The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1898-07-27

!
Headquarters were set in a thickc
OF tropical trees and vines fanked b,
groves OF fan palms and palmet.oes
The ground was low and soggy ant
little air penetrated the nook. wa.
too exhausted to eat and there wa.
nothing but more-and far worse
brackish green water to drink. Th,
Cubans are horribly abstemious in the
matter of liquor. Give me comradt
with a flask at time like that
My hammock was swung between
two fan palms, and now, three days
after, am sitting on my saddle in
the same place, ready for cventualities
as the Spaniards are expected to attack
us to-day.
had had for week the PRESENT..
ment that something big was going tc
happen on the 4th of July. And ii
did.
We had heard from the Cuban pilot
at Tunas that Gen. Jose Miguel Go
mez was located about 20 miles from
that port, but we did not have an idea
where Maxine Gomez was, although
at last advices he was somewhere in
this region. On the evening of our
arrival here the pickets brought il a
wild man of the woods, shaggy and
wrinkled, mounted on a diminutive
mule. He reported that he and two
other Cubans wer in cha ge of @
potrero or cattle ranch maintained by
the insurgents about 12 miles north
and gave some hint of the location of
the Cuban forces. Messengers were
instantly dispatched to apprise them
OF our presence and summon them to
protect the landing.
Next morning 1 had been on duty
inspecting outposts, and had just re-
turned from tramp of several miles.
through the mud, when at a little after
Z o clock the trumpet sounded and the
several divisions Of the little landing
force of Cubans were assembled to
receive Gen. Gomez,' who had
reached an outpost. Which Gen. Go
mez? The general of division or the
general in chief? Few of us expected
the latter.
Both Gen. Nunez and Gen. Rodri-
quez were absent at the playa (beach,
by courtesy directing the landing of
supplies. which was conducted by
Uncle Sam 8 buffalo soldiers, the Gu
bans acting as packers across the
swamp to the camp. It therefore de-
volved on Gen. Nunez staff to receive
the visitor.
The sweet but small notes of a sill
yer cornet sounded up the road by the
side of which we were assembled, and
troop Of horsemen advanced toward
us on brisk trot. A dozen officers
in brown linen uniforms rode first, and
then came figure in black, tall-for
Cuban-erect, spare and sinewy,
head proudly up, the whole being one
of authority and command. The
almost oblique eyes, the long, beaked
nose, the lean, brown jaw, the white
moustache and goatee, the general
Tartar-like aspect that had given him
among his soldiers the nickname of
GEL Chino bespoke the presence not
of Gomez the lesser but Of Gomez the
greater-the veritable Maximo him
self!
What thrill went through the as
sembly.! Here was success at last
Here was the man we came to meet,
and the man whose presence was
worth thousands of men and meant
the full fruition of nur hopes
Responding to our salute Gen. Co.
mez passed on to the shore, there to
meet the generals. He had come,
with his escort, forty miles that night,
riding without stops to meet the expo
dition. The honor of finding him and
bringing him to us belongs to South
erner, big young fellow named Fred
O..Somerford, Floridian who had
lived seven years in Cuba, and had as
a newspaper correspondent and as a
fighter as we'll, operated for two years
in the western part of Cuba. Somer-
ford, not now newspaper man, set
out with guide soon after our camp
was located here, volunteering to find
Gomez. His guide, who had the pro-
visions, deserted him before he had
gone far. Somerford plodded afoot
through she heavy mud to the Cuban
potreFo, got poor horse there and
went on. It was9 o'clock at night
when he found Maxine Gomez, in a
neighborhood known as La Majagua.
His men had been without solid food