up." "Take everything out of here, that bedding, the mattress, and everything and burn it." "On your way." "On your way." "Come on, on your way." "You got to get out of here." "What are you going to do with all these families you're evicting?" "Drown them." "How do I know what I'm gonna do with them?" "I'm sorry." "I've gotta figure that out later." "First we've got to clear out all these infected houses." "What are you doing here anyway?" "I want to help." "You see that lime over there?" "Make a saturated solution, then go from house to house and disinfect the dishes." "Doc, there are some more people for the hospital." "The hospital's full now." "But we can use the clubhouse." "I'll get blankets and prepare for them." "Thank you, Padre." "Doc!" "They need you over at the hospital." "Hey!" "Hey!" "What's going on here?" "He throw me in guardhouse, I no go with him." "Go where?" "Captain Hartley's given me orders to dynamite the dam." "I'm taking the squad with me." "We need Mike to show us the way." "I no go!" "Mike, I need running water, bad." "You bet your life." "So long, Bill." " Goodbye, Mac." " Godspeed." "What orchids I'm gonna bring back." "I hope it won't be lilies." "You're just about as jumpy as the rest of us." "Last night when a man went down to relieve the sentry by the river, the sentry shot at him." "They're so nervous around here, they're shooting at shadows." " Captain." " Yes." "Larson should've been back long ago." "Well?" "Well, what are you going to do about it?" "I can't spare any men." "Suppose there's an attack on the post." "I wish there were." "So does everyone else." "Why hasn't it come?" " Why don't we do something?" " McCool!" "I'm sorry, sir." "What's wrong with you?" "Nothing." "Better see Dr. Canavan." "You're not well." "Listen, sir, Larson hasn't got a chance out there, and everyone here is getting so jumpy just sitting around" " waiting for something to happen..." " That's enough, McCool!" "Yes, sir." "Here's looking at you, Mac." "Bottoms up." "He's gonna be all right." "I think we caught it in time." "The germ hasn't been found that can stop him." "You better go home and get some rest." "You need it." "I'm all right." "You haven't had 40 winks in the last 40 hours." "Neither have you." "You know, I'm beginning to dislike this guy Alipang for the first time." "Why doesn't he come down and fight like a man?" "I'm making war with germs instead of bolos." "I don't think the Filipinos are afraid of Alipang now." "They're more afraid of the cholera." "I wonder what happened to Larson?" "He couldn't have lost his way, he had Mike with him." "Well," "I'll know a whole lot more about cholera by the time I get home." "Linda?" "Have you ever thought about taking up nursing?" "What's the matter?" "She's all right." "She's just been on her feet too long, and fell asleep." "Sit down a minute, will you?" "I'm pretty busy." "I know, I want to talk to you." "Have a cigarette." "How's McCool?" "Pretty sick." "What are you going to do about Larson?" "I don't know." "He never got to the dam." "No." "It's a funny thing about Larson's passion for orchids." "Big, clumsy, sweet." "Still, I have an uncle back home, a blacksmith." "He has tremendous hands." "Can bend a horseshoe with them." "But you ought to see him in the garden with his flowers." "Canavan, I'm going blind." "That bolo cut on the head hit the optical nerve." "It's been getting worse lately." "Why didn't Colonel Hatch order you to the base hospital?" "He did." "I tore up the medical report when he died." "So I wouldn't see it." "What did the report say?" "It recommended retirement, but I had other plans." "Suicide?" "What are you talking about?" "I know, a report would read," ""Killed in action." Is that it?" "That's better than rotting away in an officer's club." "Fact is you're afraid." "Afraid to live." "That's much worse than being afraid to die." "Dying is easy." "One way of running out." "Running out?" "Do you know what failure here means?" "Mysang isn't just an isolated village, it's a test." "If we can hold out here, the whole job in the Philippines is done." "Well, I've failed." "I've got to send for the army." "What good would that do?" "It'd take days, maybe weeks." "Maybe you can wait that long, but the cholera can't." "What can I do?" "Larson's gone," " McCool's sick, and I'm..." " You're not blind yet!" "You're not a failure." "You've just quit." "You're as choked up with fear as those men of yours were." "Afraid of blindness." "Afraid of failure." "Why don't you stop being sorry for yourself and do something?" "We don't need the army, we need running water." "Doctor, it is true." "The people all die unless the river runs again." "Many have died already." "Some are Moros, my people." "If you give me men," "I'll lead them myself to the riverhead to break up the dam." "Give me but a score of men with rifles." "I have already sent one expedition." "Until I hear from Lieutenant Larson..." "You will not hear from him." "How do you know?" "Well, I am told he followed the river." "That was wrong." "The riverhead is guarded by Alipang's men." "But there is another trail." "Mike." "Mike." "What happened to Larson?" "Killed..." "Everybody..." "Ambush." "Captain, soon it'll be too late." "Larson..." "Datu..." "Datu..." "Mike." "It's a good thing you held on to anting-anting." "You bet your life." "Mike, what about the Datu?" "You were mumbling about the Datu, Mike." "Mike, try to remember." "Mike, the Datu." "Datu." "Datu." "He with Alipang's men." "Datu killed Larson." "Where's Captain Hartley?" "He went to blow out dam." "Did the Datu go with him?" "How many men did they take?" "Thirty-two." "And the Datu take some Moros." "Moros?" "What for?" "To carry dynamite." "Mac." "Mac." "Mac, listen." "Old Drill 'Em's in trouble." "I've got to go after him." "Mac." "Mac, come out of it, please." "Listen, you're in charge." "There's nobody else." "You've got to take over." " Yeah." " Understand?" "Mac, take care of Linda." "The river bends and turns, we could go straight up." "You see, no ambush, no trouble." "How soon before we get there?" "One hour we'll be there." "Datu." "Why are we going up?" "Shouldn't we be down in the gully?" "We make circle." "Soon we come to the riverhead." "How soon?" "Half an hour." "Just a few minutes more, we'll be there." "Canavan?" "Why are you bringing the men this way for when you know the river's in that direction?" "That way dangerous." "Yes, I know." "I just saw Larson, what the ants left of him." "Hang him up." "Tie his hands behind his back." "Yes, sir." "Give me your bayonet." "There's plenty of dynamite left." "He was leading you into an ambush, so it must be close by." "I'm going up to the dam, the river way." "How many men do you want?" "None." "My friend here, the Datu, knows the way." "He'll make a perfect shield." "You go down to the river and wait for me." "And I'll follow it down and join you." "You're going to take me to the dam." "Come on." "Yabo." "Yes, sir." "Call in the men." "Fall in!" "Come on." "Keep going." "What's the matter?" "Get going!" "The river!" "The river." "The river's running!" "The river!" "The river!" "The river!" "The river!" "The river is running!" "Captain," "I just left Alipang's camp and there's not a Moro left." "You know what that means." "They're probably attacking the village." "We've gotta get back there quickly." "The river." "Yabo!" " Yabo!" " Yes, sir." "Get the men started building rafts." "Yes, sir." "Steve," "I'll take a couple of men and leave on the first raft." "All right." "Pull out the guards!" "The Moros are coming!" "Sylvia, sound for the alarm!" "Linda!" "Get the gate shut." "Get those gates shut." "Many guns, many bullets in the fort." "We take them." "Get those closed." "Stand back." "Let's go!" "Man the walls!" "Mac!" "Linda, take my temperature." "I'm feeling better already." "Go to village." "Get prisoners." "Stick close to the Captain." "He's going to need help." "It's going to be up to you to get the men back to the fort, Yabo." "Yes, sir." "Where they keep guns in the fighting fort?" "Where?" "Where they keep guns in the fighting fort?" "Under church, by the big window." "That side." "You take men." "Attack the gate by the bridge." "I go to other side and get guns." "More shells out of the arsenal!" "Mac!" "Mac!" "Hang on!" "Mac." "Get me some more ammunition." "Go on." "Now, we attack on all sides." "You go by river road." "You go by river." "You go by lagoon." "And I go by bridge." "What are you standing there for?" "Get back to your places!" "Get back into position!" "Get back into position there." "Yabo, keep them all together!" "Tenyente!" "They are coming!" "They are coming up the river!" "Tenyente, they are coming in the lagoon!" "Where's the dynamite?" "There isn't any." "Keep your positions!" "Use your guns as clubs!" "Yabo, keep the men together." "Ready!" "Aim!" "Fire!" "Yabo!" "Yabo!" "Alipang!" "The one in black." "Get him!" " Steve." " Bill." "I wish you could have seen it." "Seen it?" "I can feel it." "It was wonderful." "How's Linda?" "Dad!" "Thank you." "Goodbye." "Goodbye." "Goodbye." "Goodbye." "We, who are about to live, salute you."