e haciendas of the Spanish proprietors were in
flames, and that fire had been applied to all the standing crops.
Everywhere he heard the same tale; that those who had resisted had
been killed, but that no harm had been inflicted upon defenseless
persons.

This was so new a feature, in troubles with the negroes, that the
Spaniards could not but be surprised, and filled with admiration at
conduct so different to that to which they were accustomed. The
sight of the tremendous destruction of property, however, roused
them to fury; and this was still further heightened when, towards
morning, a great burst of flame in the city proclaimed that the
negroes had fallen upon the town, while the greater portion of its
defenders were withdrawn.

This was, indeed, a masterly stroke on the part of the boys. They
knew that, even deducting those who had set forth, there would
still be an amply sufficient force in the city to defeat and crush
their band; but they thought that, by a quick stroke, they might
succeed in inflicting a heavy blow upon them. Each of the bands
therefore had instructions, after doing its allotted share of
incendiarism, to make for the town, and to meet at a certain point
outside it. Then, quietly and noiselessly, they had entered. One
party fell upon the armory, and another attacked with fury the
governor's house. The guards there were, as had happened with his
residence in the country, cut down. Fire was applied in a dozen
places and, before the astonished troops and inhabitants could
rally, from the different parts of the town, the negroes were again
in the country; having fulfilled their object, and carried off with
them a large additional stock of arms.

Before the cavalry from the front could arrive, they were again far
in the country; and, making a long detour, gained their fastness,
having struck a terrible blow, with the cost to themselves of only
some eight or ten lives.

It was a singular sight, as they looked out in the morning from
their hilltops. Great masses of smoke extended over the whole
country; for although most of the dwellings were, by this time,
leveled to the ground--for, built of the lightest construction,
they offered but little resistance to the flames--from the fields
of maize and cane, clouds of smoke were still rising, as the
conflagration spread; and at one stroke the whole agricultural
wealth of the island was destroyed. The boys regretted that this
should necessarily be the