Part 17 (2/2)

CHAPTER XI

THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR

When the news reached Richard that the Spanish-American War seemed inevitable he returned at once to New York Here he spent a few days in arranging to act as correspondent for the New York Herald, the London Tiazine, and then started for Key West

Off Key West--April 24th, 1898

On Board Smith, Herald Yacht

DEAR MOTHER:

I wrote you such a cross gloomy letter that I must drop you another to o we have received word that war is declared and I a as Benedict's yacht with plenty of deck roo I want on board and The Herald ood friends If I had had another hour I believe I could have got a berth on the flag shi+p for Roosevelt telegraphed est letter on the subject athe Ad history Chadwick seenal to set sail came and we had to sta pennants up

It is as caloodness but as hot as hell We expect to be off Havana tomorrow at sunset Then e do no one knows

The crew is on strike above and thewith them but as it seems to be only a question of a few dollars it will coht We expect to be back here on Sunday but may stay out later

Don't worry if you don't hear It is grand to see the line of battleshi+ps five

Thank God they'll let them slip anyto take a nap while the sshi+p New York--

Off Havana,

April 26, 1898

DEAR FAMILY:

I left Key West on theto get on board the flagshi+p on the strength of Roosevelt's letter Stenie Bonsal got on just before she sailed, not as a correspondent, but as a iven him a commission, and because he could act as interpreter I left the flagshi+p theof the day I arrived The captain of the Dolphin apologized to his officers while ere at anchor in the harbor of Key West, because his was a ”cabin” and not a ”gun” shi+p, and because he had to deliver the shi+p and not turn out of his course for anything, no ht appear to be He then proceeded to chase every sail and column of smoke on the horizon, so that the course was like a cat's cradle We first headed for a big steaeneral quarters” It was fine to see the faces of the apprentices as they ran to get their cutlasses and revolvers, their eyes open and their hair on end, with the hope that they were to board a Spanish battleshi+p But at the first gun she ran up an A nearershe was a Mallory steamer An hour later we chased another steamer, but she was already a prize, with a prize crew on board Then we had a chase for three hours at night; after e believed was the Panama, but she ran away from us We fired three shells after her, and she still ran and got away The next baum, the artist Admiral Sampson is a fine man; he impressed me verycorrespondents on the shi+p, but I talked like a father to hiave in, and was very nice about the way he did it Since then I have had thetime and thefrom three to ten miles off shore We can see Morro Castle and houses and paluish htfully hot, and you had to keep et out of the sun I mess with the officers, but the other correspondents, the associated Press and Ralph Paine of The World and Press of Philadelphia, with the ot on because Scovel of The World has done so ht and taking soundings, and by day es to the insurgents

It is a wonderful shi+p, like a village, and as big as the Paris We drift around in the sun or the ht, chase after it There is a band on board that plays twice a day It is like a luxurious yacht, with none of the ennui of a yacht The other night, ere heading off a stea six-pounders across her bows, the band was playing the ”star” song froner and War struck me as the most fin de siecle idea of war that I had ever heard of The nights have been perfectly beautiful, full ofdown froht a Spanish officer on board, he had been picked up in a schooner with his orderly I was in Captain Chadwick's cabin when he was brought in, and Scovel interpreted for the captain, as more courteous than any Spanish Don that breathes The officer said he had been on his way to see his wife and newly born baby at Matanzas, and had no knowledge that war had been declared I ood to see him I remembered the way the Spanish officers used to insult e which I, fortunately for ht of the his red and yellow cockade on the table beforear on the upper deck

He was invited to go to breakfast with the officers, and I sat next to him, and as it happened to bedrinks down his throat I told stories about Spanish officers all the ti thes on the tablecloth, so that the unhappy officer on his other side, as talking Spanish to hiht to draw a picture of him at the mess to shoe treated prisoners, and a companion one of the captain of the Compeliton, who came over with us on the Dolphin, and who showed us the marks of the ropes on his wrists and arms the Spaniards had bound him hen he was in Cabanas for nine months

The orderly messed with the bluejackets, who treated him in the most hospitable manner He was a poor little peasant boy, half starved and hollow-eyed, and so scared that he could hardly stand, but they took great pride in the fact that they hadThey are, without prejudice, the finest body of men and boys you would care to see, and as humorous and polite and keen as any class of men I ever met

The war could be ended in a month so far as the island of Cuba is concerned, if the troops were ready and brought over here The coast to Havana for ten hts above could be covered the entire time by the fleet, so that it would be absolutely impossible for any force to withstand the awful hailstor the provisions would be protected by the shi+ps on the gulf side, and the guns at Morro could be shut up in twenty-four hours This is not a drearace if the Washi+ngton politicians delay As to health, this is the healthiest part of the coast The trade winds blow every day of the year, and the fever talk is all nonsense The ar This talk of waiting a month is suicide

It is a terrible expense It keeps the people on a strain, destroys business, and the health of the troops at Taer than it would be on the hills around Havana, where, as Scovel says, there is as e thenificent ti about a ton of fat a day, and I sleep finely The other night the Porter held us up, but it was a story that never got into the papers I haven't shi+p from the first, but that does not count now since I aoing to begin soon I expect to et ten cents a word fro I send theet four hundred dollars a week salary from The Tio back and join the ar to travel en suite with an assistant and the best and gentlest ponies; a courier and a servant, a tent and a secretary and a typewriter, so that Miles will look like a second lieutenant

When I ca just on the principle that it is no other newspaper- So, The HeraldI WAS GOING TO THE FLAGshi+P, called Long, ton and Paine, who are, or were, with the squadron Stenie left two days ago, hoping to get a commission on the staff of General Lee So yesterday Scovel toldhad cabled in answer to The Herald's protests to the admiral as follows: ”Coton and Bonsal are with the squadron Send them ashore at once

There ot the ad on his behalf because of his services as a spy, but as Roosevelt had done soI sent in word to the ad the shi+p and would like to pay ray beard He looks like a college professor and has very fine, gentle eyes He asked me why I meant to leave the shi+p, and I said I had heard one of the torpedo boats was going to Key West, and I thought I would go with her if he would allow it He asked if I had seen the cable frooing so as not to embarrass him with my presence He said, ”I have received three different orders fro reeable to o

You can do as you wish You are perfectly welcome to remain until the conflict of orders is cleared up” I saas o of rievance out of it--if he had to sendbeen told he could have those with hireeable to him Captain Chadas in the cabin, and said, ”Perhaps Mr Davis had better remain another twenty-four hours” The ad to Key West daily” Then Chadwick repeated that he thought I had better stay another day, and made ato see what is going to happen Outside, Chadwick toldin the way of an experience would probably come off, so I have hopes By this time, of course, you know all about it I shall finish this later

We began bo Matanzas twenty minutes after I wrote the above