The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-04-02
1.-THE ROUGH RIDERSAT SEA-"
The story Told i'm Graphic Phrase by
an Ex-Rough Rider.

D
at Port Tampa. They had come down from
| Tampa, nine miles. in open coal cars, which
we thought was the very lowest we would
| get in the matter of transportation. When
| we left Albuquerque, n. NJ, we went up
! TO Santa Fe in Pullman palace cars. From
| Santa Fe TO San Antonio, Tex. we were
| quite content with tourist sleepers; from
San Antonio TO Tampa II seemed very nat
! ural and appropriate for us to travel in
| common day coaches, and then it wasn't
much of a drop from rlckety dirty day
coaches to coal cars. But We were not at
the bottom of the scale yet.
| We marched out on the wharf and up an
| inclined plane, which was almost vertical,
| through the side door of a good-sized iron
steamer, the Yucatan No. s. Inside. be-
| tween decks, we found tier after tier of
hunks built up three high, with room be-
tween for a medium-sized man to squeeze
| into. Then. if he wasn't too long, he could
stretch out at full length. Colonel Wood
stood at the top of the inclined plane, quiet,
| courteous and kindly as ever, and told us
to get into the hunks two in each, until
We were all slowed away. AS we lay there
| in those narrow, grave-like hunks We be-
gan to realize the depths to which we had
| sunk. Most of us had been accustomed to
| the wide prairies, and to thus be shut up
| in such close, foul-smelling space was
| Horrible. We prayed that the expedition
would make an early start and a quick pas
| sage
| We lay In the harbor day after day, the
vessels describing circles about their an
chors each day and upsetting our ideas OF
| direction. Some of the boys had secured
fish lines and caught queer looking speci-
| mems of saltwater fish. Then we bathed
| rr
| basement, were but few feet above the
| water, and the men dived into the brine
J from here, until, as they gradually grew
more venturesome, they assembled deck after
deck, until they plunging from the
spar deck twenty odd feet above water
! The first porpoises we saw came somer-
saulting in ore day, and some of the bath
ers thought they were sharks and began
| to paddle franticaly towards home. A
! panic ensued, and some records i'm short
| distance swimming were broken then and
| there.
The cooks galley was the center of in
| terest for the enlisted men. Hungry men
| hung about all day long trying to make
friends with n fat sea cook, who sometimes
| very condescendingly sold a cup of soup
or n piece of bread for y or 80 cents One
happy day l was successful i'm completing
a transaction which involved the transfer of
"A pan of tapioca pudding for and in con-
sideration of 81. The party of the second
part consisted of four hungry soldiers, and
the pudding produced delightfully."- sweet
! taste i'm our four mouths which fingered
with us until driven out and annihilated
by Armour & Co.'S prime roast beef. The
pudding appeared to he about three inches
| thick, but, Investigation. it shown
| n m thickness.
inches of thin dressing on it. l spoke 10
the cook about the deceitful appearance of
it, and after casting a glance about the
| galley, he said. Come in here and unbut-
| ton your shirt leading the way into a
| dark little pantry. | began 10 fear he was
| meditating the&nsertiOn of a knife into me
| and wondered why he was unwilling TO put
| his knife through my blue shirt as wei,
! but followed him into the dark. where my
| eyes fell on row of crisp. brown pies. lie
! picked up one and, motioninS me nearer,
| ne slipped il into my bosom. / retreated 10
| my bunk, where mad a long battle Win
| the devil, but was finally victorious, and
| summoned my three confederates and d.
There was a little swinging table on our
| deck whore the seamen ate, and we soldiers
swarmed about at meal times like bees
around a cider mill. gazing at such luxuries
| as boiled fresh beef, vegetables. soft bread.
butter. sugar, and even pudding. | know
| precisely how q dog feels at n picnic when
he sits in the background watching. watch
| ing, studying faces TO see If a mute appeal
| Will avail, and calculating on the pfODlble
| capacity of each diner. The sailors were
| careful not to catch our gaze direct but
| sometimes one of them. nohe-hearted fell
| low. would slip piece of beef or potato
| behind him where IL would he snapped up
and devoured. Then after they had finished
a rush was made on the table, the mess
boy ignored, and everything edible seized
on. even salt and pepper.
There was d little room on our deck
| where the petty officers ate their meals and
| a crowd hung about here also. waiting for
| the leavings, which were sold to us at y
cents a ration. consisting of lineup of
! stew, or a bread and meat sandwich Some
times one could buy a whole loaf OF bread
| for % cents. We vacillated between the
! seamen's mess and he petty officers dining
| room during the course of the meal If the
| men at one table showed much appetite we
drifted TO the other table, sometimes miss
! ing the rush at the finish and having TO
| fall back on bareback and prime roast beef.
Every morning discovered new war
| vessels at anchor in the harbor and one
! afternoon the order was wlg-wagged from
| one ship to another 10 hoist anchor. We
had dynamite gun or our spar deck ana
the ammunition for ii was piled up In the
bow of the ship. We started down the bay
and were gliding smoothly along when an
other vessel attempted to cross our course.
| When she saw she couldn't make II she
| reversed her screw. but the tide swept her
| on and our ship bore down on her, a col
| lsion seeming unavoidable. White faces
| were plentiful. especially on our boat, be
| cause we knew of that dynamite in the
! bow. Closer and closer We swept towards
the Other boat both screws sT,u reversed and md
| sterns. Bundles OF poles and sacks OF
| sponge were thrown over to bend off and
| anchors were dropped with deafening clat-
ter our bow grazed the stern of the other
| vessel. The sacks and bundles of poles
were crushed and rolled along between us
| while were not more than few inches
| apart A sigh OF relief arose as We drew
| apart again. and the dynamite was re-
| moved. Next morning we steamed out OF
| the harbor and down the gulf, the fleet
stretching ahead of US like city on
! prairie. There were rumors afioat that
! there were Spanish war vessels waiting for
/ US outside, but when We saw our own In
| diana and other men-of-war looming out of
| the water like factories at the edge of town
we thought not of danger. Some of the
| gunboats had little torpedo boats In tow
like hunters with dogs. One of our trans
| ports had large schooner in tow which
| caused her TO lag behind. Our vessel was
| ordered to drop back and stay alongside
/ her. and during the night the remainder of
| the fleet steamed ahead and when morning
dawned we were alone on the ocean. not
sail 10 he seen, nothing but shining blue
| water as far as the eye could reach. About
breakfast time the lookout sung out.
steamer on the port BEAM, and every eve
| turned 10 the north. where faint cloud OF
smoke hung on the horizon 1t excited
| much interest coming from this direction
| when the feet was ahead. TO the east and
when some one suggested that II was
/ Spaniard the rumor quickly spread over the
| ship that IL was Spaniard. The curtain
/ of smoke grew denser and denser as she
bore down us. and when breakfast
announced no one had much appetite Every
f~lacS on hoard yra 1aveled n her hut she