Little Falls herald. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1889-1950, 1898-07-29

Of them has been hit. Occasionally
soldier on watch fires back at the dis
tant flash and for moment you have
peace. Past another ford you keep on
your way, leaving behind you the hill
Of Ell Pozo, where Captain Grimes field
guns opened the action in the morning.
As you go on the road grows worse and
more weird. Up hill and down again it
runs, with mud foot deep in places.
The feet of the wounded wayfarers sink
into the mire until some of them are
helpless. They are grateful when you
help them, and you push on.
1t is more lonely now. There is no
one within sight or sound either ahead
or behind, and the road is once more
open. You look across the nearby stub
BILE at the woods beyond, and you won
der if here, too. there are Spanish sharp
shooters waiting and watching. You
hurry, and on either side through the
palms there comes a cracking as of
branches being trodden underfoot.
Your blood grows cold, and then you
smile to yourself in a sickly sort of way
as you realize that the land crabs are
running from you. They are plainly to
be seen in the road now, big fellows,
blue and black and red and yellow.
They hurl themselves hurriedly from
danger in their peculiar awkward way,
and you hate them, for you know that
were you dead on that spot within all
hour these vermin would have picked
your skull as clean as vultures.
The never ending road still winds on
through the wood with the wounded
once more dotting it, Three of them are
sitting on a bowlder. Two of them have
been shot in the arm, the other both in
the shoulder and the thigh. He is weak
ening fast and the others are trying to
cheer him up.
'It amt the pain,'' he says, "it's
the loss Of blood that's killing me. How
far is it now? Have we come to the hill
where the rough riders fought?''
"Not yet answers one Of the SOL
diers, ''but it is very near"
"Well, I'll get that far, anyway" is
the mans response, and he struggles to
his tired feet.
In the distance there can be heard the
jingle of bell It comes closer and
closer, and soun around bend appears
the head Of a mule train carrying am
munition to the front. They will need
it on the morrow. Behind come lumber
ing a half dozen wagons, carrying sup
plies, each with eight powerful mules
hauling it through the miry road. The
drivers curse and crack their whips. The
mules struggle into a gallop and plunge
down hill. Soon the tinkle Of the pack
train bell and then the thunder of the
wagon wheels are lost. 1t is as peaceful
as though war did not exist. The land
crabs flee in their fiendish way from be-
fore your feet and with half an hour of
steady marching you stand on the rough
riders hill. TO the right, just on the
crown overlooking the valley to the
south, are seven wooden slabs stuck into
the earth side by side to mark where
fell the first heroes in the campaign
against Santiago. A wounded man is
lying near the graves. He lifts his head
at the approaching sounds
''Played OUT he says laconically.
"Shot in the shoulder. Finish the trip
tomorrow.
No complaint, no regret, just grit.
From this hill the road leads down
into thicket through which the sun
never shines. The moon is drowned. It
is as black as a cavern. Rocks, loose
and jagged, fill the roadway and render
the footing unsafe. Branches reach out
from the brush and whip your face. It
is uncanny. Strange insects are singing
here and there, and far off you hear the
call of the cuckoo which so often be-
tokens the presence of Spaniards lying
in wait for the invaders. Then there
comes the answering cry still farther
on, and you wonder what is going to-
happen to you. Your imagination
grows vivid. Dark figures appear down
the road. They look like men crouch
ing. A dash of moonlight through a
rift in the overhanging clouds of trop-
ical foliage falls on the dewy blade of a
palm and changes it into the cleaning
bayonet of Spanish soldier. The scenes
of the bloody day just done have been
DULL cso uAoVI Liz u01V0o, oAu "A140 yOu
chide yourself for your foolish fancies
you hurry along, hurry along, hoping
for the end.
And by and by it comes. You have
reached the level sandy stretch behind
the ridge on which sits Siboney, and
rounding the end through the ravine
which cuts down to the sea you have
before you the tents and campfires of
the soldiers at the base and the cottages
of the Cubans It has not been pleas.
ant journey, but you have seen one Of
the phases of warfare, and that is much.
A Resolution of the American People.
The American people have resolved
that henceforth Spanish oppression shall
be confined to Spaniards, and nothing