Under the Star-Spangled Banner: A Tale of the Spanish-American War

by F. S. Brereton

When Hal and his friends appeared on deck on the morning following the disaster to the Maine, the city of Havana was in mourning. Shops, exchanges, and public offices were closed, while flags hung half-mast from the poles on all big buildings, and from the tops of the shipping in the harbor. Projecting from the water a hundred yards away was the half-submerged wreck, now blackened and unsightly, and covered with a pall of dense smoke.

Ashore the hospitals were crowded to overflowing, and surgeons were still busily at work, amputating mangled limbs, and doing their utmost for the sufferers; for more than half the ship's company had been either killed or sadly injured. Even then the news had reached America, and peaceful cities, opening their morning papers, read with a shock of the terrible calamity. Away in the country districts, farmers and cowboys learned the tidings some hours later. It was flashed east and west across the wires. The dire event was discussed in every drawing room, in hotels, restaurants, and cars. Men whispered the news to comrades as they descended in the cages to the deep levels of coal-mines, while others shouted it from the foot-plates of outgoing trains, as they steamed through the stations. And everywhere there was but one thought. Punishment must be meted out to the nation which had caused the disaster. Oh, yes, it was a crime. Not a man but knew it, though the bare facts had hardly reached him. There had been foul play, and the villains who had been guilty of it must pay.

On the part of the government, arrangements were at once made for a Board of Inquiry to sit at Havana, and for the wreck to be examined by divers. The report, which could not possibly be issued for many a day to come, was awaited with feverish impatience, many of the hotter-blooded people of the States demanding instant war with Spain, and an examination and explanation afterwards.

In Havana, nothing could have been more marked than the sorrow of the Spanish. They grieved for the unfortunate seamen, but there was no treachery, they vowed; and those who saw them on that day were confident that if the explosion had been previously arranged, it was by some miscreant who acted for himself, and against the wishes of the people.

And in this position the two nations must be left while we follow our friends to the hacienda.

"The train departs at midday," said Mr. Brindle, when they were collected at breakfast. "We will disembark in an hour's time, and make a few purchases in the town. Then we will get on board the cars, and, with luck, shall be at the hacienda in three days' time."

Accordingly, they packed their baggage and embarked in the boat which Hal and Mr. Brindle had helped to man on the previous night. By noon they were comfortably in the train, the intervening hours having been employed in buying provisions, and in obtaining revolvers and ammunition for the three men of the party.

"We shall want them more than ever now," said Mr. Brindle, slipping his weapon into a hip pocket which had been specially contrived for the purpose. "As soon as we reach Eldorado, I will get one of the negro women to make similar receptacles for you two lads, for it is as well to keep these toys out of sight till the critical moment arrives."

Three days later they descended from the cars at a wayside station some miles from Santiago, and in a beautiful part of the island. Mounting mules, they left their baggage in charge of two of the plantation hands, and before long reached the hacienda, of which Mr. Brindle had not boasted when he declared that it was the most lovely in all Cuba. And now Hal's duties commenced in earnest.

"You are to be my right-hand man, remember that," exclaimed his kindly employer a day or so later. "You will live with us, of course, and will be considered as one of the family. Early in the morning I ride round the place, which is some miles in extent; and I shall expect you to accompany me. Then, during the day, you will be about the place, and will look in here and there. The cane is now ripe for cutting, and we shall have our hands full with it in a matter of two weeks. Then the tobacco crop is unusually promising, and we shall have to harvest it immediately after the cane. Now, as to workmen. The majority of my hands are negroes, whom I imported from the estate in Florida. They are reliable, honest men, who look to me as to a father. I treat them well, and they reward me by being obedient and working hard. They are re-enforced by a few local natives; but I have purposely employed very few of the latter, for they are discontented, idle fellows, and since the insurrection started, there is never any knowing when they may be off with their brethren. Ah, here is Black Peter, my foreman, a faithful fellow, who has spent many years in my service. Pete, this is my overseer, and from to-day you will treat him as myself, and will take your orders from him."