and then to take that city. But it did not prove to be easy.

There is a little railroad which runs from some mines near Santiago to
the pier at Daiquiri. Before the landing was made, the Spaniards were
driven from the coast by the shells of the American fleet. Before they
hurried away they attempted to disable a locomotive which had steam
up. They took off the connecting rods, throttle gear and other
important parts of the machinery and hid them behind fences and other
places where they thought they would not be found. Then they blocked
the piston guides and ran off. But there were plenty of engineers and
mechanics among the American soldiers, and when they saw the condition
the locomotive was in they started to search for the missing parts.
Most of these were found and the machinery was cleverly patched up.
Then they knocked the blocks of wood out of the slides and threw fresh
coal into the firebox, and in a very short time the locomotive was
pulling a train of ore cars loaded with soldiers.

[Illustration: (Soldiers at rest)]

CHAPTER IX.

EL CANEY AND SAN JUAN.

For a few days after the battle of Las Guasimas no great event took
place. There was no fighting. The other troops were making their way
up from the coast, but the roads were so narrow and so bad that
progress was slow. The army wagons had great trouble to get on, and
many supplies were left at the coast or on the boats, because there
was no proper way of taking them forward. The heavy cannon were hauled
a few miles from the coast and then most of them were left, though
they would have been a great help to our Army, and should have been
taken to the front. It was soon found that many of the doctors'
supplies--the things needed in taking care of the sick and
wounded--had not been taken off the ships that brought the men from
Florida. It was thought by some of our men that now more effort should
be made to clear roads through the woods and thick bushes, but not
much was done. A great deal of fault has been found with the way
things were managed at this time. It seems as if some of the officers
were very much to blame. There need not have been so many men killed
in the battles that followed, or so much suffering and sickness in our
Army, if all our officers had done their duty. Meanwhile, the
Spaniards went on improving their forts on the hills a few miles away.

Nearly two thousand more of our soldiers landed in Cuba about this
time, and more w