At any rate the Duke proved a most competent engineer, guiding us with velvet touch through the steep inclines and sharp turns of the Guadarrama mountains. At Venta de Baños his turn at the engine ended and on my invitation he came to dine with us in the dining car. He proved a most charming gentleman, speaking English well. He said that his great ambition was to visit America and see the big locomotives and the pretty girls. At dinner he was, of course, dressed in his overalls and carried out the professional touch by using clean cotton waste instead of a pocket handkerchief.
Arrived at La Coruña in the morning, carriages sent by the Spanish government met us and the Mayor and the other officials were most polite. The Mayor accompanied us on board ship next day, giving to Mrs. Gerard a beautiful basket of flowers entwined with ribbons of the colours of the City of La Coruña.
We found the Infanta Isabela a clean splendid ship—her Captain competent and kind. I cheerfully recommend her to any who wish a safe voyage across the Atlantic during the war.
My stay in Havana was brief and I was soon en route northward from Key West.
As our train came north through Florida there were crowds and bands at the stations and at St. Augustine my eyes were delighted by the sight of Frank Munsey and Ex-Senator Chauncey Depew.
At the station in Washington Secretary McAdoo met me. What a splendid record of achievement is his since the war, and now with the burden of all the railways in the country added to that of finance I suppose in no country at war has one man so successfully undertaken such gigantic tasks.
President Wilson was ill in bed but next day got up on purpose to hear my report. I was with him for over an hour.
THE "INFANTA ISABELLA," ON WHICH AMBASSADOR GERARD RETURNED FROM EUROPE. FROM A PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN IN HAVANA HARBOR, MARCH, 1917