tle farther to the eastward. The enemy,
therefore, could not only creep close up to the camp under cover of the
dense chaparral, but could fire down upon it from the higher slopes of
the wooded range which runs parallel with the bay on its eastern side.

The landing was made, without opposition, about two o'clock on the
afternoon of Friday, June 10. Under cover of the guns of the war-ships,
the marines disembarked on the strip of beach at the foot of the hill;
burned all the houses and huts left by the Spaniards, so as to guard
against the danger of infection with yellow fever; and then deployed up
the hill, pitched their shelter-tents on its eastern slope, and spent
all the afternoon and a large part of the next day in landing ammunition
and stores, establishing outposts, and making arrangements for a
permanent camp.

The Spaniards, who must have been watching these operations from the
concealment of the bushes and from the slopes of the adjacent hills,
gave no sign, at first, of their presence; but seeing that the marines
were comparatively few in number, they finally plucked up courage, and
about five o'clock Saturday afternoon began a desultory, skirmishing
attack which lasted the greater part of that day and night, and, indeed,
continued, with an occasional intermission, for three or four days and
nights. Major Cochrane, who described the fight to me, said that he
slept only an hour and a half in four days, and that many of his men
became so exhausted that they fell asleep standing on their feet with
their guns in their hands.

The strength of the marine battalion at that time was between five and
six hundred men. They were armed with rifles of the Lee or Lee-Metford
pattern, and had, in addition, two automatic Colt machine-guns and three
rapid-fire Hotchkiss cannon of three-inch caliber. The greatest
disadvantage under which they labored was that due to the tangled,
almost impenetrable nature of the chaparral that surrounded the camp,
and the facilities which it afforded the enemy for concealment and
stealthy approach. The gunboats shelled the woods from time to time,
drove the hidden Spaniards back, and silenced their fire; but as soon as
night fell they would creep silently up through the bushes until they
were so near to the camp that the pickets of the marines could smell the
smoke of their cigarettes, and yet could neither see them nor hear them.
Then the nocturnal skirmishing would begin again. There were