Walker Lake bulletin. (Hawthorne, Nev.) 1883-1926, 1896-10-28
SKATERS : RAID.

1t was a cosmopolitan group that sat
around the campfires of Slater's Horse.
The troop numbered twenty men all
told, drawn from every one of the An
glo-Saxon races of the planet. There
were Americans, Englishmen. Cana
dians, Australians, and South Afri-
cans, and they had come from the ends
of the earth to take part in such row
as promised to follow when Cuba Lib
ra set up her flag against that of Spain.
Their leader was a Virginian, there
was not Cuban or a Spaniard in the
company, and the name of Skaters
Troop was a name of terror to the
government forces from Pinar del Rio
to Sagua Ia Grande.
To see them thus encamped no one
would have supposed that they were
engaged in one of the most daring raids
that had been adventured since the
war opened in '95. The otficers-there
were but two-sat democratically on
the ground among their men; there was
tinkling of banjos, and mingled
sound of confused talking and of jovial,
free-handed profanity. The shadows
of the men loomed big on the back
the red fire light flashed fitfully from
time to time, and now the form of a
tethered horse, and now the figure of a
sentry leaning against smooth coated
palm.
1t was no small affair that these men
were engaged in-nothing less, in fact,
than q raid on the "trocha" itself. 1t
Is not the policy of the Cuban leaders
to risk pitched battle, so to arouse
the enthusiasm of the men, and at the
such expeditions are undertaken from
time to time.
They have encamped some fifty miles
from the Spanish lines and the attack
was fixed for the next night. A dash
across the country, a stealthY advance
on the fertilization, another dash, sa-
bre and revolver, and triumphal re
treat-this was the program that Sla-
ter's Horse proposed to itself.
Next morning they rode up and down
the rolling hills in the early dawn for
two hours, and then rested for the
heat of the day in a cool and very Sc
cluded grove, where they would be
screened from any wandering gueril-
las. Late at night they saddled again
and rode cautiously forward till they
the trocha itself They could see the
watchfires on the further side of the
great redoubt, shining between the
strands of the barbed wire fence
stretched along the brink.
Between them and the trocha lay a
dangerous obstacle, an ingenious de-
fense, composed of number of wires
drawn six inches apart and a foot above
the ground. This formed a network
over which it was impossible to ride,
and as its width was uncertain, was
dangerous to leap. Slater knew of ts..s
impediment, however, and had made
is accordingly. Half a dozen
mounted in silence, and taking
)air of nippers from his saddle
ept forward into the darkness
of the troop sat silently on
* hardening to the sounds and
'om the Spanish camp, and to
lsional clicking noise right
here their comrades were cut
hostile wires.
H M course of half an hour the
le back, and In whispers re-
HeH le way clear The wires had
and dragged aside, so as to
pad of sufficient width for the
IF the troop, even In the hur-
aat which must follow The
rty than dismounted and led
- stealthily forward, till al
Ne very brink of the trocha.
Iards on the other side were
slole, while they themselves
len in deep shadows, and the
nbled into the ditch and up
side.
ly was all this done that the
formance passed unobserved
sprang upon the parapet and
shlng at the wires with his
Then there was shout
from the nearest Spaniard,
~ miscellaneous rattle of
ig the lines. The troops
)ut, and saw a string of men
lriously at the wires with
-, nauu and plying a revolver with
the other. In the dim freight their
numbers could not be ascertained.
At this amazing spectacle the soldiers
Gred a volley-that is, discharged their
rifles in the general direction of the
foe. When the smoke blew off, this
speration seemed to have produced no
effect on the invaders, who had now
cut and torn the strands apart and
were actually within the inclosure.
ihey bore down in the line on the Span
iartis, revolver IN one hand, blade in
the other. No soldier were
they, but men whose lives had often
anA eften hung upon pistol shot. and