To Cuba 11 



steamed by us and offered to help put us ashore. 

 Of course, we jumped at the chance. Wood and I 

 boarded the Vixen, and there we got Lieutenant 

 Sharp's black Cuban pilot, who told us he could 

 take our transport right in to within a few hundred 

 yards of the land. Accordingly, we put him aboard ; 

 and in he brought her, gaining at least a mile and a 

 half by the manoeuvre. The other transports fol- 

 lowed ; but we had our berth, and were all right. 



There was plenty of excitement to the landing. 

 In the first place, the smaller war vessels shelled 

 Daiquiri, so as to dislodge any Spaniards who might 

 be lurking in the neighborhood, and also shelled 

 other places along the coast, to keep the enemy puz- 

 zled as to our intentions. Then the surf was high, 

 and the landing difficult ; so that the task of getting 

 the men, the ammunition, and provisions ashore was 

 not easy. Each man carried three days' field rations 

 and a hundred rounds of ammunition. Our regi- 

 ment had accumulated two rapid-fire Colt automatic 

 guns, the gift of Stevens, Kane, Tiffany, and one 

 or two others of the New York men, and also a 

 dynamite gun, under the immediate charge of Ser- 

 geant Borrowe. To get these, and especially the 

 last, ashore, involved no little work and hazard. 

 Meanwhile, from another transport, our horses were 

 being landed, together with the mules, by the simple 

 process of throwing them overboard and letting 



