LUKBAN
reached passing through a dense underbrush . Afterwards , they found that this path was full of mantraps . The rebels did that on purpose . In the ensuing battle against the rebel forces , Cooke claimed he had succeeded in driving them out , killing 154 of them before the day was over . On the part of the soldiers , they had only one wounded , a private . He thought there could have been more than 200 casualties on the rebels ’ side .
Warner , Barnes & Co . had in the meantime gotten out all their hemp and had also loaded in the launches the Chinamen and their goods . They took all their troops on the Loo Aug , the San Bernardino and the four launches on their return to Calbayog . As they left , a number of insurgents were seen on the beach .
Encounter at Pambujan
From Laguan , Gilmore sailed for Pambujan with 100 troops . The town was just along the coast of the northern tip of Samar . A mile away from Laguan , they found shacks occupied by rebels , evidently an outpost . Four miles from Laguan was a river about 60 meters wide , spanned by a good bridge . But 30 feet of the center of this bridge was removed , delaying the march of their column by an hour . Two more similar bridges had to be crossed before reaching Pambujan . Luckily for Gilmore and his men , the bridges were intact .
As they reached the town , no one was in sight . But at the outskirts , they came upon two boys whom they interrogated . From another house , four or five men ran out . One of them they shot at , wounding him . But he succeeded in getting away . In that house , they found an American flag the town had brought some time before . It was being used on the bed .
While the troops rested from the heat of the sun , the captured boys told them that there were no large bands of rebels for a week , when a party of 50 passed from Catubig to Catarman . Pambujan seemed to be deserted , and all the stores were looted . But several rebels could be seen prowling around across the river while they rested . Then they returned on their tracks .
Three miles away , their advance party fired upon two insurgents , killing one and wounding the other . They later learned that these were scouts sent by the main body of rebels nearby . At the first bridge which was partly destroyed , they saw a man hiding in the bush and fired on him . There was a number on the right side of the road which they fired upon too . On each side , they discovered that bolomen were waiting to hack them when they came close by .
Gilmore took a small party and went into the bush at a site where
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