LUKBAN
delirious . He was rushed to the hospital in Tacloban , with a 105 ° temperature .
In the meantime , Porter dispatched Capt Bearss and Cpl Murphy to Waller , awaiting new orders . When none came by late afternoon , Porter sent out a native who soon returned and reported that he could not find Waller . Porter and Williams now made an estimate of the situation . The last word received from Waller was to build rafts and stand by . Porter concluded that Waller was delaying up ahead because of the sad condition of his troops . Porter ’ s own troops were nearly exhausted . His native carriers were becoming increasingly surly , and his supply consisted of a few cans of bacon and one ration of coffee . He decided his column must return to Lanang on foot .
So on the morning of 3 January , Porter , who considered himself stronger and in better physical condition than Lt Williams , took GySgt Quick , six men and six natives and started for Lanang where he would organize a relief party . Williams assumed command of the main column and was to remain where he was , wait for Waller and then follow Porter ’ s trail .
After a brutal march , the Lanang river had risen 15 feet in one night which prevented crossing and re-crossing , Porter ’ s small party reached the area where the original column had left the boats . Here he was forced to abandon four of his seven Marines , hoping they could subsist on potatoes until his return . He and the rest of his party finally struggled into Lanang on the evening of 11 January , three days after Waller had started out in search of them from Basey .
At Lanang , Porter organized a relief party under Army Lt Williams , but the flood river prevented its departure until 14 January . Two days later the relief party found the four Marines left behind by Porter , got them safely into Lanang by canoe , then pushed on in search of Williams ’ column .
Williams , meanwhile , went through the tortures of the damned . With no rations and his men barefooted , “ one day was like the rest . By day we stumbled painfully forward and by night lay in a stupor , tormented by the most vivid dreams of food and comforts . At the first clearing Pvt Baroni , too sick to move , was left , and from that time until five days before we were rescued , ten men were left scattered along the trail , despairing in mind and so nearly dead from starvation and exposure that they could not crawl , and , in most cases , move .”
Native scouts mutiny
In addition to their discomforts , their native couriers , whom they
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