Under The Star Spangled Banner Part 12

"And a Britisher?"

"Yes."

"Good! Put it right there." The lieutenant shook him heartily by the hand.

A moment later the men threw open the magazine, in spite of the terrible risk they ran, and flung the contents of their buckets upon the explosives. Then they raced to the deck again for a fresh supply of water, and did not cease from their arduous labors till all danger of another explosion was at an end.

Flinging his bucket away, Hal now made a tour of that part of the ship which was not in flames. Then, having helped to lift three injured men into the boat, he descended himself, and at the quartermaster's order they returned to their own ship. A few minutes later, Captain Sigsbee, the commander of the _Maine_, stepped sadly from her deck, and was rowed away, the last living man to leave the terrible scene.

As for Hal, he slipped into a fresh suit of clothes, and for hours worked with the other pa.s.sengers endeavoring to alleviate the sufferings of the poor fellows brought aboard the ship. Then, tired out with his labors, for he had taken a prominent and a large share in the work of rescue, he retired to the upper deck, with Mr. Brindle, Gerald, and Dora, and flung himself into a chair. But though utterly fatigued, he was too horrified by the ghastly tragedy he had witnessed, and too shaken by all that had happened in the past few hours, to be able to get to sleep. It was out of the question, so that instead of going straight to his bunk, he felt that he must stay in the open air, where he could rest, and at the same time talk over the occurrence with his friends.

"I've a weight here," he cried peevishly, striking himself on the chest.

"The horror of it all distresses me. What a terrible calamity!"

"Aye, what a misfortune! What an inhuman deed!" replied Mr. Brindle, in a voice which faltered in spite of himself. "Think of it; try to realize the cruelty of it all. In the times of peace, in the cause of good-will, and in the earnest attempt to bring alleviation of suffering to a long-stricken people, the poor lads of my adopted country are cruelly blown to pieces, sent into eternity at the very door of those who have invited them. They came with nothing but friendship in their hearts, expecting to meet with the same. The shock of the news will be felt from east to west, and from north to south, and everywhere will be received at first with incredulity, and later with loathing and scorn, for never was such a dastardly deed committed."

"Committed by whom? What do you mean?" asked Hal, in astonishment. "Do you really think that the explosion was arranged--that it was not a pure accident?"

"I do; unhappily, I do," answered Mr. Brindle sternly. "How could it have been otherwise? It is sad, far too sad for words, and I shall be mistaken if to-night's work does not prove the cause of a war between Spain and America."

"But why war, Mr. Brindle? Had matters come to such a pa.s.s that the destruction of the _Maine_ would set the countries at each other's throats?"

"Perhaps not that, Hal, for the aspect of affairs of late was distinctly brighter. Still, I think I am right in saying that the wrath of the American people will be so great when the news is known, that serious trouble will be inevitable. But come, let us to our bunks. To-morrow we will talk the matter over."

"To our bunks, dad! I could not possibly sleep!" exclaimed Dora.

"Nor I," chimed in Gerald.

"And I must confess that I am too troubled and too disturbed to sleep,"

said Mr. Brindle.

"Then why not fill the time in till morning dawns by telling us about this affair?" cried Hal. "We are all agreed that we cannot sleep; we have done our utmost for those who suffered during or after the explosion, and now we have nothing to do but to lounge here, and fume and fret till to-morrow. Be kind to us, Mr. Brindle. Stir your memory, and let us know the ins and outs of the whole story."

"Well, I will; and if I try your patience, bear with me a little,"

replied Mr. Brindle. "The quarrel is not of a day's making, nor does it turn upon one single point. Cuba is the cause of it all, and as we are here, perhaps no more fitting spot could be selected for a description of the rebellion and bloodshed which have caused trouble between Spain and America."

CHAPTER IX

"THE EVER-FAITHFUL ISLAND"

Dressed in a clean suit of white, with wide-open waist-coat and expanse of glossy shirt, the whole set off by a black evening bow, Mr. Brindle stalked moodily up and down the deck for several minutes, his hands thrust into his pockets, and his chin resting upon his chest. He was evidently in deep thought, and Hal, with Dora and Gerald close at hand, watched him curiously, wondering when he would commence to speak.

"It is hard to know exactly where to start," he said at last, coming to a stop in front of them, where he leaned against the ship's rail, and producing a cigar, bit off the end with a nervous snap. "It is difficult, I confess, to fulfill my promise. To begin with, I am shaken by the horrible calamity we have witnessed to-night. My grief is great and heartfelt for those poor fellows who have been so ruthlessly slain, and loathing and contempt for the inhuman wretches who perpetrated the ghastly deed are so much in my thoughts that I find it difficult to fix my mind upon the subject before us, or grasp its details with sufficient clearness to narrate them to you in lucid form.

"Still, a promise is a promise, and I will therefore do my best to tell you why there is bad blood between Spain and America, and why I fear war in the immediate future.

"Just fancy, this, the most beautiful, and once the most prosperous, of Western isles, is still known in Spain as 'the ever-faithful island of Cuba'! And yet there is scarcely a single Spaniard who is not conversant with the true state of affairs, and is not very well aware that Cuba is in revolt, and has been so for close upon fifty years. Go to the country of the Dons and question her lower cla.s.ses--I mean the poor people who exist by tilling the soil, or earn a livelihood in factories or workshops. I will answer for it that hundreds, aye, thousands even, curse this fair isle, curse the government that rules it so evilly, and the necessity that has called, and still calls, for their sons to go across the seas and die, in the depths of jungle and mora.s.s.

"Looking back as I do at this moment, I feel that all this suffering, all this misery and heart-ache, are Spain's just reward. The great man of Genoa, Christopher Columbus, who explored these Western seas in the fifteenth century, would have pa.s.sed by the lovely sh.o.r.es of this gorgeous island and refused to annex it for his adopted king and queen, if he had foreseen the future.

"In those days a race of comely men and women, the Carib Indians, inhabited the land, and their descendants might be here to-day had not the l.u.s.t for gold and riches led Spanish adventurers to disembark in the hopes of satisfying their greed. As might have been expected, trouble followed, and the better armed invaders hunted the Indians till they were exterminated. That unnecessary bloodshed has cost Spain dear. She occupied the island, and made it the headquarters of the African slave trade. Little by little other people and races were attracted here, till at the present moment the population amounts to about a million and a half. Of these a third are negroes, and the remainder anything you please to call them. You can pick from amongst the populace distinctive races, whose color ranges from negro black to almost pure white. Of the latter there are but few in the island, for even the proud old Castilian families which came here years ago, and throve and made money by the sweat of these imported negroes, are now no longer Spanish. Scarcely one of their descendants but has some trace of African blood.

"Of white inhabitants there are few, I said, and these are only temporary residents. They come across the seas to Cuba with one object in view, namely, to make money and return home at the earliest possible date. They are mainly the military and officials, and it is from this greed of theirs, from the careless, thoughtless rule which has allowed matters to go anyhow, and from the gradual fall from bad to worse, that the present trouble arises. Greed and the craving to be rich beyond the dreams of avarice, obtained for Spain this lovely island, to the misfortune of thousands of harmless Caribs; and the same vice has cost her dear already in lives and treasure, and will demand much more, even the loss of the land itself.

"What can you expect? Put a puppet in command, far from observation, and over a race which in his pride he deems utterly inferior to himself, and he becomes a jack in office and an oppressor. I do not say, mind you, Hal, that all rulers here have been unscrupulous; but many have, while others who have been honest in their dealings have failed to bring content to the people through sheer incompetence. You cannot satisfactorily rule a conquered people unless you study their prejudices. Give them some liberty, respect their customs if possible, and their religion, if not harmful and barbarous, and you will make them willing and contented subjects.

"But you have the facts; the Cubans have been misgoverned. They have been fleeced and ground down by their rulers, both civil and military, and, as a natural consequence, they have become rebellious.

"That was the position in 1850, when, following the example set by Mexico, Chili, and Peru, and other western colonies of Spain which had successfully revolted, the colored inhabitants of the island raised the standard of revolution. They attacked their white masters, and galled them by sudden and ugly rushes. When fighting in the forests and swamps which are to be found everywhere, they poured a scathing fire into bands of soldiers brought against them, and disappeared like ghosts, only to return and hara.s.s the foe at the next opportune moment.

"How long this particular revolt lasted it would be difficult to say, but no doubt it dragged on for many months, subsiding here only to burst forth elsewhere with redoubled fury. But end it did at length, and the island enjoyed peace for a time.

"Then once more the natives took up arms, and, while Spain strove to put down a rebellion at home, had things much their own way, for the mother country had her hands full. For ten long weary years that rebellion lasted, and many a conscript from the fair land stretching from Pyrenees to Mediterranean bit the dust in this far-away Spanish possession.

"It is, perhaps, a coincidence that America in those days came into conflict with Spain, so that war very nearly resulted, the cause of quarrel being then, as now, aggravated and brought to a climax by an act of peculiar cruelty. For in those days the condition of the poor natives aroused the sympathy of Americans, many of whom, moreover, had already settled in the island. Their pity took the form of substantial help, for they dispatched various filibustering expeditions to Cuba, and thus supplied the natives with arms and ammunition. Unhappily, a certain ship known as the _Virginius_ was discovered attempting to land her cargo, and failed to make good her escape. Capture was inevitable, but before being taken by the Spanish gunboat, the Americans on board managed to get rid of all their warlike stores. It made no difference, however, for once landed at Santiago, little time was given for friends to intervene.

All were condemned to death; and as a preliminary, a number of Cubans who formed part of the expedition were shot, their heads being severed from their bodies by the mob, and paraded round the town. Fourteen were executed on the following day, and others on the next, including the commander of the expedition and other Americans. Then the butchery was put a stop to by telegraphic orders.

"But the mischief was done, and I ask you to think how you would have felt had such a deed been perpetrated nowadays. I can a.s.sure you that America cried loudly for retaliation, and war was only narrowly averted.

"For ten years the insurrection flourished, subsiding in the winter to a mere nothing, for then the Spanish troops were able to take active measures to suppress it. In the summer, however, from May onwards, when the rainy season commences, the insurgents had the best of the fighting.

Themselves immune from fever, and acclimatized, they could live and fight in the 'manigua,' as the bush and swamp in the interior are named, while the Spaniards were helpless. Drenched by constant tropical downpours, and plodding along a narrow, irregular track which was thick with mud, they were fired upon by unseen foes from the trees and jungle on either hand. What use to charge into the thickness of the vegetation?

It was sheer suicide, for they were at once separated and split into small parties upon which the Cubans fell with unspeakable fury, armed always with a deadly chopping weapon, the 'machete.'

"Cold steel did the grewsome work silently and mercilessly, sending many a poor lad of Castile to his end.

"Imagine the conditions for a moment, Hal, and you too, Gerald and Dora.

You all know what a thick forest is like, for the 'Barn' in Florida is built in the midst of the jungle. Think what it must be to be weary with trudging along a path thick with mud; to be footsore, drenched to the skin, and hungry; and then to be wounded by some unseen hand. No wonder that the Spanish troops died in their hundreds, poor lads! Scarcely able to crawl themselves, was it wonderful that the transport of food and ammunition was difficult? It was impossible, and I can tell you that, though the cruel machete accounted for many, exposure, want, and disease killed thousands more.

"It was a wearisome rebellion, and it, too, died a natural death in 1878.

"And now to bring you and my tale to more modern times. Following peace came renewed prosperity, and with it myself, for it was then that I purchased a plantation. As I became acquainted with the ins and outs of the island life, I learned that the appearance of tranquillity was false after all. Discontent was manifest everywhere, and matters were beginning to wear an ugly look. Factions were openly at work stirring up the people; and of these, one clamored for a system of home government under Spanish guidance, while the other would have none of it, and openly advocated a free Cuba--Cuba for its native people, exempt from all interference.

"I need not tell you that the haughty, careless officials who had come from the home country formed another party, which sneered at all things native, and, mindful of the fat purses to be made from their several appointments, cried loudly for military rule, less consideration and less conciliation, and, as a change, a tighter grip of the hand which had already cost Spain so dear.

"It is wasting breath to recount what happened. Of course, discontent grew to active rebellion, till the island was once more swept by fire and sword. To describe every detail of this new insurrection would be wearisome, for it has dragged on ever since, and not once has there been anything in the way of a battle. Minor skirmishes have been the order of the day; in fact, it has simply been guerrilla warfare.

"On the Spanish side the main scheme has been to divide the island into three parts, and so separate the rebels. For this purpose two continuous lines of forts, called 'trochas,' have been constructed. They stretch from north to south, cutting Cuba into three long strips. You will see one as we drive from Santiago to our destination, but I may tell you that they are of enormous strength, that a double fence of barbed wire protects a road cut through the jungle, and that along the latter innumerable forts have been erected, while a railway stretches from end to end.

"But these trochas have proved almost useless. The enormous force at the disposal of the general is swamped in garrisoning them, while the mortality is very high. And the insurgents are more active than ever.

Trains are blown up with dynamite, the trochas cut, and the men in the forts forever hara.s.sed.

"And now I come to the stage in the rebellion which is the real cause of trouble with America. Determined to conquer, the insurgents have adopted the custom of burning the villages, so as to force those who were wavering, or who were faint-hearted, to throw in their lot with them. In addition, they have taken to destroying plantations, thus depriving the working cla.s.ses of the means of livelihood. This naturally led to much misery and hardship, but the condition was as nothing when compared with that produced by the Spanish general, Weyler, who now came on the scene.

Finding that the peaceful laborer of to-day was the insurgent of yesterday, he ordered all living in the country to come into the towns, a concentration order excellent in its intentions, but heartlessly carried out. Thousands were congregated together and starved--literally and actually starved. There was no method in feeding them and looking to their well-being. The Spanish authorities had made utterly inadequate provision for them, and as a consequence they sickened and died in their thousands.