of fighting. But it seemed that four hundred years of cruelty had reduced them from their high estate, and they knew nothing of the art of war, and nothing of the science of defense. A curious feature of this first advance was the haste which inspired even the enlisted men. General Young wanted them to hurry, so they would be in position for actual service in the morning; and it was to be expected that he would issue orders to that effect. But the men went farther than he could have hoped, and traversed a tangle of tropical woods and vines which he could well have believed impassable. They did not halt until they were at the extreme front of the American line.

They were not in good shape for marching, because of the voyage, the lack of food and water, and the difficulties in the way. Besides, they were horsemen, in large majority. The cowboys in particular, excellent fighting material, had never walked a furlong if it could be avoided; and the hard tramp over the hills and through vine-entangled morasses was particularly trying to them. But there was no straggling. Very soon after dark they reached the little hamlet of Siboney. The men built fires and fried their

pork and boiled their coffee, and made such supper as they could, the officers faring precisely as did the men. And the supper was hardly finished when the Americans had their first experience with a rain-storm in Cuba.

At midnight Colonel Wood returned from a visit to General Young, and brought that officer's plans for the advance in the morning. General Wheeler, who commanded, since General Shafter had not yet come ashore from the ships, had directed that the Spanish lines be struck as soon after daybreak as possible.

At six o'clock in the morning General Young started with a squadron from the First Regular cavalry, and a squadron from the Tenth Regulars. Colonel Wood and Colonel Roosevelt took a slightly different direction to reach the same objective, with the Rough Riders, and the two companies from the cavalry regiment of colored men. At half past seven the Spaniards were discovered, holding a rocky ridge that jutted forward, its angle lying between the two advancing forces of the Americans. There were stone breastworks on the hill, and blockhouses behind it. General Young ordered his men to fill their canteens, and then at eight o'clock opened the

fight with his Hotchkiss guns, at nine hundred

yards' range.

The Spaniards replied, and for the first time in more than fifty years American soldiers were engaged in war with an alien nation. In the very first half-minute Colonel Roosevelt's old-time wisdom in urging the adoption of smokeless powder was made manifest. The Spaniards, ages behind the times in everything else, had smokeless powder, and it added greatly to the difficulties the Americans had to encounter. General Young, long used to Indian warfare, and recognizing this as in essentials the same, pushed his men forward for a closer touch with the enemy. A passage from Colonel Roosevelt's own story of this first battle will be peculiarly acceptable here.

"The men were deployed on both sides of the road," he says, "in such thick jungle that only here and there could they see ahead. Through this jungle ran wire fences, and when the troops got to the ridge they encountered precipitous bluffs. They were led most gallantly, as American regular officers always lead their men; and the soldiers followed their leaders with the splendid courage always shown by the American reg

ular soldier. There was not a single straggler among them, and in not one instance was an attempt made by any trooper to fall out in order to assist the wounded, or carry back the dead; and so cool were they and so perfect their fine discipline, that in the entire engagement the expenditure of ammunition was not over ten rounds per man. Major Bell, who commanded the squadron, had his leg broken by a shot as he was leading his men. Captain Wainwright succeeded to the command of the squadron. Captain Knox was shot in the abdomen. He continued for some time giving orders to his troops, and refused to allow a man from the firing-line to assist him to the rear. Lieutenant Byron was himself shot, but continued to lead his men until the wound and the heat overcame him, and he fell in a faint. The Spaniards kept up a very heavy firing, but the regulars would not be denied, and as they climbed the ridges the Spaniards broke and fled."

But the regulars did not win the fight alone. The Rough Riders, starting at six o'clock in the morning, pushed through the jungle to the left, and on up the hills. Tiffany, one of the donors of the Colt rapid-firers and the dynamite gun,

had-to put the matter plainly-stolen from the quartermaster's department a pair of mules, and was using them to transport his "automatics." Sergeant Borrowe, in charge of the dynamite gun, had found a like stroke of enterprise impossible, and could not bring up his piece. General Wheeler has himself seen fit to declare, in his valuable book, "The Santiago Campaign," that Sergeant Borrowe did all that lay in his power, and is wholly excusable for not bringing the dynamite gun into action.

Captain Capron's troop was in the lead in that advance of Wood's squadron up the heights. It had been chosen for the most dangerous and responsible place because of Capron's admitted capacity. The order of advance sent Sergeant Hamilton Fish first, with four men as skirmishers; then Capron and the rest of his troop-all dismounted, of course. Colonel Wood followed with two troops, and Colonel Roosevelt with three. The Cuban guide at the head of the column ran away as soon as the fighting commenced. There was a halt, and in the wait, while the men were obeying the order to fill their magazines with cartridges, Colonel Roosevelt overheard two of the Rough Riders nearest him discussing