tion to the little black specks of
infantry dodging in and out among the groups of trees. Now they would
disappear wholly from sight in the brush, and again would be seen hurrying
along the open spaces, over the grass-covered slopes, or across ploughed
fields. The infantry firing was ceaseless, our men popping away
continuously, as a string of firecrackers pops.

"The Spaniards fired in volleys against our men. Many times we heard the
volley fire, and saw the brave fellows pitch forward and lie still on the
turf, while the others hurried on to the next protecting clump of bushes.

"For hours the Spaniards had poured their fire from slits in the stone
fort, from their deep trenches, and from the windows of the town. For
hours our men answered back from trees and brush and gullies. For hours
cannon at our side banged and shells screamed through air and fell upon
fort and town. Always our infantry advanced, drawing nearer and closing up
on the village, till at last they formed under a group of mangrove-trees
at the foot of the very hill on which the stone fort stood.

"With a rush they swept up the slope and the stone fort was ours. Then you
should have heard the yells that went up from the knoll on which our
battery stood. Gunners, drivers, Cubans, correspondents, swung their hats
and gave a mighty cheer. Immediately our battery stopped firing for fear
we should hurt our own men, and, dashing down into the valley, hurried
across to take up a position near the infantry, who were now firing on
Caney from the blockhouse. The town artillery had not sent half a dozen
shots from its new position before the musketry firing ceased, and the
Spaniards, broken into small bunches, fled from Caney in the direction of
Santiago.

"Laine and I hurried up to the stone fort and found that James Creelman, a
_Journal_ correspondent with the infantry column, had been seriously
wounded and was lying in the Twelfth Infantry hospital. Our men were still
firing an occasional shot, and from blockhouses and isolated trenches,
from which the Spaniards could not safely retreat, flags of truce were
waving.

"Guns and side-arms were being taken away from such Spaniards as had
outlived the pitiless fire, and their dead were being dumped without
ceremony into the trenches, after the Spanish fashion.

"When I left the fort to hunt for Creelman, I found him, bloody and
bandaged, lying on his back on a blanket on the ground, but shown all care
and att