To Cuba 55 



were to camp, and no one to issue us food for the 

 first twenty- four hours ; while the railroad people un- 

 loaded us wherever they pleased, or rather wherever 

 the jam of all kinds of trains rendered it possible. 

 We had to buy the men food out of our own pockets, 

 and to seize wagons in order to get our spare bag- 

 gage taken to the camping ground which we at last 

 found had been allotted to us. 



Once on the ground, we speedily got order out 

 of confusion. Under Wood's eye the tents were 

 put up in long streets, the picket-line of each troop 

 stretching down its side of each street. The offi- 

 cers' quarters were at the upper ends of the streets, 

 the company kitchens and sinks at the opposite ends. 

 The camp was strictly policed, and drill promptly be- 

 gun. For thirty-six hours we let the horses rest, 

 drilling on foot, and then began the mounted drill 

 again. The regiments with which we were after- 

 ward to serve were camped near us, and the sandy 

 streets of the little town were thronged with soldiers, 

 almost all of them regulars ; for there were but one 

 or two volunteer organizations besides ourselves. 

 The regulars wore the canonical dark blue of Uncle 

 Sam. Our own men were clad in dusty brown 

 blouses, trousers and leggings being of the same hue, 

 while the broad-brimmed soft hat was of dark gray ; 

 and very workmanlike they looked as, in column of 

 fours, each troop trotted down its company street to 



