Christmas Day. We were both strongly attached to him and never did 

 boys have a kinder and more indulgent uncle than we had in him. 

 He was especially fond of my Brother who, like him, was a cavalry 

 officer and shared his tastes for shooting and other forms of sport in a 

 way that I, despite vaUant endeavour, could never succeed in doing. 



On New Year's Day, the Sedgwick^, returning from Cienfuegos, 

 picked me up for the voyage home. Before starting for New York, how- 

 ever, she had to go to Nuevitas, at the eastern end of Cuba, and take on 

 a battalion of the 8th Infantry, which had been stationed at Puerto 

 Principe. The run along the north coast of Cuba was interesting and 

 beautiful; it was the first time that I had seen long stretches of coral 

 reefs, or great schools of flying fish, or fleets of the exquisite "Portuguese 

 Men of War." In short, it was my first voyage through sunny and 

 mirror-like tropical seas, with all their wonderful exuberance of life, 

 and I was delighted to see the things of which I had so long read and 

 heard. The Men of War carried me swiftly back to Huxley's laboratory, 

 where I had first made their acquaintance from glass models. 



Neuvitas Bay is an interesting example of the bottleneck harbours of 

 which Cuba has so many; a long, narrow, winding entrance, opening 

 out into a great sheet of water. Once at anchor in the Bay, we had a 

 most tedious wait of a week, till the doughboys could get all their 

 plunder down from Puerto Principe and taken on lighters three or 

 four miles to the transport. I went ashore once, but a single inspection 

 of the mud hole called Nuevitas was sufficient. Somebody ought to have 

 been court-martialled for the delay, which was very costly to the Gov- 

 ernment. The ship's gossip made the infantry colonel responsible, say- 

 ing that he was so loth to leave Puerto Principe that he would make no 

 move to get ready until the transport was actually in harbour. As to the 

 truth of this, I have no means of judging, but I can testify that the "old 

 man" was as savage as the proverbial bear with a sore head and I suc- 

 cessfully avoided him during the voyage. 



On board the Sedgwick^ was the Havana correspondent of a New 

 York newspaper, who spoke to me of my Brother in terms of high 

 admiration, an admiration which was not entirely mutual. That paper 

 had been extremely critical of the military government of Cuba and 

 never had anything good to say of it. The object in view was the laud- 

 able one of holding the Washington administration to its pledge of 

 independence for the island, but the means employed were contemptible. 

 Once, when this correspondent came to the Adjutant General's of- 

 fice in search of news, my Brother said to him: "Look here! Soandso, 



L 241 3 



