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April 22nd-99

Very hot. Corp. Freeman sick, so took his outpost to east about ¼ mil. Started to rain & such a display of lightning and cannonading of thunder I have rarely, if ever, seen. Accompanied by strange rumblings below. Air close and hot –95°. The dome in cemetery clear cut, and the open trench ahead to bamboos was clear as day. Kept out of sight in bushes until lightning ceased. Thro’ it all, strange cries & calls; howling dogs and a herd of carraboo [carabaos] rushed past with strange, startled cries –almost human; creaking, groaning bamboos, and farther to the east, several times we heard the ins. call to one another as they beat up the jungle. Wet? Well just a trifle. Recv’d letter, magazine and pictures from Tops. They give me a new hold on life.