am now sitting by a
fine stream on a cool rock. I have discovered that you really enjoy
things more when you are not getting many comforts than you do when you
have all you want. That sounds dull but it is most consoling. I had a
bath this morning in these rocks that I would not have given up for all
the good dinners I ever had at the Waldorf, or the Savoy. It just went
up and down my spine and sent thrills all over me. It is most
interesting now and all the troubles of the dull days of waiting at
Tampa and that awful time on the troopship are over. The army is
stretched out along the trail from the coast for six miles. Santiago
lies about five miles ahead of us. I am very happy and content and the
book for Scribners ought to be an interesting one. It is really very
hard that my despatches are limited to 100 words for there are lots of
chances. The fault lies with the army people at Washington, who give
credentials to any one who asks. To The Independent and other
periodicals--in no sense newspapers, and they give seven to one paper,
consequently we as a class are a pest to the officers and to each
other. Fortunately, the survival of the fittest is the test and only
the best men in every sense get to the front. There are fifty others
at the base who keep the wire loaded with rumors, so when after great
difficulty we get the correct news back to Daiquire a Siboney there is
no room for it. Some of the "war correspondents" have absolutely
nothing but the clothes they stand in, and the others had to take up
subscriptions for them. They gambled all the time on the transports
and are ensconced now at the base with cards and counters and nothing
else. Whitney has turned out great at the work and I am glad he is not
on a daily paper or he would share everything with me. John Fox,
Whitney and I are living on Wood's rough riders. We are very welcome
and Roosevelt has us at Headquarters but, of course, we see the men we
know all the time. You get more news with the other regiments but the
officers, even the Generals, are such narrow minded slipshod men that
we only visit them to pick up information. Whitney and I were the only
correspondents that saw the fight at Guasimas. He was with the
regulars but I had the luck to be with Roosevelt. He is sore but still
he saw more than any one else and is proportionally happy. Still he
naturally would have liked to have been with our push. We were within
thirty yards o