epidemic, instead of a fake epidemic like the present, strikes us, as is it bound to if we stay here at the height of the sickly season, August and the beginning of September. Quarantine against malarial fever is much like quarantine against the toothache. All of us are certain, as soon as the authorities at Washington fully appreciate the conditions of the army, to be sent home. If we are kept here, it will, ir all human probability, mean an appalling disaster, for the surgeons here estimate that over half the army, if kept here during the sickly season, will die. This is not only terrible from the standpoint of the individual lives lost, but it means ruin from the standpoint of the military efficiency of the flower of the American army, for the great bulk of the regulars are here with you. The sick list, large though it is, is but a faint index of the debilitation of the army. Not 10 per cent. are fit for active work. Six weeks on the North Maine coast, for instance, or elsewhere where the yellow fever germs cannot possibly propagate, would make us all as fit as fighting cocks, able as we are and eager to take a leading part in the great campaign against Havana in the Fall, even if we are not allowed to try Porto Rico. We can be moved North, if moved at once, with absolute safety to the country, although, of course, it would have been infinitely better if we had been moved North or to Porto Rico two weeks ago. If there were any object in keeping us here, we would face yellow fever with as much indifference as we face bullets. But there is no object in it. The four immune regiments ordered here are sufficient to garrison the city and surrounding towns, and there is absolutely nothing for us to do here, and there has not been since the city surrendered. It is impossible to move into the interior. Every shifting of camp doubles the sick rate in our present weakened condition, and anyhow the interior is rather worse than the coast, as I have found by actual reconnoissance. Our present camps are as healthy as any camps at this end of the island can be. I write only because I cannot

see our men, who have fought so bravely and who have endured extreme hardship and danger so uncomplainingly, go to destruction without striving, so far as lies in me, to avert a doom as fearful as it is unnecessary and undeserved.

Yours respectfully,

THEODORE ROOSEVELT,

Colonel, Commanding First Brigade.

This letter and that signed by all the officers were made public. The result was immediate. In three days the army was ordered to be ready to sail for home. As soon as the news was known the spirits of the men changed for the better; they had been ailing and despondent even, while now they brightened up miraculously in the hope of leaving a pestiferous climate where there was nothing to do but to wait idly for death.

In Colonel Roosevelt's regiment the officers began to plan methods of drilling the men on horseback to fit them to go against the Spanish cavalry if they were to make a try at Havana in December. The Rough Riders had eyed the captured Spanish cavalry with peculiar interest. The men were small of stature, and though the horses were well built and well trained they were diminutive ponies. The Rough Riders from the plains who knew something about horse flesh felt sure that if they ever got a chance to try shock tactics against the Spaniards those gentlemen would go down like rows of nine pins.

Colonel Roosevelt was still much occupied in looking after the health of his brigade, though his mind was considerably lightened by the fact that they were going home where he felt certain their health would improve. On August 6th the men were ordered to embark. Next morning the Miami took them aboard. A little while after leaving port the captain of the ship came to Colonel Roosevelt and told him that the stokers and engineers of the ship

Copyrighted, 1902, by CLINEDINST, Washington, D. C. PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT AT HIS DESK IN THE WHITE HOUSE

were insubordinate and drunken, a condition he thought due to the liquor the soldiers had given to them. The Colonel at once instituted a search of the ship, explaining to the men that they must not think of keeping any liquor. He told them that if they gave to him what liquor they had he would return it to them when they got ashore. He further told them that he would allow the sick to drink when they really needed the stuff. And he supplemented his remarks by saying that if the men did not of their own accord comply with his request for the liquor he would find it and throw it overboard. Many flasks and bottles were handed to him, and he found some twenty or so which he at once gave to the fishes. This action on his part put an end to all drunkenness at once. The stokers and engineers becoming sullen and rather mutinous, the Colonel sent a detail of his men down. to watch them and see that they did their work, and they were soon reduced to obedience. The Miami was pretty well crowded, but not so much so as the Yucatan had been on the trip down, though the fare might have been improved on. The water was bad and the "canned beef" was uneatable, while there were not vegetables enough, nor were there sufficient disinfectants, and the sick had very poor quarters. By the exercise of great care no serious illness occurred, though one man who had drunk a good deal of the fiery Cuban rum died and was buried at sea. Good weather prevailed during the nine days' voyage.

At last the low sandy bluffs of Long Island were sighted, and late in the afternoon of the 14th the Miami steamed through the waters of the Sound, and cast anchor off Montauk. A gunboat of the Mosquito fleet came out and greeted the men and told them that peace negotiations were under way between Spain and the United States. Next morning the men marched ashore. Many were sick, and all presented a dilapidated appearance, unkempt, ragged and swarthy. There was a month spent at Montauk before the men