Show DUCK = IIUNTINfi ON TilE L4UNA BAY it z BY ONE OF THE BATTERY BOYS What would Undo Sam say if he knew that his boys often Indulged duckhunllns at his expense 7000 mIles from the base of supplies Inventor Galling little thought Ui this t-his sun would ever bo used for klllfns ducks during an Insurrection In to Philippine Islands But nevertheless this little episode Is a reality ATijryi few people In the United States today are acquainted with the fact that Uiffre Sam had it 200000 pesos fleet In operation opera-tion during the late Filipino Insumjc tlon The mosquito fleet of the interior in-terior as It was quoted In official circles ides i-des consisted of eight small crafts mounting different caliber guns mid armored with two thicknesses of three sixteenths steel plates The small IIt with the Iaguna de Bay as flagship was destined to move up and down the Pislg river and on the Laguna de Coy or Bay lake shell all insurgent strongholds strong-holds within range At one time the I aguna do Bay alone supported Gen Kings brigade on the right bank of the river and held In check what would have taken the same number of troops on the left bank History will bring forth allbut only around the hearth can be heard the funny side of a soldiers sol-diers miniature pastimes while In a llxardlrod cuartcl in the bloodstained trenches and on board a tlnclad giiiv boat SLAPJACKS This little episode which I wish jto relate happened on board the gunboat Oestc while scouring the sluggish surface of the Laguna de Bay or Bay lake the largtsl inland body of watpr In the Philippines Pete Qrt old rounder from the fertile alkali fields of Araxon was busily on aged making slapjacks on a sheet of armor plate which ho had over the four open lids of the galley stove Petes novel gridiron was originally made for a covering to the galley port hole when In action upon Us greasy surface three distinct Remington cars told of Its usefulness Pete was in the galley when the dusky Filipino sent them to the mark Htlll ho would curse every time ho poured a slapjack over one of the dents because the dough stuck to the plate Mess call had sounded the last slapjack slid from the steel plate to the sideboard which was a halfemptied hardtack can In one corner of the galley The boys were ailing In for breakfast Slapjacks for breakfast eh Pete Better put that old plate over the port holesaw three Filipinos in bathing on he north shore this morning Ill be domed If thats not right went asleep yesterday In one of the canoes aft When I woke up I found a Reining toit slug In my blanket One of the boys wild that It ricocheted off the tack and went through the skit of my canoebed Here In where Pete broke the skin of his weatherbeaten ace and gave birth to a twelvepound mile I I Four tiers of slapjacks doncd thD hardtack can One lunge with the aid of the second cook Pete placed the lalfempticd can with its coverlet of slapjacks on the galley bench and as we filed by we had our choice hardtack hard-tack or slapjacks There Is no doubt In my mind but what those same leaden articles along with a few of theiroonipiinlons will be tbe remote cause of placing many of < the old Vcstca craw In an early grave But this was hot to last forever I for-ever DUCKS FOR DINNER Two camnanles of the engineer ccrpx I were hard at work blowing up the cascocs which the Filipinos had suhk at the head of the Paslg river to bar our right of way In passing Into this lake At S30 orders wore passed below be-low to get on a full head of stjain a passage was dear and a run to Santa Crux thirtyfright miles across the lake was our orders received by wigwag fronj Paslg City At 915 we were clear of wreckage and last buoy course due south Our Lieutenant commanding was little under the weather ml being be-ing able to eat anything for days past After clearing the buoy two miles I was called on dock by the Lieutenant and the order rerelved can be quoted In history as being the most unique older ol-der ever Issued to bt executed on board a man of war In time of war I am ftlellng rather depreKcd said the Lieutenant Lieu-tenant not eating much for the last few days and for a man with an empty stomach I had a most agonizing agoniz-ing dream last evening I dreamt of home and of one of those oldtime downEast turkey dinners I Turkey out hero Is a rare article but a good substitute is a bird called the duck Take a look through this glass and then go below and get the Catling gun In readiness The Laguua de May district I Suppose Is the greatest duck country In the world and when I looked through that glass It would lead one to believe that they had all congregated congre-gated hi one spot With the naked eye they looked Jlke a long sand bar if there was one there were 10000 THE SLAUGHTER I immediately went below and trained one of the tenbarrel Catlings on the I flock when within three hundred I yards the ducks look fright and raised I one great mass Fifteen seconds from the time they left the water we had 1C2 ducks A sharp order through the speakingtube Cease firing Do you want to kill every duck that flew in tIme last century cen-tury Lower three canoes and bag the I game I When mess sounded that day we were lying 1500 yards off Santa Crux and as we supped our broth and Introduced duck to our muchsurprised stomachs wo could plainly see the barracks whore the flower and pride of the Filipino army were quartered The sentry passing pass-ing to and fro It was tempting but our nearest outpost was at Paslg City thirtynine miles away When I say the flower and pride of the Filipino army such wen those swarthy boys Santa Cruz Is the second richest city on the Island of Luzon and she had what the Filipinos called the Flower regiment Not wishing to slay In those waters over night we made a runaround run-around the island of Tallin capturing three cascoes and taking eighteen prisoners pris-oners which we delivered lo the First Washington regiment at Paslg City time following day The boys were quacking quack-ing for three weeks |