Evening star., 1898-07-16

4 lost all se1nblance or order during the nlgnt.
| so we halted and in little while the strag
glers had all come up, every one had found
| his place and we were marching on as
| gaily as ever. These troops don't get tired,
and that is a great advantage. so We are
fresh as ever. The weather has been de-
| hghtful-warm. of course, but dry and clear
and calm. The sea has been smooth, and in
fact ii has been real yachting trip. 1t is
! hard to imagine the consequences of rough
weather in these crowded transports, and :t
would destroy the morale of the men.
Seasickness will knock the spirit out of
the most ardent patriot who ever marched
on a ship.
The Detroit called us over TO talk with
nef inns morning and told us that Captain
| Iaylor had assigned us to scout duty on
| the right flank. AS went through the
| meet we We're cheered by some troops-our
Old friends of the LIST Infantry and Gussie
memory, | guess. We have been steaminC
along about a mile from the fleet all day
ana nave very good view of It. We are
averaging about eight knots
"All the afternoon we have been in sight
OF the high hills about Point Sama and by
tomorrow morning in the first watch we
should be rear Cape Maysi. The land is
hlgn and quite near enough to be seen II
any one is there l can imagine the excite
nent in some small Spanish fort when they
See the sky for miles all black with smoke
ana oescry our scouts creeping along the
coast, everybody talking and chattering all
at once, gesticulating like a threshing ma
cnine and too excited, even, to smoke
June l9-I came on deck in time to see
tne hght mouse on Great 1nagua Island.
ana dark line along the horizon which we
kreW to be the land. Then we stopped and
reformed with the Manning at the head
OF the right column in place of the Helena
and then went column right and headed
away to the southwark for Cape Maysi
All the transports with us now, ana
tomorrow we hope to see them safely in
the harbor of Guantanamo. All our ice
| has departed our butter is only detained
by receDtacleS with sides M
are becoming tired of war again.
nevertheless If the war should end now
L should feel that 1 have been fortunate
to have seen what / have and should re-
member this fleet as enc of the things
that don't enter into every life. There are
about fifty vessels in all. and their ordered
mass is certainly imposing.
Land Ho."
June 2o-About noon yesterday we sight
ed the eastern point of Cuba and before
dark were rounding Cape Maysi. This
morning we have been running in close to
the shore near enough to see the noun
tains quite clearly. We passed Guanta-
namo at 0 O'Clock and are evidently head
ing for Santiago. Two small vessels from
SIMPSONS fleet have already Joined
We arrived off Santiago before noon, and
stopped about fifteen miles off shore in
plain view of the entrance, Morro Castle
and the blockading fleet inshore. About
supper time we got under way and steamed
out from the land for the night. The gen.
eral had long conference with Admiral
Sampson today, and We expect some action
to take place tomorrow.
June 21-We have lain off Santiago all
day. When we ran out last night | thought
We were going somewhere, put We turned
up this morning right IN front of Morro.
The blocFading fleet is lying close inshore,
while about six miles OUT are the trans
ports and the convoy fleet. The Indiana
signaled for US to come and lie near her,
end in the first dog watch she gave US
some dispatches to deliver and the plan of
tCmorrow'S operations. | went in The boat
twice, once to the Hornet and once to the
Detroit. There was a long. heavy swell,
and we were rolling frightfully. 1t was fun
in the boat, something like Il roller coaster,
but very difficult and rather dangerous
when it came to hosting her out.
when the ship rolls away you swing in
ike a pendulum against her side, and l
hardly know how we kept her from smash
ing. Once she swung under the stream
fl en- the crcula tor and gave US a ducking.
Then We went around and notified the
transports. We were still at ii after dark,
and the troops chesred us every lime when
they heard the orders 70 land. Our buglcr
would start up Yankee Doodle or When
Johnny Comes Marching Home and every
man on the transports would hurrah and
wave his nat. Shut them up another week
and they would march to Moscow. The
main body was to go about fifteen miles
east of Santiago and land at daybreak
while we, with ten transports, were TO
make q lent dl ltlle just NtSI Ol
the town.
Held in Waiting.
June 22-Wen, we finally got away with
three transports, and when I went on deck
at am. we were lying off the designated
place with them. We saw another trans
port close in shore and ran in to her. She
had a steam lighter in tow and said they
were going to land the stores on II, just
around point near by. As they seemed to
} 1n4+
and started back. Just around the point
was little inlet, and at the bend of the
stream 1 could see body of men waiting
under some big palm trees. 1t was my
first sight of them Cubians.' We ran
close in shore toward town, and found the
Texas lying west of the entrance. She was
cleared for battle and signaled us to keep
clear of her. But we came up and told
the officers we were directed to join her.
They didn't know anything about it, and
told US to stay where We were, and here
we have remained, and are still this even
ing Just as we stopped her drums and
bugles called to quarters and she stood in
toward shore, turned when very close in,
and steamed along toward the entrance. 1t
all like a picture 1t was hard to
realize that it was real war.
Tongue of White Smoke.
ION a round, green hill, just west of the
entrance, was a long bank of brown earth,
and as we looked tongue of white smoke
SlOt out from II, ara lnen rose IN great
clouds and drifted out to sea. A momen;
after the shell struck and column of wa
ter shot up straight a fountain for 100
feet and then famed cut into mist and
fell slowly back like a small geyser. hang
ing still in the air when the muffled report
had reached The shells fell at 1lrst far
astern Of the Texas, and then still farther
in front, but never striking a happy mean.
Some must have dropped half or three
quarters of a mile ahead of her.
1T wasn't all white smoke however, that |
drifted over the brown hill for in lttla
while the battle ship began to find the
range, very delibera tely, with her small
guns, and puffs of blush smoke shot out
from her dark mass enG then suddenly
she was enveloped and hidden by clouds of
white smoke, ard great puffs of brown
rose up alongside the hillside where the |
shell had struck. She used all her bat |
terry. and seemed to hit the marks nearly |
every time, while the dons continued to |
make their pretty fountains. Two other |
shore batteries took hand in the trouble, |
but the three other battle ships and the big |
cruisers looked on as idly as we and let |
the Texas continue her argument by her |
self. They kept 1t up for more than IN |
fOur and Thpn tha TeyaS dreu off