90 The Rough Riders 



behaving precisely like my officers, being on the 

 extreme front of the line, and taking every oppor- 

 tunity to study with his glasses the ground where 

 we thought the Spaniards were. I had tried some 

 volley firing at points where I rather doubtfully 

 believed the Spaniards to be, but had stopped firing 

 and was myself studying the jungle-covered moun- 

 tain ahead with my glasses, when Davis suddenly 

 said: "There they are, Colonel; look over there; I 

 can see their hats near that glade," pointing across 

 the valley to our right. In a minute I, too, made 

 out the hats, and then pointed them out to three or 

 four of our best shots, giving them my estimate of 

 the range. For a minute or two no result followed, 

 and I kept raising the range, at the same time get- 

 ting more men on the firing-line. Then, evidently, 

 the shots told, for the Spaniards suddenly sprang 

 out of the cover through which we had seen their 

 hats, and ran to another spot; and we could now 

 make out a large number of them. 



I accordingly got all of my men up in line and 

 began quick firing. In a very few minutes our bul- 

 lets began to do damage, for the Spaniards retreat- 

 ed to the left into the jungle, and we lost sight of 

 them. At the same moment a big body of men who, 

 it afterward turned out, were Spaniards, came in 

 sight along the glade, following the retreat of those 

 whom we had just driven from the trenches. We 



