sh forces
were much stronger than our men thought they were, and it took General
Lawton nearly all day to gain possession of El Caney. Early in the
day, Lieutenant Parker's battery of four Gatling guns began to hurl
bullets into the Spanish trenches, and so well did it keep up the work
that it played a very important part in the battle and a great deal of
the credit of the victory is due to Lieutenant Parker. Afterwards,
Lieutenant Parker, in speaking of these wonderful machine guns, said:

"We trained the guns on the top of the hill. They were fired above the
heads of the slowly advancing line of blue which had started up the
slope. I ordered the men to work the Gatlings as fast as they could.
The result was astounding. With each of the four guns firing at the
rate of eight hundred shots a minute, the bullets formed a canopy over
the heads of the men at the foot of the hill. A Gatling gun in action
is a sight to remember; so thick and fast do the bullets fly that one
can actually see the stream of lead leaving the gun and, as if
handling a hose, train it on any desired point.

"I remember one incident of the first day which showed how deadly was
the fire of these machine guns. Away off, across the valley, we saw a
clump of Spanish cavalrymen. I ordered the guns turned on them. They
were so far away we had to use glasses to find them accurately, but
when the little wheels began to turn, those who stood in the front
line of the clump fell as grass falls before a mower, and it didn't
take the rest of those Spaniards long to get behind something.

"As the day wore on, and the troops kept climbing up the hill, Colonel
Roosevelt, who had been watching the work of the Gatlings, came along
and placed his light battery of two Colt machine guns and one dynamite
gun in my command."

You can get an idea of the deadly work of the Gatlings when I tell you
that the fire of one of these guns is equal to that of one hundred and
eighty riflemen, each discharging thirteen shots per minute.

The dynamite gun is the latest development in light artillery. One of
them had been supplied to Roosevelt's Rough Riders, or "Teddy's
Terrors," as they were often called, but none of them wanted to handle
it.

[Illustration: Sergeant Borrowe Working the Dynamite Gun.]

They were willing to face Spanish bullets, but they were afraid of the
dynamite gun. They thought it was just as dangerous at one end as at
the other. It is an odd looking piece