The Woman with a Stone Heart
Book Excerpt
The lad's papers were all gone but one. Marie Sampalit snatched it from his hands, and dropped into one of them a small coin. She stepped into the corridor of the post office, to escape the annoyance of the crowd, and read the large head lines:
"WAR BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND SPAIN
dewey en route to manila great naval battle friday or saturday in manila bay
The Stone Wall Around the City will be Razed to the Ground. Great Loss of Life."
"Then, I'm off for Corregidor Island right away!" exclaimed Marie. "Dewey can't get into the Bay except by that route. That's where the fight will begin. Mother doesn't know this. I'll tell her I am going to take some supplies to the Spanish garrison. I will go at once!"
She set out from Manila in a small casco, or flat-bottomed native boat, heavily laden with fresh fish, pine-apples, mangoes, bananas, tobacco and cigarettes--all intended for the Spa