One of the most important military operations that was ever undertaken in the Philippines was the construction of the Iligan-Marahui road, which, having been for some time open to the pack-trains and the heavy traffic, is at present nearing its completion. Though the work was planned by members of the engineers’ corps7, all the clearing, grading, and the filling-in were done by soldiers who had never until then known what it meant to handle pick and shovel8. The younger officers, who, for the first time in their lives, were superintending a construction job, went out and bossed the gangs as well as many an experienced and seasoned foreman could have done. The soldiers, who deserve no little credit for their work, are members of the Twenty-eighth and the Tenth infantries9.
It was about the last of January that I made a trip to Iligan, arriving in a Moro sailboat from another port on the north coast of Mindanao. Two or three army transports, with the quarantine flag flying (for the cholera10 was still in evidence), lay quietly at anchor in the bay. Along the shore a warm breeze ruffled11 the green branches of the [272]copra palms. Near the new dock a gang of Moros were at work, perspiring12 in the hot rays of the tropic sun. A tawny13 group of soldiers, dressed in khaki, rested in the shade of a construction-house, and listened dreamily to far-off bugle14 calls.
The Moros were dressed picturesquely15 in a great variety of costume, ranging from bright-colored silk to dirty corduroy. Red buya-juice, was leaking from the corners of their mouths. Their turbans, though disgracefully unclean, were silk. Their coats were fastened by brass16 military buttons, and their sashes, green and red, with a long fringe, were tied around their waists; their trousers, like a pair of riding breeches, buttoned up the side.
While spending the first evening at the club, I had seen mingling17 with the young lieutenants19, immaculate in their new olive uniforms, bronzed, mud-bespattered officers in the blue army shirt and khaki, with the Colt’s six-shooter hanging from an ammunition20 belt. These were the strangers from the town of white tents on the border of the woods. At midnight possibly, or [273]even later, they would mount their horses and go riding through the night to the encampment on the hill. The very next day one of the immaculate lieutenants, laying off the olive uniform, might have to don the old campaign hat and the flannel21 shirt, and follow his unshaven comrades up the road.
We stretched our army cots that night in the roulette room (this is not a country of hotels), and to the rattle22 of the balls and the monotonous23 drone of the croupier, “’teen and the red wins,” dropped off to sleep. On the day following the Dr. Hans dropped in with Generals Wade24 and Sumner, and the jingle25 of the cavalry26 was heard as they rode out with mounted escort to inspect the operations of the road. After a dance and a reception at the residence of the commanding officer in honor of the visitors, “guard mount,” the social feature of the day, was viewed from the pavilion in the little plaza27 where the exercise takes place. Its dignity was sadly marred28 that evening when a Moro datto, self-important in an absurd, overwhelming hat, accompanied by an obedient old wife on a moth-eaten Filipino pony29, [274]and a dog, ignoring everybody, jogged along the street and through the lines.
I walked out to the camp next morning with Lieutenant18 Harris. Even for this short stretch the road was not considered altogether safe. We forded the small river just beyond the cavalry corral, where an old Spanish blockhouse stands, and where a few old-fashioned Spanish cannon30 still lie rusting31 in the grass. A Moro fishing village—now a few deserted32 shacks33 around the more pretentious35 dwelling36 of the former datto—may be met near where the roadway joins the beach. Pack-trains of army mules37, with their armed escorts, passed us; then an ambulance, an escort wagon38, and a mounted officer.
Two companies of the Tenth infantry39 were camped in a small clearing near the sea. Leaving the camp, we went along the almost indistinguishable Moro trail to where the mighty40 Agus River plunges42 in a greenish torrent43 over an abrupt44 wall into the deep, misty45 cavern46 far below. The rushing of the waters guided us in places where we found the trail inadequate47. Arriving at the falls, we scrambled48 down by means of vines until we [275]reached a narrow shelf near where the cataract49 began its plunge41. Upon the opposite side an unyielding precipice50 was covered with a damp green coat of moss51 and fern. It took five seconds for a falling stone to reach the seething52 cloud of mist below.
A Deserted Moro Shack34
A Deserted Moro Shack
Moro Weapons (Spear and Dirk)
Moro Weapons (Spear and Dirk)
The trail back to the camp was very wild. It led through jungles of dense53 underbrush, where monkeys scolded at us, and where wild pigs, with startled grunts54, bolted precipitously for the thicket55. A deep ravine would be bridged by a fallen tree. The Iligan-Marahui road now penetrates56 the wildest country in the world, and the most wonderful. Turning abruptly57 from the coast about five miles from Iligan, it winds among the rocky hills through forests of mahogany and ebony, through jungles of rattan58 and young bamboo, and spanning the swift Agus River with a modern steel bridge, finally connects the lake and sea. It has been built to meet the military road from the south coast, thus making possible, for the first time, communication via the interior. The new roads practically follow the old Moro trails. [276]
The scene at early morning on the road was one of great activity. Soon after reveille the men are mustered59, armed with picks and shovels60 in the place of the more customary “Krag,” and long before the tropic sun has risen over the primeval woods, the chatter61 of monkeys and the crow of jungle-cock is mingled62 with the crash of trees, the click of shovels and the rumble63 of the dump-cart. The continued blasting on the upper road, near the “Point of Rocks,” disturbs the colonies of squawking birds that dart64 into the forest depths like flashes of bright color. As the land is cleared for fifty yards on either side in order to admit the sunlight and to keep the Moras at a proper range, the great macao-trees, with their snaky, parasitic65 vines, on crashing to the ground, dislodge the pallid66 fungi67 and extraordinary orchids68 from their heavy foliage69. Deep cuts into the clayey soil sometimes bisect whole galleries of wonderful white ants, causing untold70 consternation71 to the occupants.
Each squad72 of soldiers was protected by a guard besides the officer, who, armed with a revolver, acted as the overseer. The work was very telling on the men, and often out of a whole company not more than twenty-eight reported. Some grew as strong as oxen under this unusual routine; others had to take advantage of the sick report. The soldiers were required to work five hours a day, and double time after a day of rain. Considerable Moro labor73 was employed on the last sections of the road.
A unique feature of the work was the erection of small bridges made of solid logs from the material at hand, and bolted down by long steel bars. The “elbow” bridge which makes a bend along the hillside near the first camp is a triumph in the engineering line. The camps were moved on as the work progressed, and the advance guard ran considerable risk. The Moros had an unexpected way of visiting the scene of operation, and admiring it from certain hiding-places in the woods. As they could hike their thirty or forty miles a day along the trails, they often came much nearer to the troops than was suspected. Sentry74 duty was especially a risky75 one, as frequently at night the Moros used to fire into the camp. Only about one hundred yards along the trail a soldier, [278]who had gone into the woods for a “short cut,” received one from a Moro who was waiting for him in the shadow of a tree.
The camp at night, illuminated76 by the blue light of the stars, the forest casting inky shadows on the ground, seemed like some strange, mysterious domain77. The officers around the tent of the commanding officer were singing songs, accompanied by the guitar and mandolin. The soldiers also from a distant tent—it was their own song, and the tune78 “The Girl I Left Behind Me”—practicing close harmony, began:
“O, we’re camped in the sand in a foreign land
Near the mighty Agus River,
With the brush at our toes, the skeeters at our nose,
The jimjams and the fever.
We’re going up to Lake Lanao,
To the town they call Marahui;
When the road is built and the Moros killed,
We’ll none of us be sorry.
We’re blasting stumps79 and grading bumps;
Our arms and backs are sore, O!
We work all day just a dreamin’ of our pay,
And d——n the husky Moro!
When taps sounded, we turned in beneath two blankets in a wall-tent lighted by a feeble lantern. All night long the restless jungle sounds, the whispering of the mysterious forest, and the distant booming of the sea, together with the measured tread of the night sentry, made a lullaby which ought to have worked wonders with the “jim-jam” and the fever patients of the Twenty-eighth.
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1 fanatic | |
n.狂热者,入迷者;adj.狂热入迷的 | |
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2 tract | |
n.传单,小册子,大片(土地或森林) | |
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3 hemp | |
n.大麻;纤维 | |
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4 situated | |
adj.坐落在...的,处于某种境地的 | |
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5 prevailing | |
adj.盛行的;占优势的;主要的 | |
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6 temperate | |
adj.温和的,温带的,自我克制的,不过分的 | |
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7 corps | |
n.(通信等兵种的)部队;(同类作的)一组 | |
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8 shovel | |
n.铁锨,铲子,一铲之量;v.铲,铲出 | |
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9 infantries | |
步兵(infantry的复数形式) | |
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10 cholera | |
n.霍乱 | |
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11 ruffled | |
adj. 有褶饰边的, 起皱的 动词ruffle的过去式和过去分词 | |
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12 perspiring | |
v.出汗,流汗( perspire的现在分词 ) | |
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13 tawny | |
adj.茶色的,黄褐色的;n.黄褐色 | |
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14 bugle | |
n.军号,号角,喇叭;v.吹号,吹号召集 | |
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15 picturesquely | |
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16 brass | |
n.黄铜;黄铜器,铜管乐器 | |
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17 mingling | |
adj.混合的 | |
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18 lieutenant | |
n.陆军中尉,海军上尉;代理官员,副职官员 | |
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19 lieutenants | |
n.陆军中尉( lieutenant的名词复数 );副职官员;空军;仅低于…官阶的官员 | |
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20 ammunition | |
n.军火,弹药 | |
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21 flannel | |
n.法兰绒;法兰绒衣服 | |
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22 rattle | |
v.飞奔,碰响;激怒;n.碰撞声;拨浪鼓 | |
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23 monotonous | |
adj.单调的,一成不变的,使人厌倦的 | |
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24 wade | |
v.跋涉,涉水;n.跋涉 | |
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25 jingle | |
n.叮当声,韵律简单的诗句;v.使叮当作响,叮当响,押韵 | |
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26 cavalry | |
n.骑兵;轻装甲部队 | |
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27 plaza | |
n.广场,市场 | |
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28 marred | |
adj. 被损毁, 污损的 | |
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29 pony | |
adj.小型的;n.小马 | |
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30 cannon | |
n.大炮,火炮;飞机上的机关炮 | |
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31 rusting | |
n.生锈v.(使)生锈( rust的现在分词 ) | |
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32 deserted | |
adj.荒芜的,荒废的,无人的,被遗弃的 | |
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33 shacks | |
n.窝棚,简陋的小屋( shack的名词复数 ) | |
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34 shack | |
adj.简陋的小屋,窝棚 | |
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35 pretentious | |
adj.自命不凡的,自负的,炫耀的 | |
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36 dwelling | |
n.住宅,住所,寓所 | |
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37 mules | |
骡( mule的名词复数 ); 拖鞋; 顽固的人; 越境运毒者 | |
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38 wagon | |
n.四轮马车,手推车,面包车;无盖运货列车 | |
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39 infantry | |
n.[总称]步兵(部队) | |
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40 mighty | |
adj.强有力的;巨大的 | |
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41 plunge | |
v.跳入,(使)投入,(使)陷入;猛冲 | |
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42 plunges | |
n.跳进,投入vt.使投入,使插入,使陷入vi.投入,跳进,陷入v.颠簸( plunge的第三人称单数 );暴跌;骤降;突降 | |
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43 torrent | |
n.激流,洪流;爆发,(话语等的)连发 | |
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44 abrupt | |
adj.突然的,意外的;唐突的,鲁莽的 | |
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45 misty | |
adj.雾蒙蒙的,有雾的 | |
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46 cavern | |
n.洞穴,大山洞 | |
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47 inadequate | |
adj.(for,to)不充足的,不适当的 | |
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48 scrambled | |
v.快速爬行( scramble的过去式和过去分词 );攀登;争夺;(军事飞机)紧急起飞 | |
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49 cataract | |
n.大瀑布,奔流,洪水,白内障 | |
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50 precipice | |
n.悬崖,危急的处境 | |
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51 moss | |
n.苔,藓,地衣 | |
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52 seething | |
沸腾的,火热的 | |
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53 dense | |
a.密集的,稠密的,浓密的;密度大的 | |
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54 grunts | |
(猪等)作呼噜声( grunt的第三人称单数 ); (指人)发出类似的哼声; 咕哝着说; 石鲈 | |
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55 thicket | |
n.灌木丛,树林 | |
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56 penetrates | |
v.穿过( penetrate的第三人称单数 );刺入;了解;渗透 | |
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57 abruptly | |
adv.突然地,出其不意地 | |
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58 rattan | |
n.藤条,藤杖 | |
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59 mustered | |
v.集合,召集,集结(尤指部队)( muster的过去式和过去分词 );(自他人处)搜集某事物;聚集;激发 | |
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60 shovels | |
n.铲子( shovel的名词复数 );锹;推土机、挖土机等的)铲;铲形部份v.铲子( shovel的第三人称单数 );锹;推土机、挖土机等的)铲;铲形部份 | |
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61 chatter | |
vi./n.喋喋不休;短促尖叫;(牙齿)打战 | |
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62 mingled | |
混合,混入( mingle的过去式和过去分词 ); 混进,与…交往[联系] | |
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63 rumble | |
n.隆隆声;吵嚷;v.隆隆响;低沉地说 | |
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64 dart | |
v.猛冲,投掷;n.飞镖,猛冲 | |
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65 parasitic | |
adj.寄生的 | |
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66 pallid | |
adj.苍白的,呆板的 | |
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67 fungi | |
n.真菌,霉菌 | |
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68 orchids | |
n.兰花( orchid的名词复数 ) | |
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69 foliage | |
n.叶子,树叶,簇叶 | |
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70 untold | |
adj.数不清的,无数的 | |
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71 consternation | |
n.大为吃惊,惊骇 | |
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72 squad | |
n.班,小队,小团体;vt.把…编成班或小组 | |
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73 labor | |
n.劳动,努力,工作,劳工;分娩;vi.劳动,努力,苦干;vt.详细分析;麻烦 | |
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74 sentry | |
n.哨兵,警卫 | |
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75 risky | |
adj.有风险的,冒险的 | |
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76 illuminated | |
adj.被照明的;受启迪的 | |
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77 domain | |
n.(活动等)领域,范围;领地,势力范围 | |
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78 tune | |
n.调子;和谐,协调;v.调音,调节,调整 | |
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79 stumps | |
(被砍下的树的)树桩( stump的名词复数 ); 残肢; (板球三柱门的)柱; 残余部分 | |
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