In the Trenches 183 



I went not only along the lines of our own brigade, 

 but of the brigades adjoining. It was a matter of 

 pride, not only with me, but with all our men, that 

 the lines occupied by the Rough Riders should be at 

 least as vigilantly guarded as the lines of any reg- 

 ular regiment. 



Sometimes at night, when I met other officers 

 inspecting their lines, we would sit and talk over 

 matters, and wonder what shape the outcome of the 

 siege would take. We knew we would capture 

 Santiago, but exactly how we would do it we could 

 not tell. The failure to establish any depot for pro- 

 visions on the fighting-line, where there was hardly 

 ever more than twenty- four hours' food ahead, made 

 the risk very serious. If a hurricane had struck the 

 transports, scattering them to the four winds, or if 

 three days of heavy rain had completely broken up 

 our communication, as they assuredly would have 

 done, we would have been at starvation point on the 

 front; and while, of course, we would have lived 

 through it somehow and would have taken the city, 

 it would only have been after very disagreeable ex- 

 periences. As soon as I was able I accumulated for 

 my own regiment about forty-eight hours' hardtack 

 and salt pork, which I kept so far as possible intact 

 to provide against any emergency. 



If the city could be taken without direct assault 

 on the intrenchments and wire entanglements, we 



