f friendliness and rustic bonhomie, like that
of an amiable, intelligent young peasant. He greeted us cordially, but
with a slight trace of shy awkwardness, and invited us into the small,
dark cabin, where we drank one another's health in a bottle of sweet,
strong liqueur, and he told us the rather pathetic story of his
misfortune. The brigantine _Frascito_ ("Little Flask"), he said,
belonged in part to him and in part to a company in Barcelona. The
cargo, consisting chiefly of South American jerked beef, was owned by
his father and himself, and ship and cargo represented all that he and
his family had in the world. He left Montevideo for Havana about the
middle of March, and had no intimation whatever that Spain and the
United States were at war, until a round shot was fired across his bow
by the cruiser _Montgomery_, about eight miles off Morro Castle. The
officers of the cruiser treated him very kindly--"I couldn't; and below]
have done it better," he said, with simple sincerity, "if I had done it
myself; but it was very hard to lose everything just because I didn't
know. Of course I shouldn't have tried to get into Havana if I had known
there was war; but I left Montevideo in March, and had no thought of
such a thing." We tried to cheer him up by telling him that the
prize-court would hardly condemn and confiscate his vessel under such
circumstances, but he was still sad and troubled. He thanked us with
simple, unaffected earnestness for the provisions we had put on board
his ship, and said that the unexpected kindness of the Red Cross to him
and his crew had cheered and encouraged them all. He seemed anxious to
do something to show us his gratitude and appreciation, and when a
member of our party manifested interest in a large cage of red-crested
tropical birds which hung beside the cabin door, he promptly took it
down and presented it "to the senorita for the Red Cross steamer, with
the compliments and thanks of the _Frascito_."

After putting on board the little brigantine such supplies, in the shape
of bread, beans, rice, canned meats, etc., as the crew required, we bade
the captain and mate good-by, and left them apparently somewhat cheered
up by our visit.

From the _Frascito_ we went successively to the _Oriente_, the _Espana_,
the _Santiago Apostol_, the _Poder de Dios_, and fifteen or sixteen
other vessels of the prize-fleet, ascertaining their wants, furnishing
them with such food-supplies as they needed,