who talked earnestly and
eloquently upon his appalling experiences in Confederate military
prisons many years before. The handful of soldiers of the Spanish war
were modestly silent in the presence of this gaunt old veteran of the
great civil strife. Judge Groesbeck, of Washington, D. C., quoted poetry
and told anecdotes and stories, while the Rev. Mr. Seddon, Dr. W. P.
Peirce of Hoopeston, Ill., and others, contributed their share to the
conversation. As we became drowsy, we could hear, now and again, some
one of our companions giving an imitation of the Cuban captain:
"To-morrow--four o'clock--wind right--go!".

[Illustration: AN INVOLUNTARY BATH.]

Early in the morning, true to his word, the captain set sail, and as the
wind was right good progress was made. One of the diverting incidents of
the morning was the fall of the captain overboard. In the crowded
condition of the boat, he lost his footing and went over backward into
the water. He scrambled back again in a hurry, with a look of deep
disgust upon his rather repulsive face, but the inconsiderate
"Americanos" greeted him with a roar of laughter. One enterprising
amateur photographer secured a snapshot of him as he emerged dripping
from his involuntary bath. A little later one of the Cubans caught a
handsome dolphin, about two feet and a half long. The crew cooked it and
served it up at ten cents a plate. As our schooner, drawing five feet of
water, entered the inlet about fifteen miles from the port of La Gloria,
she dragged roughly over the rocky bottom for some distance and came
perilously near suffering misfortune. The other schooners came in
collision at about this time and a panic ensued. No serious damage
resulted, however. It was between twelve and one o'clock that afternoon
that the port of La Gloria was sighted.

CHAPTER III.

A TOUGH TRAMP TO LA GLORIA CITY.

As the fleet of schooners drew near La Gloria port, a row of small tents
was discerned close to the shore. Elsewhere there was a heavy growth of
bushes to the water's edge--the mangroves and similar vegetation fairly
growing out into the sea. Between and around the tents was a wretched
slough of sticky, oozy mud nearly a foot deep, with streams of surface
water flowing over it in places into the bay. The colonists were filled
with excitement and mingled emotions as they approached the shore, but
their hearts sank when they surveyed this discouraging scene. They
landed on the rude pi