l Rio, where they found no one to oppose
them, and he was soon able to inform the world by a proclamation that this
province was pacified. But the ink was barely dry upon it when Maceo,
having burnt the port of Batabano, on the southern coast, was back in the
"pacified" province, where he made his head-quarters in the mountains and
defied all the power of Spain.

Instead of seeking him here, Weyler now attempted to confine him by
building a new trocha, cutting off that end of the island. This took two
months to complete, during which Maceo continued his work almost
unopposed, destroying the tobacco of loyalists, defeating every force sent
against him, and leaving to Spain only four fortified cities in the
southern part of the province.

Not until autumn opened did Weyler take the field, marching into Pinar del
Rio at the head of thirty thousand men, confident now of putting an end to
the work of his persistent foe, whom he felt sure he had hemmed in with
his trocha. Between the two forces, Spanish and Cuban, the province was
sadly harried, and became so incapable of supporting a large force that
Maceo was obliged to dismiss the most of his men.

Leaving the slender remnant under the control of one of his lieutenants,
he once more passed the trocha, this time rowing round its end in a boat
and landing in Havana province. He had sent orders in advance for a
concentration of the Cuban forces in this region, that he might give
Weyler a new employment.

The daring partisan leader was near the end of his career, brought to his
death by the work of a traitor, as was widely believed. While waiting for
the gathering of the forces, he, with the few men with him, was fired on
from a Spanish ambush, and fell, mortally wounded.

Thus died the most dashing soldier that the Cuban rebellion called into
the field. Dr. Zertucha, of his staff, was charged with treachery in
leading him into this ambush, though that is by no means proved. Maceo was
one of nine brothers, all soldiers, and all of whom had now died in the
great struggle for Cuban independence. His body was recovered from the
enemy after a desperate fight; his valiant spirit was lost to the cause.
Yet his work had not been without avail, and the country for which he had
fought so bravely was left by him on the highroad to liberty.

LIEUTENANT HOBSON AND THE SINKING OF THE "MERRIMAC."

About three o'clock of a dark morning, whose deep gloom shrouded alike the
sh