"That would suit finely. Say, do you know Guantanamo, the port forty miles east of Santiago?"
"Yes; I have been there once. I rode from the hacienda to it, and followed forest paths all the way."
"Then you'll be very useful, for it's there that we're goin' to land. We're here for the night only."
This indeed was the case, and the marines encamped close beside the pier that night, Hal taking up his quarters with them, and making use of the opportunity to borrow a suit of American clothes; for it was no joke being dressed as he was, and running the gantlet of the abundant chaff which his Spanish uniform attracted. We will do him the justice, however, to say that he made a very fine, soldierly looking fellow in his unaccustomed kit, and would have taken first place for size and general air of manliness among the Spaniards quartered in Santiago, or, for the matter of that, in any part of the island.
"You'd get copped as sure as eggs if you met any of the enemy," was the remark which one of the marines made to him. "As soon as you'd put yer head into one of the Dons' camps you'd find a tidy lot er bullets fizzin' close by yer nose, for I reckon they don't show many of your sort. There's somethin' about you, young mister, that looks like beef, good old honest roast beef, the stuff that Britishers boast of, and the same that them Froggies and others of the same sort sneer at, and jist wish they could crow about. But get it off—I mean them togs, else p'raps the sentry yonder will be makin' a mistake, and sendin' a plug of daylight through yer."
On the following day the marines re-embarked, and steamed along the coast to Guantanamo, where three cruisers and two gunboats at once entered the roads, and rapidly dispersed the Spanish garrison. Then the Panther, a transport, carrying 850 marines, steamed in. The men at once disembarked, Hal accompanying them. They encamped on a hill near a village called Playa del Este, and pushed their pickets into the bush, which grew down close to the water's edge. On their right, Caimamera, another village, was in flames, having been deserted and fired by the Spaniards.
"Mr. Marchant," said the officer in charge, to whom Hal had been introduced, "will you take a rifle and help the boys?"
"Certainly," was Hal's ready answer. "I fancy that your men will soon be engaged, for this place is surrounded by bush, as you can see for yourself, and that is an ideal cover for Spanish irregulars, who, I may tell you, are masters at that particular form of fighting, having been taught many bitter lessons by the insurgents. There! Listen to that!"
They went outside the tent, and heard the distant rattle of musketry, and then the answering shots from their own pickets. Taking up a rifle, and filling his pockets with cartridges, Hal at once ran up the hill to join them.
"Keep yer noddle low thar," a sergeant sang out to him. "The Dons aer sendin' their bullets skimmin' over here, and it's odds yer don't quite see from where. That's the ticket. Get low down, and keep a lively look-out."