While the fighting Utah batterymen were still living in the nipa huts at San Fernando and Baliaug and repelling the attacks of the dusky Tagalan braves at Candaba and Morong from General Otis an order came to the Cuartel. It had an unpretentious look—that slip of paper; but it carried a message of great importance to the belligerent Utahn than any he had received since the thunders of war shook the earth on the night of February 4th. It told the artilleryman to gather all his portable utensils and board the United States transport "Hancock," which lay idly in the bay waiting orders to weigh anchor and steam for America.

Almost a week passed before the scattered batteries were assembled within the familiar walls of the Cuartel. The main body at San Fernando turned over its guns to the famous Third Artillery and arrived safely at the quarters over the Manila and Dagupan railroad; Lieutenant Seaman's detachment at Baliaug dropped its war machinery and made all possible speed to Manila; Lieutenant Webb's detail on the "Cavadonga" for the first time turned its back on the enemy and fled for the protecting walls of the barracks. When these battle-begrimed veterans reached the quarters there was such a demonstration as the old walls had never seen before. The old scenes of order disappeared, the rigors of discipline were relaxed, and chaos reigned. Everything was made subservient to the one all-absorbing topic, "Home." The sturdy soldier doffed his war attire and donned his peaceful garb. The renowned Utah band paraded the streets in holiday dress and, with the blare of brass, proclaimed the happy news to the nut-brown maid. The stalwart warriors danced and sang to the music of that soul-lifting song, "A Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight." The jubilant battle hero collected his ordnance and other war trap[Pg 91]pings and handed them over to the ordnance officer while he exchanged looks of mutual doubt and suspicion with that important personage. The weary and worn Utahn bade adieu to the dreamy-eyed damsel of the East with many expressions of fond attachment and love; then mustered his heterogeneous troop of relics and curiosities and joined the Nebraska regiment on the "Hancock." Two days later the officers steamed over from the gay apartments of the "Baltimore" in a brightly decorated launch and walked aboard the big boat. Finally a goodly supply of canned beef and antiquated swine were hoisted on the vessel and the Captain gave orders for the sailing flag to be put to the breeze. This was on July 1st.

When the official contingent was safely housed in spacious staterooms it was learned that quite a change had taken place in the roster of that worthy body. The shoulders of Captain Grant were adorned with the gold leaf of a Major; Lieutenant Critchlow had been elevated to a Captaincy; Lieutenant Naylor wore the single bar of a First Lieutenant, and First Sergeant John A. Anderson of Battery B shone in the glowing uniform of a Second Lieutenant. Major Young sent a letter bidding farewell to the Utahns and expressing his disappointment at not being able to accompany the batteries home.

The batteryman entertained no high opinion of the Government transport. He had become acquainted with the luxuries which Uncle Sam provides the defenders of his broad acres. He had already learned how elaborately the American Government furnishes apartments for its soldiers and food for its larder. So, after he had landed safely on the main deck and deposited his knapsack and monkeys, he was not surprised when the order came for him to take his goods and chattels and repair to the forward hold. He entered the gangway and descended four flights of stairs without any misgiving or hesitation. He threaded his way through the labyrinthian passage of his subaqueous home with a skill equal to that displayed by the blind fish of the Mammoth Cave. He beheld the wonderfully constructed bunks which glowed specter-like in the semi-darkness without evincing the least disappointment. Later when one of these had been assigned as his[Pg 92] sole property during the voyage he accepted it and its diminutive proportions without a murmur and philosophically concluded that the Government either thought he had diminished in stature while on the islands or intended to reduce his dimensions on the way home. Thus the Utah warrior was quartered. The celerity with which he adapted himself to his environments clearly exhibited his excellent training. He quickly disposed of the problem of how to shorten his linear measurements to four feet eight inches by placing himself diagonally across his bed. The posture thus assumed was not unlike that of a "Skeleton in Armor." When his joints became cramped he straightened himself out by throwing his soles against the head of his neighbor, who instantly developed a remarkable vocabulary of explosives anent Hades, Paradise, Satan, etc.

Mess time on the "Hancock" was not an occasion of the greatest felicity to the returning volunteers. Their epicurean tastes could not totally harmonize with bogus coffee and cows that had a flavor strangely akin to that of horse flesh. When the bugle shrilly proclaimed the dinner hour the men formed in a long serpentine line and displayed their skill in keeping their equilibrium and at the same time holding their place in the procession. The rattle of Government tinware, upon which the soldier had inscribed many strange hieroglyphics descriptive of his adventures, served as a musical entertainment in lieu of the melody furnished at all other times by the combined efforts of the Utah and Nebraska bands. They facetiously derided the commissary sergeant who had long since become calloused to all sneering remarks made by the ordinary defender of the flag; for in case of any exceedingly hostile demonstration he was armed with a long cleaver and several carefully concealed bolos. They made comments, too, not at all flattering to the bill of fare, about "gold fish" and "slum-gullion" and ancient swine, but they "wasted their venom on a file." The cooks, also, came in for a share of the complimentary criticisms, for they were not blessed with a superabundance of skill in the culinary art. Occasionally the voice of a volunteer was raised in loud-mouthed protest over[Pg 93] the meagerness of his own supply of food and the apparent excessiveness which adorned the plate of his associate. This always ended in a peculiar panegyric on the merits of a person who had a "stand in" or a "pull" with the officers. When the ravenous Utahn was handed his cheer the bestower very kindly warned him not to taste or smell the victuals, as such an act would be attendant with serious injury to his appetite; so he merely devoured the contents of his plate with his eyes and passed them on to his gastronomical organs with no further ceremony.

A small portion of the forward deck was allotted to the batteries to be used as a messhall, lounging apartment, etc. It was here the battle-scarred veterans collected at meal times and dispatched their slender store. As the Pacific is not always so peaceful as its name, this pleasing task was not at all times accomplished with ease. When on a boat tipped to an angle of 60 degrees, a Japanese juggler would find some difficulty in conjuring his body to remain in an upright position and simultaneously inducing a seething plate of soup to abide in a placid state; yet the uninitiated volunteers contrived to perform this daring feat three times a day. The many strange figures which they described in their endeavors to execute these occult tricks would have done justice to the most skillful acrobat. Frequently, as the vessel gave an extra lurch, the insecure warrior proceeded with all possible speed to the side of the boat and deposited his food and eating utensils on the surface of the sad sea waves amid the execrations of those whom he had the good fortune to come in contact with on his hasty trip and the jibes of his appreciative audience. At this same place the mendacious batterymen gathered in the warm afternoons to tell sea serpent legends and fairy stories about some great event which had never happened in the trenches. When this supply had been exhausted they began forthwith to dilate upon the virtues of the most famous officers until those worthies would have been unable to recognize their own characters had they been confronted with them in their garnished garb. Once in a very great while an officer strolled down from the aristocratic atmosphere of the saloon dining hall and watched[Pg 94] the feeding of the enlisted drove with a superior grace. To convince the famished soldiers that they were getting a redundant quantity of food, he sometimes called for a [text missing in original.] There was always a good heap of hash left to show the astonished men that they were merely chronic kickers. Then the well-fed comedian adjourned to his spacious saloon and offered an apology to his offended stomach by supplying it with an abundance of all that the steamer carried.

The one great comfort to the fagging spirits of the Utahn was the battery fund. Through the darkest days of war his dying hopes were revived by visions of what the future held in store for him by the aid of this phantom. It was to the despairing volunteer what mirage is to the thirsty traveler of the desert. The fund represented the combined contributions of the soldiers, benevolent persons and charitable institutions. Besides this a fabulous sum was added by the artillery canteen which exchanged beer for the Utes' money and, in addition to what it contributed towards the battery fund, provided turkeys and succotash for the Thanksgiving and Christmas banquets. When it was announced that this enormous sum was to be expended for dainties on the way home the joy of the batteryman knew no limits. Spectre dinners of mutton, cakes and pies arose in his mind with a suddenness that would have startled the most ardent disbeliever in ghosts. Without the aid of Pluto he called up all the spirits of meals long dead and fed on them till the marvelous distribution should take place. And it was not long in coming. One morning, accompanied by the stentorian voice of the bugle Judge Williams, heavily laden with a huge cargo of jam, hove in sight. Then were many whispered comments made about the quantity which each man was to receive. The Judge soon stopped this and shortly after there was a hum of satisfaction all along the deck as the men made way with this delicacy. Now the gastronomy of the warrior lived and flourished under the rigors of army hardtack and navy beans, but it collapsed at once when introduced to Jamesson's jam. There was a sudden epidemic of cramps throughout the entire organization, but the ever victorious commissary[Pg 95] sergeant soon stamped this out by the judicious application of some French mustard, which had been purchased by the battery fund. And thus the men of Utah were fed.

Meanwhile the swift "Hancock" steamed out of Manila bay and speeded toward Japan. Two days out she passed the beautiful Island of Formosa, and in three days more the vessel came in sight of Nagasaki, the leading coaling station of the Flowery Kingdom. Just at dusk the pilot boarded the vessel and directed her safely through the narrow channel into the land-locked harbor. Next morning all the soldiers were given shore leave for the day and San-pans—the native craft—were provided to take the men ashore. Here the Utahn explored the country in the jin-rickisha—a two-wheeled vehicle which is drawn by the cabby himself, who as soon as he has settled to his satisfaction the price to be paid, ambles off at a gentle speed. If the Island of Kiusiu appeared beautiful as the boat approached it in the waning twilight it seemed doubly so in the glory of the morning sun. It is a land where poetry breathes as freely as the gentle zephyrs blow from the summit of Mount Olympus; it is a land where women are as fair as the daughters of Niobe. The pretty terraced hills adorned with Pagan temples are rich in the odor of the spice and pine; the pellucid lakes and bays gather a silver purity from the very crest of the mountain; and as one gazes upon this beauty and simple grandeur ............