rom the surveying party
just before dark and attempted to make a short cut back to the camp.
They had been at work in a low, wet section two or three miles northwest
of the town, and their progress homeward was necessarily slow. They had
not proceeded far when it became perfectly dark and it was borne in upon
them that "cutting across lots" in a Cuban forest was quite a different
matter from doing it in some of the States. They were obliged to suspend
travel and hold up for the night. Although they could faintly hear the
reports of the guns in the camp they were unable to make their way in
through the thick woods. The men were without food or anything for
shelter. Having an axe with them, they chopped down a tree, to keep them
from the wet ground, and attempted to sleep upon its branches. The hard
bed and the numerous mosquitoes were not conducive to sleep, but the
tired fellows finally succumbed. When they awoke in the morning, one of
them found that he had slipped down and was lying with his legs in the
water. Not long after daylight they came into camp wet, tired, and
hungry. It was no uncommon thing for surveyors to get lost, but nothing
serious ever resulted.

CHAPTER VIII.

THE CUBANS.

I am often asked, "How did you get along with the Cubans?" very much as
inquiry might be made as to how we got along with the Apaches, or with
the Modocs; and one man said, decidedly, "I think I might like Cuba, but
I could never stand those Cubans." He had never seen a Cuban, I believe.

We got along with the Cubans very well indeed, much better than with
some of our neighbors in the States. Judging from our experience with
the inhabitants of the province of Puerto Principe, there are no better
people on the face of the earth to "get along with" than the Cubans. We
found them, almost without exception, courteous, social, kind,
hospitable, and honest. Indeed, it sometimes seemed as if there was
nothing they would not do for us that lay within their power. They
appeared to appreciate kind and fair treatment, and to be eager to
return the same to us. Those we came in contact with were mainly of the
humbler classes, but we saw nothing to indicate that those higher in
the social scale were less friendly and considerate. The Cubans we met
seemed to like the Americans, and the colonists certainly reciprocated
the feeling. After a residence of nearly a year among them, Hon. Peter
E. Park emphatically declared that there was as