About nine o'clock the point came to a twelve-foot bridge, freshly torn up. This was quickly replaced and on the column moved. About 10.30 a few shots were heard, which fact was at once reported to Captain Groome, who gave orders for the Troop to advance at a gallop. In a few minutes the point came in sight, talking with armed men, and like a flash the word came back through the chain of advance supports that the Troop had at last reached General Brooke's outposts, the Fourth Illinois.
Orders were given Captain Groome to proceed through Guayama, toward Arroyo, one mile from which place the Troop went into camp. A few hours later H Troop came up and camped alongside.
Thursday, August 11th, was a day of wild rumors. All sorts of movements were about to take place, according to report, and a majority of the plans had some Trooper, who believed in them. From the Philadelphia men's camp a Spanish blockhouse could be seen on the mountains two miles away. Several batteries, encamped near the Troop, wheeled into position in the morning and indulged in target practice. Many of the Troopers witnessed this stirring sight, and returned to camp with the announcement that the practice was superb. The daily rain was unusually heavy, and the men turned in early to fight the bugs, mosquitoes and stifling heat.
All conditions were unfavorable to comfort at Arroyo. Great clouds would come drifting in from the sea toward the mountains, and rain and wind would beat in at one side of the Troop's shelter tents. Within an hour the clouds would come rolling back to the sea, and the wind and rain would besiege the opposite side of the tents. Thursday night the Troopers slept in soaking blankets, inches deep in rain and mud. Nothing but good-natured chaffing over the discomforts was heard however.
Friday afternoon the Troopers went in a body to the beach, about a mile away, and took a dip in the Caribbean Sea. Rumors of an engagement close at hand kept growing in force, and when a careful inspection of carbines took place upon their return from bathing, the Troopers were fully prepared for the orders which came to them at retreat that evening, to be ready to move in heavy marching order at 5.30 in the morning. This was formal notice that a battle would take place on the morrow, and members of the City and H Troops offered mutual congratulations.
CHAPTER VIII.
THE FIGHT THAT FAILED.
Much has been written and more said about "the night before the battle." Then it is, that sentiment is supposed to seize upon a soldier; thoughts and talks of home, wife and mother are proper, and in fact necessary, according to all writers of fiction. But even in the face of this traditional outline of a soldier's last hours before an engagement, it must be written that the City Troopers retained their characteristic coolness. On that Friday evening a close observer of the Troopers' camp would have supposed that the men were upon familiar ground, and that a battle was months in the future, instead of being as sure to take place on the morrow as anything could be in human foresight.