The San Francisco call., 1898-07-10

alone. Your most intimate converSa- tlon was overheard by every one, whether he wished to or not; the at- taches could not compare notes on our dehc1encies without being betrayed, nor could the staff discuss it's plan of cam palgn without giving it to the whole ship. Seven different languages were m course of constant circulation, and the grievances of the servants and the padlnage of the colored cooks mingled Wlth the latest remarks on the war. AL night you picked your way over prostrate forms of soldiers and of over- worked stewards, who toiled eighteen hours day in a temperature of 1O2 de- grees. Four of the correspondents, who were congratulating themselves on haVlng obtaino l outside cabins, found out too late that they were situated over the boiler, which would have been most desirable on an Arctic expedition, put Whlcn, as our cruise was in sum- iiler seas, dfoVe us to sleep on the deck, where Frederic Pennington kicked me on the head all night, and two soldiers used my legs for pillows, and Stephen Bonsal of McClures Magazine and Saspar whitney of the Century Maga- zine walked on my chest.
 The water on board the shin was so pad that 1t could not be used to shave With, IL smelled like a frog pond or a Sedple yard and it tasted that way. 6eIore we started from Tampa Bay the ilrst tune 1t was examined by the doc .ois' Who declared that in spite of the pau smell and taste it was not un- neaIthy' put Colonel J. J. Astor offered 1, tU pay TOT 1resh water, for which MT. Flant charges 2 cents a gallon if tbev would empty all of the bad smelIine water overheard. General Shafter said |. Was good enough for him and Colonel Astol very considerate offer was not accepted. So we all drank anollinaris water and tea. The soldiers. howeva,. nao to drink the water furnished tben, except those who were able to nav SeHls siass to the ships porter. who ,i'bit t,ftG a pIlVate supply of good water Wnlch he made into Lemonade Tha shlps crew and engineers used this water. u9eu thls
 The pad smelling water cara fro,, Ne" 1oTK, and was put on hoard hv belongs. 'iie 0eSuranca Delore handing the ship over to +be government the company removed .a aII o,,t wine stock and table linen. took era,,t, ue t"o or her dining tables and gen erdliy stripped her, and then sar+ L- south undermanned Her Svnt Sta, neI nIleo ana borrowed and bought iira, ana servants and table waters at Tare. Pa' put there was so little linen tba+ t+ was seldom changed, and had if ndt lt @ @peen tnat the servants of the officars were wiling to help wait at table tbere WouIu nave been four stewards to look aIter the wants of fifty or siytv nos oA sengers The food supplied hv tbjs pas f;a.o as nave previously stated was vii ldinouS. The enlisted men forward were much better served by the Governn,a,t WHh sood beans, corned beef and cof Tee. Apparently no contract or a erea enent as to quality or quaLtity of food Tor the officers had been made bv tho government with the Ward Line
 me squadron at night with the lights sl,on iils rom every part of the horizon hn.' one thlnk he was entering a har-s pof' UT leaving one. But by dav I,,a seemed adrift on sea as nntraye1aS as :I IL was When Columbus first crossed II. on the third day out we saw po mano Key. It was the first siob+ oe iahd, and after that from time to tima we maoe out line of blue mountains on the starboard side. But up to tbe present we nave not been near enough 10 the shore for the men to clearly dis tlngulsh the land they have waited co long to see. The squadron, though has apparently been sighted from the shore TOT the Lighthouses along the coast ara uaIk at night, which would seem to snow that the lesson of the armada has not been lost on the Spaniard.
 Some one has said that God ta1ses care of drunken men, sailors and the oniled states. This expedition ap- parently relied on the probability that that axiom would prove true. "The luck of the British army" of vbinb MT. k1pling boasts, is the luck of Joh In comparison to the good fortune tbat mas pursued this expedition so far mere has really been nothing to prevent spanish torpedo-boat from runnino out and sinking four or five ships wbiIe they were drifting along, spread ont over the sea at such distance that the vessels in the rear were lost to siebt for fourteen hours at a time and no one knew whether they had sunk ar had been blown up or had grown dis gusted and gone back home. As one or the generals on board said. "This is God Almighty's war, and we are only His agents"
 The foreign attaches regarded the iair weather that accompanied us. the brutal good health of the men. the small loss, of horses and mules an5 the entire freedom from interference or the part of the enemy with the sama grudging envy that one watches a sue cessful beginner winning continuous " at roulette. At night the fleet was
 
 as conspicuous as Brooklyn or New York, with the lights of the bridge in cluded, but the Spanish took no ad vantage or that fact; no torpedo de- stroyers slipped out from Cardenas or NeuVltas, or waited for us in the old Bahama Channel where for twelve miles the ships were crowded into a channel only seven miles across. Of course, our own escort would have finished them if they had, but not be- fore they could have thrown torpedoes right and left into the helpless hulks or the transports and given us a loss to remember even greater than that of the Maine.
 But, as 1t was, nothing happened. We rolled along at our own pace, with the lights the navy had told us to extin- gulsh blazing defiantly to the stars, with bands banging out ragtime mu- sic, and with the foremost vessels sep arated sometimes for half a day at a time from the laggards in the rear. It has been most happy-go-lucky expedition, run with real American op- timism and readiness to take big chances; with the spirit of a people who recklessly trust that it will come out all right in the end, and that the barely possible may not happen, that