Part 6 (1/2)

[Ill.u.s.tration: HACIENDA CARMEN.]

CHAPTER X.

HOME AGAIN.

From the time the Jersey coast was sighted the Troopers began to realize how glad they really were to get back home. Early on the morning of Sat.u.r.day, September 10th, the ”Mississippi” pa.s.sed Sandy Hook, and was soon cleaving the waters of New York Bay. It was rather misty, and objects at any great distance were very obscure. The Philadelphia cavalrymen were often obliged to smile at the airs which some of the members of the New York and Brooklyn troops a.s.sumed as they found themselves in familiar waters. The men of Gotham boasted much of the fine reception which they felt sure was in store for them, and looked rather pityingly upon the Philadelphia cavalrymen. When, through the mist, a tug was made out, with flags flying, approaching the ”Mississippi” at full speed, several of the New Yorkers pointed to it and said to the Quaker City men, ”Here comes the advance guard of our escort.”

While the tug was still too much surrounded by mist to make out her ident.i.ty, there came floating from her deck the ringing notes of a bugle. At the first sound the Philadelphia Troopers became all attention, and a moment later the air of the Troop march--strains known to City Troopers for two generations--could be clearly distinguished.

”It's our friends,” shouted the City Troopers with glee, while the New York riders did not attempt to conceal their surprise at the fact that citizens of their city had been out-generaled by the Philadelphia visitors in the effort to give the first greeting to the returning Troopers.

But while the later recruits among the Troopers shouted ”It's our friends,” the older members cried out, ”It's Ellis Pugh,” for they knew almost by instinct from whose lips had come the welcoming blast. d.i.c.k Singer was upon the deck with his bugle in a twinkling, and tooted back a response. Nearer and nearer the two vessels approached, until at last the two buglers joined together in the long final note.

Then other tugs appeared--six in all--five of which were filled with enthusiastic Philadelphians. The Troopers crowded to the rail and occupied all points of vantage in the rigging. Up the bay the transport and her shrieking escort continued their course. From the whistle of every vessel met there came a welcome, until the din became almost deafening.

While the health officer boarded the transport, friends on the tugs and troop s.h.i.+p yelled greetings back and forth. A port hole in the ”Mississippi” was opened, and an avalanche of boxes and bottles poured into the hands of the soldiers aboard. The moment quarantine was raised, there was a general scramble of male visitors onto the deck of the transport, followed by a whirlwind of affectionate greetings. Fathers proudly hugged their brawny, dirt-stained sons; chums and brothers shook each others' hands off.

Soon there came along another tug, and Governor Hastings and Major Richardson clambered over the rail amid loud cheers of the Pennsylvanians. And so the big reception went on until the ”Mississippi”

pulled into dock at Jersey City. There the cavalrymen looked down from the high decks upon a sea of men and women, the great majority of whom were Philadelphians. The hospital train was run in on a siding right under the s.h.i.+p, and the sick were unloaded with but little delay.

Meanwhile, Captain Groome had accepted an invitation from the Philadelphia Councils Committee, to partic.i.p.ate in a public reception upon the Troop's arrival home, and word to that effect was telegraphed to Mayor Warwick. The Troopers partook of a light lunch before unloading their camp equipage, and after two hours hard work the last piece of canvas was loaded on the cars, and late in the afternoon they finally found themselves rolling rapidly homeward.

In the New York _Sun_, the day after the City Troop's arrival, there appeared the following paragraph by a reporter of reputation, who had been in Puerto Rico during the campaign:

”In commissariat, general intelligence and knowledge of tactics, the First City Troop of Philadelphia outranked any volunteers I saw at the front. They were the only company to take a water filter with them, so were the only men to drink pure water. They were the only soldiers with forethought enough to provide salt, mustard and the other little things that help make army rations palatable. Then they knew how to cook. They kept their camp clean. They kept their horses in good condition, in fact they neglected nothing, and s.h.i.+rked no duty, no matter how disagreeable. So much for the dude soldier.”

It was eight o'clock when the train bearing the City Troopers, every man ready and fit for duty, came puffing into the Broad Street Station.

Outside the building and along Broad, Chestnut and Market Streets, the route over which it had been planned to have the cavalrymen march, dense throngs packed the sidewalks, and were only kept from the streets by ropes in charge of hundreds of policemen.

[Ill.u.s.tration: SERGEANT'S CLUB AT GUAYAMA.]

Captain Groome was the first man to alight from the cars, and he was at once requested by General Morrell and Director Riter to permit a street parade of the command before going to Horticultural Hall, where a banquet had been prepared. The Captain said his men would be pleased to do anything the Reception Committee wished, and the line was immediately formed for parade. Police horses had been secured and were on hand for the Troopers.

The procession was led by a file of mounted policemen and carriages containing the Citizen's Reception Committee, which had gone to New York to meet the Troop. Following them came the Third Regiment Band and the Second City Troop. Last of all came the veterans in their Khaiki uniforms, and cheer after cheer went up everywhere as they came into view, mingled with enthusiastic shouts of ”Here comes the Rough Riders!”