Hal nodded, and at once began to talk the matter over with Gerald. Next morning they left the camp with six other men, and marched some five hundred yards ahead of the main body. A Rough Rider, who had been a cowboy right away in the west of North America, was put in charge of the little party.
"Now what aer the partic'lar jokes of these fellers?" he asked Hal, as they pushed along the road. "Yer foller, ef it wur Injuns, or even bad men of the prairie, I'd be onter their games quicken'n a knife. But these here Dons most like has a way of acting out er the ordinary, that aint easy ter catch hold of."
"They have, certainly," Hal replied. "To begin with, from the experience we had at Guantanamo I fancy you will find that the enemy will make a stubborn fight of it. Then they will lie hidden in the bush, and, look as you will, you will never see more than masses of moving green, for they cover themselves with leaves and fronds of ferns."
"Christopher! That aer the game? Wall, pards, whenever yer fall on a movin' bush pull yer trigger at it quicker than yer can wink," cried the cowboy. "Now we'll separate, so's to have about twenty yards between each man. Me and this here pard'll work the center, and t'others can fix onter the sides. When any of yer spots somethin' that's out of the ord'nary, send the warnin' along, and let every feller mark it. Then we'll bring a cross fire ter bear upon it that'll rip through the leaves, and clean the Dons off the face of the airth."
It was a good suggestion on the cowboy's part, and the scouts promptly carried it out, Hal and his new acquaintance taking the central place. And now the road became almost impassable, for rain had fallen, saturating the ground and trees, so that after a few minutes' work in the bush all the scouts were drenched from head to foot.
"It aer moist," the cowboy, whose name was Harman, exclaimed. "But it's warm, so it don't matter no more'n nothing. Say, aer that Spanish fellers thur?"
He pointed to a prominent hill in front, along the face of which were rows of trenches, and, though the distance was great, it was not difficult to decide that this was the enemy's position.
"Yes, those are Spaniards," Hal answered. "But look out! If I am not mistaken, the bush to the left is filled with guerrillas."
Scarcely had he spoken when a volley burst from the scrub in front, the bullets whistling overhead.
"That aer partic'lar bad shootin'," said Harman. "They aer right off the mark."