e alert islanders. Gomez had crossed it in his movement
westward, and Maceo now followed with equal readiness. He made a feint of
an attack in force on one part of the line, and when the Spaniards had
concentrated to defend this point, he crossed at an unprotected spot,
without firing a shot or losing a man.

Westward still went the Cubans, heedless of trochas and Spaniards. From
Santa Clara they entered Matanzas province, and from this made their way
into the province of Havana, bringing the war almost to the gates of the
capital. Spain had now sent more than one hundred thousand troops across
the ocean, though many of these were in the hospitals. As for the Cubans,
the island had now risen almost from end to end, and their force was
estimated at from thirty to fifty thousand men. It was no longer a rebel
outbreak that Spain had to deal with, it was a national war.

By the end of the year the Cubans were firmly fixed in Havana province,
many negro field-hands and Cuban youths having joined their ranks. They
fought not only against the Spaniards, but against the bandits also, of
whom there were many abroad plundering from both sides alike. These were
hanged by the patriots whenever captured. Maceo was the active fighter of
the force, Gomez being occupied in burning sugar-cane fields and
destroying railroads, so as to deprive Spain of the sinews of war.

In January, 1896, a new movement westward was made, Maceo leading his men
into the province of Pinar del Rio, which occupies the western end of the
island. Here was the great tobacco district, one into which insurrection
had never before made its way. Within a year rebellion had covered the
island from end to end, the Spaniards being secure nowhere but within the
cities, while the insurgents moved wherever they chose in the country. The
sky around the capital was heavy with smoke by day and lurid with the
flames of burning fields at night, showing that Gomez was busy with his
work of destruction, burning the crops of every planter who sought to
grind his cane.

Let us now follow the daring mulatto leader through the remainder of his
career. General Weyler had now succeeded Campos, and began his official
life with the boast that he would soon clear the provinces near Havana of
rebels in arms. But he was hardly in the governor's chair when Maceo was
back from the west and swooping down on the city of Jaruco, which he
looted and burned.

Weyler sent troops into Pinar de