antry, two mounted
troops of the Second Regular Cavalry, and by the brilliant staff who
surrounded General Shafter. Besides these, Spanish officers and
citizens of Santiago crowded every window, doorway, and portico of the
cathedral, the San Carlos Club, the Venus restaurant, and other
buildings facing the Plaza de Armas, and watched the proceedings in
silence.

As the starry flag of the United States ran slowly to the top of the
tall staff the Ninth Regiment band crashed forth the inspiring strains
of "The Star-spangled Banner," and every American present, excepting,
of course, the troops on duty, bared his head. At the same moment the
thunder of distant artillery firing a national salute of twenty-one
guns and exultant cheering from the trenches a mile beyond the city
told that the glorious news had reached the waiting army.

At the conclusion of the ceremony, General Leonard Wood, formerly
Colonel of the Rough Riders, was installed as Military Governor of the
conquered city, and one of the first to congratulate him upon this new
honor was the young Lieutenant of his old command, who had been
permitted to do so much towards bringing the Santiago campaign to its
happy conclusion. For Ridge Norris, in appreciation of his recent
services, had been one of the very few guests invited to witness the
change of flags.

Shortly after it was all over, as Ridge was slowly making his way back
to camp, no longer upheld by excitement and utterly weary from his
recent labors, he encountered a forlorn little group of natives, who
aroused his instant sympathy. A young woman, gaunt and hollow-cheeked,
with three children, trying to make her way back to the city, had sunk
exhausted by the road-side. One of the children was a babe held
tightly pressed to her bosom. Of the others, one was a small boy, who
stood manfully by his mother's side; while a little girl, burning with
fever, lay tossing and moaning on the ground.

As Ridge reached this group the woman cried, imploringly, "Help, Senor
Americano! For love of the good God help me reach the city before my
little ones perish!"

Ridge could understand and could talk to her in her own tongue. So in
a few minutes he had learned her pitiful story. It was that of many
another--a tale of starvation, sickness, death of her husband, and of
homeless wandering for days. Now her one desire and hope was to return
to her home in Santiago. Even before she had concluded her sad
narra