jungle I soon discovered I was
enjoying my jaunt and found myself anticipating the pleasure of the
free, open life ahead of me when once beyond the Spanish outposts and a
soldier of fortune. I thought what a story of adventure I would have to
relate when a year or two later I rejoined my wife and friends, and I
felt that a good record won in a fight for "free Cuba" would make men
willing to forget my past.

I found my westward march frequently interrupted by spooks--some rock,
stump or bush would, to my suspicious eye, take on the human form until
I thought it was a sentry on guard and meant danger. Once or twice I
sought the shelter of the jungle and spent a long time watching for some
sign of movement. On one occasion I painfully made a circuit of nearly a
mile to pass a projecting mass of bushes in the belief that there were
men behind it. The air was balmy as on a June night at home. I trudged
along with my two bottles of water slung across my shoulder tied to a
cord, and between them and my revolvers and cartridges I was pretty well
loaded down.

Nowhere during the night did I come across any fresh water, but was
fated to have a water adventure before daylight which I did not relish.
Soon after midnight I sat down on the sand well in the shadow of some
palmetto trees and had a very enjoyable lunch of bread and dried beef,
washed down by water from my bottle; then lighting a cigar and reclining
at full length on the dry sand I passed a pleasant half hour enjoying
the fine Havana. I looked forward to the hours of daylight to be spent
reclining at ease in the jungle with many anticipations of pleasure. I
had a supply of fine cigars, plenty to think about, and the
consciousness of having overcome serious difficulties gave me a feeling
of elation--then my surroundings were so novel and I was fond of outdoor
life.

At 4 o'clock the sky put on a ragged edge of gray in the east, and
feeling pretty well satisfied with my progress I began to think of
selecting a retreat for the hours of daylight. Suddenly I found myself
upon what was evidently the neck of a swamp extending far and wide into
the land. I had discovered during the night that there was a
well-traveled road skirting and following the beach at a distance of a
few hundred yards, but there was danger of my meeting some one there, so
I stuck to the beach.

In the middle of the swamp was a clear space of water with marshy banks.
As it was nearly daylight, and be