Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1898-07-27

| full to have its rather narrow expanse so
| exposed to the breeze as to present more
| surface to the enemys line of sight. I do
| not mention this, however, for fear of los
| ing favor in the estimation of Cafferty.
| who is splendid raconteur. and as we
| jolt along merrily toward the Spanish line
! he tells me of the scrap the 33d Michi-
gan had all along this road on July /. He
was in charge of the train on that occa-
sion, too and when the boys debarked and
| got we'll into the fight he and DIR. Turn
| bull did most of the work for the wound
ed. He points out we spin along where
| shell struck the head of the column of
our troops, killing the first set of tours
outright and wounding two three in
the next rank. Here Cafferty interjects
deprecatory aside to the effect that he
| regards 1t as very irregular-like to march
| troops up in columns Of fours against a
| battery supported all ides by am
| pushed sharpshooters. This was not the
way things were managed wnen Cafferty
was fighting Indians On the plains, but to
| be sure these men are only volunteers and
| too much should not he expected of them
| But the old veteran has nothing but words
OF praise for the pluck and gallantry of
| these new hands. AL they need is a little
more time and experience to be UP to CAT
| ferty's ideal.
| Scenes ON the Way.
Our road takes US through a picturesque
jungle, the dense. brilliant foliage some
times reaching out across the track on
either side and causing us to duck" in
passing. In places we see great beds Of
wild honeysuckle and a vine which looks
/ xt,>io
plumage fly up as our train goes thunder
ing by, and along the track in front of us
we see myriads of land crabs tumbling over
each other in their haste to get out of the
| way. These crabs present the greatest
| variety and combinations of brilliant colors;
indeed, all the colors of the rainbow seemed
to be represented in severalty and in COM
binations in their coloring. They remind
| one of the shades of color one sees In the
| natives here.
We pass numerous bands Of Cubans on
| our way to the front, armed with every
variety Of weapon, from a machete to a
Mauser rife, and clothed in every variety
| of dress, from a simple breech clout to a
| full suit of linen crash, with Soudanese hat
| They remind one of Falstaff's army or
more, perhaps, of that Partisan mob which
Carlyle describes under the caption Of
| 'Sans-culottism" in his French Revolu-
| ton" They are polite, deferential and
hungry. When We stop at one Of their
urgent signals the leader of tattered bat
TALON tells Capt. Lord they had been with
out food for three days 1t appears some
| body had sent them out to the front to do
| outpost duty and then forgotten all about
them.
We re-embark and are off again for the
| Spanish outpost. Matters now begin to get
! interesting. We are at last within the
| Spanish lines. 1t is a toss-up that some
Of the overZealous guerrillas may take a
| crack at US just for fun, as they have no
very high regard for the white flag when
| our side is carrying it. Then there is that
frowning fort just ahead and old Caffertv
is SO careless with his flag of truce that
they may fail to see it. 1t is true that off
| to our left in the offing rides squadron of
our watchful warships, the New York ly-
ing closest in shore, and a shot at us would
| probably bring on a general bombardment
Little use to us, however, if the Spanish
shot We're as we'll aimedsas the one at the
poor fellows of the 33d Michigan some time
back
Pretty soon we reach the east end of
Aguadores bridge. Our train stops and we
debark to walk the balance of the way All
around the crest of the hill are the Spanish
! rifle pits, and over here to our left is the
post commandments headquarters, from
which the Spanish flag floats. Colonel Burr
takes the lead for this point, cool, seIf-pos-
sessed and intent on his mission. Soon we
see scurrying around among the Span
| iards, among whom we can distinguish the
officers by their clean white uniforms
Then a white flag or handkerchief futters
from the trench and we know ours has
been seen and recognized.
The meeting between the officers is
formal-almost cordial. Colonel Burr ex-
plains his mission The commandante hears
the news of the capitulation for the first
time. He shrugs his shoulders with a suaye
questioning smile, which may mean we'll
bred incredulity or may be cover for dis
stimulation. Quien sabe?
He makes a great show of trying to tel
ephone I'D to MORO, about a mile distant,
to find out about this thing. The telephone
won't work. How can a well-bred Spanish
telephone be expected to exert itself at this
unreasonable hour when SieStaS are the
proper thing?
Senior ell Commandante then explains that
being ignorant of the capitulation and be-
ing unable to communicate with his su-
perior officer he must, with great regret,
decline the responsibility of allowing the
American gentlemen to make an eXamina-
ton of the bridge. He thinks perhaps by
tomorrow, or, with another shrug, the day
after tomorrow, or with a more expressive
shrug yeti, some tomorrow, he would no
doubt be fully advised as to the exact con-
dition, when he would be most pleased to
give the American gentlemen the informa-
ton they desired. Meanwhile would they
not do him the honor to partake of a glass
of his aguardiente and smoke one of his
cigars The aguardiente is young and
thumps around in ones stomach like it
wore brass knuckles; the cigars are fine.
While smoking the commandante and his
officers talk of the recent bombardment
They compliment the skill of our gunners,
but declare they did no execution with
their shells.
After renewed expressions of distinguish
ed regard and mutual hopes of future good
health to each other our party starts back
for the train and Siboney, much impressed