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THE REAL AMERICA IN ROMANCE


Volume XIII


CUBA LIBRE
/" The Age of Expansion..j


ILLUSTRATIONS BY
FREELAND A. CARTER
or?~


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COPYRIGHT, 1900, 1906 AND 1907, BY
FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY
Entered at Stationers' Hall, London, England
[Printed in the United States of America]




CALL SPW\ Cat
tD>efcatfon.
TO THOSE
BRAVE PATRIOTS WHO CONSTITUTED
OUR ARMY AND NAVY
DURING OUR WAR WITH SPAIN, THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED
BY THEIR ADMIRER,
THE AUTHOR




I




PREFACE.


THE preceding twelve volumes of the REAL
AMERICA IN ROMANCE brought the history of the
United States down to the close of the Civil War
and through the period of Reconstruction.
Commencing with Hernando Estevan, the cabinboy of Columbus, the series traces the descendants
of that youth through twelve generations and a pe.
riod of four hundred years. In Spain and the Spanish colonies the Estevan family is large, while in
America the Stevens family has grown almost beyond estimate. But since the time of "Union," the
twelfth volume of this series, another epoch has
been added to American history-an epoch which is
perhaps one of the most important in the past hundred years. A new age is upon the American people-an age of expansion. Instead of giving our
entire thought to the internal affairs of our own
country, American minds have begun to reach out
into the great world's transactions.
The Hispano-American War was brewing half a




vi


PREFACE.


century before hostilities were declared. Never was
a war more holy-not even the Crusades. Long did
the good-natured young giant America endure the
taunts, insults, and injuries of Spain, before rising
in his might to strike down the insulter and oppressor of women and children. The death of Col.
W. L. Crittenden, as narrated in Volume XI., and the
Virginius massacre at Santiago, as told in Volume
XII., were enough to have driven many nations to
war. But America was no "bully."   Guided by
wise and conservative counsel, our ship of state was
steered through many dangerous passes into calmer
waters.
Yet the inevitable was coming. All our good
offers were scorned by Spain. Almost at our very
door the reconcentrados were starved by the thousands under the cruel edict of Weyler. Just when
the Spanish authorities had replaced Weyler by a
more humane Captain-General, and the condition of
the reconcentrados began to grow better, the destruction of the battle-ship Maine and the fearful death of
over two hundred and fifty American seamen drove
the American people to frenzy. But for the destruction of the Maine, war might have been averted;
after that act of treachery, war was inevitable. The
denials of the Spanish officials changed no opinion,
and the finding of the court of inquiry, while it
did not fix the guilt on Spain, made that guilt so




PREFACE.


vii


apparent in the minds of all Americans that it banished every shadow of doubt.
War came, and never ceased until the shackles of
slavery were knocked from the Gem of the Antilles.
All honor should be given to the brave American
soldiers and sailors in the war with Spain. To them
we owe our splendid victories, unequaled in any
other war or time. The sunny-haired Anglo-Saxon
soldier of the North proved equally as energetic in
the tropics as at home. For a second time the
world awoke to the realization that Columbia was
not only all-powerful on land, but, much as her navy
had been mocked, was queen of the sea.
The war with Spain brought about a closer, more
fraternal feeling between the Northern and Southern
States. All the old bitterness that had rankled too
long in the hearts of some of our brothers disappeared, and the sons of the South fought side by
side with their Northern brothers. The first American to give his life for his country was Ensign Bagley, a brave North Carolinian. Those foreign powers who had doubted the loyalty of the South to the
American nation suddenly awoke to the realization
that all Americans are loyal.
The military student studied this war with more
than ordinary interest. There was more than the
loss or gain of political power. It was the first
time the most modern arms and ironclads were tested.




VIii


PREFACE


They proved invincible. The war demonstrated that
valor counts for little when not backed by skill.
Intelligence, education, and moder appliances will
win the conflicts of the future. Heavy battle-ships
and armored cruisers, which some of our pessimistic
critics had doubted, proved most effective fightingcrafts, while torpedo-boats were ineffective against
the rapid-fire guns of heavier vessels.
Into the history of the struggles of Cuba for freedom and the Hispano-American War has been woven
the story of Fernando Stevens, son of Arthur Stevens, a Mexican-War hero whose adventures are
recounted in Volume XI., and Fernando's two sons,
one of whom served with Roosevelt's Rough Riders,
and the other with Dewey, thus covering the entire
field of operations.
To Mr. Edgar L. Wakeman's letters on Cuba,
which originally appeared in The Burlington HawkEye, I am specially indebted for descriptions of
Havana, Cuban country life, and the origin of the
first Cuban flag. From the great American press
which daily chronicled the events of the war as it
progressed, I have been enabled to gather much
valuable authentic information for this romance.
Some of the material for the present volume I have
taken from my books, "The History of the War with
Spain," and "Lights and Shadows of Our War with
Spain," published by Ogilvie Co., New York.




PREFACE                    ix
Having by this volume brought the history of our
country down to date, I trust it will be as favorably
received as its predecessors.
JOHN R. MUSICK.
KIRKSVILLE, Mo., January 15, 1900.




I




TABLE OF CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
PAGE
CLOSING UP BUSINESS,....... 1
CHAPTER II,
WITH DON MANUEL,...... 18
CHAPTER III.
AN EXCITING AND INTERESTING JOURNEY,..37
CHAPTER IV.
ONE MORE AMERICAN MARTYR,....   52
CHAPTER V.
THE WIDOW'S STRUGGLE,...... 72
CHAPTER VI.
A SCRAP OF CUBAN HISTORY,.. 88
CHAPTER VII.
AT SANTIAGO,........ 106
CHAPTER VIII.
BUMBOAT KATE'S DAUGHTER,.... 125
XI




xii         TABLE OF CONTENTS.
CHAPTER IX.
PAGE
FERNANDO'S ESCAPE,.           142
CHAPTER X.
MORE OF MR. PARKER'S GENEROSITY,.. 160
CHAPTER XI.
TIE SINKING SHIP,.. 176
CHAPTER XII.
THE PERIOD OF SUSPENSE,...       194
CHAPTER XIII.
ORGANIZING THE ROUGH RIDERS,..        211
CHAPTER XIV.
GEORGE STEVENS AT MANILA,..            230
CHAPTER XV.
SOME WORK IN THE WEST INDIAN WATERS,.  249
CHAPTER XVI.
LA QUASINA,.... 267
CHAPTER XVII.
SAN JUAN HEIGHTS,.... 289
CHAPTER XVIII.
ENSIGN STEVENS RECEIVES A STRANGE MESSAGE,
AND HAS AN ADVENTURE,..           305
CHAPTER XIX.
OBEYING ORDERS AMID FLAME AND SMOKE,... 321




TABLE OF CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XX.
THE FIGURE AT THE ALTAR,
CHAPTER XXI.
ON TO PUERTO RICO,
CHAPTER XXII.
A WAYSIDE ROMANCE,
CHAPTER XXIII.
GEORGE PHIPPS,
CHAPTER XXIV.
THE GREAT STONE BEAR,
CHAPTER XXV.
CONCLUSION,..
HISTORICAL INDEX,..
CHRONOLOGY,.    *


xiii
PAGE. 338. 357. 871. 390. 406. 425. 443
*.. 449




I




LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
"Allow me to congratulate you, Admiral, on the gallant
tight you have made,"...  Frontispiece
PAOE
Morro Castle,.........
"Take this, senor, and go. The spies are watching
you,"...14
"Buenos noches!"........20
" Had I the knave, his neck would crack for this,".   47
"Stand back! here comes some one!"...     48
The cache was on the north side of the great stone
bear,..68
" I do not want time, Mr. Parker. I want mercy,".      85
"No, seior, it can not be done,".                     111
" Oh, ye needn't think that I'm afraid of ye!"..112
Two negroes held up the lowest wire,....   148
"Excuse me, sir, I have to report the ship has been
blown up and is sinking,"... 176
A gun was fired from the Nashville,.. 206
"Oxtra I Oxtra"........ 209
"Now we will go to the home of your new ma,".. 224
The spirit, life, and direction of the battle-Dewey,. 240
A flash came from the stranger's forward fighting-top,. 258
No man could withstand such an appeal,... 263
Sending a shot from his revolver, he shouted, "Come on I
Come on I"... 304
He scrutinized them closely,....           317
xv




xvi          LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE
For a moment he stood spellbound,.. 354
"Americano, you have been a generous foe,"... 378
" You came fifteen minutes too soon,". 400
"Stop! " yelled Nathan,....403
Carefully they removed the earth and revealed a large
bundle,.....422
They came on at a charge with most horrible yells,. 432
Mr. Parker turned deathly white, stammered, and dropped
into his chair,....437
Map of Cuba,.....192
Map of Havana Harbor,.....192
Map of Philippine Islands,... 230
Map of Puerto Rico,... 368




CUBA LIBRE.
CHAPTER I.
CLOSING UP BUSINESS.
lHE firm of Parker & Stevens had
decided to close up and go
out of business. It had been
a very prosperous firm.  Indeed, there was not one in
Cincinnati that had surpassed!   it in profits during the short
j /Jgn4i^ /  period of the copartnership.,~/A!7it^f    '     The business was shipping:d:I.1 X /  grain, flour, and cotton to HaY? t        vana and Santiago de Cuba,
and importing coffee, sugar, tobacco, and tropical
fruits.  Parker, the senior member of the firm,
was not over thirty-five, and Fernando Stevens was
ten years his junior. Stevens had been taken into
the firm because he was thoroughly conversant
with the Spanish language. His father had been
1.




2


CUBA LIBRE.


a soldier in the Mexican War, and at the close
of it married a beautiful Mexican senorita, who
proved an estimable wife, and who trained her
children to speak the Spanish language.  Mrs.
Stevens was a highly educated and accomplished
lady, and her children were all that any fond
parents could ask. Fernando Stevens had an uncle
named Mark, who had served in the Civil War, and
at its close married a Southern girl and settled
in Kentucky. The stories which he heard from this
uncle, and the accounts given to him by his father
of the wonderful resources of Cuba, had finally led
him to think of opening a trade with it.
But Fernando was poor. He had just married a
beautiful Kentucky girl, whose blue eyes and golden
hair had charmed him. Here was an opportunity
for a fortune if he had the capital. He chanced to
be in Cincinnati on business when he met Joe Parker, whom he had known for several years. Joe had
made considerable money by government contracts,
and was reported to be worth at that time forty
thousand dollars.  Fernando laid before him the
plan of opening a trade with Cuba, and shipping
sugar up the Mississippi and Ohio to Cincinnati.
Steamboat navigation was not then in as deplorable
a state as at present, and stately vessels still traversed the mighty rivers. Parker was not slow to
perceive the value of the young fellow's scheme, and




CLOSING UP BUSINESS.


8


they decided to start with a cash capital of twenty
thousand. All he required of Fernando was to execute to him his individual note for ten thousand dollars, and he agreed to furnish the capital.
Fernando was gone months at a time, and saw
very little of his young wife and children. He
spent much of his time between 1865 and 1872 in
the South, or in the cities of Cuba. Coffee, sugar,
tobacco, and tropical fruits were exchanged for flour,
meat, and grain at enormous profits.
It was whispered by some that the keen young
American sometimes avoided the onerous Spanish
duties; but that was never proven, and we are
strongly inclined to doubt it, as far as Fernando
himself was concerned. But there was just cause,
perhaps, to suspect the firm.
During the early winter of 1872, Fernando, on
account of illness in his family, remained at home.
Mr. Parker, his partner, went to Cuba in his stead.
Fernando had by degrees come to believe that his
partner was not quite as honest as he should be, and
when he brought back one thousand bags of coffee,
seven thousand of sugar, twenty thousand cigars, and
fifty thousand pounds of tobacco duty free, he decided it was time to dissolve the partnership.
"I am not in the smuggling business, Mr. Parker," he declared; "nor will I belong to a firm that
is."




4


CUBA LIBRE.


They had some sharp words, but no open rupture,
and by, mutual agreement it was decided to close up
the business and dissolve the partnership. As the
dissolution of the partnership and the settlement had
a wonderful influence in shaping the destinies of
young Stevens's family, I wish I could give the full
particulars; but they were never known. Before the
settlement was begun, Fernando told his wife that
the note of ten thousand dollars was to be taken up
in the settlement.
The firm had one customer in Cuba, named Jos4
Marti, an upright, honorable gentleman, with whom
Fernando had had extensive dealings. When the
insurrection of 1868 began, Marti was one of the
firm's most profitable customers; but he was a lover
of Cuba and of liberty, and late in 1869 joined
in the revolt against Spain. He became an officer
in the Cuban army, was proscribed, and a reward
offered for him by the Spanish Government. A few
weeks before the dissolution of the firm of Parker
& Stevens, Fernando received a letter, which had
been smuggled through the lines, from his Cuban
friend, in which Jos4 Marti said that he had set
aside and concealed money enough to pay his entire
debt of eleven thousand dollars in gold, if Fernando
could send or come and get it; but that, owing to
the close watch kept upon him, he could not leave
Camaguey.   When nearly all the insurgents had




CLOSING UP BUSINESS.


5


surrendered, in 1871, Jos4 Marti and thirty-four
more remained with General Agramonte and continued the war, until Camaguey was again wrested
from Spanish rule.
In the division of the profits of the business, Fernando took the account of Jos6 Marti at fifty cents
on the dollar, and determined to go at once to Cuba,
find his old friend, and secure the money. The
insurrection at that time was in an incipient stage.
He had many friends in Havana on whom he could
rely, and he determined to make the effort, which,
if successful, would reward him well.
Among Fernando's many friends was the wealthy
old Don Manuel, who had a vast coffee-plantation
in the interior.
Securing passports from the Secretary of State, the
young husband and father prepared to set out on
what might prove a perilous journey.
On the night of his departure he was at home
with his wife and two little children, one and two
years of age. The infants slept in their little bed,
and never dreamed that their father was bidding
them a last farewell. The young mother and wife
strove bravely to keep up her spirits and repress her
tears.
"Why are you so reluctant for me to go this one
time, Annie?" he asked. "I have for years been
taking this journey, and always came home safely."




8


CUBA LIBRE


'But you never went into the insurgents' camp,
Fernando.  I cannot repress the awful fear that
some harm will befall you."
"You are growing superstitious, my dear. Look
after our babies while I am gone, and I will soon
return with enough to retire upon."
He bade her a last adieu, pressed his bearded lips
to the cheeks of his sleeping babes, and was gone.
Annie fell, weeping and half fainting, upon the
sofa, and wrung her hands in the bitterest anguish,
while the great fiery-eyed monster, dragon-like, was
flying across the country with her husband, hurrying him to that scene which for four hundred years
has been turbulent with human strife.
Reaching Key West, he boarded a steamer for
the island on which his ancestor, nearly four hundred years before, had landed with the discoverer of
the New World. Across the channel it was but a
few hours' sail to that city, which was as different
from our American towns as if it had been ten thousand miles away.
At that time there was a subtle charm about this
Spanish capital of the West Indies and its citizens
which I wish my pen could describe in words, for
the old picture under the new order of things must
soon fade forever from view, and be lost in the decay of the picturesque. "The very first glance at
Cuba's purple, mountain-peaked shores impresses one




CLOSING UP BUSINESS.


7


strangely. When old Morro Castle looms up above
the Gulf waters, and the embattled headland frowns
savagely upon all northern approaches, an almost
startled feeling of irrevocable distance from American environments possesses the tourist. And finally,
when the great city, and the long shore dotted with
villas reaching to the west, lie there in full view,
the contemplation of no Mediterranean port could
give rise to more weird and fanciful conjurings. In
reality, Fernando was within ten hours' sail of his
own land and all its matchless activities and progress. Yet not in all the Orient could he have come
upon scenes more voiceful of the dim mysteries of
lost countries and people.
" Havana was then the concentrated Spain of Cuba,
as Paris is the France of the French, and London
the England of Great Britain to-day. In addition,
some writers have asserted that it was the eighth
commercial capital of the world.
"Baron von Humboldt, who, in far remote moments of his existence, saw men and things as well
as rocks and areas, confessed that Havana was, architecturally considered, 'the gayest and most picturesque sight in America,' and he might have added,
or in Europe. Spain herself can not to-day show
a more curious or interesting city. Studying it as
he approached from the sea, with mighty Morro
set high upon the headland, time-dyed in mottled




8


CUBA LIBRE.


splotches of yellow, gray, and black, and the red and
yellow flags above, with La Punta across the narrow
channel, prim and white, save where the ugly Dahlgren guns flashed like venomous black eyes; and the
city with its towers and domes, minarets, mammoth
pillars, vast capitals, entablatures, and stuccoed cornices, rising gradually behind to Castillo del Principe
and Jesu del Monte, with their forts, towers, and
churches-the whole scene a blending of the most
brilliant colors; and all this backed by half-mountains of green, with here and there a lonely palm
cutting into a sky of marvelous blue-it was as interesting a sight to Fernando Stevens, when he
looked at it and thought of the life within and behind it, as he ever beheld.
"It is difficult to convey to another who has not
seen it, the peculiar impressions arising from a critical contemplation of Havana, and particularly the
marvelous distinctness and individualization each
edifice seemed to possess, while the whole scene was
one perfect structural harmony of sharply contrasting
color. If truthfully painted, critics would condemn
the artist. But the artist could no more paint this
scene in the atmosphere which clothes it with its
remarkable seeming, and under the sky which bestows upon all beneath a positive reflection of its
own depth, brilliancy, and translucence, than he
could paint thought. Here one sees colors which in




CLOSING UP BUSINESS.


any other place on earth would excite ridicule and
contempt. Here is a church, chrome yellow; there
a posada, sky blue; again it is a business structure,
snow white with a yellow roof, alongside a ruin,
gray and black, or yellow and gray-a splendid habitation, glaring crimson; just beyond and over this a
tower, with russet supporting pillars, a white dome,
and a yellow cross; and anywhere and everywhere
all manner of structures, orange-yellow or royal in
the color of the crushed huckleberry."
It is not our purpose to give a complete description of Havana as it was at the time Mr. Stevens
entered it, nor as it is to-day, for the great change
which is to metamorphose the Gem of the Antilles
has not yet come. As it was then, and is to-day,
"the proportion of splendid structures, as compared
with American or continental cities, is small; but
there was yet something fine and imposing in the
very plainness and massiveness of most exteriors.
If, however, decoration was lacking in this respect,
much was atoned for in the frequency, beauty, and
positive grace of what was seen in window, door,
balcony, and roof. Window, perhaps, is hardly the
proper word, for the window is practically unknown
in Cuba, where the clime is one of eternal summer.
That which stands for the window is a great aperture, very wide and high, and often strikingly pleasing in decoration. Glass was for ornament here,




10


CUBA LIBRE.


not use. The window then, for a better term, in the
common structure, was simply a large, square opening, protected by stout iron bars by day, and at night
by inner, solid,wooden shutters. But in finer buildings-indeed, in most-they were grand affairs.
Some were in the form of iron frame bay windows of
elaborate design, with their protecting ironwork of
the richest foliations or with ornate latticework in
polished brass. If these windows were interesting as
studies, backed as they frequently were by the costliest interior decorations, with an occasional glimpse
of a beautiful senorita to complete the picture, the
doors of these Havana houses were also worth a separate inspection and study.
"The Cuban house embodied the idea of protection, and was practically a one- or two-story castle,
which could not have been taken without an heroic
siege. The doors were bullet-proof, and their size and
strength precluded the idea of a successful assault
save with battering-ram or cannon. Many were of
mahogany, and all were riveted with iron bolts an
inch thick. Stevens saw some doors where these
boltheads were immense knobs of polished brass.
All were provided with huge locks, also tremendous
bars of wood or iron for fastening within. Above
many of them were fine cornices and pediments; at
the sides of the wall embrasures were frequently
seen antique pateras and gargoyles in stucco or




CLOSING UP BUSINESS.


11


bronze; while the ancient brass knocker was universal, and often of the form and size of a giant's hand.
"Upon the upper stories of the structures there
was a positive wealth of windows-dormer, latticed,
balconied, and oriel-all in such antique form and
bewildering variety that here the artist, poet, or
dreamer might find not only delight in art and architectural grace, all the more enticing for its age and
grotesque surroundings, but also everywhere a spell
suggestive of life in the medieval ages, prompting
the imagination to romantic adventure. The ruling
form of these airy points of vantage, which day and
night teemed with wondrously beautiful occupants,
was the canopied balconies; and no city in the world
possessed so many, fashioned in such beautiful and
fantastic form. Other cities have balconies, but the
Spanish balcony is the most winsome. From its
location, its design, its odd surroundings, its delicate
lightness, its inaccessibility to daring intrusion, yet
its seeming temptation to the same-it was in Havana a constant feast to the artistic eye and the imaginative thought.
"Nor need one look for these dainty balconies at
regular intervals or consistent heights. They were
fastened upon the vast white and pink reaches of
wall like feathery flecks of sea-foam flung high upon
the old gray rocks. They peeped out of queer corners and sheltered nooks like the nests of fearless




12


CUBA LIBRE.


birds, and they broke through the structural rigor of
the massive-walled homesteads like delicate bits of
lace, floating about your austere lady's shoulders;
and like them, still the half-hidden witchings of
beauty were ever delightfully near."
At the time of Fernando Stevens's arrival in
Havana, one would not have supposed that civil war
was raging in any part of the unhappy island. The
city was gay, as it always was. Flags and banners
waved, and the band played every evening on the
grand plaza. The streets were filled with gay equipages, and ladies and gentlemen strolled in the
evening about the parks. The brilliant uniforms of
officers of the army and navy added a delightful
picturesqueness to the scene.
Fernando had been several days in Havana without getting nearer to the object of his visit. He had
addressed a note to Don Manuel, in which he expressed a desire to meet him on a business matter
of great importance; but no answer came to it.
One evening he strolled to the grand plaza, to
listen to the weird Spanish music which the band
was discoursing; and after lounging upon one of the
seats for three quarters of an hour, he arose, lighted
a cigar, and started for a stroll about the city. Before he had gone far he observed that the eyes of
the Spanish police were watching him with glances
of suspicion.




CLOSING UP BUSINESS.


13


'They think I am a spy or filibuster," he thought.
while a careless smile played over his face.
He had not gone many blocks when, as he was
passing under the balcony of a very pretty house, a
soft, silvery voice called:
"Seior Estevan!" 
He cast his eyes upward, and beheld a pretty face
with a pair of roguish, dark eyes peeping shyly at
him from the balcony above. A small white hand
was extended from the balcony, holding a folded bit
of paper. "Take this, senior, and go on. The spies
are watching you. Don't let them see you read it."
He thrust the folded note into his pocket and
walked leisurely on until he came to a caf4, which
he entered, and taking the note from his pocket,
proceeded to read its contents. It was in Spanish,
and brief.
"Don Manuel is not in the city, but if the seior will come
at eleven, this evening, a servant will be at the great west
door to admit him, and he will then learn all about the Don. "
There was an air of mystery about the affair
which seemed to Fernando to border on adventure.
That the fair being who gave him the note was in
some way related to Don Manuel, there could be no
question; but why was this secret interview essential, and why had the Don left the city? Fernando
strolled about the parks and plazas until the hour
had come for the clandestine visit. The Spanish




14


OUBA LIBRE.


detectives had their eyes
almost continually on
him, and he had to use
the utmost caution to
elude their vigilance
when the hour came
for the interview.
i  te managed to
reach the door
unseen, and
had scarcely
lifted the
great


brass knocker for
a getle tap,), when    d
it swtng (open a1id a 
coolie stood bowing and 
inviting him to enter.   I'
The moment Fernando
was inside the ponderous
door was closed and locked


\ \'11Q'i
"TAKE\ T1IS, SENOR, AND G0, TIE
SI'IES A WiE WATCIING YOU."




CLOSING UP BUSINESS.


15


securely, and the iron bar was slipped across in its
place.
"This way, senior," said the coolie, in Spanish;
and he followed him along a carpeted corridor until
he came to an apartment to which the balcony hung
like an oriole's nest. The sefiora was still seated
there, gazing upon the street scene. She did not
rise, but in a low, gentle voice requested him to be
seated within while she remained in the balcony.
"There is less danger of discovery and intrusion
here, sefior, than there would be if I should come in.
Your note to Don Manuel reached this house, but
not until after the police and spies had opened it and
read its contents. I doubt not you have found them
keeping a close watch on you."
"I have; but there was nothing in the note that I
should not wish them to see."
"Yet they look on every line penned by an American as a cipher dispatch from a filibuster." She
spoke in a low yet distinct tone, all the while keeping a close watch on the street.
" Where is Don Manuel? "
"At his country estate, his coffee-plantation; but
they must not know it, or they would arrest him
and throw him into prison."
"Surely Don Manuel has taken no part in the
revolution? "
"No, not yet; but they suspect him. Don Man



16


CUBA LIBRE.


uel has great wealth, and that is sufficient for him
to be suspected by the Captain-General, who covets it.
Hle dare not stay in the city, so he has gone to the
country."
"I am sorry to learn this, senfora, for I want to see
Don Manuel. He can be of great service to me."
"He is your friend, and will be pleased to serve
you. I have heard him speak frequently of Senor
Stevens as his dearest friend; and knowing you desired to meet him, I planned this interview."
The Spanish lady, Fernando learned, was the wife
of the Cuban gentleman. Any one who was a friend
of her husband was also her friend, and she was
glad to be of service to him.
"There is but one way that I can think of now
that you may safely go to Don Manuel. Can you
escape from the city to-night unseen?"
"I can try."
' At the Cathedral door, as the clock strikes two,
you will find a person standing. Follow her. Now
you had better go, sellor, and prepare to leave Havana, never to return."
The air of mystery about Seiiora Izadora Manuel
was so marked that the American began for the first
time to realize his danger. The insurrection in the
last few days had assumed a new and more serious
aspect, and the Spanish authorities were using all
diligence to stamp it out. The great dread of Spain




CLOSING UP BUSINESS.


17


for half a century had been American filibusters, and
woe unto the unfortunate Yankee who fell into their
hands.
At his hotel Fernando wrote a letter to his wife,
in which he stated that he was going into the interior
to some coffee-plantations, and might not write again
for some weeks. But he did not make any allusion
to the dangers which he knew he was to meet.
Having given the letter to the landlord to send back
by the next steamer, he proceeded to take from his
luggage such papers and valuables as he might need.
On looking them over, he came upon one which
caused surprise and annoyance.
"Why did I bring this? " he asked himself. " I,
who pride myself on keen business sagacity, have
been grossly negligent. However, as I brought it, I
must now take care of it"; and he placed it in the
red leather pocket-book in the inside pocket of his
coat.
Having carefully made his arrangements, he left
the hotel, never to return, and near the appointed
hour went toward the great old Cathedral to meet
his unknown guide.
2




CHAPTER II.


WITH DON MANUEL.
FERNANDO STEVENS loitered in the vicinity of the
ancient Cathedral until the clock struck two, and
then he saw a woman, closely veiled, suddenly leave
the door and start down the street. He followed
her, after assuring himself there was none other.
She kept about twenty paces ahead, and, having
gone two blocks toward the palace, turned westward, keeping in the deepest shadows of the darkest
and most unfrequented streets. He followed the
dark figure, keeping it continually in sight, stopping
when it stopped, moving when it went, and turning
when it turned.
Often the strange guide would dart into some dark
corner and remain invisible for several seconds at a
time, during which he would remain in the vicinity,
concealed as best he could, until his guide again
quit the hiding-place.
Once a Spanish police hailed him with:
" Quien es vd? "  (" Who are you? ")
For a moment Fernando was at a loss to account




WITH DON MANUEL.


19


for his presence; but he managed to give an answer
which threw the stupid fellow off his guard, and
when his guide again left her hiding-place, he followed her. There was no moon, but it was one of
those bewitching nights which can be found nowhere
save in Cuba. The stars shone with tropical brilliance from a fairer sky than Italy can boast.
At last the city was left behind, and they emerged
on a country road. They had no trouble in passing
the old block-house, for at that hour the sentry was
asleep. His mysterious guide, to whom he had not
yet spoken, halted near a volante, which seemed to
be waiting for some one.
"You are safe from annoyance now, senior," said a
soft, low voice, the sweetness of which revealed the
identity of the speaker.
"Senora Doina Izadora Manuel! " he gasped.
"Si, senior. This volante will take you a part of
the way. At a certain place you will find a guide
with horses. Tell Don Manuel it is very lonesome
in the city, and as soon as I shall have accomplished
the work set for me to do I will join him."
"Seniora, is not this service rendered with great
danger to yourself?"
"Si, senfor. But we take no heed of danger in
Cuba. We must run great risks for our country;
and if we do succumb to danger, we die for liberty."
In the dim starlight he could see the pretty face




20


CUBA LIBRE.


of the patriot glow with as great fervor as ever
enthused a Revolutionary mother. He grasped her
hand, and, in a voice that was husky, whispered:
"Heaven grant that suffering Cuba may yet taste
the sweet, health-restoring cup of freedom! "
"Time flies, senior, and you must be far away before the sun peeps over the eastern hills," she returned, pointing as she spoke to the volante.
The American bowed, and softly murmuring,
" Buenos noches I " leaped into the volante. The negro driver, with his steeple-crowned, broad-rimmed
hat, who had been dozing in the saddle, plunged his
huge spurs into the flanks of his mule, and set off at
a rattling pace down a road that was so dim he could
scarce see a rod in the darkness.
Fernando drew his scarf about his shoulders, and,
settling back in the vehicle, tried to catch a little
sleep; but any one who knows Cuban roads will realize how impossible
that would be. After the first few
miles   the road
seemed destructive
to any vehicle less
strong than a bullock cart, and by
ten o'clock it had
become utterly im

" BUKNO8 NOCII1I8 1V,




WITH DON MANUEL


passable for the volante. Here he was met by a
negro with a pair of saddle-horses, and, quitting
the volante, he sprang into the saddle and rode on
beside his guide.
It was late one afternoon when they came to the
great rural home of Don Manuel, the coffee-grower.
" There is nothing in the Western hemisphere accessible to an American traveler more truly interesting
than the surroundings of and daily life in one of these
quaint old Cuban plantation homes. The estate of
Don Manuel was in the very heart of the Cuban
coffee-lands, and had been entailed from father to
son for nearly a quarter of a thousand years; so the
charm of age rested upon it. Framed in an evernew setting of ravishing tropical verdure, it was like
coming upon some rare old canvas of the masters,
glorified by contrast with modern environments.
The great laurels above the noble old casa de vivienda, the coco-trees piercing the blue Cuban sky
with their sword-like, pinnate leaves, the royal
palms, a hundred feet to their plumy brancheswere all old when Columbus wrote of this island in
his journal: 'It excels all other countries as far
as the day surpasses the night in brightness and
splendor.'
"Away out along the old road was a wall of stone
and cement, eight feet high, with a peaked top.
For a mile in from the estancia, or farm. this gray,




CUBA LIBE.


bastioned guardian wound to the right and left like
a Chinese wall from a massive entrance called la
taranquera. This was the queerest sort of structure.
Huge supporting pillars were surmounted by a canopied roof, some twenty feet from the ground, and
reaching fully half way to this were two immense
doors or gates of the indestructible guabrahaca wood,
filled with huge brass-headed cross-bolts.  These
swung on stapled hinges as thick as a man's arm.
A tremendous padlock fastened the taranquera,"
making the plantation as much a castle as any in
the medieval ages of knighthood.  Fernando was
impressed with the terrible condition to which Cuba
was reduced more by the strong fortifications which
he found in the city and country residences, than by
the armies and soldiers.
His guide dismounted and tolled a sentry bell
which hung high above. This brought a sort of
sentry on duty to the taranquera, who opened the
gate with a monster key. "As the entire plantation
was surrounded by an impenetrable hedge of Spanish
bayonet, the latter, with the road wall and the insurmountable taranquera, rendered the indwellers
comparatively safe from annoyance, even in those
troublesome times." All the larger plantations on
the island, he was informed, were similarly provided
against the Spanish freebooters, called volunteers,
whose conduct was sanctioned by the Government.




WITH DON MANUEL.


28


"For an eighth of a mile after they had entered
through the great gate, an avenue, nearly a hundred
feet wide, bordered by great hedges of parnarosas, led
straight toward the old plantation home. There, the
point of the angles marked by gigantic palms, the
avenue spread fan-like to the right and left, the entire open space beyond, defined by long reaches of
the gorgeous grandillas or passion-flowers, simply
being an indescribable collection of tropical flowers
and shrubs, far surpassing anything possible to conceive from conservatory displays in North America.
On either side of the area were orange orchards.
Beyond was the Cuban country home of Dor Manuel, low, large, and old, with scores of outbuildings
at convenient distances, with little plazas of packed
clay ground between, the whole set beneath the ample and endless shade of huge laurels, cocos, and
palms."
Don Manuel was sitting on the great porch when
they rode up to the house, and ran across the greensward to the pebbled walk where Fernando was dismounting, to embrace him.
"Senior, you know not how your presence delights
me; but come right in. You must be greatly fatigued, and I will not let you talk until you have
rested, bathed, and been refreshed."
The gracious welcome accorded him by the kindhearted Cuban seemed to repay Stevens for his many




24


CUBA LIBRE.


discomforts during the toilsome journey. He was
taken to a large, airy room, where he made his toilet,
and then a cup of coffee was brought him, after
which he swung in a hammock on the porch until
the hour for supper arrived. He went with his host
to the dining-room, where he found a large table on
which were laid all the delicacies of the tropics as
well as of the more temperate regions.
After the meal was over, Fernando and the genial
host sat on the great porch, gazing up into the starry
heavens. The Don asked about his wife in the city,
and expressed a willingness to hear the object of his
friend's visit. When the American had told him
how the noble woman had enabled him to escape
from the city, he exclaimed:
"The Virgin preserve her! Izadora is a brave,
faithful wife, and I am safe in trusting my life and
property in her keeping."
"Why are you proscribed and driven from home,
Don Manuel?"
For a moment the Cuban was silent, while a
strange, dangerous light came into his dark eyes, his
handsome features assumed a look of fierceness, and
his black, silken mustache quivered. But it was all
gone in a moment. With an effort he put away his
feelings, and said:
"It is a part of Spain's colonial policy to persecute
every born Cuban and rob him of his possessions. I




WITH DON MANUEL.


25


have taken no part in the rebellion as yet, and they
can prove nothing against me, yet I lived in continual danger of assassination in Havana."
"Are you safe even here?"
"Yis. They will hardly come this far for one
man, for the Spanish guerrillas are too lazy; and then
they know they might meet a detachment of patriots,
who would show them no quarter. Even if they did
come, my taranquera and walls are strong enough to
withstand a siege. They do not care to engage in one."
Then Fernando told him the object of his visit to
Cuba at that distracted period. Don Manuel listened
to him for a few moments in silence, and said:
"Josd Marti is now a colonel in the Cuban army,
and one of the most daring defenders of our liberties.
We all love him, and the Spanish tyrants hate him."
"Where is he? "
"In Camaguey. We will have difficulty in finding him. No doubt Colonel Marti will secure you
safe transport to the coast with the money, but the
danger will be great; yet we will trust in the saints
to preserve you."
"As I take no part in the insurrection, Don Manuel, how can I be in danger?" asked the American.
"My dear friend, if you were caught conferring
with one of the insurgents, even tho on the most innocent business affair, all the powers of your own
strong country could not save you.'




26


CUBA LIBRE.


Fernando asked if he was willing to accompany
him to Camaguey in search of Col, Jos4 Marti.
"Certainly, my dear friend; I will share your
dangers and hope to enjoy the pleasure of your success."
"How soon can we set out for the camp of the
Cuban?"
"As soon as you are rested and refreshed," returned the planter. The American was then persuaded to retire, as he had come a long distance and
must be fatigued.
"The old homestead of Don Manuel was of the
average pattern of hundreds of others in that portion
of Cuba. So far as the visitor could see, the structure itself, and the daily life within and around it,
could not have been more disturbed by the uprising
and revolution than if it had been situated in the
heart of Asia. Stevens fancied that it was just as
it was centuries ago, and that centuries to come
would bring no change. This house and all others
of pretension thereabout were built of the porous
Cuban stone, which hardens from exposure. They
were immensely large in ground area, and but one
lofty story in height; tho under the center of the
roof there was a guardilla or garret which no New
England 'hipped' roof could equal. Set up a few
feet from the ground on large square stone pillars,
permitting free passage of the air underneath, as




WITH DON MANUEL.


with many old Southern plantation houses, huge
beams of guabrahaca wood rested upon these, and
upon this foundation the walls were laid. From the
high peak the roof descended in a long, concave
sweep, not only to the side walls, but twenty feet
beyond, for the covering of the porches, so broad
that, enclosed as they were at will by immense reedwoven bilombas or screens, they practically became
spacious additions to the living-rooms of the house.
At the two other sides the same sort of bellying
roofs curved downward and outward, covering other
immense verandas, so that the already large house
was entirely surrounded by these extraordinary
porches, and from a distance the structure seemed
all roof.
"In Cuban country dwellings, the city patio or
court was seldom seen. But extending from front
to rear through the center of the whole house, a
distance of a hundred feet, was such a hall or interior at Don Manuel's home as would put some of
old England's most famous manor houses to shame.
The outer doors leading to this wonderful hall, where
five hundred men might have been exercised in tlhe
science of war, were massive as the doors of a cathedral. At either side were large, unglazed vcntanas,
or windows, guarded by ironwork of the most fanciful foliations; and the broad, low edges of these
were winsome retreats for observation or languorous




28


CUBA LIBRE.


siesta. The walls of this great hall were set at frequent intervals with immense mahogany pillars,
across from the plain cappings of which extended
huge beams, supporting the floor above. The pillars
and beams were unornamented, save with occasional
high-relief carvings upon the latter of the heads of
wild animals and the fiercer faces of ancient Spanish
chevaliers; and between these at intervals were hung
the still more ferocious machetes, sabers, and century-old firearms, comprising the portentous family
arsenal. To the right and left were lofty, screencovered entrances to the score or more spacious
rooms, and between these were broad divans, over
which rawhide or cane was fantastically stretched.
From the center of the ceiling hung a huge candelabra, below which depended an ancient and enormous
lamp in brass; while underneath, on a circular divan,
upon which a dozen might rest, was built a great
bronze urn, used as a receptacle for potpourris of
tropical flowers.
"Every room in the old mansion was as quaint and
interesting as this. The floors were of large brick
tiles, with occasional centerpieces from the rare old
Spanish potteries.  The walls were like snow in
whiteness, while the ceilings were as blue as the sky
above them, save where stretches of cedar or mahogany, rich -in generations of coloring, changed the
complexion.'




WITH DON MANUEL.


29


The bed in Stevens's room rested on a bedstead of
rosewood, while tables and chairs of shining mahogany, with brass-headed bolts gleaming like gold
through the rich-colored wood, were scattered around.
The whole furniture denoted ease, wealth, elegance,
with all the slumberous voluptuousness of the tropics. The bed was soft as down, and the tired traveler enjoyed a sweet repose such as he had not
known since landing on the unhappy island.
"If there was toil or onerous daily duties about
the old plantation, Stevens failed to discover them.
Don Manuel lived just as every one must live in
that transcendently beautiful and luxurious land.
In the morning, Fernando Stevens was awakened by
the song of the little mountain stream behind the
house, in which the birds about and above the house
joined, making sleep no longer possible.
"Between eight and nine o'clock, coffee, the universal forerunner of late breakfast, was served." A
small negro girl entered his room and graciously
offered to bring his coffee to him; but he declined,
saying he preferred going to the table.
After a morning bath and toilet he sauntered into
the long dining-room, where a clean cloth was laid,
and a negress, with a scarlet handkerchief about her
head, entered with bread, fresh butter, all kinds of
tropical fruits, and coffee. The traveler was alone,
as none of the household had yet appeared.  He




so


CUBA LIBRE.


asked the negress when her master would come, and
the answer was: " Pronto, senor!" 
But tho he waited a reasonable length of time, he
came not. He saw little of his friends for a few
hours, and watched the lazy negro house-servants
and lazier negro stablemen and field-hands as he
~wung in the hammock, until he grew tired and impatient. Then he rose to "stroll among the orangegroves, wander up and down the stream, while he
studied the soil, the rock, flora, and fauna of the
district; or had a bout with the countless saucy
birds, which whirled, chattered, and caroled in the
air, on tie grass, and among the trees."  Birds of the
gayest plumage and with the sweetest songs known
were found in the interior of Cuba. The early Spanish explorers once thought they had discovered the
famous nighltingale in Cuba, but in this they were
mistaken.
The birds were not only sweet singers and beautiful to look upon, but so tame as to seem really
impudent.  They pranced, danced, and frisked all
about the visitor in a most tantalizing way; while
zorales, the buffoons of the plantation, sat on the
bushes and mimicked him in voice and action. Thus
the active American whiled away the time until between eleven and twelve o'clock, when desayuno
(breakfast) was served, and here the first greetings
of the day were made




WITH DON MANtEL.


81


Don Manuel looked fresh and rosy, and hoped his
friend had enjoyed a good night's repose and was
muy bien hoy.
Stevens thanked his friend, and assured him that
he was quite recovered from the fatigue of the day
before.  There were a few ladies and gentlemen
friends visiting at the rich old casa  Among them
were some from Matanzas, some from Cienfuegos,
and one from far-distant Santiago. Two or three of
these were at desayuno, and were introduced to the
Americano, who could converse quite as fluently in
Spanish as any native of old Castile. "Again the
splendid tropical fruit was served in bewildering variety; coffee again appeared; bread, made of mixed
wheat and yuca; wild and domestic fowls, fried to a
golden brown; eggs in all manner of edible form;
delicious chicharones, or pork scraps, done to toothsome and brittle tenderness-all appeared at the
meal, which was extended over an hour or more of
pleasant chatter, dalliance, and badinage. Between
this time and the camida, or dinner, the ladies of the
household were visible." Tho the senfora was away,
her husband's sister, a beautiful brunette of twentyfour, acted the part of hostess and strove to make
amends for the absence of the lady of the house.
The time between el desayuno and la camida is a
period in all well-to-do homes in Cuba of absolute
siesta and rest, and, anxious as the American was to




82


CUBA LIBRE.


resume the journey, his friend would admit of no
infringement on the time-honored rule.  Finding
there was no use to resist the will of Don Manuel,
he yielded to his wishes with the best grace possible. " Those odor-laden breezes distil and waft to the
most vigorous frame and spirited intellect the siren
spell and the thrall of indifference, listlessness, and
languorous dreams "; and Fernando Stevens, with all
his active Yankee blood, came under the spell.
" The household was silent within. The birds were
silent without. Tropical sea, land, and sky were
hushed and still. All this continued until five
o'clock, when there was a cheerful awakening. The
sweet, cool breezes returned. The birds sang and
trilled as on our own June mornings. Man, bird,
and beast were again alive. The dinner, brilliant
with flowers, and quaint old table services, and rarer
laces, wonderful fans, and odd country ways," made
the Americano feel as if he had indeed wandered
into a strange land.
"Then came the tropical night, with its odors and
baln, beauties, and intoxicating breezes. The night
glowed and grew as the wondrous stars above. At
nine o'clock, tea was served. Here, there, and all
about the place were the thrum of guitar, the twang
of bandurria, the silvery echo of mandolin, mingled
with the strange and thrilling minors of Spanish
song, from parlor to quarters. It was long after




WITH DON MANUEL.


33


midnight when the myriads of fireflies silently
whirled and swirled in their wavering witch-dances
around the old plantation home."
Again and again during the evening the American
had tried to gain some information from his Cuban
host as to the time they would start on their search
for the insurgent colonel; but Don Manuel avoided
any allusion to the coming journey. It was not until his guests had retired that he took his American
friend to the most remote corner of the great piazza,
and, handing him a cigar, lighted one for himself,
and said:
"Seiior, smoke another before we retire."
As Stevens lighted the cigar, his friend resumed: —
"I suppose you want to talk a little on the journey and the search that are before us. I hope
you will not be offended, senor, at my declining
to speak of it before my guests; but at such a
time as this, we are compelled to use the greatest
precaution."
"Do you doubt any of your guests, Don Manuel?
"This is a time, senor, at which we can trust no
one. These guests seem to be my friends, but they
may be spies sent to my very house to glean information for my arrest."
"It would be very ungrateful of them, after partaking of your hospitality, if they should inform on
you."
3




84


CUBA LIBRE.


The Don shook his handsome head and answered:
"Sellor, gratitude is a flower that does not grow
in this soil, fertile as it may seem. On the other
hand, treachery with its poisonous sting flourishes.
Pardon me if I seem pessimistic. I have cause to
be so. I doubt every one save yourself and my
wife. These guests may be friends, but there is
among them at least one spy."
"Don Manuel, how do you know that? 
"I have been a witness to his work, senor. I do
not say who is the spy, nor would I say there is
only one; for there may be more. Spain is driven
to desperate straits when by money she seeks to
corrupt the friends of her subjects. We can none
of us know who are genuine friends and who are
spies; who are loyal to Spain, and who are the
friends of Cuba."
The American was a man of strong self-control,
and coolly listened to the remarks of Don Manuel.
After a brief silence, Don Manuel resumed:
"You had hoped and believed that your journey
here was without the knowledge of the Spanish soldiers.'
"Was it not? he asked, in amazement.
"No; you have been trailed to my very gates,
and even now mounted guerrillas are just beyond
the hedge, awaiting your departure, to follow you."
"Don Manuel, this is startling! 




WITH DON MANUEL.


85


It is true, senior. If you will accompany me to
the hedge at the rear of the orange grove, you may
have an excellent view of the guerrillas, who care
little for human life and hate an Americano next to
a Cuban."
They calmly smoked their cigars, and then the
American asked his Cuban friend how they were to
escape from the foemnen watching for them.
" I have been thinking of that all the while, selior,
and have arrived at the conclusion that our only
hope of escaping their vigilance would be to start
early in the morning. Fortunately, my guests have
kept rather late hours, and the spy set here to watch
me will sleep and the rascally guerrillas will not be
in a hurry about getting out, so I fancy we can get
a good start if we leave before the stars are out of
the sky."
"Will you accompany me, Don Manuel? 
"Assuredly I will, senor. I owe too much to you
to Leave you to tread the dangerous paths alone.
Now retire and get what sleep you can, and all will
be arranged. When I awake you, follow me without a word."
"I understand, Don Manuel."
"Until then, buenos noches."  He had conducted
the American to his room as he talked, and, after
bidding him adieu, turned about and left.
" What a mysterious country I" thought the Amer



86              CUBA LIBRE.
ican, as he undressed and went to bed.  How will
these adventures end?"
Well it was that a kind future drew a veil before
his path, for could he have dipped into it, no slum.
ber would have come to his eyes that night.




CHAPTER III.


AN EXCITING AND INTERESTING JOURNEY.
THE stars were yet in the sky when a gentle hand
touched the American's shoulder and a voice whispered:
"Awake, seior; we must ride before the sun, and
behold! there is a light coming in the east."
The American leaped from his bed, to find Don
Manuel, booted and spurred, with whip in hand,
awaiting him. The Cuban said he would wait on
the great porch on the north, and passed through the
open window. Stevens quickly dressed and joined
him.
He had wisely encumbered himself with little luggage, and buckling on a pair of spurs and taking a
whip in his hand he was ready for the journey.
Don Manuel beckoned and led the way to his stables, where were some fine-blooded Spanish horses.
Two were saddled and ready.
There was a faint glow on the hill beyond the
orange grove, which indicated the locality of the
guerrillas' camp. Silently the two mounted and




88


CUBA LIBRE.


rode from the stable paddock to the great gate, which
Don Manuel unlocked with his key. The American
went out with the horses, and Don Manuel, locking
the great gate, crept through a narrow gap in the
hedge, two hundred yards to the left, rejoined his
friend, and, mounting, they rode briskly away.
"We will have a good start of them," he remarked,
as their horses cantered along the road.
" What will your guests think of your sudden departure?"
" I explained to Sefior Nicoli that I might go suddenly to Havana, where my wife is. He will excuse my absence to the others, and to all save the
spies it will be satisfactory. They will suspect us
both, but it will be too late to overtake us."
"Don Manuel, I greatly fear that I will bring
trouble on you. I had no intention, when I began
this journey, to involve a friend."
"Seiior, it was coming anyway. This will only
hasten it. Your coming and my aiding you will not
add anything to the annoyance I would have suffered."
When they had gone a mile or so from the casa of
the Donl, they found the road so wretchedly poor
that it would have been folly to try to drive a vehi.
cle over it, and even horses were forced to travel
with care.
Brighter and brighter grew the eastern horizon,




AN EXCITING JOURNEY.


89


until the sun in all his tropical splendor arose,
flooding mountain, hill, and vale with golden glory.
Then, as they rode on, they began to meet people,
always on horseback or muleback. In Cuba one
never meets a tramp; "everybody rides. Poor and
in desperate case, indeed, is the meanest guajiro
who owns no jacas or pony."
The coming dawn awoke all the feathered songsters of Cuba. "Bewildering as may be the flowers
in the Gem of the Antilles, the variety and singing
of birds are positively ravishing. It has been said
that what tropical birds gain in brilliancy of plumage they lose in variety and quality of song. This
is not true of Cuba." In the early morning ride, the
American was continually delighted with the sweetest songs, while brilliant green, blue, scarlet, and
yellow plumage fluttered in all the thickets, in an
endless variety.
At this time there were brigands in Cuba; but
they harmed no one not a Spaniard. Don Manuel
assured our friend that no American or Cuban need
have any fears of them, tho they were a terror to
Spain's standing army in Cuba. Matagas the Terrible in his day was more of a patriot than an outlaw.
His methods can hardly be recommended, yet all
through seasons of peace he kept the Spanish soldiery in a constant state of alarm, and worried and
harassed them ceaselessly, until the home governor




40


CUBA LIBRE.


was compelled continually to send fresh troops to
take their place. When sought, the brigands never
could be found, but were always turning up at some
unexpected point when least anticipated.
" Brigand or planter, guajiro or montero, he always
had a ready-saddled pony at command.  Like a
flash, he was into the saddle and away. And what
a perfect rider he was! He sat not like one of your
park horsemen, who, ramming the pommel into the
pit of his stomach, points to the horizon with his
trembling legs, and exposes the laughing sky between himself and his saddle; but straight as the
wild cane, his knees well forward, with loose rein,
and in harmony with every movement of the animal
beneath him, rode the patriot outlaw. He could
pick up his sombrero from the ground at full run;
and because his perfect naturalness and good sense
in the saddle were as potent to his horse as any onlooker, there was no reasonable demand to which his
pony would not respond."
The exhilarating morning ride of the American
through the valleys and mountains furnished him
with many observations of Cuban yeomanry in that
region, of the espionage and public brigandage of the
Spanish soldiery themselves, of Cuban deep woods
and their tenantry of beast, bird, and reptile, ant4
of Cuban coffee-lands and coffee culture.
"The Spanish soldiery's goading of the Cuban pec




AN EXCITING JOURNEY.


41


pie was no better and no worse than it had been for
years previous, even before the proclamation of martial law. The class which seemed best qualified to
incite a revolution was the guardia civil. These
prowled about the country in small squads, on the
pretext of searching for bandits and their harborers,
and perpetrated all manner of indignities and outrages upon helpless, innocent people."
On the third day of their journey, Stevens had a
sample of their delicate system of levying contributions and collecting Spanish revenues. They were
far enough away to be beyond suspicion, when, as
they were riding along a mountain road, with a
Spanish fort about four miles on their right, there
suddenly emerged from behind a thicket of tamarinds half a dozen of the guardia civil.
"Arto!" ("Halt!") they shouted to the travelers.
"Had we better halt, fight, or fly? " the American
asked his companion.
"Let them  come to us," said Don Manuel.
"They can have no knowledge of whom we are, and
we will get along better by not seeming to fear them
or attempting to fight them."
With drawn revolvers, they galloped down upon
them.
" Quien es vd?" ("Who are you? ") the man who
seemed to be in command asked.




42


CUBA LIBRE.


Don Manuel explained that the stranger was an
American, and he was his friend.
"Where are you from?" was the next question,
asked in the most insulting and brutal manner possible. When this had been explained, they next
asked:
" Where are you going?"
"To visit the coffee-plantations and make an esti.
mate on the yield," was uist humbly explained.
" But, descrying an American in the party, it seemed
to become a serious matter. Fernando's passport
was demanded in anything but a pleasant tone of
voice.
"' Humph!' ' Oho!' and a hundred 'Carambas!'
followed the examination. It was correctly visded,
everything was as it should be, save it stated that he
was twenty-five years of age. They did not believe
it, they asserted, with dark looks. Something was
wrong. For a moment it seemed as if the arrest of
both would follow; but Don Manuel, who understood
matters perfectly, drew the American aside and said
in Spanish:
"'Es mejor darle un doblen a cada uno para que
nos dejen en paz.' ('It is better to give a doubloon and not be detained.') 
Stevens accepted the hint and gave the money,
and it had a magical effect, for, even tho the guerrillas stared savagely at them, they uttered a " Buenos




AN EXCITING JOURNEY.


483


dias!" and signified by a wave of the hand they
were to go on. They accepted, and galloped down
a forest road. There was a fascination in the deep,
dark, old, solemn Cuban woods. "The American
can form little conception of Cuban forests. The
noblest are found in the region along the northeast coast. There the stateliness and grandeur as
well as the value of these forest trees are almost
incredible."  It has been estimated that there is ten
thousand dollars' worth of mahogany, rosewood, and
lignum vitae on an acre of land. In the wilderness
between the old walled town of Holguin and the sea
at Sepa, the forests are almost impenetrable.
The portion through which our two friends rode
was grand, majestic, with giants still growing that
had been trees before the white men of Europe
dreamed there existed a land across the unknown
ocean. They traveled two days through the forest,
halting at the huts or camps of labradors for food or
lodging, while their horses fed upon the grass which
grew in open spaces.
Don Manuel thought there was little danger of
detection or arrest, as they were drawing nearer and
nearer to the district where they hoped to find Colonel Marti and his little band of patriots.
On the night of the fifth day of their journey,
Stevens and Don Manuel " sought shelter at a century-old bodegay posada or inn, where they were re



.q44         CUBA LIBRB.
ceived as men of distinction. This, however, was
wholly in the ethical sense. It in no wise bettered
the quality of food, ministered to their bodily needs,
or cleared the filth, fleas, and cobwebs from their
dim old alcobas. Stevens was to learn that an outof-the-way inn in Cuba was a shelter much inferior
to the open air. On their arrival the landlord danced
all around them with inexpressible welcomes, and
called upon all the saints to guard them," but never
thought of taking that onerous duty on himself.
With the hypocritical fawning of a Hebraic vender of second-hand clothing, he endlessly repeated:
"My house is thine!" Then, having put them in
possession of it, he calmly went to sleep, leaving
his guests to shift for themselves, but awaking on
the eve of their departure with a shower of blessings
and bills.
The travelers "were no more than settled at the
ancient inn when a little episode occurred, illus.
trating the revolutionary feeling, never suppressed
in Cuba," and at this time again in the ascendency.
It was evident even then that, ere many decades
rolled by, Spanish misrule would awaken the slumoering giant of liberty in North America, who would
at one blow break the shackles of slavery of his
next-door neighbor.
Don Manuel and Stevens were holding a very
quiet council on their future movements when they




AN EXCITING JOURNEY.


45


were suddenly startled by " a great commotion within
the old hostelry. Excited cries issued from below,
and in a twinkling half a hundred people had crowded into the little patio or court. From the window
they saw a mounted squad of the trimly uniformed
but utterly despised guardia civil dash across the
plaza, and then, sweeping down the calle with drawn
sabers, dash squarely into the wide entrada at full
gallop, cutting and slashing right and left as they
entered."
"What does it all mean? " asked Stevens, fearing
they had been discovered after all their caution.
Before his companion could answer, "out poured
the crowd pell-mell, scattering in every direction,
and uttering all manner of jeers, oaths, and derisive
cries as they disappeared.
"Don Manuel, greatly agitated, seized the American's arm and prevented him from descending to the
patio; but from the interior gallery, along with a
grinning crowd of mozos, they could look upon the
excited soldiery, and see the dismounted officer in
charge hastily clutch his handkerchief, wet it at the
patio fountain, and use it as a sponge to erase some
dreaded emblem from the whitened, inner wall."
"" Caramba! Had I the knave, his neck would
crack for this! " growled the angry officer, scrubbing
away to wash off the offensive figure.
The American saw the picture, which was a draw



46


CUBA LIBRE.


ing of the Cuban flag, with its stripes alternating
blue and white, and its triangular red field with a
star in the center. Beneath was written: " Vive la
Cuba! "
Stevens turned to Don Manuel, who was white
with excitement. Hastily drawing the American
back in the grimy alcoba, he paced the echoing tiling a moment in silence, and then said:
" That is our flag, the banner of Cuba. Thousands
of my brothers have fallen to sustain it. Spain is
sending over her best soldiers to the island to prevent its recognition by the world. The Cortes at
Madrid have publicly stated that there is hardly
a regiment left in one hundred sent to devastate our
lands. Some daring wag probably traced the flag
on that wall, while our old pasadero was asleep. If
he were known it would cost him his life. But
every soul that saw it, save the cursed guardia civil,
loved it, shouted ' Vive la Cuba!' in his heart if
not with his voice, and prays God it may yet wave
over a free Cuban people-and it will! "
"Don Manuel, your utterances are dangerous."
"They may be, but a man with a heart as strong
as a hare prefers death to slavery."
"What is the history and meaning of the flag,
Don Manuel? I never saw it before."
"Oh! its history and meaning?  It was designed
by the Lopez Junta in 1868, and was first raised




AN EXCITING JOUR, EY.4.


47


by the brave Cespedes of Bayamo in October of
that year, with less than fifty men beneath it; but
by the middle of November there was an organized
army of twelve thousand behind it. They fought
like patriots, all the world knows. Next to your
own starry flag, it is the most beautiful of banners.
A red triangular field, whose base formed the extreme
width of the flag at the left end, was broken only
by a central white star, and its apex pierced the
second division of four stripes, alternately white
and blue. These four stripes represent the four
states on the island under the hoped-for Cuban Republic; the white stripes are the promise of peace
and  the unalterable purity of mo-     '
tive in the move-,E
ment; the stripes   i         ~.
of blue are sym-    {,
bolic of the ever-..., 
blue skies  above    '            t:",
Cuba; the triangle          - 11
was significant of -
the fact that the   q,c
members   of  the
Junta designing the  {        'Iff 
emblem   were all                tt
master masons; the.. r f -l 
red field reminds              t; 


"HAD I TIHE KNAVE, IIS NECK WOULD CRACK
'()ot  rII S. "




48


CUBA LIBRE.


us that liberty can only be bought by blood; and the
single white star is the universal and sacred pledge
that Cuba shall at last add another star to that
grand constellation of Statehood in your own country, the American union."
The guardia civil, having performed their noble
task of washing away the image of Cuba's ensign of
freedom, rode rapidly away. Perhaps the fact that
they were very near to the border of the insurgents'
district caused them to accelerate their speed.
At daybreak next morning, our travelers were
awakened by a loud thumping and hallooing at the
door of the old inn. Don Manuel sprang from his
bed, took one hasty glance from the balcony, and
then, in light attire, descended as precipitately as a
nimble sleep-walker to the court below.
The American, greatly fearing they had received
another visit from the guardia civil, dressed hurriedly
and carefully, and with a cocked revolver in his
hand crept to the balcony, to find his friend hilariously greeted and embraced by a party of mounted
yeomen who had just arrived. The newcomers were
armed with machetes, carbines, and pistols, as if for
brigandage or revolution, as the American could
dimly see through the half-night light in the narrow
calls beneath. By giving close attention to a few
hasty, low-spoken words, the American learned that
they were a party of Cuban insurrectionists, who,




*srlANPi BArCK! RlZERE COME8 StOMt ONES't








AN EXCITING JOURNEY.


49


having been informed of the presence of a band of
the guardia civil at the inn, had ridden all night to
capture them, but arrived too late.
Don Manuel saw that here was an opportunity to
reach the camp of the insurrectionists not to be let
pass. These men were a part of Colonel Marti's
command, and he determined to go back with them.
Horses were saddled, they paid their score, and in a
twinkling were alongside their new-found friends,
munching delicious oranges for their stomachs' sake
on their way through a grand old forest. The mahogany-trees in that part of the island grow to a
marvelous size. Along the southern coast some are
so large that it requires five men, finger-tips to tips,
to reach around one.
No doubt any stranger on so remarkable a journey
as the American was taking would fall upon conditions for observation and study of remote Cuban life
and characteristics, and to Stevens it was a delight.
He had never been far into the interior before, and
it was all new to him. There were twenty Cuban
patriots in the party, "mounted and armed with such
outrageous prodigality that therein seemed their chief
danger. Don Manuel, bright, intelligent, alert, with
all those quickened perceptions " which hope seemed
to inspire, talked cheerfully of the time when the
Cuban flag should wave over every city and fort of
the land.
4




50


CUBA LIBRE.


The Cuban cavalrymen were of all ages and complexions, but under the command of a smart, youthful lieutenant, who, tho young in years, was old in
experience. He had seen service since the beginning of the revolt, and was one of the thirty-five
left to General Agramonte when all others laid down
their arms in 1871. He was a native Cuban, but
there was no African or Indian blood in his veins.
He had one or two scars, the result of hand-to-hand
encounters with the Spanish soldiery.
There was little gaiety among the troopers
When night came, they camped near a mountain
stream in a small vale, covered with grass, surrounded
by a vast wall of forest. Surely there could not have
been a more secure hiding-place anywhere.  There
was little conversation. Sad-eyed and silent, the
men sat about their small camp-fires after the evening meal, scarce speaking a word, while the sentries
placed about the camp walked their beat in silence.
Sitting apart from the cavalrymen were Don
Manuel and the American. The latter was thinking
of his young wife and children far away, and speculating on the time when he should rejoin them;
while the Don was thinking how many dangers his
friend would yet have to run before he was again
safe on American soil.
"My heart is very heavy to-night, senor," said
the Don. " I feel a depression of spirits which I can




AN EXCITING JOURNEY.


51


not explain. Our forces, I fear, will meet reverses,
and, after all we have done and are doing, the
shackles will be tightened about Cuba."
"You are not superstitious, Don Manuel?" asked
the American.
"No, senor, I have never been accredited with
superstition; but when I have such vague, unaccountable depressions, or I might say impressions, I
fear they are not wholly groundless. But, after all,
I need not say the feeling of dread is not altogether
supernatural. A course of logical reasoning may
have brought me to the conclusion I have reached."
"What conclusion have you reached? "
"It is more a fear than a conclusion," said Don
Manuel. "I fear this revolt, like all that have preceded it, will end in the defeat of the Cubans and
the tightening of the chains."
"My dear friend, I hope you are taking a gloomier look at affairs than circumstances warrant."
"Breathe not a word of this to the men, for I
would not utter a discouraging thought that would
reach their ears. My friend, I fear you do not fully
realize your own danger. To reach the camp of
Jos6 Marti is easy, but to get back to the coast will
be exceedingly dangerous."
"I have considered all that, Don Manuel."
' Then let us get a little sleep, and trust in Heaven
'or aid to help us through these trials."




CHAPTER IV.


ONE MORE AMERICAN MARTYR.
LONG after he had rolled himself in his blanket
apon the ground to get a little repose did Stevens
lay thinking over all the Cuban had said. Occasionally he heaved a sigh as he reflected on the sad
condition of his wife and little ones should he fail to
return. There was one matter neglected for which
he could not but censure himself. His carelessness,
his forgetfulness, in the light of what might happen,
was almost criminal.
The camp-fires burned low, and the smoke, ascending in spiral columns, formed fantastic wreaths about
the grand old trees. The keen imagination of the
American peopled those wreaths of smoke with
strange beings. There were castles, pyramids, and
mountains that touched the sky, all waving and
changing with kaleidoscopic rapidity, until he saw,
as it were, a white-robed being, pale and bleeding,
floating off into space. The head rested on the
shoulder, and as the last faint glow from the dying
embers fell on the face, he started and almost




ONE MORE AMERICAN MARTYR.


53


shrieked out in alarm. He had gazed upon his own
features. In a moment it was gone, and he was
surrounded by the sleeping soldiers with the fireflies lighting up the vast old wood. He drew his
blanket over his head to shut out the visions of thl
night, and slept.
Day had dawned when he awoke, and the Cubans
were preparing their poor meal of baked yams, and
broiled steaks from a bull killed the day before.
The American arose, and, making his toilet at a
small mountain stream, joined the soldiers and Don
Manuel at the morning meal.
Several wild dogs of the species indigenous to
Cuba were seen wandering about the camp, no doubt
attracted by the odor of cooking meat. One of the
soldiers seized his carbine and cocked it to fire at
one, but at the command of his officer he laid the
gun upon the ground at his side.
Breakfast over, they saddled and mounted their
horses, breaking camp without any further ceremony.
This portion of the wilderness as yet had not known
civilization. There were none of the domestic animals, partially wild, which nevertheless cling on the
edges of civilization. Only the wolf and the jutia,
a small animal of the size of a muskrat, were seen
in the day's travel.
As they neared the district of the insurgents, civilization began to appear again. There were houses




54


CUBA LIBRE.


and fields, and they met armed bodies of men, always
on horseback, galloping over hills, evidently to hang
upon the flanks of the enemy. Before sunset they
had reached the camp of Col. Jos6 Marti. The colonel was not with his regiment, but would return to
it in the course of a day or so. A courier was sent
to inform him that his American friend and Don
Manuel were in camp.
Next day the colonel, a tall, graceful, handsome
gentleman, with a broad, high brow, came into camp.
His uniform was faded, and the metal scabbard that
contained his sword was dimmed by the rust of rains
and dews; but his eye was bright, and his step firm
and elastic.
"My friend, I am both glad and sorry to see
you," he said, taking the hand of the American.
"Why so, Colonel Marti? Does my coming embarrass you?" asked Stevens.
"Not in the way you think, seinor. The amount
I owe the firm of Parker & Stevens has been set
aside for them, and I am ready to deliver it at once;
but what does embarrass me is to know how you are
to get safely back to your country. It will never do
for you to return by way of Havana."
"I have my passport."
"Little good would that do you, seinor, if you
should be captured on the charge of filibustering or
joining or aiding the insurgent army. If it were




ONE MORE AMERICAN MARTYR.


55


known you had been here, had even talked with me
on a matter of business, it would cost you your life."
The American was by no means a timid man, and,
with the resolute determination of his race, he said:
" Other Americans have been here. You have fili.
bustering expeditions frequently, do you not?'
"Certainly."
" Then why can I not get off the island in one of
their vessels?"
"It is your only hope, seinor. I will send you to
the coast with an escort that is faithful and may be
trusted, and we will pray the saints to guard you."
The Cuban army, consisting of about fifteen thousand men, was scattered under the able commander,
General Agramonte, who fell a few weeks later at
the head of his command. It was the best policy to
keep the army scattered over as much territory as
possible, as they were better able to sustain themselves by foraging, and could strike more frequent
and telling blows at the enemy.
Stevens had been with Colonel Marti three days,
when the latter took him to the cloister of an olddeserted monastery. He raised a stone slab from
under the altar, disclosing a small aperture, in which
were some leather bags. The two were alone, and
the cloister, which was lighted by a single tallow
candle, giving forth a weird, flickering flame, had a
strange, ghostly appearance.




56


CUBA LIBRE.


"Here is the exact amount I owe you, sefier, in
gold. We will take and place it in the leather valise,
so you can carry it without arousing suspicion; and
the guard I send with you to the coast will be men
in whose hands you will be safe."
The money was removed, counted, found correct,
and placed in the strong leather bag. So far the
American had been successful, and, despite the fact
that he had been a victim to fits of melancholy, he
began to take courage.
"The battle is half won," he thought; "and once
out on the ocean, I am safe from the bloodhounds."
Don Manuel announced that he had come with
the full intention of joining the insurgents, and he
at once began organizing a new regiment from the
numerous raw recruits which had swarmed into the
camp.
The American found camp life in the Cuban army
very monotonous. There were quite a number of
his own countrymen in the army, and when these
learned that he was going to return to America, they
brought many letters for him to send home to relatives and friends. He placed these, with all the private papers he had brought, in the valuable leather bag.
Only a few of the members of the Cuban army
knew of the bag, and none save Col. Jos6 Marti had
any idea of its value. The colonel came to him one
day, and said:




ONE MORE AMERICAN MARTYR.


67


" Prepare to go, my dear friend. Much as I regret
to part from you, I can not but rejoice at the fact
that you are so soon to be back in your own country."
"When am I to take my departure, colonel? 
"This very night."
"Has the filibuster come?"
"Yes; she has been sighted off the coast, and tonight will land her arms and supplies, take you on
board, and sail back to the States."
Again the heart of the American beat high with
hope. He had taken a risk to gain what was justly
due him, but he would win. At home with his wife
and children, h3 could look back with pleasure on
the thrilling adventures and painful experiences in
the land struggling for freedom. The Cubans were
very kind to him. Don Manuel and Colonel Marti
never left off regretting that they were unable to
make his stay more pleasant. On his part, he expressed a hope in the strongest terms that their
island might sever itself from Spain, and that Col.
Jos6 Marti might return to his sugar- and Don Manuel to his coffee-plantation.
"Should we ever do so, we hope that we may revive the trade with you which was lost by the war,"
said the colonel.
"I have retired from business, but may resume as
soon as the war is ended," the American answered.




58


CUBA LIBRE.


Shortly after dark his two friends came for him,
and, with his treasure in the leather carpet-bag, so
closely packed with palm-leaves as not to jingle, he
started with them to the outer edge of the camp,
where half a dozen horsemen, under command of a
veteran officer, waited to escort him to the place of
embarkation. The leave-taking was very affecting,
for the men never expected to meet again. The
Spaniard is as emotional as the Frenchman. He
loves and hates with a fervor unknown to people of
Northern blood. The American was the beloved
friend of both Colonel Marti and Don Manuel, and
they warmly embraced him and silently sent up a
prayer to Heaven for his safe return.
Stevens mounted the same gallant steed which
he had ridden from Don Manuel's coffee-plantation,
and, with the valise on the pommel of his saddle,
galloped off into darkness, surrounded by his faithful guard.
Others had gone in the direction of the coast
ahead of him, to take off the contraband goods from
the vessel that was even then, with lights out, hovering along the dangerous coast, where no ship had
ever before thought of effecting a landing.
For a long distance they rode through the gloom
and darkness, the American unable to see even
the men who acted as guard. The night was favorable for the landing of the filibuster's cargo,




ONE MORE AMERICAN MARTYR.


for clouds obscured the sky and not a star was to be
seen.
At last the breeze from the sea reached them, and
they quickened their pace. They were halted by
sentries placed near the landing, and after a short
delay passed on. There were a few lanterns on the
top of one of those exceedingly high cliffs which
overlook some parts of the coast. Far below could
be heard the dash of waves, and a crane rigged on
the cliff showed how the goods were to be landed.
"Go carefully there, you are near the edge of the
cliff! " whispered one of the guides as the American,
alighting, started toward the verge of the precipice.
"I can see it now," he answered. Sitting on the
edge, with their feet hanging over, were half a dozen
Cubans, smoking and chattering, quite reckless of the
fact that, should they lose their balance, they would
fall five hundred feet into the sea.
With his precious leather bag at his side, Stevens
sat on the cliff, gazing hopelessly out across the dark
water, unable to see any object, and hearing only the
sullen roar of breakers far below. Suddenly, as he
looked, he descried on the water a flash-like light, as
if a small quantity of gunpowder had been burned.
"She is coming!"  The whisper ran around the
group of insurgents. There was a slight bustling
about, and an answering flash was sent from the men
on the height to their friends down upon the water.




60


CUBA LIBRE.


A few moments later, Stevens could see a light bobbing up and down on the wave, and the ponderous
crane swung out and the long cable began to unwind.
Tho none could see it, all knew that out there in
that rock-environed harbor a ship lay at anchor. A
few moments later another light bobbed on the water, then another, and another. Lively now worked
the crane. The thunder of the crank, the creaking
of the machinery, and the hoisting of boxes, barrels,
and bales took the place of the silence.  Negroes
hurried the arms, ammunition, and supplies back out
of the way, to prevent the workmen from being encumbered. Scarcely a word was spoken. The men
at the crane were guided only by a whistle in the
boat below.
" It will be some time, sefior, before you can get
away. You might sleep. I have a poncho, if you
wish to lie down," said one of the guard.
Mr. Stevens thanked him, and, with the bag for a
pillow, stretched himself on the poncho and fell into
a light doze, from which he was repeatedly awakened by the working of the crane. At last some
one touched his shoulder, and a low voice said:
"Sefior, they are ready for you to go down now."
The American started up and, glancing about, by
the light of the torches saw vast piles of boxes and
supplies. Instead of one crane, as he supposed, do



ONE MJORE AMERICAN MARTYR.


61


Mng all the work, there had been no less than four.
The flame from the torches gave a strange, ghoulish
glare to the faces of the native workmen.
He arose and found that in one of the cranes had
been fastened a basket-like seat, in which he was
soon tied. The leather bag was tied to it also.
Very strong and secure were the cords which bound
him to the wicker seat, so that, even should he lose
consciousness in the awful descent, he could not fall
from it.
When all was ready, his Cuban friends bade him
adieu, and, very much like a condemned man being
swung into eternity, the end of the crane swept him
out over the awful abyss, and he began to descend
with such marvelous rapidity as almost to take his
breath away.
Down, down, down, until he grew dizzy and faint.
Down, down, down, and still down, that enormous
cable lengthened out, until he asked himself if he
would ever reach the bottom. At last from far below he heard a voice say in English:
"Stand clear, here comes some one."
Then he saw the rays of a lantern and heard the
wash of waves near to him. He was seized and
pulled into a boat, released, and fell almost unconscious into the bottom. The boat then put out for
the ship, and the American and his leather bag were
scon on deck. The captain was a brave, kind-heart



62


CUBA LIBRE.


ed man-a lover of liberty, or he would not have
been engaged in furnishing supplies to the insurgents.
"Were you with the insurgents?" he asked.
"Yes, sir; but not one of them. A matter of
business took me to their camp, and if you will land
me in some American port you shall be remunerated."
"The White Cloud is a swift craft, sir, and if only
we can get sea-room and a fair chance, we will show
any Spanish cruiser afloat a clean pair of heels."
"Have you met any cruisers since you arrived in
Cuban waters? 
"Wasn't we chased twelve hours by the Tornado?
But we eluded her, have landed the goods, and if
she's not on the watch outside, we'll make it back to
the States.  Blockade-running is an easy matter
when one learns how to do it."
The captain of the White Cloud was a New Yorker named Clark, and a more daring filibuster never
ventured in sight of the Cuban shore. He showed
the American to the cabin which he was to occupy
during the voyage.
"How soon do you expect to reach the States?"
asked the American anxiously, as he placed the precious leather bag under his berth.
"If we have no bad luck, sir, we shall be in Tampa, Fla., in three days," the captain answered.




ONE MORE AMERICAN MARTYR.


63


In Tampa in three days! Then in two more he
would be able to reach Cincinnati, and be home with
his wife and children, whose faces seemed hourly to
draw nearer to him. Could it be possible that such
happiness was in store. It seemed he had been absent years, instead of weeks; but he began to breathe
easier, for he felt that his adventures were almost
over.
The boats that had been out came in and were
hoisted to their places on the davits; then the ship
got up anchor, and began stealing slowly and carefully out of the harbor. It was still dark, and Stevens, feeling a great sense of relief, and being quite
exhausted from the nervous strain, undressed and
turned into his bunk. The gentle undulation of the
waves and the low churning of the wheel soothed
him to sleep, and he dreamed of home and loved
ones, happiness and peace.
The hours went on, and he awoke to hear the
thundering of machinery, the excited cries of men
on deck, and the scampering of feet. Filled with
alarm, he leaped to his feet, hurriedly dressed, and
rushed out on deck. Little need to ask the cause
of the alarm, for he could see above the water's rim
a funnel, which momentarily grew into a Spanish
cruiser.
The American was very calm, tho he knew his
fate. The captain came near, and he asked:




64


4  UBA LIBRE.


"Captain, can you outsail her?"
"I don't know. The White Cloud's goin' with
a bone in her teeth; but that cruiser creeps upon us
in a way I don't like."
" Then what will you do? You won't surrender?"
"Surrender! No! We don't want to be hung at
the yard-arm. She watched us go into that port,
and lay outside to pounce on us. To surrender
would be death."
"But are you prepared to fight?"
"No. We would be blown out o' the water."
"Then, captain, may I ask what you intend doing? 
"Beat her time, if we can."
'But if you can't? "
"Then we'll beach the ship, take to the woods,
and trust to chance. See, the shore is only a few
miles on our larboard."
The captain hoped that by keeping up the present
rate of speed they would be able to reach some neutral point at least. There was, however, an expression of uneasiness on his stolid brow which augured
ill for the expedition.
The sun shone brightly in the sky, and climbed
higher as they crept farther and farther from the
Cuban shore. Stevens paced the deck nervously,
watching the face of the captain, which grew darker
and more despairing every moment.




ONE MORE AMERICAN MARTYR.           68
Suddenly a lookout forward cried:
What the devil is that? Another funnel!
The captain seized his glass and climbed to the
forward main-crosstrees, and gave the stranger a long
stare. He descended to the deck, and, approaching
his only passenger, said:
"Mr. Stevens, I am sorry to tell you my ship is
doomed, and there is nothing more to do save to
beach her and take to the woods."
"That vessel is another Spanish cruiser? 
"It is."
"Captain, since we are in such danger, I have a
secret to confide to you," said Mr. Stevens. " I have
in that bag eleven thousand dollars in gold, which
Senior Jose Marti owed our firm. I was sent to collect it, and hoped to get away. Now what can I
do with it?"
"Take the bag ashore and we will make a cache,
bury it, and you can come for it some other time."
"I have thought of that. It shall not fall into
the hands of the Spaniards."
At the tremendous rate of speed they were going
they had rapidly approached the last-discovered
steamer, and were now within range of her long
guns. Captain Clark knew he could outrun the Tornado, so he swung his ship about and started for the
distant Cuban shore, which lay like a cloud of mist
on his larboard.
5




66


CUBA LIBRE.


Fernando Stevens stood on the forward deck, gazing at the rapidly approaching cruiser. He saw a
puff of smoke suddenly curl up from her bow. Half
a minute later he heard a strange sound, and looking
upward, he saw a raging, baleful thing fly over the
forward deck of the White Cloud and plunge into
the sea, two hundred or more yards away, in a melee
of flame and spouting foam.
But the White Cloud proved more speedy than
this new enemy, and before many shots had been
fired was beyond her range.
"Mr. Stevens," said Captain Clark, "there is but
one thing to do, and that is beach her. I know this
coast better than any Spaniard who navigates, and I
will lead them a lively chase among the shoals and
hidden rocks."
"Maybe we can escape them in that manner."
"No; they will send in their infernal steam
launches, and lay out beyond the reefs to sink us as
we come out. We are not prepared to repel their
boarders, and captivity is death. Our only hope of
escape is in taking to the woods and abandoning the
ship, which I shall set on fire."
"And my bag of money? "
"Take it with you, by all means. We shall leave
no valuables that we can take with us."
The captain seized the wheel and directed the
course of the vessel as they approached the danger.




ONE MORE AMERICAN MARTYR.


67


ous shoals and reefs. His two pursuers kept hard in
his wake, one gaining on him very perceptibly, until
it approached too near the reefs, when it sent a shell
whizzing through the rigging.
The captain rang more steam, and the White
Cloud fairly flew between two dangerous rocks that
reared their blackened, weather-beaten heads above
the roaring surf, and sped straight toward the shore.
There was a sudden swell-the vessel struck; another swell-she floated, and struck again, this time to
stay fast among the rocks.
The engines slowed down and stopped altogether,
and the captain, leaping to the deck, ordered the
boats loaded. Meanwhile the mate had been busy
piling in such arms and valuables as they could
take with them.
"How is the coast? " asked the captain.
"Clear."
"No infernal Spanish cavalry or guerrillas? 
"Not one."
"Good! We may be able to join Agramonte and
ight for Cuba libre!  Come, boys, over into the
Doats quickly."  Then, going close to Stevens, he
whispered: "Have you the leather bag?"
"Yes, sir; safe in the boat."
"Climb down to it."
"What are you going to do?"
' Fire the vessel. I have knocked in the head of




68


CUBA LIBRE.


a barrel of kerosene, and a lighted match does the
work."
The crew, save six men, were in the boats, pulling
for shore, when suddenly the flames darted up from
the main hatchway in front of the cabin. The captain climbed nimbly down the ladder, dropped into
the boat, and cried:
"Now give way, lads, give way! There is no
prize for the Dons in that ship."
The sailors bent to their oars, and the boat seemed
almost to leap from the water as it skimmed along
the surf.
"Larboard!" cried the captain to the foremost
boat. "There's an inlet or mouth of a creek there."
The men were rowing for their lives, and the, 1 -.           boats flew into the inlet.
Mr.   Stevens
glanced back,
to see the
whole ship
a mass of
flames; then;/ \/       they sped up a
i///,/7 ~ ~-:creek, and sea,,-  coast,ship,and
pursuers were
-4'!  lost to sight.


A -,Ft -.- -   -,m-   -  r
TIrE CACHE WAS ON THE NORTI SIDE OF TIHE GREAT
STONE BEAt.




ONE MORE AMERICAN MARTYR.


69


For an hour they pursued the course of the
stream, then, abandoning their boats, decided to
march across the country to Camaguey.
The captain took Stevens aside, and said:
"You can't carry so much treasure as you have
about you, so I would advise you to cache it here.
The place is easily found. I know the distance
from the sea, for I surveyed the creek once for purposes of navigation. I will give you a description,
which you can write down and carry with you."
This seemed the only possible means of saving the
treasure, so they tied up the leather bag in a thick
sail, and with a shovel that chanced to be in one of
the boats buried it at the foot of a large stone
which, worn and beaten by time, had assumed the
form of a bear. The compass showed that the cache
was on the north side of the great stone bear, and
just beneath its right forepaw.
Mr. Stevens made a careful description of the spot,
and placed it in his pocket. Other valuables were
buried in the bag, but he took no heed of them.
The shovel was then thrown into the stream, and,
taking their arms, they started for Camaguey, the
distance to which they could hardly calculate.
Four days later a small party of wild-eyed, halffamished men were driven into the dense forest,
almost surrounded by a watchful enemy. Nearly
half their number had fallen or were captives. Cap



70


CUBA LIBRE.


tain Clark and Stevens, knowing their fate if captured, refused to surrender, and, half dead with fatigue and starvation, fought as they retreated toward
the mountains.
"It's no use, Mr. Stevens," said Captain Clark, as
he rammed the last cartridge into his gun; "we're
doomed."
The captain fired the contents of his gun, bringing
down an enemy, and next moment was struck down
with a bullet.
With his helpless wife and children constantly in
mind, Stevens, with the energy of despair, struggled
for his life as never did man before.
One by one his companions were shot down or
surrendered, until he alone wandered in the woods,
without ammunition to fight longer, half starved and
half crazed. In this helpless condition he was captured and taken to Santiago-that accursed spot
where so much innocent American blood has been
shed-and landed in prison. He asked to see the
American consul, but he was away on a pleasure excursion. When the consul came back he learned of
the American, and said he would see what could be
done; but delays and Spanish misrepresentations
prevented him from accomplishing anything. The
prisoner was not even permitted to write, and for a
long time his wife was unaware of his peril.
The end was just what might be expected. He




ONE MORE AMERICAN MARTYR.           71
was condemned after a year of miserable captivity;
and one beautiful morning, while the sun was still
kissing the dew on the green peak of San Juan, an
unfortunate man was led from the dungeon beneath
old Morro, out upon the ramparts of that grim and
antiquated old castle, his tall, manly form silhouetted
against thJ clear sky for a few seconds; then a rattle
of musketry, a last shriek, "Annie!' and the swift
plunge of a body down into the sea. One more innocent martyr to the cause of freedoml




CHAPTER V.


THE WIDOW'S STRUGGLE.
ANNIE STEVENS for months expected her husband's
return. The last letter she received from him was
dated at Havana, stating that he was going into the
interior to close up the business for which he came.
Her heart was sad, and yet she hoped against hope.
At last there came a report through the newspapers
of the arrest and incarceration of an American in the
dungeon at Santiago.
In her distress she asked the advice of a lawyer,
and he suggested that she inform the State Department. She did so, but the State Department promised everything, and finally did nothing. The case,
she was told, had been adjudicated by an admiralty
court and the prisoner condemned, as he was taken
with arms in his hands in the ranks of the insurgents.
She wrote to the consul at Santiago, but her letter
was misplaced, lost, and never answered. The real
fate of her husband was not known. After a year's
absence she donned the widow's weeds and mourned
him as dead.




THE WIDOW'S STRUGGLE.


78


None but the widow knows how hard her unfortunate lot. Friends who had been always ready to
praise in the days of prosperity, began to look with
coldness and suspicion on the family in their misfortune.
There was much speculation as to the fate of Mr.
Stevens. Was he really a filibuster, a3 the papers
stated and the State Department had asserted?
"What do you think about the story about Ferd
Stevens? " Jim Glass asked Judge Hawkins.
"I suppose it is true," the judge answered, while
he sucked at his cigar. "The State Department
would not have given it out, if it were not true."
The judge was a shrewd man, and thought it best
always to keep in line with the powers that be.
"Well, I would not have believed it of him. I
always thought Ferd an honest man."
"So did I; but we never know what one will do
when they get greedy for money."
"No, no. I am devilish sorry for Ferd. They
say he was shot. Well, too bad for the poor fellow.
He died owing me six dollars, but I have no doubt
that the widow will pay it."
"Oh, yes; Annie is an honest girl,' the old judge
remarked, "and she'll pay every dollar he owed.
I'm afraid it won't leave, her much, tho, for Stevens
was not as well fixed as people thought."
'No, he wasn't. He lid a great deal of splurgin'




74


CUBA LIBRE.


around, but didn't make such a monstrous big pile
at it."
The widow from the first began to economize.
Her husband had left some property, and had quite
a comfortable bank account. There was enough to
rear and educate her two children, and leave her a
small competency besides.
Her husband had been gone fully a year, and she
was mourning him as dead, when one day his former
partner, Mr. Joe Parker, called to see her.
"Have you heard anything from Ferd? " he asked.
"No," she answered, brushing a tear from the
corner of her eye.
"Is it true that you've given him up? " he asked.
"I have. I don't believe he is alive, or he would
have written me long ere this."
"Well, it's too bad, Annie; I am sorry for youvery sorry."
She looked very pretty as she sat in her widow's
weeds, gazing into vacancy. The children saw that
she was distressed, and came to her side as if to protect her with their puny hands.
Mr. Parker sat a long time, his brow contracted
and his features indicating a great mental struggle.
It was quite evident that there was something wear
ing heavily on the mind of Mr. Parker. Had he not.
been a man with a family, an onlooker might have
concluded, from his evident embarrassment, that he




ttE WIDOW'S STRUGGLE.


75


was about to propose to the widow. Tho the business he had in hand was not matrimony, it was
quite as embarrassing to Mr. Parker. After several
moments of awkward silence, which he made four or
five futile attempts to break, he at last cleared his
throat and said:
"Annie-ahem! Mrs. Stevens, I appreciate your
position and feelings, and have for a long time; but,
ahem! duty sometimes is painful, you know. With
all this load of sorrow on our hearts, we must go on,
you know; business will not let us weep when we
would."
The widow gave him an astonished look. He
met her gaze, and continued:
" I hardly know how to approach a subject of business that must be painful, but you know we must.
I beg pardon in advance for saying what I am going
to say-what I must say."
The widow fixed her sad blue eyes on him, and
asked:
"What are you going to say? 
"You remember that your husband and I were
engaged in business."
"Certainly, sir."
"It was very profitable to the firm."
"You closed it up, did you not? "
'Oh, yes, we closed out our business and severed
our partnership; but that did not end it all."




76


CUBA LIBRE.


Tbe widow felt a great lump on her heart.
Somehow the very presence of this man portended
evil. She sat gazing at him in speechless silence;
her face was a picture of anxiety pitiful to behold.
"You perhaps were told by your husband that he
borrowed of me ten thousand dollars to engage in the
business. In other words, I advanced the capital,
twenty thousand dollars, and he gave me his note
for ten, and was taken into full partnership."
"Yes, Mr. Parker, he told me all about that," Mrs.
Stevens answered.
"Did he ever tell you the note was paid? *
"No, sir. He told me he was going to pay it
when you settled up."
"Yes, so he told me," Mr. Parker answered, a little firmer and a little more easy. "But he did not
do it."
"Surely, he did.'
"Surely, you have no proof that he did. I have
the note uncanceled."
The widow was startled at the manner of the man.
She knew this was too serious a matter for jesting,
and yet it had never occurred to her mind that the
note was unpaid.
"Mr. Parker, there is something strange about
this," she declared. "My husband often mentioned
the note, and the last he said of it was that he in.
tended paying it when you settled.'




THE WIDOWS STRUGGLE.


7


I am not questioning his intentions, madam; but
the all-important question is, Did he do it? Now
if any one should know anything of the matter I
ought to, and I do know the note is in my possession with not a credit on it, save for interest up to
the time he left. There is one year's interest due
on it now."
The widow's face was filled with apprehension.
"How am I to meet it?" she cried, wringing her
hands.
"Madam, permit me to assure you that I feel for
you; indeed, madam, my heart is very sad "; and
Mr. Parker, by a superhuman effort, did work himself up to a degree of sympathy which was almost
genuine.  "But-you must excuse me, my dear
madam-you know, I live upon fixed rules of business. They are as unalterable as the laws governing
the planets. Disagreeable as it is, and much as it
wounds my heart that bleeds for you, duty is duty."
"Surely, there must be some mistake about this,
Mr. Parker? the widow sobbed.
" No, no; I wish there was;" and he seemed quite
heartbroken. "I am helpless. It is law-the inexorable, fixed, and unalterable law of business-which
drives me to this course, my dear madam. Ferd
was rather careless, and had a loose way of doing
business. Poor fellow! his intentions were all right,
but he was so wild and visionary that, to admit the




78


CUBA LIBRE.


truth, dear friend as he was to me, he was not a safe
partner. Now I have no doubt, not even the least
doubt, of his intentions to pay the note; but he
surely forgot all about it."
"But if he forgot it, what did he do with the
money set apart for it?"
"I have no doubt that you will find it invested in
some nook or corner of this great world. It will no
doubt turn up all right, and, I sincerely hope, with
a good profit. Now, tho this note has been long
since due, I am willing to extend the time a few
months, until you have a chance to look about you
and see what can be done."
The widow was so completely dazed and bewildered by this new calamity that she could make no
answer, and he left her shortly after.
Long she sat with her hands clasped, her eyes
turned upward, appealing to Heaven for aid, while
her two little boys stood at her side, mute with
amazement, not knowing to whom to look for vengeance. The mother at last awakened in a sort of
mental darkness, unable to realize her condition and
the calamity that had fallen upon her. She was
unwilling to impress the little ones with that awful,
crushing sense of despair which weighed like lead
upon her heart.
Mechanically she went about her daily duties.
The children were fed and put to bed as usual.




TIBE WIDOW'S STRUGGLE.


79


In the morning they were bathed, dressed, and fed
again, and then she tried hard to believe it all some
unpleasant dream. She left the children and went
to the bank to learn how her account stood.
"A trifle over six thousand, madam," the cashier
answered.
"I hoped it was more," she said, as she felt the
painful heart-throbs. Six thousand would not pay
eleven. She went to a real-estate agent to ask him
how much their real estate could be sold for.
"Well, that is difficult to say, Mrs. Stevens," the
bald-headed man answered, pressing his finger and
thumb on his smooth-shaven chin; "but you might
get six thousand for all three of the houses and lots."
Then all the cash and property together would
leave but little more than would pay the note and
interest  She realized that they were ruined.
In her distress she called upon Mr. Goodwin, the
lawyer, whose friendly counsel she had sought before, and laid the whole matter before him. He listened with growing interest, and at the conclusion
asked:
"Do you believe the note was paid? 
"I had no cause to believe otherwise until he told
me it was not."
"Does he solemnly assert it is unpaid? 
"He does.'
"Has he the note? 




so


CUBA LIBRE.


"He says he has."
"Have you seen it? "
"No, sir. I presume I could if I had asked him;
but his manner was so positive I could not doubt
him."
The lawyer's face was very grave, and he twirled
his mustache in silence, while his brow was gathered
into a mass of wrinkles. He had known Stevens,
and had always regarded him as an honest, upright,
and even a careful business man. He had known
that the note was given, but, like Mrs. Stevens, he
supposed it had been paid. The widow was first to
break the silence.
"Mr. Goodwin, did you close up the business of
Parker & Stevens?"
"No," he answered, still twisting his mustache
spitefully, as if he wanted to strangle it. "I was
persona non grata with Parker.  I once detected
him in what was really not legitimate business,
and we had some words; so when it came to winding up the business, he secured another lawyer.
Your husband wanted me, but he would not agree
to it."
"Surely there was something said to the lawyer,
before whom the business was transacted, about the
note."
"Undoubtedly."
"If it had been paid, he would surely know it."




THE WIDOW'S STRUGGLE.


81


"Yes; and I am strangely impressed that it was."
"Do you know the lawyer who settled the business for them?"
"Yes; it was James Miller.'
"Where is he?"
"Six months ago he went out West. To Denver,
I think."
" Can you find him, Mr. Goodwin? Can you learn
from him if anything was said about the note, and
if so, what was done?"
" Yes, Mrs. Stevens. I will try, and believe I will
succeed. At least I hope to do so."
She returned to her almost desolate home with a
faint hope in her breast. A great change had come
over Annie Stevens in the last few months. Her
deep blue eyes had lost much of their sparkling
beauty, the lines of care had begun to appear on her
face, and in her golden hair silver threads were to
be seen, even tho she was still youthful.
She still struggled to bear up under the trials
which threatened to overwhelm her. Three or four
weeks passed, and Mr. Goodwin called upon her.
A glance at his face told her there was little to hope
from him.
"Have you heard from Miller?" she asked, as
soon as he was seated. Tho she felt there was little
to hope for in the answer, she determined to know
the worst.
6




82


CUBA LIBRE.


"He is dead. He was killed in Denver in some
kind of a brawl."
The widow bowed her head meekly in submission
to the inevitable. Then, as a drowning person grasps
at a straw, she asked:
"Would his books, his papers, show anything of
the note? "
"No, Mrs. Stevens. I have had them searched,
but they show nothing," he answered. "I am sorry
I have no more cheerful intelligence for you; but it
is useless to hope for any aid from that source."
"Mr. Goodwin, what am I to do? The note will
sweep away every cent my husband left to support
us, and the children must be educated and we must
live. 
"I know of nothing save to appeal to the generosity of your creditor to leave you something. Parker
is a rich man, and most of his money was made by
your husband's management in the West Indies.
He should give you that note, for he has received
five times the amount in profits."
She knew how useless it was to appeal to the man
whose heart was so hard, and who was such a slave
to what he called duty to business.
Mr. Parker was now a banker; and at a time
when interest was high and the demands for money
great, his fortune increased rapidly.
She waited several days longer, until she had par.




THE WIDOW'S STRUGGLE.


88


tially regained her mental strength, and then went
to the banker. He was at the paying-teller's window when she entered, and recognized her with a
nod and a smile. Mr. Parker's sandy hair and
beard, hatchet face, and sharp nose were indicative
of shrewdness. He was a soft, easy, pleasant man,
who. like the spider, could coax the unsuspecting fly
to his web.
"Did you wish to speak with me? he asked, as
the widow stood before the window.
"Yes, sir."
"Just step into my private office "; and he went
around a number of clerks and bookkeepers, opened
a door, and let her into the interior, then conducted
her along a narrow corridor to his own office.
Mr. Parker was a thin, pale man, who could give
good advice by the hour, who even assumed a piety
that deceived many. He sat in a cane-bottom armchair, opposite the widow, to whom he had given
the rocker  His elbows were on the arms of the
chair, and his thin, hatchet face, with peaked beard,
turned toward her as he stared at her through his
spectacles.
"Well, Annie, what can I do for you?' he
asked.
Mr. Parker, I can not pay the note. It is utterly impossible. I supposed it was paid, and made no
provision for it. With my children to rear and




84


CUBA LIBRE


educate, it is impossible, and I have come to ask
mercy."
"Why, certainly, if you want more time I lliw
give it,' said the banker, a pious look on his
face.
"I do not want time, Mr. Parker. I want mercy.,
Time, with the accumulating interest, would only
make the debt greater; and unless you can take half
of it, and give up the note, I am ruined."
"My dear, good woman, you have no idea how
glad it would make my heart to do so; but you ask
an impossibility of me. You see, I am a plain business man. I have my partners and associates, who
share with me profit and loss. There are fixed and
unalterable rules which we must observe. Time
could possibly be extended to you, six months or a
year longer, if there was any hope ---
"There is none, sir; none."
"Have you no relatives or friends."
"My husband's people are not wealthy, and can
not aid me much-certainly can not advance ten
thousand dollars to me; and my nearest relative is
an uncle in Kentucky, who is only a small merchant
and has a large family."
"Well, well, if there is no help, my dear Mrs.
Stevens, why then it is my duty to myself, my family, and my associates in business to look after myself. I must do it.'




THE WIDOW'S STRUGGLE.


"You mean by that you will take my home from
me?"
"No, that is exempt in this State; but the other
property is not."
Annie Stevens, on whom it seemed as if the sun
of happiness would never cgain shine, went to her
husband's attorney and told him of the interview.
After meditating a few moments, he said:
"You have an uncle in Kentucky?"
"Yes, sir."
"You can save more in the money than you can
in real estate. Why not go to that uncle to live,
and take the money? Once in your possession and
out of the State, Parker can not touch it."
"Would that be honest? "
"On general principles, no; but in this case, yes.
To begin with, I don't believe his claim is just. I
have no evidence on               If..:
which to found that 
belief, but belief and
opinions are not always founded on evidence. We have intuitions   quite as
reliable as eyesight. 
Besides, we know from
good authority that
Joe Parker is a hypo- 


" 1' p NOT IWANT TIME, MR. PARKER. I WANT
McE&y.1"




86


CUBA LIBRE.


critical rascal, cunning and shrewd. If you can beat
him and save this money for your children, your
act will meet the approval of all right-minded men."
She decided to act upon it; but there was one
obstacle in the way. The money was deposited in
Mr. Parker's bank. Her lawyer thought if she presented a check for it before a judgment could be obtained or an execution issued, they would not dare
refuse to pay her.
She wrote to her uncle that very day, telling him
her condition and asking if he would give them a
home; but through some strange fatality Mr. Parker
learned that the widow was going to leave the State,
and he issued an attachment against her, garnished
the funds in the bank, and levied on all that belonged
to her husband.
Under the laws of the State, nothing was exempt
from an attachment when the debtor was about to
leave the State. In the cause for the attachment he
set up that Fernando Stevens, one of the defendants
in the suit, had absented himself from his usual
place of abode, so that personal service could not be
had on him. At the trial it was shown that there
was no evidence that Stevens was dead, and a strong
suspicion was advanced, by witnesses whom Mrs.
Stevens had never seen before, that she was going to
rejoin her husband, who had taken this plan to cheat
his creditors. The lawyer made it his chief plea at




THE WIDOW'S STRUGGLE.


87


the trial, and a jury held the attachment good; so
the widow's property was all swept away by the
kind-hearted Mr. Parker, who declared that it made
him weep to take it, but that he was a creature of
law-inexorable law.
Mrs. Stevens went to live at her uncle's house.
She secured the position as teacher in the village
school, and they got along much better than she had
hoped. Her children grew to be bright boys. Fernando, the eldest, never tired of listening to the tragic
story of his father's adventures, and in his young
heart he vowed to go to Cuba when he became a
man, and avenge his death.
Having completed his education at an early age,
he went to Louisville and engaged to work for a sugar importer. It was not strange that his occupation and the bent of his mind should lead him to
the very land where his father had so mysteriously
disappeared.
His brother George at an early age secured an appointment to the Naval Academy at Annapolis, and,
graduating, was commissioned a midshipman and
sent aboard one of the Pacific squadron.
Their widowed mother lived for her sons-her only
hope and joy of her life. Her husband's fate she
knew only from faint rumors and suspicions. Despite
great wrongs and sorrows, she still struggled on and
lived, the she felt her heart was half dead.




CHAPTER VI


A SCRAP OF CUBAN HISTORY.
TIHE Spanish-American Wai had been long expected. With Cuba, the largest and most beautiful
and productive isle of the West Indies, at our very
doors, enslaved, maltreated, bruised, and bleeding, it
was only natural that the American people should
be aroused. To Spain, the discoverer of the New
World, with all its riches and beauty, the New
World should have belonged, and would to-day but
for the cruelty of the discoverers and conquerors.
Scarcely did the Spaniards come to realize that a
continent existed across the ocean when hordes of
unscrupulous adventurers and robbers began to overrun the West Indies, South America, and Mexico
in search of gold, treasure, and honors.  Balboa,
Cortez, Pizarro, De Soto, and Velasquez were only
so many legalized freebooters sent to plunder, enslave, and murder the wretched inhabitants. Tho
men of great daring and capable of enduring wonderful hardships, their real object was blood and
plunder; and tho there were many patriotic mern




A SCRAP OF CUBAN HISTORT.


89


among them, whose intentions were good, the great
mass of Spanish conquerors were legalized brigands.
Religious fanaticism, cupidity, and avarice have
ever characterized the Spaniards in their dealings
with their possessions in America. In the first and
second volumes of this series, " Columbia " and " Estevan," the author has dealt fully with the discovery and conquest of the island of Cuba.
The history of Cuba is one long tale of oppression
and bloodshed, extending over a period of more than
four hundred years. Spanish rule, whether exercised
upon the aborigines, the blacks brought from Africa,
or the whites who drove out the original natives, has
been despotic and barbarous. One by one the vast
possessions of Spain on the Western hemisphere were
swept from her, till at last Cuba, the "Ever-faithful
Isle," and Puerto Rico, were all of importance that remained. It has been said that history repeats itself,
and a brief review of the affairs of the island of Cuba,
from the time of Columbus to the present, shows the
repetition to be continuous. Velasquez, the first conqueror of the island, darkened his conquest by burning Hatuey, a native chief, at the stake.*
Cuba is about 700 miles in length, and 22 miles
wide at its narrowest point. According to Humboldt,
the best authority, its superficial area is 43,000


* Estevan, " vol. ii., p. 58.




90


CUBA LIBRE.


square miles. Of the richness and beauty of its
climate, the reader can draw some conclusion from
the visit of the American, Mr. Stevens, to the interior. The island is said to be poor in everything
but soil, of which nature has blessed it with the
most productive in the world.
The island was at first considered in the light of a
military depot, and became the headquarters of the
Spanish in the Western hemisphere.   From  this
island the expeditions of Cortez, De Soto, Velasquez, and others were sent out for discovery and
conquest. Havana was made the capital about the
year 1589. At the same time the first Captain-General was appointed in the person of Juan de Tejada.
The office was maintained up to the war with America with a long succession of incumbents, retaining
substantially the same functions and the same almost
unlimited power.
It was the evident object of Spain to derive as
much revenue as possible from the island, and, with
few exceptions, every Captain-General, from Tejada
to Weyler, sought to enrich himself. No incumbent
could hope for a long term of office, hence took no
pains to study the good will or interests of the Cubans. The revenue must always be kept well up to
the standard set in the past, and the Captain-General
must at the same time get rich as speedily as possible. This state of affairs resulted in the greatest




A SCRAP OF CUBAN HISTORY.


91


amount of corruption, until there was scarcely an
official on the island, from Captain-General down to
the meanest subaltern, who was not tainted with it.
In the days before the slave trade was abolished, the
Captain-Generals connived at the illegal importation
of slaves, receiving for their silence a large percentage for every one landed on the island. The cheapness of labor enabled the planters to make great
earnings, and the home Government, which benefited
by the revenue, was interestedly blind to the traffic.
Even Don Luis de las Casas, one of the best CaptainGenerals the island has had, encouraged slavery.
During the administration of this man, whose memory is cherished with fond respect by the Cubans,
the Patriotic Society of Havana was formed, for the
purpose of diffusing education throughout the island and introducing a taste for classic literature.
Through the instrumentality of this generous Captain-General, the press was established in Havana for
the dissemination of knowledge.
The present century has seen many prominent
Spaniards holding the office of Captain-General.
Don Alejandro Ramires, one of the number, labored
to regulate the revenues and economical conditions
of the country, and called the attention of the Government to the improvement of the white population.  The most important concession obtained,
however-the freedom of commerce-was due to the




92


CUBA LIBRE.


expedition of Don Francisco de Aranjo, one of the
most illustrious names in Cuban annals, and one who
was, says Las Casas, "a jewel of priceless value to
the glory of the nation, a protector for Cuba, and an
accomplished statesman for the monarchy." Spanish historians mention many improvements which lie
brought about for the benefit of Cuba and Spain.
Another prominent figure in the history of Cuba
is Gen. Don Miguel Tacon, whose administration of
justice was proverbial, tho he ruled with an iron
hand. To the administration of Tacon the island
owed many of its reforms. Altho his stern, unbending will brought him enemies, he left his mark on
Cuba, not soon to be forgotten. He did much to
improve its physical condition, and many customs
introduced by him were still in vogue at the beginning of the last insurrection.
Aside from these two just rulers, Cuba was the
victim of the worst despots ever known. The rebellion in Cuba is not of recent origin. For nearly
eighty years the Cubans have been struggling to
throw off the Spanish yoke. From 1820 to 1830
there were frequent uprisings, and one of these occurred under the rule of Tacon. A volume on the
insurrections in Cuba would no doubt be as interesting as a novel, but we have only space for a briel
glance at them, dwelling only on those which have
to deal with this story.




A SCRAP OF CUBAN HISTORY.


9B


About 1850 the noted insurrectionist and filibuster, General Lopez, landed a force on the island
for the purpose of freeing Cuba from Spanish rule.
His force, which had been organized in the United
States, consisted of six hundred and fifty-two
men. In the beginning of July the vessels left New
Orleans, with orders to anchor at Coutoy, one of the
Mugeres Islands, off the coast of Yucatan. General
Lopez, after gaining information from a fisherman,
resolved to land at Cardenas, on the northern coast
of the island, one hundred and twenty miles east of
Havana. In a former volume we have given the details of this unfortunate expedition.* With this expedition was Arthur Stevens, the father of the unfortunate man whose history we have given.
In 1855, Don Ramon Pindo was put to death for
being the leader of a conspiracy to annex Cuba to
the United States. Don Julian Cadalso and Don
Nicholas Pinelo, who were engaged in the same conspiracy, were sentenced to imprisonment for life, and
many others were banished from the island.
The Spaniard pursued in Cuba the old colonial
policy which had lost him all his other possessions.
He was still a Pizarro in the Queen of the Antilles
-changing neither his habits nor his convictions
that the Spaniard alone was capable of governing.


* "Humbled Pride, " vol. xi., p. 419.




94


CUBA LIBRE.


While Spanish officials were well paid and content,
the grinding policy of Spain was ruinous to the common people.
The close proximity of Cuba to the United States
very naturally drew that Government into the quarrel between Spain and her revolted colony. The
education and traditions of the American people
naturally drove them to sympathize with their oppressed and downtrodden neighbors. Not only had
they cause to sympathize with Cubans, but American blood had been spilled by the Spaniards. The
tyranny of Spanish governors dated back to O'Reilly,
of Louisiana, and the insolence of the Spanish Dons
in Florida. In the Lopez expedition had perished
Col. W. L. Crittenden, the son of the AttorneyGeneral of the United States. Almost at our very
doors the most horrible barbarities were perpetrated.
The cries of suffering, helpless women and children
continuously reached our ears. Those who had been
taught Christianity, patriotism, and humanity found
their blood boiling at the indignities of Spain, and
appealed again and again to the statesmen in authority, but for a long time appealed in vain. The
old cry was: " The time will come; wait, wait! '
Thousands, who in youth found the blood of impatience racing through their veins, grew old and
feeble, grayhaired, and died, waiting, while thousands in Cuba died from want. The long-promised




A SCRAP OF CUBAN HISTORY.


succor from America, the land of the free, the Mecca
of the oppressed, came not.
Then came the uprising of October 10, 1868.
Charles M. de Cespedes, a lawyer of Bayamo and
one of the leaders of the movement in Eastern Cuba,
began the revolt at Yara, with not more than a hundred men, wretchedly armed, but thoroughly determined. He received instant support, however, and
quickly had raised his force to fifteen thousand. A
declaration of independence was issued, and a constitution framed, providing for a republican form of
government, with a chamber of representatives. The
constitution was proclaimed in April, 1869, at Guaimaro, where the chamber was organized, and at the
same time proceeded to act according to constitutional provision. Cespedes was elected president,
and Francis V. Aguilera vice-president, of the Republic of Cuba.
From the outbreak until the end of the year 1870,
the fortunes of war favored the Cubans in their
struggle for freedom  and self-government.  The
Spaniards were worsted in almost every battle,
driven to their fortified positions on the seaboard
and elsewhere; but the Cubans could not make
further headway from want of artillery and ammunition. During this period they received from their
agents abroad only a few thousand stands of arms,
and but a comparatively small supply of ammuni



96


CUBA LIBRE.


tion, while the enemy had his numerous troops
equipped with the best approved weapons of the
United States, and kept the island surrounded by
numerous war-vessels, of which the most efficient
to prevent any outside help from coming to the
struggling Cubans were thirty light-draft steam gunboats built in New York expressly for Spain, and
which kept inshore around Cuba.
The insurgents held their own throughout more
than half the island, their forces aggregating about
fifteen thousand able-bodied men. Out of that number, however, hardly one fifth were properly armed,
their arms and munitions having to a great extent
been taken from the enemy. Most of those who
were operating in the large district of Camagiiey,
in Central Cuba, despairing of war material from
abroad, signified to the enemy early in 1871 a readiness to lay down their arms, provided their lives
were spared. Being answered that on surrender they
would be pardoned, their surrender commenced at
once, and soon (eneral Agramonte, the Cuban commander-in-chief in Camagiiey, was left with thirtyfive men, who determined to remain in the field.
Among them was Colonel Marti, with whom Mr.
Stevens had had successful business dealings. When
General Agramonte was asked upon what he relied
to prosecute the campaign, he curtly answered, "On
dignity! 




A SCRAP OF CUBAN HIS'TORY.


97


Through his unremitting efforts he succeeded in
raising a fine body of cavalry, which restored Camagiey to the insurrectionists, and which rendered
otherwise excellent service, not only under his command, but also under the leadership of his successor.
Agramonte fell dead at the head of his troops at the
very moment of routing the enemy, after a protracted
engagement in the spring of 1873.
Such was the course of affairs in Central Cuba,
where fresh troops from Spain had been taking
the field to cover the heavy losses, and where
the Cubans had in turn suffered severely. Shortly
after the breaking out of the insurrection, the old
Spanish residents of the towns throughout the western department began to organize themselves into
battalions of volunteers, each battalion under the
command of a colonel (who in every instance happened to be a wealthy slave-trader), for the Havana
corps, which mustered about twenty thousand men.
The volunteers under arms in Western Cuba
preferred remaining at home for garrison duty,
however, while their companions of the regular
army were gallantly confronting the insurgents in
the field. Their first feat of arms at Havana was
to fire volley after volley upon the main entrance of
a theater and on the people as they came out at
the end of a play, performed, it was supposed, for
the benefit of the insurgents, the performers being
W




98


CUBA LIBRE.


Cubans. Many persons were killed and wounded.
Shortly afterward they fired into a saloon while out
on parade, and again killed several persons. Their
next assault was upon the residence of a prominent
Cuban gentleman, who fortunately was away at the
time on one of his sugar-estates.  But his rich
household goods were destroyed by the assailants.
Later on the volunteers deposed Captain Dulce
and constrained him to return to Spain, smarting
under the indignity offered him and the home Government, which had appointed him only a few
months previous to his deposition. The Govern.
ment put up with the outrage, which emboldened
the volunteers, who soon afterward deposed Brig.Gen. Lopez Pinto from the governorship of Matanzas, and began to turn out in force throughout
the country where many harmless people were
killed. Hundreds of Cubans were torn from their
families and shipped off by the Government under
volunteer escort to distant penal colonies in Spain.
Then ensued a greater outrage. In November, 1871,
forty-three medical students of the University of
Havana were arrested and subjected to trial by courtmartial at the suit of the volunteers. The cause
alleged therefor was that these boys, while at the
general cemetery, had scratched the glass plate of a
vault containing the remains of a volunteer. The
trial was conducted by an educated officer of the




A SCRAP OF CUBAN II1.STOAY.


99


Spanish army, and they were aquitted; but the
volunteers called upon the Captain-General for a new
trial by court-martial, composed of regular army and
volunteer officers. He complied with their wish by
ordering a court of five army and nine volunteer
captains and a major of the army to conduct the
prosecution under the presidency of an army colonel.
These officers, organized into a court-martial, soon
condemned eight of the unfortunate students to
death, while their remaining companions, with the
exception of four, who were condemned to imprisonment for six months, were consigned to hard
labor. On the following day, November 27, fifteen
thousand volunteers turned out under arms, and the
eight boys were shot by a detachment from that force.
This heinous crime produced general consternation
in Western Cuba, and great indignation throughout
the United States. The volunteers in Havana seem
to have been made up of the worst class of Spanish
citizens.  Of all the outrages perpetrated in that
district there was hnot one which could not be
directly or indirectly traced to them. These stayat-home soldiers possessed all the barbarity of
guerrillas, without the bravery or discipline of the
regulars, and every feeling of hatred or revenge
toward Americans was fomented by them, and every
demonstration organized and carried out by them.
From 1871 to 1873 the war continued with vary.




100


CUBA LIBRE.


ing success, but the star of hope, the sometimes
dim, did not go entirely out. The Freemasons in
Cuba were among the most active in their efforts to
liberate the island. It has been asserted by some
that to the Masonic order Cuba is indebted for her
freedom from Spain. Gen. Calixto Garcia was in
command in Eastern Cuba, and Agramonte in Camagiiey until the latter fell.
During the year 1873 the Cuban chamber deposed President Cespedes, who was succeeded by
Salvador Cisneros. Shortly after occurred the incident of the steamer Virginius,* at the thought of
which every American's cheek bums. The Yirginius
was a steamer owned by Americans, which had been
engaged by filibusters for the purpose of carrying
men, arms, and provisions to the Cuban insurgents.
Many of the prominent leaders of the insurrection
were on board, and they carried with them two thousand Remington rifles, a large supply of ammunition,
and a large stock of provisions. She had come within eighteen miles of the Cuban.coast on October 31,
1873, when she was sighted, six miles away, by the
Spanish cruiser Tornado, which immediately gave
chase. The Virginius at once changed her course
and headed for Jamaica, from which island she was
then distant about one hundred miles. Altho she


* "Union, " vol. xii., p. 454.




A SCRAP OF CUBAN HISTORY.


101


threw over a great portion of her cargo to lighten
her load and draw away from the Spanish vessel, the
latter rapidly gained on her, and she was brought up
at last by a couple of shots fired through her rigging.
Among the passengers on board the Virginius
were Gen. Oscar Varona, a Cuban officer of great
courage and considerable military skill, and William
A. C. Ryan, an ex-captain of the Union army, who
had attached himself to the cause of the Cuban insurgents in 1869, and risen to the rank of inspectorgeneral in that service. Ryan was a Canadian, about
thirty years of age. He had been educated at
Buffalo, and the fact that he had been honorably
discharged from the Federal army with the rank of
captain at the close of the Civil War put his American citizenship beyond question.
When it became apparent to all on board the
Virginius that capture was certain, General Varona
suggested that the Spaniards be permitted to come
on board; and when they took possession of the ship,
he would descend to the powder-magazine and blow
up the steamer with all on board. "This is a much
better fate than to fall into the hands of such a merciless foe as the Spaniards,' he declared.
Captain Fry in answer pointed to the Stars and
Stripes, under which he was sailing, and answered:
"With such protection they dare not harm us; besides, my papers are correct in every detail."  Ryan




102


CUBA LIBRE.


was not so sanguine, altho he united with the commander of the Virginius in opposing the desperate
intentions of Varona.
Two boats' crews were despatched from the Tornado, and a Spanish officer, coming aboard the
American steamer, ordered the Stars and Stripes to
be run down from the masthead and the Spanish ensign substituted. Captain Fry presented his papers
and challenged the officer to show any flaw in them.
"They are right in every particular," admitted the
officer; then thrust them into his pocket and headed
the steamer for Santiago. This port'was reached at
five o'clock on the evening of November 1, and proceedings were at once begun against the whole Virginius party as pirates.
All were condemned to death, and on November
4 the first four of the party were taken out and
shot. A naval court-martial was then organized to
try Captain Fry and his crew. The trial was short,
and the result was never in doubt. On November
7 the captain, the first mate, and thirty-four seamen were shot, the execution being attended by acts
of the most revolting inhumanity. The smoke from
the awful volley which rang out on the air had not
had time to pass away when a body of Spanish
cavalry galloped back and forth again and again over
the fallen bodies, some of which were still writhing
in the agonies of death, until the faces were crushed




A SCRAP OF CUBAN HISTORY.


108


beyond recognition by the iron shoes of the horses.
Some of the Americans shot may have been filibusters, but it has been well established that some were
innocent. One of these lived in Iowa and left a
wife and four little children.
In February, 1874, Cespedes, who from the time
of his deposition had retired to San Lorenzo, in the
mountains of Eastern Cuba, was surprised alone by a
detachment of the enemy, whom he confronted and
fought until he fell dead. HIe was a high-minded
and stout-hearted man, and had shown remarkable
executive abilities during the insurrection, but seldom agreed with the assembly that deposed him.
In 1874 fresh troops from Spain took the field by
thousands, the Spanish forces having sustained very
heavy losses the preceding year. Toward the close
of spring, 1875, owing to further losses in battle or
in hospitals from the effect of the climate, the remaining Spanish forces were compelled to fall back
upon their fortified positions. A lull ensued in the
insurrectionary districts, with the exception of Camagiiey and Eastern Cuba, where the insurgents
every now and then attacked Spanish columns that
were escorting heavy trains of war materials and
provisions, and generally captured the supplies
Partizan strife had arisen among the Cubans, however, altho the campaign was carried vigorously forward with varying fortunes on both sides until late




104


CUBA LIBRE.


in the spring of the following year, when the revolutionists were reduced to a force of scarcely five
thousand, scattered in bands of a few hundreds
each.
Even these scattered forces were enabled by their
mighty ally, the climate, to cause great loss to the
Spaniards by steadily harassing them. These losses
were, however, fully covered by the arrival from
Spain of twenty-five thousand fresh troops during
the following autumn, under the able leadership of
Gen. Martinez Campos, who had been appointed
some time before to the chief command of the Spanish forces in Cuba. The mode of warfare of the
Cubans was quite familiar to him, inasmuch as he
had fought them in the earlier years of the insurrection. He deployed his troops as he deemed best for
a decided campaign, and began vigorous operations.
His troops were frequently baffled in Eastern Cuba,
and continually harassed in Central Cuba, and his
losses were so great that in the spring of 1877 he
resorted to negotiations with the insurgent chieftains to bring the war to an end. Success re,
warded him, and early in 1878 an armistice was
agreed upon between the insurgents in Camagiiey
and the Spanish commander. Negotiation for peace
were entered into, and in February, 1878, every
insurgent had laid down his arms and peace reigned
throughout the island.




A SCRAP OF CUBAN HISTORY           105
The war had lasted ten years, and the Cubans and
Americans hoped that Spain had been taught a lesson
which she would remember; but, alas! so shortsighted is the vision of tyrants that they learn nothing even from experience.




CHAPTER Vii.


AT SANTIAGO.
THERE are two great rocks on the Cuban coast
which rise abruptly from the Caribbean Sea-that sea
of brilliant green waters and changing colors which
gives the most beautiful shells to the shore for toll,
and slips an arm between the great rocks that reluctantly draw apart for it, and stand like sentinels
of the ancient harbor of Santiago de Cuba. From
the brown rock on the right, the antique yellow
walls, the Moorish towers and parapets of Morro
Castle, had looked across the sea for over two centuries and a half. The mosses had grown over the
crumbling battlements, and wild ivy crept on the
queer little turrets and about the grated windows.
The day was warm, the sunbeams danced upon
the deep, and the gray lizards basked in the warm
light on the great flight of stone steps stretching
down to the water's edge, while nesting birds
gathered about the huge door or plumed themselves
upon the heavy guns pointing out to sea. Perhaps
not since the pirates swarmed along the coast, or




AT SANTIAGO.


107


met in their chosen and sheltered haunt of Guantanamo half a century before, had the drawbridge
over the deep moat been lifted. Those restless waves
eternally besieging the castle rock had tunneled a
great cave beneath the Morro, high, broad, deep, and
unexplored. Strange, wild stories were told of the
things hidden within the deep recesses, and of those
who used it in years gone by; and the veriest guajiro
knew well that he who attempted to penetrate its
secrets would never return.  Only the waves, murmuring as they go, creep into those black lofty portals and come back to the open sea.
Above the cave, out upon the ramparts of MIvorro,
many condemned patriots had been led, their forms
outlined against the clear sea sky as they stood
awaiting the end. A last cry of " Cuba Libre! " a rattle of musketry, and then the swift falling of bodies
down into the sea ended it all. Sometimes, as the
waters closed above the brave men giving their lives
for liberty, the fierce battling of monsters beneath
for their prey made the whole surface a sheet of foam.
It was a mild, delightful day, and sunny peace
seemed to have at last assumed sway over the strife
of man and elements. The sea was smooth and
glassy, and the wavelets gently lapped the stone
steps which came down to the water. A small boat
from the landlocked bay of Santiago drew near the
grim old pile, Morro Castle. There were but two




108


CUBA LIBRE.


occupants in the boat, a young man and a beautiful
Spanish girl, in whose great dark eyes there was a
singular melancholy.  She was young, not more
than fifteen or sixteen at most, yet in that genial
Southern clime beauty buds and blooms at an early
age, and she had all the grace and winsome ways of
a matured belle.
The boat glided to the steps and lay broadside to,
while the boatman shipped his oars, leaped lightly
out, and assisted his companion to land. Lightly
she tripped from the boat to the old moss-grown
steps, and there waited for her escort to make fast
the boat to the iron ring in the stone wall and join
her; then they slowly ascended the stone steps, he
supporting her by gently holding her arm.
A guard at the top of the landing challenged them,
but the young man had a passport signed by the
commandant, which he handed to the soldier. The
guard handed the pass to a soldier who came up at
this moment, and that functionary, after reading it
carefully, with some apparent reluctance told the
sentry they were to be permitted to go inside.
Having gained permission, the two entered the old
fort, where antiquated guns were mounted on ancient carriages, and gazed with the curiosity of tourists on the runway along which the ammunition
was to be brought in time of siege, without danger
from hostile fleets. There were deep dungeons and




AT SANTIAGO.


109


grated cells in which prisoners had lingered for
years. Grim, silent, and gloomy as death, without
hope, was that old castle.
The young man, about two-and-twenty years of
age, had the fair face and hair of the Anglo-Saxon,
while his companion, with the olive skin and sparkling eyes of the Latin race, was a brilliant and bewitching contrast. He was an American, and she
the daughter of a wealthy Cuban, a gentleman in
whose veins the bluest blood of old Castile had flowed.
Both spoke Spanish and English with equal fluency.
The look of fondness which the sunny-haired son of
the North bestowed on the brilliant olive-complexioned creature at his side was evidence that his heart
was stirred by more tender emotions than friendship
or brotherly sympathy. But notwithstanding that
these emotions were reciprocal, there was no lightness in the hearts of these young people, over whom
a strange melancholy seemed to have settled.
Accompanied by the sentry, they had traversed
many of the corridors and curious compartments of
the grim old castle, when they paused at the entrance to a long, narrow corridor, and, pointing down
to the steps that descended to some subterranean
apartment, asked if they might be permitted to visit
the " Dungeon del Diableto " (Dungeon of the Devil).
The guide gravely shook his head, and a look of
disappointment came over the faces of the young




110


CUBA LIBRE.


tourists, who had hoped to take a look into that
awful chamber in which so many hopes had been
forever buried. It was the cell of the condemned,
from which they only issued to die. The American
youth turned to the sad, disappointed face of his
beautiful companion, and, heaving a sigh, remarked:
"We had greatly hoped, seltor, that you would let
us have a peep into that famous dungeon of which
we have heard so much"; and as he spoke he carelessly took a handful of gold coin from his pocket,
clinking it very significantly.
The guard's eyes glistened at the sight of the
money; but tho he was avaricious and not morally
above bribery, he shook his head sternly and said:
"No, selfor, it can not be done. I love gold, but
what is gold to me without life? My orders are
strict, and violation of them is death."
The young American, finding it useless to offer
further inducements, turned to his pretty companion,
who fondly clung to his arm, gazing into his face
with longing eyes, and said: " Let us go above, where
the air is more pure."
Her silence was assent, and the two went to the
upper chamber, across the parapet and to the hillside beyond, which has since been torn and scarred
by shells from the war-ships of Sampson and Schley.
A few palms and coco-trees grew along the hill-side,
forming a delightful shade from the scorching rays




AT SANTIAGO.


111


of the sun, while a gentle breeze, blowing from the
deep blue sea,
fanned     and 
cooled  their 
heated  cheeks
as they wandercd      to a
large stone be-                     -4
neath a palm     Xl                    l   I
and   seated          ~                      i;^W
themselves. 
"It  is  u 
use, Viola," he
said, after they
had been seated
several   m oments, gazing
sadly  and si.
lently  at the 
murmuring sea....
"We have done                     _       <
all in our power
to gain admission, but are           'No, SENOR, IT CAN NOT BE DC
baffled."
The senorita's great dark eyes drooped in sorrow
as she answered:
"It is there, Hernando; I know it is there. My


)NA.19




112


CUBA LIBRE.


mother has often told me of that awful day when,
for the last time, she saw her father before he fell
from yonder cliff to feed the sharks, dying with the
name of Cuba on his lips. He gave her the paper I
have shown you, which is so full of mystery. If we
should tell the officers the secret of the loose stone in
the wall, they would be quick to investigate for themselves. When mother told me of it, and gave me
the paper, I promised her I would solve the mystery."
"Sh-h! not so loud, Viola, here comes a Spanish
officer. He is watching us, and we might say some.
thing that will let him into the secret we are to
guard with our lives."
The officer sauntered near tnem, walked to a distant seat, threw himself upon it, and lighted a
cigar. Hernando and his fair companion remained
silent until he rose and returned to the fort. Then
Hernando heaved a sigh and said:
" It seems useless for you to worry yourself about
this secret, Viola; it is certainly lost, hidden by
those surly guards, who permit no one to enter the
death-chamber."
Then the pretty face became pensive and sad, and
she was all unmindful of the zorale, that, buffoon
like, hopped near her, gazed at her comically, and
seemed trying in every possible way to make himself ludicrous.
A tear stole from the beautiful eye and trickled




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AT SANTIAGO.


113


down her cheek, as she said in her sweet, mellow
tongue:
"Mother was so anxious that I should some day
know it. She thought wealth was hidden by former
insurgents which this secret would reveal. She was
grandfather's only child, and when at the cathedral,
where he went to mass before he was executed, she
met him for a moment, he slipped the paper in her
hand and whispered that it was the key to the loose
stone in his prison where the secret would be found.
The writing on the paper was made with the end of
a pewter spoon, but mother traced the lines in indelible ink. Grandfather had only time to tell her
that a great wrong would be righted by finding the
secret, and was then dragged away. When the insurrection of 1868 was over, mother married my
father, once a wealthy Cuban gentleman. I was
born; my parents died six years ago, leaving me to
my aunt, with whom I have made my home, yet I
have clung to that paper and hoped to solve the secret.
Now there is another insurrection, and war again
devastates our beautiful land, and the secret is still
unknown."
Her companion heaved a sigh, and after a moment's silence said:
"I almost feel as if I could curse Santiago."
She quickly raised her beautiful eyes to his face
and gasped:
8




114


CUBA LIBRE.


"Sefior! 
He went on. "The name was the nightmare of
my early childhood. Tears and blood dimmed that
portion of my life that should have been brightest.
Here pirates used to hold revel after their bloody
expeditions; here the slaves were landed bound and
shackled, to curse their persecutors, first as their
slaves and later as their masters. But Santiago has
to me a double horror."
"Have you suffered from Spanish atrocity,
Senfor? " she asked in a whisper.
"Yes," he answered in a low, faint voice. "I can
hardly tell how much I have suffered; my young
life was clouded in such midnight gloom that all
the sweet happiness of childhood was lost to me.
I seemed old when still young; and all my thoughts
were those of a man.; The kind care of a Christian
mother failed to give me that spirit so essential to
happiness.  I could not forgive, and often in the
still watches of the night I cried out for vengeance."
"Vengeance! Against whom did you seek vengeance?"
"I do not know; some great tyrant who, like a
monster, came to deprive me of a father's wisdom
and protecting care. To make my mother a widow,
to rob her cheek of its youthful beauty, and cause
her to grow old before her time."
He paused. and nearly broke down in the earnest



AT SANTIAGO.


115


ness of his emotions; while his companion drew closer to him, and, laying her hand gently on his arm,
whispered:
"Has your life, like mine, been so sad? Tell me
your story, that I may sympathize with you."
"Viola, there is nothing in my life I need conceal.
My ancestors, who trace their generations back to
the steel-clad warriors who came with Columbus
from Spain, while never rich and great, have always
been honest and respectable. My father, Fernando
Stevens, or in your language Hernando Estevan,
early in life began importing from  Cuba.  His
partner was a Mr. Joseph Parker, a man whose
honesty I still doubt, tho I have no means to prove
my suspicions. One of their chief customers was
Jos6 Marti, the patriot and organizer. When the
insurrection of 1868 began, Jos6 Marti owed the
firm about eleven thousand dollars, which he would
have sent could he have done so. The firm closed
up business, and my father, having the utmost faith
in the honesty and integrity of Jos6 Marti, took the
debt at half price and agreed to collect it himselfc
It was late in the year 1872 that my father came to
Cuba. Aided by a friend Don Manuel, whom he
knew he could trust, he set out and found the camp
of Col. Jos6 Marti.
"The colonel paid him the money, and aided him
to get it aboard a filibustering ship, the White Cloud.




116


CUBA LIBRE.


The White Cloud was chased by two Spanish cruisers,
run into shore, beached, and destroyed.
"That much of the story is authentic; all the remainder is vague and uncertain. There is a faint
tradition that the crew and my father, who was the
only passenger, were driven into the wood, hunted
down by Spanish guerrillas and bloodhounds, and
slain. Another tradition says my father was imprisoned in this old castle for many years, and was
either shot with the unfortunate prisoners from the
Virginius or died of starvation and ill-treatment.
At any rate he died near here, that is certain, and
at the hands or by the acts of the Spaniards."
"Did you never learn what he did with the
money?"
"No; but the Spaniards no doubt got it."
"Perhaps Col. Jos6 Marti did not pay him."
"Yes; I have since met Colonel Marti and Don
Manuel, both of whom bear witness that the debt
was paid, and Colonel Marti has my father's receipt
given in his own hand."
There was silence for several moments, broken
only by the sweet trilling and merry chattering of
birds. After heaving a sigh, Fernando Stevens
went on:
"Misfortunes never come singly, and scarce had
my mother given up my father for dead ere a new
calamity came upon her. My father, in forming the




AT SANTIAGO.


117


partnership with Parker, gave him his note for ten
thousand dollars, and Parker furnished the cash for
the business, twenty thousand dollars. My mother
supposed the note had been paid, but it was not; and
Parker by some trick of the law took away all my
father had left, turned my mother out of doors with
her two little children to make her way in the world
or starve."
" Oh, what a monster!" cried the sefiorita, clasping
her hands in horror. She had had relatives butchered in cold blood, but she did not regard their executioners as bad as one who would turn a woman
and infant children out to starve. "I did not suppose you had such men in America."
" Yes, we have many great rascals there, as cruel
as your Spanish tyrants and hypocrites. They care
not to violate laws, but have laws made and interpreted by judges to suit their own ends. People
there suffer for bread as well as in Cuba and elsewhere."
"How did your mother live to rear her children?"
"Through the aid of friends and relatives; she
managed to secure a position in a school in Kentucky, where she taught, and thus earned a living.
My uncle secured a position for my brother in the
Naval Academy, and mother is now the matron for
an orphan asylum in Cincinnati, our former home.




118


CUBA LIBRE.


I became a merchant like my father, and like him a
trader in Cuba. No other country, no other place
would satisfy my ambition. For some reason which
I can not explain Cuba possesses a charm for me.
I was drawn as by a spell to this strange, beautiful
land where my poor father met his fate."
This is the story of Fernando Stevens told by
himself. Ile had succeeded in business until the
insurrection of 1894. It was at this time that Jos6
Marti, the friend of Fernando's father, formed the
Cuban revolutionary Junta in New York. To his
side came flocking the veterans of the Ten-Years'
War, Cuban exiles in Key West, Fla., New York,
Mexico, and the West Indies not belonging to Spain,
and even as far as Honduras and Venezuela. Long
before thte year 1894 the Junta had the moral support of thousands, all actively at work raising a war
fund.
At the same time the friends of the cause in the
island were gathering arms and ammunition, smuggling them in, or secretly purchasing them from the
Government. As early as January, 1894, a filibustering expedition, headed by Antonio Maceo and Jos6
Marti, was broken up at Fernandina, Fla. In February the leaders were heard from in San Domingo,
having gone thither to arrange further measures for
their friends in Cuba. Marti found Maximo Gomez,
the veteran of a dozen struggles and a brave and




AT SANTIAGO.


119


able soldier, and offered him the command and organization of the army. Gomez accepted, and began
at once to arrange his program.
It was agreed that on February 24, 1895, there
should be a general rising of the insurgents in all
six provinces of the island. In only three provinces,
however, was the flag of the republic raised, and in
only one was the aspect at all threatening. Disturbances were reported in Matanzas and Havana,
but they were soon put down by the capture of the
leaders and the dispersal of the forces. The leader
in Havana accepted a pardon from Governor-General
Calleja, and went back to his work as editor of a
newspaper in Havana.
In the Santiago district, which was thinly settled,
the revolutionary movement steadily gained ground.
The landing of a party of revolutionists from San
Domingo cheered the patriots, who welcomed them
warmly, being supplied with reenforcements wherever
they appeared. The Spanish Government professed
to be merely annoyed, nothing more, and pretended
to look on the patriots merely as brigands; but Calleja
became alarmed at last, when the determination of
the insurgents became known, and proclaimed martial law in Santiago and Matanzas, and sent forces
to both provinces. But he was able to put only
nine thousand men in the field, and had only seven
gun-boats for coast duty at his command. The com



120


CUBA LIBRE.


missary arrangements were miserable, and frequently
caused the interruption of important movements.
The insurgents were most ubiquitous, appearing here
and there without the slightest warning, making
raids on plantations which they plundered, and from
which they enticed away the laborers, disappearing
in the swamps, where pursuit was impossible, and
appearing again in a day or two in some unexpected
spot. In this manner they terrorized the loyalists
and ruined their prospects of raising a crop; and as
many depended solely upon the soil for their living, this method of warfare struck them a vital
blow.
The revolutionists met with many hindrances,
however. Many of the original enthusiasts abandoned the cause and accepted amnesty; the autonomists hindered the movement by their policy of doing nothing and waiting for self-government to come
to them; and in many cases mere brigands pushed
themselves to the front and displaced creditable
leaders, thus giving color to the stories circulated
in Havana that the insurrection was nothing but an
eruption of brigandage.
During the last days of March, 1895, Antonio
Maceo, with sixteen comrades, sailed from Costa
Rica and landed at Baracoa, on the eastern end of
the island. They were surprised by Spanish cavalry,
but kept up an intermittent fight for several hours,




AT SANTIAGO.


121


when Maceo managed to elude his enemies and
escape. After living in the woods for ten days,
making his way westward, he met a party of rebels,
was recognized, and welcomed with great enthusiasm.
He took command of the insurgents in the neighborhood, and recruits flocked to his standard. He engaged in several sharp encounters with the Spanish,
and did such effective service that the moral effect
was noticed immediately. He and his brother Jos4
were made generals.
About the middle of April Maximo Gomez and
Jos6 Marti landed from San Domingo at about the
same point where the Maceos had landed. For days
they were obliged to secrete themselves in a cave
on account of the Spanish pickets, but they finally
reached an insurgents' camp, and Gomez entered
upon his duties as commander-in-chief. The insurgents now had an experienced leader at their
head; reenforcements poured in, and they soon had
a force of six thousand men.
It was during the exciting incidents just narrated
that we find Fernando Stevens in Santiago. He had
been in the city several months, and as he spoke
French almost as fluently as Spanish, he had a
strong friend in the person of the French consul,
and was thought by many to be a Frenchman instead of an American. He fared much better than
the average American, and was given privileges




122


CUBA LIBRE.


denied to others. This enabled him to procure a
pass for himself and Viola Cespedes to Morro Castle,
or such parts of it as were open to the public.
A little explanation may be necessary here, that
the reader may know something of Viola Cespedes.
She was the granddaughter of a Cuban patriot who
had been executed twenty years before, during the
Ten-Years' War, and the grandniece of the first
president of the republic during that time.
She was living with her aunt when the young
American in Santiago was stricken down with fever
and sent to the hospital.  The good Sefora Cespedes
in her rounds of charity found the young stranger
raving in wild delirium, and got permission to remove him to her own house, where she could give
him better attention. She and her niece Viola devoted all their energies to the recovery of their patient, and it was during those delightful, half-dreamy
days, when he was awakening to real life, that Fernando learned to love Viola, and was never happy
save when her great dark eyes were bending over
him. He called for her when she was away; and
then when he was able to sit up, she brought her
guitar, and sang old Spanish songs in a voice so
sweet that he was charmed to health.
The result was just what might have been expected in a youth placed under such romantic circumstances, in the presence of such a delightful girl.




AT SANTIAGO.


123


He regained his health, but lost his heart. He was
in love, and was not slow to propose.
A girl of fifteen engaged, or even married, is not
uncommon in Cuba. His love was returned, and
they had been betrothed some time when they went
to the castle in the hope of solving the mystery to
which Viola's mother had given her the key.
The Spanish officer who had been watching them
came toward them, and in an angry manner demanded:
" Que hacen vosotros ustedes?"
" Seior Lieutenant, we are sightseeing, and from
this delightful spot we are admiring the sea," Fernando answered in Spanish.
"You hlave been here quite long enough. The
hour for visitors is passed, and you must go." As
he spoke, the fellow slapped his saber so savagely
that it rattled in its scabbard, causing the fair Viola
to cling closer to her lover, and murmur in her own
mellow tongue:
" Que haremos?"
"We will go." Then turning coldly on the savage officer, Fernando said: "Buenos dias tenga vd,
senor.
As proud and defiant as any battle-scarred warrior
of Spain, the youth, with the beautiful Spanish
maiden clinging tenderly to his arm, passed down
the path to the castle, and down the steps to where




124              CUBA LIBRE.
the boat was moored. He assisted her into it, unfastened the little craft, sprang in, seized the oars,
and glided back with the tide to Santiago, while the
suspicious Spaniard watched them from the rampart.




CHAPTER VII.


BUMBOAT KATE'S DAUGHTER.
THE morning sun was shining in all its brilliance
and splendnr on a picturesque and animated scene.
The smooth, glassy bay, with the shipping, like
paintings against the sky, the hills and the city in
the distance-all were picturesque and beautiful.
Mare Island, with its navy-yard, could be seen from
the deck of the American cruiser, one of the beautiful white squadron.
The ship, with her great and small guns, her rapidfirers, and her deck cov3red with bluejackets hurrying hither and thither in a way that seemed to lack
discipline, but which was the strictest discipline,
added beauty and animation to the morning picture.
There were landsmen, coal-passers, stokers, watertenders, machinists, sailors, marines, middies, en.
signs, and officers to the captain.
It was still early in the morning. Life on board
a man-of-war in time of peace is full of monotony.
At five o'clock the bugle sounds the reveille, then
all hands must turn out, dress themselves, and stow




1IQ


CUBA LIBRE.


away their bedding.  Within five minutes after
reveille every sailor fit for duty must be on deck.
Next he may have a bowl of c-ffue if h3 wishes, and
thirty minutes after reveille mu-t begin to scrub the
deck, which is kept up until s'ven, At seven all
hands are piped to breakfast.
The above routine had b-en gone through with
on board the cruiser, and the silors and officers were
taking the hour's rest before time for drill, gun practise, or whatever the executive officer might decide
upon.
A party of young officers, midshipmen, and ensigns, some in their first year's active servic? were
seated on the forward deck smoking pipes, spinning
yarns, and cracking jokes.
"What is that, Stevens, about your new sweetheart you found while on shore leave? asked one
of the young men of an officer, perhaps the young
est of all.
Stevens was only a midshipman yet, but he was a
splendid type of young manhood, and liked by all
who knew him. His superior officers were of the
opinion that Mr. Stevens would undoubtedly make
an able seaman; and who knew but that he might
in the distant future command a fleet?-a position to
which every young middy began to qspire so soon as
he received his commission from the Naval Academy.
If Midshipman Stevens was perhaps more dreamy,




BUMBOAT KATE'S DAUGHTER.


12


more romantic, and more retired than others, he was
not unpopular. His story was known to all, and its
very sadness seemed to endear him to them. Midshipman Stevens prized one memory more dearly than
any other; that memory was embodied in the word
"mother.'
"Whenever I am confronted by temptation, the
memory of my devoted mother, heroically struggling
to bring up her two sons to honorable manhood,
checks me," he declared.
" Well, Stevens, come now, tell us about your adventure," said the ensign, filling his pipe.
Gentlemen," said the young midshipman, there
are some matters not to be spoken of too lightly;
and while I have no objection to telling you of this
adventure, as you please to term it, I do not care to
have a jest made of it."
" A jest! Upon my soul, I was never more in earnest in my life," declared the ensign, puffing clouds
of smoke from his pipe, almost equal to the discharge
of a small gun.
"Is all the papers say true?" asked one.
"No. Reporters color everything, just as the
cook seasons the food to suit the appetite, I went
ashore to attend the ball given by some friends, and
was on my way back to the hotel when I saw a form
flit before me like a shadow and dart into an alley.
A second later, a great burly fellow, evidently a




128


CUBA LIBRE.


sailor, pursued her. He was calling to her in a
loud voice, using the most terrible threats and oaths
I ever heard. The momentary glance which I got
of them led me to believe she was a young girl not
exceeding twelve or fourteen years, and her pursuer
a man of fifty.
They had scarcely disappeared in the alley before
there came a wild shriek on the air, and-well, you
know what any of you would have done under the
circumstances. Before I knew what I was doing I
had knocked a man down who was brutally dragging
the child by her hair. I suppose I struck him rather
hard, gentlemen, and I am afraid I kicked him
several times after he fell; but it should be remembered that I was excited —
'You didn't kick him enough if you left life in
him," interrupted the indignant ensign.
You ought to have killed him outright," declared
a midshipman.
'Go on, and tell the rest of the story.'
'I took the poor, trembling child by the hand and
led her to the street. She was too much frightened
to speak. When I got her where the light of the
street lamp fell on her face, there was something in
her clustering hair and great, soft brown eyes which
strangely reminded me of Wordsworth's 'Little Cottage Girl.' I am sure no sweeter or fairer face ever
inspired poet to song. She was trembling like the




BUMBOAT KATE'S DAUGHTER.


129


captive fawn, and whispered in her pleading way:
'Don't let him take me. He will beat me, he will
kill me.'
"I told her that she need not fear, that I would
protect her. At that time the policeman came up
and began to inquire into the cause of the trouble.
He went into the alley where the child's pursuer
was just beginning to recover from the effects of the
blow and brought him to the street When asked
to explain why he had assaulted the child, he said
she was his daughter, and had left home."
"What did the girl answer to this?"
" She said he was her father, but that her father
and mother were separated, and she was living with
her mother. The mother, it seems, has been supporting herself and child, whil3 the husband and
father had been on a protracted spree  The mother
refused to let him come home, and he had tried to
kidnap his child in order to make her give him
money to continue his spree."
"Well, it was only justice you dealt out to him,
Stevens," declared the ensign. "Your hand is heavy
enough to do that, and I hope you did your best.
What became of the child and her father? "
'The father went to prison for disturbing the
peace, and the girl was permitted to return home."
' And that is all the story? 
"Yes, sir.'
9




130


CUBA LIBRE.


"What is the name of your heroine?"
"I don't know."
The young men roared, and the ensign gravely
remarked:
"That is a great oversight in you, Stevens. You
should have known the name of the young lady and
where she lived, for in the future there might have
been a decidedly romantic ending of this adventure."
"I have told you that sh3 is only a child. A very
remarkable child indeed, and no more like the brutal
man who claims to be her father than a dolphin is
like a sea-lion.'
One of the young men chanced to glance across
the bay that was glistening like crystal in the sunlight, and said:
There comes Bumboat Kate; now there will be
some fun, lads, for the executive officer is determined
to put an end to the rum traffic among the jackies."
The young men rose and watched the bumboat as
it glided nearer to the cruiser.
Bumboat Kate lived in Vallejo, across from the
Mare Island Navy-yard, and she had grown rich
bringing her wares off to the ships lying at the dockyards. She was an extortionate charger, but the
bluejackets stood for her heavy prices for the sake
of jeering her and listening to her apt repartee. She
could always get even with a bluejacket she didn't
like, and make him feel like r beach-comber when she




BUMBOAT KATE'S DAUGHTER.


131


got ready, and no sailor who had had one encounter
with her ever hankered for another experience. She
was a perfect termagant when her temper was roused,
and her cutting, biting sarcasm made even the officers quail.
The cruiser was anchored near the Mare Island
Navy-yard, and Kate was bumboating her. A number of the quarantined men, those deprived of shore
liberty and kept on board for misconduct, had been
getting rum in some way that puzzled the officers,
and turned up at quarters and drills in a very wabbly
state.
There was no accounting for the way they got
their liquor. The steam-cutter was overhauled every
time she came off to the ship, and all hands were
searched when they returned from liberty, but no
smuggled liquor was found, and the mystery grew
and deepened until the commander of the ship became almost desperate. Then it dawned upon the
chief officer's mind that Bumboat Kate was the rum
smuggler, and a secret investigation was started.
None but the officers were in the secret, except the
ensign who had charge of the investigation, and he
fastened the liquor smuggling on Kate beyond a
doubt, so the commander determined to brat, the
termagant and put an end to her bumboating the
ship.
Bumboat Kate was a woman of about forty years,




182


CUBA LIBRE.


with not unpleasant features, but strong and masculine in appearance. She had known all the hardships and toils of life, and had fought her own way
with adversity until she had won an independence
and notoriety at the same time. No one knew aught
of her private life, nor cared. She was a familiar
figure on board the cruiser, and with the sailors had
become a favorite.
The young gentlemen watching the approach of
the bumboat anticipated a scene; but as their chief
officer was to bear the brunt of it, there was lively
anticipation on every face.
"Hello! there's some one in the boat with her
besides the oarsmen,' said the ensign.
" Who do you make it out to be? 
The ensign raised his glass, and taking a long,
careful look said:
"It's a child I should think, or a woman. At
any rate, it is only a small personage."
George Stevens did not give much attention to
Bumboat Kate, for his mind was still fil;ed with the
beautiful child whom he had rescued, and whose
gentle, pleading eyes seemed to have burned into
his very soul.
He walked aft and stood just in the rear of the
great revolving turret, beneath a mammoth thirteeninch gun, gazing away at the bay and shipping. A
stormy scene was in anticipation, and as he had no




BUMBOAT KATE'S DAUGHTER.


188


love for discord, he preferred to be alone and let his
companions enjoy the old woman's rage.
The bumboat reached the cruiser, and Kate went
on board, taking with her a girl of twelve or thirteen
years, whose timid, modest, frightened face appealed
to the officers and sailors. Her hair was a mass of
golden ringlets, and her face was wondrous fair.
She was plainly tho neatly attired, and her refined,
gentle manner seemed to have nothing in common
with the gross old woman of the bumboat.
The commander of the cruiser sent for Kate as
soon as he learned she was on deck, and she, telling
the girl to remain near two large baskets, went to
his cabin.
Tired of gazing from aft the vessel, Midshipman
Stevens walked forward, and having gone around the
forward turret, came suddenly upon an object that
caused him to stop and utter an exclamation of
wonder. Before him stood the young girl whom he
had rescued from the ruffianly father but a few
nights before.
She recognized him despite tle fact that a uniform greatly changes the appearance of a man, and
confusion for a moment overwhelmed her. She
started toward her rescuer, then recoiled as if the act
was immodest, turning alternately crimson and pale.
He was first to recover his presence of mind, and
going to her, took her small hand in his own, saying:




184


CUBA LIBRE.


"I am glad to see you again. I had feared I
would never do so."
She glanced shyly into his youthful face, then
down at the deck, and at last, truthfulness overcoming modesty, whispered:
"I was afraid I would never see you.'
"Did you come in the bumboat?'
Yes, sir."
There was an humble, meek timidity in her an.
swer, touching to the young man who had all his
life known what poverty and suffering were. She
did not evince the shy timidity of the child accustomed to polite society, nor was there about her
the brazen indifference of a child of the streets.
Was it possible that the little maiden who had made
such an impression on his mind was related to the
old bumboat woman?
"What is your name?' he asked.
Hallie Norton.'
It was a pretty name, and she could have no possible relationship to the old woman accused of smuggling whisky to the sailors; but why had she come
with her? In a state of semi-bewilderment, he
asked:
Is this woman, Bumboat Kate, a relative?'
My mother,' she answered in her sweet, musical
voice.
Could it be possible, he thought, that nature




BUMBOAT KATE'S DAUGHTER      3


135


should make such a strange contrast? For a moment he was silent and shocked. It was not until
several glances from the soft, tender brown eyes had
won him back to the reality that he ventured to ask:
" Have you been annoyed any more by that man? "
"No, sir.'
"Who was he? 
"My father,' she answered sadly.
"Why did he attack you?'
"My mother sent me out to get some purchases,
and he wanted the money to buy drink. I would
not let him have it, and he chased me into the alley.'
Where is he now? '
In the city, but he will sail soon on his ship.
"Are your parents separated? " he asked.
"Yes, sir."
"Since when?"
"It has been three years. Father sometimes tries
to come home. He has threatened to take me away
from mother, and for fear he would do so, she brought
me on the bumboat. I did not want to come.'
The modest timidity, and the recollection of her
mother's calling, which was not such as a young
girl would be proud of, caused her cheek to flush.
She was very pretty in the eyes of the boyish midshipman. He took a step nearer, and, pressing her
little trembling hand in his, said:
"Hallie, I am glad you camel'




186


CUBA LABRE.


' Why? ' she asked, turning those soft brown eyes
upon him in wonder.
'I feared I would never see you again.'
'And did you ever want to see me again?' she
asked.
"I did. Surely I did. Your sad young life has
appealed to me in a way that interests me." The
young middy looked about to see if any of his
brother officers were near; but all had gone to enjoy
the row between the commanderand Bumboat Kate.
He offered her a steamer chair, took one near her,
and asked:
'Is your father a sailor?'
"Yes, sir. I never saw much of him, for he is
gone sometimes years at a time.'
'How long has your mother been bumboating? 
' Since I can remember. She had to make a living, and started a small store and a bumboat. I
usually stay in the store when not in school.'
Her language and manner indicated that she was
fairly well educated for her age. She told him that
her mother was going to send her to a boardingschool soon.
"Then I am going to be educated for a missionary," she said.
A missionary?' The incongruity of the thought
caused the middy to smile. Here was a woman
smuggling whisky to the marines in violation of law




BUMBOAT KATE'S DAUGHTER.


131


to procure money to educate her daughter for a
missionary.
"Have you really made up your mind to become
a missionary? he asked.
Yes, sir."
"What has led you to such a conclusion.'
"I arrived at it from a sense of right and duty,"
she answered in her simple, honest manner. " I feel
that I owe it as a duty first to enlighten myself, and
then to devote my life to enlighten the benighted."
It all seemed so strange to the midshipman, this
child reared in obscurity, poverty, and perhaps crime,
talking of carrying on the great work of redeeming
the world, that he could hardly believe his own ears.
He had accidentally touched upon the subject in
which she took most interest, and she talked as one
far beyond her years.
"It will be only three years longer until I shall
be far enough advanced to go into the mission-field.
I have graduated at the high school, and will enter
the training-school in a few weeks, finish up my
education, and get away to my work."
"Do you think you will like this sort of life?'
"Oh, yes, sir! Nothing else will suit me.'
"What mission-field do you suppose you will be
sent to? "
'I do not know, sir. I will cheerfully go wherever I am sent, and shall make no choice."




138


CUBA LIBRE.


"Does your mother approve of your accepting this
calling? 
She did not answer this question as readily as she
had the others, but after a moment said:
"Mother does not wholly approve it now, but she
does not oppose it as she did in the beginning. She
says I am too good to spend all my life in a junkshop or on a bumboat as she has done, and she does
not pretend to know what is for the best."
As they sat there side by side gazing upon the
ocean birds poising on white pinions above the
cruiser, strange thoughts came over his mind.
Wild, romantic ideas ran through his brain, filling
it with strange, impossible stories of one of better
birth being the supposed child of people of humbler
birth. It could not be that this gentle little being
was the offspring of that coarse woman who jollied
the sailors; who had made her fortune at trade a
part of which at least was questionable. But when
he asked her if she was certain that Bumboat Kate
was her real mother, she answered that there was no
doubt of it. She did not tell him what a kind
mother Bumboat Kate had always been, and how
she loved her, despite her coarseness.
One thing was quite apparent, that Bumboat Kate,
whatever her evil qualities might have been, had
shielded this gentle child from the fiercer blasts of
life's storm. If her own breast bad grown mascu



BUMBOAT KATE'S DAUGHTER.


139


line, and her manners hard and coarse in facing the
world's buffeting, Hallie had been heroically shielded.
All this the young midshipman thought as he sat
gazing into that sweet, innocent young face, and into
the depths of those soft brown eyes upon a soul that
had never entertained a thought not pure and holy.
Meanwhile, old Bumboat Kate was having a scene
with the commander of the cruiser. On her entering his cabin, he fixed his awful eyes upon her and
said: *
" Kate, you have been selling whisky to the boys."
"How do you know I have? she asked rather
defiantly, as she flounced herself down upon one of
the captain's easy-chairs and gave him an impudent
stare.
'I know it,' he answered with a firmness in his
voice that was always noticeable just before giving
the order to loose the heavy guns. " They are drunk
two thirds of the time, and my officers have watched
you and discovered that the jackies are always
drunker just after one of your visits than before.
Now, Kate, you can not bumboat this ship any more,
1 am going to issue an order that you shall not be
permitted on board at all."
The old woman's anger rose and her chin quivered
with uncontrollable rage. There was a fire kindling


* A true incident




1X4


CUBA LIBRE.


within. Bumboat Kate's nature was compounded
with the niter of irritability, the carbon of latent
passion, and the sulfur of rage, so that when the
captain's order, like a spark, ignited the compound,
there was an explosion which made even old Fighting Bob quake in his seat.
"Turn me away from yer boat, will ye, Bob Evans?
Think I don't know ye, hey? Bob Evans, hain't I
known ye since ye were a middy, afore the war, and
a nice chap you were too? Oh, ye needn't think,
now that ye've got a command, that I'm afraid o'
ye! Yes, I did sell the boys rum, and I got the
gold right here for it, Bob Evans," and she produced
from under her shawl a thick canvas bag filled with
gold, which she had made by selling the smuggled
rum to the quarantined bluejackets.
Then, after taking a single moment to breathe,
she began an invective tirade on Commander Evans.
He sat in his easy-chair in his cabin, twirling his
thumbs and taking in all she said. She started him
off as a middy and punctured his whole career. She
bombarded him for every year of his life with her
terrific tongue, and he sat smiling through it all.
She shook her fists frightfully close to his pleasant
face, and called him everything the English language could stand. Commander Evans took out his
penknife and began to pare his nails, and still the
old harridan went on. There was a grin of eminent




BUMBOAT KATE'S DAUGHTER


141


satisfaction on the face of Fighting Bob, but he
never tried to work in a word. After about fifteen
minutes' tirade the old woman wound up with a
withering peroration, and started for the cabin door.
"Oh, I say, Kate," said Evans, rising from his
comfortable chair, "you're not done already, I hope,
are you? Why, I thought you were a stayer. You
ought to be able to keep it going longer than this.
Oh, I say there, Kate —"
But the old woman, turning around at the cabin
door to shake her fist at him, bobbed out, called to
"Hallie," got her wares together, and pulled away
from the ship.
When she was gone Fighting Bob Evans strolled
out of his cabin with a grin on his face.
"She surely burnt you up, sir," said the marine
orderly, who, as an old timer, was privileged.
"Well, she's got a direct way of speaking, if that's
what you mean," replied Evans, the broad smile on
his good-natured face deepening.
Bumboat Kate was never permitted near the
cruiser again.  Days, weeks, months, and years
glided by; and while time softened the stern visage
of the mother in the memory of the midshipman,
the image of her beautiful daughter seemed so indelibly imprinted on his heart that it grew more
and more as the years rolled by.




CHAPTER IX.


FERNANDO'S ESCAPE.
THE baleful eyes of the Spanish officer watching
Fernando Stevens and Viola from the ramparts of
old Morro seemed to augur ill to the young American. Viola occasionally turned to cast a glance behind her, then hid her face in her hands and murmured:
"Oh, sefior, he means ill toward you!"
"Don't be alarmed about that surly fellow's looks,"
answered the brave young American, as he sent
their small craft up the harbor with the incoming
tide toward the ancient city of Santiago,
They reached the city, and after conducting Viola
to her home, the young American returned to the
Hotel Hispano Americano, where he met many
friends from his own country. The incidents of the
next few days were startling and disheartening to
all lovers of freedom, both Americans and Cubans,
On May 19, 1895, only a few days after the visit
to Morro, Jos6 Marti left Gomez and started for the
coast with the intention of returning to the United




FERNANDO'S ESCAPE.


143


States, where he meant to push forward the financial
and diplomatic work in behalf of the patriots. IHe
was led into an ambush by a treacherous guide and
killed.
Gomez was near enough to hear the firing, and,
alarmed for his friend, dashed forward to the rescue,
but arrived too late to save the life of Josd Marti.
A desperate hand-to-hand struggle ensued over the
body of the dead patriot. Gomez received a painful
wound and was obliged to retreat. Marti's body
was taken to Santiago, where the commandant ordered
it embalmed and buried.
The loss of Marti was a serious one, as he and his
associates had raised a million dollars for the Cuban
cause.
No one grieved the loss of the noble Marti more
than Fernando Stevens. Somehow he felt that with
his death went the last key that might unlock the
mystery enshrouding his father's fate. Jos6 Marti
had told him all he knew; but having been with the
American last, he had hoped he might at some time
come upon some clue. When the body of the dead
patriot was brought to Santiago, and lay in the great
cathedral, he went to gaze upon the face of his
friend.
As he stood over the pale, inanimate form, gazing
on that high, noble brow and those eyes closed forever, a tear stole down his cheek and dropped on the




144


CUBA LIBRE.


marble face. Fernando did not notice that venomous eyes watched him, reading every emotion.
Soon after the burial of Jos4 Marti, Spanish spies
and detectives began to work upon the supposed
young Frenchman. Developments were made that
were appalling to the Spanish authorities.
He was no Frenchman, but a hated Yankee pig,
and no doubt a spy. A secret society for the protection of the rights of Spain at once inaugurated
a plan for his capture and confinement in Morro
Castle.
One evening, while at the home of Viola's aunt, a
Cuban who was a friend of the American, with a
look of alarm on his face entered the casa.
"Sefior Estevan, you must leave the city this
night, or you will be dragged away to Morro and
your fate unknown."
"I do not understand you, seinor," returned Fernando. Then he and Viola drew near the Cuban,
who told them how he had learned through a spy
the intentions of the Spanish Protective Society. A
plan of escape to the camp of the insurgents, which
was his only hope, was laid. He was told that the
famous Cuban spy, the beautiful and daring Seniorita
Senada Morena, had been in the city and had herself planned his escape.
"Your luggage is already gone, see or, and you
must not be found after midnight."




FERNANDO'S ESCAPE.


145


To bid Viola adieu was no easy matter. The sad
fate of his father, more than a score of years before,
came to their minds, and despite all efforts at cheerfulness the dread of a repetition of the calamity was
heavy on their hearts. There were mutual pledges
of constancy, and promises that, come what might,
he would return for her, or she would rejoin him.
Then he hastened to his hotel, which he entered as
coolly as if nothing had happened. He greeted his
acquaintances with nods and smiles, and many a
" Buenos tardes," and " Como esta v? "
No one could detect the least excitement on the
part of the young American. At ten o'clock that
night he left the door of the Hotel Hispano Americano, walked eastward on the Matina Calle, passing
the Carcel, to the Placa de Armos, and stood on the
northeast corner of the square. The cathedral was
opposite. He waited on the corer until the cathedral clock struck the first quarter after ten. When
the last stroke sounded he walked southward. A
man dressed in light trousers, a dark coat, and a straw
hat stepped out of the Venus Caf6 about thirty paces
in front of him just as the sound ceased, and began
to walk.
The man walked with a quick step. After a short
distance he crossed the street and turned a corner.
Fernando crossed the street and turned the corner,
and took the opposite side. His guide turner into
10




146


CUBA LIBRE.


another street, and he did likewise. Again and
again they turned, each time taking the opposite side
of the street. The thoroughfares of Santiago were
dark, narrow, and muddy, and they had to cling to
the doorsteps, window-bars, and gas-pipes to keep
from slipping into the filth in the middle of the
street. Thus in a zigzag fashion the darker and
less frequented precincts of the city are reached.
The plans for evasion of Spanish detectives in
conveying him to the insurgents were carefully
arranged. The minutest detail had evidently been
carefully rehearsed, and fully twenty persons, at the
time wholly unknown to Fernando, were engaged in
aiding him to escape.
The man who was leading him was a resident of
Santiago, and the mere mention of his name at the
time in connection with Fernando's escape would
have made his life cheap. He stopped at the last
house in the outskirts of the city, struck a match,
lit a cigarette, and walked out into the road. The
night was so dark that Fernando had great difficulty
in following his silent guide. After they had proceeded some distance, he found it necessary to speak
to him, so, stepping forward as rapidly as he could
in the mud, he whispered:
"Keep your cigarette burning brighter."  The
guide drew more frequent whiffs, and kept waving
it to and fro. Before they had gone far on the road,




FERNANDO'S ESCAPE.


147


two more silent persons joined them, walking ahead
of the first guide in the same manner as he walked
ahead of Fernando.
Before a small adobe hut, which was hardly observable until the opening of a door let out a stray
glimmer of light, the leading guides stopped and
were joined by the one just ahead of the American,
and afterward by Stevens himself. All entered the
hut, which was dimly lighted and indescribably
bare. The floor was the unadorned earth, the walls
were of bamboo sticks and mud, and the roof of the
bark of palm-trees. The interior was but one of
many of those whose earnings have gone to maintain
an unjust government to oppress them. A whispered
conversation was carried on; and the guide told
Fernando that his light luggage had gone "under,"
and that everything was in readiness for his departure. They walked out of the hut into the road,
retraced their steps toward town for some fifty yards,
and entered another building, went out at the rear,
and walked about fifteen feet, when they came to a
barbed-wire fence; Here Fernando's faithful guide
bade him farewell, and the American placed himself
in the hands of three or four negroes who seemed
laboring under great excitement.  From this on,
until they were beyond the Spanish lines, not a word
was to be spoken, and the greatest despatch to be
employed. After a series of gestures, two negroes




{48


CUBA LIBRE


held ap the lowest wire, making a space between it
and the ground, and he crawled under it.
The next wires were held up by negroes lying
flat on their backs. Fernando tore the back of his
coat on the first, but soon learned that the best
method was to lie flat on the ground and roll his
body under. At one place he found two negroes
lying on the ground waiting for him, and learned
they had been lying there for half an hour before his
arrival, so as to make his departure from the camp
devoid of as much trouble and delay as possible.
While a certificate of American citizenship is a good
thing, it would not stop a Mauser ball in transit
and this he fully realized. Ite was breaking the
law of Spain, and so were his accomplices. But it
-  A....       was a    dark
night and the
chances of detection  n o t
one in three.
The barbedwire barricade
' Spanish Government had
put   around
the cities of
Cuba, to pre.


TWO NEGROES HELD
UP THE LOWEST
-cu-   WIRE.




FERNANDO'S ESCAPE.


149


vent the sudden approach of the enemy, all persons
were forbidden to cross. He noticed while crossing
under the wires that they were strung in zigzag
fashion.
When they had gone under the last wire he stood
erect, placing his hand in that of a negro with whom
he was to make a considerable distance. The guide
walked in a stooping position, and the American
did the same. After they had gone a short distance, the negro stopped and picked up a gun out
of the grass and weeds. For the first hour their
journey was over a country almost level. His guide
grasped his hand firmly and kept his eye on the
horizon. Once he stopped and cocked his gun, stole
cautiously around a small thicket, returned, and in
silence they resumed their journey."
As they traveled, the sky became clear and objects more distinct.  It had rained during the
afternoon, and the air was warm and sultry enough
to draw out a peculiar hot-house aroma from the
verdure. They went through great fields of swordpalms, and near the mountain, beneath tall palmtrees, the wind shook the rain down upon them.
The waving palm-leaves produced a peculiar effect
in the starlight, while the stars seemed to scintillate
with stringy forms, as if each was a small comet.
* Similar escapes under the Spanish barbed wire were fro
quently reported in the press.




150


CUBA LIBRE.


They had reached the foot of the mountain when
a silvery voice suddenly rang out on the night air:
" Quien ba! Arto! "
They came to a halt as there came the click of a
revolver. The negro quickly stopped with his companion, and answered in Spanish:
"Friend."
"Queen es ese, senor? "
" Americano."
The word had a magical effect, for the next moment a beautiful senorita, mounted on a snow-white
steed, rode from the chaparral into the opening.
She was graceful and ladylike in her bearing, but
a warrior. On her small head was jauntily set a
sombrero gathered up at the side, she wore the closefitting coat of a Cuban officer, and about her slender
waist was a belt which supported a brace of silvermounted revolvers.
"Senior Stevens, I have heard of you," she said in
English, as she drew rein in front of Fernando.
"My little friend Viola Cespedes told me of you."
"You are Seforita Senada Morena? " he asked.
She answered in the affirmative, and then uttering a low whistle, a second horse, saddled and bridled, but without a rider, trotted from the chaparral
and stood meek and obedient at her side.
"Mount, senor, for we have to ride far and furious to escape Spanish guerrillas."




FERNANDO 'S ESCAPE.


151


"Are you alone? "
"Si, senfor, but I am accustomed to long rides."
He sprang into the saddle, the negro murmured
"Buenos noches! " and disappeared, while the American and his fair guide galloped across the mountain
wilds.
Senada Morena had the most eventful career of
any woman in the Cuban war. She was the daughter of a wealthy Cuban who owned a palace in
Santiago and a fine plantation not far from the city.
Altho it was strongly believed that the rich old
Cuban had at least one son with the insurgents, he
managed in the beginning of the insurrection to steer
clear of all political troubles; but at last he was
accused of harboring the rebels. A body of Spanish soldiery appeared on the plantation suddenly,
and began shooting at all whom they saw, and
plundering the houses. In vain the old Cuban appealed to the officer in command. He turned a
deaf ear to the cries of the wounded negroes and
screams of the frightened women and children. A
brutal Spanish soldier shot the old Cuban dead on
the doorstep of his own home, and when Senada's
mother bent over her husband to whisper words of
consolation, another brute drove his bayonet through
her body. A married daughter with an infant in
her arms came upon the scene imploring the vandals to quit their murderous work and spare the




152


CUBA LIBRE.


women and children. Noticing that a soldier was
aiming a gun at her, she held up her child in the
belief that the inhuman wretch would respect its
innocence. Another fiend in human form placed a
pistol to the infant's head and blew out its brains.
Others came up and slashed the fainting mother with
their sabers.
Senada fled through a field of cane into the forest.
Aided by one of her father's servants, she reached a
camp of insurgents, where she told her horrifying
story, and induced them to organize a party to
avenge the murders. Maddened beyond all endurance, and burning to avenge the death of her people, she rode with the column of Cubans in pursuit
of the vandals. Never dreaming of danger, the
Spaniards were leisurely plundering the plantations
and murdering women and children, when the column of Cuban patriots led by the beautiful Senada
suddenly burst upon them like a thunderbolt. The
cowards turned to fly, but it was too late. With
the terrible cry of ' Cuba Libre! " the patriots dashed
down upon them, and amid a roar of carbine and
pistol shots rushed through the dense cloud of
smoke, and the deadly machete began its work.
But one man escaped, the brutal officer who led the
vandals. Senada rode in the thickest of the battle
where the bullets flew like hail, and cheered on her
brave friends.




FERNANDO'S ESCAPE.


158


A few days after the affair she reached the main
army, where she found her brother. After a consultation, they decided that it was safer for the young
girl to remain with the army.
"Yes," exclaimed Senada, "I shall stay with the
army, and I shall rejoice in the first opportunity to
show you that I know how to avenge the death of
my parents."
She did not have long to wait. When General
Garcia met the enemy at the Pacheco plantation,
Senada and her brother were with his column.
"We are about to engage the enemy," said her
brother, "and it is my wish, Senada, that you remain with the reserves out of reach of bullets.
You can show your patriotism by helping to care
for the wounded."
The young girl made no answer. When the battle opened she galloped among the troops wearing
the coat of a lieutenant. White plumes were
streaming from her hat, and she was shouting
"Cuba Libre! " and brandishing a machete over her
head. A wild cheer went up from the ranks, and
as the line plunged forward, the beautiful girl rode
with them.
"No wonder we beat them," said an old battle
scarred veteran. "Her presence was worth a regiment."
In the thick of the battle Senada saw the officer




154


CUBA LIBRE.


who had led the vandals against her father, and she
rode at him with her machete raised to strike,
crying: "There is the murderer!"
A young dragoon saved her from soiling her hands
with the rascal's blood by driving his saber through
the brute's body.
She seemed to bear a charmed life, for tho she
had had horses shot under her, and comrades had
fallen thick and fast about her, she escaped without
a scratch. As the enemy fled over the hills, the
Cubans cheered the brave girl. They called her
their "little general," "the white rose of the army,"
and "the good angel of Cuba."
Such was the history of the daring little seilorita
whom Fernando had for his guide. There was nothing of the amazon about her; on. the contrary, she
was refined and ladylike. She never discarded her
side saddle, nor permitted any hardship to become
an excuse for parting with her maidenly modesty.
She was well educated in both Spanish and English, and proved during that long night ride an excellent conversationalist.
What made her most dear to the heart of Fernando was the fact that she was the friend of his
Viola. Senada, appreciating the young man's feelings, never lost an opportunity to sound his sweetheart's praise.
When the delightful dawn broke they were far




FERNANDO'S ESCAPE.


155


away among the mountain wilds, and beyond, but a
few miles distant, rose the columns of smoke where
the Cuban army lay.
They met a small detachment of cavalry, who
conducted Fernando to a hacienda, where he was
told he could rest in perfect safety. His sweet,
tireless guide bade him " Buenos dias," and galloped
away on her snow-white steed. If he had not
given his heart wholly to Viola, there would have
been danger of his falling in love with this peerless
little horsewoman.
Late in the afternoon a squad of cavalry came to
conduct him to the Cuban camp. They were a sad,
humbled, but determined body of men.
An hour before sunset he was in the camp of
Gen. Calixto Garcia at Los Parras Holguin. Here
he was met by the brother of Senada, a young officer, who told him there were many Americans in
their army; that a regiment was almost entirely
made up of them.
"You must stay here to-night, and to-morrow we
will send you to the coast, where you can embark
on an English ship bound to Jamaica, and from
there reach your home."
He regretted to leave, for somehow he felt it his
duty to fight for Cuba Libre. The memory of his
mother, and the anxiety she had always felt when
he was in the tropics, combined with the awful mys



156


CUBA LIBRE.


tery which enshrouded his father's fate, alone prevented his joining the army of General Garcia.
Long he sat after the camp had settled down to
the repose of night, battling with himself over the
question. It was dark. The camp fires had smoldered into glowing cinders. The whole camp had
become reminiscent, and fifteen hundred of Garcia's
half -fatigued "maumbi" soldiers, after the hard
march of the day, had found solace in the soothing
evening shadows and the "pictures in the fire."
There were many heads drooping with exhaustion
and sorrow, with sad thoughts, and grave fears, and
doubtful hopes. There was many a sore limb, there
were many weak ones, and there were half-dead
men who were dragging themselves closer to the fire,
and spreading bony fingers over the flames to warm
their chilled blood.
Half an hour before, as he walked down the lines
and saw the fires burning brightly, steaming and
boiling pots, the blazes lighting up the faces of
the men that stirred them, he heard laughter and
jokes. The scene then looked like a midnight
open-air carnival. He could not then see the
sorrow and the suffering that were beneath those
faces. He had not heard the tales of anguish, the
stories of lost wives and children. They were suppressed.
There are stories of Cuban horror yet untold




FERNANDO'S ESCAPE.


157


which the world will never know. They were hidden within the remembrance of every one of thos3
men. It was hard for Fernando to think, as he
walked along the quartermaster's benches, that there
were bright homes that night, that there were children with clean faces, that there were lovable wives,
and dainty dishes, and that there were banquetboards where man could look into the face of man
without feeling the sorrows of lost homes, and
starving wives, and children growing up without
culture or occupation.
Taps at last sounded. The fires all smoldered
away, and the murmur of
voices became more subdued. Over in the "American colony," as the American filibusters called their
own section, there
was more life than
elsewhere. The fire
there was burning '


" SPREADING BONY
FINGERS OVER THE;,  FLAMES.




158


CUBA LIBRE.


brighter, and the hammocks swung among the
trees. Some fellow was telling his oft-repeated
story, much to the delight of the others; one was
mending his trousers, while occasionally here and
there a tired Yankee had fallen asleep.
Over at General Garcia's headquarters there
was greater quiet. The officers were asleep, and
the general was holding a low conference with
Ruiz. The fires were only red embers seen among
the trees. Those of the Americans flickered a
little longer; finally all faded away, and the tired
army was buried in slumber, and Fernando slept also.
The blue sky of yesterday on the mountain height
was an ashen gray before the advent of Aurora's
flaming steeds, and the morning air was cool. A
dampness was upon the hammocks. Spots of brown
ashes showed where the fires of last night had been;
a voice was heard here and there among the sleepers, and then the reveille sounded its stirring call.
The embers were raked into a heap, bits of dry
wood applied, and soon thin faint volumes of smoke
ascended skyward.
Breakfast was soon over, and Senada's brother,
approaching the American, said:
"We will set out soon for the coast. The vessel
is in that will take you to Jamaica."
"I almost feel it my duty to remain and fight for
the freedom of Cuba," he returned.




FERNANDO'S ESCAPE.             159
A look of pain swept over young Morena's face,
and sadly shaking his head he answered:
"No, no, sefior.  If you really have our cause at
heart you can do it more good in America than by
remaining here. We need food and arms now as
well as soldiers."
"I will devote my life to Cuba Libre,' he vowed
enthusiastically.
He reached the English vessel that day, and was
taken to Jamaica, from which place he reached his
native land.




CHAPTER X.


MORE OF MR. PARKER'S GENEROSITY.
IT was a cold morning in January, 1898. Mr.
Parker sat in his cozy office, which was kept at
summer heat by the radiator. Never was there a
more comfortable office, nora more comfortable man
than Mr. Parker.
He had aged somewhat since he dissolved partnership with Stevens, way back in 1872. His light
reddish hair and whiskers which covered the lower
part of his hatchet face were well sprinkled with
gray. His small eyes were partially hidden beneath
spectacles which age had compelled him to use, but
those eyes had not lost any of their shrewdness, nor
had his right hand forgot its cunning.
Mr. Parker had played his cards well in the great
game of life. He had acquired a reputation for
charity, and had given largely, but his gifts were as
bread cast upon the waters: they returned before
many days with ten-per-cent. interest. He never
gave unless it would in some way yield him a great
profit.




MORE OF MR. PARKER'S GENEROSITY. 161


If a poor congregation was struggling to build a
church, he would donate liberally, and get the custom of the entire congregation, the profits of which
soon repaid his donation with interest.
Mr. Parker had some enemies, who thought his
piety hypocrisy, his benevolence the snarl of a wolf,
and on them his "little ten-per-cent. smile was lost."
But Mr. Parker had thrived. He had become rich,
and his favor was courted by all who knew him or
desired his influence.
On this particular morning Mr. Parker looked decidedly comfortable as he watched the snow-flakes
fly before the windows of his neat, comfortable office.
He sat smiling and contented. Mr. Parker was
scrupulously temperate, and neither smoked nor
drank. No man could say aught against his character in respect to any of the small vices that work
the ruin of many really good men.
Before him lay a pile of papers which he had just
taken from the fire-proof vault, and he was examining them with the utmost care. They were mortgages, bonds, notes, and title deeds representing a
good-sized fortune in value. One by one he went
over the papers, murmuring softly to himself:
"This is very satisfactory, all very satisfactory.
Morgan wants an extension. Very good indeed.
The security is gilt-edge, and he shall have it.
Now, as to the matter of Bennet, he also needs an
11




162


CUBA LIBRE.


extension, and the dear fellow shall have it, by lap.
ping a trifle on interest, just a trifle. I do not want
much of a lap, just a little, six months or so. What
a great happiness it is to one to be able to accommodate his fellow man in distress. Verily, it is
more blessed to give than to receive, if you can
double your rate of interest for six months by doing
SO.'
Then as he took up another mortgage, a look very
much like a frown came over his features; but presently his face cleared a little and he said: "Well, it
is a small matter, only a trifle, and maybe the place
will sell for enough to repay me the principal part
of the interest."
Mr. Parker's desk was near the window, and he
could see people out upon the street as they hurried
by shivering and cold. Poor women with faded
shawls drawn close about their shivering forms, little children with benumbed and half-frozen fingers,
beggars and business men-all kept hurrying along
that January morning to keep their blood circulating.
"Poor devils, I pity them, and can't help it. I
don't know that I ought to, and yet it is my gentle
way, and I am not really responsible for it. Improvident and wasteful, no wonder they find themselves thrown out in the cold. When the weather
was fine they sang and danced like the cricket, while




MORE OF MR. PA RKER'S GENIEROSITY. 1t3


the ant laid by its store for winter hours; now the
ant is comfortable, and the poor cricket must shiver
all winter long."
There was a singular, self-approving smile on the
face of the banker as he watched the crowd go shivering by. Mr. Parker regarded himself as a very
shrewd man. Tracing his own career way back to
the very beginning, he had seldom made a bad deal.
He began a very poor young man. A school-teacher
at first, a clerk, then a government contractor during
the war. That was a time in which fortunes were
made. Some unscrupulous writers have termed the
men who made fortunes on government contracts as
robbers of the Government, but they were an envious
class.
After the war was over, and there were no more
lucrative contracts from the Government, he went
into business with Stevens. His part of that was
very satisfactory to himself.
"I wonder what the fate of Ferd Stevens was?
he asked himself on that cold January morning.
"Rather mysterious, I think. Would it not be
strange if after all these years he should turn up
alive? Like the prisoner of Chillon, that he was
kept in a dungeon foul; but nonsense, that is impossible. Now the widow Annie does not seem to
appreciate my friendship. I wonder why? It
could not have been because I collected the note




164


CUBA LJRRE.


That was a matter of principle which I could not
have shirked. It must be something else. Well,
it's too bad. The honest friendship of a man is
scorned. She is in the city now, or rather in a
suburb as the matron of some orphans' home. A
noble calling indeed. I can forgive Annie for all
the wrong she has done me in thought and even in
word, for she has some noble qualities, and her
sons-I remember them as bright little boys-are
now young men. The oldest, Fernando, like his
father, is engaged in a trade with Cuba, and the
youngest a sailor in the navy. Magnificent young
men, who are a pleasure to their mother, I hope.
Of course, with her prejudice against me, they will
never patronize me; but then I harbor no ill will
against them for that. It is glorious to be forgiving.'
A man, thinly clad, came slowly along the street,
his head bowed to the keen blasts of the wintry
wind. His poor blue hands were bare and so numb
with cold that they had almost lost their feeling.
Those hands were hardened with toil, and the face
was brown and weather-beaten from exposure.
Mr. Parker caught a glimpse of his face and remarked:
"Why, I believe it is Nathan Baker. It looks
very much like Nathan. Poor man; how my heart
bleeds for him. He must be very cold and very




MORE OF MR. PARKER'S GENEROSITY. 165


uncomfortable. I wonder if he won't come in and
warm himself? '
The mental interrogatory was quickly answered
by Nathan Baker entering the bank and inquiring
of a clerk for Mr. Parker. He was in his private
office over there, and the thinly clad, half-frozen
man went timidly toward the door, and tapped on it
with one bare, benumbed knuckle.
" Come in! " said a voice from within.
The door opened, and Nathan timidly entered.
"Good-morning, Nathan. Right sharp this morning, but it is healthy, and I hope you are enjoying
this weather. Have a seat and warm yourself.
Why, man, you should have heavier clothes than
you wear. Your health demands it."
"It's all right to talk about heavier clothes, Mr.
Parker," said Baker, shaking the snow from his coat,
"but when ye hain't got 'em, nor money to buy 'em,
what ye goin' to do?"
"You must make the money.'
"One can't lay up much on a dollar and a quarter
a day, when he's got a consumptive wife an' two
little children."
"How is your wife, Nathan?'
"Worse."
"Too bad, too bad; oh! my heart bleeds for you."
"She's down in bed now, an' I don't suppose
she'll ever get up. The doctors say its consump



166


CUBA LIBRE.


tion, an' I guess they know wht they are talkin'
about."
"Have you provided her with trained nurses, and
all the comforts that can be obtained for a sick
person?"
"I ain't got no nuss but myself."
"Why, sir, how can you be so neglectful? It
is a duty you owe to your wife to get the best medical skill, and the best trained nurses that can be
found —"
A look of painful indignation was on the face of
Mr. Parker, and he seemed as if he would annihilate the man before him as a culprit who should
be visited with the most condign punishment.
But the man who sat shivering and drying his
clothes before the register had no compunctions
of conscience on that score. He had done all he
could, and had reached that point in poverty and
hardship at which he was defiant.
"It's all very well to talk about trained nusses,
but when ye hain't got money to hire 'em, what ye
goin' to do? "
"But you have no right to get into a position in
which you can not afford such luxuries to a dying
wife. You should have worked while both were in
good health."
"Mr. Parker, I did work with all my strength,
an' my wife did also to buy our little home of




MORE OF MR. PARKER'S GENEROSITY. 16q


George Phipps. Now that we've bought it, an' she
gave her life for it, you tell us there is a mortgage
upon it; that we owe you eight hundred dollars."
" Certainly, certainly; don't the records say so? "
Nathan Baker was an honest, hard-working man,.
who knew little of the wiles and tricks of law,
which, intended for the protection of the weak, often
becomes a menace. He hesitated a moment and
said:
"George is gone, an' we don't know where he is.
He took all the money we had, an' wife got sick,
an' it took every dollar to keep her."
For the first time Mr. Parker grew stern, but it
was a sternness in the interest of humanity and
honesty.
"George Phipps is the rascal who swindled you,
Nathan. You should have gone to the records and
found out for yourself that the mortgage was satisfied."
This rebuke silenced Nathan for a moment. He
moved uneasily in his seat by the register, rubbed
his hard, rough hands together, and with his eyes
fixed steadily on them, stammered:
" I am only a plain, hard-working man, Mr. Parker.
It's very hard on me with a sick wife and two
children. I don't know nothin' about law and all
them things. I always mean what I say, and I
thought everybody else did."," Well they don't, nor half I" declared Mr. Parker.




168


CUBA LIBRE.


"You should know for yourself whether the title is
clear or not.'
"Didn't know he had a mortgage on it. He
showed me a deed. It was all right. I ain't smart,
Mr. Parker, like you, and ain't used to law and all
them things."
"Well it is high time you were getting used to
them, when you allow a man to swindle you out of
the earnings of a lifetime. But, Nathan, forgive
that harsh speech. It is not like one of my gentle
nature to utter such words. I intended them for
the rascal who swindled you. I am sorry for you,
very sorry, but I can't help you now. Had you
talked with me before you bought the place, I could
have advised you. But George Phipps is gone, and
gone where? 
"I don't know.   I reckon he's somewhar in
Eelynoy or Missouri, but I'll never find him.'
"No, and it's not worth while tryin' to look for
him. 
"I don't intend to, Mr. Parker.' Then he sat
silent for a long time. There was something bearing on his mind which he longed to relieve himself
of, but he dared not do so. The presence of the
great man who was so rich that no one could tell
what he was worth awed him to silence. At last
Mr. Parker, fishing about among a pile of papers,
held up one and said:




MORE OF MR. PARKER'S GENEROSITY. 169


"Here, Baker, is the mortgage. It is long past
due, and three years' interest on it."
"I know it, Mr. Parker, I know all that; but I
hain't got the money. We talked it all over last
night, an' she thought as how she's goin' to die
soon, an' we got nothin', an' you got so much,
you're so rich, you'd let us keep that little place."
As he finished, poor Baker turned his sad, appealing face toward Mr. Parker. That gentleman looked
shocked, and actually held up his hands in holy horror at the mere suggestion. He was so overcome
that for a moment he could not speak, but recovering himself, in a voice that was so sad that it almost melted one to tears, he said:
"Ah, my dear Baker, you do not know how happy
I would be to forgive you the debt; but you must
not forget that I am a business man, and wholly
controlled by business law, inexorable business law.
I would not, I could not under any circumstances
violate that law."
"I thought if we could get the place, I could
scratch around some way, ye know, an' make a livin'. But the children are babies, helpless little
things, they'll soon have no mother —"
"Sad, very sad," and Mr. Parker shook his head,
and his pale face, and small eyes that were set very
close together, looked serious.
Baker choked up and could not utter a word for




170


CUBA LIBRE.


several minutes. As soon as he could speak he
said:
"If we could stay there only until spring, we
might manage to shift then."
"But you are not able to pay the rent the place
will bring," said Mr. Parker. "Get cheaper quarters."
"It's small, Jbut it's comfortable. If we go out on
the flat, the winds ai 3 cold, and them houses ain't fit
for sick people, nor children.*
"I am very sorry, I am very sorry! declared
Mr. Parker, "but I can't help you, Nathan, I really
can't. I am compelled to follow the inexorable
law which is my master."
"Do we have to give it up?
"Yes, you must. It makes my heart bleed to
think of it, but you must." Nathan staggered
toward the door, and Mr. Parker called him back.
"Here is five dollars I give you, Nathan, to buy
some comforts for your wife, or pay a month's rent,
or pay for your moving. Take it, I bestow it freely,
and my heart bleeds for you. May Heaven deal
graciously with you."
For a moment Nathan Baker hesitated.     He
longed to hurl the money in the man's face and defy
him. But he was crushed and humbled. Poverty
curbs the proudest spirit and dulls the most cunning brain Had he been alone in the world with




MORE OF MR. PARKER'S GENEROSITY. 171


his two strong arms, he might easily have defied
the banker, but he had a helpless wife and two
helpless children. He thought of these dependent
ones, and then at the sacrifice of manhood took the
money.
" It's most as bad as stealin' it," he thought as he
walked slowly away from the banker's office. The
keen January wind was all unheeded, and with his
hands in his pocket, and his thin coat buttoned up,
he went home.
When he reached the neat little cottage which he
and his faithful wife had struggled so hard to purchase, he paused at the door to gain the mastery of
his feelings.
"It'll be a powerful blow to poor Mary. She was
so hope' up with the thought he'd be generous."
Then he tried to assume something like a cheerful
demeanor, but it was impossible to deceive the sharp
eyes of love.
It was very cold, and the children had been persuaded to lie in the bed until papa came home to
make a fire for them.
He went over and sat beside her bed, and took
her thin hand in his own almost frozen fingers.
"How cold your hands are," she whispered, for
she could not speak louder.
"They'll be warmer by and by."
Then he was silent. She drew the benumbed




172


CUBA LIBRE.


hand tenderly under the faded bed clothing to
warm it. He was undergoing a great struggle, and
dared not trust himself to speak. The children
peeped from under the covering, and wanted to
know if they could come out; but the father told
them to wait a little longer.
He had a little coal left, and, making a fire, proceeded to prepare dinner for the hungry little folks.
The room soon grew warm, and the children crept
from the bed to the floor to hunt up their poor doll
and cheap wagon. The father was cook as well as
housekeeper, and proceeded to lay the cloth and
carry the little mother's plate to her bedside.
When the table had been cleared away, he went
again to sit by the bedside and hold her hand in
his own. He knew she was going far away soon,
and he wanted to be at her side while she remained.
He never grew tired of feasting his eyes on that
face, which was so dear to him. He called the
children to his side and took them on his knee,
and they both listened to the sweet, innocent prattle,
trying to believe they were once more well, prosperous, and happy.
The evening wore on, and the little ones began to
yawn. Lady Emma's little curly head drooped first,
and then fell against the father's shoulder, which had
so far protected her from the cruel blasts of life's
storms; then Zeb grew unconscious, and the father




MORE OF MR. PARKER'S GENEROSITY. 173


rose and carried them to their little bed and covered
them up. Sweet, innocent childhood, unsuspicious
of danger or the deceptions and betrayals of life, the
little ones slept.
Nathan crept back to the bedside of his wife,
and once more took her thin hand in his. She
looked up in his face and whispered:
"What did he say?"
"He gave me five dollars."
"That was very good of him, and he will let us
stay here?"
"No," he answered slowly, with a choking sigh.
" Says he wishes he could, but he can't."
"Did you tell him all?"
"Yes."
It was several minutes before the dying woman
could venture to speak; then she whispered:
" If he would come here and see us he would not
turn us out in this bitter, cold weather."
"He won't come," Nathan answered, in a tone
which displayed more bitterness than he had shown
in all his discourse. "They don't never go themselves, but always send some one to do their work.
If they'd go themselves and know more about it,
they wouldn't be so hard on us."
"Why don't they? "
"They say they haven't got time; but it's to
keep from bein' annoyed. It's the law o' business.




174


CUBA LIBRE.


They all say they can't, for the law. Its inexoner.
able, an' they can't break anything that's inexonerable."
She did not speak for a long time, but lay with
her eyes closed, holding the hard, rough hand in
her gentle clasp of love. Their life-path had been
rugged from the very first. They had struggled
against adversity, and fought the wolf nobly from
their door. But the wolf was gaunt and strong, and
they grew weaker and weaker year after year. Misfortune after misfortune had overtaken them. The
work on which he had depended had stopped, and
he was out of employment for weeks at a time. He
sought other employment, but the panic of '93 had
prostrated all business, and he found it difficult to
secure employment sufficient to procure the necessaries of life; and then his wife fell ill, and he was
compelled to act as housekeeper and nurse.
The physicians were sure she could not recover,
for the symptoms were fatal. They told him so.
Nathan was manly, and bore the great blow without
A murmur. It was after she had been stricken that
they learned to their amazement that the little home
which they had purchased of George Phipps had a
mortgage on it, which Nathan now knew he could
not pay.  It is no wonder that he humbled his
pride and abandoned his independence to go to the
heartless man and implore a relinquishment of the




MORE OF MR. PARKER'S GENEROSITY. 175


debt. He had appealed, but appealed in vain, and
now he was helpless.
He gave his wife some quieting drops which the
kind doctor had left, and under their influence she
slept. Then he went and sat by the stove and
thought over the past, and tried hard to plan for the
dark future that was before him.
Away off somewhere he knew there was a race of
people struggling for liberty. He had heard the
sad story of Cuba, and he longed to aid the patriots;
but with his wife and children to care for, he could
not go away. Some one had told him they had no
cold and no consumption in that beautiful land, and
he wished he had his wife and children there.
What signify war and danger, what were bloodshed and horror compared to the dread cold and
hunger, and consumption, that was destroying the
life of the being so dear to him?
The fire burned low and went out, and still he
sat in the cold and thought. His reflections were
bitter, and his hopes few. In a few days at most
he must give up even this poor home, and then-he
dared not think any more.
The cold night wind shrieked about the house,
crept in through the cracks, rattled against the
windows, and ~ till Nathan moved not.






CHAPTER XI.
THE SINKING SHIP.
AFFAIRS in Cuba went steadily on from bad to
worse. The death of that splendid patriot and
soldier Josd Marti did not end the war. Fernando
Stevens had scarcely reached home when a letter
from Viola told him it would be dangerous for him
to venture on the island again. She wrote that she
and her aunt were closely guarded, and their escape
from Santiago was next to impossible. After this
no more letters came, and her fate was shrouded in
mystery.
In April, 1895, the Spanish Government raised an
army of 25,000 men. Martinez Campos came over
from Spain, arriving at Santiago April 16, and went
at once to Havana, where he relieved Calleza as
Captain-General. Campos at once inaugurated a
vigorous campaign. He divided the island into
zones, by a series of strongly guarded military lines
running north and south, so as to prevent the insurgents from joining forces, and finally to crowd them
to the eastern end of the island.




EXtlCUSt MP14 SiRf t Illl/r n rv RO I )RR  Tij\T THlE SHILP HArS Bro-4t ROIN0VX! LIrP
AND I S SINlNsI(,








THE SINKING SHIP.


177


But Gomez and Maceo proved too much for even
this veteran of the Ten-Years' War. They adopted
the only practical system of warfare by which they
could succeed. Gomez never attempted pitched
battles or sieges, but harassed the enemy in every
possible way, cutting off their convoys, picking
them off in detail, getting up night alarms, and
in every way annoying them. His seasoned, acclimated troops, familiar with the country in which
they operated, were more than a match for the
European troops. The fever was an able ally of the
Cubans, and the Spanish armies rapidly dwindled
away, notwithstanding that they were continually
recruited.
By the end of May, the rebels had more than
10,000 men, three fourths of whom were armed
with good rifles. It was estimated that in three
months the Spaniards had lost 200 officers and
5,000 men.
During the month of July Maceo gained some
signal victories in the province of Santiago, concentrated the forces in Holguin, and moved against
Bayamo, capturing one provision train after another
en route to that place. Campos took 1,500 men
with General Santocildes second in command, and
went to the relief of Bayamo. About the middle
of July he was attacked several miles from Bayamo
by Maceo with 2,700 rebels. He and his entire
12




I78


CUBA L1BRE.


staff narrowly escaped capture, and only the bravery
of General Santocildes averted the catastrophe. The
brave general lost his life, and the Spaniards were
forced to fly, after having fought for five hours, surrounded on all sides by the rebels. They finally
made their escape to Bayarno, their rear-guard covering the retreat with great difficulty. Only Maceo's
lack of artillery saved them. The Spanish loss was
7 officers and 119 men killed, and many more
wounded. The Cuban loss was nearly as great.
Maceo had, by a rapid flank movement, however,
captured the ammunition train, which was a rich
prize to him. Campos did not dare leave Bayamo
until reenforcements reached him.
The insurgents were continually gaining, and the
Spaniards losing ground. The latter were only safe
in strongly fortified and well-garrisoned towns,
where they could have the aid of Spanish war-ships.
The Cuban forces were continually increasing.
There were 30,000 in the field in September, and a
month later there were 25,000 in Santa Clara province alone. Gomez fought a two-days' battle, November 19 and 20, at Taguano, in which he gained
a decided advantage over Valdes, the Spanish general.
Before the end of the year Campo's campaign
was an admitted failure. His policy being toD
humane for the home Government, in 1896 he was




THE SINKING SHIP.


179


returned to Spain. Both sides now had in the field
three times as many men as during the Ten-Years'
War; the insurgent armies amounting to from 50,000 to 65,000, and the Government, including
60,000 volunteers, 200,000.
The campaign of 1896 was one of fire. The Cuban leaders laid waste all the plantations in their
march, in order to step production and commerce
and deprive the crown of revenues to fight them
with.
Valeriano Weyler, the new Captain-General, was
thus welcomed; smoking ruins being seen everywhere, while Gomez's guns gave him a thunderous
greeting almost at the gates of Havana. Maceo
next burst on Pinar del Rio like a tempest, and,
despite all the efforts of the enemy to drive him
out, remained in the province. In the latter part of
the year, however, he was led into an ambuscade
through the treachery of Dr. Zertucha and slain.
He was succeeded by General Ruiz Rivera.
The year 1897 was marked by the cruel policy of
Weyler, who had long been known as "the butcher."
His treatment of the pacificos was harsh and relentless to the last degree, and many of his orders
worked indescribable hardship and suffering. Selfaggrandizement, which had always been a marked
characteristic of the Cuban Captain-Generals, was
particularly noticeable in his case, and it is said




180


CUBA LIBRE.


with good authority that, during his short adminis.
tration of the affairs of the island, he acquired a
fortune of nearly two millions. Weyler's predecessors, who burned poor old Hatuey at the stake, were
more merciful than he. It is said he feasted and
banqueted his friends in the very midst of starving
thousands. The American people took up the subject, and began to demand some relief for the starving inhabitants of Cuba. The statesmen began to
look more seriously on the Cuban question than they
ever had before.
The treachery of Weyler with his foes, his barbarous treatment of the innocent, and his self-laudation, all comported with the cowardly wretch that
he was. He deceived not only the enemy, but his
own Government. Being reckless of the truth, his
defeats were reported as victories. Every time his
scouting parties were chased back to the fortified
towns by the insurgents, he reported'the incident to
the home Government as a great victory.
Gomez-that noble old hero, the Washington of
Cuba-fought the best-equipped, armed, and trained
troops of Spain with poorly fed, poorly equipped,
and half-naked men and boys. Never since the
Revolutionary War had such heroism  and selfish
devotion to country been displayed. Weyler, finding
himself unable to conquer the aged patriot, sought to
bribe him, but Gomez was above bribery. He wept




THE SINKING SHIP.


181


over his dead, and fought for his living. His halfstarved army, often compelled to seek concealment
in the mountains and caverns, always appeared at
the opportune moment to strike the enemy hard and
fast, and drive them back to their fortified towns.
On March 4, 1897, Grover Cleveland's second
term as President of the United States expired, and
William McKinley was inaugurated. It was hoped
by all the friends of suffering Cuba that the newly
inaugurated President would take some immediate
steps to alleviate the suffering at our very door.
Weyler was at that time in the very height of his
career of oppression and starvation. The Republicans in their platform of 1896, through the press
and on the stump, had promised that Cuba should
not be neglected. The platform declared that "the
Government of the United States should actually use
its influence and good offices to restore peace, and
give independence to the island."
President McKinley sought by every means in
his power to bring about the salvation of Cuba without plunging the United States into war with Spain,
and but for the treachery and stubbornness of the
Spaniards themselves, he might have accomplished
this result. The Spanish minister at Washington,
after a deliberate insult to the President, was recalled, and Sefor Polo sent in his stead. While
Seinor Polo was more cautious than his predecessor,




182


CUBA LIBRE.


he was fully as treacherous and as suspicious of
America.
The American Government had in the mean while
expressed through official channels its displeasure at
the course of General Weyler in Cuba, and he was
supplanted by General Blanco, who came with offers
of autonomy to the insurgents. Spain asked for
more time to try her plan of autonomy, and the
United States was given permission to feed the
starving reconcentrados. Congress made an appropriation to feed the starving, and there were in addition a great many donations from the citizens of
America.
General Blanco, who succeeded Weyler, was a
less bloodthirsty man than his predecessor, but
showed no greater ability to put down the insurrection, and matters went on very much as before.
Up to February, 1898, the United States Government had not interfered with Cuban matters, except
by diplomatic representation, and as Spain had
abolished many of the cruel orders of Weyler,
adopted a plan of autonomy, and given permission
to feed the starving pacificos, it looked as if the
storm would blow over, notwithstanding the American people were roused to the highest pitch of excitement, and only a spark was necessary to kindle
the smoldering mass into an unquenchable flame.
That spark was suddenly applied.




THE SINKING SHIP.


188


The American Government had deemed it best to
send one of its battle-ships to Cuban waters, presumably on a friendly visit, but probably to look after
the cargoes of provisions which Congress had voted
for the reconcentrados. The Maine, a second-class
battle-ship, commanded by Captain Sigsbee, an able
seaman and brave commander, was sent on this
important mission.
On his arrival at Havana, Captain Sigsbee was
visited by Consul-General Lee, in whose company
he called upon Captain-General Blanco, the governor of the island. On entering the harbor the
Maine was ordered by the Spanish authorities to be
anchored at "buoy number 4," where the beautiful
ship lay in apparent safety from harm.
Havana was quiet and peaceful on that fatal
night, February 15, 1898. The Spanish war-ship
Alfonso XII. and the Ward Line steamer City of
Wacshington were but a short distance away.
All was quiet on board the Maine. Men and
officers, save the captain and those on duty, were
below, when about twenty minutes before ten there
was heard a tremendous explosion, and almost immediately the sky was illuminated with a lurid glare,
and the air filled with flame and smoke.
At the time of the explosion, Captain Sigsbee was
in his cabin. He had just finished a letter to his
family when the tremendous crash came. The ship




184


CUBA LIBRE.


lurched heavily to port, and he knew in an instant
what it meant-that his ship had been blown up.
All the cabin lights had been put out, and the captain groped his way out of his apartment. He met
his orderly, Bill Anthony, coming toward him. The
orderly, saluting his officer, said:
"Excuse me, sir; I have to report the ship has
been blown up and is sinking."
Reaching the deck, Captain Sigsbee gave orders
to post sentries, keep silence, and to flood the magazines. The magazines were already flooding themselves, and the captain soon discovered that the
disaster was complete, and several of his men were
already struggling in the water. Only three boats
were left of the number the vessel carried. These,
the gig, barge, and second whale-boat, were lowered
as quickly as possible, and every effort made to save
the brave fellows struggling in the water.
On shore all was the wildest excitement. It was
suspected at once that the Maine had been blown
up, but how, could not, of course, be then determined. The explosion shattered windows and electric lights, and flung the city into a tumult of excitement, such as had rarely been witnessed before.
Crowds that had gathered in public places dispersed
in quick order, and other knots gathered, to follow
a moment later at the hotels some leader, who knew
no more where they were going than they.




THE SINKING SHIP.


185


Fire-engines went bounding down the narrow
streets from no one knew whence, and going no one
knew whither. All the populace turned out, and
the throngs gradually gathered at the water-front,
but for half an hour or more most of those in that
jostling, pushing, half-crazed crowd knew nothing
of the awful tragedy just beyond. The first report
was that the arsenal had blown up, and then came
another that the Spanish man-of-war had torpedoed
the Maine. This report was put in circulation while
the officers and men of the Alfonso XII. were struggling to the work of rescue.
The Ward Line steamer City of Washington
and the cruiser were the first to reach the scene,
and their crews did all that could be done to rescue
the drowning. Some of the survivors were brought
to the landing-place and turned over to the firemen,
who carried the wounded on stretchers to the hospitals. Others were taken to the City of Washington and the Alfonso XII.
The wreck took fire as it settled down in the mud,
and soon the harbor was lit by the lurid glare of
flames, fed chiefly by the inflammable cellulose
contained in the forward and after ends. The
wreck burned the long night through, and when the
dawn broke, dark wreaths of smoke were still curling upward from the shapeless mass. At sunrise
all flags in the harbor were at half-mast.




186


CUBA LIBRE.


Captain Sigsbee was up nearly all the night looking out for the comfort of his men. He took a
short rest before daylight, but soon after stood on
the deck of the City of Washington, peering into
the falling mists, which screened the wreck of his
once gallant ship.
The City of Washington was then under way,
shifting her berth. She passed close to where the
curled and twisted plates of the after-superstructure
showed all that was left of the Maine, and tears
came into the eyes of Captain Sigsbee as he thought
of the gallant men whose lives had so suddenly
gone out.
The Maine went down in water deep enough to
submerge all but the after part of her superstructure
deck. The whole forward part of the hull was
turned completely inside out by the explosion.
The officers said that had the explosion taken place
in deeper water, the first wild lurch would have
sent the ship settling sideways to the bottom.
Notwithstanding the grief and horror of Captain
Sigsbee, he was a fair-minded Christian gentleman.
Tho there was hardly a doubt from the very first
that the vessel was blown up by some Spanish
agency, the captain, in cabling the sad news to his
Government, added the memorable words:
"Suspend judgment until after investigation."
At the time the Maine was blown up and sunk,




THE SINKING SHIP.


187


there was a young man at one of the hotels in Havana whom the Spanish authorities would have
given much to have captured. He was Fernando
Stevens. Weary with waiting for his own country
to go to the rescue of his sweetheart in Santiago, he
had resolved to make the effort himself. She was
still quarantined in the ancient city, held by the
strictest martial law. Fernando knew that every
detective and spy in Cuba had a minute description
of himself, and that he took his life in his hands by
venturing to Havana.  It had only been a short
time since he had defied the authorities at Santiago
and made his escape from the city.
On the night of the explosion he was in a room
in the hotel with a gentleman whose black eyes and
dark complexion indicated him a son of the tropics.
They were talking in a very low tone, and theii
manner was serious. Tho both spoke Spanish flu.
ently, their conversation was in English.
"I fear, Seinor Stevens, you have undertaken a
hopeless task. To enter Santiago even in the deepest disguise would in my opinion be fatal. You
would be detected beyond question, and the Spanish
Government is already so inflamed against Americans that nothing save actual war would save your
life."
"Actual war would come so slow that I would be
shot or hung long before my country would come to




188


CUBA LIBRE.


my aid," he declared. "I have made up my mind
to throw myself into the army of Gomez and personally avenge the death of my father and the wrongs
to Viola."
"You could not reach the insurgent army from
here,' his companion remarked. "They would be
sure to arrest you. To do that you would have to
go to Florida and take passage on the Three Friends.
That filibuster is the most successful of all the blockade runners, and it is my opinion that she is the
only hope of reaching the patriot army ---
"But the delay, the delay,' interrupted Fernando.
"I am burning with anxiety to be near Viola and
protect her. This would all take time."
"My friend, while it may seem delay, it will be
the best time you can make."
Then a silence came over the two men, and they
sat long, moody, thoughtful, and sad. At last Fernando said:
"I saw that woman again to-day. The fair Nina
Diaz."
'What? Weyler's spy?' gasped his companion,
his face suddenly blanching white.
'Yes, I am sure, from the description you gave
me of her, the woman is still in Havana.'
If she is, look out for mischief. That woman,
tho beautiful as an angel, has the spirit of a devil."
': Who is she?  Is she a Spaniard? 




THE SINKING SHIP.


189


"I blush to say she is a Cuban,' his companion
answered. "Her story is a singular one, and perhaps will never be known to the world. She is the
daughter of Felix Diaz, who owned a small tobacco
plantation near Santiago. Diaz earned a comfortable income from his ranch, but when the struggle
for independence began he left his plantation and
with his two sons joined the patriot army under
General Capote. About the same time Nina and
her mother left their home, and came to Havana to
live. Nina, as you know, is a typical beauty, dazzling, voluptuous, and enticing.
"She fell in love with a member of Weyler's staff,
a young lieutenant of infantry, who had just been
assigned to the Spanish secret service in Havana,
and when a daughter of the tropics loves, it is with
her whole heart and soul. Weyler wanted some
woman spies, for it was his theory that a shrewd
woman was the best possible spy if she conducted
her campaign on a love basis. To this end he
urged his young officers to make use of their sweethearts to discover the plans of the insurgents.
"Nina's lover persuaded her to join the Spanish
secret service, and throw all the force of her beauty,
cleverness, and magnetism against her native country. Nina's beauty and intelligence soon attracted
attention, and she became popular both with the
Americans and Cubans. On steamer days Seiorita




190


CUBA LIBRE.


Diaz made her promenades upon the wharf or upon
the decks of outgoing vessels. In this way she met
any number of people and secured valuable information, which, through her lover, was carried to Weyler. Most especially did she play upon Americans,
and learned to hate them. Her success was so
signal in Havana that Weyler decided to send her
into the provinces to report the movements of the
rebels. Her first venture was in Santiago, near her
old home. Disguised as a poor girl, she went about
with a small book begging for contributions for the
sick and wounded of the insurgent army. Hundreds
of arrests followed in the path of her visits. Families were broken up, unhappy mothers and children
were thrown into prison, and a trail of misery, suffering, and death marked the path of the beautiful
but cruel spy."
"Could not the insurgents capture her?" asked
Fernando.
"They did capture her, but she was too cunning
for them. One day she was caught by a Cuban
picket communicating with a Spanish officer. The
spy and Spaniard were both brought before the chief
of the insurgents. Nina's cleverness and sang froid
did not desert her. She informed her captors that
she was the daughter of Felix Diaz, a Cuban insurgent, who was known to be in the neighborhood.
She was on.er way to visit her father, when, she de



THE SINKING SHIP.


191


dared, the Spaniard had captured her, and endeavored
by bribes and threats to make her reveal the camp
of the insurgents.
"At first her story was not believed, but the insurgents sent for her father and brothers, who, confirming what she said, she was released. At dusk
that evening Nina escaped and reached the Spanish
lines. Using the information she carried them, the
Spaniards next morning attacked the insurgents,
and a fearful slaughter ensued. Nina has been a
perfect fiend. She causedthe arrest and imprisonment of her own mother. By Cubans the name of
Nina Diaz is execrated; but Weyler declared she
was the only loyal Cuban on the island. If she is
in the city of Havana it means mischief." *
"What mischief can she do?"
"Miguel Santos, whom Blanco does not suspect of
secretly sympathizing with Cuba, informed me that
she was in a rage when it was known that the
American Government was to send a war-ship to
Havana, and she made the threat, if it came, it
would never leave port."
"How could she damage a war-ship? 
"She could do nothing herself, but she has assistants whom Blanco does not know, and whom he
could not control. When Weyler left, it was hoped
*The story of Nina Diaz has been confirmed by numerous
newspaper reports.




192


CUBA LIBRE.


she would go with him. The new Captain-General,
Blanco, has not countenanced her work, which only
finds favor with such as the butcher Weyler. I
heard she had returned, but hoped it was a mistake."
Fernando took out his watch, and was looking at
the face. It was twenty minutes to ten. Suddenly
the whole island seemed shaken, the window-glass
rattled, the lights went out, and the two friends
were thrown from their seats. Stunned and confused, they groped for a moment in darkness, and
Fernando cried:
"In Heaven's name, what is the matter?'
"The saints preserve us, I do not know," his companion answered. "I saw a flash as if the earth had
split in twain in the direction of the harbor.'
They began to struggle for the door, and in a few
moments gained it, threw it open, and hurried out
upon the street, where the crowd was surging to and
fro, rushing toward the water-front.
"What has happened? " was on every tongue.
"Get out of the way, here come the fire-engines "
All that awful night Fernando and his friend
were at the water-front assisting in caring for the
wounded. As day dawned they turned from the
sinking ship to retrace their steps to the hotel.
The streets were still thronged, and the people
jostled each other along the narrow walks.








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THE SINKING SHIP.            193
They caught a momentary glimpse of a face gifted
with the beauty of Satan. The features were regular, the eyes large, dark, and soft, but in them was a
look of exultation that was fiendish. Fernando and
his companion halted and exchanged glances.
"It is Nina Diaz," whispered the American.
"Come to the hotel.'
When alone the Cuban said:
"The world may never know who blew up the
Maine, but we do. My friend, it is not necessary
for you to become a filibuster. This cruel act, no
doubt at Weyler's instigation, will end in war. You
can fight for Cuba in the American army.'
13




CHAPTER XII.


THE PERIOD OF SUSPENSE.
'WAR! " The great heart of the nation throbbed
for vengeance. If the shots at Lexington were
heard around the world, the groans of the dying, as
the Maine went to its muddy grave, reached every
home in America, and the demand for war was universal. Notwithstanding that the man most grieved
and injured by the treacherous act counseled a suspension of judgment, the American people were not
a moment in arriving at a conclusion. This was
not the first act of insolence and treachery. Santiago and the Virginius, the murder of Colonel Crittenden, and hundreds of other like incidents were not
forgotten, and the universal opinion was that judgment had been suspended too long already.
The funeral of twenty-seven of the victims, whose
bodies had been recovered, took place in Havana on
February 17, and was the most impressive ever seen
in that city. Not even in their own country, aside
from friends and relatives, could the dead seamen
have been accorded more pronounced expressions of




THE PERIOD OF SUSPENSE.


196


sorrow and regret. No expense was spared in the
funeral arrangements. The bodies lay in state in
the Municipal Hall, and long before three o'clock
the coffins were covered with flowers.
Streets were blocked with carriages of the best
families, and the government officers, and army
officers, and men and officers from the Spanish manof-war, marched to the palace, and awaited the forming of the procession.  Officers and men of the lMaine
took carriages at the consulate, and drove to the palace, each carriage conveying a wreath of flowers.
Chaplain Chidwick read a short prayer just after
three o'clock. The procession then formed and
moved to the cemetery. The local clergy, including the Bishop of Havana, assisted at the burial
services.
Each coffin bore a silver cross and plain card with
the dead man's name. They were carried to hearses
by the local firemen. So great was the crowd that
it took the procession an hour to get under way.
As it passed through the streets the crowds uncovered, and heads were bowed. Tho the grief of some
of the Spaniards was, no doubt, sincere; tho there
can be no doubt that Blanco himself was shocked
and horrified at the awful act, and that many of his
officers grieved at the untimely death of so many
brave sailors, the American people charged up the
crime to Spain. It was the almost universal belief




196


CUBA LIBRE.


that some of Weyler's emissaries who lingered behind the monster did the fearful deed.
A court of inquiry was appointed, consisting of
Capt. W. T. Sampson, Capt. F. E. Chadwick, Lieut.Com. Adolph Marix, and Lieut.-Com. Potter, to investigate the blowing up of the Maine, and this
court repaired at once to Havana.  Work was
commenced upon the wreck, removing the ddbris,
but after it had been prosecuted for several weeks
it was found impossible to clear it away, on account of the depth of the mud into which it had
sunk.
Day by day an impatient public waited the report
of the court which to them seemed exasperatingly
slow. The court of inquiry withheld all testimony,
and even the shrewdest newspaper correspondents
were unable to get at any vital facts.
The chief question involved was whether the vessel was blown up by accident or by intention. If
blown up by accident, according to the best authority,
the explosion would be internal and the plating
would be blown out. If blown up by an enemy, the
explosion would be external and the armor would
be crushed inward. The statement of Lieut. John
J. Blandin, who was officer of the watch at the
time of the wrecking of the Maine, would seem to
indicate that there was first an external and then an
internal explosion.




THE PERIOD OF SUSPENSE.


197


The first explosion, experts thought, was from
a mine fired by an enemy, and the second, an
explosion of one or more magazines inside the
ship. The following is.Lieutenant Blandin's statement:
"I went on watch at six o'clock, relieving Lieutenant Blow. At twenty minutes to ten o'clock,
while on the port side of the quarter-deck, an
explosion occurred, seemingly on the port side
forward, followed immediately by a second one. I
was struck on the head by a flying piece of wreckage, but not stunned.
"I climbed to the poop-deck, where I found the
captain, executive officers, and several others. The
barge and gig were lowered and manned, they being
the only boats left. We picked up all the wounded
that could be found and put them into the boats.
The Spanish flagship, Alfonso XII., had sent four
or five boats promptly to our aid, and more of our
wounded were sent to the Alfonso. One of our
boats pulled around.the Maine, and picked up
several men who had been blown into the water.
The executive officers went forward to see if the fire
could be put out?nd found it was useless to try to
do anything to save the ship, as she was a total
wreck. The captain then gave the order to abandon
the ship, and most of us went in the boats to the
City of Washington, of the Ward Line, where we




198


COUBA LIBRE.


were most cordially received and treated. The cap.
tain was the last to leave the ship."
For six long weeks the people waited for the report of the court of inquiry. The court was cautious but firm, and determined if possible to get at
the facts. They found that the Maine was blown
up from an external cause, but were unable to fix
the responsibility for the same. The report exonerated the officers and crew of the Maine from all
blame in the matter, and showed clearly that the
catastrophe was not due to any carelessness on their
part, but that, on the contrary, the greatest diligence
had been exercised at all times.
Press and people declared the blowing up of the
Maine a casus belli, and the report of the court and
the subsequent message of the President on the same
by no means allayed that feeling. There was a general belief that Weyler had a mine planted at Buoy
No. 4, and one of his emissaries remained behind to
explode it.
On the 18th day of April, the very day Fernando
Stevens returned home, Spain addressed a memorandum to the powers, which was in effect an appeal
against the assumption and aggression of the United
States. On April 19 the President, by message to
Congress, declared that the war in Cuba must end
and peace be established.
The American people were living in a state of sus.
13




THE PERIOD OF SUSPENSE.


199


pense and excitement. While honest patriots were
trying to work out the problem to the best interest
of the country and the Cubans, others, with selfish
interests, favoring peace at any price, sent messages
to the President stating that the lives of two hundred and fifty sailors should not be weighed in the
balance against the loss of business in the event of
war.
The peace party of 1812 * was duplicated in the
peace party of 1898. When Senator Foraker, of
Ohio, announced that on a certain day he would
address the Senate on the Cuban question, he was at
once made the target for the arrows of the peace
party. He was threatened, and his clients were
urged to write him saying they would withdraw
their business and support. But this champion of
liberty was not to be deterred from his duty, and
was a "flame of fire" on that day.
Despite the opposition of the peace party, war
seemed inevitable, and the great crisis was rapidly
approaching. The American people of 1898 were
as brave and loyal as in 1812, when Terrence Malone knocked the secretary of the peace party into
the waste-basket.
To the United States the sequel of the sinking of
the Maine was not wholly unexpected, and some
preparations had been made. A navy that was to
* See " Sustained Honor," p. 262.




200


CUBA LIBRE.


astonish the world sprang into existence at a moment's notice. The American navy had been placed
at the best advantage for quick work. Acting RearAdmiral Sampson, with a considerable fleet, rendezvoused at Dry Tortugas, while Commodore Schley
with the Flying Squadron was at Hampton Roads,
and Commodore Dewey with the Asiatic squadron
was at Hongkong. The famous battle-ship Oregon,
perhaps the best in the American navy, then cruising on the Pacific coast, was ordered to join the
beet of Sampson.
Diplomatic relations between the two nations
were strained to the utmost tension, and the friendly cord threatened to snap at any hour. Our minister at Madrid was the victim of many insults from
the rabble, and the Spanish police had to keep a
guard around the American legation.
Congress having voted an appropriation of $50,000,000 for the army, for coast defenses, and for
the purchase of war-vessels, negotiations were at
once entered into with several foreign powers, and a
number of armed cruisers were purchased and transferred to the United States. The ships of several
passenger and mail lines, purchased or leased as
auxiliary cruisers, were at once remanned and put in
commission. The most notable examples were the
two American-built ships St. Paul and St. Louis of
the American line. The new purchases were fitted




THE PERIOD OF SUSPENSE.


201


up for their new uses at once, and preparations foT
war went on notwithstanding all the protestations of
the peace party.
Congress at last united upon the following resolutions, which were signed by the President on April
20:
"Joint resolutions for the recognition of the independence
of the people of Cuba, demanding that the Government of
Spain relinquish its authority and government in the island
of Cuba, and withdraw its land and naval forces from Cuba
and Cuban waters, and directing the President of the United
States to use the land and naval forces of the United States to
carry these resolutions into effect:
"WHEREAS, The abhorrent conditions which have existed
for more than three years in the island of Cuba, so near our
own borders, have shocked the moral sense of the people of the
United States, have been a disgrace to Christian civilization,
culminating, as they have, in the destruction of a United
States battle-ship, with two hundred and sixty of its officers
and crew, while on a friendly visit in the harbor of Havana,
and can not longer be endured, as has been set forth by the
President of the United States in his message to Congress on
April 11, 1898, upon which the action of Congress was invited;
therefore be it resolved:
"First, that the people of Cuba are, and of right ought to
be, free and independent.
"Second, that it is the duty of the United States to demand,
and the Government of the United States does hereby demand,
that the Government of Spain at once relinquish its authority
and government in the island of Cuba, and withdraw its land
and naval forces from Cuba and Cuban waters.
"Third, that the President of the United States be, and hereby is, directed and empowered to use the entire land and naval
forces of the United States, and to call into actual service of




202


CUBA LIBRE.


the United States the militia of the several States to such an
extent as may be necessary to carry these resolutions into
effect.
"Fourth, that the United States hereby disclaim any disposition or intention to exercise sovereignty, jurisdiction, or
control over said island, except for the pacification thereof,
and asserts its determination when that is accomplished to
leave the government and control of the island to its people."
Immediately after signing the resolutions on
April 20, 1898, about eleven o'clock A.M., the Department of State served notice of the purposes of this
Government by delivering to Minister Polo a copy
of the instruction to Minister Woodford, and also a
copy of the resolutions passed by Congress the day
before. After the report of this notice, the Spanish
minister forwarded to the State Department a request for his passports, which were furnished him.
The United States minister at Madrid was at the
same time instructed to make a like communication
to the Government of Spain. On the morning of
the 20th, the Department received from General
Woodford a telegram, showing that the Spanish
Government had broken off diplomatic relations
with our Government, which rendered unnecessary
any further diplomatic action on the part of the
United States.
Spain quickly furnished Minister Woodford his
passports. Consular business in the various Spanish ports was left in charge of the British consuls




THE PERIOD OF SUSPENSE.


203


The departure of Minister Woodford from Spain
was attended with great danger. The train on
which he left had to be guarded by Spanish soldiers
and police, and at one time the secretary of legation
was in great danger of being mobbed by the rabble,
but all finally reached Paris in safety.
Spain having by her conduct to General Woodford broken off diplomatic relations between the
two countries, it was not deemed necessary for the
United States to await any specified time for hostilities, but to commence at once. The President thereupon issued the following proclamation:
"By the President of the United States-A Proclamation.
"WHEREAS, By a joint resolution passed by the Congress,
and approved April 20, 1898, and communicated to the Government of Spain, it was demanded that said Government at once
relinquish its authority and government on the island of
Cuba, and withdraw its land and naval forces from Cuba and
Cuban waters; and the President of the United States was
directed and empowered to use the land and naval forces of
the United States, and to call into actual service of the United
States the militia of the several States to such extent as might
be necessary to carry said resolution into effect, and
"WHEREAS, In carrying into effect said resolution, the
President of the United States deems it necessary to set on
foot and maintain a blockade of the north coast of Cuba, inclading all ports between Cardenas and Bahia Honda and the
port of Cienfuegos on the south coast of Cuba. Now, therefore, I, William McKinley, President of the United States, in
order to enforce the said resolution, do hereby declare and
proclaim that the United States of America have instituted
and will maintain a blockade of the north coast of Cuba, in



204


CUBA LIBRE.


eluding ports on the said coast between Cardenas and Bahia
Honda and the port of Cienfuegos on the south coast of Cuba
aforesaid, in pursuance of the laws of the United States and
the laws of nations applicable to such cases.
"An efficient force will be posted so as to prevent the entrance and exit of vessels from the ports aforesaid. Any neutral vessel approaching any of said ports, or attempting to
leave the same without notice or knowledge of the establishment of such blockade, will be duly warned by the commander
of the blockading forces, who will indorse on her register the
fact, and the date of such warning, where such indorsement
was made, and if the same vessel shall again attempt to enter
any blockaded port, she will be captured and sent to the nearest convenient port for such proceedings against her and her
cargo as prize as may be deemed advisable.
"Neutral vessels lying in any of said ports at the time of
the establishment of such blockade will be allowed thirty days
to issue therefrom. In witness therecf, I have hereunto set my
hand, and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.
"Done at the city of Washington, this 22d day of April,
A.1. 1898, and of the independence of the United States the
one hundred and twenty-second.
"WILLIAM MCKINLEY.
"By the President,
"JOHN SHERMAN, Secretary of State."
Congress having approved the blockade, the North
Atlantic squadron, under the command of Captain
Sampson, sailed at once from Key West to Havana.
The fleet consisted of the following vessels: the battle-ships Iowa and Indiana; the armored cruiser New
York; the monitors Puritan, Terror, and Amphitrite; the gunboats Nashville, Castine, Machias,
Wilmington, and     Helena;    the cruisers   Detroit,




THE PERIOD OF SUSPENSE.


205


Cincinnati, and Marblehead; and the torpedo-boats
Cushing, Ericsson, Dupont, Foote, Winslow, Porter,
and Mayflower.
Everybody felt some relief from the suspense
when it was known that Sampson had actually
sailed to Havana to blockade the harbor. At daylight on April 22, the New York, Iowa, and the
Indiana were lying in the outer harbor, with the
gunboats Nashville and Detroit off to the south on
picket duty, and the Castine, the Newport, and a
naval tug hovering around near the anchorage. A
great deal of signaling had been done since nine
o'clock the night before, and just before sunrise the
Helena came from the inner harbor, while the torpedo-boat Foote came to the flagship just ahead of
her. A few minutes later the Detroit left her station and went to the inner harbor, while the Nashville came to the flagship and then headed away
toward the northward, where the Machias and Castine had been lying. At this the whole squadron
got under way in two lines-the New York, Iowa,
and Indiana in one line at the southward, and the
Helena, Machias, Nashville, and Castine in another,
while the naval tug and torpedo-boat went in the
lee of the flagship. By six o'clock the Newport
came to the line from the westward and took her
place behind the Machias.
Meantime, a smoke had appeared on the horizon




M06


CUBA LIBRE.


away to the westward, and at six it was plain to be
seen that it was from a merchantman. In an hour
they had drawn near enough to see that she was a
two-masted, black-hulled ship, with white upper
works and black smokestack, with the colors of the
Spanish flag painted around it, and a Spanish flag
flung to the breeze above the taffrail.
Up to this time the squadron had been slowly
steaming forward, not going faster than six knots
an hour. The first sight of an enemy's flag after
the blockade had been declared was sufficient to fill
every ship with life and animation. The Nashville
suddenly left the line and dashed away at full
speed toward the Spaniard, while ev ery officer and
bluejacket on the fleet strained their eyes to watch
the chase. The decks and rigging were alive with
observers.
A gun was fired from the port battery of the


A GUN WAS FIRED FROM THlU " NASHVILL."




THE PERIOD OF SUSPENSE.


207


Nashville, and the shot struck the water a few hundred yards away. The Spaniard at this time was
half a mile from the Nashville, and held to her
course, making no sign of having paid any attention
to the shot. For two minutes longer the Nashville
continued the pursuit, and then tried a second shot,
which apparently passed within a rod of the Spaniard's bow, and clipped the spray from the crested
waves for a mile beyond. The officer on the bridge
of the Spaniard at once ordered her engines reversed,
while a man ran aft and hastily lowered her flag.
Within fifteen minutes after the chase began the
Nashville brought to alongside the Spaniard, with
every gun large and small on the starboard broadside brought to bear upon her. Then a whaleboat
was lowered, and Ensign Magruder, with a boarding
crew of six men, was sent to take charge of the
prize.
She was found to be the steamship Buena Ventvra, plying between New York and Havana and
West Indian ports, and she carried a load of lumber.
Meantime, the torpedo-boat Foote had run down in
the wake of the Nashville, and she brought to beside
the Ventura.
Ensign Magruder took charge of the Spaniard's
papers, and sent a report regarding them to the
Nashville. The papers were sent thence to the flagship by the Foote. The flagship, with the battle



308


CUBA LIBRE.


ships, had been lying to during this time, and soon
after a number of guns were fired from the New
York.
The torpedo-boat, after lingering long enough at
the flagship to receive full instructions, returned to
the Nashville with orders that the Buena Ventura
be held, and a few moments later the Nashville
headed toward Key West with the prize. This was
the first actual capture on either side. The Buena
Ventura was taken to Key West, and the news of
her capture flashed all over the land in a few moments. War had begun, and the great suspense
was broken. Thousands of hearts began to hope
that the Virginius and Maine would be avenged
and Cuba made free.
To no one was the news more welcome than to
Fernando Stevens. On his return from Havana he
had gone to Oklahoma to look after some interests
there in connection with his West India trade,
which he was closing up. After spending a few
weeks in Oklahoma and the Indian Territory, he
hastened to Cincinnati to pay his mother a visit.
Mrs. Stevens was the matron of an orphans' home
in that city, and her son's return filled her sad heart
with joy.
He told her of his recent fruitless visit to Havana,
and she shuddered and said:
'Oh, how I wish you would never go to Cuba




THE PERIOD OF SUSPENSE.


209


again! It seems a baneful place for us. Your
father lost his life somewhere on that island, and
his father before him was a filibuster and came
near losing his life. It is fatal, my son; I pray you
may never go there again."
"Mother, don't make that request, I implore you,
for I expect to return in three months. 
War has practically been declared, and
American guns will soon be thundering  m
at Havana, or some of the Cuban ports. 
I am determined, if there is a call for c~. 
volunteers, to secure a position in some    -
command. My grandfather was a sol-                ( //
dier, and I will also be one."                1
Mrs. Stevens was a sensible woman. 
She realized it was useless to try to dissuade her son when he was so determined. He had a motive far stronger
than wealth or the desire for adventure 
i  "OXTRA! OXTRA! "
to draw him to Cuba.   After a short
silence, during which he was thoughtful, he exclaimed:
"Oh! if Heaven would only be kind to me and
direct the first attack on Santiago, I would almost
feel my prayers had been answered. There is a
double incentive to strike Santiago now-vengeance
and love. It was there father lost his life in some
mysterious way, and it is there poor Viola is held a
14




910


CUBA LIBR.


prisoner. I feel that, if need be, I should give my
life for her freedom."
It was late in that April afternoon, the sun was
sinking low in the western horizon, and the dull
hum of the city had become more subdued, when
suddenly there burst on the air the loud cries of
men and boys selling "extras."
" Oxtra-oxtra-oxtra! rang out the cry far and
near from street to street.
"Something has happened; there is some event
of the war," said Fernando, and he ran to the street
door and raised his hand to catch the eye of one of
the newsboys. Half a dozen of them ran toward
him, each holding up a paper.
"Buy a paper, mister; all about taking a Spanish
ship.'
"Here, one will do! There, now you may all go."
He snatched a paper from the hand of one, tossed
him a nickel, and hurried into the house to read of
the capture of the Buena Ventura.




CHAPTER XIII.


ORGANIZING THE ROUGH RIDERS.
WHEN war with Spain became inevitable, Hon.
Theodore Roosevelt, assistant secretary of the navy,
resigned his office and secured a commission to organize a regiment of cavalry to be known as the
Rough Riders, or First United States Cavalry Volunteers. Mr. Roosevelt had spent considerable time
on the frontier and well knew the fighting character
of frontier scouts and cowboys. While he did not
confine his selection to cowboys, hunters, and Indian
fighters alone, for the regiment was made up of almost every class, from the New York society man
to the half-blood Indian of the plains, yet such excellent judgment was used in their selection that a
better band of warriors was never gotten together.
When the regiment was raised, which was done
in an incredibly short time, Roosevelt refused to accept the office of colonel, as he had had no experience in military matters, and the office was given to
Leonard Wood, a soldier experienced in frontier
warfare and a personal friend of Roosevelt.




212


CUBA LIBRE.


Shortly after the sailing of the blockading squadron and the capture of the Buena Ventura, Fernando Stevens learned of the organization of the Rough
Riders, and determined to go with the regiment if
it was possible. He telegraphed to Roosevelt his
services, and received an answer:
"Will be in your city in two or three days. If
you are acquainted in the West, can't you raise a
body of men on short notice?" 
While waiting for Roosevelt, the anxious young
lover, who was all eagerness to take part in the
coming struggle, and ready to strike the first blow,
spent his time in wandering about the city. One
day, as he was strolling in the outskirts, a man very
shabbily dressed came toward him.
"Howdy do, Mr. Stevens? I'm powerful glad to
see you!"
Fernando grasped the hard, rough hand in his
own, and looked into the honest, weather-beaten
face and sad blue eyes a moment, and said:
"Nathan, Nathan, is it you?"
"Thar, I knowed ye'd know me," said Nathan.
"I 'spect I've changed a mighty sight since ye saw
me last, Mr. Stevens, for I've been havin' a heap o'
trouble. I'm awful pore, an' got the babies to take
care of. 'Tain't no place for 'em down there where
I've got to keep 'em. Babies can't grow in a mudhole."




ORGANIZING THE ROUGH RIDERS.  218


"Why, Nathan, I thought you had a comfortable
little home, all paid for."
With a sad shake of his head Nathan answered:
"No, I never did. I thought I did, but I didn't.
I bought a house o' George Phipps, an' paid him
every dollar on it, an' he went away. Then wife,
she fell sick with consumpshun, the doctors say, an'
Mr. Parker, the banker, he tells me as how he has
a first mortgage on my place."
"And had he?"
"Yes; Phipps borrowed money on the house an'
mortgaged it. I didn't know it. Thought the title
was clear, but it warn't."
"And did that infernal Parker rob you of your
home?"
"No; he said 'twarn't robbin'. He took it 'cordin' to law, ye know, an' thar warn't no robbin' 'bout
it."
"When did he take it from you? 
"Oh, last January. Wife war very low then,
an' we had to move out in a poor shanty on the
flats."
"Where is your wife? ' asked Fernando.
An expression of pain swept over the poor fellow's
face, tears welled up in his eyes, and his lips trembled, but no sound came from them. This mute
response, so pathetic as to touch the heart of the
listener, was far more potent than any answer could




214


CUBA LIBRE.


have been.   Stevens watched the tear silently
course its way down the bearded cheek, and, taking
the hard, rough hand again in his own, said:
"Poor fellow, I pity you. I have suffered myself,
and you have my heartfelt sympathy."
"I can't help it, Mr. Stevens, raley I can't, when
I talk o' her. Ye see, the old shanty was open and
cold, an' not suited for her. I couldn't get much
work to do when she was well, an' when she got
sick, then it seemed I warn't happy anywhar but
right thar by her side. I knowed she war goin'
away some time soon, an' that I'd never see her
ag'in, an' I wanted to be with her much as possible
while she did stay."
"What are you doing now, Nathan? he asked.
"Anything I kin git to do to turn an honest
penny. But these are awful times now, since I
got the babies to take keer of, an' their mother
gone, an' not here to help me."
"Nathan, how would you like to be a soldier, and
go to Cuba to fight the Spaniards?"
"I'd like it, master well, Mr. Stevens," said
Nathan, "if I didn't have the babies. But they got
no mother now."
"Nathan, if I will give them my mother, whom
I know to be one of the kindest, tenderest mothers
in the world, who will clothe, feed, and care for
them, and educate them, until they can care for




ORGANIZING THE ROUGH RIDERS.  215


themselves, would you then go in the army as a
volunteer? 
"Mr. Stevens, it's just exactly what I want to do.
Ef ye could do this, ye'd make me much happier'n
I ever expected to be ag'in. If yer mother, who I
know's a good woman, 'd take 'em, I'd go an' fight
the Spanyards."
"She is the matron of the home, and she will be
glad to take your little ones."
"An' will she be like their own mother was to
them?"
"Yes."
"Then who'll take me in the army? I'll go."
" Wait, there will be a great man here to-morrow.
Come with me, and go and see him. He is organizing a regiment of cavalry. You know all about
horses."
"Yes, indeed; I was raised with 'em. I never
'spected to ride another, tho. I won't be able to
buy one.'
"Uncle Sam will buy it for you. All they want
to know is your ability to ride one well, and to
handle a gun and revolver."
"I'll ride with any o' the cowboy fellows,' declared Nathan.
Fernando then told him to come to the hotel
which Mr. Roosevelt had mentioned as a meetingpoint, and they separated. As Fernando watched




216


CUBA LIBRE.


the healthy, robust form of Nathan sadly moving
away he remarked:
"Such men Colonel Roosevelt will not reject.
That is one recruit; now to find more."
Next day Mr. Roosevelt was in the city according
to promise, and Fernando hastened to the hotel,
where he found him in conversation with some
other men. He easily recognized him by the pictures in the illustrated papers. Mr. Roosevelt rose
and, grasping his hand, asked:
"Are you Mr. Stevens? 
"Yes, sir."
" I am glad to meet you, and hope your acquaintance in the West and in Cuba may be of service to
us. Do you think you can get some suitable recruits?"
" Yes, sir. I have spoken to some whom I know
to be splendid horsemen and good shots. They are
ready, and my acquaintance in the Indian Territory,
Oklahoma, and New Mexico will enable me to select
a number of suitable men."
"I am on my way to those places now. Can you
go with me? 
" Yes, sir."
"I am pleased to know it. Everything depends
on the haste with which our forces are mobilized.
We shall have a concentrating point somewhere in
the West. where we will organize."




ORGANIZING THE ROUGH RIDERS.


217


"Colonel Roosevelt, there is one man outside
whom I would like to have you speak with." He
then, in as few words as possible, told the sad story
of poor Nathan Baker. Roosevelt's eyes grew moist
as he listened, and at the conclusion he said:
"Call him in."
Fernando went out and brought Nathan into the
presence of the colonel. Nathan's strong, robust
figure pleased him, and in a pleasant voice he asked:
"So you want to go to the war and shoot Spaniards?"
"Yes, sir, that is when I have taken the babies to
Mrs. Stevens's orphan home, ye know. She says
she'll take 'em an' be their mother now, seein' as
their own mother is in her grave."
Roosevelt's heart was touched. He took out his
pocketbook, and counting out four or five bills,
placed them in the hand of Nathan, and remarked:
"That will help provide for the comfort and happiness of the babies; when you have done that come
to the depot, and we will all board the train for
the West, where the regiment is to be raised."
Nathan took the money, looked it over in a bewildered manner, and said:
"It's mighty good o' you, colonel, to give me
this; I hope I may some day be able to pay ye
back, with big interest, too."
"Never mind that now, my good fellow. Go




218


CUBA LIBRE.


purchase some little keepsakes for the children:
take them to the home, and meet us at the train."
Nathan bowed awkwardly and went away, for it
was a long distance to this poor habitation.*
Dragging one foot after the other, as if in pain,
Baker reached the end of the mean highway, and
was in sight of his home. He shaded his eyes and
looked across the batture. His hut was still the
same dirty little structure in which he had seen so
much sorrow. A child's laugh came from the bottom, and then another.
Baker shook his head thoughtfully.
"They won't miss this old hole," he muttered.
"Babies can't grow up in mud-holes."
The little covered basket he had been carrying on
his arm was placed under the shade of a willow,
Nathan rummaging through his pockets in the halt.
A shadow crossed his tanned face.
"Can't be that I've lost it," he grumbled.
A moment later he smiled, then lifted the basket
cover and drew out a bit of folded paper. Baker
spread it upon his knee, as he sat upon the hump
of a root.
"It's mighty good of the colonel," he muttered,
"to give me this. Guess he must know somethin'
of squatters."
He fondled the paper again, and slipped it in his
* The story of this recruit is in part tru.




ORGANIZING THE ROUGH RIDERS. 219


coat pocket. The basket was once more hanging on
his arm, and the man moved along slowly. Soon
his foot touched the narrow plank that went from
the levee crest to the door of his hut.
"It ain't just right," he said half aloud; "but
then, when a man's clean tired o' hangin' 'round he
might just as well clear out. You can't do nothin'
for yourself and nobody else when you need victuals."
Nathan walked slowly and sadly along the plank
which stretched across the marsh-land.
"Is any ladies and gentlemen home?' the man
cried out, knocking at the door.
"Yes, daddy." A boy in kilts had spoken. Behind him in the aperture was a black-haired girl,
who would have been hidden had she not moved
from left to right.
"It's a nice way you folks meet company," the
father said in a mock resentful tone. "Next time I
won't come to see you."
" Zeb got scaret, daddy, an' said you was the bogieman," the little girl explained.
"That's mighty bad, my boy," remonstrated the
man, gazing at the child with a look intended to be
cheerful. "Reckon you'll be sceart when you grow
up?"
The father then sat on the only chair that graced
the poor house, and the children climbed to his




CUBA LIBRE.


knees. Since their mother had gone, their father
seemed doubly dear to them.
"I got a whole lot o' news for you," he at length
said.  Maybe it won't tickle you, Lady Emmt, but
Zeb will be glad to git away from the diggins."
Then the anxious father passed his fingers through
his beard, and waited for the little ones to say something. But sorrow and poverty had saddened their
young lives and deprived them of that keen curiosity
born of childish enthusiasm among those better fed
and clothed. "Well, why don't you say somethin',
Lady Emma?'
'Is you goin' to take us by-by, daddy!' The
little girl's eyes were moist with expectation.
"Yes; I done fixed for a new ma for you
two.'
Zeb fidgeted in his place, and then put his arms
about his father's neck.
"Is she like our other ma, daddy? ' the little fellow asked.
A tear stole down the father's cheek, and for a
moment he could not find voice to answer; when he
did, he said:
"Yes, 'ceptin' she ain't the same. But she's good,
very good, and lives in a big house.'
'An' kin we live with her, daddy?' inquired
Lady Emma.
"Yes, she said she'd like you, an' give you a




ORGANIZING THE ROUGH RIDERS. 221


whole lot of nice things, an' Zeb is goin' to come in
for plenty of fun.'
Nathan placed the children on the floor, then
opened the basket. Wrapped in brown paper was a
china doll.
"This is for Lady Emma,' he said, giving it over
to the eager little hands. "And here is somethin'
for you, Zeb,' he added, rolling a rubber ball across
the floor toward the boy.
"Is 'is from our new ma? inquired Lady Emma.
"Yes," the father returned with a faint smile.
He did not feel that he had told a deliberate falsehood, for it was much better for the children to believe the presents came from their new mother than
from Colonel Roosevelt. They knew nothing of the
dashing colonel of Rough Riders, would not know
anything of him, and it was better to give them a
good opinion of their new mother in advance; the
deception would help to lead the children easier.
"But that ain't all," he put in; "I've got a bag of
candy to be 'vided 'twixt you two. Better eat it
when you git to the new place. Lady Emma, I'm
going to fix you up first; ladies come first always,
Zeb."
Nathan then took the little girl, and when he had
scrubbed the small face with an old rag, he sponged
the little hands. She bore it all patiently without
a murmur. Then he took her white frock from the




223


CUBA LIBRE.


old box beneath the couch and slipped it on Lady
Emma.
"There! " he exclaimed, when he had fastened the
last button at the neck. "You are as pretty a baby
as a man could find, Lady Emma."
The little girl sat on the side of the couch.
" Come on, Mr. Zeb; no screwin' your head around
so I can't scrub your face."
"Yes, daddy, I am ready," and Zeb turned up his
face to be washed.
"You know I must fix you two up nice," said the
father, as he covered a finger with a rag, and ran it
around one of the boy's ears. " Your new ma wants
you clean, just like your other ma did."
The man sighed. Had the other mother been
living, he would not have to wash and dress the
children; the old home would have been bright with
hope and love, and he would not have thought of
going to war in a foreign land. But she was dead.
Mr. Parker had taken their comfortable home away,
and it was from that humble door he had seen her
carried out to her last resting-place. The little girl
said:
"I want a doll carriage for my baby.'
"Oh, you will have a nice one,' answered the
father.
"And I want a gun," demanded the boy.
"You'll git it, Zeb, an', more'n that, you'll get a




ORGANIZING THE ROUGH RIDERS. 223


sojer cap: then you kin play shootin' Spanyards
I'm through with you, Mr. Zeb."
The boy sat next to his sister.
Nathan Baker looked in this and that box, but
found nothing worth disturbing. From the plank
wall close to the couch he pulled out a few tacks
that held a small photograph. He kissed it reverently, while his eyes grew more moist.
"Guess you're watchin' over us, Mary," he muttered. "God ain't ag'in' you wastin' a little time
lookin' after Emma, an' Zeb, an' me."
The photograph was lost in the man's inner coat
pocket.
"I'm ready for you," he said, lifting the little boy
and girl from the couch.
"Daddy, give us the candy," urged Zeb.
'Not yet." The father had reached the door and
turned the lock. "If you have it now," he explained, "you will spile your clothes."
"Es you will, Zeb," assured Lady Emma.
The father crouched low like the humbled camel
for his load, and said:
"You git on my back, Zeb, and you, Lady Emma,
will be carried in my arms. Can't let you cross the
plank by yourselves."
The children climbed to their places, and Baker
walked the plank with slow and steady step, for the
load he carried was precious to him. When he




224


CUBA LIBRE.


reached the levee he told the children they could
stand for a moment or so, while he spread a paper
in the bottom of the wheelbarrow to protect their
clean clothes from contact with the dirt. Lady
Emma gripped the basket in which their poor treasures, the doll, ball, and candy were stored, while
she watched the father prepare their carriage for
them.
" Are you all right? " he asked when both children
were seated in the barrow.
"Yes, daddy," Zeb answered.
"Then we will go to the home of your new ma,"
and with that Nathan grasped the handles of the
wheelbarrow, and pushed it along the levee top,
then down-grade into the main highway.
"Zeb, you must be keerful with your
feet," he said. "First thing ye know
ye'll be mussin, Lady Emma's dress. If
you do that, your new ma mightn't like.. ^      her. You must be nice and
clean to go in that big house."
'k y  'j,     ~Lady Emma stared, and Zeb
pouted a little at the
/  correction..... '-~_.:-  " Say, Zeb,"  t h e
'" d $S':  X father continued, as
jJ;F     he struggled along the
road with the wheel

Now  WILL  T T  M  OF OR EW 
1< Now WE WILL GO TO THE HOME OF YOUR NEW MA-)




ORGANIZING THE ROUGH RIDERS. 225


barrow, "there'll be heaps of fun for you. I saw a
lot of rocking-horses and marbles for you to play
with. All yours if you want 'em. And you, Lady
Emma, can have a party every day, 'cause there's
dishes, and a little stove, an' all them things."
They had reached an avenue.
"That's the house, right yander," said the father,
motioning with his head, for both his hands were
engaged. The children clapped their little hands
gleefully.
"You must look your prettiest," the father suggested when he lifted his motherless children from
the barrow, and gave Lady Emma her basket.
As his big hand jerked the gong knob, a sob died
in his throat. It was hard-so hard to part from
them, even to go to the call of his country. A moment later the matron, a sweet lady with gray hair,
a pleasant face, and kind blue eyes, appeared.
"This lady is your new ma," said the father, as
he kissed his children farewell, with difficulty restraining his tears.
Mrs. Stevens smiled kindly on the orphans.
"By-by, daddy," shouted Lady Emma and Zeb;
then the great door was closed.
Nathan heaved a sigh, grasped the handles of his
wheelbarrow, and went slowly away, feeling very
much as he did the day he turned from her grave.
He pushed the wheel through many streets, and
15




.6


CUBA LIBRE.


finally left it at the brick-yard where it belonged,
and entering an electric car was taken to the depot.
Neither Colonel Roosevelt nor Fernando Stevens
had arrived. In fact, so diligently had Nathan labored in the performance of his task that he was a
full hour ahead of time.
"If they don't come, I've got the money the
colonel gave me to buy the ticket, and I kin go by
myself."
While sauntering about the entrance to the great
depot, Nathan suddenly came upon a man, the sight
of whom caused all the color to fade from his face.
"Why, hello, Nathan, how are you? I am really
delighted to see you looking so well," and a pale,
thin hand grasped his own, while the sharp features
of a hatchet face were turned to him, and a pair of
little milky blue eyes gazed in his.
"I'm pretty well, Mr. Parker, and the babies are in
the home," Nathan answered, carefully withdrawing
his hand from the grasp of the banker.
"You are not going to leave us, are you, Nathan? 
"Yes," Nathan answered, averting his head.
"The colonel told me to come here; he was goin' on
the train, an' I could go with him, where I could
get a sojer suit, a heap o' rashuns, and a gun, to
shoot Spanyards."
Mr. Parker gazed in blank amazement. He was
too much engaged in commercial matters to think




ORGANIZING THE ROUGH RIDERS. 227


much of the needs of the country. Men of Mr.
Parker's class will never save a country. They are
a class that bring law and government into contempt. They are of the hypocritical, unscrupulous
class, who seek to bend laws and courts to their
own ends.
Somehow, when Nathan remarked that he was to
have a gun that he might shoot Spaniards, he could
not keep back the wish that Mr. Parker was a Spaniard. Parker was affable, kind, and polite, but
Nathan turned from him with an expression of infinite disgust.
In a few moments he saw Mr. Fernando Stevens
and Colonel Roosevelt coming toward the depot, and
then Mr. Parker hurried away. For some reason he
did not care to meet the son of his former partner in
business.
" You are on time, my friend," said Colonel Roosevelt, in his cheery, pleasant manner, grasping the
hand of the recruit. "Did you get the babies comfortably situated, and purchase some little presents
to gladden their hearts?'
"Yes, and they are mighty pleased with them.
It was very kind o' you, colonel, to give me the
money, for they may not remember me when I come
back.'
Oh, nonsense, this war is but a flurry, and will
blow over in a few weeks or months at most.*




q23


CUBA LIBRE.


"Yes, I reckin it will. 'Twas best I should go.
There warn't no need o' keepin' 'em in that flat full
o' malaria. They'd 'a' been down with fever'n agur
afore cold weather.'
He followed the officers, and all bought their
tickets. Fernando Stevens had a commission to recruit, and was assured by Colonel Roosevelt that he
would be taken care of when it came to commissions
in the regiment.
Colonel Roosevelt, in the organization of the
Rough Riders, as in all his other transactions,
seemed to know exactly where to go and what to
do. He combined the culture and refinement of the
East with the honest, robust courage, and bluntness
of the West. He seemed to know where the men
could be found suitable for his purpose. From no
one locality, but from all the West, handsome,
strong, vigorous, and brave men were chosen.
No wonder the Rough Riders dazzled the world.
Scarcely any save Colonel Wood knew anything of
military discipline, nor, save brushes on the frontier
with Indians or bandits, had any of them been under
fire; yet they fought side by side with regulars
against the veteran troops of Europe. Their leaders
seemed to inspire them with their own ardent personality.
Tho Wood was the colonel, the chief spirit of the
Rough Riders was Roosevelt. There was none of




ORGANIZING THE ROUGH RIDERS. 229


the West Point martinet about him. He was a
democratic commander, mingled with the common
soldiers, laughed, joked, and sympathized with them
in their trouble. He performed such little acts of
kindness as we have given in the case of Nathan
Baker. He never lost his dignity, nor ability to
command the men; on the contrary, he gained their
respect, admiration, and love, and they were ready
to march into the jaws of death at his command.
While other colonels were holding aloof from the
private soldiers under their command, treating them
as menials, Roosevelt associated with them, and was
the life of the camp. When on duty he was another
man, and the strictest disciplinarian could not have
complained of the inefficiency of his troops. He
studied all the details of the army, as he had of the
navy, and there was nothing in connection with the
management of his own regiment that his great
mind did not grasp.
Fernando Stevens was made first lieutenant, and
Nathan was placed in his company. The, regiment
was hurriedly organized, and went to Tampa, Fla.,
to await the onset against the hosts of Spain.
Lieutenant Stevens awaited the hour to sail, and his
prayer to Heaven was that the first great blow
might be dealt at Santiago.




CHAPTER XIV.


GEORGE STEVENS AT MANILA.
THE various changes in the wheel of fortune of
the American navy placed George Stevens aboard
the Olympia, the flagship of Commodore Dewey,
at the time war was declared between the United
States and Spain. George Stevens was now an
ensign and a promising young officer, who had
grown to be a favorite with his superiors, and was
loved and respected by his equals and inferiors in
rank. In all his career he was known to be honest,
truthful, and brave, never boasting of himself, nor
failing to observe the merits of others.
George had not seen Hallie Norton, the daughter
of Bumboat Kate, since the old woman had been expelled from the cruiser, nor had he ever learned
what her fate was. Once, while his ship was lying
in Valparaiso, he obtained shore leave, and was
strolling about the market-place, when loud, angry
shouts and oaths in Spanish and English at one end
of the market attracted his attention. He saw
some sailors from a merchant vessel, who had evi



- - ---------- ---








GEORGE STEVENS AT MANILA.


231


dently been drinking, engaged in a quarrel with
some wandering Gauchos, who had strolled into the
city. There was an instant gleam of a knife, and
one of the sailors fell before the serenos (police)
could prevent the stroke. The Gauchos fled,
mounted their swift horses, sped to the mountains,
and escaped.
Drawn by curiosity, and the rumor that an
American had been stabbed, he went forward and
caught a glimpse of the wounded man's face. He
instantly recognized him as the man whom he had
struck in the alley that night-Hallie Norton's
father.
The sailor was taken to the hospital and died
before morning. Subsequent investigation confirmed
George's belief. He went to see the dead man, and
as he gazed on the features of the bloated old sailor,
he would have given much to know the dark secrets
that breast contained. Where was the angelic child,
with her tender notions of missionary work? Where
was the gruff, shrewd, but unscrupulous mother?
Could it be that from such parentage such an angel
as Hallie seemed to be, could spring? Society is
full of inconsistencies; and while the offspring of
the worst people on earth often make the noblest
and best, the children of our earthly saints are frequently black sheep.
Tho years had rolled by since he had seen Hal



232


CUBA LIBRE.


lie, she had never been out of his mind. He still
dreamed of her at night, and during his leisure
hours tried to sketch her portrait, never approximating the ideal of the picture. Bumboat Kate had
been forgotten by the sailors, and none of his present crew had ever met the shrewd but eccentric
woman.
The fleet of Commodore Dewey at Hongkong,
early in 1898, was regarded by naval experts as occupying the most important position in the navy.
George wrote to his mother soon after the blowing
up of the Maine that all the officers were of the
opinion that in the event of war with Spain, they
would have to bear the brunt of the conflict.
Few people in the United States prior to the
Spanish war realized the condition of affairs in thle
Philippines, and the importance, in the event of war,
of the American navy striking a telling blow there.
The newspapers occasionally published something of
the far-off archipelago, and a wandering tourist now
and then communicated to some of the magazines or
the Sunday papers articles on the curious people
who inhabited them.
In 1897, Roundsville Wildman was appointed
United States consul to Hongkong. Mr. Wildman was no stranger in the Orient. Having served
in the same capacity at Singapore, he was thoroughly familiar with Malay character, and spoke the




GEORGE STEVENS AT MANILA.


288


language like a native. He reached Hongkong in
September, 1897, shortly after the close of the rebellion in the Philippine Islands, in which Aguinaldo had forced the Spanish General Sivera to treat
with him on equal terms. The Spanish Government agreed to pay Aguinaldo a war indemnity of
$800,000, grant sweeping reforms, and relieve the
natives of the galling and licentious rule of the
friars. Aguinaldo and fifty of his leaders agreed on
their part to leave the island and reside in Hongkong until the country became pacified and the
reforms established. The Spaniards paid but half
the money in the Hongkong banks, and deliberately broke every pledge; arguing that agreements
made with their own subjects were not-binding.
In November, 1897, Senor Agoncillo, high commissioner for the defunct republic, called upon
Consul Wildman, and, in the belief that war was
about to be declared between the United States and
Spain, tendered an offensive and defensive alliance.
The Filipinos represented that they were all animated with the unquenchable desire to throw off
the Spanish sovereignty and become a part of the
great American republic. When hostilities were
actually declared, Consul Wildman urged Commodore Dewey to accept the services of the Filipinos, and tho not successful at the time the fleet
left Mirs Bay, a month later Dewey consented, and




234


CUBA LIBRE.


from that time to the close of hostilities Aguinaldo
became a conspicuous figure in the Hispano-American War in the Orient.
The fleet of Mirs Bay lived in a continual state
of expectancy, not to say excitement. George Stevens strove hard to read the face of the commodore, but it was a sealed book. If he was receiving
any sensational orders by cable, there was nothing
in his looks or words that would indicate it. During the last half of March no more shore leave was
granted, and they drilled every day at gun-practise.
The ships fairly groaned with ammunition, and the
guns were kept in the best condition possible.
Then came the news of the declaration of hostilities, and every man aboard the fleet, from commodore to landsman, was delighted at the information.
Some of the jackies were delirious with joy, but
the splendid discipline kept them within reasonable
bounds.
Then came the orders from the commodore to
weigh anchor and sail from Mirs Bay, which they
did April 27, 1898, at about two o'clock in the
afternoon. Dewey ara the commanders of the different vessels alone knew what instructions had
been received from Washington, but every man on
the fleet knew they were going to engage the enemy
at some point not far distant.
The fleet consisted of the protected cruiser Olym



GEORGE STEVENS AT MANILA.


235


pia, the flagship, carrying four terrible eight-inch
guns and ten deadly five-inch quick-firers; the
second-class protected cruiser Baltimore, scarcely
less formidable than the Olympia; the second-class
protected cruiser Boston, the cruiser Raleigh, the
gunboats Concord and Petrel, and the steel-clad
revenue-cutter Hugh, McCulloch, converted into a
gunboat, with the two transport ships Zafiro and the
Manshan.
George Stevens had just finished a letter to his
mother, and sent it ashore by the steam launch the
morning the fleet sailed. It was similar to all letters written to mothers just before the battle. The
brave youth told her not to fear for him, and if he
fell in the first conflict with Spain, that she would
have the glorious consciousness of knowing that he
died for his country, and in avenging the death of
his murdered father. While other sailors had the
Maine to remember, he had a father.
" Oh, I wish it was Santiago we were to bombard
instead of Manila " the youth thought, as he stood
near the forward deck gazing out upon the great blue
ocean across which they were speeding.
It was supposed that the Spanish would be found
-either at Subig Bay or at the entrance to Manila
Bay; and a story had reached Hongkong shortly
after the declaration of war which stated that the
enemy had left Manila and started to meet them in




236


CUBA LIBRE.


open sea. But few who knew the nature of the
Spaniards put any faith in the story. Every bluejacket had his map and was figuring out a plan of
campaign.
The distance from Mirs Bay, thirty miles above
Hongkong, to Manila is about six hundred and
fifty miles, and it required three days for the fleet,
with its slow-going transports, to make the distance.
Late in the afternoon of April 30, the fleet came
within sight of Subig Bay.
"Get the men to their quarters," said the captain
softly to the executive officer, who was already at
his side, at the same time calling by the indicator
for half speed. No drum or bugle sounded the
alarm. With Subig Bay before them, in which the
enemy's fleet might or might not be found, it was
deemed best to prepare quietly for the conflict. The
division officers hastened to the various crews and
messes and said:
"Turn out! Get to quarters quickly.'
A tremor of life seemed to run through each ship,
as her decks were suddenly filled with scurrying
figures running in all directions. While it all
seemed the climax of chaos, it was the perfection of
discipline. In three minutes the anxious sailors
were at their posts of duty eager for the fray. Tho
it was still light, a thick haze prevented a clear
observation of the bay. An enemy might be there




GEORGE STEVENS AT MANILA.


237


or might not. At any rate, Dewey determined to
be prepared.
"Cast loose and provide! " came the low order, in
tones loud enough, however, to be heard all over the
deck.
Blocks whined, tackle strained, the tramp of many
feet resounded, as the ammunition-hoists dumped
with a heavy thud the great shells at the guns; the
breech-blocks sprang open, in went the shells with
a snap, the breech locked sharply, and the men stood
alert at their stations awaiting the onset.
Every ship was ready, every gun loaded, and every
sighting-hood contained an officer ready to handle the
great guns. On each ship the captain was in his conning-tower, while Commodore Dewey stood on the
bridge of the Olympia, glass in hand. On glided
the fleet into the bay, and just at sunset the fog lifted
a little, discovering the fact that the bay was empty.
Commodore Dewey evidently did not expect to find
the Spanish there, and only the usual precautions
were taken. As soon as the fleet lay to in the bay,
the cutters began flying about, and in a little while
the chief officers from each ship came aboard the
Olympia for a consultation and final instructions.
For an hour the fleet lay to, during which time in
the commodore's cabin the plans for the great battle
of Manila Bay were laid. George Stevens at his
post waited with the submissive patience which a




288


CUBA LIBRE.


sailor must learn. In about an hour the consultation was over, the chief officers returned to their
various vessels, there was renewed steaming up, and
general activity. The men that long night through
were ready to leap to their posts at a moment's
notice. Sleep was wholly out of the question, altho
they were ordered to get as much rest as possible.
George Stevens remained near his quarters after
leaving Subig Bay, and dozed only a few moments
during the entire night. The ships were dark except the single light shown at the stern to prevent a
collision. There was a moon, but the sky was full
of shifting clouds which obscured it most of the
time, and it is doubted that the vessels could have
been seen by any one watching from the shore.
The south channel of Manila is about five miles
wide and two hundred feet deep.   The flagship
Olympia passed Corregidor unnoticed, and the other
vessels followed in single file, each about four hundred yards behind the one in advance.
The Olympia, Baltimore, Raleigh, and Concord
passed in safety, and probably the entire fleet might
have stolen into the bay had not a burst of flame
from the burning soot in the funnel of the McCulloch suddenly betrayed them.   The Americans
were expected, and the men at the batteries were
awake, for signal lights were seen along the shore.
It was now midnight, and the fleet was drawing




GEORGE STEVENS AT MANILA.


239


well into the bay. Suddenly the slumbering echoes
of the distant hills were awakened by the heavy
boom of a cannon, but the shot did not come near
the vessels. The Boston had her guns manned and
ready, and responded at once with an eight-inch
shell. There came another flash from the shore,
and a shell went singing through the air near one of
the ships and fell hissing in the water.
Standing on the deck of the Olympia, George
Stevens heard those crashes of thunder and saw
those angry flashes of red on the midnight air, but
the stately flagship moved on unheeding this skirmish. After passing the channel, the American line
moved very slowly. The men and officers were all
wide awake and in a fighting fever, expecting cannonading, but an ominous silence seemed to have
suddenly fallen over the scene.
Standing by the great gun at which he was stationed, George Stevens passed the night in almost
breathless silence. His thoughts were busy. His
mother and brother came in for their share, but
somehow in that awful solemn hour, when danger
seemed so imminent, the little being whom he had
rescued some years before, and who had engrafted
herself into his life, as it were, demanded the largest
place in his thoughts. He could but wonder where
she was, and if she had carried out her intention of
becoming a missionary.




sAo


CUBA LIBRE.


On, on, and on they crept, under cover of darkness, and even the pilots were not certain as to their
location, or at all sure they would not run into a
nest of mines at any moment. It was one o'clock
before they were safely within the bay. Between
that hour and daylight the fleet moved slowly in
a northeasterly direction, headed for a point about
five miles to the north of Manila. With the first
dawn of day, George Stevens from his post saw the
Spanish ships they were to attack to the east, under shelter of the strongly fortified naval station at
Cavite. The batteries and town of Cavite were
about seven miles southwest of Manila, and an arm
of land reaching northward to enclose a smaller harbor, known as Baker's Bay. From the deck of the
Olympia the young ensign could dimly make out
the larger Spanish cruisers and the irregular outline
of the shore batteries behind.
"They won't fight unless we make the attack,' the
ensign heard one of the officers remark. It was
evident that the American commodore had determined to attack them where they were, for signals
were flying, giving instructions to the different
ships.
About five o'clock on that Sunday morning of
May 1, 1898, every ship had reported cleared and
ready for action. The crews were then mustered,
and the insulting proclamation of Basiljo Augustin




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GEORGE STEVENS AT MANILA.


241


Divilio read, which roused the indignant Americans
to the highest pitch of fighting spirit.
This done, the American fleet formed in line of
battle and moved forward. The Olympia headed
straight for the Spanish position.  Commodore
Dewey, standing on the bridge, watched the advance and, turning to Captain Gridley, looking from
the conning-tower, said:
"You can fire when you are ready, Gridley I"
Some one uttered in an undertone through closed
teeth, "Remember the Maine! 
The Olympia was now a scene of suppressed excitement and expectancy. A lieutenant, grizzled
and gray in the service, took his station in the
sighting-hood, where he first overlooked the serving
of the big gun-that is, the cleaning, loading, and
priming. Then he deftly turned certain levers, and
with his eyes glued to the cross-bars of the telescopic
sight, elevated or depressed the great gun, and
trained it to the right and then to the left, so as
to get it on the enemy, holding it in position as
they advanced, awaiting for the opportune moment to arrive for pressing the electrical button
which could send the great shell shrieking at the
enemy.
Before the fleet had been ten minutes advancing,
a wreath of white smoke curled up from one of the
Cavite batteries, and a shell dropped into the water
16




243


CUBA LIBRE.


far inshore from the flagship. Several others followed, but the range was too great.
While the Olympia was speeding forward like a
mighty mailed warrior to the conflict, there were
two uplifts of water in her wake and off to the left,
showing where two mines had been exploded by their
land connection. Tho the water did not splash the
sides of the vessel, the hearts of many on board
stood still in fear of other mines which might be
more successfully exploded.
Already there was a film of smoke over the land
batteries and along the line of Spanish ships inshore, while the roar of their guns continued to
come across the water. And all this while the
gray-haired lieutenant stood with his eye at the
cross-bars of the telescopic sight, one hand on a
lever, and the thumb of the other ready to press the
electric button.
The commodore had given the order to Captain
Gridley to begin the battle when he saw fit, and the
captain had repeated those orders to the man behind
the gun. The moment arrived. One ship of the
enemy was covered by the cross-bars of the telescopic
sight, and at that instant the gray-haired veteran
pressed the button.
With an appalling roar which made the ship
tremble, the great gun - breech went thundering
along the recoil rail. The turret was filled with




GEORGE STEVENS AT MANILA.


243


whirling smoke and stifling odor, and trembled on
its firm base. The jackies who served the gun,
stripped to the waist and perspiring in streams,
sprang to it, opened the big breech, and sent a hose
stream of water in to clear the gun for the next
shot.  The shot was scarcely fired ere the gas
cleared away, the gun was sponged, and the order
to load given. The ammunition-hoists came clank.
ing up with the huge projectile and massive cartridges; the hydraulic rammer glided forward and
pushed the great shell into the chamber; the powder followed; the big breech-plug was swung into
place and locked, and the electric wire attached, and
the jackies, now reeking with perspiration, stepped
back. All the while, the grizzled lieutenant was
at his post in the sighting-hood. He turned the
brass circles and, getting a second range, once more
pressed the button, and a second terrific roar made
the ship tremble.
But that big gun was not the only deadly monster
that was pouring in death and destruction on the
enemy. On the superstructure, the five-inch rapidfire guns were speaking in short, sharp yells, and
hurling a hail of steel at the Spanish ships. The
Olympia moved slowly along on her course, surrounded by a vast curtain of swirling smoke, pierced
by long spirts of angry flame. The chief-quartermaster, silent and stern, kept his eyes glued upon the com



244


CUBA LIBRE.


pass-bowl, as he steered the ship. Shells shrieked
like flying fiends from the infernal regions, and
burst all about the ship, but the damage they did
was slight. The captain peered through the slits in
the conning-tower, and issued his orders through
tubes and telephones, or by means of electric signals. And all the while, standing on the bridge exposed to a fair sweep of the enemy's shot, cool,
implacable, and calm as a summer morning, stood
the one majestic form. The hell of battle roared
about him, but he was unmoved. The new wargod sprang as it were from the ocean's bosom; the
calm ruler, the spirit, direction, and life of the battle, were all embodied in the single name Dewey.
George Stevens was no coward, but he experienced
at first that strange feeling, that distressed uneasiness, which almost benumbs the senses and paralyzes the nerves as one goes into battle. This feeling gave way to exhilarating joy after the battle
was fully on.
Viewed from the ships of foreign nations in the
harbor, the battle was one of the grandest spectacles
ever seen. The American fleet seemed steaming
languidly to and fro. There were one or two
sharp cracks, then a succession of deafening roars,
then one long reverberating roar that boomed and
bellowed from shore to shore. A huge cloud of
smoke lay close upon th3 waters, and around it was




GEORGE STEVENS AT MANILA.


245


a penumbra of thick haze. Through this the
American ships could be seen moving, now slowly,
now more rapidly, flames shooting from their sides,
and answering flames leaping from the Spanish ships
and land batteries, while now and then from the direction of Manila came a hollow rumble as the big
guns were discharged, more from eagerness to take
part in the fight than from any hope of giving aid
to their sorely distressed friends.
It soon became impossible for the keenest-sighted
officer on board the Olympia to determine the effect
of their shots on the enemy. The air was filled with
the crashing, roaring, thundering, and quaking of
guns, and a cloud of smoke that seemed to envelop
the whole bay. In the midst of heat and stifling
smoke the gunners, stokers, engineers, and jackies in
the handling-room worked, unable to know the result
of the conflict.
But few words were spoken, save by the commanders, and then always in a sharp yet calm tone
of voice. Some one remarked:
"If they sink us, boys, we'll be buried in a million-dollar coffin."
The fleet in its movements poured in first the port
broadside, turned headlong toward the shore, and as
it moved back toward the northeast, delivered the
starboard broadside. Tho the American gunners were
firing with deadly effect, they could not at the time




246


CUBA LIBRE.


feel sure as to the amount of damage they were
doing. Back and forth, alternately delivering port
and starboard broadsides, the American fleet moved.
To George Stevens those awful moments of peril
seemed but an instant. He did not know how
many times they had passed before the Spanish
fleet when he saw the Reina Christina suddenly
leave the line of battie and make a dash toward
the Olympia. The flagship accepted the challenge,
and every gun aboard Dewey's ship was trained on
the challenger. In the face of an awful fire she advanced. The pitiless rain of bullets and iron balls,
shells large and small, failed to check her. She
came forward and attempted to swing into action
against the Olympia, but was struck fore and aft by
a storm of projectiles.
George could not but pity the brave Spaniards as
the ship swung around and started back to the protection of the land batteries. Just then the grayhaired lieutenant on the gun-platform gave a turn
of the brass circle on his sighting-telescopes to correct his range. He opened the hydraulic valve and
elevated the breech of the gun. He whirled the
little wheel in front of him and revolved the turret.
"Good!" George heard him exclaim. Then he
quickly put his hand on the exhaust valve; the
breech of the gun went slowly down and the muzzle
slowly up until it- reached the level, when he




GEORGE STEVENS AT MANILA.


M4I


pressed that deadly button. An earthquaking, seashaking roar, and an eight-inch shell the next second
struck the stern of the Reina Christina, fairly
wrecking her engine-room and exploding her magazine. She was seen to be on fire as she moved slowly and painfully away.
Commodore Dewey signaled the vessels to draw
off, and they retired up the bay, which led the
enemy to believe they were defeated and retreating.
They came to, breakfast was served, and to the
amazement of all it was discovered that none of the
ships had sustained any serious damage. While the
men were resting and eating breakfast, a short consultation was held, and the course of the second
battle mapped out.
Only a brief respite was given, and then those
awful American monsters came bearing down once
more upon the now trembling Spaniards, who
seemed in them  to read their doom.    George
Stevens, again at his post, watched the grizzled
lieutenant managing the big gun that thundered
destruction at the enemy. It was during this second attack that the daring torpedo-boats attempted
to torpedo the Olympia. Those rapid-fire guns
were trained on them, and like a death-dealing hose
poured in such a stream of projectiles that the boats
were wrecked and washed upon the shores. Admiral Montejo had only time to change from his




O48


CUBA LIBRE.


flagship to the Isla de Cuba when she burst in
flames. Confusion reigned throughout the Spanish
fleet. On every vessel the decks were slippery with
blood, and the air was filled with shrieks and groans
of the wounded. The Don Juan de Austria became
a center for the American fire. Admiral Montejo, on
the burning Isla de Cuba, threw up his arms with
a gesture of despair as a heavy roar came from the
Austria, and a part of her deck flew up into the air,
taking with it scores of dead, dying, and mangled.
Thus ship after ship went down, or was run
ashore and wrecked, until none remained. Then
the Baltimore was sent to silence the Cavite batteries, which was done in thirty minutes, and the battle
of Manila was finished without the loss of an American ship or man, and with only a few wounded,
while the enemy lost 400 killed and 600 wounded,
and their entire fleet was destroyed.
When evening came, George Stevens sat down to
write to his mother of the awful but glorious day's
work. He had finished his letter, folded, and sealed
it, then, clasping his hands, heaved a sigh; and as
his mind wandered back to other scenes he mur.
mured:
'I wonder where she is? 




CHAPTER XV.


SOME WORK IN THE WEST INDIAN WATERS.
WHILE the Asiatic squadron was performing such
wonderful deeds of valor in the bay of Manila, and
the army of 125,000 volunteers which the President
had called for April 23, 1898, was being organized,
many strange and startling events were happening
in the West Indian waters. Perhaps no land or sea
is more fertile in romance and adventure than the
West Indies. Those islands were first inhabited by
mysterious races, whose traditions are lost in the
dim mythology of antiquity; then by a race of
steel-clad conquerors, who came from over an ocean
supposed to be boundless. The stories of their
cruelty and greed are fresh in the minds of the historian. Then came the hunters, buccaneers, and
pirates, whom our gallant Commodore Porter finally
broke up during the twenties. The stories of these
are so wild, thrilling, and exciting as to seem fabrications of some fertile imagination.
The fleet of Sampson which blockaded Havana in
April, and captured the first prizes, maintained for




250


CUBA LIBRE.


some time a peaceful blockade. News came of
Dewey's gallant victory at Manila, and the American sailors in the West Indies chafed under inaction. The Oregon was making her wonderful voyage around the Horn from the northwestern coast of
the United States to Key West.
On April 27, Admiral Sampson had steamed into
the harbor of Matanzas with the New York, Puritan,
and Cincinnati, and bombarded the fortifications
there for a while, then steamed out without the loss
of a man, and, if the Spanish authorities are to be
believed, without doing any harm. The Matanzas
affair was not regarded by the sailors as a fight.
Dewey had drawn first blood, and the blockading
squadron was growing very impatient at the delay.
The younger men in the navy became reckless, no
doubt provoked to it by the poor marksmanship of
the Spaniards, and some of the small gunboats and
torpedo-boats, venturing too near shore, came near
being sunk.
The Spanish Cape Verde fleet under Admiral
Cervera, early in the war was a puzzle to the American seamen. It was reported to have left Cape
Verde and sailed for the West Indies. Great fears
were entertained lest this fleet would come upon
Sampson's squadron unawares, or meet with the
Oregon, then sailing around South America. At
various points at which Captain Clark touched he




SOME WORK IN WEST INDIAN WATERS. 251


found instructions from the naval strategy board.
One of his despatches in reply was as follows:
'Much delayed by the Marietta and the Nictherog.
Left them near Cape Frio, with orders to come home
or beach, if necessity compels it, to avoid capture.
The Oregon could steam fourteen knots for hours, and
in a running fight might beat off and even cripple
the Spanish fleet. With present amount of coal on
board will be in good fighting trim, and could reach
West Indies.  If more should be taken here I could
reach Key West; but, in that case, belt armor, cellulose belt, and protective deck would be below waterline. Whereabouts of Spanish fleet requested."
Tho the fleet was reported as having returned to
Cadiz, Spain, it was expected almost every day
either on the Atlantic coast or in the West Indies.
Commodore Schley with his squadron was for a long
time detained at Hampton Roads to protect the
Atlantic seaboard. The harbors on the coast were
mined and forts strengthened.
On the 11th of May, the war-vessels Hudson and
Wilmington, the torpedo-boat Winslow, and the
gunboat Machias steamed down the coast to Cardenas, and the first three entered the harbor to attack
some gunboats, while the Machias remained outside
to reduce a work known as Diana Cay.
The little fleet entered boldly and attacked the
boats under fire of a masked battery. The principal




252


2CUBA LIBRE.


fire of the enemy was directed against the torpedoboat Winslow. A shot went through her boilers.
Lieutenant Bernandou was wounded by an explosion
of a shell. Another shell exploded and killed Ensign Bagley and five men. The Winslow would
have been sunk had not the Hudson come to her
rescue, and by means of a cable towed her from the
dangerous trap into which she had been drawn.
On the same day the Marblehead, Windom, and
Nashville had a sharp fight with a Spanish force on
shore, while trying to cut the cable at Cienfuegos.
A seaman named Regan was killed and six men
wounded.
Not only were the American vessels in danger
from shore batteries and the expected fleet from
Spain, but during those dark nights, while patroling
the harbors they were blockading, they were often
in danger of sinking each other. Only the most
perfect system of signals and discipline prevented
some such disaster. One of the most thrilling experiences of the "peaceful blockade" was with the
torpedo-boat Porter, commanded by Lieut. John
C. Fremont, a son of General Fremont the explorer. It was the Porter's business to prevent any
Spanish vessel from creeping upon the blockading
squadron unawares.  The American ships at all
hazards must be apprized of the approach of the
enemy. The Ardois system of signal lights includes




SOME WORK IN WEST INDIAN WATERS. 258


a signal which, flashed for a second in the darkness,
means "enemy's vessel in sight."  This system could
be used if the scout was within signaling distance of
Sampson's ships when the hostile craft was discovered. But as fog and darkness are preeminently
the conditions favorable for torpedo work, the Porter's business was to investigate the character of any
strange ship, and, if satisfied she was Spanish, to
blow her up.
On that dark blockade, the American ships recognized each other two ways,-one by the position in
which the vessel appeared, which should be her
blockading station, and the other by an Ardois signal, which was changed every night. It was grim
work on that dark night when the Porter came so
nearly going to the bottom and taking the flagship
with her, but Lieutenant Fremont, ever cheerful,
went about his duty with the complacency of a man
whose mind was at ease.
As he sat in his cabin that night, an ensign re,
marked:
"These Spanish destroyers have heavier batteries
than yours; what would you do if you ran across
one of them out here? " *
"Well, it's my business to keep them from getting
in among our fleet," the lieutenant answered. "I'd
try to do it. "I'd engage a destroyer, and if I
* This incident is taken from newspaper reports at the time.




254


CUBA LIBRE.


found his battery was too heavy for me, I'd close in.
If a chance offered I'd torpedo him. If not-well,
this boat has made twenty-six knots. I'd go at
him full speed. I think the Porter would go half
way through him before we stopped."
"And then? " was asked with pardonable curiosity
as to their fate in a contingency that might arise before morning.
"And then," he said laconically, "I think there
would be a swimming match. It saves time to have
your mind made up in advance on such matters."
"A light on the port bow," the lookout announced.
The lieutenant looked at it for a moment, and
spoke to the man in the conning-tower.  They
were then going slowly at only about five knots
an hour.
" How is your head? " the lieutenant asked.
"Nor'west by west-half-west," came back the
answer.
The course was altered, and they steered for the
light.
"Three-quarters speed," said Fremont.
The long craft quivered, seemed to hesitate for a
second, then shot through the dark waters at the
rate of eighteen knots an hour. They ran for half
an hour-swift, invisible, a black shape on the
dark waters.  They approached the coast.  The
speed was slackened, and they crept into a narrow




SOME WORK IN WEST INDIAN WATERS. 255


bay. The men went silently to the guns-two little one-pounders. Silently the Porter moved in until
they made out the shore-line. The light was beyond it, and it was on shore, so they had no business with it, and, steaming back to their station, began to sweep in great circles over the sea which they
were to guard.
Sometimes lights flashed from invisible signalmasts here and there. The ships were talking,
challenging one another, and making sure that only
friendly keels were near.
As they were cruising westward, one officer lay
on the deck near a one-pound cannon; Lieutenant
Fremont went below for a nap, and Ensign Gillis
was left in charge of the Porter. About two o'clock
in the morning the one-pound gun awoke the officer
sleeping on deck as thoroughly as if it had been a
thirteen-inch cannon, and he raced up to the conning-tower to see what had happened. Before them
there loomed up the biggest ship in the world, or at
least it seemed so, as it was seen over their port
bow, indistinct in the gloom, but close enough to
sink them without fail.
The saucy torpedo-boat had fired across her bow
to stop her, and learn if she was friend or foe. Foe
she seemed to be, and the two little guns of the
torpedo-boat were trained upon her, while the port
torpedo was ready to leap from its tube and do for




256


CUBA LIBRE.


her what she was expected every second to do for
the Porter.
Lieutenant Fremont stood before the conningtower.  Gillis had made out the loQm   of the
stranger when they were a quarter of a mile away
and awakened the commander. Silently the Porter
stole upon the dark war-ship. When they were
about two hundred yards away and within easy
signal distance, the night fleet signal was flashed by
the torpedo-boat.  Two white lights and one red
burned for a second or so, and then were turned off.
There was no reply. The stranger, dark and unheeding, moved slowly westward. That she had
not seen it was inconceivable, for there were twenty
men looking out for signals on every American warship at this time, and no one could believe that they
had overlooked that well-known signal, flashed clear
so close at hand.
The Porter went closer-so close that every man
on her felt that desperate work was in hand, and
that they were in for it beyond recall. The blowers
of the Porter were making a loud drawing noise,
and the movements of both vessels through the water
added to the difficulty of hearing. Fremont's voice
rose so that all who heard it thought it must have
rung through the strange ship, the crew of which
was even then running to the guns.
'Stop those blowers l Fremont cried. He was




SOME WCRK IN WEST INDIAN WATERS. 257


calra, even deliberate. His eyes swept forward and
then aft.
"Are the guns trained on her? ' he asked.
"Aye, aye, sir!" came the response from  both
one-pounders. The torpedo, too, was ready, having
been tested for pressure only a short time before.
At each gun a jackie stood like a statue, his
shoulder bent against the rest, his eye on the
enemy. In such moments the eye notices queer
details. It seemed marvelous that those sailors
should stand there so quietly, ready to fight the
monster ship which towered above them as a mountain above a mole hill, the absurd one-pounders only
toys in comparison to the great guns of the enemy.
As Jackie answered, "Aye, aye, sir," his commander's voice rang out again. This time the voice was
very stern and menacing:
" What-ship-is-that? 
No answer.
"Fire across her bow!"
Bang! went the torpedo-boat's bow-gun, and the
metal rattled as the men shoved another shell home
and trained the piece again.
"Show the night fleet signal," Fremont said, and
it floated again-two white lights above a red one.
They were under the stranger's quarter, close aboard.
For one of the vessels there was no escape. At that
range a torpedo would inevitably destroy the big ship.
17




258


CtUBA LIBRE.


A second after the signal burned, the stranger's signalmast blazed, and there hung an answer, but not the
correct one. In a moment it flashed through Fre.
mont's mind that the enemy might be attempting
to imitate the American signals.
There was no time to think. A flash came from
the stranger's forward fighting-top, and a shell
whistled over the torpedo-boat. Some one in the top
had fired without orders, it seemed; but of course
the men on board the Porter knew nothing of that.
They saw only the flash of the gun, and believed
that the rifles and machine-guns would the next instant be riddling them with shot and shell. They
were so close that the big guns could not be
depressed so as to bear upon them. The
shot came at the moment the lieutenant was hailing, and his face being
~~    ~      ~   averted he did not at first know
'rom whence the gun was
D:?  fired.
"Did that shot come
from  her?" he
'   shouted.
"Yes, sir,"
answered   a
jackie.
All this
transpired in


A FLASHI CAME FROM THE STRANGER'S FORWARD FIGHTING-TOP



SOME WORK IN WEST INDIAN WATERS. 259


an inconceivably short time. For a second, perhaps,
Lieutenant Fremont stood still and silent, and his
men and those on the decks high above them held
their breath for the command for destruction to commence. In that moment Fremont, holding the great
cruiser at his mercy, even more than the cruiser
held him, weighed the evidence and gave the stranger one more chance, which was to be the last.
" What-ship-is-that? "
On the heels of that hail came an answer from
the cruiser, and at the first word in English, the
men let go the breath they had been holding in one
tremendous sigh of relief, for the answer rang clear
and loud:
"This is the New York! 
On the deck of the big flagship could be heard the
sound of tramping feet, and a confused murmur of
voices as the men fell away from their guns to return to their hammocks.
The commander of the Porter asked:
"Is that Captain Chadwick? "
"Yes," answered the New York's captain; "is that
the Porter?
"Yes, sir."
"Why didn't you show the night fleet signal? 
"We did, sir; twice. There was no answer the
first time. The second time, just now, the New
York displayed the wrong signal."




256


CUBA LIBRE.


The fog and the failure of one of the New York's
signal-lights to burn had nearly caused a discharge
of shells and torpedoes that would have destroyed
both vessels. Two seconds' delay in answering
Lieutenant Fremont's hail would have caused. a
greater disaster to our navy than all the damage the
enemy were enabled to do.
The above is only one of the many thrilling incidents of the peaceful blockade. The confirmation
of the report that Cervera's fleet was in West Indian
waters caused Admiral Sampson, with a fleet consisting of the Iowa commanded by Fighting Bob
Evans, the Indiana, New York, Amphitrite, Detroit,
Montgomery, and Porter, to start in search of
Cervera. Having information-which proved unreliable-that the fleet was at San Juan, he sailed
for that harbor and arrived at the entrance about five
o'clock on the morning of May 12, 1898.
Tho no fleet was to be found in the harbor, the
Americans proposed to have a little gun-practise on
the enemy's works. The fortifications of San Juan
extend along the sea-front for about a mile and a
half on the north coast of the little coral island,
on which the city is situated. They also extend
about three fourths of a mile along the western shore
of the island, at the entrance to the harbor. Thus
the city was supposed to be protected from the sea
and from vessels attacking it in the harbor entrance.




SOME WORK IN WEST INDIAN WATERS. 261


The American ships did not enter the entrance to
the harbor. The channel was very narrow, a good
part of it being only an eighth of a mile wide.
There was no room for maneuvering in this channel, and the vessels in the squadron would have
grounded if they had gotten out of the channel. So
the fight was carried on against the Morro Castle.
The cannonading was terrific. The shots from
the fleet were at first short, but when the gunners
finally got the range they began to tell. A cloud of
dirt, cement, and stone could be seen ascending skyward when the shells exploded in the works. The
Spanish gunners returned the fire with great gallantry. Some of the big six-inch shells struck the
armor of the battle-ships, but bounded off, leaving
hardly a dent behind.
One Spanish shell struck a boat on the Iowa,
passed through it, and entered the superstructure,
scattering splinters in every direction. Three men
were wounded. In all, the Iowa was struck nine
times. Later a shell burst on the New York, killing one man and wounding several, one of them
seriously. The day was furiously hot, and men
fairted below decks, and one on the fleet died from
exhaustion.
The bombardment of San Juan will be remembered in years to come by a single act of heroism,
and that of a Spanish girl, Sefiorita Pauline Macias.




202


CUBA LIBRE.


The skill of the American gunners and the admirable
seamanship which enabled the Americans to reduce
the forts with such little loss will be merely incidental. The real story * will be about the daughter
of the Governor-General who commanded at Puerto
Rico.
In this beautiful young woman, with her broad,
clear brow and stedfast eyes, burned the sacred fires
of martyrdom and patriotism.  In all the Spanish
war no Spanish soldier, and there were many heroes
among them, displayed such heroic patriotism as
she.
When the bombardment began, Seniorita Macias
was in the governor's palace. Other women in the
city fled out of harm's way, but the Governor-General's daughter felt that her place was with the soldiers.  She made her way to the batteries, and from
there to the forts. She watched the deadly execution of the American gunners; she heard the shriek
and shell; saw the angry blasts of red, and the
clouds of dust, and the mangled bodies; she saw
the protecting walls beaten down by the great projectiles, as the sea beats down the sand. Her heart
was heavy within her, but she knew no fear. Her
lofty love of her land smothered it.
Thicker and faster came the shells, plowing into
the sand, crumbling stone walls, turning over great
* A true incident.




SOME WORK IN WEST INDIAN WATERS. 268


guns like dominoes, dealing death and destruction.
The frenzied Spanish soldiers shot swiftly and wildly, but their projectiles only tore the air and whipped
the angry sea.  No harm came to those gray monsters hidden in a pall of smoke. The Spanish
\s ^  ^"e-/,'    -!..-.
f'1St~uS   2)E-.
~if~~  ~,~~ — I ---,
L/Jf~-~ /7A


NO MAN COULD WITHSTAND SUCH AN APPEAL.


gunners saw their comrades torn into bits. The
faces of the living were spattered with the blood of
the dying. Then great fear came upon them, and
they turned and fled in panic, rushing hither and
thither, anywhere to escape that hell of exploding
shells.




264


CUBA LIBRE.


But there was no fear in Pauline Macias, only a
frightful rage and a sublime spirit of patriotism.
She snatched a sword from the trembling hand of
a hesitating officer. She raised her voice so that it
could be heard above the din of battle. She upbraided the soldiers for leaving their posts of duty,
and urged them to return to their guns. Her face
glowed as one inspired, and she ran to the central
battery, waved her sword above her head, and cried
to them in the name of their country to rally about
her and fight until no life was left to fire a gun.
No man with blood in his veins could withstand
such an appeal. The soldiers ran swiftly back,
turned to their guns, and fought with greater coolness and desperation than they had shown before,
while like a battle fury Pauline stayed among
them. Her audacity and her courage were a charm
that protected her. Only when the fleet withdrew
from the port did she leave the guns, cheered by
every soldier of the fort.
Admiral Sampson was still sailing about the West
Indian waters seeking for Cervera's fleet, when that
evading squadron suddenly put into the harbor of
Santiago de Cuba, May 19. The news reached
Commodore Schley, who had been ordered to Southern waters to act in conjunction with Sampson, and
a few days later he was at the mouth of the harbor
completely bottling up the Spanish admiral. It was




SOME WORK IN WEST INDIAN WATERS. 265


then that he sent his famous message to the naval
board:
"I've got them now, and they'll never get home."
With the Spanish fleet in Santiago harbor, and
Sampson and Schley both at the mouth, there was
little to fear for the transports taking troops to
Cuba. The army of invasion had been concentrating at Tampa, Fla., and Key West.  As it
would require some of the blockading squadron to
convoy the fleet of transports with the invading
army, Sampson and Schley, in fear of the escape of
Ccrvera while their squadron was away, decided to
place an obstruction in the mouth of the harbor.
For this service the Merrimac, an old craft which
had been used as a collier, was chosen, and Naval
Constructor Hobson and seven men were selected to
run the vessel into the channel and sink her.
On June 3, 1898, Hobson and his brave men ran
the vessel into the harbor mouth, and the Spanish
gunners assisted them in the task of sinking her.
The ship settled to the bottom, Hobson and his men
were captured, and well treated by the Spanish
officers. The American vessels continued to bombard the earthworks at Santiago harbor almost daily,
but it required a land force to take the city.
The battle-ship Oregon, having made her wonderful
voyage around South America, was ordered to join
the blockading fleet at Santiago. On June 10 forty




266


CUBA LIBRE.


marines from her went ashore at Guantanamo, and
occupied the left entrance of the bay, until the troopship Panther arrived with six hundred marines under
Lieutenant-Colonel Huntington, at three o'clock in
the afternoon.
From the time Colonel Huntington's marines first
landed, the Spaniards gathered about them in the
bushes, and the conflict was almost continual. The
incessant crack of Mauser rifles and the whiz of bullets in their camp, even while burying their dead,
made their position the most unpleasant imaginable.
But for the battle-ship and gunboats which ran up to
the bay and raked the hills with shot and shell, they
would have been captured.
But the gallant marines, under their brave old
gray-bearded commander, held their ground and
fought against overwhelming odds, continually crying for reenforcements.
" Send on the army i Send on the army! 




CHAPTER XVI.


LA QUASINA.
"WELL, Nathan, we are off at last!" said Lieutenant Stevens to the soldier, whom he found seated
on a coil of rope on the forward deck of one of the
transports.
"Yes, leftenant, an' I'm mighty glad of it. I
didn't like layin' there in that hot, sandy place. I
come to shoot Spanyards, an' I want to git at it."
In his hand the soldier held a letter written by
the lieutenant's mother, whose handwriting he recognized at a glance. At the end of the page was
some childish scribbling with two circles, in one of
which was "kiss from Zeb," and the other "kiss
from Emma."
"Reckin they are better off'n I could do for 'em."
"Oh, this will soon be over, Nathan; you will go
home and find them well and happy. Then we
don't know what may turn up. There may be a
brighter future for you yet.'
Nathan thrust the letter in the side pocket of his
blouse, and took out the same small photograph




268


CUBA LIBRE.


which he had removed from the wall on the side of
the shanty. He gazed reverently, almost worshipfully on the fair, plain face of the woman who had
been all the world to him. Nathan did this every
day, in fact many times a day. His comrades observed his strange actions, but asked no questions,
and he never made any explanation.
The lieutenant stood in respectful silence until
Nathan had returned the photograph and brushed
his sun-burned hand across his eyes, then he asked:
"Do you feel any signs of seasickness, Nathan?"
"No." His mind evidently was not on the voyage
nor the dangers that might be in store for him, for he
almost immediately said: "Leftenant, I'd give a
mighty sight to see George Phipps."
"Why? 
Nathan fidgeted uneasily on his seat a moment,
and added:
"It mayn't be exactly right in me to feel th' way
I do 'bout George; but I can't git it out o' my mind
that he killed her."
"Don't think of it, Nathan. Close the door on
the past with all its sorrows, and set your face firmly on the future."
"I try to, leftenant, but we can't always think
just what we want to, an' we can't always forgit,
neither."
The invading army of General Shafter, which had




LA QUASINA.


269


been so long mobilizing at Tampa, Fla., and had
been detained from sailing on account of the various
rumors of Cervera's fleet, sailed June 15, 1898. On
the 25th of May, the President had issued his second call for 75,000 men, none of whom were used,
tho all were mustered into the service.
General Shafter's invading army numbered 15,337
men and officers, on twenty-six transports. The
army of invasion left Edgermont Key at noon on
Tuesday, June 14, convoyed by a fleet of seven warvessels. Next day, at Rebacca Shoals lighthouse,
the fleet was joined by six more formidable warships, and the voyage began.
When the transport fleet left Port Tampa, the intention of those in authority was to take the western
course, around Cape Antonio, but later it was decided to go via the Florida Straits, that being a
shorter distance. After the fleet got into the rough
waters of the straits, the transports were formed into
three lines, about one thousand yards apart, while
six hundred yards separated the ships. The easily
advancing transports presented a very impressive
spectacle, stretching for miles over the blue waters.
It was one of the largest fleets gathered together in
years. The grim-looking men-of-war hovered like
watch-dogs on the outskirts of the human-freighted
ships.
During the night, every possible precaution was




270


CUBA LIBRE.


taken to guard against attack. No lights were
allowed on the transports, and the gunboats in the
direction of the shore were doubled, while at frequent intervals shifting searchlights swept the waters in the direction of Cuba in search of hostile
vessels. Throughout the passage, not a sign of an
enemy's ship was seen. The voyage was tedious
and uninteresting.
Only a part of the Rough Riders had been taken;
the others left at Tampa to come at some future
time. The Rough Riders were compelled to leave
their horses for lack of transports, but they proved
they could fight on foot as well as in the saddle.
During the tedious voyage, many of the volunteers
were seasick. Fernando, who had gained his sea
legs early in life, and was as much at home on
water as an old salt, was kept quite busy among the
various members of his company. It was on this
voyage he first learned fully to appreciate the worth
of Colonel Roosevelt. He was continually among
those suffering from seasickness or fever, uttering
some word of hope or sympathy.   He was of a
bright, cheery disposition, and his presence was like
sunlight in the sick-ward.
At noon on Monday, June 20, the transports, led
by the grim Indiana, with her bristling guns, arrived off the harbor, greeted by the thunder of
salutes from the New York, the flagship of the




LA Q UASINA.


271


American admiral, and the entire fleet came to
anchor in full view of Morro Castle.
While the fleet was at anchor, and a consultation
with regard to landing was being held, the decks of
the transports were black with men gazing off toward
the dim shore-line, and those two gray rocks which
marked the entrance to the harbor. Lieutenant Stevens was reminiscent, as he stood on the forward
deck of his transport, straining his eyes to catch
some familiar object.
"My prayer has been answered, and we strike the
first great blow at Santiago," he thought.
The war-vessels could be seen hurrying eastward.
Soon the heavy boom of cannon told that they were
bombarding some of the ports.
"Are they shootin' Spanyards?" asked Nathan
innocently.
"Yes, Nathan. Those are our guns, and they are
clearing a way for us to land."
The fleet was suddenly headed for Baiquiri, and
soon lay in the harbor. The cruisers and battleships in the harbor cleared the shore. General
Garcia of the Cuban army came down to consult
with the Americans, and render what aid he could
in landing and in the conflict that was to come.
While the war-ships were still belching forth their
shells and hurling earthquakes at the hills, the first
American soldiers touched Cuban soil, and were




27m


CUBA LIBRE.


greeted by about fifteen hundred Cubans under Gen.
eral Castillo, who had arrived and taken his stand
on shore with the men under his command.
Lieutenant Stevens was perhaps more anxious
than even the most patriotic American to land on
Cuban soil. It had been months since he had heard
from Viola, and the very fact that he came with an
armed host to rescue her from the Spanish tyrants
was sufficient to arouse his zeal to go ashore before
the others.
Into one of the first boats lowered from his transport he leaped, and Nathan Baker dropped at his
side.
"If I'm goin' ashore at all, leftenant, might as
well go now."
Nathan had his carbine in his hand, and his belt
was well filled with cartridges. He was brave, active, and strong, and heartily tired of the enforced
inactivity on shipboard.
The bay and shore already presented an animated
sight. The shore was lined with armed Cubans,
who had been deployed to keep back the enemy
while the Americans landed. In the bay floated
scores of boats moving toward the shore, while one
of the big war-ships was sending shells at an old
blockhouse upon the hill. The explosion of each
shell was followed by clouds of yellow dust sent
skyward.




LA QUASINA.


273


As soon as his boat touched, Fernando leaped out
and hurried across the sands to where some officers
and men were gathered in a knot on the beach. He
had almost reached them, when down a distant hillside he saw a horse flying at full speed. On his back
sat a woman. It was a milk-white steed, which the
young lieutenant recognized almost in an instant.
Little white spurts of smoke issued from the thickets, and the distant crack of Mausers was borne to
his ears. Tho his heart leaped almost to his mouth,
and he expected every instant to see the daring rider
fall, straight as an arrow she came on and reached
the American lines in safety.
She had brought a despatch from General Gomez
for Admiral Sampson. Gomez did not suppose the
Amerian army had yet arrived, and addressed a note
to the admiral, in which he stated the number of
troops he could furnish to cooperate with the American army when it arrived.
The lieutenant pressed forward to the side of the
fair despatch-bearer and said:
"Seniorita Morena, is it not?
"Si, senor. Buenos dias! "
She recognized him almost instantly, and, reining
up her steed, offered him one little hand.
"Senorita, when at leisure I want to speak with
you.'
"I am at leisure this moment," she answered.
18




274


CUBA LIBRE.


"Having delivered my message, I am at liberty until I receive one to take back."
He took her hand and assisted her to alight, then
one of the Cubans led her horse away to a bunch of
grass.
"Sefiorita, do you know anything of Santiago? 
"No, sefior, only that they expect an attack."
"Do you know aught of Viola?"
"She is there. Her aunt is dead, and she is left
alone."
"When did you hear from her? '
"It has been several weeks. One of our spies
managed to enter the city and spend a few days
there. He told me on his return that he had seen
Viola Cespedes, and learned from her of the death
of her aunt."
"Why did you not take her away to the Cuban
army?"   There was just a slight tone of reproach
in his voice, which she noticed, and in a moment
answered:
" Sefior, if you only knew how hard I have striven
to take Viola from Santiago, you would alter your
tone. I have run more risks, lost more valuable
men in the effort, than for any other one object save
Cuba itself. But a guard is continually kept about
her, and every one who speaks to her is spotted at
once as a Cuban, and a dozen spies placed on his
heels. Once, Miguel Torenza, one of our most suc



LA QUASINA.


275


cessful spies, while in the city had nearly succeeded in rescuing her, but that woman spy of
Weyler's, Nina Diaz, who is the dread of all honest Cubans, discovered Miguel. He was arrested
and shot."
"Why do they keep a closer watch upon her than
any other Cuban? " Fernando asked.
The fair Senada shook her pretty head mysteriously and answered:
"That was a question which for a long time I was
unable to answer, nor can I answer it satisfactorily
now. There seem to be two reasons, both strong
and powerful from a Spanish point of view. The
first and most powerful is love —"
"Love I" he gasped, the color almost forsaking
his face.
"Si, senor! She has a lover in Col. Illion Constellino; as ardent as ever loved fair woman. When
a Spaniard loves, his love becomes dangerous."
"Is his love returned? "
"No, selior. You never knew a Cuban maid to
be false to her vows. She loves not Constellino; in
truth, she despises him heartily, but that makes her
danger only the greater. She has aroused his jealousy, and the jealous rage of Constellino is more to
be dreaded than the fury of a whirlwind. There is
a second cause, which seems to interest more than
Constellino, for many of the officers of Santiago are




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concerned in it. I do not fully understand what
this is, but it seems from the little that has been
gathered that Viola holds some great secret, which
they either want or are afraid she will impart to
others. I do not know the secret, but I have concluded it must refer to the weaknesses of some part
of the defenses."
The soldiers were landing as rapidly as possible,
and in a few hours enough were on shore to establish quite a camp. The Spaniards had burned a
part of Baiquiri before they abandoned it, but neglected to destroy the pier, the most valuable of all
things to the Americans, as it afforded them excellent facilities for disembarkation.
The Spanish flag which had been flying over the
place on the night before the landing was gone on
the morning of the landing, and the houses were
ablaze. Three great explosions during the conflagration indicated that three of the Spanish magazines had blown up.
General Lawton, who landed with the first division as a first precaution, threw out a strong detachment six miles to the westward, on the old Santiago
road. Another strong body was sent to the top of
the hills north of the little town. As these covered
the only possible approaches, the rest of the troops
were quartered in the little village. The buildings
of the iron company accommodated a good many;




LA QUASINA.


277


others found lodging in huts, and the remainder had
tents, or bivouacked in the fields.
Very soon some women and children appeared on
the outskirts of the camp. They had fled from the
town with the Spanish rgarrison, and were in a pitiful state of terror at the proximity of the Americans.
"Leftenant, I see a little one not bigger'n my own
Lady Emma a-peepin' from the grass," said Nathan
to Fernando.
"Nathan, if you can capture one of the children,
do so. They are afraid of us, but if we could bring
one into camp, and give him some presents, and assure him there was no danger, the babies and their
mothers would soon return."
The big cavalryman made a dash and caught the
little fellow, who screamed, and kicked, and tried to
get away.
"Oh, don't now, I wouldn't hurt a baby, not even
a Spanyard!" said Nathan tenderly.  The little
fellow did not cease to yell and kick until the company's cook supplied him bountifully with hard-tack
and sugar. Then a truce was instantly held, hostilities suspended, and the child sent away with his
fists filled to tell his companions that Americans
were not so bad after all. A few moments after
this incident the children and their mothers returned to their deserted homes.
It soon became evident that an advance on Santi



278


CUOBA LIBRE.


ago would be made at once. The sickly season was
approaching, and whatever was to be done must be
done quickly. After a comparatively pacific prolog, the war drama began in earnest on June 24.
The hot sun, coming up from behind the mountainpeaks, lifted the curtain of the morning mist and
revealed the scene along a narrow valley, which
traces irregular paths between Baiquiri and Sevilla,
where were the camps comprising the advance division under General Lawton. Two miles to the rear
were the tents of the second division, marking with a
white line the road to Demajayabo, where General
Wheeler had established headquarters during the
night. General Lawton's headquarters was a cluster of half a dozen huts two miles inland from Altares. The little harbor of Altares was crowded
with transports, launches, and small boats, which
had been engaged all night in landing troops, and
which were still at that work.
The third division was clustered about the beach,
some bathing, others gathering the scattered equipments, and still others making preparations for
breakfast. Far to the front could be seen through
glasses the thin line of Castillo's outposts, who for
two days had been continuously on duty, their flags
fluttering in the morning breeze.
Gradually the sun chased the lingering shadows
in and out of the ravines, and began to scorch the




LA QUASINA.


279


hill-tops. Camps were broken, columns of soldiers
were formed, and the advance was resumed. Blazing blockhouses here and there seemed to indicate
that the enemy was still in full retreat, hastening
to the shelter of the entrenchments about Santiago.
Not a Spaniard could be seen, tho a hundred fieldglasses scrutinized every foot of ground in a vain
effort to penetrate the thickets.  Officers and men
joked as they marched over the retreat of the
enemy, doubting if they would ever make a stand,
and fearing Linares would surrender without a fight.
It was seven o'clock when the Rough Riders entered the village of Altares. After a short halt
they began to climb the steep, narrow trail which
affords the only passage to mount the grand mesa,
which shuts the city of Santiago from the sea. By
this time the heat of the sun was keenly felt by the
men, who, laden with full marching equipments,
toiled slowly up the rocky paths, in many places
compelled to go in single file. There was not
enough air stirring to make a leaf flutter. Some of
the men who had been sick with measles gave out,
and along the hill-sides several halts were necessary
before the men could reach the mesa. A dozen
mules were brought to carry the reserve ammunition and supplies, and the heat so affected them
that some fell from exhaustion.
But despite all obstacles, the toilsome ascent was




280


CUBA LIBRE.


at last made, and the exhausted, perspiring soldiers
were rewarded by a refreshing breeze and a magnificent scene. Before the Rough Riders there stretched
for nine miles a comparatively level plateau, half a
mile in width, dotted with chaparral thickets and
frequently broken by small ravines. At the other
extremity rose the battlements of ancient Morro,
situated high on a point commanding Santiago Bay.
The mesa was traversed about one third its length
by the Juraguasito Creek, a narrow, lazy stream,
spanned at the village of Juraguasito by a railroad
bridge, over which General Shafter hoped to send
his heavy artillery.
The view from the hill-top was magnificent and
inspiring. General Lawton's columns could be seen
slowly winding their way along, preceded by the
skirmish-line, to prevent a surprise.  The mules
were dragging the mountain battery along after the
Twenty-fifth Infantry. A dynamite siege-gun had
been carried by a detail of men as far as Juraguasito,
where the men were resting. The Tenth Cavalry
had dismounted, and were climbing the mesa from
Altares. The Seventy-first New York had landed,
and were falling in, preparatory to beginning the
same ascent. The sun had set its red face upon the
grand mesa. Even the withered, shriveled chaparral
shrank under its burning gaze. Fixing their eyes
upon the Spanish flag, from there a tiny speck of




LA QUASINA.


281


yellow fluttering above Morro, the Rough Riders
boldly shouldered their luggage and marched toward
it. The day proved extremely hot.   The land
breeze died down, and the first gusts of sea breezes
scarcely moved the leaves of the few scattering cocoanut trees along the line of march. The column had
not proceeded a mile when the men began to cast
off blankets and other articles, and fall into the shade
of every convenient bush. Dr. La Motte and the
ambulance corps had their hands full attending to
the exhausted soldiers.
At a well near the Juraguasito, Fernando Stevens
halted for a drink of water. He espied a young
Spanish woman standing near a hut, holding a child
in her arms. She was badly frightened, and seemed
hesitating whether to remain or fly.
"Sefiora, are there Spaniards in the woods beyond? " he asked in Spanish.
She gave him a frightened look, and answered in
the affirmative.
"How many? n
"No puedo quedarme, setor,' she answered, turning her great dark eyes appealingly on him..
The halt was but a moment, and the line of march
was taken up along the dusty road. A rumor came
back to the Americans that the Cubans had already
found the enemy and were fighting them.  They
hurried forward more rapidly. Lieutenant Stevens




282


CUBA LIBRE.


found himself alongside the daring soldier Nathan,
whom no amount of heat or hardship seemed to
overcome. They had not gone far, when they came
upon a dead Cuban lying just at the side of the path.
"They are not far away, and we may expect trouble at any moment," said the lieutenant.
"Leftenant, which side are they likely to be on?"
asked Nathan Baker, his large, dark-gray eyes watching for them.
"Directly in front, or on our left."
"Won't ye keep behind me, or on my right?"
"Why, Nathan? "
"Well, ye see, ye mought interfere with my shootin'. I'm a master hand at fast shootin' when I'm
scart, an' ef we sight them Spanyards, like as not I'll
git scart, an' jist go to blazin' away."
"So you fight, Nathan, we don't care how badly
you are scared," answered the lieutenant. "There
must be no running."
"Wall, leftenant, I 'spect ye'll see some o' the
keenest runnin' ye ever saw, when we come up with
the dirty dagoes."
"What! you don't mean the Rough Riders will
run from the enemy? "
"No, that ain't what I mean. I just mean ef we
come in sight o' the dagoes, our boys'll git so bad
scart it'll take all the officers to keep 'em from runnin' right in among 'em an' cuttin' their heads off."




LA QUASINA.


283


At this moment, the soldier, glancing away across
the mesa to the left, saw a puff of smoke suddenly
issue from the bushes.
"Say, leftenant, d'ye see that? " he cried, pointing
away in the direction of the little blue cloud curling
up from the bushes. Then another, another, and
another puff of smoke arose, and the distant report
of rifles was borne on the breeze.
"They're fightin' over there."
" Silence in ranks! " commanded the officers. Then
the whole column was ordered to halt while the
skirmishers were sent in advance. In a few minutes a Cherokee Indian, member of Troop L of the
Rough Riders, reported back that they were advancing upon a Spanish blockhouse.
"Boys, you all know now what is before you,"
cried Colonel Wood. A suppressed cheer was the
answer. Fernando Stevens was sent ahead in command of a detachment of skirmishers.  He was
pushing along through the brush, and near his side
was the Cherokee, Tom Isbell, from Vinita, Indian
Territory. Isbell suddenly halted, raised his hand,
and said:
" Leftenant, there's a dago." Instantly he dropped
on one knee, cocked his carbine, and leveled it at a
man nearly a thousand yards away and partially
screened by the thick bushes. Lieutenant Stevens
almost held his breath as he watched the marksman.




284


CUBA LIBRE.


Though the distance was great, the Indian had killed
his deer many a time at a greater distance. There
was a sharp, keen report, a puff of smoke, and the
Spaniard threw up his hands, started backward, and
dropped.
Almost immediately a volley rang out from the
thicket ahead, and the bullets swept like hail about
the skirmishers. Only a few Spaniards could be
seen darting about through the bushes, but the firing
from the bushes was so incessant as to convince
them that a large force was in front.
Troop L of the Rough Riders, which formed the
advance line, scattered quickly, sending a return volley in the direction from which the Spanish bullets
came. This fire did not check the enemy, who advanced to the attack with great bravery, emptying
their rifles as they came, but firing too rapidly for
accuracy.  Lieutenant Stevens and the skirmishers
were forced back. Most of the bullets flew high,
cutting through the chaparral in a way that affected
the nerves of some of the Rough Riders. Troop G
was thrown forward to reenforce Troop L, but still
the enemy pressed forward, and Colonel Wood's men
yielded their ground slowly.
Lieut.-Col. Theodore Roosevelt, for the first time
under fire in real battle, seemed a born warrior, and
ran boldly up and down the line, cheering his men
and urging them to stand their ground.




LA QUASINA.


285


"It is up to us now, my lads  We are getting
our share of it. Let them have it! 
As the Rough Riders fell back, yielding their
ground inch by inch, they began to swear at the
enemy in front of them, a habit very common with
volunteers for the first time under fire.
"Don't swear, boys; shoot! " cried Colonel Wood,
whose dauntless courage made him conspicuous on
that occasion.
In the extreme front were two men, as dissimilar
in private life as they were brave in battle. They
were Hamilton Fish, a wealthy New York society
man, and Ed Culver, a Cherokee Indian. Side by
side they fought as brothers, and were both swept
down by the same volley.
"I am wounded! " cried Fish, as he fell.
"And I am killed!" Culver shouted in return.
Culver was shot through the left lung, the ball coming out through the muscles of the back. He believed he was dying, but said if he was to die he
would do the Spaniards as much damage as possible
before leaving. He continued to fire, and sent fortyfiv- bullets at the enemy before he was carried from
the field.
Captain Thomas, who was directing some of the
skirmishers where to move, passed near Hamilton
Fish directly after he was shot. The dying hero
heard the sharp commands of the officer, and, think



286


CUBA LIBRE.


ing they were directed to him, raised himself on his
elbow, and, trying to pierce the gathering gloom of
eternity with eyes already growing glassy, murmured:
"I am wounded! I am wounded!"    A moment
later he fell back and died.
The fight had raged almost an hour and a half,
when Capt. Allyn K. Capron fell, mortally wounded.
He was exceedingly popular with his men, who
crowded about him. Looking up and smiling, even
as he felt the icy clutches of death, he cheerfully
said:
"Don't mind me, boys; go on fighting!"
There were many heroes of that battle at La Quasina, but there is one who specially deserves his
share of praise; that was Dr. Church, of Washington, who went into the firing-line and carried the
wounded off the field on his back.
The sound of firing warned the troops at the rear
that their comrades were engaged, and there was a
great scramble to get to the front. Owing to the
roughness of the ground, it was impossible to form
ranks, and each man crowded forward as best he
could. Troops L and G were found penned up in an
awkward position, with a wire trocha on one side
and a ravine on the other.
While the eyes of the Rough Riders were riveted
on this engagement on their right, a flash came from




LA QUASINA.


287


the chaparral thicket on the mesa, hardly two hundred yards away.
"Deploy! Lie down! " Colonel Wood commanded. At first the enemy was temporarily checked,
but after a little outflanked Wood, and he was forced
to fall back again.
Tho in the very thickest of the fight and continually engaged in some part of it, Fernando Stevens's
quick eye caught many heroic and distressing sights.
Captain Thomas, with a shattered leg, was borne past
him. He saw Private Whitney, of Troop L, stagger
along, bleeding profusely from three wounds. Private
Islade, supported between two slightly wounded companions, also made his way to the rear. He had continued to fire after being pierced by three bullets, and
retired only after the fourth had struck him.
He saw the dashing "Reggie" Ronalds, well
known in New York society, who, overcome by heat,
had sunk exhausted at the side of the road, leap to
his feet, fully refreshed at the sound of battle, and
dash into the very thickest of it.
"Leftenant, I dropped two o' the dagoes," said a
husky voice at Fernando's side; and, turning around,
he saw Nathan. "One was goin' for you, an' one
for Kernel Roosevelt; but I dropped both on 'em."
"Thank you, Nathan.   Doubtless we owe our
iives to you," said the officer, who was too busy to
give much attention to trifles.




288


CUBA LIBRE.


"Yes, an' I'm glad t' be some sarvice, 'cause ye
war both mighty good to me an' the babies."
The battle of La Qusina lasted two hours and
forty minutes, and for one hour of that time it raged
furiously in the burnillg sun. The men had no water
in their canteens, and the throats of the officers became so parched that they could only whisper their
commands. Rifles became almost too hot to hold.
The few who had water in their canteens gave it to
their wounded and exhausted companions.
Never was a more heroic stand taken than that
by the American troops, and they not only repulsed
the enemy, but drove them from the field. When
the fight was over, and the dead and wounded had
been removed, Fernando found Nathan sitting in the
shade of a bush, his face buried in his hands.
"Are you wounded, Nathan? "
"No."
"Sick? 
No."
"Then why are you looking so forlorn?
" Leftenant, I couldn't help in that fight a-thinkin
about the way George Phipps had treated me in that
land deal, an' a-wonderin' if I'd orter forgive him or
not."
" Don't bother your mind with such thoughts now,
Nathan. We have other matters far more serious."




CHAPTER XVII.


SAN JUAN IEIGHTS.
"LIEUTENANT STEVENS," called an officer, the second morning after the fight at La Quasina. The
lieutenant had just left his tent, to find the sun
peeping over the hill in the east. They were still
encamped near the battle-field of two days before.
Looking in the direction of the voice, he saw a captain of the Rough Riders.
"Did you call me, captain?" he asked, going to
meet the officer.
"Yes, sir; this fellow wants to talk with you."
As the captain spoke, Fernando Stevens saw a
small man, whose swarthy face, slouch hat, and bare
feet indicated that he was one of the Cuban patriots.
The camp at La Quasina presented rather a striking appearance. A more motley group could hardly
have been conceived. There were Indians, white
men, negroes, Mexicans, and Cubans. Men of almost every hue were to be found in the army. The
location was picturesque and romantic. Mountains,
pine-fringed, reached down to the wacer's edge, ex19




290


CUBA LIBRE.


cept where Santiago harbor pushed them back far
enough to give a foothold to the ancient Spanish
capital, invisible from where the camp was situated.
Across the harbor mouth the curtain of hills seemed
drawn apart to give ingress and egress to ships; but
those grim ocean bulldogs, the war-ships, were waiting outside to seize all that should venture beyond
the harbor of safety.
The Cuban to whom the captain had called Fernando's attention was a short, thickset fellow, with
small, keen black eyes, and a swarthy face.
" Buenos dias! " the Cuban said, taking the hand
of the lieutenant. Then in an undertone he continued in Spanish: "I have news for you, senor."
"What is it?"
"Come apart with me, and I will tell you."
A little shade of suspicion first came over the face
of the young officer. If this Cuban had information,
why had he not given it to some superior officer?
"Perhaps what you have to say is for the colonel,"
remarked the lieutenant, when they had walked a
short distance from his camp.
"No, senor. You have been in Santiago? 
"I have," the lieutenant answered. "It has been
more than a year since."
"Aye! Selnor, there have been great changes since
then. There has been great suffering."
" When were you in Santiago last? 




SAN JUAN HEIGHTS.


291


"It was ten days since."
"How were you there? "
"A spy."
"And did you know Viola-Viola Cespedes??
"Si, senior."
"Why did you not bring her away with you?"
"Sefor, she was too closely guarded.     Colonel
Constellino, with Generals Toral and Linares, will not
let her get out of sight of one of them.  I managed
to speak a moment with her, and she sent a message
to you."
"To me?    How knew    she that I was with the
American army?"
"She said if you were alive, you would be with
the invading army, and I was to come and find you.
But here is her message."
He took from his blouse pocket a bit of manila
paper, crumpled and dirty from    carrying so long,
which he gave to the lieutenant. On it was faintly
written in pencil, which had almost faded out, the
following:
" Hernando! If this reaches you, I am sure you will be glad
to receive it. I know you will be with the invading army if
alive. I write this on a bit of brown paper; I can get no
other. My aunt is dead, and I am alone. Constellino is my
greatest persecutor. IIe learned in some way that I had a map,
chart, or paper that was a key to some valuable mystery in
Morro Castle, and he tried to get it from me. I gave it to a
faithful friend, to prevent his getting it. This friend went to




292


CUBA LIBRE.


Puerto Rico with it. Since my aunt's death I spend most oi
my time in the cathedral, before the altar. Oh, loved one, it
is very dark and gloomy now, and I sometimes fear the clouds
will never lift nor the skies brighten. If you ever land on
Cuban soil and receive this, you will know that Viola is waiting for you.                             VIOLA."
He read the missive three or four times in succession, and seemed to linger on each      written
word as if it were a precious gem from which
he was loth to part.    Finally, folding the plain
brown paper, he pressed it a moment to his lips,
and asked:
"Was she well when last you saw her?"
"Well in body, senfor, but very much disturbed in
mind.'
"She has lost hope?"
"She is not so hopeful, senor, as she was.'
"God grant that this army may push on at once,
without waiting for reenforcements, and that I may
live to enter Santiago." Turning to the Cuban, he
asked:
"Had she anything more to tell you? 
"No, sefior, there was no opportunity. She barely
had time to explain that I must find you and give
you this, and to give me directions how I was to find
you, and then the spies that shadowed her came
upon us, and I was compelled to leave the city that
night."
The lieutenant went back to his tent to read again




SAN JUAN HEIGHTS.


293


the precious communication, and mediate on the
chances for a speedy entrance into Santiago.
"Leftenant, I hearn we are goin' right on to Santiago," remarked Nathan, as he came from his tent.
"I hope we will, Nathan."
"Say, leftenant, I'm writin' a letter home to the
babies. It's only to be sent if I-that is, if I don't
get through it. Send it to yer mother, an' she's to
keep it for the babies until they're old enough to understand it. Now 'f anything should happen t' me,
ye know, will ye see that this letter goes to 'em?"
"I will, Nathan; but I hope it won't be sent.
Don't be discouraged."
"I try not t' be, leftenant; but, ye see, I can't
help it. I had a mighty curious dream last night.
I dreamed I saw Mary.   I thought I met George
Phipps in some strange, wild country like this. I
had my saber in my hand, an' war goin' to cut his
head off for killin' my poor wife, when he turned to
be Mr. Parker, an' Phipps war standin' at his side.
Then I said I'd kill 'em both, an' war jist about t'
do it, when Mary appears, all white an' smilin' like,
jist like a cloud, an' raised her hands for me not to
do it. She smiled on me and just vanished away,
an' I woke up. I dunno what the 'terpetashun
o' the dream means, 'nless it means I'm goin' to
die."
'No, no, Nathan. Don't take such a gloomy




294


CUBA LIBRE.


view of it. Perhaps it means you will come out of
the war prosperous and happy."
"Dunno, leftenant. Seems t' me as if this dark
cloud war never goin' t' lift from Iny sky, an' as if
it war just doomed to settle in night."
His interview with the Cuban and the message
from Viola made the lieutenant despondent, nervous,
and anxious. On the evening of the 31st, an officer
told him it was definitely settled that they were
to advance on Santiago or San Juan Heights, next
morning. Others still more knowing surmised that
assaults would be made on San Juan Heights and
El Caney at the same time. The massing of the
forces of Lawton and Kent in the two positions evidently convinced the younger officers, and even some
of the privates, that this would be done.
At one o'clock A.M., July 1, 1898, Fernando's
company broke camp, and began moving as rapidly
as the tangled underbrush would permit toward the
foothills below San Juan. At 4:30 A.M. they halted
for breakfast, the last meal many of them had until
after dark the next night. About seven they were
ordered on to join the artillery. The sun, like a ball
of fire set in the eastern sky, was throwing his
scorching rays upon the mountain-sides and even
down the valleys to the sea, which seemed covered
with an immense fleet of American ships.
When ordered to march at seven, Lieutenant Ste



SAN JUAN HEIGHTS.


295


vens was upon an eminence from which he could
overlook the whole imposing scene. Lawton's division was about to move. The men had their breakfast and were formed when the sun rose, and soon
long lines were moving on El Caney. As Lawton's
division was moving to attack this suburb of the
city, the fleet of Admiral Sampson began to thunder
at the fortifications in the channel entrance.
At eight o'clock the battle was opened by Lieutenant Grimes's Battery A of the Second Artillery,
which dropped a few shells upon the heights by way
of warning. The Third, Sixth, and Ninth regulars,
and the Rough Riders, all dismounted save the field
officers, constituted the first brigade to move on San
Juan Heights. The same famous battery which
opened the battle of San Juan Heights, thirty-five
years before at the same hour opened the battle of
Gettysburg.  Many brave soldiers recalled this
strange coincidence as they marched on to get their
position.
When the artillery began, they were perhaps three
thousand yards from the Spanish line, entirely concealed by the foliage of the forest; but by a seeming chance the very first shell fired by the enemy
burst over the American advanced line, killing one
man and seriously wounding two others. The enemy's shells, however, did not check the advance of
the Americans, who moved steadily forward, and




296


CUBA LIBRE.


formed in line of battle along the bank of San Juan
River, not more than six hundred yards from the
Spanish entrenchments.
Their front had been covered by a thin line of
cavalry to engage the attention of the Spaniards, so
that General Hawkins's brigade might take up a position on the left, the idea being to flank the enemy if
possible. When the firing on their left indicated
that Hawkins's brigade had gained its position, the
division which included the Rough Riders advanced
and formed a line of battle along the banks of the
San Juan.
From this point the serious work of the day commenced. They knew they had to carry the heights,
and that no such work had ever been laid out for
unmounted men. Never before had soldiers marched
up against works manned by soldiers with repeating
rifles. When they advanced, their batteries had to
cease firing, because the advance brought them right
in line of their shots, so they were absolutely of no
help at the very time their help was most needed.
The advance of the men was retarded by a network of barbed wire, which, altho the soldiers were
able to cut with their sabers, nevertheless delayed
them at a time when a moment's delay might cost
scores of lives.
The battle roared, until San Juan Heights seemed
like some smoking, shaking volcano.  The sun




SAN JUAN HEIGHTS.


297


mounted higher into the heavens, as if to get a better
view of the conflict raging below. The withering
rays were all unheeded now, and the men fought like
so many demons. Some fell from exhaustion before
they knew it, and the river in many places was
crimsoned with the blood of the slain and wounded.
It was slow work up that hill. Sometimes they
rushed forward, but were slowly forced back.
Fernando, almost suffocated, dropped behind a
large boulder for a moment's rest, while his company retired a little lower and lay panting on the
ground. Glancing off to his left, he saw the large
war-balloon, which, guided by one thousand feet of
strong rope, was being carried over the field by eighteen men. It was the intention to direct the movements of the troops from this balloon. The enemy
saw it, and poured a tremendous fire at it, the shells
exploding among some advancing troops, which otherwise would have escaped. Finally the balloon
reached a point known as Hell's Crossing, when a
scathing fire was poured into the inflated bag.
Showers of bullets pierced it, and three shells from
a shrapnel battery exploded in it, tearing it to
shreds. The balloon with its three occupants settled in the stream at a place where the water was
waist-deep, just as the First and Tenth Cavalry, dismounted, were charging a Spanish ambush in a field
of wild corn on the west side of the stream.




298


CUBA LIBRE.


" Say, leftenant, did ye see that balloon go down? "
asked a voice near, which Fernando recognized as
Nathan's.
"Yes."
"Mighty big piece o' tomfoolery that, anyway.
Anybody'd know they could shoot a balloon to pieces.
Must think them Spanyards is blind, I reckin.'
"It is not for us to criticize, Nathan," the lieutenant responded.
"I hain't a-criticizin' at all. I'm jist waitin' for
my gun to cool a little so I kin go to work ag'in."
The roar about El Caney and San Juan Heights
that day was continuous.  The earth at times seemed
to tremble beneath the wild shouts of carnage and
the heavy roar of artillery. Cervera's fleet, those
elusive, phantom ships, which had been such a bugbear to the American Naval Strategy Board, were
found at last. From their position in the harbor,
they poured a shower of ruin and death among the
continually advancing lines of the Americans. Advancing, wavering, then falling back a short distance, but never retreating, the Americans fought all
that long, hot forenoon. The sun had passed the
meridian and was on the decline, and still the
American soldiers lay at the foot of the hill, fighting, and waiting for the order to carry the hill by
assault.
Lieutenant Stevens was standing in the shade of a




SAN JUAN HEIGHTS.


299


palm that had been pierced by a score of bullets.
Two or three dead lay near, and Nathan lay behind
a large boulder, loading and firing at long range.
The Rough Riders, as well as all the army, suffered
that day. Suddenly there appeared on the field a
man who seen ed to rouse general life and animation
among the soldiers. Many a dry throat cracked in
the loud cheer:
"General Wheeler! General Wheeler!"
Old Fighting Joe Wheeler, as he was called, was
too ill to sit on a horse, so he was carried to the
front on a litter, while General Shafter, prostrated
with heat, was some distance at the rear.
Colonel Roosevelt hastened toward General Wheeler, who was brought near to where Fernando Stevens was standing. General Wheeler received a despatch from General Shafter, but the lieutenant, of
course, never knew what it contained. Roosevelt
was pleading earnestly with General Wheeler, and
Fernando heard him say:
"My men are being butchered here, general, but
we can take the works by storm. Let us charge
them, and we will drive the cursed dagoes out in
twenty minutes." Those breastworks at that very
moment seemed like the yawning jaws of death.
" It seems the only thing that is left, and I would
not blame you if you did! " the sick hero answered.
Fernando could hear no more, but he knew what




300


CUBA LIBRE.


was coming. Turning to the platoon of the troop
which he commanded, he said:
"Boys, take a good supply of breath, for you will
have need of it."
A few moments later one of the men in the line
said:
"Teddy is in the saddle; now look out for h-1 i"
Bates, Kent, and Roosevelt flew to their separate
commands, and the trumpets brayed the blast for
the forward charge.
The men caught up the cry and sprang from the
ground into line. Pale and exhausted but a moment
before, they seemed now inspired with new life.
"What does it mean, leftenant? " asked Nathan,
starting up from the ground.
"We are going to the Spanish works."
With a yell, the Rough Riders made the charge
up the hill, and there was not an officer on the field
who could restrain his men. There was not much
discipline, and not much need for any. They all
brolke and followed the Rough Riders. The Ninth
and Tenth colored cavalry, and after that the whole
army.
It was a battle wherein men did the charging and
the fighting. When the charge commenced, they
took the whole thing entirely in their own hands,
and to them is due the credit of a victory that was
simply wonderful.




SAN JUAN HEIGHTS.


301


Only once did the Rough Riders waver. Roosevelt saw it, and, dashing forward on his large bay
horse, he shouted:
"Come on, boys! Follow me! " then wheeled his
horse about and started up the hill at a gallop, shouting and cheering the men who followed him, amid
a perfect storm of bullets and bursting shell. Before
the daring Teddy had gone thirty yards, his horse
suddenly paused, pawed the earth, and went down.
His gallant rider landed on his feet, sending a shot
from his revolver whistling at the fort, and shouted,
"Come on! Come on! " and not a man able to follow him remained behind.
The regulars were fully as brave as the volunteers,
tho it was only natural that the latter should be
more impulsive. The advance of all was steady, but
there was little of that marching shonuder to shoulder. It was a run and hustle, and every man for
himself. The enemy poured in volley after volley; men went down by the score; soldiers leaped
over fallen comrades and rushed on swiftly up the
hill.
Pressing on well to the front ran Lieutenant Stevens. Roosevelt was just ahead of him, and Natbaln
was at his side, firing his carbine and revolvers as
rapidly as he could. The nearer they approached
the works the more like a fire-belching volcano they
seemed. The smoke rose in a dense cloud, ccntinu



802


CUBA LIBRE.


ally wafted upward, through which gleamed and
flashed a continuous light, playing along the top of
the works, and never going entirely out. Onward,
straight toward this blazing, roaring pit of death,
sped Roosevelt and his Rough Riders. The line
struck it almost as one, and over went a thousand
men, and the enemy fled.
As Roosevelt leaped into the enemy's trenches, a
Spaniard who had been stunned suddenly started
forward, and, with a hoarse cry of rage, struck at
him with his sword. The blow would have cleft
his skull in twain had it not been caught on the
blade of Nathan's saber. He turned it aside, and
slashed the Spaniard over the head, bringing him to
the ground.
Even in the midst of a victory in which he was
the most conspicuous here, Roosevelt caught a moment to express his gratitude.
"I owe my life to you, sir."
"Glad I done it, colonel. I've allers wanted to
do ye a good turn since ye war so kind to the babies," Nathan answered.
After they had driven the Spanish off and taken
possession of San Juan Hill, Colonel Roosevelt was
ordered to occupy another eminence about five hundred yards farther to the front.
"Come, Lieutenant Stevens, bring your men and
we will go," said Roosevelt.




SAN JUAN HEIGHTS.


303


aI have but a handful left; most of them are lying on the hill-side."
"Come with what you have."
They reached the point with but ninety men to
occupy the position. The Spanish fire never ceased.
The Rough Riders were at a disadvantage.
"Lie down!" commanded Roosevelt.  The men
threw themselves flat on the ground, and had to hold
their position in a perfect storm of fire. There was
no flinching. No man seemed to think of retiring,
but every one was determined to hold the place or
die.
After holding the position under an incessant fire,
they had later to defend themselves against an assault by the Spanish in an attempt to recapture the
position.  It was estimated that there were four
thousand Spaniards engaged in the sortie to recapture
San Juan Heights. The fire was terrific, but the
Americans went right into it, and after a while the
enemy gave way and fled down the hill.
"Such men to fight never were known," a Spanish soldier was afterward heard to tell his comrade.
" Why, they came right up and took hold of us with
their hands."
The San Juan Heights battle was over, and victory perched on the American banner.  July 1
and 2 had been terrible days about Santiago. It
was the night of the 2d, and Lieutenant Stevens




304             CUBA LIBRE.
came upon Nathan sitting on a stone, crunching
hard-tack and washing it down with water from his
canteen.
" Nathan, I am glad to find you alive after the
two days' hard fighting."
" I've just been doin' a powerful sight o' thinkin'
about it, leftenant," Nathan answered.
"About our glorious victory? "
"No; 'bout my land deal with George Phipps. I
wonder ef I wouldn't be justerfied in givin' him a
drubbin'.  He lied 'bout the land bein' free, and
poor wife was weak with consumption."
" Don't think of it, Nathan. Keep your mind on
the Spaniards," said Lieutenant Stevens, and left
him to his own sad reflections.




ATO 9MOZ) WM1'
JORS 10   N, I 17 Ak ffg








am=








CHAPTER XVIII.


ENSIGN STEVENS RECEIVES A STRANGE MESSAGE,
AND HAS AN ADVENTURE.
"DON'T get between my guns and the enemy I
said Commodore Dewey to Prince Henry of Germany.
There was no mistaking Dewey's meaning, and the
German prince very wisely observed the caution.
Dewey had gone to Manila, had sunk the Spanish
fleet, captured some of the Spanish works, and there
Dewey stayed. His going, and doing, and staying
had a marvelous effect on the future of the Philippines and the United States.
"The battle of Manila killed me, but I would do
it again!" declared Captain Gridley, of the Olympia,
on his death-bed.
The friendliest feelings sprang up between the
American men and officers and the men and officers
of the British man-of-war.
George Stevens found a friend in a young Eng.
lish ensign named Henry Gascon. As often as they
could, they were visiting each other and exchanging views on the coming contest, in which both
20




806


CUBA LIBRE.


thought it probable all Europe might some day be
involved.
" It would be a curious sight to see the blue coats
and the red, the Stars and Stripes and the red cross
of St. George, marching side by side to battle against
all Europe," declared the young Englishman.
"I hope there may never be another war between
English-speaking nations,' George declared.
"When will you take Manila?" the Englishman
asked.
"When we have sufficient land forces." Then the
English ensign, who had often been in Manila, proceeded to tell him about the city and the strange
people who inhabited it.
"The Philippines seem to contain all the wonders of the earth. Their people and resources are
wonderful. Were you ever among them? 
"No," George answered. "This is my first voyage
here. Are the citizens of Manila a sample of the
people of the islands? "
No. Manila is Spanish. The Filipinos live in
the interior."
"What sort of a race are they? "
"A Malay race, treacherous savages, lineal descendants of the pirates of the Malay peninsula.
The mountains are inhabited by an entirely different race called Little Negroes.'
"Are they black? '




ENSIGN STEVENS HAS AN ADVENTURE. 307


"Yes, black, with woolly heads like Hottentots,
but very warlike and dangerous. There is a tradition that some of their mountain tribes were never
conquered, and owe allegiance to no man. They are
unscrupulous rogues, and nothing delights them more
than dashing down on a village or plantation at
night, murdering the inhabitants, plundering the
place, and retreating back to their mountain fastness. From what I have read and heard of the
two races, they seem to possess the characteristics of
some of your Indian tribes. They live in caves and
lava beds, and the wild game of the mountains supply them with an abundance of food."
"Do they have no industry? 
"Yes, some are agriculturists in a rude way; but
they depend more on robbery and theft than upon
industry for a living."
"Were there many Americans in Manila before
the war? " asked George.
"A few; not a great many. By the way, I met a
little American girl, who is an angel if ever there
was one."
"In Manila? asked George carelessly.
"Yes; she was in some way connected with some
school; I believe a teacher of music, or some of the
fine arts, or languages. She was just such a person
as attracts the attention of one at a glance. Her
large, soft, brownish eyes and clustering hair, in




808


CUBA LIBRE.


such wavy ringlets, are lovely. I tried to form her
acquaintance, but she is very shy. I will do so yet.'
" If she is an American, why did she not leave the
city? 
"She is attached to some sort of an international
charity association. I really do not know what it
is, but it enables her to claim foreign protection from
England, Germany, France, or even Spain itself."
"Perhaps she is a member of the Red Cross."
"No; her calling has something to do with teaching the young idea how to shoot.'
George suddenly grew very curious to know more
of this young girl, and asked:
"What is her name? 
"I really don't know.'
"Have you never heard it? 
"Yes, once; but I have forgotten it. It is a name
so common to the English tongue that I doubt if I
could recall it, even if it was spoken to me. I am
going to see her again soon, however, and I will then
learn more about her.'
"How do you expect to see her?' asked George.
"There is a blockade in this harbor.'
"Well, now, my friend, we sometimes like a bit
of adventure. I propose to run the blockade. Don't
give my secret away, as it may cause a rupture in
the good feeling we entertain for each other-may
put an end to my hopes for a delightful adventure;




ENSIGN STEVENS HAS AN ADVENTURE. 809
and even if it is carried into effect it can not injure
Commodore Dewey's plans.'
George Stevens agreed to respect the young man's
wishes, and they separated. Somehow his description of the pretty Manila school-teacher revived in
the young ensign a strange feeling. A peculiar
longing, that had for years haunted him, returned
with all its force, and a face that had been dimly
impressed on his mind seemed more than ever revived. A week later he again met his friend, the
English ensign, who said:
"George, my dear boy, I've got a very strange
message for you."
"For me? he asked in amazement.
Yes, sir. I think the whole affair is a little romantic, and I wish it was as romantic on my side
as it seems to be on yours."
"What do you mean? " George asked.
"There is a young lady in the city who told me
to ask you if you recalled rescuing a certain little
girl in a certain city from an intoxicated and angry
father, some years ago."
"Forgotten it! Good Heavens! I can never forget
it. Do you mean Hallie Norton, the old bumboat
woman's daughter? '
'Her name is Hallie Norton; but I have no idea
whose daughter she is. One thing I am quite certain about, and that is she is an angel.'




810


CUBA LIBRE,


"You are right there, Henry. And is she in Manila? '
"Yes. She is the same person I was trying to
tell you about. Now, to tell how I came to have
the honor of bringing this message to you, I must
tell you a bit of an adventure."
"I shall listen with pleasure. Go on."
The English ensign took a cigar-case from his
pocket and passed it to George, saying:
"They are genuine Manila, for I got them there
myself; but now to my story."  When both had
lighted, and were puffing quietly on the after-deck,
he continued: " I have a friend on the German manof-war, the Irene. I knew the Germans were continuously going into the city, and I suspect they are
even carrying guns and ammunition to the Spaniards,
but, of course, don't know it. My suspicion, however, can count for nothing at this time. My friend
on the Irene told me he was going to the city one dark
night, and asked me to accompany him, and I consented. While the Spanish in Manila have little love
for an Englishman, I speak German well enough to
be a subject of the Kaiser. I went, and on reaching
the city we found Spanish friends ready to receive
us. We were given the privilege of wandering about
at will within certain prescribed limits. I went to
the mission-school where my singularly beautiful lit.
tie girl of whom I told you lives, and found her."




ENSIGN STEVENS HAS AN ADVENTURE. 311
"And she is Hallie Norton? 
"Yes."
George arose from his seat and walked aft to the
rail, pressing his hand on his brow and asking himself if it could all be a dream.
Many years had elapsed since he had heard a
word of Hallie. He had prayed earnestly and fervently that he might see her again; that he might
tell her that even her coarse parentage made her no
less dear to him; that he might explain how he had
stood by her father when he breathed his last in a
foreign city, and how he had wished for the cold
lips to speak and tell him of her. He had longed to
tell her that she had never been out of his mind
since that strange, dark night when he struck down
the cruel father who threatened to choke out her
beautiful life. All these reflections coming suddenly and unexpectedly like a flood overwhelmed
him.
"You seem startled," remarked the English ensign,
when George resumed his seat.
"This was rather sudden, Ensign Gascon, I must
confess. I have often wished that I could meet this
girl, whose acquaintance was formed under the most
peculiar circumstances. But go on; tell me all
about your adventure, and meeting her."
"She was the same I have told you about, and I
asked her if she was suffering any inconvenience on




812


CUBA LIBRE.


account of the siege. She answered that she had
been put to small annoyance indeed. Altho she
was American born, she was treated with the greatest respect. Very naturally our conversation drifted
to the battle in the bay, and the American ships now
blockading the harbor. She asked me concerning
them, and in the course of the conversation I told
her of you. The very moment I mentioned your
name, she started as if it had long been familiar to her.
"'You know   him?' she asked, and her eyes
sparkled with the most intense interest.
"I answered that I did. Then she proceeded to
ask a hundred curious questions about you-how
you had grown and how you looked. It seems you
were only a middy when she knew you, and she was
glad to learn you had been promoted to an ensign.
I am convinced, friend, that years ago you must
have stirred some tender emotion in that little heart,
that has not yet ceased to vibrate."
George Stevens sat a long time, his eyes upon the
deck and his hands clasped upon his knees. At last
he started up, saying:
"Gascon, I must go to Manila."
"Go to Manila? " asked the Englishman.  Why,
are you mad, my friend?"
"No, I am rational, perfectly rational; but I must
go to the city. It is a matter that concerns me, and
I will go."




ENSIGN STEVENS HAS AN ADVENTURE 813


"If you will be a little patient your army will
come, and you can then enter Manila."
"I can't wait until then. It will be too late."
"But don't you realize that if you are caught
within the Spanish lines you will be shot for a
spy? 
"I don't propose to be caught," he answered
quickly. "I am going to see Hallie Norton, or perish in the attempt."
"How do you expect to accomplish your purpose?"
"You and your German friend will aid me," he
coolly answered, while Ensign Gascon opened his
eyes wide, and gave vent to a very suggestive whistle.
"By George, do you expect us to hang with you? "
"No, I expect no one to hang. This is to be an
adventure that we will always remember as a successful one.  England and Germany should dare
what America will. My plan is this: I speak German as well as yourself; we will all dress in the
uniform of German officers, and with our friend go
to the city, where I can see Hallie."
"What is your object in seeing her? 'asked the
Englishman.
"I want her to leave Manila. Either we will
soon be throwing great shells into the town, or,
what may be worse, it may fall into the hands of the




814


CUBA LIBRE.


insurgents. In case the latter happens, I tremble
for the fate of the women of Manila."
"You are right, my friend.'
"Now, do you blame me for wanting to get her
away? 
"No-'
"And do you think there is an English sailor
afloat so craven in heart as to refuse aid under such
circumstances?
"No, I am ready to go, and I'll vouch for my
German friend; but, George, my dear boy, we must
keep this from the officers. We'd all be in irons if
this was known."
The arrangements were completed, and three
nights after the interview some very mysterious
things happened in the bay. A little steam launch
put out from the flagship to the English man-ofwar. A few moments later another launch put out
from the Englishman with two officers and disappeared in the darkness, to appear within range of the
lights of the Irene. The launch was hailed, and,
after a short time given to challenging and answering, went alongside.
Great caution had to be exercised, for the bay was
filled with armed war-vessels; enemies glared at each
other day and night, and the greatest care had to be
observed; but all was accomplished at last. George
and his daring young friend, Henry Gascon, were




ENSIGN STEVENS HAS AN ADVENTURE. 815


aboard the German ship, and a whispered consultation was going on between them and the young German officer. They had to keep their mission from
the commander of the Irene, as well as from Dewey.
The young men realized that the least hint of their
plan would cause the arrest of every one of them.
Military and naval law is not the least bit sentimental, and will not bend an inch over such affairs
as the rescue of captive maidens. Our modern soldier is far from being the gallant knight-errant of
the old days of chivalry. He obeys certain fixea
and unalterable laws, and must allow no emotion in
his soul to interfere.
It was about ten o'clock at night when a boat
was silently and stealthily lowered from the side of
the Irene, and three young men climbed into it.
Those three young men were naval officers representing the three greatest powers in the world. Each
seemed stimulated by national pride to outdo the
other. They silently laid to the muffled oars and
sped quickly in with the tide. The German, who
sat in the stern, the tiller in his grasp, kept a sharp
lookout for the vessels at anchor in the bay. They
sometimes glided frightfully near dark shadows of
a vessel, which, had they been seen, might have sunk
them.
On they glided, darting here and there, and avoiding those mysterious lights which ever and anon




816


CUBA LIBRE.


flashed over the bay. Cavite, where the Stars and
Stripes so proudly floated, was left far behind, and
they were drawing nearer to the colors of Spain. It
was so dark that George did not try to see which
way they were going, trusting all to the knowledge
of his friends, who were better acquainted with the
harbor.
The young officers had so planned their expedition as to have the tide in their favor both going
and coming. At last, after what seemed hours, they
were hailed by a voice on shore. The German answered in Spanish. A suspicious light was flashed
in their faces, all the while the German ensign giving them assurance that they came from the Irene.
They were hauled in to a pier, where an officer
stood to interrogate them. He held a lantern close
to their faces and scrutinized them very closely.
George met his gaze without flinching.
"Do you speak Spanish? " the officer asked.
"No," Karl quickly answered.   "He does not
speak Spanish. If you speak German, address him
in that."
The officer was deficient in German, so, after a
careful scrutiny, he was passed on. The three went
up into town under a guard, and in an hour found
themselves at the door of the mission building,
which was dark; but by ringing the bell they brought
the proprietress of the establishment. She was an




ENSIGN STEVENS HAS AN ADVENTURE. 817


Englishwoman, one of those gentle, sweet characters
whom one loves at first sight.
Hallie Norton was asked for, and after a short
delay, she came 
room where sat     -
the three naval
officers. She.... K|
recognized       h gse
Henry with a ' 
nod, bowed to
Karl, but at the
sight of George
started back
with a slight
cry.
"What! it
can't be!" she      --
gasped.
"It is," he.
answered.
Then she grew
suddenly  dizzy
and sat down,         HE SCRUTINIZID THEM VERY CI,(O
while he stood
gazing tenderly into her startled face. As soon as
she could speak, she gasped:
"Why did you come here?"


SI,JY.




818


CUBA LIBRE.


"To see you."
"But you will be killed. They will shoot you
for a spy."
"If they knew who I was, they would. But I
propose to keep my secret to myself, and my friends
will not betray me."
" Oh, it is such a risk!'
Notwithstanding the long lapse of time since he
had seen her, and the changes that had come, making
her a woman instead of a child, George Stevens
could easily recognize her. There were the same
soft brown eyes, the same abundant clustering hair,
as when he had taken her from the alley on that
dark night. He felt his heart beating faster as he
gazed on her. He took a step nearer, and grasped
her hand in his own, and, bending over her, said:
"Hallie, I got your message, and I came after you.
You must go away from Manila, for it will soon be
the battle-ground between the United States and
Spain.'
She turned a little paler, and asked:
"Where shall I go?"
" The matron of this institution is an English lady,
is she not? '
"Yes, sir.'
"Then take refuge on an English ship, until we
have transports of our own in the harbor."
She was silent a moment, as if buried in thought;




ENSIGN STEVENS HAS AN ADVENTURE. 319
then, rousing herself to the dangers of the young
American. grasped his arm and said, in low, wild,
earnest tones:
"Go. go, Mro Stevens - you must go at once, or you
will be discovered, and murdered-and then — 
She stopped short.
' Then-what? "
"You will be aead:' she stammered.
The Englishman and the German smiled, but
George overlooked the unintended humor of the remark and said:
"I am in no danger. Promise me you will go
aboard some English ship, and I will go at once."
"I will-oh, I will do anything if it will-" she
hesitated a moment, then blushed, as she innocently
added, "save you."
The two ensigns went out, leaving George and
Hallie a moment alone. He took her hand in his
and said:
"Hallie, I am happier at finding you than anything else could make me. You have never been
out of my mind since that awful night when I rescued you.  I have dreamed of you a thousand
times."  She started, turned deathly white, and
trembled; then a blush swept over her face; but she
said nothing. He went on, speaking in a low, gentle, thrilling tone, which meant more than words:
'There is much I have to tell you, Hallie. I could




380             CUBA LIBRE.
talk until morning, and not tell one half that is on
my mind; but not now."
"Oh, go, go!" she whispered. "If you should b6
discovered, I would die!" Unconsciously the telltale sentence slipped from those truthful lips.
"I am going now; but, Hallie, I will ascertain
which ship you take refuge in, and call on you.
Until then, adieu." One swift glance about the
apartment showed they were alone; then the impulsive youth almost unconsciously impressed a kiss on
her white lips, and hurried out to join his compan.
ions and hasten to the boat.




CHAPTER XIX.


OBEYING ORDERS AMID FLAME AND SMOKE.
RECENT developments convince the world that
Admiral Cervera was only acting under orders and
not on his own cool judgment when he allowed
himself to be bottled up in Santiago harbor. He
was ordered to the West Indies by the home government, which seemed to know little or care little of
the consequences.  On reaching Cuba, his orders
were to place himself under Blanco. After the destruction of Montejo's fleet, the hopes of Spain were
centered in the fleet of Cervera. On June 26,
Captain-General Blanco sent the admiral a long telegram, in which he stated: "To-day all the nations
of the earth have their eyes fixed on your squadron,
and in it is wrapped up the honor of the nation."
He advised Cervera, if convinced that Santiago was
to fall, to take advantage of some dark night and
escape from the harbor, for he admitted that the loss
of the fleet would speedily terminate the war.
After the fight at La Quasina, Blanco, still laboring under the delusion that the escape of the fleet
21




822


CUBA LIBRE.


was an easy matter, ordered Linares to embark the
soldiers on the Spanish ships. On June 28, General
Linares telegraphed to Blanco:
Y Impossible to reembark troops from Cervera's ships until
the arrival of reenforcements."
Cervera felt all the while that if he was to escape
at all, he should have done so before the arrival of
the whole blockading fleet and the invading army.
When the squadrons of Schley and Sampson were
both at the mouth of the harbor, he realized that
escape was next to impossible.
His only hope then was to remain in the harbor
and assist the army of Linares in keeping the enemy
at bay as long as possible. But they were all short
of rations. There was not enough for the army, to
say nothing of the fleet.
Shafter had only to sit down and wait, and starvation would fight his battles for him. Linares
called again and again for supplies and reenforcements, but the Spanish authorities, who had stupidly
blundered from the very beginning, were unable in
this supreme moment to give aid.
On July 1, 1898, the first day of the great battle,
Captain-General Blanco sent an order for Cervera to
leave the harbor. At that time many of the sailors
and guns were on shore, doing effective work in
holding the Americans in check. The Spanish ad



OBEYING AMID FLAME AND SMOKE. 323


miral sent the following answer to the Captain-General:
"SANTIAGO, July 1, 1898.
" Captain-General Blanco, Havana:
" As a continuation of my cable of yesterday, I have to inform
you that General Linares has answered me that he can not return the sailors, because they occupy positions on the firingline and il the trenches, and that if they are removed the
Americans would be able to advance through the places thus
vacated. Without these men the squadron can not leave the
port. I request further instructions from you. CERVERA."
Later in the day, General Linares being wounded
and succeeded by General Toral, and Toral having
telegraphed the proceedings of the day's battle, Admiral Cervera, realizing how dangerous an attempt
to escape would be, sent the following additional
telegram to Blanco:
"SANTIAGO, July 1, 1898.
" Captain-General Blanco, Havana:
" From General Toral you know of the battle of to-day. General Toral thinks that the withdrawal of my sailors would result in the loss of Santiago, and without them I can not attempt
to escape. My opinion is the same as that of Toral, and our
departure would in that event be like a flight. My captains
also think so. Send instructions for which I have asked.
" CERV ER A. "
But it was all to no purpose.     Captain-General
Blanco saw that the only hope of Spain was to save
the fleet. He did not know that even at that time
General Shafter was thinking of falling back and re



824


CUBA LIBRE.


forming his line.  He determined to save the fleet if
possible.  He cited the fact that the Montevideo and
Santo Domingo had escaped from Havana, with nine
ships on the blockading station; the departure of the
Purisima Concepcion from Castile with three, and of
the entrance of the Reina Cristina into the blockaded harbor of Cienfuegos. Surely with such brilliant examples he thought that Cervera ought to escape from the harbor; and on July 2, the second
day of the fight at Santiago, he sent the following:
"HAVANA, July 2, 1898.
"Admiral Cervera, Santiago:
"Ship with the greatest haste all your sailors and leave immediately with the squadron.             BLANCO."
In his own handwriting Blanco added the following words to this despatch, writing them on the
back of the telegram:
"Twelve hours only are necessary for Cervera to get ready."
The above terrible order was approved by the
authorities at Madrid, as is attested by the following
despatch:
"MADRID, July 3, 1898.
" Captain-General Blanco, Havana:
" Instructions given to Cervera are approved.  CORREA."
Upon receipt of the order from Blanco, approved
by Correa of Madrid, Cervera bowed his silver head




OBEYING AMID FLAME AND SMOKE. 325


in his hand and sighed. There was no need to longer
parley. Blanco had made the blunder of his life,
but it was not the place of the heroic Cervera to
question, but to do or die. All night long sailors
and men were hurried aboard the ships, and at midnight they began to steam up. At four o'clock A.M.,
Admiral Cervera shook the hand of General Toral,
bade adieu to the officers and friends on shore, and
went on board his flagship. Many a brave sailor
who went lightly to his duty knew that he was only
rushing into the jaws of death.
Just beyond the harbor bar, there crouched half a
score of those marine monsters awaiting their coming
to hurl fire and death into their midst. All night long
the sailors and officers labored, and it was not until
after dawn that they were ready. Then with flags
flying and bands of music playing they glided down
the harbor to their death. As they passed the grim
fortress, old Morro, which had so stoutly withstood
the shock of battle, they were lustily cheered by the
garrison. But wait a moment. All is changed in
the twinkling of an eye from gay banners and music
to fire and smoke, and the wails of death.
"What is that black thing coming out of the harbor?"
The question was asked by the lookout on the
bridge of the Iowa, as the great battle-ship lay in




326


CUBA LIBRE.


front of the harbor of Santiago at 9.30 A.M., July 3,
1898.
The Iowa being nearest the harbor, of course had
an opportunity to first see any object that might
issue from the mouth.
The remainder of the ships were at their blockading stations, save the flagship New York, which had
gone about twelve miles up the coast. The sailors
on all the ships were wide awake and ready to spring
to quarters in an instant. The question from the
lookout on the bridge caused a hundred eyes and a
hundred glasses to be leveled on the object at once.
An instant later a voice ejaculated:
" It is old Cervera coming out, sure as fate!"
"Fighting Bob" Evans, the commander of the Iowa,
was sitting in his cabin talking with his son, a cadet
on the Massachusetts, who had been left behind in
a picket launch when the Massachusetts went to
Guantanamo for coal at dawn that morning. He
had taken advantage of the spare moments left him
to visit his father in his own ship. The word had
scarce gone over the ship that Cervera was coming
out of the harbor, when Captain Evans leaped to the
deck, general quarters was sounded, the signal hoisted
that the enemy's ships were coming out, and a gun
fired to attract the attention of the blockading fleet.
The hurry, bustle, and apparent confusion were
from that moment perceptible on every ship of the




OBEYING AMID FLAME AND SMOKE  327


fleet. Drums rolled, the fifes shrieked, and jackies
ran to quarters. Down into the holds below the
protective belt, struggling through the small steel
hatch, and down a narrow and almost vertical ladder
to the shell-rooms, rushed the jackies whose places
were there. The officer in charge of that department
ran to the cabin for the magazine keys, grabbed the
small leather bag containing them from the hand of
the marine orderly on duty at the door of the captain's cabin, and rushed after his men, distributing
the keys as rapidly as possible to those already standing at the box-like tops of the magazines, the bolts
of which had been loosened.
The ammunition-whips were quickly led out, and
men stood with their hands on small levers ready to
turn the current of the electric hoists as soon as the
hatches were off. When everything was seen to be
clear, the endless chain of the hoists started with the
whirr of a motor, and rolled their loads of rapid-fire
ammunition to the decks above, where men were stationed to receive them.
The great engines of those fighting crafts were
whirring at full speed, and the vessels plunging forward like so many greyhounds in pursuit of an escaping fox. Down the chute of the eight-inch gunturret, as an accompaniment to the deep rumble of
the turret, as it slowly swung from amidships to
the port or starboard, came the command:




328


CUBA LIBRE.


"Full charge, common shot," from the officer in
command of the turret; and the answer went quickly
back:
" Aye, aye, sir '; and as a response in a lower tone
of voice:
" Quick, lads; lively now *; up came the long powder-tanks and heavy 250-pound shell to the base of
the turret. There the shell was quickly seized in
the tongs by two stalwart apprentices, raised and
rammed home in the car. The tops of the long copper powder-tanks were taken off and the powder in
two sections was placed in the other compartments
of the car. The signals were given, and both cars
quickly rose to the breech of the turret-guns, and
were sent back, almost as quickly, emptied.
All this preparation of getting ready occupied a
space of four minutes' time after all the men went
below and the hatches were lowered and secured.
The heat in this steel cage varied from 120 to 144
degrees Fahrenheit, and the men quickly stripped to
their waists, settled down to work in this air-tight
box, filled with sweltering humanity, blindly obeying orders with unquestioning obedience and alac.
rity, not knowing the cause of the alarm, whether
target-practice, bombardment, a false scare, or the
escape of the Spanish fleet. Suddenly the heavy report of the first gun was heard, followed in quick succession by a second, then a score at once, and the




OBEYING AMID FLAME AND SMOKE. 329


battle was on. The crash and roar, flame and smoke
from that time on were incessant.
" Cervera trying to escape! " The cry rang all over
the American fleet. It reached Admiral Sampson
miles away, and the New York put about and hastened back to the harbor mouth. But Commodore
Schley was already there. The Brooklyn, the Iowa,
the Indiana, the Oregon, Texas, Miassachusetts, and
the little converted yacht, the Gloucester, were already pouring in a steady stream of fire on the fleet,
as it steamed out of the harbor. As the Spanish
squadron came out in column, the ships, beautifully spaced as to distance, and gradually increasing their speed to thirteen knots, presented a superb
spectacle.
The Iowa kept up a steady fire from her heavy
guns, heading all the time to keep the Infanta
Maria Teresa on her starboard bow. The Brooklyn,
Oregon, and Texas quickly closed in and were doing
excellent work with their heavy guns. In a very
short time after the discovery of the enemy's ships
approaching, the Spanish squadron was clear of the
harbor, and the Iowa was driving at full speed, hoping to ram the first or second ship. The Iowa's
helm was put hard to starboard, and the entire
broadside was poured into the Infanta Maria Teresa.
The helm was quickly shifted to port and the ship
went across the stern of the Teresa in an effort to




830


CUBA LIBRE.


head off the Oquendo, with her engines all the while
driving at full speed. A perfect torrent of shot
passed over the smokestacks and superstructure of
the ship, but none struck her.
The Cristobal Colon, being much faster than the
rest of the Spanish ships, passed rapidly to the front
in an effort to escape. In passing the Iowa, the
Colon placed two six-inch shells fairly through the
cofferdam and dispensary, one wrecking the latter,
and bursting on the berth deck, doing considerable
damage. The other passed through the side of the
water-line, within the cofferdam, where it remained.
The Iowa, finding it impossible, on account of the
superior speed of the Spanish ships, to ram them,
ran parallel with them, pouring in an incessant fire.
Running abreast of the Oquendo, at a distance of
eleven hundred yards, the Iowa's entire battery, including the rapid-fire guns, was opened on the
Oquendo, and the punishment was terrible. Many
twelve- and eight-inch shells were seen to explode
inside of her, the smoke pouring in vast columns
from her hatches. For a moment, the Oquendo's engines seemed to stop, and she lost headway, but she
immediately resumed her speed, gradually drew ahead
of the Iowa, and came under the terrible fire of the
Oregon and Texas.
The Brooklyn was by this time steaming down
like a fire-breathing sea-monster.  By the commo



OBEYING AMID FLAME AND SMOKE. 331


dore's pennant waved the streamer on which was the
memorable motto:
"Remember the 'Maine.' 
The Maine was very much on the mind of American jackies that day.
The Texas, sister ship of the Maine, seemed to
feel it her special duty to remember the sunken ship.
Lieutenant Wainwright, on the unfortunate ship at
the time of her destruction, remembered her. He
commanded the converted yacht Gloucester, but he
dashed into the fight as tho she were a first-class
battle-ship.
"I am afraid you will strain the guns by firing at
such long range," declared his chief gunner.
"Afraid I'll strain my guns at long range? Then
I'll close in! " the daring lieutenant answered.
There was a mile or more of smoke and flame and
fighting stretching westward from the Morro before
Cervera's torpedo-destroyers steamed past where the
Merrimac lay, and swung into the lane of fire marked
out for them by the admiral. The Gloucester had
run toward the harbor mouth at the report of the
Iowa's gun, and when the last Spanish cruiser was
making her turn westward, the yacht was heading
straight toward her. The big eleven-inch guns of
the cruiser belched fire and smoke as she opened on
the Indiana. Her captain saw the Gloucester, too,
and evidently suspected that she might attempt to




33882


CUBA LIBRE.


torpedo him, so the guns of the secondary battery
were trained on the yacht, and shells fell all about
her.
Lieutenant Wainwright, whose danger was great,
steamed nearer, "not to strain his guns," and answered with his six-pounders. But as the commander of the Gloucester saw the Spanish torpedoboat destroyers Furore and Pluton coming out of the
harbor, he held his position in spite of the cruiser, to
attack them. As the destroyers made the turn westward, every gun which could be trained on the
Gloucester by the enemy was fired, and her decks
were wet with the spray dashed upon them by Spanish shells. And what was worse, the gunners in the
battery beyond Morro were hurling monster projectiles at the yacht, any one of which would have
sunk her.
The other ships had held off and permitted the
Spanish vessels to get beyond range of the guns in
the forts before attacking her, but the Gloucester defied them. The Pluton and Furore were hammered,
pounded, beached, sunk, and left amid flame and
smoke while the spunky little Gloucester sped away
after the flagship of the Spanish Admiral.
He was remembering the Maine, and how on that
dark and sorrowful night he stood on the shattered
and burning decks and heard the groans and cries of
his poor shipmates, mangled and torn by an act of




OBEYING AMID FLAME AND SMOKE. 338


treachery and cruelty unequaled in the history of
the world.
It was not until the last ship had been sunk and
beached that Lieutenant Wainwright said, in a tone
more sad than exultant:
"The Maine is avenged! 
But there were other heroes that day, men who
never saw the battle, but who did the work that kept
everything in the ship in motion, and took a greater
risk than commodore or captain.
When the Vizcaya had been sunk and beached
that day, and Commodore Schley gave the order to
cease firing, the men in the handling-rooms and turrets were ordered to the decks, while the chase of
the Colon went on. But the battle was still on for
the heroes invisible.  Down beneath the protective, informed only of the glories of that day's fighting by the captain's bulletins through the speakingtubes, men worked in a pit below the water in a
temperature of over 160 degrees. From the funnels
the black smoke pouring forth told that stokers, coalpassers, and firemen were working like fiends to give
the ship a greater speed, so the foe might be captured. At the engines, the engineer and his assistant stood grim and silent watching every pulsation,
and encouraging the men to greater exertion to produce more steam. In the stoke-holds men toiled
amid fierce flames that licked out at them each time




334


CUBA LIBRE.'


the furnace doors were opened for more coal, or the
long bars went in. The rush of air that came in
went out only through the furnaces creating what
is known as "forced draught." The call for forced
draught made it more comfortable in the stoke-hold,
for the extra air forced down cooled the men, while
it made hotter the fires. The heat was intense on
that July day, and several times the big steel cage
opened to let out men who had fainted. So loyal
were they that no sooner had they recovered than
back they went with an esprit de corps the equal of
any one on deck.
Both the Oquendo and Vizcaya were sometimes
within a thousand yards of the Indiana, Nevertheless, the high speed and the thick armor of their
class stood the Spanish in good stead, as they followed in the path marked out by Admiral Cervera.
In three fourths of an hour after the action commenced, it became apparent that the Spanish had
many guns disabled, and would soon sink. As the
smoke cleared a little, one could see the Spanish
flagship, her port broadside spouting smoke, still
holding to the westward.
At 11:30 Cervera, on the deck of his flagship, saw
the Oregon cutting inshore ahead of him to round
him to The smoke was very thick, and the firing
incessant. Cervera's available guns were no longer
well served. Shells had fired his ship near the stern,




OBEYING AMID FLAME AND SMOKE. 335


and the flames were with difficulty controlled. The
Spanish admiral altered his course and headed off
from the coast as if to attempt to pass between two
ships and run for it.
But this feat was impossible. The Iowa and the
Texas were already moving down to close the gap,
and the Spanish flagship, raked by the Oregon and
Brooklyn at from one thousand to three thousand
yards, and by the Iowa and Texas at longer range,
turned inshore again and ran for the rocks, where
the surf was breaking.  The admiral's guns still
replied occasionally, and all wondered every time
the smoke lifted if his ship would still be afloat.
The Spanish officers seemed determined to make
good the words of Lieutenant de Carantha: "That
not one Spanish ship shall be taken.  Your navy
may send some of them to the bottom, superior
forces may annihilate them, but not one Spanish
ship will surrender to the American navy." 
The American war-vessels closed in on the doomed
admiral. The Spanish flag from time to time, as
the smoke drifted away, could be seen, and the flash
of a gun at intervals proved that the Spaniard was
consistently following the idea on quitting the harbor, which was a glorious end.
His ship moved slowly as if disabled; in a few
minutes more his guns were silent. Black smoke
* " History of the War with Spain," p. 124.




836


CUBA LIBRE.


replaced the swirling white; the flagship was aflame.
Unable to work the guns or smother the flames, she
was headed for the rocks. She struck on them, and
her bow rested there. Red flames burst through the
black smoke, and soon a pillar of cloud rose straight
up a thousand feet and bent against the green mountain.
Cervera's ships were hopelessly lost. One by one
they were driven in and beached, sunk and in flames.
The American war-vessels ceased firing on the flagship before she struck, and ran in with the intention of saving the survivors. This was evidently
expected by the Spaniards, notably the Vizcaya's
men, hundreds of whom thronged the forward deck,
watching the flames eating their way toward them.
The Gloucester, being of lighter draught than the
battle-ships, ran in closer, and received Admiral Cervera on board. Grasping the hand of the gray-haired
admiral, Lieutenant Wainwright said:
'Allow me to congratulate you, admiral, on the
gallant fight you have made. It is the most daring
feat in modern history."
The admiral bowed his head, uttered not a word,
while the silent tears, coursing their way down his
furrowed cheeks, told how his lion heart was lacerated and torn at defeat. The Cubans on shore began
shooting at the Spaniards in the water, until an
order to cease came from the war-vessels.




OBEYING AMID FLAME AND SMOKE.         837
As the Texas bore in to receive the Spaniards left,
and the crew saw every one of the formidable fleet
wrecked and in flames, they began to cheer. Captain Philip, whose heart was as tender as brave, in a
voice more sad than otherwise, said:
"Don't cheer, boys; the poor devils are dying 
22




CHAPTER XX.


THE FIGURE AT THE ALTAL.
FROM his position on San Juan Heights Fernando
Stevens could see little of the gallant fight just outside the harbor. It was known soon after the fleet
was under way that it was going out, and signals
were set flying to warn Sampson. But little need
was there for signals. The ever-vigilant sailors were
on the alert, and saw the fleet in time.
The news of the victory reached the army and
changed a scene of gloom to one of rejoicing. A
rumor had been widely spread through the army that
General Shafter was going to re-form his lines, and
they would have to give up the ground they had
bought with their blood.
But Cervera's dread fleet was no more. Perhaps
Sampson would now force a way into the harbor.
There was no need to fall back, no need even to wait
for reenforcements, for they could force their way
into the city in spite of the network of trenches and
defenses. The rainy season was on them, and they
were frequently drenched with downpours, and then,




THE FIGURE AT THE ALTAR.


889


within five minutes, scorched by the blistering rays
of a tropical sun.
It was night. Cervera's fleet had been destroyed
two days before, and still the American soldiers
were in the trenches. Twice the Spaniards had assaulted them to drive them away, but could not
move them. Fernando had business at another part
of the line, and was moving along slowly, when he
heard voices talking in low tones.
Jake," a soldier in the trenches whispered to his
comrade, "war is awful."
"M'yes," Jake answered, shifting a quid of tobacco
from one cheek to the other; "but there's somethin'
worse," he added philosophically.
" What? "
"Starvation. Big soulless corporations like Pullman that hire men and make slaves of 'em; rob 'em
of liberty, unfit 'em for any other callin', and then
starve 'em. War kills men, and does it quick.
Poverty kills women and children. The Bible says
they that be slain by the sword be better than they
be slain by hunger. Then, while some o' the poor
are dyin' to-night, some o' the rich and aristocratic
go down with 'em, Ned. The rich suffer only durin'
war, the poor suffer all the time."
"Why, Jake, you talk strangely to-night."
"Maybe I do, Ned," Jake answered bitterly, "but
I've been thinkin' since we've been restin' here how




843


CUBA LIBRE.


near I was several times to my poor wife, who Pullman and the soldiers was the cause o' starvin' to
death that winter. I was workin' for the Pullman
Company, and I know none o' us wanted to strike.
But they kept grindin' us down by degrees. They
had us, they knew it, and it was work for almost
nothin' or starve. We who had families saw they
intended to make slaves o' us; we tried every way
in the world to settle peaceably. The newspapers
only printed one side o' the story; our side will
never be told. When we did strike, they brought
soldiers, who shot us down like sheep, because we
would not be slaves. I saw Henry Johnson sitting
peacefully and quietly on a flat car, when a soldier
drove a bayonet clean through his body. I saw
women and children shot down, and one little babe
killed in its mother's arms, all because we would not
be Pullman slaves. I was a striker, black-listed,
could get no work, and that winter my wife and
child died o' starvation in a land o' plenty. There
were hundreds o' women and children starved that
winter. People will grow sentimental over the men
who fell in front o' Santiago to save starvin' Cuba.
but will any one ever be brave enough to say a word
for our own brave women and children who died
that winter rather than be slaves? After my wife
and baby died, I laid down my hammer forever, and
swore I would never work for another corporation.




THE FIGURE AT THE ALTAR.


841


I was called an anarchist, an enemy to my flag, dangerous man, and one who would destroy the best
government on earth. You saw me in the fight on
San Juan Hill, Ned, and you know I am not an
enemy o' the flag."
"No, Jake, God knows you are not.'
" We've got the best government in the world, and
if the rich only had more tender hearts, and money
was robbed o' some o' its power, we could all be
happy."
Many a sad story was told in the trenches that
dark night, but none impressed Fernando more than
this.
"Oh, what a world of wrong our society is really
responsible for! " he said to himself, as he went from
post to post to be assured that all was well.
The destruction of General Cervera's fleet, the
wounding of General Linares, and the determined
assaults of the Americans had a very depressing effect
on the spirits of General Toral in command at Santiago. The American army had suffered more
severely than was at first supposed. Not only were
they exposed to the enemy's shot and shell, but
brought suddenly in midsummer into the tropics,
just at the beginning of the sickly season, they were
exposed to the most terrible diseases; but their
native pluck and determination never for a moment
deserted them. They fought desperately. Yellow




842             CUBA LIBRE.
fever and death seemed facing them, but they never
for a moment thought of giving way.
Shortly after the destruction of Cervera's fleet,
Hobson and his brave men were exchanged, and returned to their posts in the navy.
Day after day, Fernando Stevens waited for the
order to advance with the impatience of a war-steed
anxious for the battle. He used to go upon the
heights and gaze off at the city, and ask:
"How long, 0 Lord, how long shall I be held here
like a prisoner in full view of the one I would rescue at the cost of my life? " Then in anxiety he
often planned wild, daring, impossible schemes for
entering the beleaguered city and taking her away;
but these plans a sober second thought told him were
impracticable. He must wait; but how long? He
grew very impatient at the delay. He knew that
negotiations were going on between the armies; he
knew that heavy siege-guns were being brought up
to the front as rapidly as possible, but in his impatience they seemed marvelously slow.
The two armies for seven days confronted each
other with only a very little skirmishing and an occasional cannon-shot at long range. Their line of
trenches were along the top of the hill from which
they could see the city. There was a spot of brilliant tropical green, which the officers decided must
be a plaza. By the aid of a powerful field-glass,




THE FIGURE AT THE ALTAR.


343


Fernando tried to make out the Marina Calle, the
Carcel, Plaga de Armas, and the cathedral where
he had met his guide on the night of his escape.
The distance was so great, however, that the objects
became a jumbled mass.
He longed for an assault on the city, tho he
knew that an attempt to carry the works by storm
would result in the loss of thousands of lives. He
dreaded a bombardment, for there were innocent people in the city who might be killed by the shells of
their friends. It is needless to say that Viola was
uppermost in his mind when he thought of danger
from bombardment.
Nevertheless, it was announced on the 10th of July
that at four o'clock P.M. the bombardment would
commence. The soldiers in their muddy trenches
waited with increasing anxiety for the hour to arrive. It came, and all was silent in both lines.
"Was it possible that the order had been countermanded?" Fernando asked himself, as he impatiently paced back and forth just within their
lines.
About half-past four there came a puff of smoke,
a flash of angry red from the enemy's works, and a
shell came screaming through the air and exploded
on the hillside. The bombardment was on, commenced by the enemy themselves. The American
cannoneers were not slow to respond, and from that




844


CUBA LIBRE


on until dark their guns poured a deadly fire into
the Spanish lines.
Soon after dark settled over the scene the hoarse
bray of cannon ceased, and all was quiet again.
During the bombardment the roar of heavy guns from
the war-ships could be heard, and shells were thrown
over the headlands into the city. The Brooklyn,
Texas, and Indiana continued until too dark to see,
to hurl eight- and twelve-inch shells into the bay.
During the bombardment two Americans were
killed and four wounded.
At daybreak the Americans resumed the bombardment. Up a pretty valley, which reminds one of
the Trossachs, in Scotland, arose a night fog, veiling
the city. Hinds's battery began the contest of the
day, and other batteries followed his example, using
shell and shrapnel, while Gatling-guns swept the
tops of the trenches. This fire provoked a rifle volley from the enemy, but no artillery answered the
attack. The Spaniards evidently reserved their fire
for the advance of the Americans, determined to
sweep them at close range.
On this morning a desperate fight occurred, in
which some men of General Wheeler's division took
a blockhouse. There were three forts near Santiago
which the Americans had to encounter. One was a
blockhouse standing upon the summit of a hill,
guarding the pathway leading up to it. In this




THE FIGURE AT THE ALTAR.


stone structure, impervious to rifle-bullets, thirtytwo Spaniards were stationed. In the solid walls
were port-holes just large enough to shoot through,
and from these the Spanish soldiers continually annoyed the Americans, frequently killing or wounding one. The blockhouse was a hindrance to an advance, and it was determined to carry it by storm.
A charge was made, and a color-sergeant scaled
the wall and tore from its staff the Spanish flag, but
the next moment fell dead, pierced by half a dozen
bullets. The fort being uncovered, three American
soldiers scaled the wall and dropped inside, but were
riddled with bullets. By this time fifteen more
were on the wall and dropped inside, where a terrible hand-to-hand fight ensued. No quarter was
asked or given, and when the door of the blockhouse
was opened, fifteen wounded Americans marched
out, leaving thirty-two dead Spaniards in the fort.
The capture of the city in a short time seemed
inevitable.  The American and Cuban lines were
surrounding it, making the arrival of Spanish reenforcements impossible. The idea of carrying the
city by assault was abandoned, and the plan was to
harass the Spaniards with a continual fire from the
American batteries, carefully aimed; the riflemen at
the same time shooting only at such particular marks
as might be presented.
Lieutenant Stevens, and a detail of Rough Ri



846


CUBA LIBRE.


ders, went out on duty as sharpshooters. Spanish
sharpshooters were seen in the trees and behind
them. Creeping up to within a thousand yards,
they began to pick them off. At the crack of
Nathan's rifle a man fell from a distant tree like
some huge bird.
"He don't come t' the ground," said Nathan.
"He hangs head down."
The lieutenant clapped his glass to his eyes and
said:
"No wonder; he is tied by the legs to the tree."
The war-ships were again bombarding the city,
using eight-inch guns at a distance of eighty-five
hundred yards. The shots passed over the ridge,
and their point of striking and the effect of their
explosion could not be seen from the decks. The
signal corps on the ridge reported that one hundred
and one of the one hundred and six shots fired were
effective. The last shots struck in the vicinity of the
cathedral, well into the city. The Brooklyn listed
or careened on her side to give a greater elevation
of her guns, in order to send her shot over the ridge.
Fernando Stevens saw those great shells soaring,
watched their flight, and saw the clouds of smoke,
flying mortar, stone, and timbers shoot skyward, and
heard the deep detonation of the explosions. Then
he mentally exclaimed:
"O God! Thou who hast answered all my pray



THE FIGURE AT THE ALTAR.


347


ers, place Thy protecting arms about her now, and
shield her from harm, from friend or foe."
One dark night during the siege a Cuban scout reported that some Spaniards were among the hills
and chaparral on the right, nearly a mile from their
trenches. No one could surmise what their intentions were, but it was supposed they were trying to
escape from the city with some message for the
Spanish general coming from Holguin with reenforcements. The Spaniards were in a deep ravine,
and already a mile from the city.
The spy said they did not exceed a dozen in
number, and could be easily cut off and captured.
Colonel Wood, to whom the report was made, sent
for Lieutenant Stevens and told him what he had
learned.
"Now, you are familiar with the surroundings of
Santiago, and the Spanish language. Are you willing to take a score of men and bring those fellows in?'
Fernando readily declared his willingness, and
with a score of picked men, guided by the Cuban,
started to head off the party and prevent their escape.
The night was very dark; one of those terrible rainstorms had just swept over the island, and the rivulets had become torrents, yet the party made their
way with very little difficulty, traversing the hilly
and wooded region on their right, crossing many




848


CUBA LIBRE.


deep gullies, and stumbling over the rough ground.
At last the Cuban said they were in the vicinity of
the Spaniards, and they halted. After a few moments of listening, they moved away from the place
and made a circuit, so as to intercept them on the
Holguin road.
Arriving at this point, they had not long to wait
before they heard the slow, cautious tread of feet.
"Down, down, every one of you!" the lieutenant
commanded. "Lie flat on the ground until I shall
give the command to rise."
The men crouched behind the grass and shrubs
and waited for the command from their leader. The
Spaniards continued to advance, until they were within a few paces, and then Fernando suddenly cried:
"Arto! "  They came to a halt, and a deep, surly
voice demanded:
" Quien es vd? "
To which Lieutenant Stevens answered:
" Yo he sido soldado."
The answer was not altogether satisfactory, but as
it was in pure Castilian, the officer hailed, tried to
believe that all was right, and advanced toward the
speaker, asking if he had come from Holguin. The
American continued to speak in Spanish, completely
throwing the officer off his guard, until the men
crouching beneath the chaparral had spread out in
two lines, flanking them.




THE FIGURE AT THE ALTAR.


849


I Rise " cried the American, and at once a score
of men seemed to start from the ground, covering
with their rifles the unlucky Spaniards. Dark as it
was, they could see the outlines of their enemies and
the gleam of their gun-barrels. Fernando told the
officer in command that he must surrender at once.
"Americanos t" gasped the officer.
"Si, sefior."
They surrendered and were marched to the American camp. On the way, the lieutenant learned they
were trying to make their way to Holguin, where
they hoped to find reenforcements.
The lieutenant asked the leader of the scouts his
name, and was thunderstruck at the answer.
"Colonel Illion Constellino! "
"What?   he gasped. "Are you Colonel Constellino? '
"I am."
Colonel Constellino little dreamed to whom he
was talking. Fernando walked at his side in silence.
Dare he ask this man the question nearest his heart?
Dare he speak of the being dearer to him than all
the world? This man was his rival and his foe.
He was a treacherous scoundrel, and Fernando
doubted if he could believe even what he might say.
But the Spanish colonel was his prisoner, and good
care would be taken that he did not escape.
There was no harm in asking about Viola, even




350


CUBA LIBRE.


tho he might put no reliance in the answer, so
he ventured:
"Colonel, you are just from Santiago. I have
some friends and acquaintances there; perhaps you
may know some of them, and would have no hesitancy in telling me if they were injured by the
bombardment."
"If seiior will give me their names, I will tell
him if I know them."
"Do you know Viola Cespedes?'
"I do, senior."
"Did she suffer injury? 
"No, senor. The sefiora is my wife!"
The lieutenant staggered as if he had been struck
a blow, and gasped:
"What-what did you say? 
" Senorita Viola is my wife, sefior. We were married at the cathedral three days since."
"You are a liar!" gasped the lieutenant, white
and trembling.
" Senor, you profess to be a gentleman, and yet to
a prisoner you add insult.  Prisoner tho I am, I
demand satisfaction."
"You said Viola Cespedes was your wife, and I
know it is false. Viola is too truthful, too noble
to —     Oh, no, no, she is true to me! "
"Aha, so I see you were a former lover of my
wife," said the Spaniard, with a sneer. They had




THE FIGURE AT THE ALTAR.


w51


by this time come within the circle of a camp-fire,
and for the first time Fernando had a fair view of
his prisoner's face. He was a tall, handsome man,
with black hair and beard, and evil, snake-like eyes.
"Now, sefior, if you are a soldier, as you said you
were, you will accord me the satisfaction I demand."
"I do not believe you are a gentleman, sir, and
until I am convinced that you are, I shall refuse.
Tho I do not believe in dueling, if I learn from
her lips that she is your wife with her own consent,
then, tho you were a prisoner a thousand times, I
will fight you. Married only three days hence. It
is strange, sefior, that you were in such haste."
"I can explain," the Spaniard answered, quite
composed. "The enemy were bombarding the city.
Viola's aunt was dead, and she was without a protector.  So in the very cathedral which Yankee
shells have so nearly wrecked, we were united in marriage. But I was called away to duty the moment
the ceremony was performed, and have not seen my
wife since."
The American could not get rid of the conviction
that the rascal was lying in some important particular. He listened carefully to his story, and, when
he had finished, said:
"We will have Santiago in a few days, colonel;
then if you have told me the truth, if Viola has
married you, you shall have satisfaction."




852


CUBA LIBRE.


The Spanish colonel bowed and was silent. Fer.
nando turned him over to Colonel Wood, and suggested that a strict guard be kept over him, as he
was a dangerous man, and would, if the slightest
opportunity offered, make his escape.
"I will see that he has not the shadow of an op
portunity," Colonel Wood declared.
Fernando slept none that night. He was the
most miserable man in the whole army. Even those
dying suffered no more than he. The anxiety, the
doubt, the hope, the fear, the dread of knowing the
truth, and yet the anxiety to know it all, made him
as wretched as a man could possibly be.
There were negotiations between Generals Shafter
and Toral, in which terms of surrender were discussed. At first General Toral was stubborn, but at
last, on the assurance that the Spanish troops would
be sent back to Spain, he surrendered to Generals
Shafter and Miles on Sunday morning, July 17,
1898. On this morning the Spanish troops were
drawn up in line, marched out of the works, and laid
down their arms to the number of seven thousand.
General Toral handed his sword to General Shafter,
who at once returned it to him, and this ceremony
being over, the American army entered the city.
The ceremony of hoisting the Stars and Stripes was
worth all the blood and treasure it cost. A concourse of ten thousand people witnessed the stirring




THE FIGURE AT THE ALTAR.


353


and thrilling scene that will live forever in the minds
of all Americans present. A finer stage setting for a
dramatic episode it would be difficult to imagine.
The palace, a picturesque old dwelling in the Moorish style of architecture, faces the Plaga de la Reina,
the principal public square. Opposite rises the imposing Catholic cathedral. On one side is a quaint,
brilliantly painted building, with broad verandasthe club of San Carlos; on the other a building of
much the same description-Caf6 de la Venus.
Across the plaza was drawn up the Ninth Infantry,
headed by the Sixth Cavalry band. In the street
facing the palace stood a picked troop of the Second
Cavalry with drawn sabers, under command of Captain Brett. Massed on the stone flagging, between
the band and the line of horsemen, were the brigade
commanders of General Shafter's division.
On the red-tiled roof of the palace stood Captain
McKittrick, Lieutenant Miley, and Lieutenant
Wheeler; immediately above them, upon the flagstaff, the illuminated Spanish arms, and the legend,
" Viva Alfonso XIII." All about, pressing against
the veranda rails, crowding to the windows and
doors, and lining the roofs, were the people of the
town, principally women and non-combatants.
As the chimes of the ancient cathedral rang out
the hour of twelve, infantry and cavalry presented
arms, every American uncovered, and Captain M28




354


CUBA LIBRE.


littrick hoisted the Stars and Stripes. As the brilliant folds unfurled in a gentle breeze against a fleckless sky, the cavalry band broke
A, ~      into the strains of "The StarSpangled  Banner," making the
American pulse leap, and the
i<  Atmerican heart throb with joy.
At the same instant the sound of
the distant booming of Captain Capron's  battery,:firing a salute of
twenty-one   guns,
drifted in. When
the music ceased,
and the echoes of
the slots had died
away, from all directions around the
-.      ~ American lines
FOR A MOMESNT HE there came floating
across  the  plaza
the strains of the regimental bands and the inmufled,
hoarse cheers of the troops.
While the soldiers were making the welkin ring
with glad shouts, a man was wandering slowly from
house to house and every haunt that had once been




THE FIGURE A 7 /HE ALTAR.       355
familiar to him. His face was the most abject picture of wo one could behold. Tho he wore the uniform of the conquerors, his was the countenance of
the conquered.
Fernando Stevens had suffered the keenest mental agony since that night he captured Colonel
Constellino. Had the man told him a falsehood,
or was what he said literally true? The letter
which the Cuban had brought him was so inconsistent with the idea of her marriage that he could
not believe it true. She had expressed the tenderest solicitude for himself, and the utmost contempt and loathing for the Spanish colonel.
"My poor dove, they have wronged you, I know
they have wronged you," he declared,hurrying frantically about the city. The old cathedral bell rang
out the hour of twelve, the American flag went up,
and the Spanish banner came down, cannon thundered, bands played, and the whole army cheered;
but so intent was he upon finding Viola, that he
scarce heard them, and certainly did not heed them.
At last he paused at the door of the great cathedral. It had been partially wrecked by one of the
shells from the Yankee ships. He crossed over a
fallen beam, the broken masonry, and a shattered
door, and entered the vast hall. A somber twilight
and weird gloom seemed to have settled within the
cathedral. Those vast columns rising from the twi



356


CUBA LIBRE.


light of the interior were lost in the gloom overhead.
It was some moments before his eye became sufficiently accustomed to shadows to discover a form
kneeling before the altar. Two wax candles burning in golden candlesticks at the rear of the altar
gave forth but a feeble glow which at first was hardly
perceptible. As the soldier gazed, objects in the interior became more plain, and he discovered that the
figure kneeling at the altar before an image of the
crucifixion was a woman. She was slender and
graceful. Her back was partially toward him, so
that he could not see her features, but, nevertheless,
there was something about her which seemed familiar, and he felt himself instinctively drawn toward
her. A strange, holy, solemn awe seemed to come
over him, and for a moment he stood spellbound.
It was only natural that his own pious instincts and
regard for others would prompt him to retire as
quietly as possible. But the impulse to go forward,
to know who that fair worshiper was, prevailed, and
he strode down the great aisle.




CHAPTER XXI.


ON TO PUERTO RICO.
LIEUTENANT STEVENS was aware that his act was
ungenteel if not sacrilegious. Perhaps the unfortunate woman in black, kneeling before the sacred
image and counting her beads, was offering up a
prayer for the soul of husband, father, or brother
slain in the siege. There are times in our lives
when we seem wholly controlled by powers not
within ourselves, and it was some such impulse
that moved Lieutenant Stevens to approach the figure
at the altar and say:
"Pardon, sefiora, but are you in great distress? "
At the sound of a voice so near the figure suddenly sprang to her feet and turned upon him a face
marvelously white, eyes large, dark, and lustrous,
and hair that fell in masses and folds about her fair
shoulders. She was clothed in black, and the
strange, agonized pallor of her face made a striking
contrast.  Had the intruder and worshiper both
suddenly received an electric shock they could not
have been more startled. For the space of thirty




358


CUBA LIBRE.


seconds they stood staring at each other in perfect
silence, seemingly not breathing. At last he gasped:
"God! Is it Viola? 
At sound of that whispered query, she staggered
toward him, partially extended her hand, and then
drew it back, sank at the altar rail and hid her
face.
He went to her side, and, kneeling over her,
asked:
"Viola, is it true? Colonel Constellino was captured by me several days since and told me he was
your husband."
Slowly she raised her head, until those soft, liquid
orbs were on his face, and asked:
"Where is he?"
"Still a prisoner, safe and unharmed.  For your
sake I spared him. I did not believe him; I could
not."
"Ah, Holy Virgin, it is true!" she groaned,
wringing her hands in agony.
Long he stood gazing at the shrinking, crouching
figure at the altar rail. There was just the least indication of reproach in his voice, and there was more
in his look.
"I could not believe it, Viola, had it fallen from
other lips," he said in a low, severe voice. "As he
is your husband, I will secure his parole and send
him to you."




ON TO PUERTO RICO.


359


"No! no! sefior, do not, in heaven's name. I do
not want to see him. The sight of that terrible
man will kill me!" she shrieked, falling on her
knees before him.
"If you fear him so much, why did you marry
him?" he asked, in a tone of mingled wonder and
reproach.
"It was to save you, senor."
"Save me? I was in no danger."
"Surely you were a prisoner in Morro Castle.
Your ship came into the harbor; I saw it sink, and
saw you taken off with others to that terrible Morro.
Then you sent me letters signed with your own name.
I saw your photo taken after captivity, and recognized
you."
Fernando sank upon a pew and buried his face in
his hands. He had been told before that he bore a
wonderful resemblance to Hobson, who sank the
Merrimac; but never dreamed that his Spanish rival
would take advantage of that remarkable resemblance
to force the being he treasured above all others to
become his wife. He grew more gentle, more reconciled, and asked her to tell him the whole story of
deceit, treachery, and cunning. After a few moments
she began and told him how she knew he would
come with the army and navy to rescue her. That
by some means Constellino learnle  of the paper
which her mother had left her. Convinced it was




860


CUBA LIBRE.


a key to enormous wealth, every subterfuge had been
used by him and other Spanish officers to gain possession of it. She had a friend who went to Puerto
Rico, just before the blockade began.
"Was it a Cuban who took the paper? he asked
carelessly.
"No; a Spaniard, Senior Jesu Antonius, an honorable gentleman whom I can trust with my life, has
~it. He is wealthy and powerful, and will save it.
They would have taken it had it remained here."
Then she proceeded to tell her story of cruelty,
treachery, and wrong. She was shown photographs
of the captured Hobson, and so much did he resemble her lover that she believed he was in captivity.
Constellino swore he should be marched out and shot
in her presence if she did not wed him, and, under
the belief that it was the only means of saving her
lover, she consented.
For weeks the roar of cannon had resounded in the
harbor, and the American army was even then thundering at the very gates of the city. The marriage
ceremony was scarcely performed before the husband
was ordered away, and she never saw him more.
Fernando tried to convince her that the marriage,
being under duress, was not legal, and the courts of
his country would grant her a divorce; but she only
shook her head and sobbed:
"He deceived me into a marriage, Fernando, and,




ON TO PUERTO RICO.


861


tho I am not his wife, and never will be, my
church laws which regulate marriages condemn
divorces, and while Constellino lives he is my husband, much as I despise him."
In vain Fernando argued and reasoned with her;
she was fixed and immovable in her purpose. Viola
was Castilian in education and instinct, and with
her a marriage, even tho brought about through
fraud, was a sacred ceremony, not to be set aside.
An American girl would soon have been free from
the shackles of such a villain as Constellino; but
with Viola it was all different. She loved the
American with her whole heart, and she so utterly
detested the man who had inveigled her into a marriage that she would never see him; but while he
lived she could not break the vow made at the
altar.
Strange indeed is human nature. The best impulses often convert an angel into a demon. As Fernando sat there, he had half formed the resolution
to go and kill the Spanish colonel. He seemed almost justified in doing so. Then he remembered
that the prisoner had challenged him to fight a duel.
Would it not be as well to settle the matter in that
way?
Yet after some reflection his heart revolted at the
thought. Dueling was a relic of barbarous ages,
and practised now only by the half civilized.




362


CUBA LIBRE


Should he kill the colonel, even in a duel, he would
always regard himself in the light of a murderer.
On leaving him she took his hand in her old, confiding way, and gently pleaded:
"Oh, Fernando, don't desert me now when all is
so dark! I can never be your wife, as I had once
hoped; but be a brother to me. I have such great
need for one strong arm to lean upon."
He who loved her with his whole heart, and who
could not but have sympathized with her under any
circumstances, took the poor, trembling creature in
his arms and whispered:
"Yes, yes, Viola; I will always belong to you.
This blow has nearly killed me, but I will survive
it to defend you against that scoundrel. Were it not
so much like murder, I would challenge him to
fight."
She lived but a short distance from the cathedral,
and he accompanied her home.
"I will come and see you every day," he said at
the door.
"Do come, brother. I am so lonely now, and,
oh, don't let him come near me! Guard me from
that monster; the sight of him would kill me."
Next day, on his return, he found her considerably calmer. She had made up her mind to enter a
convent and shut herself out from the gaze of the
world. A nunnery seemled her only place of refuge




ON TO PUERTO RICO.


863


from him whom she dreaded. In vain he tried to
dissuade her, but it was all to no purpose. She regarded herself lost to him, and thought it would add
to the happiness of both if she was shut out from the
face of the world. He listened patiently to her reasons, chief of which was a fear of her own weakness.
She might in the end break down and consent to be
divorced, which her church forbade. Much as she
loved him, deeply as she had been wronged, the
pious maiden would not, to save her own heart, violate the tenets of the church.
He persuaded her to delay a few weeks, as there
was no danger for the present of Colonel Constellino
being paroled. He then hastened to Colonel Wood,
who had been promoted to Brigadier-General and
Military Governor of Santiago, told him all, and
asked as a favor that Colonel Constellino be kept in
confinement until ready to be deported to Spain.
Enough had already been learned against the colonel
to warrant such a course, and the general assured
him the prisoner should not be permitted to annoy
Viola.
"But she is very silly to hold such a marriage binding," declared General Wood. "One of our American women would not hesitate a moment to declare
it null and void, or appeal to a court for divorce."
"You don't understand Spanish character, general," said the lieutenant. "What may to us seem




864


CUBA LIBRE.


a trivial matter is to Spanish women, with their
peculiar education, a question of conscience. Her
church does not look favorably upon divorces, and
she has been taught to believe that once the priest
pronounced them man and wife, nothing save death
could separate them. Tho in sight of heaven he
is not her husband, yet only death can release
her."
"It's a pity that he was captured at all. Had he
been in the trenches, he might have fallen in place
of a better man, if there is any degree in the evil of
dagoes."
"Now, general, I have another request to make of
you. General Miles will soon sail with an expedition to Puerto Rico, and I want to go with the invading army. I want to get away from Santiago. The
city is cursed, and to me it is death to remain. My
father died here in some horrible manner, no doubt
executed by the infernal Spanish. Here I have seen
my happiest and saddest hours. I can't remain. I
will die if you do not consent for me to go."
"Why, lieutenant, this matter is with your colonel.
Colonel Roosevelt is your personal friend, I believe,
and will no doubt be glad to do anything he can for
you. If you could not get transferred to another
regiment, you might resign and get an appointment
on some officer's staff. You can resign at any
time.'




ON TO PUERTO RICO.


865


"Thank you, general, for the suggestion. I had
intended to resign my commission, and hoped you
would approve it."
"Under the circumstances I do. But go to the
colonel and see him about it."
Fernando Stevens was on his way to Roosevelt's
headquarters, when a familiar voice called to him
from across the street.
"Say, leftenant, I want to talk with ye jist a
minit."
"What is the trouble now, Nathan?" he asked,
waiting for the private to come up to him. Fernando had not seen Private Baker since they entered
the city, and supposed that he had received some
startling intelligence from home. "Have you bad
news? 
"I dunno, leftenant,' he answered, hurrying up,
his brow gathered into a mass of wrinkles as if
his brain was contracted in thought. "I say, leftenant, I want to go to that Porto Reeco with the army."
"But your regiment is not going, Nathan. Colonel Roosevelt tried to induce the War Department
to take it, but failed."
* Yes, but can't I go anyhow?'
"I don't know how you can.'
"By jingo, I must go! I will go, leftenant. I
must go somehow.'
"Why are you so anxious to go? 




366


CUBA LIBRa. 


"I jist been talkin' with one o' them volunteers,
an' he says as how he knows George Phipps, an'
that George is with an Illinois regiment on the ship
that didn't land, but's goin' on. Now I want to go;
I must go."
Fernando could sympathize with the soldier, and,
after a moment's reflection, said:
"Come with me to Colonel Roosevelt's headquarters. He is your friend, Nathan, and may arrange
it in some way for you. I don't see how it can be
done, Nathan; but he is very shrewd, and may
light on some plan of which we would never think."
They found Colonel Roosevelt at his headquarters,
and he greeted them warmly. He regarded Nathan
as the savior of his life in the storming of San Juan
Heights, and when he heard both stories, he was
strongly inclined to grant both requests.
"I dislike to give either of you up," he said.
"But you have such strong desires to go to Puerto
Rico that I feel it my duty to aid you if I can.
With you, lieutenant, it is an easy matter; you can
resign and run the chances of getting on the staff of
some officer; but with the private it is quite another
thing. It is not an easy mattei to transfer him
from one regiment to another; but we'll do it.
Difficult things have been accomplished before.
There is a great deal of red tape in the army, and I
have taken pleasure in cutting some of it; I may be




ON TO PUERTO RICO.


367


able to do it again. I will try to find some man in
some regiment going to Puerto Rico who wants to remain; let you go in his place and he stay in yours.
By mutual agreement with company officers he can
answer to your name at roll-call and you to his."
The surrender of Santiago had not been altogether
as pleasant as might have been hoped. General
Garcia, indignant at a supposed slight from the American general in command at Santiago, withdrew
with his forces, and addressed a letter to General
Shafter, in which he set forth his grievances. The
brave old general-sad, broken-hearted, and disgusted at his own treatment-uttered these words,
which came from his heart:
"Are we really free, or have we only exchanged
one master for another?"
He was a good man, but to the day of his death
never fully understood the American people.
Scarcely had the American flag been flung to the
breeze over the Governor's palace, when General
Miles began preparations for the Puerto Rican expedition.
The army of the United States, tho in the
tropics in midsummer and at the beginning of the
sickly season, was unusually active. The sluggish
sons of the torrid zone were stunned at Yankee courage, humiliated by Yankee generosity, and amazed
at Yankee energy. What they had supposed would




a68


CUBA LIBRE.


be a campaign of months was performed in a few
days. That army of Americans seemed invincible,
and the resources of the nation unbounded. Tho
the Americans had proved generous and forgiving,
the conflict had not gone far enough. Spanish honor
was not yet satisfied, and the universal cry was:
"On to Puerto Rico! "
There were hosts of soldiers ready and eager to go
to Puerto Rico. Every survivor of El Caney and
San Juan Heights not retarded by wounds or fever
would have willingly volunteered to go with the
Puerto Rican expedition.
On July 19, the movement against Puerto Rico
may be said to have begun. The first detachment
of the military expedition left the United States. In
official circles the opinion was then expressed that
the landing would be accomplished within a few
days. The strictest secresy was observed by General Miles, and not even the War Department knew
the point, or points, he had selected for landing the
soldiers. An opinion was expressed by the press
that the landing would be made on the southern
coast of Puerto Rico.
Further reticence was observed in regard to the
naval part of the Puerto Rican expedition. The only
fact early known about this was that the Yale and
Columbia would act as convoys. General Miles,
after witnessing the final bombardment and sur.




X L   A      NN  AT          O
OF P                        R.
Ar
MAP OF PERTO RI




I
"I




ON TO PUERTO RICO.


869


render of Santiago, went to Guantanamo, where he
went aboard the convoy Yale.
By the terms of the surrender of Santiago, a large
portion of the district was surrendered with the city,
the soldiers laying down their arms, and the United
States agreeing to transport the army back to Spain.
On th3 18th and 19th, 6,200 American troops left
Tampa, Florida, in transports, and on the 19th orders
were issued from the War Department, providing for
the almost immediate embarkation of a second detachment of troops from the United States. The
orders provided for the removal of several regiments
of volunteers from Chickamauga to Newport News,
where they would go on board the transport ships
waiting for them. The troops affected by this order
belonged to Brigadier-General Bains's brigade, the
Fourth Pennsylvania, the Fourth Ohio, and three
Southern regiments of infantry. Four batteries of
artillery were also ordered to move at the same time
and to the same place. A thousand horses and ambulance-wagons went from Chickamauga to Newport
News next day to embark on the Puerto Rican expedition.
Fernando Stevens had secured an excellent temporary home for Viola, and, after exacting a promise
from her not to enter a convent or take the vows of
a nun for a few weeks at least, left her. He resigned his commission and secured an appointment
24




870


CUBA LIBRE.


on the staff of a colonel of one of the Southern regiments. Through the untiring efforts of Colonel
Roosevelt, who always deemed it a duty and a pleasure to serve those beneath him in social or official
life, Nathan Baker was transferred to the ranks of
one of the invading regiments.
On the 21st and 22d of July, that part of the expedition at Santiago and Guantanamo sailed for
Puerto Rico, leaving Shafter in command.   The
mines were removed from the harbor, and the Spanish
flag on Morro was replaced by the Stars and Stripes.
On the 23d, four large war-ships were reported off
Cape Haytien, Haiti, going in the direction of Puerto
Rico. Captain Vols, of the German bark Carl,
which arrived in that port that day, said he saw
eight American war-ships at nine o'clock the night
before off the coast of Haiti. He had a searchlight
on his ship and tried to make out the names of the
Americans, but they were too far away. While it
was known that the Spanish fleet was destroyed, and
it was believed that the spirit of Spanish opposition
was broken, nevertheless considerable anxiety was
felt in regard to the expedition.




CHAPTER XXII.


A WAYSIDE ROMANCE.
WHILE the Spaniards were expecting General
Miles to land at Cape San Juan, and preparing to
meet him there, he held a consultation on the 25th
of July with his officers and informed them that
they would suddenly dart in by the Mona Passage,
land at Guanica, and by this sudden flank movement
strike the enemy at a point where they were least
prepared to receive them. The course of the flee:
was immediately changed in accordance with this
command, and the expedition under General Brooke
directed to follow.
Guanica was close to the railroad leading into
Ponce, and it was considered very desirable to secure
this means of transportation for troops and supplies.
Guanica Bay is a quiet place, surrounded by cultivated lands. In the rear are high mountains, while
close to the beach nestles a village of twenty houses.
The Spaniards were taken so completely by surprise
that the first warning they received of the approach
of the army of invasion was in the announcement




372


CUBA LIBRE.


contained in the report of a gun from the Gloucester,
demanding that the Spaniards haul down their flag,
which was floating from the flagstaff in front of a
blockhouse standing to the east of the village.
Two three-pounders were fired into the hills right
and left of the bay, purposely avoiding the town for
fear some of the women or children might be hurt
by the shot. The Gloucester hove to, within about
six hundred yards of the shore, and lowered a
launch, having on board a Colt rapid-fire gun and
thirty men, under command of Lieutenant Huse,
which reached shore without encountering opposition.
Scarcely had the Americans landed, tho, when
about thirty Spaniards appeared at the upper end of
the valley and opened fire on them with Mauser
rifles. The Americans answered their shots, and
the Colt rapid-fire gun poured a stream of shot at
the enemy. The firing had scarcely commenced
when the Gloucester began to shell the Spaniards'
position with her three- and six-pounders, shattering the houses, and dropping shells even into
the woods and hills to the west of Guanica, where
a number of Spanish cavalry were to be seen hastening toward the spot where the Americans had
landed.
There was a brief lull in the conflict, which Lieutenant Huse took advantage of to throw up a little




A WAYSIDE ROMANCE.


878


earthwork, which he named Fort Wainwright in
honor of the commander of the Gloucester..The Spanish cavalry, which had been seen skirting the hills, joined the infantry fighting in the
streets, and seemed forming for a charge. The
Americans in the little fort poured in a destructive
fire on them, and the Colt gun barked to a purpose.
Men began to fall and blood flow. The Gloucester
also having found the range of the town and blockhouse, all her guns began to belch fire and death.
Soon afterward, white-coated, galloping cavalrymen were seen climbing the hills to the westward,
while foot soldiers were scurrying along the fences
from the town. Four dead Spaniards were found
lying in the streets.
By 9:48 A.M., with the exception of a few guerrillas, the town was won and the enemy driven out
of its neighborhood. The Red Cross nurses and the
regulars were the first to land from the transports.
Lieutenant Huse, being reenforced by Company G
of the Sixth Illinois and the regulars, threw out a
line of pickets about the town to protect the troops
and Red Cross nurses landing.
The campaign of General Miles was more like a
grand triumphal procession in a friendly country
than the invasion of a hostile land for the purpose
of conquest. The city of Ponce was formally turned
over to the Americans,  On July 28, Ferdinand




374


CUBA LIBRE.


Torro, the British consul, acting in behalf of the
Spaniards, placed the town and fort in possession of
Major-Gen. Nelson A. Miles.   As Generals Miles
and Wilson entered the city, they were met by the
Bombero, or city fire brigade, and bands playing
American airs. The people cheered the generals as
they went to the city hall to receive the formal surrender from Mayor Colon.
The political prisoners in the Cuartel de Infantaria were released by the Americans. Redolf
Figeroa was saved in the nick of time from being
shot by the Spaniards. He was charged with having cut the telegraph wire between Ponce and San
Juan the night before. He cut the wires to prevent
the authorities in Ponce from sending to San Juan
for reenforcements. He had been led from his cell
for execution, when the Americans suddenly burst
into the harbor. The Spaniards fled and Figeroa
escaped. Some men who had been political prisoners for years were released.
Those citizens who fled before the approach of the
Americans, on learning that they had no intention
of interfering with the private rights of any one, returned to the city, bringing back their treasures to
the banks and stores, which they had feared would
be looted by those terrible Yankees.
The Second and Third Wisconsin troops scouted
over the hills for lurking Spaniards, while the Six



A WAYSIDE ROMANCE.


375


teenth Pennsylvania, which landed at noon, patroled
the city.
A splendid military road of macadam extended
from Ponce to San Juan. Along this road across
the island the main fighting was expected. There
were seven towns along the road to be taken, but at
only Aibonito and Caguas, General Miles was told, he
need expect any serious opposition.
Fernando Stevens, who landed with the first
American troops, went to Ponce with General
Miles, and there was detached for service under
Lieut. Luke W. Terrill, who was a splendid
specimen of manhood from that splendid rearing
ground of men, Kentucky. He was a good six feet
in height, with a fine sweep of shoulders and the
free stride of an Indian. His eyes were frank and
blue. His hair and mustache were the color of the
chestnuts in the woods at home. Terrill and
Stevens, with fifty men, were sent to guard the
hacienda of a rich Spaniard from Barcelona, who,
with a small party of Spanish troops, was still skirmishing near Ponce. The Puerto Ricans hated him
because he was a Spaniard and wealthy, and only
spent a month or two of the year at his hacienda.
When it became known that the American army
intended to invade Puerto Rico, the Spaniard's patriotism could no longer be restrained, and he began to
organize a body of loyalists to aid in the defense of




376


CUBA LIBRE.


the island. While the conduct of the Spaniard will
be applauded by patriots of all nations, it aroused
the intense hatred of the Puerto Ricans.
It soon became known at the headquarters of General Miles that the Puerto Ricans, in their mad frenzy
and recently awakened enthusiasm for America,
would destroy the beautiful home and plantation of
the Spanish officer, and that even the wife and
daughter were in danger of indignities from the rage
of the insurgents.
The officers and men detailed for this duty hastened to the grand hacienda, and not a moment too
soon. The Puerto Ricans were preparing to rush
down upon the plantation and destroy it, and the
American troops had to drive them away at the
point of the bayonet.
Senorita Maxia Antonius, the beautiful daughter
of the rich old don, her mother and servants were all
who were at the hacienda, tho they soon had
good reason to believe that the father was lurking
near in the mountains. Lieutenant Terrill from the
moment he saw the great dark eyes and beautiful
face of Seniorita Maxia was strangely impressed.
Fortunately she spoke English well, and was highly
educated and accomplished. While she learned to
appreciate the many kind favors of her conqueror.
her mother never lost an opportunity to express her
hatred of the Yankees.




A WAYSIDE ROMANCE.


877


There were frequent skirmishes in the woods and
mountains between bands of Puerto Ricans and the
rear-guard of the Spanish army falling back on
Aibonito. Often the distant crack of Mausers and
the yells of combatants could be heard from the
broad verandas of the old hacienda.*
Officers and soldiers' found this post of duty irksome, and Lieutenant Terrill began to wish that
something would happen to stir his blood. Something did happen before he had been long at his
post.
A little procession filed out of the wood and up
the hill. A torn handkerchief waved from a branch
the bearer had cut in the woods. It was a pitiful
flag of truce, and the lieutenant ordered his men to
lower their guns. As the procession came nearer, it
could be seen that the men bore a litter, on which
lay a pale, blood-stained Spanish officer. The Kentuckian and Fernando went to meet them.
"I surrender, Americano; it is final," gasped
the man on the litter, with a grim attempt at a
joke.
Lieutenant Terrill moistened the old man's lips
from the contents of a canteen, and bade his own
men relieve the tired Spaniards who carried the litter. He made them halt until he loosened the coat
*The story of Lieutenant Terrill was told in the press
shortly after the conquest of Puerto Rico.




878


CUBA LIBRE.


that seemed too tight for the heavy chest of the
Spaniard in his death-agony.
"You have protected my home and my little one.
Thanks! Thanks! " groaned the wounded man.
And they carried Captain Antonius to his home.
He begged them to let him rest upon the veranda.
"I am too tired; I can go no further," he said.
"I want to die by my hacienda, but in the sunshine.
Call Maxia!"
The beautiful daughter was called to her dying
father.  She came and kissed his cheek and wept as
a frightened child.  He placed a hand on her beautiful head, covered by a mass of glossy silken hair,
and spoke just such gentle, encouraging words as only
a dying father can. All the while, the big Kentuckian stood by his fallen enemy, tears streaming
down his cheek.  In this his last hour the Spa1ialrd
did not forget that the Americano
'g',:  had protected his home and loved,j[/i',yt.!1 ones, and turning to him, said:
"You have been a generous foe."
The officer had just removed the
coat of the
whpich ias
s a ti r a t. ed ".
i           withi1 blood I
/?]~!}  —:-: —~~ '.  t~?:        For a mo

- --                  z,2            1


"AMERICANO, YOU HAVE BEEN A GENEROUS FOE. '




A WAYSIDE ROMANCE.


379


ment the captain gazed into his face and said:
"Keep the coat; its blood-stains and its bulletholes will remind you of a Spaniard's death-wound
and his thanks."
Tenderly and silently the American folded the
bullet-torn, blood-stained garment.
"Americano, the darkness and cold are coming.
Kiss me, my friend. Adios!"
The Kentuckian stooped above the dying Spaniard,
touched his paling bearded lips with his own, and
discovered that the darkness and cold had indeed
come.
Maxia, who had been holding her father's hand in
hers, felt the fingers stiffen and grow chill. She
pressed her olive cheek close to his black-bearded
one, and again felt the chill. As she stood weeping
beside him there, it was easy to note the resemblance of her delicate profile to his harsher one, and
even a stranger could have told that Captain Jesu
Antonius, dead, and Maxia Antonius, mourning,
were father and daughter.
Lieutenant Terrill led the weeping girl away from
the stark, soldierly figure on the hacienda veranda.
A wrinkled, yellow duenna met him at the door and
snatched the girl's hand from his arm.
"Accursed Americano! There is your work! You
shall not enter here! "
Crossing herself and mumbling, she hurried the




380


CUBA LIBRE.


girl away, but not before Seflorita Maxia Antonius
had given him a backward glance of grief and gratitude.
The Spanish physician tolerated the touch of the
American upon the body of Captain Antonius. He
saw it was a strong, wise, and tender touch. He
permitted him to help carry the dead captain within;
then he dismissed him, and Lieutenant Terrill returned to his detachment on duty, guarding the
hacienda, his heart filled with grief, firmly resolving to protect the helpless Maxia.
The day after the death of the Spanish captain,
Lieutenant Terrill was ordered to Guayama. Carefully packed in his meager luggage was a coat of the
Spanish army pattern, with an officer's badge and
the rents and blood-stains from four bullets. The
withered and yellow duenna who brought it to him
bowed and forgot to cross herself when she went
away.
When Terrill packed that coat among his belongings, he looked upon the breast of it for the stain of
tears dropped from the eyes of pretty Senorita Maxia.
He blushed like a girl, called himself a sentimental
fool, strode about, and smoked furiously.
The yellow fiend had been let loose in Ponce, and
people were dying by the score. It was foolhardy
for Lieutenant Terrill to wander to that city from
Guayama, for at that time more dangers threatened




A WAYSIDE ROMAN.CE.


381


the American than yellow fever. Ponce had been
abandoned by American soldiers, and Spanish sympathizers had resumed their tyranny. Lieutenant
Terrill could give no satisfactory reason for his visit
to Ponce. He was not apt at inventions, and had
he told them that a fancy to be nearer the lovely
Senforita Maxia Antonius had been the moving
cause of his journey, they would have jeered at him
for his presumption. As it was, they cried:
"A spy! Aspy! "
The lieutenant was arrested and thrown into prison.
He was not permitted to send a message to his regiment nor to his home. While not wholly incommunicado, he was so despised and feared as a spy that
no one in Ponce would be the bearer of a word from
him. The jailor was insolent, and the guards made
ghastly pantomimes of a blindfolded man before a
line of men who were aiming Mauser rifles at him.
The lieutenant thought that his sentimental folly
had got him into a fix, from which he would not be
able to extricate himself.
One day there was a disturbance outside of the
jail, causing Lieutenant Terrill to look through the
barred windows. Was the pantomime of the blindfolded man standing before a line of Spanish soldiery
with Mauser rifles to be enacted? He set his teeth
firmly and resolved to die with all the stoic heroism
of a Kentuckian and an American officer.




382


CUBA LIBRE.


Spanish soldiers armed with Mauser rifles were
coming; but at their head, however, walked a young
and graceful figure, whose bent head was gracefully
draped with a. lace mantilla, through which the outline of the olive cheek could be seen-the same cheek
he had seen pressed against the bearded face of the
dead captain. Beside her walked a withered, yellow
duenna. Was it cruelty or pity that prompted them
to come to his execution. The jailor unlocked the
door, and in a manner that was most deferential
said: *
"You are free, senor Americano."
Seinorita Antonius was just behind the jailor.
"I —you-it is pleasant that you are free, senior,"
she stammered. "You were so good to my dear
father," and a tear trickled through her long, black,
silken lashes.
The impulsive Kentuckian grasped the sefiorita's
little hand in both his own, even while the duenna
gasped, and the Spanish soldiers looked as if ready
to aim their Mauser rifles.
"Pleasant to be free, but heavenly to owe it to
you!" he cried, even while the olive face turned
crimson.
The guard disappeared, and the lieutenant, seiiorita, and duenna went to the nearest hotel, where he
learned the whole story of his rescue, which placed
* A true incident.




A WAYSIDE ROMANCE.


383


him under double obligations to the Spanish maiden.
Sefiorita Antonius shyly told him how a Spanish
color-sergeant, who was one of her suitors, had
boasted that an American had been prowling insanely and alone about Ponce, and that he had been
imprisoned, and would be shot as a spy, tho it
was the color-sergeant's opinion that he was only a
lunatic. Somehow the senorita came to suspect that
the lunatic was her late protector and her father's
friend. Convinced of the correctness of her opinion, through the influence of her dead father's name
she managed to secure his release, and at the conclusion could not repress her joy at having been the
means of saving his life.
She looked very sweetly on him from beneath her
mantilla, tho the duenna frowned and mumbled.
Lieut. Luke Terrill of Louisville, Kentucky, was
no laggard in love or war, and he proposed to the
senorita, and was accepted. The 19th of November following was set for the wedding, when at the
little church in Ponce, in sight of the grave of her
father, she was to wed the man to whom the dying
captain said:
"Americano, the darkness and cold are coming.
Kiss me, my friend. Adios."
The lieutenant intended to follow his betrothed
next day to the hacienda, but an order came for him
to report at once to Guayama. With the precious




884


CUBA LIBRE.


coat still in his luggage, he returned to his company,
where he had left Lieutenant Stevens in command.
After listening to his romantic story, Fernando
said:
"Your romance, tho sad, has a silver lining,
while mine seems destined to close in despair."
Then he told how he had for two years loved Viola;
how they were betrothed, but were unable to wed;
how he had come with the invading army to save
her, and she, believing Hobson, the prisoner, was
her lover, had wed his rival to save the prisoner's
life.
"Why, that marriage is not legal," declared the
lieutenant. "Why don't she get a divorce and free
herself from the old cuss? "
"I have urged her to do that, lieutenant, but she
has religious and conscientious scruples against
doing so. She is a Catholic, and her church does
not look with favor on divorces. I have used every
argument I know, but all to no purpose."
"Then I'd kill the infernal Spaniard who married
her and make her a widow."
"I have been tempted to do so, but it would seem
so much like murder that I shrink from the act."
"Yet I believe that in this case it would be justifiable. Just think of the cussed dago chuckling at
the trick he played you which robbed you of the
woman who should be your wife."




A WAYSIDE ROMANCE.


385


They were sitting in the tent of the lieutenant.
He took the coat from his luggage and laid it across
his knee, gazing tenderly on the dark stain upon the
breast, where the bullets had gone through.
"Lieutenant Stevens, war is cruel. General Sherman was correct when he said: " 'War is hell!' It
seems very strange that man, created in the image
of his Maker, and gifted with powers of reason
and love, should thus seek to destroy the life of his
brother."
"Yes, but you must bear in mind that, while we
have the emotion of love, we also have the emotion
of hate," returned Fernando.
"True; but love is so much more pleasant, it
should always predominate and conquer the other."
" It should, but it does not. If all natures were
gifted like yours, lieutenant, we might have the millennium right now. But while we find a few Spaniards like Captain Antonius, kind, loving, and forgiving, we find others like Weyler and Constellino, who
arouse all the hatred in our souls."
Lieutenant Terrill continued to gaze on the coat
and pass his hand gently over the side. His mind
was no doubt more on the daughter of the man who
wore that coat in life than on the precious relic.
As he passed his hand along the breast something
like paper rattled in the inside pocket, and he turned
the coat over.
25




886


CUBA LIBRE.


Thrusting his hand into the pocket, he drew out a
large official envelope.
"Some title deeds or army orders," he thought,
but a glance at the name on the back of the envelope
caused him to doubt if it was either. The name of
Viola Cespedes was on the envelope.
"Why, this is curious," remarked Lieutenant
Terrill, glancing carefully at the paper. "This belongs to Viola Cespedes. Who is she?"
Lieutenant Stevens was sitting in an abstracted
manner, gazing vacantly about him, his mind on the
fair being back in Santiago, who perhaps then had
taken the holy vows of the church which would
shut her forever from his sight. At sound of the
name he started up and asked:
"What did you say? What name was that you
just now spoke? n
"Viola Cespedes. This envelope is hers. Here
is something in Spanish which you may read, lieutenant, for I can not."
He took the envelope and read:
" Received this envelope from Viola Cespedes, which I am to
keep for her, and which I will do with my life. Santiago,
April 30, 1898.                 JESU ANTONIUS."
"Lieutenant, pardon my seeming rudeness and
curiosity. I must see the contents of this paper!"
exclaimed Fernando.




A WAYSIDE ROMANCE.


638


"Do you know Viola Cespedes?
"She is the maiden of Santiago to whom I was
betrothed.  I remember now that she told me she
had given a paper to Senior Antonius to prevent it
falling into the hands of Toral and Constellino. This
must be the paper to which she alluded."
"Read it and see."
With this permission, Fernando broke the seal
and took from the envelope a sheet of paper, yellow
with time. On this was written in Spanish the following directions:
"Stand in the center of the dungeon Del Diableto with face
toward the door. Then at the corner on the right, count up
from bottom seven layers of stone, and nine from corner on
the right. The ninth stone has been loosened. Remove it
and in the space back of it you will find a valuable secret."
For a moment the two officers sat gazing at each
other in amazement. The Kentuckian was first to
break the silence:
" What in the name of creation does all that hog
Latin mean?"
"I remember now, lieutenant, that she once told
me the story. Her mother's father was an insurgent
in the 'seventies, and was captured and sent to th3
old Morro Castle to prison.  He was confined in the
dungeon called 'The Dungeon of the Devil,' where
all condemned prisoners are kept. As he was led
forth to execution, he was taken to the church for




398


CUBA LIBRE.


mass, which I believe is a privilege the Spaniards
gave their victims. Here he met his daughter, and
thrust this bit of paper in her hand. It was written
with a pewter spoon on this piece of paper, which
he chanced to have in his possession. She retraced
the lines in ink so as to preserve it, and, at her
death, gave it to her daughter."
"Well, why hasn't some one gone to Morro and
seen what is behind the rock?" asked Lieutenant
Terrill.
"That has been tried on several occasions, but the
Spaniards would never let any one do it. I tried
once myself to solve this mystery for her, but was
denied admission to the dungeon."
"There are no Spaniards now to interfere."
"No, and, lieutenant, if you will let me have this
paper, as soon as the conquest of Puerto Rico is complete I will return to Santiago, and go with Viola
to the castle and solve this mystery.
The Kentuckian, who was the soul of honor, reflected a moment and asked:
"Would it be right?"
"Certainly; if Captain Antonius was living and
knew all the facts as you know them, he would not
hesitate a moment."
"No, of course he wouldn't, and I won't either.
Yes, you are the very person who ought to have the
key, if any one, and I know you'll take it to her."




A WAYSIDE ROMANCE.             889
"I shall if I live.'
A few days later Lieutenant Terrill was stricken
down with yellow fever, and sent home on the Relief, while Fernando took his place, and prepared to
push on with the army to the final conquest of the
island.




CHAPTER XXIII.


GEORGE PHIPPS.
THE different divisions of General Miles's army
were landing and driving the enemy before them when
an enemy was to be found. On July 26, General
Henry's division landed at Guanica and advanced
toward Ponce from that point, taking en route the
cities of Yauco, Tallabo, Sabana Grand, and Ponules.
At Yauco they were welcomed by the alcalde, and a
public proclamation was issued, dated " Yauco, Puerto
Rico, United States of America, July 27." Major
Webb Hayes, of the Sixth Ohio, a son of former
President Hayes, raised the American flag on the
palace amid cheers from the populace. Tho the
people seemed really glad that the Americans had
come, they feared an uprising of the natives in the
interior, who, it was asserted, would rob, kill, and
destroy property in revenge for many years of Spanish misrule.
Attempts were made by the Spaniards to blow up
the bridges and destroy the railroad between Yauco
and Ponce, but the efforts failed, andon the 29th,




GEORGE PHIPPS.


391


General Henry reached the latter city. General
Miles was in constant communication with all his
forces, directing their movements with the skill of
a master. The artillery was kept steadily in the advance, and in two or three days after taking Ponce
he had the entire army encamped along the military
road to San Juan, ready for a cautious advance on the
capital of the island.
On the 31st of July, the second part of General
Miles's army of invasion arrived at Samana Bay, on
the northeastern coast of Hayti. The gunboat Annapolis was scouting off the western end of Puerto
Rico to convoy General Brooke's transports when they
should appear. The monitor Puritan arrived off
San Juan, and next day Captain-General Macias, in
command of the Spanish forces in Puerto Rico, cabled
to Madrid that several American war-ships and transports loaded with troops were off San Juan, and he
was expecting an attack at any time. The city of
San Juan continued quiet, altho all the batteries
were kept manned in constant expectation of an attack. Communication between San Juan and all
points in the district of Ponce had been cut off.
As early as August 1, the whole army at Ponce
had begun a gradual and cautious advance northward
on the great military road leading to San Juan city.
On this day four companies of Pennsylvania volunteers advanced and encamped at a point eight miles




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beyond the city of Ponce, and Colonel Hulings with
ten companies of the Sixteenth Pennsylvania occupied Juan Diaz, ten miles beyond Ponce on the way
to San Juan. The American flag was raised amid
the wildest cheers and shouts of enthusiasm of the
overjoyed populace.
By August 3, nine Puerto Rican towns had been
taken. No serious opposition was met until the
army of invasion reached Guayarna, August 6.
This city had a population of 16,000 inhabitants,
and was the most imposing town, aside from Ponce,
on the south side of the island. When the vicinity
of the city was reached, it was known that there
were some Spanish cavalry near, and the troops proceeded cautiously along the road to within a mile of
the town. At that point the road was level, and no
signs of Spaniards were seen anywhere. The last
mile of the road runs through a cut in the mountain
and up a steep hill. Before this was reached the
Third Illinois halted, and Colonel Bennett was
ordered to guard the cross-road leading to the rear
of the city. The advance of the Fourth Ohio entered
the cut, and had proceeded less than two hundred
yards, when a hailstorm of Spanish bullets on both
sides of the mountain whistled over their heads.
The guards fell back, firing as they retreated, and
the main body hurried forward, also firing up the
hill-sides. Farther along the road the Americans




GEORGE PHIPPS.


893


were suddenly confronted by a barricade, made of
structural iron works and filled in with sand. As
the United States troops advanced, the Spaniards
began firing from behind the barricade. Their shots,
however, were wild, most of them passing over the
heads of the Americans.
Deploying parties were sent up the hill to flank
the Spaniards, and, as they advanced, the barbedwire fences were in evidence. These were quickly
cut with machetes, of which they had quite a number, and in a short time about one hundred Americans rushed up the hill, and lined the road on both
sides. A Gatling-gun poured incessant fire into the
Spanish barricade. The Spaniards mysteriously disappeared, but the Ohio volunteers continued to pour
in their volleys upon the sand and iron.
After reaching the hill-top, the deployers began
directing their shots ahead, and the remainder of the
Americans pushed forward, firing as they advanced.
This roused the enemy in ambuscade, and they discharged their weapons with great rapidity, wounding several Americans; but now that they had been
uncovered, the fire of the Americans was concentrated on them, they were quickly driven off, and
the Americans entered the city.
There was some desultory firing on the part of
the Spaniards as the Americans approached the suburbs, but no damage was done. As the advance




394


CUBA LIBRE.


troops approached the town, a man appeared waving
something white, which proved to be his shirt, the
only flag of truce immediately available. He announced that the town surrendered to the Americans
unconditionally. As General Haines entered the
city with the advance of the Americans, it seemed
wholly deserted. All the houses were closed, and
there was not a human being in sight. But when
he reached the public square, or grande plaza, doors
suddenly swung open, windows flew up, heads appeared, and their owners anxiously gazed about, taking in the situation, then quickly withdrew.
After repeating this operation several times and
finding they were neither shot nor dragged from their
homes, the people rushed into the streets, shouting:
" Viva los Americanos! "
General Haines had scarcely stationed a guard OIi
the principal streets leading into town, and raised
the Stars and Stripes, when the Spaniards from the
hill-sides opened fire on the town, but were quickly
driven away and never returned.
Tho it was known at this time that overtures
for peace had been made through the French ambassador, no armistice had yet been granted, and the
conquest of Puerto Rico was to continue until Spain
acceded to the terms laid down by the President.
By August 7, the beginning of the end of the
remarkable campaign was at hand. The American




GEORGE PHIPPS.


895


trocps were heading toward the Arecibo district, on
the north coast, to the east of San Juan. Schwan's
brigade, consisting of the Eleventh and Nineteenth
regulars, and two batteries of light artillery, started
at two o'clock. One battalion of the Nineteenth
and Colonel Black with five hundred Puerto Rican
laborers took the Ajuntas road.
On the morning of August 8, the American advance, comprising the Sixteenth Pennsylvania and
the Second and Third Wisconsin, aided by volunteer
artillery, came upon the Spanish forces at Coamo.
The battle opened when the Americans broke camp
and began to advance on the city. A strong line of
skirmishers thrown out in advance of the army soon
struck the enemy's advance pickets. These fell back,
firing their rifles to warn their friends. The Spanish army under General Illeaseas hastened to meet
the invaders in the suburbs of the town. The Americans boldly advanced to the attack, their line one
stream of flashing fire. General Illeaseas, three of
his officers, and seventeen men were killed, about
two hundred made prisoners, and the remainder
fled.
There were two blockhouses at the entrance of the
city, which the Americans quickly subdued; then
they entered the town and hoisted the American flag.
On the 9th, two hours before daybreak, a severe
fight occurred at the lighthouse at Cape San Juan,




896


CUBA LIBRE.


Puerto Rico. The lighthouse was taken by the Americans when they first reached the cape, and fortyone sailors, commanded by Lieutenant Atwater, Assistant Engineer Jenkins, Ensign Bronson, and
Gunner Campbell were sent to guard it. The Spaniards, who had been lurking in the vicinity, made
a dash on the blockhouse at about two o'clock in the
morning; but the sailors had been warned by some
Puerto Rican refugees, and were awake. They opened
fire on the enemy, who returned it, wounding a sailor
named Boardman. The little tug Leyden steamed
close inshore and opened on the enemy with her
one-pound cannon. The Spaniards were driven back,
the lighthouse abandoned and destroyed, and the
sailors taken aboard the Leyden and conveyed to
Ponce.
On the 10th of August, General Schwan's command, on its way to Mayaguez, uncovered a force
of Spaniards in the hills lying off the city road,
near Harmigueros. The Spaniards occupied a position in a northwesterly direction from the Rosario
River. The entire Spanish force of the Mayaguez
garrison was said to be stationed in the hills,
comprising one thousand regulars and two hundred
volunteers. A general engagement followed, in
which the Americans lost two killed and fifteen
wounded. The Spaniards were routed with loss, and
General Schwan was to push on to Arecibo.




GEORGE PHIPPS.


897


The storm-center was gathering about Aibonito or
San Juan, and the military sages were busy in their
calculations as to which point the bolt would strike.
General Wilson was moving steadily on Aibonito,
and General Brooke advancing slowly. The Spanish
had their choice of retiring from Aibonito to San
Juan or Lares, or from Arecibo to San Juan or
Aibonito. If they preferred to make a stand, they
had a strong position in the mountain passes at the
latter place. General Miles's engineers were repairing the bridges on the roads between Coamo and
Aibonito, which was the next point to be attacked,
and as the Spaniards were assembled there in force,
there was no longer a doubt that the storm which
had been gathering on the island since the invasion
commenced would burst at this point. Scouts were
sent far out from the main body to locate the roads
and paths leading to Aibonito, and learn if possible
if there were any Spaniards between the city and the
advancing armies.
There was a general surrounding and driving-the
game to one central point. On the afternoon of the
9th, Troop C, of Brooklyn, advanced to within three
miles of Aibonito. They were discovered by the
enemy's outposts, and the artillery, in fortifications
on a hill which enabled it to cover the military road,
opened on them. After a sharp skirmish, Troop C
retired without loss.




898


CUBA LIBRE.


A reconnoitering party started to find a route to
flank the hills on which two thousand five hundred
Spaniards were entrenched. Captain Clayton, of
Troop C, of Brooklyn, with one man, went close to
the enemy's position and discovered the lay of land
on the other side. There were four fortified peaks
commanding a zigzag road, with five different bends,
and other earthworks to be encountered. General
Wilson moved up his artillery to a point within one
thousand seven hundred yards. A deep valley intervened, and, except for the distance, the enemy was
a splendid target. White-uniformed Spanish soldiers could be seen sitting on the ridges of the
trenches, with their feet hanging over. As the
Americans advanced, the Spaniards opened fire on
the road, which was occupied by the Third Wisconsin, acting as an outpost. A Spanish battery stationed on the topmost peak of the mountain sent a
volley of shells down upon the heads of the Americans below. One of these burst over the head of
Captain McCoy, of Company L, killing a corporal
and wounding two privates.
The Spaniards were shelled out of their original
position, and for a time their guns silenced. But
after a few minutes their cannon again roared, and
they also began a sharp infantry fire, their volleys
showing that the hill-side was swarming with hidden
infantry, whose smokeless Mausers did not reveal




GEORGE PHIPPS.


399


their position. Lieutenant Haines, of the Third
Artillery, was wounded.
General Wilson, knowing that negotiations for
peace would in two or three days at most result in a
protocol or armistice, and being desirous of saving
human life, sent Colonel Bliss to Aibonito, demanding the surrender of the city. On the 13th, he received the following response from Colonel Nuevillas
in command:
"Tell the American general if he desires to avoid
further shedding of blood to remain where he is."
On the 12th of August, the day before the receipt
of this defiant answer, the protocol had been signed,
and the President had by proclamation declared hostilities at an end. The officers of the War and Navy
Departments had been and still were doing everything in their power to prevent bloodshed, but the
news had not yet reached the advance of the army
in Puerto Rico.
General Brooke, who had been to Arroyo, returned
to his army on the 14th. The forces had been carefully advancing, and the terrible assault was about to
commence. He determined to engage the Spaniards
at the point where they had attacked the Fourth
Ohio. The Spaniards were strongly entrenched, and
there was no doubt that the issue would be bloody.
The guns of Battery B were advanced and sighted.
The regiments were formed and the conflict about to




400


CUBA LIBRE.


open, when some one called the attention of General
Brooke to a horseman riding under whip and spur
toward him. His horse white with foam, he galloped up to the general, saying:
"An order from General Miles! "
General Brooke read the message, and said loud
enough to be heard by all near him:
"There will be no fight, boys; peace has been declared."
Then, turning to Lieutenant McLaughlin, he
added: "You came fifteen minutes too soon; the
troops will be disappointed."
It was indeed a disappointment to those brave soldiers who had been so anxious to engage the enemy
in a decisive battle. Had the message been delayed
ten minutes, the battle would have been raging, and
if once it had commenced, it is doubtful if the officers could have prevented the soldiers carrying the
works by storm.
From General Brooke's position, the Spaniards
could be seen sitting on the edge of the hill as the
Americans turned and made their way back to Guayama. The Spaniards, who were awaiting the attack
with all the stoical indifference of the Gallic race,
were astonished at the maneuvers of the invaders.
Perhaps they surmised that this seeming retreat
meant victory for the retiring troops.
The war was over, and the fighting in Puerto Rico




"'YOU: CAME FIFTEEN MINUTES TOO SOON."/








GEORGE PHIPPS.


401


ended. The roads leading from Aibonito to the various points at which they were to remain until the
terms of the treaty could be enforced were filled
with soldiers, grumbling at the sudden turn of affairs
and heartily wishing that the authorities responsible
for the war had not been quite so anxious to end it.
One soldier, evidently lost from his command,
was sitting at the side of the road under a broadleaved banana, mopping his face with his handkerchief. His rifle lay on the ground at his side, his
hat was pushed back well on his head, and his brow
gathered into a knot of wrinkles, as if he was troubled in his mind.
"That man must a-been mistaken," he finally remarked, in a reflecting sort of way. "I've tramped
an' tramped all over this part o' Porto Reeco, an'
asked everybody I've seen, but can't hear nothin'
'bout him."
A young officer, whose face was bronzed by tropical suns, came up to where the soldier was sitting,
and asked:
"Why are you here? Are you wounded, or
sick?"
"No, leftenant, I'm tired."
"Nathan Baker, is it you? Well, Nathan, the
war is over, and you will soon go home."
Nathan again mopped his face and said:
"Yes'n, I hain't seen hide nur hair o' him. They
26




402


CUBA LIBRE.


told me he war with some Illinois soljers, but I
hain't found him."
"Nathan, an army of men is a large body to seek
one in. After all, what good would it do you to
find this man? It could not bring your dead wife
back, nor could it give you the home you lost. Try
to forget the past."
" Leftenant Stevens, I've tried mighty hard to forget it, but I can't do it to save my life. Somethin'
tells me I must see him."
Large bodies of troops were passing them, and the
soldier under the shade of the banana suddenly
leaped to his feet and ran to a man who had fallen
out of the ranks, and was hurrying forward, musket
in hand, to rejoin his company.
"Stop! Stop!" yelled Nathan, seizing the fellow
by the shoulder and turning him around. "Oh, by
gosh, I reckon I know ye."
"Why, Nathan, is it you?"
"Yes, George, I thought ye'd know me. Come
out here an let's sit down an' rest; we kin go on
after a while. I wanter talk with ye anyway."
" I didn't know you were in Puerto Rico, Nathan."
"Ye didn't? Well, I knowed you war here."
"Were you the man who was asking for me? A
sergeant in another company said some one had been
to our regiment asking about me."
"I reckon it war me, George."




GEORGE PHIPPS.


The two stragglers 
dropped beneath the 
broad banana shade, 
and the army kept
on passing     by.
There was nothing
unusual in two,
three, or more men
falling out of ranks
from exhaustion.. 
Fernando Stevens     -
remained  near the
soldiers, for he was
in doubt as to the                         d /
result of the meeting.                        ",STOP I" YELLEDT NATHA
"We 1l, Nathan,
how  have ye been since I last saw ye?" asked
George Phipps.
"Bad enough, George, bad enough,-wife's (lead."
"What! Poor woman, I thought shle warn't
strong."
"No, she warn't stout, that's so; but tle blow
killed her.  I war mightily hope up about her, when
ye left, an' we thought we llad a holle all our own.
But from the fust time Mr. Parker told me o' the
mortgage I begin to give in."
"The mortgage? What mortgage? "
403


r.C 


LN.




404


CUBA LIBRE.


"Oh, I guess ye know, George."
"No, I swear I don't! "
"The mortgage on the place I bought o' ye, which
ye owed to Parker, an' never told me about."
Light was slowly breaking in on the mindof
George Phipps. After two or three gasps and ineffectual efforts to speak, he said:
"Nathan Baker, there was a mortgage on that
place; but I swear I paid it off three months
before ye bought it. I paid Joe Parker every
cent o' it."
"But the records didn't say so, an' the inexonerable law gin it back to him," said Nathan.
The whole awful truth burst on the mind of
George Phipps, and he gave vent to his indignation
in the following suggestive language:
"Joe Parker's an infernal scamp!"
That was the conclusion to which Fernando
Stevens had long since arrived. He took a step
nearer and said: "Excuse me, Phipps; did you pay
the mortgage in full to Parker?"
"Every cent, principal an' interest."
"Why didn't you have the records satisfied? "
"Parker writ on the mortgage an' note,' Paid,' an'
said that was enough. He said when he got time
he'd go an' satisfy the records."
"Where is the note and mortgage? "
"At my home in Illinois."




GEORGE PHIPPS.             405
The young lieutenant turned on the astounded
Nathan, and said:
"Nathan, this man is telling the truth -I feel it, I
know it-and you may yet get your home back. I
told you that the clouds would roll away."
"Yes, but she won't be here to enjoy the home."
"Her children will. Come, boys, let's follow the
army." And the three men started toward Coamo.




CHAPTER XXIV.


THE GREAT STONE BEAR.
IF love were stricken out of the soul, life would
be insipid, and our being but half animated.  Fernando Stevens's love for Seflorita Viola seemed to increase with every (lay of his existence. Now that
he was most likely to lose her, she was doubly precious to him. It was only natural that he should
leave Puerto Rico as soon as lie could get his resignation accepted, and hasten to Santiago.  HIe left both
Nathan Blaker and George Phipps sick with fever;
but, great as his anxiety was for them, he determined
to see Viola, to place in her hands the paper which
she had prized so highlly, and which meant so much
to lher.
It would be idle to speculate on the fears he entertained on her account.  Somehow his imagination
continually conjured up some horrible fate, and he
often heard her in sleep crying to him for aid. At
times dark thoughts rose in his mind, but he put
them aside, almost feeling the guilt of David whenl
rebuked by Nathan.  His greatest fear was that Viola




THE GREAT STONE BEAR.


407


might enter the convent before lie ieached Santiago.
Ile determined to induce her to go to the States with
him, where, in a different atmosphere, and under
different influences, she might come to look upon
the matter in an entirely new light.
On reaching Santiago, he set off with strange misgivings to find her. Viola was still at the home
where he had left her. He told her of the death of
her friend Captain Antonius, and she wept over his
sad fate. Then he told the story of Lieutenant
Terrill and the coat, and of finding the paper she
had given him.
"I am glad you brought it with you, selior," she
said. "The Americans are now in possession of
Morro, and surely we can gain admittance to the
dungeon."
"Have you no idea what will be found within the
dungeon walls when the loose stone is pulled away?"
he asked.
"No, senior, I have not the slightest conception.
My mother did not know; but her father's dying
request was to explore the secret and right some
great wrong."
"Right a wrong?" he thought. So many years
had elapsed since that brave old patriot gave up his
life for his country that the wrong was past righting. The one to whom it had been entrusted had
died and left the mission to be filled by her child,




408


CUBA LIBRE.


and that child having inherited the obligation seemed
as eager as her mother to fulfil her part.
It was with many strange emotions that they entered the small boat and glided toward old Morro,
grim, defiant, like a lion guarding the entrance to
the bay. The Stars and Stripes, that blessed emblem
of liberty, floated over the old castle, and blue-coated
soldiers could be seen upon the ramparts or wandering about its battle-scarred walls. On being challenged, Fernando again presented his passports, but
this time from an American commandant, not a
Spaniard. They were told to go whither they
pleased, and entered the ancient fortress. They
secured the services of an old Spaniard, who for
years had acted as a sort of turnkey, to show them
to the ")evil's Dungeon."  They could not repress
shudders when they recalled that other visit, and all
that had transpired since then. The dungeon of the
condemned was the deepest and darkest portion of
the great cavern-like prison. The cell had not been
occupied or opened since it fell into the hands of the
Americans, and the air was so stifling and foul that
at first they could hardly remain in it.
The candle which the guide carried only dimly
lighted that subterranean apartment, into which the
rays of the sun never fell. The stones of the walls
were damp, and in one corner was a pile of halfrotted straw. The single door by which it was en



THE GREAT STONE BEAR.


409


tered had a small wicket at the top, which opened
just wide enough for a man to thrust food through
for the prisoners, as one would feed wild animals.
For several moments, Fernando and his fair companion stood silent and thoughtful. How many unfortunate human beings had passed their last hours
of life in that awful dungeon the world will never
know. There were dark stains on the rugged stones
where some victim in the past had dashed out his
brains against the wall. The weird and ghostly
light, the dark, dripping walls, and the wavering
shadows seemed for a moment to enchain the American as if under some spell.
It was only for a moment, however, and shaking
it off, he stepped to the center of the dungeon, and,
facing the door at the lower end of the angle of the
corner on his right, he counted upward to the seventh
layer of stone, and then counted off nine from the
corner on the right.
"Here is the loose stone which contains the
secret," he said, stepping forward and laying his
hand upon it. But the stone was firmly embedded
in the wall, and refused to yield to all his force.
Could it be that, after all, he was mistaken. He
counted again, and once more read the instructions,
but there could be no mistake. Again he tried his
best to remove it, but found himself unqual to the
task, and began seriously to doubt if it had been




410


CUBA LIBRE.


removed since first placed in the wall by the
mason. Then he reasoned that long years with
earthquake shocks and cannonading might have
tightened the stone in its place, after having been
removed.
Turning to the guide, he asked him to bring him
a pick, which he did. Fernando stuck the end of it
into the crevice between the stones, and throwing
all his weight on the handle, the stone moved. One
or two wrenches, and the square block dropped out
on the floor with a rattling sound. Behind the stone
was an accumulation of dust, which at first obscured
the space. Fernando thrust his hand into this and,
raking the dirt away, brought forth an old package
of papers, time-stained, and so dim that in that light
nothing could be made of them.
"Here it is, Viola! he cried triumphantly, holding them up to her gaze. "Let us go above and examine them."
The foul air made breathing so difficult that Viola
was anxious to go above. They went out to the
glacis, where they seated themselves on an old dismounted cannon. He carefully brushed the dust
from the paper, on which could be faintly traced
some writing too dim to be made out on first
trial.
Like the key, this had been written on unruled
paper with the end of a pewter spoon which had




THE GREAT STONE BEAR.


411


been sharpened to a point. After gazing on it for
several minutes, he said:
"This is not Spanish, Viola. Did your grandfather write English?"
"I don't know that he did," she answered.
"Then this is not his."
"Whose can it be?" she asked, a feeling of disappointnlent entering her heart.
He carefully brushed away the dust, shook out
the half-rotted folds, glanced at the superscription,
and, starting to his feet, gasped:
"My God!"
The paper dropped from his trembling hand, his
brain reeled, and he placed his hand on the cannon
for support.
"What is it, Fernando? What is it? " she asked
in alarm, springing to his side.
"My father! My father! It is his name-his
signature! I would swear it! "
"Then the mystery that shrouded your young life
in sorrow may be revealed by it," she said tenderly,
taking up the soiled paper. "Be seated, Fernando.
Calm yourself, and read it. Who knows but that it
may bring joy to your heart."  The gentle pleading
soothed him, and he became more composed, and
once more took up the paper to read the message
with very much the same emotions he would have
felt had it been a message from the dead. As he




412


CUBA LIBRE.


slowly deciphered the almost illegible writing, ejaculations of wonder escaped his lips. The contents of
the first paper were as follows:
"I am an American. My name is Fernando Stevens. My
home Cincinnati, Ohio, where I leave a wife and two children.
I am the junior member of the firm of Parker & Stevens traders and importers from Cuba. In the dissolution of the partnership I took in my share a debt on Jose Marti, a Cuban,
who had joined the insurgents. I came to Cuba and, aided by
friends, found my way to Colonel Marti, who paid me the
amount in full. On board the filibustering vessel White Cloud
I tried to leave the island, but we were sighted by two Spanish cruisers and driven into shore. We landed, and I cached
the money. Accompanying this is a description that will lead
one to it. I have been doomed to be shot, but my cell-mate, a
noble Cuban, Captain Rodriguez, who, like myself, is doomed
to die, will give his daughter instructions how to find this on
a slip of paper too small for the Spaniards to see. It is my
desire that these papers be sent to my wife.
"FERNANDO STEVENS.)
Having carefully read the paper again and again,
he took up the second, which was much plainer,
seeming to have been written with ink. There was
a map of a part of the northern central coast of Cuba
and of the mouth of the Calvario River. The instructions were very plain:
"Entering the Calvario River at the mouth, sail up three
miles to the confluence of the first eastern tributary, a creek.
Ascend this creek from its conjunction with the Calvario to
a distance of three hundred yards, two chains, and five links,
to a large stone of lava formation, which has some resemblance




THE GREAT STONE BEAR.


413


to a stone bear, on the south side of the creek, ten feet from
the back. At the southeast corner of the said stone bear,
under its right forefoot, at the depth of three feet, will be
found a leather bag containing the money in gold, and also
some valuable private papers, which I was unable to send
home.                         FERNANDO STEVENS."
Carefully he read it again and again. That old,
time-stained and dust-covered paper contained more
secrets than even Fernando at that moment supposed.
"Do you understand it, senior?" she asked.
"Yes, I can go direct to the spot."
"It was your secret, not mine," she said, with a
sad smile. "I am so happy that you will yet recover what rightfully belongs to you, seiior," she
said.
"I am not thinking of that, Viola," he answered.
"That is a small matter now.   I am thinking how
strange that your grandfather and my father should
have spent their last days together.  I am thinking
how noble of your grandsire to remember, even in
the very hour of death, the helpless wife and children of his prison-mate. Oh, Viola, Viola, surely
God intended us for each other! "
She started, a faint look of joy on her face, almost
immediately giving place to one of horror.
"No, no, do not mention that! " she gasped.  "Remember, sefior, remember, I am the wife of another."
A look of pain swept over his face, and he sank




414


CUBA LIBRE.


back on the dismounted cannon. After all, what
was this new good fortune?  Even tho he found
the treasure buried by his father a quarter of a century before, if he was to lose the only being on earth
with whom he cared to share it, it could only add
to his misery.
Sadly and in silence they returned to the city.
He left Viola at her home, and called on General
Wood, to whom he narrated his strange story. The
general informed him that a small American steamer
was to leave port next day to make other ports
around the coast, and suggested that in all probability he could get the captain to land him at the point
where the treasure was buried. Fernando called on
the captain, who had been a noted filibuster, and told
him what he wished.
"I'm  with you, lieutenant!" the captain said.
"Yes, we are in no hurry. I know the inlet well,
and can land you at the spot. How many will go
with you?"
" Not more than two or three, if any," he answered.
"I will have cabin passage for a dozen."
lie went next to see Viola to persuade her to accompany him on the voyage. She was very serious,
and, looking him in the face, said:
" Seinor, I can not."
"Why?" he asked, disappointed.
"I have a duty to perform."  He opened his eyes




THE GREAT STONE BEAR.


415


in amazement. Fernando could never understand
her, and of late she had grown more mysterious than
ever. She then showed him a letter from the hospital steward, saying that Col. Illion Constellino
was ill with the fever, and the attending physicians
were in doubt of his recovery. "I am going to watch
by his side until he recovers," she added.
He heaved a sigh that came from the very depths
of a broken heart.
"Viola, answer me truly; do you love this man,
even the least? 
"No."
"And never did?"
"No. If it was not wicked, I should hate him.
But the church records show that he is my husband,
and, tho I would fly to the uttermost ends of the
earth to escape him if well, I must be at his side
now. It is duty."
Her peculiar education, her strange convictions,
her ideas of duty and right were contrary to free
American thought. She loved the man of her choice
with her whole heart, and despised the man who,
through deception, had induced her to marry him.
Tho the marriage would not have been held binding by another, to her the ceremony, even under
duress, was too sacred to be broken.
She went that day to the fever-infested hospital
to act as a volunteer nurse for the man who had so




416


CUBA LIBRE.


cruelly wronged her. Next day.Fernando Stevens
went abroad the Rolling Moses, which lay in the
harbor.
The Rolling Moses was one of those small coastliners plying the coasts of North America, Mexico,
and the West Indies, making irregular trips, and
among seafaring  men denominated    "a tramp."
Captain Smart was a jolly old tar, who delighted to
spin a yarn or listen to a good one. Seated in his
cabin, which was built forward, he smoked his black
pipe and chatted with some Americans on the future
of Cuba.
"The war is now over, and Cuba is free at last,
thank God!" he ejaculated between puffs from his
pipe. " The future of this country will be just what
the people make it. I'm not in favor of annexation
if we can get along without.  I don't believe in
trusts in governments, no more'n I do in business.
Competition in everything is the life of trade, and if
all the world was under one government, nine men
out of ten would be little better than slaves."
The Rolling Hoses at last got up anchor and
steamed out of the harbor. Captain Smart stood on
the bridge, his pipe in his mouth, as they steamed
past old Morro, and, raising his cap, he waved it in
the air, shouting:
"Go it, Old Glory! Shake out yer pretty folds,
like ye do on the waters.'




THE GREAT STONE BEAR.


417


After having cleared the harbor, they sailed eastward and entered the Windward Passage. By this
time it was dark, and yet Fernando stood on the
deck gazing away in the direction of Santiago, where
he had suffered so much, and where so many brave
Americans had lost their lives.
"Well, you're goin' on a kind of a romantic voyage," remarked Captain Smart, who was at his
side.
"It is an instance where truth is stranger than
fiction," said Fernando.
"Yes, but this is stranger than either,-that you
should find in old Morro's walls a paper from your
father who was executed for a filibuster twenty-five
years ago. Lemme see, he was on the White Cloud.
I knew Captain Clark. It's all mighty strange."
"No, captain, nothing strange about it, now that
we understand it perfectly. It is only natural that
my father should have written the note and concealed it in the wall, and induced his companion in
prison to try to get the information to his family."
"You're right. There ain't nothin' so romantic in
it, after all. Did you know when your father was
executed?"
"No, sir; we never were certain as to his fate.
While we had some evidence that he was a prisoner
and condemned, we were never certain, until I found
this note."
27




418


CUBA LIBRE.


"Yes, I remember the time the White Cloud was
lost. The first report was she took fire, was beached,
and her crew drowned. We suspected then that she
was sunk by some Spanish cruiser, and her crew
hunted down and shot, but we never knew to a certainty. I knew Clark well. He was a good seaman, a daring filibuster, and had a heart in him
big as a porpoise. We had many close calls in the
dark days of the seventies. I got through all right,
but Clark, he went down. Oh, well, it don't make
so much difference, after all. We've all got to go
some time, and a matter of a few years don't count
for much in an eternity."
They went into the captain's cabin, where the latter entertained his passenger with strange, wild
stories of his early adventures as a filibuster on the
coast of Cuba and in West Indian waters.
Late in the night he retired to his stateroom and
was soon buried in a sound sleep. He awoke and
was early on deck. They were gliding along the
north coast of Cuba and approaching the Bahama
Channel. All day long the Rolling Moses glided in
and out among the hundreds of islands which line
the northern coast of Cuba. These islands and their
hundreds of queer little inlets had afforded excellent
hiding-places for the old buccaneers, and later for
the filibusters. During the war, Spanish gunboats
found them excellent hiding-places from those great




THE GREAT STONE BEAR.


419


ships that loomed up across the sea, feeble-looking
objects at first, but gradually swelling into mammoth, fire-breathing destroyers. At night, the weird
searchlights had swept across the dark waters, and
among the many little island inlets, but the Spanish
gunboats snuggling in their hiding-places were concealed from view.
The Rolling Moses slowly picked her course among
the islands and inlets, gradually nearing the mouth
of the Calvario River. As they passed in among the
headlands, Captain Smart pointed out a reef and,
calling to Fernando, said:
"There are the rocks the White Cloud went on
before she burned. For years after we could at low
tide find charred pieces of the wreck among those
rocks."
The heart of the American was now beating
strangely and wildly. Was he, after all, upon a
false clue? Then there were a thousand chances
that the treasure had been discovered or removed.
When the Rolling Moses cast anchor, the captain
ordered a boat lowered, and with picks and shovels
Fernando and the captain descended to the boat,
which, propelled by four stout oarsmen, glided into
the mouth of the small stream.
"Captain, you are quite sure there is no mistake
about the river?" asked Fernando.
"Certain, sir, certain. The Calvario is on the




420


CUBA LIBRE.


chart, and I know where to find it as well as the
mizzen main-yards."
" When we have ascended three miles, there should
be a creek on the east bank."
"That will be on our larboard; we'll look out for
that."
" But how will we know When we have gone three
miles? 
' I've thought o' that, and brought a reel and log
with me." He had the end of a cord tied about a
weight, which he tossed into shallow water near the
east bank, and they rowed up the stream. The forest
on each side was dense and wild, and it seemed a
fitting place for the concealing of a treasure.
Just as the reel had run off three knots, they came
to the mouth of a small creek, and here the boat was
hauled ashore and left with the sailors, while the
captain and Fernando, with their implements for
digging, started up the left bank.
"Maybe we had better measure the distance," the
captain said.
"No. It's no use," Stevens returned. "Unless I
am very much mistaken, the stone bear will be so
plain we will know it at a glance."
"We can try the course by that calculation, but if
we find ourselves at fault, we can resort to dead
reckoning," said the captain.
They pushed their way along through the bram



THE GREAT STONE BEAR.


421


bles and vines, which did not seem to have been traversed in ten years by any creature larger than a
jutia. Fernando began to fear they had exceeded the
distance laid down on the chart, and was about to
propose that they go back and survey the bank;
when, parting the tall grass and thick jungle with
his hands, he all at once came upon a large mass of
stone. It seemed to be of volcanic formation, and,
after a careful examination, he saw that it had some
resemblance to a bear.
"Yes, captain, this is the great stone bear referred
to. See that point of the stone has very much the
resemblance to the head of a bear, these are the front
legs, and these the hind legs."
"Well, lieutenant, I expect you are right. The
more I look at that big stone, the more it resembles
a bear. We better not look too long or it will grow
so real it will come down and eat us up."
The stone was ten or twelve feet high and fully as
long. Fernando was at a loss to account for it; and
it is a debatable question whether it was a freak of
nature, or was an image made by hands, and worshiped by some prehistoric race.
The location of the cache was easily made, and
they began digging with pick and shovel. The earth
was turned out as rapidly as possible, and from the
first they knew it had been disturbed at some time
in the past. At last the pick struck upon something




422


CUBA LIBRE.


which tore, and brought out a piece of canvas or sail.
cloth.
"It is here, captain," the lieutenant declared.
Let us go carefully now, for these things are very
rotten from lying so
long in the earth." ',i
Carefully the                      e re-pac
moved the earth and 
revealed a large 
Thvalise y did
not touch    4
CAREFULLY THEY REMOVED THE EARTH
AND REVEALED A LARGE BUNDLE.
they had brushed all the dirt away. The package
was sounder than was expected, for, being partially under the stone, it had been kept perfectly
dry.
The canvas was removed, and an old leather
valise or bag. covered with nmold and dust, taken




THE GREAT STONE BEAR.


423


out.  The emotions of the son as he beheld that bag,
which had cost his father his life twenty-five years
before, are beyond description. The lock was rusty,
but they broke it open and found inside three leather
bags and a bundle of papers. The weight of the
bags and the clinking sound they made proved what
they contained.
"I will look at the papers first," said Fernando.
They were all in a large official envelope, but not
sealed.  He drew out first a letter written by his
mother to his father, in January, 1873, and next
was a small pocket diary, which was very dim.' It
narrated his father's course from leaving home to
the destruction of the WT/hite Cloud. There was an
old contract with some one which was evidently of
no use now. But the last paper unfolded caused
him to start and gaze as if he had been suddenly
confronted by a ghost.
"Heaven! I might have suspected it, since what
I have learned of poor Nathan Baker."
" What is it, lieutenant? "
"A  receipt for a lost note."   Then Fernando
read:
" Received from Fernando Stevens the sum of ten thousand
and forty-five dollars and eighty cents ($10,045.80), being the
amount of interest and principal in full of a note given by Fernando Stevens to Joseph Parker for ten thousand dollars ($10.000), dated January 2, 1866, to procure money to furnish a
half interest in the firm of Parker & Stevens, which said note,




424


CUBA LIBRE.


held by Parker, is lost. This receipt is therefore given to
be in full against said note.   JOSEPH PARKER."
"DECEMBER 28, 1872."
Having read the receipt through, Fernando turned
to the captain and said:
"When my father came to Cuba, forgetting to
leave this receipt, and lost his life, Mr. Parker
brought suit against his estate and robbed mother of
everything. He lied when he said the note was
lost. I am eager to go home now, and there will be
a reckoning."
"Why, blow me! the rascal ought to be hung!"
declared the captain. "But count the money, and
see if it is all there."
The gold was found to correspond exactly with
the debt.  It was carefully returned to the bags,
then placed in the leather valise, which in turn was
placed in a canvas bag. This they carried to the
boat, and were rowed back to the ship.




CHAPTER XXV.


CONCLUSION.
THERE was one member of this little family in
the far East, whom we must mention before closing
this story. He was as much affected by the treachery and rascality of Joe Parker as was his brother
in the West Indies. George Stevens also had his
love affair, as well as his brother.
Through his persuasions, Hallie was removed from
the city of Manila and went aboard an English merchantman that lay in the harbor. He paid frequent
visits to the merchantman, and had long, confidential talks with the little missionary. Her mother
had died but a few months before, after having accumulated a considerable fortune, which was deposited in the bank for the daughter. The interest
George had so long felt in the beautiful young missionary ripened into love, and there was a mutual
understanding that their marriage should be celebrated as soon as the war with Spain was over; and
it seemed to be rapidly drawing to a close.
The first land forces had arrived under General
Anderson. On the 20th of June, the American




426


CUBA LIBRE.


fleet touched at the Island of Guam, one of the
Ladrones,.and made the governor and all the Spanish officials prisoners.  On June 30, three transports, convoyed by the Charleston, entered Manila
harbor.
There was but little effort made to advance the
land forces until after the arrival of General Merritt,
July 25.  The American army began to advance
on Manila with the usual precautions, taking firm
stands at every point. The advance was under the
command of General Greene, an able, cautious, and
efficient officer.
On July 29, Private William Sterling, of Company K, First Nebraska volunteers, while on outpost duty on Pasay road, was fired upon by a Spanish sharpshooter at long range, and struck on the
arm by a spent Mauser ball. Tho the wound was
slight, it warned the soldiers of the near proximity of the enemy. Several Nebraska marksmen tried
their skill at the sharpshooter, but he hugged the
bushes and rocks too close for a successful shot.
General Greene continued to advance his forces,
and took the town of Malate. He had about four
thousand men, and entrenched as he advanced, in
order to hold every foot of ground covered. On
Sunday night, July 31, Greene's forces had advanced until their lines extended from Camino Real
to the beach.




CONCLUSION.


427


During the day another division of troops, under
General McArthur, arrived; but, owing to the high
surf, landing was delayed. The Spanish were driven
to frenzy by the continual arrival of new troops, and
the fury of soldiers and officers could no longer be
restrained. Shortly after nightfall one of those terrible typhoons, common at that season in the tropics,
set in. The wind blew a hurricane, and the rain fell
in such torrents that the Americans were nearly submerged in their trenches.
The brigade was composed of the Tenth Pennsylvania, First Colorado, First California, and Third Artillery.
Suddenly a gleam of fire from the heavens rent the
black veil of night, revealing long lines of Spanish
troops coming at a charge. The pickets leaped back
into the trenches, the alarm was sounded, and the
black coat of midnight was reddened by the flash of
rifles and artillery. In a moment the fight was raging all along the line. The commands of the officers
could be heard in-low, firm tones above the thunder
of battle and the roar of the typhoon. Like a stone
wall stood those brave volunteers, receiving their
first baptism of fire unmoved. The insurgents had
withdrawn from the right flank, leaving the Tenth
Pennsylvania exposed to bear the brunt of the battle, but they checked the Spanish advance until reenforced.




428


CUBA LIBRE.


Tho for the first time under fire, the volunteers
fought like veterans. With some difficulty, owing
to the darkness and mud, Captain Young got his
Utah battery into position, and began enfilading the
enemy's ranks.
After a stubborn conflict of several moments, the
Spaniards fell back some distance in confusion; but
they re-formed, and came on at a charge with the
most horrible yells. It was a scene terribly sublime.
The red lightning painting a fierce glare on the sky,
the angry flash of cannon, the darkened faces, but
dimly lighted, seeming fiends in conflict, while dead
and dying blue-coats and white-coats lay on every
side. None other than American soldiers could have
withstood that assault. The Spaniards rallied and
made a third assault on the American works, but this
third and last was a weak effort. It proved to be
more than the Americans could endure, and with
angry yells they leaped from their ditches and pursued the flying enemy for some distance.
The Spanish loss was about 300 killed and 400
wounded, while the Americans lost 14 killed and
60 wounded.
From that time the American forces kept gradually
pushing on, and more closely investing the city.
On Saturday, August 13, the day after the signing
of the protocol, the final attack was made. The fleet
opened fire at 9:30 A.M. At first the shots fell short,




CONCLUSION.


429


but after a few rounds Dewey's gunners got the
range, and their fire was more effective. General
Anderson, who was in immediate command of the
land forces, General Merritt's headquarters being on
the despatch-boat, at once telegraphed General McArthur to open fire on Blockhouse No. 14, and begin
his attack. At the same time seven guns of the
Utah batteries opened fire on the enemy's works in
front of the Second Brigade, and two guns on the
right of this brigade opened an oblique fire on the
blockhouse above referred to.
Two of the lighter-draught vessels approached as
near the city as possible, and opened with rapid-fire
guns, and at the same time some men of the Second
Brigade started up the beach. The First California,
which was the leading regiment of the reserve, was
at once ordered to go forward and report to General
Greene. Going to the reserve telegraph-station, General Anderson received a message from McArthur
that his fire on the blockhouse was effective, but
that he was enfiladed from the right. Anderson
knew from this that McArthur wished to push the
insurgents aside, and put in the Astor Battery, and
authorized him to attack, which he did, and soon
after the Twenty-third Infantry and the Thirteenth
Minnesota carried the advance line of the enemy in
the most gallant manner.
In the mean time, the Colorado regiment had




430


CUBA LIBRE.


charged and carried the right of the enemy's line,
and the Eighth Infantry and Third Heavy Artillery
acting as infantry advanced and passed over the
enemy's works in their front without opposition.
The reserves were ordered to follow the Second Brigade, and a battery of Hotchkiss guns was directed
to follow the Eighteenth Infantry.
By this time General McArthur was heavily engaged at a second line of defense near Singalong.
General Anderson believed that the best way to aid
him was to press his success on the left; he therefore ordered General Greene to connect, if possible,
with General McArthur by sending a regiment to
the right. But the enemy for a time seemed determined to give the Americans a street fight, and the
Colorado and California regiments were the only ones
available.
The Eighteenth Infantry and the Hotchkiss battery came upon a broken bridge, but the engineer
corps brought forward a portable bridge, and in a
few moments the organization passed over.
By this time the Nebraska and Wyoming troops
saw white flags waving from the sea-front, but the
fighting did not stop yet. At the front and on the
right the contest raged until nearly two in the afternoon, when McArthur and Greene, pressing forward,
carried the city by storm.
The American loss was 7 killed and 30 wounded.




CONCLUSION.


431


One of the most remarkable incidents of the battle
was that a German war-ship, just at the commencement, took off the Spanish captain-general
and landed him in Hongkong. This was a gross
violation of all international law between civilized
countries, and it is a marvel that the matter was permitted to pass so lightly.
After the city was captured, it was learned that
the peace protocol had been signed the day before.
The historical part of this story has been told, but
there remain some private narratives to be concluded.
On his return to Santiago, Fernando found Viola
in widow's weeds. Colonel Constellino was dead,
and the American was wicked enough to feel deeply
grateful for the fact. Viola looked very pretty in
her mourning for the man whom she both hated and
feared.' Gradually it dawned upon her mind that
heaven had released her from the unwilling vow she
had taken, and Fernando helped on the conviction.
Her spiritual adviser was of the opinion that nothing stood in her way of taking a husband, inasmuch
as the church records which showed her marriage to
Constellino also showed his death. It is useless to
say that Fernando, who had formed the acquaintance
of her spiritual adviser, worked upon his mind to
bring about this favorable impression.
The color again cam3 to Viola's cheek, and she




482


CUBA LIBRE.


smiled once more. Santiago, under the able management of Governor-General Wood, rapidly grew
into a new town. Captain-General Blanco had re.
signed and returned to Spain.
Lieutenant Stevens at last procured the assent of
Viola to an early marriage, and departed for Amer.
ica on a steamer from Ponce, which touched at Santiago. He took with him the bag containing the
treasures. As he sat on the deck of the.ship, gazing
back at the fast-receding harbor of Santiago, and
upon those hills which rose steadily into the Sierra
Maestra, which touched the purple peaks to the sky
behind the Morro, his thoughts were of the angelic
being who had absorbed his attention for many
months. His life had been a romance filled with
sorrow and bitterness. After all, is not every life a
romance? Is not every life filled with joy, bitterness, and love-and some with hate? Sad indeed
is that life when hate preponderates, and happy the
life where all is love and joy.
"It will not be long," he murmured to himself as
he saw old Morro fade from view. "When I come
again, Viola, it will be to claim you for my own. After
all the clouds and storms come sunshine and peace.
After all our sorrow comes joy. God is good! 
When the harbor of Santiago, old Morro, and the
hills finally faded away, he walked forward and
turned his eyes homeward.




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CONCLUSION.


488


Little had he thought of home in the last few
months of carnage and confusion. If Viola had
only been with him, he would have been happy. It
was a strange, wild story he would have to tell his
mother when he reached her, and brought back news
of the husband lost twenty-five years before. But
he determined to keep that story until the proper
time for its revelation. The wrong should be righted,
or a criminal prosecution and exposure follow. A
cloud was gathering about the head of Joe Parker
which threatened to burst with destructive fury.
While engaged with these bitter thoughts, the lieutenant's attention was attracted to the conversation
of two convalescent soldiers who had been discharged,
and were on their way home.
" Yes, George, it does seem mighty good t' be goin'
home ag'in," one of the soldiers remarked to his companion. "The babies'll be glad to see me, an' I'll
be mighty glad.to see 'em; but then, Mary won't be
there."
There was a strange melancholy in his tone.
"Yes, Nathan, I don't blame ye for feelin' mighty
hard at me about that deal 'f ye thought I'd a-sold
it to ye, an' it mortgaged. But I'm a-goin' to bring
ye th' note an' mortgage, an' I'll show ye that I war
square an' th' deal all straight."
"What are we t' do with Joe Parker?"
"I know what I'd do."
28




484


CUBA LIBRE.


"What, George? "
"Give him a gawl darned good thumpin'; that's
what I'd do."
"I will, just as soon as I git strong enough. I
reckin it's all we kin do."
Lieutenant Stevens came forward at this moment,
and, shaking hands with them, said:
"Boys, I am glad to see you both on the road to
home, and to recovery."
"Yes, leftenant; but we had a purty close call
with old Yaller Jack," said Nathan.
"I overheard what you said in regard to Mr. Parker. If you will leave the matter in my hands, I
will plan a revenge far better than assault and battery, which at best would cause your arrest and his
triumph."
"What kin ye do, leftenant?" asked Nathan.
"You are willing to trust me? "
"Yes."
"Then I have a plan that will work to your advantage and give back your little home. There are
other crimes the rascal has been guilty of, and he
shall be made to settle the entire score."
Then he proceeded to lay out a course of procedure they were to follow, and they discussed it until
the sun had dipped beneath the horizon.
Winter came early in 1898. It was a cold Novem



CONCLUSION.


435


ber day; the wind whistled shrilly about the corners, and the air was filled with flying, whirling
snowflakes. Mr. Parker sat in his cozy private
office at the bank. The windows opened on the
street, and the velvet curtains were pushed back on
the brass rods, permitting the great man to gaze out
on the street. His hair and beard had grown slightly
grayer, and his small blue eyes seemed to have become keener. Mr. Parker is very well pleased with
himself on this morning, and he might from his own
point of view have cause to be. He had commenced
life as a poor schoolmaster, and now had amassed a
comfortable fortune.
With all the power that money gives in these
days, Mr. Parker had become great. He was great
in financial and social circles, and had even dipped
slightly into political matters, but only so far as to
dictate. He had no political aspirations of his own,
-not he. He preferred to see his friends rewarded,
and was serenely happy at the success of others.
He had taken the duty upon himself to clear away
any stain upon their characters, that they might
have the smoothest possible sailing, and so ardently
had he worked in behalf of some that an irreverent
wag had dubbed him "President of the Kalsomining
Club for the Whitewashing of Damaged Reputations."
A dark-eyed lady of forty, or thereabouts, wrapped




436


CUBA LIBRE.


in furs, passed along the street, and turned her head
to smile and nod at the banker, whose desk was near
the window. He smiled and nodded in return, and
looked very comfortable. The nervous uneasiness
which had been quite prominent in earlier life had
given way to complacent satisfaction.
Mr. Parker had just taken up the morning paper,
smoothed out its folds, and adjusted his glasses, when
there came a rap at the door, and the office boy, looking in, said:
"Some gentlemen wish to see you, Mr. Parker."
"All right, show them in," answered Mr. Parker:
laying aside his paper, removing his glasses, and assuming a pleasant expression, for he expected an interview that would be profitable.
The door opened, and Fernando Stevens, accompanied by two lawyers, entered, and behind him were
two men in the uniform of private soldiers, whom
he did not at first recognize.
"Why, Fernando! I am glad to see you!" declared Mr. Parker. "I did not know that you had
returned from Cuba."
After shaking his hand coldly, Fernando plunged
at once into the object of his visit.
"You are a very careful business man, Mr. Parker," he began, "but your memory seems capable of
playing you a treacherous freak occasionally."
"Why so, Mr. Stevens? "




CONCLUSION.


487


"This gentleman is Nathan Baker, and his companion is George Phipps."
Mr. Parker turned deathly white, stammered, and,
dropping into his chair, nodded in silence.
"It seems George Phipps had a home in the suburbs of this
city;     not
MR. PARKER TURNED DEATHLY WHITE, STAMMERED, AND
DROPPED INTO HIS CHAIR.
palatial home, but a very comfortable one; and
borrowed some money of you to speculate on, mortgaging the property to secure payment of the debt."
"Yes, yes, yes!"
"He paid that mortgage.'
"No, he didn'tV




488


CUBA LIBRE.


"Here is the note and mortgage, both acknowledged paid in your own handwriting. Your assistant and chief bookkeeper out there recognized your
signature. You promised George you would satisfy
the record, and he thought you had done so, and
sold the place to Nathan Baker. When Phipps was
gone, you, supposing he would never return, foreclosed the mortgage and took his home."
"Well, gentlemen-I-that is, my memory is not
good; but the matter is outlawed; I will give him a
hundred dollars —"
"The statute of limitation does not run against
fraud and minor heirs," declared one of the lawyers.
"You must give up the whole amount."
"Oh, well, if you insist, I will give him up the
whole place."
"No, he wants the money and interest."
Mr. Parker fought long against this arrangement, but had to yield, and drew his check for the
amount.
This matter settled, there came another still more
startling. If the banker was astonished at the appearance of the canceled note, he was thunderstruck
when the receipt that had lain a quarter of a century
three feet under Cuban soil was held before his eyes.
His usual coolness had deserted him, and when told
by the lawyers that his rascality would be exposed
if he did not settle at once, he fell on his knees and




CONCLUSION.


4389


begged piteously for mercy, but all to no avail. He
was forced to fill out a check for the full amount of
the receipt and six per cent. interest.
Then his visitors left him a crushed and almost
broken-hearted man, tho his fortune was still a large
one.
Mrs. Stevens received the news of her son's
strange adventures from  himself.  Gradually he
told his mother the sad story of his father's fate,
and the perfidy of Mr. Parker. She resigned her
position in the Orphans' Home to go with Fernando
to Cuba. She busied herself assisting Nathan in
fitting out a new, comfortable house, where Zeb and
Lady Emma would have been perfectly happy had
it not been for giving up their "new ma."  Nathan's
sister, a poor seamstress, was his housekeeper, and
he secured steady employment at good wages in a
machine-shop.
Just before leaving for Cuba, Fernando received
two letters, both announcing marriages.
One came from far away Manila, from his brother
George, stating that the chaplain of the Olympia
on that day had made him and a pretty little missionary, Hallie Norton, one. The other was from
Lieut. Luke W. Terrill, from far Puerto Rico, announcing his own marriage to Seilorita Maxia
Antonius.
"Come, mother, let us be going," he said on read



440


CUBA LIBRE.


ing the two letters. "I must not be too far behind.
Viola is waiting for me."
There was a small procession to the old cathedral
in Santiago, a small but select audience present, when
Viola, of her own free will, stood at the altar, this
time to become the wife of the man she loved.
When his mother took her in her arms, called her
daughter, and told her how she looked upon her ancestors as the guardians of the rights of herself and
family, the pretty young bride thought: "Surely
heaven ordained it."
The bridal party sailed for Havana, for there was
no longer a blockade to prevent their visiting the
capital. They reached the city on December 10,
1898, and remained over for the imposing ceremonies of the 12th, the removal of the remains of
Columbus, the discoverer of the New World.
For days, mechanics labored behind closed doors
taking apart the sarcophagus that everything might
be ready to return the ashes of the great man to
Spain. Early on the morning of the 1 2th, Fernando,
his wife, and mother crowded their way through the
throng to the. great cathedral. With the booming
of cannon, the steel casket containing the remains of
the discoverer of America was borne to the cathedral steps by the canons, amid tolling bells, and
placed on a gun-carriage, heavily draped with flags




CONCLUSION.


441


and decorated with floral garlands. A solemn procession then moved to the Machina wharf. Here
the casket was taken in a launch between the lines
of twenty-five man-of-war boats, to the cruiser
which was to carry it back to Spain. A salute of
fifteen guns was fired. At intervals of a quarter of
an hour, all (lay long, a single gun boomed the honors
paid an admiral.
No one in that vast assemblage was more seriously
impressed than Fernando Stevens. His mind went
back to that time, four hundred and six years ago,
when Hernando Estevan, of whom he was a lineal
descendant, had crossed the unknown ocean as the
cabin-boy of Christopher Cotumbus to discover this
new world of ours. What wonders had four centuries worked; and yet through all those centuries his
ancestors had, in a humble way, aided in forming
and molding the destinies of the new nation, now
the greatest on earth. The history of his family was
the history of his country, and so completely are the
stories of America and the Estevan, or Stevens,
family interwoven, that either would be incomplete
without the other.
Fernando and his pretty Cuban wife will live in
Cincinnati, tho she inherits large estates in Cuba.
George will remain in the navy, tho he will be
given leave of absence to bring his wife home on
a few weeks' visit.




442             CUBA LIBRE.
The treaty of peace which makes Cuba free has
been signed, but whether she will add another star
to that constellation of States which makes up our
great country, or form a grand republic of her own,
has not been determined. In either event, her doors
are open to American immigration, and liberty of
conscience, peace, and prosperity to the Gem of the
Antilles are assured.
THE END




HISTORICAL INDEX.
PAGE
Agoncillo tenders an alliance on the part of the Filipinos,
offensive and defensive, to Consul-General Wildman, 234
Agramonte, General, slain............................  97
Aguilera, vice-president Republic of Cuba.............. 95
Aguinaldo promised a war indemnity by Spain.......... 233
American advance on Manila attacked by Spaniards..... 427
Anderson, General, arrives ab Manila................... 425
Army of invasion sails for Cuba....................... 264
Asiatic squadron, ships composing..................... 234
Bagley, Ensign, killed at Cardenas..................... 252
Baiquiri, American fleet at............................ 271
Baltimore bombards Cavite............................ 248
Battle at Guanica.................................... 372
Bernandou, Lieutenant, wounded at Cardenas.......... 252
Blanco supplants Weyler.............................  182
Blanco orders Cervera to leave Santiago harbor.......... 322
Blandin's statement of the blowing up of the Maine..... 197
Bliss, Colonel, sends a demand to Nuevillas to surrender, 399
Blockade of Havana.............................. 249
Blockading squadron under Sampson sails from Key West, 204
Bombardment of Santiago............................. 343
Brooke, General, directed to follow General Miles to
Guanica......................................  871
Brooke, General, informed that peace has been declared.. 400
Buena Ventura, capture of, by Americans.............. 207




444


CUBA LIBRE.


PAGE
Cadalso, Don Julian, sentenced for life................. 93
Calleja, Governor-General, pardons rebel leaders........ 119
Camagi:ey, Cuban operations in....................... 96
Campos recalled to Spain.............................. 178
Cardenas, fight in harbor of........................... 251
Cavite reduced by the Baltimore....................... 248
Cervera ordered to Santiago........................ 321
Cervera's fleet in Santiago harbor...................... 264
Cervera ordered by Blanco to leave the harbor.......... 325
Cervera's fleet, destruction of.......................... 329
Cervera's surrender...................................  336
Cespedes of Bayamo, first to raise the Cuban flag....... 47
Cespedes heads a movement to liberate Cuba............ 95
Cespedes surprised and killed at San Lorenzo........... 103
Chadwick, Capt. F. E., member of the Court of Inquiry.. 196
Chidwick, chaplain of the Mcaine, conducts the funeral of
men killed in the blowing up of the Maine........ 195
Cienfugos, fight at....................................  252
Cleveland, Grover, second term as President expires..... 181
Coamo, battle  of......................................  395
Congress votes $50,000,000 to army and coast defense.... 200
Congress by resolution demands that the war of Spain
against Cuba must stop..................... 201
Court of Inquiry to inquire into the cause of the destruction of the Maine............................... 196
Crittenden, Col. William L., executed by Spaniards..... 94
Cuba, historical sketch  of.............................  90
Cuba, Humboldt's estimate of square miles in.......... 89
Cuban country home, description of.................... 21
Cuban flag, history  of...............................  46
Dewey, Commodore, with the Asiatic squadron at Hongkong.........................................  200
Dewey's fleet leaves Mirs Bay for Manila............... 233
Dewey at the battle of Manila Bay..................... 245
Diaz, Nina, Weyler's spy........................ 189




HISTORICAL INDEX.


445


PAGE
Dry Tortugas, Sampson's fleet at.................... 200
El Caney, advance on and battle of.................... 295
Filibustering expedition to Cuba.............. 118
Fremont, Lieutenant, of the Porter..................... 253
Garcia in communication with Americans............. 231
Garcia offended at General Shafter..................... 67
German war-ship carries Spanish captain-general from
Manila to Hongkong to prevent his capture by
Americans.....................................  431
Gomez, Maximo, takes command of the Cuban army.... 119
Gomez hiding in a cavern............................. 120
Gomez gains a victory at Taguano................. 178
Greene, General, commands the advance at Manila...... 426
Guaimaro, Cuban constitution proclaimed at............ 95
Guam, island of, seized by the Americans............... 426
Guanica, Americans land at........................... 371
Guayama, battle  of................................... 392
Gunboats built in New York for the Spanish........... 96
Haines, General, entering Guayama.................... 394
Havana, description  of...............................  6
Henry, General, pushing into the interior of Puerto Rico. 390
Hobson and his crew sinking the Merrimac............ 265
Hobson and crew, capture of......................... 266
Hobson and crew exchanged......................... 342
Huntington, Lieutenant-Colonel, and marines land at
Guantanamo............................. 266
Huse, Lieutenant, with thirty men land at Guanica,
Puerto  Rico................................... 872
Illeaseas, General, killed at battle of Coamo............. 895
Junta, Cuban, formed in New York.................... 118
Key West, invading army at........................ 265
La Quasina, battle of................... 284
Linares, General, wounded.......................... 323
Lopez, General, lands a force in Cuba.................. 9
Maceo, Antonio, expedition broken up at Florida........ 118




446


CUBA LIBRE.


PAGE
Maceo. Antonio, with sixteen men lands in Cuba........ 120
Maceo gains a victory in Santiago province............. 177
Maceo slain..........................................  179
Macias, captain-general of Puerto Rico, cables the appearance of American fleet...................... 891
Macias, Pauline, Senorita, rallies the gunners........... 262
Maine, battle-ship, at Havana.......................... 183
Maine, destruction  of................................. 183
Maine crew, funeral of................................ 194
Malate seized by General Greene....................... 426
Manila Bay, battle of................................. 241
Manila, assault and capture of......................... 429
Marix, Lieut. Adolph, member of the court to investigate the blowing up of the Maine................ 196
Marti, Jose, forms Cuban Junta in New York.......... 118
Marti, Jose, reaches Cuba............................. 121
Marti, Jose, death  of................................. 143
Matagas the Terrible.................................  39
Matanzas, martial law declared in...................... 119
Matanzas, bombardment of, by Sampson's fleet.......... 250
McArthur, General, at Malate......................... 427
McKinley, President, by message declares that war with
Cuba must end................................ 198
McKinley, President, issues a proclamation ordering
blockade of Cuba.............................. 203
McLaughlin, Lieutenant, brings information of the end
of the  war....................................  400
Merritt, General, at Manila Bay....................... 426
Miles, General, preparing to invade Puerto Rico......... 367
Morro  Castle, Santiago................................  107
Olympia, Commodore Dewey's flagship................ 234
Oregon, battle-ship, on the Pacific coast, ordered to join
Sam pson.......................................  200
Oregon, battle-ship, making her wonderful voyage around
Cape  Horn..................................... 250




HISTORICAL INDEX.


447


PAGE
O'Reilly, Spanish tyrant............................  94
Patriotic society of Havana formed................... 91
"Peace-at-any-Price" party.......................... 199
Pindo, Don Ramon, put to death..................... 93
Pinelo, Nicholas, imprisoned for life..................  93
Pinto, Gen. Lopez, deposed.................. 98
Philip, Captain, of the Texas tells his men not to cheer
when the enemy are dying...................... 77
Polo, Sefor, minister from Spain................ 181
Ponce, city of, surrenders to General Miles.............. 374
Porter, Commodore, attacking the buccaneers of the
W est Indies................................... 349
Potter, Lieutenant, one of the Board of Inquiry to investigate the Maine disaster.................. 196
Puerto Rico invasion begun......................... 369
Puerto Rican campaign a triumphal procession......... 874
Red Cross nurses at Puerto Rico..................... 373
Reina Christina wrecked by a shell................. 247
Roosevelt, Theodore, resigns as Assistant Secretary of
Navy to organize the Rough Riders..........   228
Rough Riders, of whom composed................  228
Sampson, Capt. W. T., chairman of the Court of Inquiry
to examine into the Maine disaster............... 196
Sampson's fleet at Dry Tortugas....................... 200
San Lorenzo, Cespedes, surprised and slain............. 103
Santiago, Virginius's crew murdered at.............. 102
Santiago, description  of.........................  106
Santiago, martial law declared in................ 119
Santiago, bombardment of...................   343
Santiago, American army enters.................... 352
Santocildes, General, slain.......................... 178
San Juan, Puerto Rico, bombardment of................ 260
San Juan Heights, storming of........................ 295
Schley's fleet at Hampton Roads....................... 200
Schley's part in sinking Cervera's fleet................ 829




448


CUBA LIBRE.


PAGE
Schley's fleet bottling up the Spanish Cape Verde fleet
in  Santiago..................................  267
Shafter negotiating with Toral for surrender........... 852
Shafter's army at Santiago............................ 291
Spain addresses a memorandum to the powers........... 198
Spanish army increased.............................. 176
Taguano, battle of.................................... 178
Tampa, Florida, invading army at.................... 265
Toral, General, in command of the Spanish at Santiago.. 311
Toral, General, surrenders to Shafter................... 352
Tornado, Spanish cruiser, captures Virginius.......... 112
Valdes, General, defeated............................. 178
Virginius's crew captured and condemned............. 102
Volunteers, Spanish, in Cuba, cruelty of............... 97
Voyage of Shafter's army............................. 269
Wainwright, Lieutenant, receives Cervera's surrender on
board  the  Gloucester........................... 336
Wheeler, Gen. Joe, takes a blockhouse............. 344
Wildman, Roundsville, consul-general to Hongkong..... 232
Wildman, Consul-General, urges Dewey to accept services of Aguinaldo..........................  233
W ood, Colonel.......................................  288
Woodford, American minister at Madrid, given his passports.........................................  202
Yauco surrenders to the Americans.................... 890




CHRONOLOGY.
1893. GROVER CLEVELAND inaugurated President, -March 4.
PARIS ARBITRATION decided that Bering Sea be open
and seals protected,-August 15.
WORLD'S PARLIAMENT OF RELIGIONS at Chicago,September 11.
CARTER H. HARRISON, mayor of Chicago, assassinated,-October 28.
1894. LEXOW COMMITTEE, for investigating Police Depart.
ment in New York, began its work,-January 30.
COXEY'S "INDUSTRIAL ARMY"* marched from Ohio to
Washington.
REPUBLIC OF SANDWICH IsLADm established,-July 4.
GREAT STRIKE IN CHICAGO, commencing at Pullman
car works, affects all the United States. Put down
by United States soldiers.
WILSON TARIFF (Democratic) became law,-August 27.
OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES (poet) died,-October 7.
1895. STREET-CAR STRIKERS IN BROOKLYN dispersed by
soldiers,-January 19.
AMERICAN CONGRESS suppressed lotteries,-March 3.
NELSON APPLETON MILES made senior major-general,-October 6.
1896. UTAH admitted to Union,-January 4.
WILLIAM MCKINLEY ELECTED PREsIDENT and Garret
A. Hobart Vice-President,-November 4.
1897. WILLIAM MCKINLEY INAUGURATED PRESIDENT and
Garret A. Hobart Vice-President,-March 4.
AMBASSADOR BAYARD obtained the log of the MayAower,-March 29.
29




450


CUBA LIBRE.


GREATER NEW YORK incorporated,-May 4.
DINGLEY TARIFF BILL (Republican) became a law,July 24.
During the last half of the year a great rush was
made for the KLONDIKE, the Alaskan gold-fields.
CHARLES A. DANA died,-September 17.
ROBERT VAN WYCK elected first mayor of Greater
New York,-November 2.
1898. UNITED STATES BATTLE-SHIP MAINE blown up in Havana harbor while on a friendly visit and 270 lives
lost,-February 15.
BOARD OF INQUIRY appointed to investigate cause of
blowing up of Maine reports that it was from external cause.
SPAIN ADDRESSES AN APPEAL to the powers against
the aggression of the United States,-April 18.
CONGRESS AUTIORIZES THE PRESIDENT to intervene
in Cuba, using the United States army and navy.
Spanish minister left Washington,-April 20.
PRESIDENT ISSUES PROCLAMATION blockading the
principal ports of Cuba,-April 22.
PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES ISSUES A CALL for
125,000 volunteers, to serve two years,-April 23.
BATTERIES AT MATANZAS, CUBA, shelled by Admiral
Sampson, with the New York, Puritan, and Cincinnati.-April 27.
SPANISH FLE:T, UNDER ADMIRAL CERVERA, Cristobal
Colon, Almirante Oquendo, Maria Teresa, Vizcaya,
Furore, Terror, and Pluton, left Cape Verde Islands
for Cuba,-April 29.
COMMODORE DEWEY, of the United States Asiatic
squadron, destroyed Spanish fleet in Manila Bay
without loss of a man,-May 1.
ENSIGN BAGLEY and four men of the torpedo-boat
TVinslow killed and the Winslow wrecked in an attack on Cardenas,-May 11.




CHRONOLOGY.


451


GEN. WESLEY MERRITT ordered to Philippines as
military governor,-May 11.
FLEET OF ADMIRAL SAMPSON bombarded the fortifications of San Juan, Puerto Rico,-May 12.
ADMIRAL CERVERA'S FLEET reached Santiago de Cuba,
and a few days later was "bottled up" by Commodore Schley,-May 19.
PRESIDENT MCKINLEY CALLED for 75,000 more troops.
Twenty-five hundred United States troops sailed
from San Francisco for Manila,-May 25.
UNITED STATES WAR-SHIPS Massachusetts, Iowa, and
New Orleans begin bombardment of Morro Castle
and fortifications at Santiago,-May 31.
ASSISTANT NAVAL CONSTRUCTOR HOBSON and seven
men ran the Merrimac into Santiago harbor and
sank her in the channel and were taken captives
by Spaniards,-June 3.
SIX HUNDRED MARINES LANDED at Caimanera, Guantanamo Bay; sharp skirmishing, and several killed
and wounded,-June 10.
FIFTH UNITED STATES ARMY CORPS, commanded
by Brigadier-General Shafter, sailed from Tampa
on twenty-nine transports for Santiago,-June
12.
THE WAR REVENUE BILL became a law, raising revenues by stamp tax and providing for a popular
loan,-June 13.
GENERAL SHAFTER'S ARMY ARRIVED off Santiago,June 20.
ROOSEVELT'S ROUGH RIDERS ATTACKED while advancing on Santiago; 16 Americans killed and 40
wounded; Spanish repulsed,-June 24.
AMERICAN ARMY under Generals Lawton and Kent
take El Caney and San Juan Hill after hard fighting,-July 1 and 2.
CERVERA'S FLEET made a dash out of Santiago harbor,




452


CUBA LIBRE.


and every vessel sunk or disabled by American fleet,
-July 3.
THE ISLAND OF GUAM, Ladrone Islands, seized by
the Charleston,-July 3.
HAWAIIAN ISLANDS ANNEXED to the United States,
and Philadelphia ordered to Honolulu to raise the
American flag,-July 7.
SPANISH FORCES AT SANTIAGO DE CUBA surrender to
General Shafter,-July 17.
GEN. LEONARD R. WOOD, formerly colonel of
First Volunteer Cavalry, appointed military governor of Santiago,-July 20.
UNITED STATES TROOPS, under General Miles, land
at Guanica, Puerto Rico,-July 25.
SPAIN, through the French ambassador, sued for
peace,-July 26.
PONCE, second city in Puerto Rico, surrendered to
General Miles, who was received enthusiastically.
Several smaller towns taken with little or no fighting,-July 28.
THE PRESIDENT STATES TERMS to French ambassador
on which he will end the war-demanding independence of Cuba, cession of Puerto Rico and one of the
Ladrones to the United States, and the retention of
Manila, pending final disposition of the Philippines
by a joint commission,-July 30.
SPAIN'S REPLY PRESENTED to the President by the
French ambassador, accepting terms of peace,August 9.
PROTOCOLS AGREEING TO PRELIMINARIES for treaty
of peace signed; United States military and naval
commanders ordered to cease hostilities; all blockades raised,-August 12.
AMERICANS ASSAULTED and captured the city of
Manila; the Captain-General, Augusti, escaped on
a German war-vessel,-August 13.




CHRONOLOGY.


453


WAR BETWEEN UNITED STATES TROOPS and Chippewa Indians on Bear Island,-October 5, 6, and 7.
FORTY-SEVENTH NEW YORK VOLUNTEERS, first American troops, enter San Juan, Puerto Rico,-October
15.
SPANISH OFFICERS EVACUATE Puerto Rico,-October
16.
LAST OF'SPANISH TROOPS LEAVE Puerto Rico,-October 24.
AMERICAN PEACE COMMISSIONERS at Paris demand
the whole of the Philippines,-October 31.
CUBAN ASSEMPLY at Santa Cruz choose Domingo
Mendez Capote president,-November 7.
REMAINS OF COLUMBUS REMOVED from Havana to
Spain,-November 12.
TREATY OF PEACE SIGNED by joint commission of the
United States and Spain; the United States to take
all the Philippines and pay $20,000,000,-December 10.
GENERAL GARCIA, Cuban patriot, dies,-December 11.
1899. SPAIN EVACUATES HAVANA,-January 1.
MAJOR-GENERAL BROOKE appointed civil and military governor of Cuba.
GEN. FITZHUGH LEE appointed military governor
of Havana.
AGUINALDO'S REPRESENTATIVES file a protest against
the peace treaty.
THEODORE ROOSEVELT made governor of New York,January 2.
TREATY OF PEACE with Spain sent to the Senate,January 4.
NATIVE GOVERNORS OF LUZON meet at Malolos and
declare for Philippine independence,-January 6.
PEACE TREATY FAVORABLY REPORTED to United
States Senate from Foreign Relations Committee,January 11.




454               CUBA LIBRE.
AGUINALDO SENDS A THIRD REQUEST for recognition
of the Filipino republic,-January 24.
THE AMERICAN TROOPS at Manila attacked by Filipinos; latter repulsed,-February 4.
SENATE RATIFIES TREATY OF PEACE with Spain by a
vote of 57 to 27,-February 6.
AMERICAN POST-OFFICE established at Havana,-February 8.
PRESIDENT AND SECRETARY OF STATE SIGN peace
treaty,-February 10.
GENERAL WHEATON BEGINS AN ADVANCE upon the
natives at Manila,-March 13.
GENERAL WHEATON GAINS AN IMPORTANT VICTORY
'near Manila, takes 400 prisoners,-March 15.
QUEEN REGENT OF SPAIN SIGNS the treaty of peace
with the United States,-March 17.








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