tropical forest on the north coast of Cuba.

A handful of colonists followed the survey corps into La Gloria at
intervals, the first ladies coming in December. These were Mrs. D. E.
Lowell and Mrs. W. G. Spiker; they came with their husbands. Mr. Lowell
had been a prosperous orange and pineapple grower in Florida until the
great freeze came, and Mr. Spiker was a successful photographer in Ohio
before leaving his state to find him a new home in the tropics. The
Lowells and Spikers were intelligent and cultivated people who had been
accustomed to a good style of living, but who were now ready to
undertake a rough, pioneer life in the strong hope of a bright future.
The party landed at Palota, northwest of La Gloria, and came in with
horses and wagon of their own, following the roughest kind of trail for
the larger part of nine miles. It was a hard and perilous trip; only
with the greatest difficulty could the horses draw the load through the
heavy mud and over the deeply gullied road. More than once the team
seemed hopelessly stuck, but was extricated after a time and the
toilsome journey continued. At last the bedraggled party reached La
Gloria, and the first women colonists set foot on the soil of the future
Cuban-American city. When the _Yarmouth_ colonists arrived, the Lowells
and Spikers had been living at La Gloria for several weeks; they were
well and happy, and pleased with the climate and the country.

CHAPTER IV.

FIRST DAYS IN THE NEW COLONY.

The first few days after our arrival we led a strange and what seemed to
many of us an unreal life. Shut into a small open space by a great
forest, with no elevation high enough for us to see even so much of the
outside world as hills, mountains, or the sea, it almost seemed as if we
had dropped off of the earth to some unknown planet. Day after day
passed without our seeing the horizon, or hearing a locomotive or
steamboat whistle. We had no houses, only tents, and there was not a
wooden building of any sort within a dozen miles. At night the camp was
dimly lighted by flickering fires and the starry sky, and through the
semi-darkness came the hollow, indistinct voices of men discussing the
outlook for the future. There were always some who talked the larger
part of the night, and others who invariably rose at three o'clock in
the morning; this was two hours before light. In the deep forest at
night were heard strange sounds, but high above them all, every nigh