lude that the clerks are not very busy, and that they are prepared
to 'wire' any number of words which I may present to them. I have no
dread of competition, at least for the present; for even if my rival
correspondents should have received news by the same steamer which
brought me, I know from experience, that some hours must necessarily
elapse before it can be in a condition for telegraphing.

With a triumphant smile, I seize a quire of printed telegraph forms, and
proceed to copy in 'a clear, bold hand' from my notes.

Now to astonish the _Trigger_, and all whom my abundant information may
concern!

I have scarcely finished my first instalment of news, when a telegraph
messenger taps me on the shoulder and staggers me with the information,
that in consequence of a serious interruption in the line of
communication with Havana, the operations of the telegraph are for the
present suspended!

Then I learn for the first time that a great revolution has broken out
in Spain, and that, despite the precautions of the governor of our town,
the revolutionary mania has seized the natives of Cuba, many of whom
have already risen in arms not many leagues from Santiago! Among other
achievements, the rebellious party have cut the telegraph wires and
intercepted the land mails.

There are no railways in direct communication with Havana, and the
postal service is effected by means of mounted carriers. Thus the
speediest ways for conveying news to Havana are cut off, and there is
no other resource but the tardy steamer. I accordingly return without
delay to the 'Pajaro del Oceano,' which is to sail for Havana in three
hours' time, and finding my good friend Don Fernandez on board, I
secretly hand him my big budget of news, begging him by all the saints
in the calendar to deliver the same into the hands of the Havana agent.

I am afraid to think what effect this further delay will have upon the
_New York Trigger_! Still it may be some consolation for the
enterprising proprietor of that newspaper if he find that his
contemporaries are suffering from the same complaint.

CHAPTER XXIV.

A STATE OF SIEGE IN CUBA.

A Cuban Newspaper Office--Local Intelligence--The Cuban
Revolution--Spanish Volunteers--A Recruit--With Bimba--- 'Los
Insurrectos'--At a Fire--Cuban Firemen.

'We are in a state of siege!' says my friend, Don Javier, editor of a
Cuban periodical called _El Sufragio Universal_.

'Y bien, amigo m