CHAPTER NINETEEN.
TRAPPED!
Never for a moment did they suspect the existence of the little body ofmen concealed among the ferns and undergrowth and boulders, some sixtyfeet up the precipitous side of the hill round the base of which theywere winding, until, before the quickest of them could pull trigger,there rang out above them an irregular volley, aimed with such deadlyprecision that every man of them went down before it, and were therefound, blocking the path, when their comrades arrived upon the scene aminute or two later. As these in turn swung round the bend and cameupon the prostrate forms, they naturally halted and proceeded to examinethe bodies, with the view of separating the living from the dead; withthe result that there was almost instantly a crowd of about a hundredSpanish soldiers bunched together in the narrow path, some of themperforming ambulance work, but the majority simply waiting for anopportunity to pass. This was altogether too good a chance to beneglected; and, waiting only until the jostling crowd in the pathway wasat its thickest, Jack raised a whistle to his lips and blew a single,shrill note.
The call was instantly answered by a crashing volley from the concealednegroes, which took such murderous effect upon the crowd below thatscarcely a dozen men were left upon their feet; and those who wereuntouched were so utterly demoralised that they incontinently turnedtail and retreated upon the main body, shouting: "Back! back! There isan ambuscade round the bend of the road; and we shall be slaughtered toa man if we go forward!" Whereupon the Spanish officer in charge of thepursuit--who was prudently remaining with the main body, instead ofpushing forward with the vanguard--at once halted his men, and proceededto enquire what all the confusion was about. The truth was that,finding himself on strange ground, following a narrow, winding, bushpath, with a deepening ravine on his right, and a precipitously steephillside on his left, overgrown with ferns and scrub thick enough togive perfect cover to an unlimited number of men; and with a furiousthunderstorm raging, which promised to speedily develop into somethingvery considerably worse than what it already was, he had no stomach forcontinuing the pursuit, and was only too glad of an excuse to call ahalt and allow the enemy to go upon his way without further molestation.On the other hand, Jack, having satisfied himself that he had at leastchecked the pursuit, gave the word to his men to move forward; and,taking a short cut over the spur of the hill, they soon found themselvesonce more in the path, and close upon the heels of their companions.
As Jack's party presently overtook what had originally been the rear-guard, Carlos dropped into the rear and joined his friend, and the twoyouths seized the opportunity to effect an exhaustive interchange ofnews, and to relate to each other the most stirring episodes in thedefence of their respective positions. The young Cuban explained themeans adopted by the Spaniards to force a passage across the river, andhow he had eventually been overpowered and forced to retire; and thenSingleton unfolded to Carlos his views upon the subject of how to dealwith the enemy, could the latter be induced to follow them to a certainspot up among the hills which Jack described and Carlos remembered.
This spot they were now rapidly approaching. It consisted of a nearlystraight defile, about half a mile in length, with a bend in its middlejust sufficient to shut out the view of one end of it from the other.This defile was simply a cleft in the stupendous mass of rock thatformed a great spur of the mountain on the left-hand side of the path,and was undoubtedly the result of some terrific natural convulsion ofprehistoric times, which had rent the living rock asunder, leaving avertical wall on either side, the indentations in the one wallaccurately corresponding to the projections on the other. At the lowerextremity--that is to say, the extremity which the fugitives were nowapproaching--access to the defile was gained by means of a sort ofportal, less than six feet wide, the space between the rock walls thencenarrowing gradually to about four feet, and thus forming a kind ofpassage about fifty feet long; beyond which the rock walls graduallyreceded from each other until, at the other extremity of it, the defilewas nearly a hundred feet wide. The walls were unscalable throughoutthe entire length of the defile, which abruptly ended in a rough andtorn rock face some two hundred feet in height. This rock face couldscarcely be described as unscalable, because it was so rough that,although practically vertical, the projections on it were so numerousand pronounced that an active man could climb it without muchdifficulty, if uninterfered with; but if the summit and flanks happenedto be held by even a small force of men armed with rifles, to climb itwould at once become an absolute impossibility. Outside the entrancethere was a small, open, grassy space, backed by dense scrub; and Jack'splan was that Carlos, with about fifty men, should enter the defile,pass through it to its upper extremity and scale the rock face there,holding it against the Spaniards, and thus checking their furtheradvance, while Jack, and the remainder of the negroes, with the twoMaxims, should secrete themselves in the scrub and remain in hidinguntil the entire Spanish force had passed into the defile, when theywould emerge and block the entrance with the two Maxims, thus bottlingup the Spaniards and compelling them to surrender--or be annihilated.
By the time that Singleton had completely unfolded his plans to Carlos,the vanguard of the fugitives had reached the entrance to the defile,where they halted, awaiting further instructions; whereupon Carlos ranforward and, picking his fifty men, led them through the portal, whileJack, taking command of the remainder, caused them to carefully drag andlift the two Maxims into concealment, obliterate all trace of thepassage of the guns into the scrub, and afterwards conceal themselvestherein--the Senora, Don Hermoso, and Senor Calderon remaining with theparty. They had scarcely hidden themselves, and removed all signs oftheir presence to Jack's satisfaction, when the storm which had beenthreatening for so long a time burst with terrific fury, the air beingcontinuously a-glimmer with the flickering and quivering of lightningflashes, while the very ground beneath their feet seemed to quake withthe deafening, soul-shaking crash of the thunder; and the rain, breakingloose at last, descended in such cataractal volumes that, even partiallysheltered as most of them were by the dense foliage of the scrub amidwhich they cowered, every soul of them was wet to the skin in less thana minute. And in the midst of it all, Jack, peering out from hishiding-place a few feet from the path, saw the wretched Spanish soldierygo splashing and squelching past, too wet, and altogether too utterlytired and miserable apparently, to take any notice of where they weregoing, and seemingly anxious only to press forward in the hope ofsomewhere finding shelter.
There were about six hundred of them; and by the time that they had allpassed into the defile the storm had nearly spent itself. The rain hadceased, the lightning flickered only occasionally, and then low downtoward the horizon; the thunder had dwindled to a low, hollow, muffledrumbling, and the clouds overhead had broken up and were drifting fastaway, revealing a nearly full moon sailing high overhead, in the strong,silvery light of which the saturated vegetation glittered.
As the last Spaniard disappeared within the portal, Singleton cautiouslyemerged from his hiding-place, and, forcing his way through the soddenherbage, peered round the angle of the rock, watching the movements ofthe retiring foe. He waited patiently until the rearmost files hadpenetrated a good hundred yards up the defile, and then he raised hishand, waving it as a signal for his men to come forth. The next instantthe place was alive with men. Fifty willing hands dragged forth theMaxims and planted them fair and square in the portal, pointing up theravine, the ammunition boxes were opened and bands of cartridges placedin position: rifles were loaded; and ere the last of the Spaniards hadpassed round the bend and out of sight every preparation to give them awarm reception upon their return was complete.
The watchers by the portal had not very long to wait. The enemy werenot out of sight much more than ten minutes when a solitary rifle shotcracked out at the head of the defile and came echoing down its rockysides; then another one; then three or four more; until at length abrisk fusillade was proceeding, accompanied by a good deal of confuseds
houting. This lasted for the best part of an hour, when there camefirst a lull in the firing, and then the sound of many approaching feet,following which a disorderly crowd of Spanish soldiers appeared doublingdown the defile, in full flight toward the entrance.
With the appearance of the first of them Jack sprang up on a boulder,and shouted to them to halt; but so eager were the Spaniards to escapefrom the punishment that had been inflicted upon them at the other endof the defile that it was not until one of the Maxims opened fire uponthem that they could be persuaded to stay their precipitate flight. Butthe sharp, thudding, hammer-like reports of the machine-gun, and thestream of lead that began to play upon them and thin their ranks, soonbrought them to a halt, when, flinging down their arms, they cried forquarter, which of course was at once given them. Then, Carlos' partyclosing in upon them from the rear, the Spaniards were carefullydisarmed, their ammunition taken away from them, and their weaponsdestroyed by being consumed in a huge bonfire, formed of dry woodcollected from the depths of the bush. And while this regrettable butnecessary act of destruction was in process of execution, Carlos andJack went among the prisoners, questioning them as to their number, whowas in command, upon what principle they were working, and so on.Unfortunately they were unable to extract very much information, for itappeared that every officer had perished, either in the attack upon theestate, or at the far end of the defile: while the soldiers seemedeither too stupid or too ill-informed to be able to give trustworthyreplies to any of the questions asked, except that General Weyler hadgone back to Havana, and that the operations in the province of Pinardel Rio were being conducted by Generals Bernal and Arolas, who, bystrict command of Weyler, were laying the entire country waste,destroying every building of whatsoever description, churches included,on the ground that they afforded possible places of refuge or shelterfor revolutionaries; mercilessly shooting down every man, woman, andchild found, on the plea that, not having obeyed General Weyler'sconcentration order, they were contumacious rebels: that, in short,where this host went they found smiling prosperity, and left behind thema blood-stained, fire-blackened waste. The troops were not acting inconcert, or as one body, but in independent detachments, to each ofwhich was allotted the duty of covering a strip of country of a certainwidth, which strip it was their task to ravage from end to end. Thedetachment to which the duty of destroying Don Hermoso's property hadfallen had consisted of some three thousand infantry, a troop ofcavalry, and a battery of field artillery; and according to the story ofthe prisoners it had suffered frightfully during the attack, the officerin command having wasted his men most recklessly in his determination toconquer at any cost--indeed, if they were to be believed, with theexception of about half a squadron of cavalry, a few artillerymen, andperhaps fifty men left behind to destroy the buildings, they were thesole survivors of the attack and the pursuit.
The question which now presented itself to Jack and Carlos was: Whatwere they to do with their prisoners, now that they had them?--for thatthey were a distinctly embarrassing possession was an indisputable fact.In the first place, the unfortunate wretches were by this timesuffering acutely from hunger and thirst, but their captors had neitherfood nor drink to give them; indeed, they had none wherewith to satisfytheir own pressing needs. Also, since all the buildings on the estatewere doubtless by this time utterly destroyed by fire, there was noplace in which to confine them; yet it would obviously be the height offolly to set them free while their comrades were still in theneighbourhood, for that would only mean that they would bring back thosecomrades to complete the work which they themselves had failed tofinish. At length, after a long and anxious consultation, it was agreedthat the only possible course was to pen the Spaniards inside thedefile, keeping them there by the wholesome dread inspired by thepresence of the two Maxims and a strong band of armed men holding theportal, under Carlos' command; that Jack, with a picked body of fiftyarmed negroes, should escort Don Hermoso and the Senora back to thehouse, in the hope that, somewhere among the ruins, at least a partialshelter might be found for the unhappy lady, who, drenched to the skin,was now threatened with a serious attack of fever; and that, after ashelter had been found for her, Jack and his men should reconnoitre thecamp of the enemy and endeavour to learn something of their immediateintentions.
This having been arranged, the prisoners were given to understand thatthey must make themselves as comfortable as they could where they were,for the present, and that any attempt on their part to break out wouldbe visited with immediate and rigorous punishment: after which Jack andhis party, accompanied by Don Hermoso and his wife, briskly stepped outon their way down the valley, along the road by which they had sorecently come, emerging, about an hour later, into the open space thathad been occupied by the warehouses. Some of these, as well as thewhole of the negro huts, were found to be nothing but a heap of blackand smouldering ruins; while others had been set on fire, but the flameshad obviously been extinguished by the pelting rain that had fallenduring the latter part of the recent thunderstorm. Those buildingswhich had happened to contain large quantities of combustible goods hadnaturally suffered most severely, and were now merely a collection ofroofless, smoke-blackened walls; while those which had been empty hadsuffered comparatively little damage--indeed, in one or two cases,practically none at all, except that the doors had been broken open andpartly wrenched off their hinges. One of these was at once utilised asa shelter for Don Hermoso's wife; and, while the negroes mounted guardround the building, the Don and Jack hurried away toward the house, toascertain its condition, and, so far as the former was concerned, toendeavour to find a change of clothing for the Senora.
At the first glimpse, the house, when they reached it, appeared to havesuffered very severely, for many of the windows were broken, and theonce immaculately white walls were streaked and blackened here and thereby fire and smoke: and when they entered the building, everything wasfound in a most shocking state of confusion; the furniture wasoverturned and much of it was broken, a great deal of it wasirretrievably damaged by fire, great holes had been burnt here and therein the flooring, cupboards and bureaus had been broken open and theircontents scattered, apparently in a search for money or valuables; manysmall articles of value were missing, pictures were slashed and torn,poor Dona Isolda's grand piano had but one leg left and was otherwise acomplete wreck, and some priceless china vases and bowls that had beenthe glory of the drawing-room were lying on the floor, shivered toatoms. But a little closer inspection revealed that while an immenseamount of damage had been done--much of it through pure wantonness andlust for destruction--the building itself was practically intact, theroof was still weatherproof, and some of the rooms were in quiteinhabitable condition; while there were many articles of furniture anddress, as well as many utensils of various kinds, that could still bemade serviceable. Among the inhabitable rooms were the bedroom used byDon Hermoso and his wife, as also those usually occupied by Carlos andJack; indeed, it appeared as though the spoilers had confined theirdestructive efforts almost entirely to the front part of the house.Under these circumstances, as there were no signs of the enemy in theimmediate neighbourhood, Don Hermoso lost no time in hurrying back tohis wife and getting her up to the house and into bed, that being all hecould do at the moment to combat the fever which had seized upon her.
This much having been accomplished, Jack set his negroes to search amongthe wreckage for anything in the nature of food which might perchancehave escaped destruction, while he, single-handed, set off toreconnoitre the camp of the enemy, out on the plain. His shortest routethereto was by way of the position which Carlos had so resolutelydefended; and he chose this because, the enemy having forced the passageof the river at this spot, he believed he would there find the means ofcrossing most easily himself. He had scarcely traversed a hundred yardsfrom the house ere he began to encounter evidences of the severity ofthe fight that had waged throughout the afternoon and evening of thatdisastrously eventful day, in the shape of dead and wounded men, t
heformer lying stark and cold in the light of the moon, some of them withlimbs disposed as though they merely slumbered, while the contortedbodies of others showed that they had passed away in the throes ofmortal agony; some with eyes decently closed, others with theirsightless eyeballs upturned until only the whites were visible: whilefrom the lips of the wounded there issued one low, continuous moan of:"Water--water! For the love of God, water!" It was a pitiable sightbeyond all human power of description, and as Jack looked round him andbeheld those units of slain and tortured humanity a great and righteousanger took possession of him against the arrogant Power that had beenthe cause of all this anguish and misery--to say nothing of what wasenacting elsewhere--rather than surrender its grip upon the fair islandthat it had neither the will nor the ability to wisely govern--the Powerthat had deliberately entered upon a vindictive war against those whomit had goaded to rebellion.
It was of course quite impossible for him, unaided, to ameliorateappreciably a hundredth part of the physical anguish of the men who laythere writhing and groaning on the sodden ground; but there was one poorwretch who managed to attract his attention--a Spanish soldier who, thelower part of his body paralysed, supported himself upon one hand whilehe mutely pointed with the other to his open mouth and protrudingtongue, and who seemed to be the very living embodiment of torturingthirst. The mute appeal in this poor creature's eyes was so movinglyeloquent that the young Englishman simply could not pass on andcallously leave him in his torment. He therefore stooped and, layingthe man's arms over his shoulders, lifted the poor fellow on to his backand carried him a little way to where a depression in the ground hadbeen converted by the rain into a pool some three or four yards indiameter, from which several wounded men were already slaking theirfiery thirst; and there he laid him down within reach of the preciousliquid, and stood for a moment to watch the poor creature suck downgreat draughts of the thick, muddy water!
There were scores of other unfortunates in sight whose sufferings wereprobably as acute as those of the poor wretch whom Jack had just helped,and who had an equally strong claim upon his compassion, but sternnecessity demanded that he should neglect them in favour of the missionwhich he had set out to execute; also, he recognised that his first dutywas to secure the safety of his friends. He therefore perforce steeledhis heart, and pushed on toward the point at which the Spaniards hadeffected the passage of the river, and where he consequently expected tofind the means of getting across. It was a gruesome journey, if a shortone, for every yard that he advanced the dead and wounded lay morethickly piled together, until at length, by the margin of the river, theprostrate bodies of friend and foe were so closely intermingled that hefound it difficult to progress at all without trampling them under foot,while the now still night air positively reeked with the odour of blood!It was awful beyond the utmost that the young Englishman's imaginationhad ever pictured, and as he glanced about him with shrinking gaze andrising gorge he again mentally execrated the leader to whose savageryall those unspeakable horrors were due.
But now at last he was at the river, and now also he saw by what meansthe Spaniards had finally succeeded in accomplishing the task of forcingthe passage of the barrier. A single glance at the contrivance wassufficient to prove that the assailants possessed among them at leastone skilled engineer, for spanning the stream Jack saw anextraordinarily light yet strong bridge, constructed entirely of bamboosso lashed and braced together as to be capable of sustaining the weightof a continuous column of men, two abreast, over its entire length. Itwas fashioned upon the principle of the bowstring girder, and wasconsiderably longer than was actually needed--which Jack accounted forby the fact that the Spaniards had been allowed no opportunity to gaugethe actual width of the river, and had therefore been obliged to guessat it; yet, so light did it appear to be that he believed thirty menmight easily have handled and placed it in position. He quickly passedacross it, finding it perfectly firm to the tread, and then set out tocross the open plain toward the distant camp. He had still his nightglasses with him, and as he went he frequently made use of them, as muchto avoid the risk of being detected by the sentries as to observe whatwas passing in the camp; but from the outset he failed to detect thepresence of any sentries whatever, and gradually it began to dawn uponhim that the occupants of the camp, believing the defenders of theestate to be not only absolutely and irretrievably beaten, but also inpanic-stricken flight, had not deemed it necessary to post any sentriesat all, and were all sleeping in fancied perfect security. And this infact he found to be actually the case, when at length, with theobservance of every possible precaution, he actually stood within theprecincts of the camp and looked about him. There was not a light inany one of the many tents round him; the watch fires had burnt low, andin some cases had died out altogether; not a soul was moving from oneend of the camp to the other, and all round him were sleeping men! Hewaited only long enough to assure himself that this was actually thecase, and then, withdrawing as carefully as he had come, he hurried backto where he had left his fifty men resting in one of the least damagedof the warehouses, and roused them with the intimation that they wererequired for instant action. Then, briefly acquainting them with whathe had done and what he proposed to do, and ordering them to load theirweapons, he marched them out across the bamboo bridge on to the plain,where he bade them take open order and, crouching low on the grass,advance upon the camp, exposing themselves as little as possible, sinceshould but one person in the camp awake and detect them, all this labourwould be lost.
It took the little band of adventurers a full hour to accomplish thepassage across the plain; and when at length they arrived within aboutfifty yards of the camp, Jack caused the signal to be passed along theline for all hands to lie prone in the grass, while he went forwardalone to satisfy himself that everything was still as he had left it.Then, as he had done some two hours previously, Jack crawled right intothe heart of the camp and gazed carefully about him. Everything wasstill perfectly quiet, save that from certain of the tents there issuedsounds advertising the fact that there were noisy sleepers within. ThenSingleton rose cautiously to his feet and lifted his right hand abovehis head. The next minute fifty armed negroes, under his whispereddirections, were moving about the camp, silent-footed as cats,collecting the piled arms and every other weapon which they could find,and concealing them among the long grass at a safe distance from thecamp. Then, this done, Jack raised his revolver above his head andfired a single shot into the air; at the sound of which the startledoccupants of the tents came tumbling out, one over another, to learnwhat the disturbance was about, and to seize their weapons. But,instead of their piled arms, their eyes fell upon fifty stalwart negroesfacing them with levelled rifles, and Jack beside them with a revolverin each hand.
Such an unexpected sight naturally caused the Spaniards to pause intheir rush, of which circumstance Singleton took advantage to thrust oneof his revolvers back into his belt, and then raise his hand, with acommand for silence. The Spaniards, their eyes still heavy with sleep,and disconcerted by the discovery that every one of their weapons hadmysteriously vanished, obeyed readily enough, whereupon Jack requestedthe officer in command to step forward.
A barefooted man, in shirt and trousers only, and carrying in his handthe sheathed sword of a Spanish infantry captain, which he had evidentlysnatched from his tent pole as he sprang from his camp bed, steppedforward, and, announcing himself as the senior surviving officer,demanded to know who Jack was, and what he wanted.
"I am," said Jack, "the commander of a body of negroes, of whom you seea detachment before you. We are in arms against Spain, as are thousandsmore of the inhabitants of this island, because we very strongly objectto the cruel tyranny and oppression with which we have been governed,and demand our freedom. Your march through the country has been markedby violence and outrage of every conceivable description, and you haveleft in your track nothing but death and desolation. The measure ofyour iniquity is full, and Cuba will endure no more
. Your GeneralWeyler has declared a war of extermination against Cubans, and you whoexecute his murderous mandate must pay the penalty. Yet, since it wouldbe manifestly unfair to punish the innocent for the guilty, and since Iam convinced that many of you have only obeyed your general's ordersmost unwillingly, I will spare those of you who will surrender, andexecute only those who, by refusing, exhibit a readiness to persist intheir iniquitous deeds. And do not look for any help from your comradesyonder; they triumphed temporarily, achieving a victory by sheer forceof numbers, but since you and they parted company they have fallen intoa trap--and now those who still live are prisoners. Will you join them;or will you go the way of those others who have to-night laid down theirlives at the behest of a man who knows not the meaning of mercy? Letthose among you who are willing to surrender throw up their hands." Theofficer turned and looked behind him: every man under his command hadthrown his hands above his head! It was enough; his humiliation wascomplete. Drawing his sword from its scabbard, he placed the point onthe ground; then, bending the blade into the form of a bow, he gave thehilt a sudden, peculiar thrusting jerk, and the blade snapped in twain.Then, tossing the hilt from him, he exclaimed, in a tone of concentratedbitterness, "I surrender!" and burst into tears of anger andmortification.
CHAPTER TWENTY.
THE END OF THE STRUGGLE.
The prisoners, about a hundred in number, many of whom were less thanhalf-dressed, were now allowed five minutes wherein to retire to theirtents and assume their clothing; after which they were formed up fourdeep, and marched off in the direction from which Jack and his party hadcome, a young, swift-footed negro having been dispatched on ahead with anote from Singleton for Carlos, informing the latter of the capture ofthe camp and its occupants, and suggesting that he should bring hisprisoners down to the compound adjoining the warehouses.
With the arrival of the prisoners and their armed escort within half amile of the spot where the bamboo bridge crossed the river, they beganto come upon the first evidences of the recent fight, in the shape,first, of widely scattered units, and then of little groups of two orthree dead or wounded. The first they were obliged to leave, for themoment; but the wounded were, by Jack's orders, now sought for andsuccoured, so far as succour was possible by unskilled hands, by being,in the first instance, borne closer to the river, and having their fierythirst temporarily assuaged, and, later on, by having their woundsdressed, so far as the conveniences available permitted. With so largea number of wounded, this labour of mercy necessarily occupied aconsiderable amount of time, so that it was broad daylight when atlength Jack conducted his prisoners into the compound and marched theminto an empty and partially ruined storehouse which Carlos had alreadycaused to be prepared for their reception, the prisoners which the youngCuban had brought down from the defile having already been lodged in anadjoining building. Then came the question of feeding the hungry--avery formidable task, considering that practically all the food on theestate had been destroyed by fire on the preceding night. Thisdifficulty, however, was overcome by Jack revisiting the captured campwith a party of a dozen of the least exhausted negroes, and collecting awagon-load of foodstuffs which, with half a dozen oxen, they drove on tothe estate by way of the lowered drawbridge. Then, with infinitelabour, the wounded were once more sought out, and carried into one ofthe storehouses which had suffered least from the fire, where they wereattended to, so far as they could be, by a band of their compatriots whohad volunteered for the service, and who had given their parole thatthey would not again take up arms against the Cubans. And next came theterrible task of burying the dead, which was also done, under Jack'ssupervision, by the prisoners, kept in a proper state of submission by astrong guard of armed negroes. It was by this time considerably pastmid-day: at least half of the negroes, who had fought so stubbornly andwell in defence of the estate, had had an opportunity to snatch a fewhours' sleep, and were consequently in a condition to again mount guardover the prisoners; and then, and only then, did Jack and Carlos retireto their rooms, and flinging themselves, still dressed, upon their beds,sink at once into absolute oblivion.
The two young men were aroused about nine o'clock that night to partakeof food, when they learned that Don Hermoso had taken over the directionof affairs; also, that the wounded were for the most part doing well,having been taken in hand by a Spanish surgeon who, himself one of thewounded, had been brought in from the field of battle, and, having beenattended to by Mama Faquita, was now sufficiently recovered to be ableto do duty. This was a quite unexpected bit of good news for the twoyoung men; but there was bad news also for them, in the fact that theunfortunate Senora Montijo was in a state of such high fever that theSpanish doctor was deeply concerned as to her condition, which becamestill more critical as the night wore on.
Before again retiring to rest, Jack "went the rounds", as he expressedit, and saw for himself that everything was satisfactory; and he did thesame the first thing upon rising the next morning. Then he, DonHermoso, and Carlos held a consultation as to how the prisoners were tobe disposed of, the difficulty of feeding and controlling so large anumber being one that was likely to grow daily: and it was finallydecided that, as the rest of the army had by this time passed on, andwere scarcely likely to return over the same ground, the soundprisoners, together with those of the wounded who were so slightly hurtas to be able to travel, should be set at liberty and escorted for somefew miles on the road to Pinar del Rio by a strong band of armednegroes, whose duty it would be to see that the released men did notattempt to rejoin the main army; that as soon as those were disposed of,the estate--which was practically destroyed, and therefore could notvery well be further injured--should be abandoned to the Spanish doctorand such assistants as he could persuade to remain with him to lookafter the wounded; and that, as soon as the Senora's health wouldpermit, Don Hermoso, Carlos, and Jack should attach themselves to one ofthe guerrilla bands who were hanging upon the skirts of the main Spanisharmy and harassing it night and day. The only difficulty in the way ofthis programme was the question of what to do with the Senora; but thiswas disposed of by a suggestion from Jack that the lady should beconveyed to the Laguna de Cortes, where the _Thetis_ was due to arrivein about a fortnight, and be put on board the yacht.
Then Jack undertook to see to the release of the unhurt prisoners, withall the business incidental thereto; and, as a first step, he proceededwith a band of fifty armed negroes to the captured camp, and forthwithwent to work to bring in all the weapons and ammunition, the uninjuredfield gun, the tents, and the wagons, all of which would be exceedinglyvaluable acquisitions to any revolutionary force which they might chanceto join. Then the horses, mules, and cattle were driven in, the mulesbeing harnessed to the gun and the wagons. All these captures havingbeen stored as carefully as circumstances permitted, the prisoners whowere to be released were paraded, and each was served with one day'srations; then they gladly moved off, _en route_ for Pinar del Rio, undera strong escort of armed negroes, led by Jack, who was on this occasionmounted upon a good horse. It was about four o'clock in the afternoonwhen the little army started; and they marched until eight o'clock, whenthey camped for the night in the open, Jack and his band returning somethree miles along the road by which they had gone, and passing the nightin a wood through which the road ran. They arrived back at the estateshortly after nine o'clock the next morning, and Jack then learned, tohis profound sorrow, that the unfortunate Senora Montijo had passed awayduring the night, another victim of Spanish tyranny and oppression.They buried the poor lady on the evening of that day, in a particularlylovely and peaceful spot, some distance up the valley, which had been afavourite resort of her daughter. The ceremony was singularly movingand impressive, every negro on the place following the body to thegrave, and Don Hermoso himself, in the absence of a priest, reading thefuneral service over his departed wife. But although the loss of thelady was deeply felt by all, there can be little doubt that, all thingsconsidered, her death was a fortunate circums
tance, not only forherself, but also for all those who most dearly loved her; for it wasonly too clear that her reason had been permanently lost. Twenty-fourhours later what had been the finest and best-kept tobacco-growingestate on the island was abandoned to the Spanish doctor and hispatients--with a staff of volunteer assistants from the unwoundedSpanish prisoners to look after them. The Montijos, father and son,with Jack, and as many of the negro defenders as still survived, hadtaken to the mountains, carrying off with them the field gun, Maxims,rifles, ammunition, and stores of all descriptions, either originallybelonging to them, or taken from the enemy; and a very formidable forcethey soon proved themselves to be.
About a month later news came to the band that Antonio Maceo, havingevaded the Spanish army in the province of Pinar del Rio, and got on theother side of Weyler's _trocha_, had been killed in a skirmish not farfrom Havana, which city he had proposed to threaten, with the object ofcausing the withdrawal of the Spanish troops from the western end of theisland. This news, which proved to be true, was a very heavy blow tothe revolutionaries, who regarded Antonio as far and away their mostcapable and energetic leader; and soon afterward they sustained afurther very serious loss, in the person of Rius Rivera, who had arrivedin Pinar del Rio to take the place of Maceo, but who, in the month ofMarch, 1897, was wounded in a skirmish near San Cristobal, beingafterwards captured and deported. Nor was this all; for about the sametime Layas, another very prominent and effective revolutionary leader,was killed in a fight in the province of Havana. Yet, serious as thosemisfortunes were deemed to be, they did not discourage therevolutionaries; on the contrary, they but spurred the latter to morestrenuous efforts, and the brief, and often fragmentary, items ofintelligence which filtered through to them from time to time concerningthe incessant harrying of the Spaniards by Don Hermoso and his activeband of guerrillas were cheering as cordial to them, stimulating them toemulative feats of daring and enterprise which rapidly reduced Weyler tothe very verge of despair.
Meanwhile the course of events in Cuba was being very keenly watched inthe United States, and was steadily increasing the already dangeroustension which had been gradually growing between that country and Spain;and this was further increased by the occurrence of the Rius incident.Rius, it may be mentioned, was a Cuban, who, like many other natives ofthe same island, had resided in the United States, and had deemed itgood policy to secure naturalisation papers as an American, after whichhe had returned to Cuba. The Spanish authorities--who may or may nothave had good reason--suspected Rius of being a dangerous person, andarrested him; whereupon the United States Consul, ever watchful of therights of American citizens, promptly demanded that the man should beimmediately brought to trial, and released if no offence could be provedagainst him. The machinery of diplomacy is sometimes apt to move atrifle slowly, and ere it had moved far enough to bring about thesatisfaction of the Consul's demands it was stated that Rius had diedsuddenly in prison. This put General Fitzhugh Lee upon his mettle: hevery strongly suspected that there was more in this man's death than metthe eye, and he insisted upon having the body medically examined, withthe result that Rius was found to have been killed by a blow on the backof the head; while, scratched by a nail on the back of a chair in hiscell, was found a statement to the effect that he was certain the prisonauthorities were fully determined to murder him. These ugly facts theUnited States Consul promptly reported to Washington, with the resultthat the American President immediately ordered him to demand a fullinvestigation of all the circumstances, promising to back him up in hisdemand with all necessary support. As a result of this, the Spanishauthorities, after interposing every possible obstacle in the way,appointed a commission of enquiry; but, as no clear proof was adducedthat Rius had actually been deliberately murdered, the incident waspermitted to close. There is little doubt, however, that this was thelast drop in the cup, and that from that moment the United Statespractically determined to intervene upon the first legitimateopportunity, unless, indeed, Spain could be persuaded to grant to Cubasomething in the nature of a very liberal measure of self-government.To secure this the United States Government approached Madrid withcertain proposals; and this action, combined with a change in theSpanish Ministry, resulted in the recall of General Weyler, and theappointment of General Blanco as Capitan-General in his stead.
General Blanco arrived in Cuba in the month of November, 1897, chargedwith the task of pacifying the Cubans by a policy of conciliation,instead of the policy of coercion so vigorously and mercilessly pursuedby his predecessor. But conciliation as a policy was adopted by Spainaltogether too late to save Cuba to her. Had it been tried two yearsearlier, and pursued in good faith, it is more than likely that theCubans, as a whole, would have gladly welcomed it, and that therevolution would have subsided and died out for want of support andencouragement: but now the island bore everywhere the marks of Weyler'sdestroying hand; its once flourishing industries were gone; itsinhabitants were ruined, and those of them who had been concentrated inthe fortified towns were dying by thousands, perishing of starvation asthe result of gross, culpable mismanagement, if not callousindifference; and the Cubans were firmly resolved never again to submitto a Government capable of such shocking abuses. Their experience ofthe last two years had convinced them that they had now but to persevereand they could compel Spain to evacuate the island in the course ofanother year at the utmost; while now, so incensed was the United Stateswith Spain that its intervention might come at any moment. Theytherefore received General Blanco's conciliatory advances coldly, and,so far from surrendering or laying down their arms, pursued theiroperations with even intensified energy. Meanwhile, on January 1, 1898,the new Constitution, which was one of Spain's conciliatory measures,was proclaimed as in force, and a Colonial Government was appointed,with Senor Galvin as its nominal leader; but it possessed very littlepower, since so long as Spain persisted in retaining its hold on Cuba,and the revolution continued, the question of governing the island wasnecessarily a military one. Then, to add still further to thedifficulties of Spain, and to bring the tension between her and theUnited States to practically breaking-point, came the "Dupuy de Lome"and the "Lee" incidents. The first of these arose out of a letterwritten by Senor Dupuy de Lome, the Spanish Minister at Washington, tohis friend Senor Canalejas, who was then in Cuba on a visit. In thisletter Senor Dupuy de Lome was imprudent enough to express, in veryemphatic language, his doubts as to the good faith of the United Statesin the attitude which it had taken up on the Cuban question; and, notsatisfied with this signal act of imprudence, the writer must needsindulge in certain very insulting remarks respecting President McKinley.This letter was stolen from Senor Canalejas in Havana, and sold to aNew York newspaper, which promptly published it, with the natural resultthat de Lome was compelled to resign his post. The second, or "Lee",incident was a sequel to the first, and was doubtless prompted by adesire for revenge. It was nothing less than a request by Spain thatGeneral Lee should be recalled from his position as Consul-General forthe United States at Havana, upon the ground that he was a _persona nongrata_ to the Spanish authorities there. Needless to say, the requestwas not complied with. And then, finally, came the _Maine_ incident.
This last had its origin in certain serious military riots whichoccurred in Havana on the 12th and 13th of January, 1898, due to theopposition of the Spaniards, military and civil, to General Blanco inhis character as pacificator; the pacification of the island otherwisethan by military operations being very unpopular with the residentSpaniards, and especially with the army. In consequence of these riots,and in view of the danger to American citizens arising out of thedisorderly state generally of the city, the battleship _Maine_ was sentto Havana by the United States Government.
She arrived in Havana harbour at eleven o'clock in the forenoon ofJanuary 25, 1898, and was duly saluted by the forts and the Spanishships of war, whose salutes she as duly returned; after which, under thedirection of the port authorities, she was moored in the man-o'-warancho
rage. Nothing that could, even by the most hypersensitive, beconstrued into an act of discourteous behaviour was shown to either theofficers or men of the ship; on the contrary, the Spaniards, no doubtshrewdly suspecting that the eye of the United States, quickened byrecent events to a state of preternaturally acute perception, wassuspiciously watching their every action, were at the greatest pains toexhibit the utmost courtesy, not only official but also non-official, totheir visitors, to whom the officials and residents alike extended themost generous hospitality, in return for which several receptions wereheld on board the ship by Captain Sigsbee and his officers.
Now it happened that on February 15th--which fell on a Tuesday--DonHermoso Montijo, his son Carlos, and Jack Singleton, completely worn outby many months of campaigning among the mountains, and several sharpattacks of fever, having amalgamated their considerably augmented bandwith that of another insurgent leader, and turned the command over tohim, succeeded in entering the city of Havana unrecognised, and madetheir way on board the _Thetis_--which had then been for some time lyingidle in the harbour--with the intention of recruiting their health byrunning across the Atlantic for the purpose of procuring a furthersupply of arms and ammunition, which the continual accessions to therevolutionary ranks caused to be most urgently needed. They were mostenthusiastically welcomed by Milsom, who, having heard nothing from anyof them for more than three months, was beginning very seriously to fearthat, like many others of the revolutionaries, they had been "wiped out"in one or another of the countless skirmishes that were constantlyoccurring with the Spanish troops. He was delighted to learn that theywere all to make a run across the Atlantic and back together; and withinan hour of their arrival on board set to work upon the necessarypreparations for the trip, which, however, he explained, it would bescarcely possible to complete under a couple of days, in the thendisordered state of the city, with its attendant disorganised businessconditions.
But, great as Milsom's pleasure at their appearance undoubtedly was,Singleton soon became aware of a certain subtle constraint anduneasiness in his friend's manner toward him; and as soon as he hadsatisfied himself that it really existed, and was not the result of hisown imagination, he taxed his friend with it.
"Look here, Phil," he said, "there is something wrong somewhere; I cansee it by your manner. What is it? Out with it, man! You will have totell us sooner or later, you know, so you may as well let us know whatit is at once. Have you got into collision with the authorities, orroused their suspicions in any way, or what is it? We may as well knowfirst as last, old man; so get it off your mind!"
"So you have noticed it, have you?" responded Milsom, rather grimly."Well, you have guessed rightly, Jack; there is something very seriouslywrong, though not in the directions which you have suggested. Of coursethe authorities have their suspicions--and very strong ones, too, Idon't doubt--about this vessel; they would be fools if they had not,seeing the length of time that she has been hanging about in thesewaters. But whatever their suspicions may be, they cannot possess anatom of proof, or they would have seized the craft before now, andclapped all hands of us into prison. No, it is not that, but--Jack--Idon't know what you will say, or what you will think of me--I give youmy word of honour that it was not through any carelessness on my part--but--well, the fact of the matter is that--your submarine has beenstolen!"
"The submarine stolen!" echoed Jack. "Nonsense, man; you surely cannotmean it!"
"By Jove, I do, then, and that is a fact!" answered Milsom. "Justexactly when she went, or how she went, I know no more than you do; butwe missed her a fortnight ago. As you know, it has been our custom tokeep about a foot of water in the boat which concealed the submarine, tokeep her bottom tight; and, as you may also remember, that water waschanged once a week--namely, every Saturday morning. Well, a fortnightago last Saturday, when the canvas cover was taken off the boat in orderto change the water in her, she was found to be empty; the submarine wasgone! Who took her, or by what means it became possible to steal herwithout a single soul being a penny the wiser, I cannot tell you, and Ido not believe we shall ever know; for, of course, when I came toquestion the crew, there was not a man who was not willing to swear thathe had never closed his eyes for an instant while keeping an anchorwatch, though, of course, something of the kind must have happened. Isuspect the custom-house officers that the authorities have insisted onkeeping aboard us all the time that we have been in harbour; but ofcourse I have not said a word to them about it. I have, however,watched them continually, and by their smug looks of satisfaction I aminclined to believe that they know something about it. And ever sincethen I have been on the prowl everywhere to see if I could find anytrace of the boat, but without success."
"Well, old chap," said Jack, "I am exceedingly sorry to hear this; forin unscrupulous hands that submarine may work a terrific amount ofmischief, and everything connected with the working of her is so simplethat any ordinarily skilful mechanician could easily puzzle it all outwith a little study. Moreover, if she has fallen into the hands of theSpaniards--as I suppose she has--they will have no difficulty inaccounting for the mysterious disablement of their ships here on theoccasion of the _James B. Potter_ incident, and it will make them sowatchful that henceforth we shall be able to do absolutely nothing. ButI do not blame you, Phil: you could not be expected to know that thesefellows had somehow discovered the existence of the boat; nor could yoube expected to watch her night and day. Her loss is a very seriousmisfortune, of course, but I am convinced that it is not through anycarelessness of yours that it happened."
"Thanks, Jack, for saying that!" answered Milsom; "I did not quite thinkyou would blame me for it: but I cannot help blaming myself to a certainextent; I ought to have been more watchful. Yet how was one to knowthat the existence of the boat had been discovered? She was guardednight and day, in an unobtrusive way, it is true, and in such a fashionthat I believed it quite impossible for anyone to become aware of herexistence. Well, she is gone, and we must manage henceforth as best wecan without her--unless we can discover her whereabouts and recoverpossession of her. And now, to change the subject, what do you proposeto do with yourselves this afternoon? The Americans are holding areception aboard the _Maine_. I suppose you wouldn't care to go?"
"I think not," said Jack; "it would be rather too risky. I have comeface to face with many Spanish officers during the time that I have beenout with the revolutionaries; and if I were perchance to run up againstone of them on board that ship it might be awkward. No; I think thatthe safest plan for Don Hermoso, Carlos, and myself will be to remainquietly aboard here now, and not attempt to leave the yacht again solong as she remains in Cuban waters."
And upon this opinion the trio acted, remaining below all the afternoon,and not venturing on deck at all until after darkness had fallen.
Dinner was over on board the _Thetis_, and the three occupants of thesaloon, with Milsom, had adjourned to the top of the deck-house to smoketheir post-prandial cigars and enjoy the welcome coolness of the nightair. The former were entertaining Milsom by relating to him a few oftheir recent adventures while operating against the Spanish troops when,just as three bells (half-past nine o'clock) was chiming out from theships in the harbour, a violent concussion was felt by everybody onboard the yacht, and simultaneously their ears were deafened by thesound of a terrific explosion. For a space of perhaps two or threeseconds following this a dead silence prevailed, and then from the shipsafloat and the streets and quays ashore there arose a low murmur,instantly changing to a confused clamour of hurrying feet and shoutingvoices, expressive of the utmost panic and dismay, which became aperfect uproar when, as everybody involuntarily turned toward the spotfrom which the explosion had seemed to proceed, it was seen that theAmerican warship _Maine_ was sinking rapidly by the head, while theafter part of her was enveloped in flames. And as everybody stared inparalysed horror at the terrible sight, other explosions, though of amuch less violent character, were heard on board her! For a se
cond ortwo astonishment and dismay seemed to have robbed everybody of all powerof coherent thought or action; then Milsom started to his feet andshouted in a voice that rang from end to end of the ship:
"Out boats! Each boat her own crew, and no more; you will want everyinch of room you can spare for those poor fellows who are struggling fortheir lives yonder. Hurry, lads, lively now; every second is worth aman's life, remember, for the harbour swarms with sharks! Ah, here youare, Macintyre--come along with me! Is there steam enough in thesteamboat's boiler to move her? Good! Then we will try her. I wanttwo more hands. Will you come, Jack, and Carlos?"
Of course they would; and in little more than a minute from the firstexplosion the boats of the _Thetis_ were tearing up the waters of theharbour in a mad race for the honour of being first in the noble work ofrescue! And as they went they were joined by boats from the other shipsin the harbour, among which were those of the Spanish cruiser _Alphonsothe Twelfth_; as well as a large number which put off from the shore.As the boats went hither and thither, seeking for survivors--and findingremarkably few, considering that the complement of the _Maine_ amountedto three hundred and forty-seven--an officer in one of the Spanish boatscame dashing up, and, with a great show of authority, announced thatAdmiral Manterolas' orders were that the rescued Americans were to beput aboard the _Alphonso the Twelfth_, where the injured would receiveevery attention: accordingly, as soon as the boats of the _Thetis_ hadpicked up all they could find, they pulled alongside the Spanishwarship, and delivered over their living, and in some cases terriblymutilated, freight to her officers and crew. Eighty-six men wererescued, sixty of them being wounded; and of this number the _Thetis's_boats were responsible for no less than twenty-nine, of whom seventeenwere wounded. When at length, having pulled about for nearly an hourwithout finding any more people to pick up, Milsom reluctantly gave theword for the boats to return to the ship. The wreck, or rather thatportion of her which yet remained above water, was still burning.
It was perhaps rather a peculiar circumstance that, upon the return ofthe boats from their mission of rescue, the saloon party aboard the_Thetis_ should almost immediately separate and retire to theirrespective cabins, with nothing more in the way of conversation than afew curt questions and answers. The fact is that they were powerfullyimpressed with the conviction that they had that night witnessed, andbeen in an indirect way assisting at, an occurrence that was destined toexercise an important influence upon the history of two great nations.It is true that, at the moment, the occurrence presented all theappearance of a lamentable accident: but everybody was by this timefully aware of the fact that the trend of events had, for some timepast, been of such a character as to cause America and Spain to regardeach other with the utmost distrust, to which, on the part of Spain, wasadded a feeling of aversion not very far removed from hatred at what sheregarded as the high-handed action of the United States in reference tocertain points of dispute between the two countries; and there wasprobably not one intelligent person in Havana that night who did notfeel convinced that unless the lamentable occurrence which had justhappened should prove capable of an absolutely satisfactory explanation,there would certainly be very serious trouble in the immediate future.As for Jack and Milsom, they were both thinking hard, and it was well ontoward daybreak ere either of them slept. The result of Milsom'smeditations became apparent when, as was the custom, he joined thesaloon party at breakfast next morning. After exchanging with them theusual salutations he said, as he drew his chair up to the table:
"Well, Don Hermoso, after last night's happening I suppose you will bedisposed to defer your departure until it can be seen what is to come ofit, will you not?"
"Upon my word, Captain, I don't know," answered the Don. "In what waydo you think it likely to exercise an influence upon our projectederrand?"
"Through American intervention--to put the whole thing in a nutshell,"answered Milsom. "Of course it is altogether too early yet to expressan opinion in public upon the occurrence; but, strictly betweenourselves, and in the privacy of this saloon, I don't mind saying that Ibelieve the _Maine_ was deliberately destroyed, and that the submarinewhich was stolen from this ship was the instrument by which that wasdone!"
"That is also my idea, Skipper," answered Jack. "And," he continued,"if our suspicion as to the guilt of the Spaniards should prove correct,there will be war between America and Spain; America will without doubtbe the conqueror, and Spain will be forced to relinquish her hold onCuba, without the need for further effort on the part of therevolutionaries. So far, therefore, as the purchase of additionalmunitions of war is concerned, I believe, Don Hermoso, that you may saveyour money."
"Indeed!" said Don Hermoso. "Then in that case, gentlemen, we may aswell defer our departure until we see what is about to happen."
And they did.
The rest of the story is a matter of well-known history. A few dayslater a court of enquiry into the _Maine_ disaster was opened on boardthe U.S. steamer _Mangrove_, then lying in Havana harbour, and satcontinuously until March 21st; while the wreck of the warship was mostcarefully examined by divers, who laid the result of their observationsbefore the court. The finding of the court was: "That the loss of the_Maine_ was not in any respect due to fault or negligence on the part ofany of the officers, or members of her crew; that the ship was destroyedby the explosion of a submarine mine, which caused the partial explosionof two or more of her forward magazines; and that no evidence has beenobtainable fixing the responsibility for the destruction of the _Maine_upon any person or persons."
But, the last clause of the finding notwithstanding, there was probablynot one United States citizen per hundred who did not feel morallyconvinced that the Spaniards were the guilty parties; and, that beingthe case, war was from that moment inevitable. On April 8, 1898,General Lee, the United States Consul-General, received orders to leaveCuba and hand over the charge of the United States interests to theBritish Consul; and on the following day he, with such American citizensas still remained in Havana, left for Florida in a gunboat. On April18th a conference between the Committees of the two American Housesresulted in the adoption of a certain resolution, which was signed byPresident McKinley on the 20th of the same month: a copy was served uponSenor Polo y Bernabe, the Spanish Minister at Washington, whoimmediately asked for his passports, and left that city. On April 21stthe President of the United States proclaimed the blockade of the Cubancoast from Cienfuegos westward to Cape San Antonio, and thence north andeast past Havana to Cardenas; and as the bulk of the American fleet hadbeen quietly concentrating at Key West from the date of the destructionof the _Maine_, the blockade was put into effect within eight hours ofits declaration. On April 24th the Spanish Government formallyrecognised the existence of war between itself and the United States;and on the following day the United States Congress passed the followingBill without a division:--
"Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the UnitedStates in congress assembled:--
"_First_: That war be, and the same is hereby declared to exist, andthat war has existed since the 21st day of April, a.d. 1898, includingthe said day, between the United States of America and the kingdom ofSpain.
"_Second_: That the President of the United States be, and he hereby is,directed and empowered to use the entire land and naval forces of theUnited States, and to call into the actual service of the United Statesthe militia of the several States, to such extent as may be necessary tocarry this Act into effect."
This is not a story of the Spanish-American war. Let it suffice,therefore, to say that, after the landing of the Fifth Army Corps on theisland of Cuba on June 24th, and the destruction of the Spanish squadronunder Admiral Cervera on July 3rd, a protocol was signed on August 12th,and all hostilities were suspended; and finally, on January 1, 1899, therelinquishment of Spanish sovereignty over Cuba was formallyaccomplished, the Spanish flag being lowered and the Stars and Stripestemporarily hoisted in its place on the various fo
rts and otherGovernment buildings throughout the island. A singularly patheticfeature of the Spanish evacuation of Cuba was the solemn removal of thealleged remains of Christopher Columbus from their resting-place inHavana Cathedral, and their conveyance to Spain.
The state of the island by the time that the war was ended was of coursedreadful beyond description: the inhabitants were, with a fewexceptions, reduced to a state of absolute destitution; agriculture hadpractically ceased; commerce and industry were dead; brigandage wasrampant; and, to use the expressive language of the historian, humanmisery had apparently reached its maximum possibility. Under suchcircumstances it was not at all difficult for Jack to secure a verylarge estate adjoining that of Senor Montijo upon exceptionallyfavourable terms; and although, like that of his friend, the estateconsisted but of the soil, now overrun with weeds and the riotousvegetation of the Tropics, labour was abundant, and Jack and his friendDon Hermoso, spending their money freely, soon had every trace of thelate troublous times swept away and fresh crops planted. Don Hermosodid not long survive the triumph of the cause which he had so noblyespoused: with the coming of peace there came also time for memory andretrospection, and time for him to miss the dear ones torn from himduring the struggle; and shortly after the completion of his great workof restoring his estate to its original prosperous and well-managedcondition he passed quietly away--not as the result of any disease inparticular, but apparently because now he no longer had anything to livefor--and was laid to rest beside his wife.
As for Jack, he felt that after what he had seen of, and done in, Cuba,it was simply impossible for him to turn his back upon the island; hetherefore disposed of his interest in the firm of Singleton, Murdock andCompany, and invested the proceeds in the further extension anddevelopment of his already large estate, and to-day he and CarlosMontijo are two of the most popular, respected, and prosperous tobaccoplanters in the island. The _Thetis_, still in existence, is now thejoint property of Jack and Carlos, and in her one or the other, andoften both of them together, make frequent trips to England andelsewhere for the purpose of personally conducting their more extensivebusiness transactions. She is still commanded by ex-Lieutenant Milsom,R.N., who never tires of congratulating himself that at last he findshimself in possession of what has every appearance of being apermanently "soft job."
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