88 The Rough Riders 



Greenway, Kane and their troopers until we came 

 out on a kind of shoulder, jutting over a ravine, 

 which separated us from a great ridge on our right. 

 It was on this ridge that the Spaniards had some 

 of their intrenchments, and it was just beyond this 

 ridge that the Valley Road led, up which the regu- 

 lars were at that very time pushing their attack; 

 but, of course, at the moment we knew nothing of 

 this. The effect of the smokeless powder was re- 

 markable. The air seemed full of the rustling sound 

 of the Mauser bullets, for the Spaniards knew the 

 trails by which we were advancing, and opened 

 heavily on our position. Moreover, as we advanced 

 we were, of course, exposed, and they could see us 

 and fire. But they themselves were entirely in- 

 visible. The jungle covered everything, and not 

 the faintest trace of smoke was to be seen in any 

 direction to indicate from whence the bullets came. 

 It was some time before the men. fired; Llewellen, 

 Kane, and I anxiously studying the ground to see 

 where our opponents were, and utterly unable to 

 find out. 



We could hear the faint reports of the Hotchkiss 

 guns and the reply of two Spanish guns, and the 

 Mauser bullets were singing through the trees over 

 our heads, making a noise like the humming of 

 telephone wires ; but exactly where they came from 

 we could not tell. The Spaniards were firing high 



