On the night when the signal shot sang out in the darkness and the battle came, the same haughty officer was coming down towards the American line to repeat his abusive conduct, when the sharp voice of the sentry rang out as a warning to halt. He persistently advanced and at the same time launched some vehement Tagalan curses at the outpost. The next instant he lay dead with a bullet through his heart; the report startled the still night air and an insurrection was born. All that night the thunders of the united American forces in action were wafted to the Cuartel. The natives were so close that some of the bullets pattered against the walls of the building and some even struck the Hotel De Oriente, nearer town. When the commissary wagons probed their way out to the belligerent front they were fired upon from the houses lining the streets. Every nipa hut in which a private family lived became an arsenal. The trouble had been anticipated and every officer knew what portion he was expected to defend. Ten minutes after the news arrived in the Cuartel, the heavy guns of Utah rumbled over the streets to different parts of the field. Those under Major Grant rushed out into the night and were instantly under a vigorous fire near the woods of Caloocan. Captain Wedgewood disappeared in the blackness and took up the appointed position on the Balic Balic road near Sampaloe cemetery. The guns under Lieutenant Seaman dashed out of the barracks and a few moments later their deep bass was added to the Satanic roar. On McLeod's hill surrounded by the Nebraskans two guns under Lieutenant Webb menaced the plain below. At Santa Mesa the fight began. Three minutes after the opening flash the Nebraskan camp was deserted. As the outposts slowly returned the regiment swept onward to the fray, and soon the angry rattle of the "Long Toms" answered back the viperous "ping" of the Mauser. The sound of the first shot had hardly ceased echoing upon the hill when the Tagalans, jubilant, confident, flew for the bridge; their onrush was met with a volley from the Nebraskans. Then from Caloocan and Sampaloe the din of multitudinous musketry fired in unison, waved over the hill; then the awful thunder of the guns of the fleet pulverized the enemy's bulwarks at Malate swelled over the plain. Occasionally a lull came in the fight and then as if gathering strength by inaction the tumult broke forth with increased fury. In the darkness it was impossible for the Utah guns to accomplish anything, as the location of the infantry could not be exactly distinguished. So all night the men tugged and toiled to get the pieces in position, that they might take part in the encounter at dawn. The fifth section gun held a commanding position on the right and the sixth section was stationed directly in front of McLeod's house, from which point it could sweep the enemy's line from Blockhouse No. 7 on the north to the Catholic convent on the south.