ff his premises under penalty of their being
killed. The old man was left the master of the situation, and the hens
were restricted to a pen.

Speaking of courage and self-confidence reminds me of a remark of big
Jack McCauley. There was included in the company's property, about five
miles from La Gloria, a deserted plantation known as Mercedes. Upon it
was an old grove of orange trees, which, in the spring of 1900, bore a
fine crop. For a long time everybody was allowed to help himself at
will, and Cubans, colonists, and surveyors availed themselves of the
opportunity to lay in a supply of fruit. At length, as the oranges grew
riper, orders were given that no one should take more than he could eat
on the spot, but the oranges continued to disappear by the bagful.
Stalwart Jack McCauley was at that time employed about the camp by the
company, and it was decided to station him out at Mercedes, with a view
to stopping the raids on the orange grove. Before leaving to undertake
this duty, Jack quietly remarked: "I'll go out there and see if I've got
any influence, and if not, I'll create some!" Big Jack's "influence"
proved to be ample, and the balance of the orange crop was saved.

McCauley's close friend and "pardner" was J. A. Messier, familiarly
known as "Albany." Together they held a large tract of plantation land.
"Albany" worked as a flagman in one of the surveying parties. Once, when
the mosquitoes in the woods were more than ordinarily thick and
ferocious, he made a complaint, a rare thing in him or any other
surveyor. "They surround you," he said, "and you can't push them away
because there is nowhere to push them!" "Albany" was the leading big
snake killer in the colony, and was an adept at stretching and preparing
their skins. But perhaps his greatest distinction was that of being
floor manager of the first ball in La Gloria, a notable event which will
be described in a later chapter.

[Illustration: LA GLORIA, CUBA, LOOKING SOUTH. (_March, 1900._)]

On the afternoon of February 27, the colonists who came on the third and
last trip of the _Yarmouth_, about sixty in number, reached La Gloria.
Among them were Arnold Mollenhauer of New York, a representative of the
company; John A. Connell of East Weymouth, Mass., and S. W. Storm of
Nebraska. The party was brought up from Nuevitas on the snug little
steamer _Bay Shore_, and had a very comfortable passage. The _Bay Shore_
was bought by the company to ply between