86 The Rough Riders 



showed as much gallantry as any soldier in the 

 field. They were Edward Marshall and Richard 

 Harding Davis. 



After reaching the top of the hill the walk was 

 very pleasant. Now and then we came to glades 

 or rounded hill-shoulders, whence we could look off 

 for some distance. The tropical forest was very 

 beautiful, and it was a delight to see the strange 

 trees, the splendid royal palms and a tree which 

 looked like a flat-topped acacia, and which was cov- 

 ered with a mass of brilliant scarlet flowers. We 

 heard many bird-notes, too, the cooing of doves and 

 the call of a great brush cuckoo. Afterward we 

 found that the Spanish guerillas imitated these bird- 

 calls, but the sounds we heard that morning, as we 

 advanced through the tropic forest, were from birds, 

 not guerillas, until we came right up to the Span- 

 ish lines. It was very beautiful and very peaceful, 

 and it seemed more as if we were off on some hunt- 

 ing excursion than as if we were about to go into 

 a sharp and bloody little fight. 



Of course, we accommodated our movements to 

 those of the men in front. After marching for some- 

 what over an hour, we suddenly came to a halt, and 

 immediately afterward Colonel Wood sent word 

 down the line that the advance guard had come 

 upon a Spanish outpost. Then the order was passed 

 to fill the magazines, which was done. 



