gradually disclosing first her rig, then her
colours, and lastly her name. Long before the ship has dropped anchor, I
have reached the quay, where I embark in a small canoe to meet the
moving steamer. Arrived within hailing distance of the vessel, I shout
to the purser, the supercargo, or to anybody else who may have brought
news or correspondence for me. If I succeeded in obtaining some, I land
again, and before the anchorage gun is fired, I am on my way to the
telegraph office. Here--with my dispatches before me--I compose and
forward a brief summary of news from the port whence the steamer hails,
and if there is nothing to interrupt the line of communication with
America, the _New York Trigger_ will contain my telegrams in its second
edition of the following day.

I have many difficulties to contend with in my quest of local matter in
Santiago. Some of my Cuban friends help me in my researches, and I also
pick up fragments of 'intelligence' in the cafes, the public promenade,
the warehouses, and the newspaper offices. Occasionally I hold secret
audience with an intelligent native, who volunteers some extraordinary
information on a local subject which is of no interest whatever to
anybody except my informant. Sometimes the applicant is persuaded that I
have indirect influence with the American Congress, and presses me to
communicate his grievance to the authorities in Washington. I dare not
close my ear against such applicants, for in the mass of valueless dross
which I receive, I sometimes discover a rough diamond which, after due
cutting and polishing, I dispose of to the _New York Trigger_.

For instance: an aged negro of my acquaintance comes to me one day, with
the astounding information that he, and a number of equally decrepit and
unserviceable slaves, have been killed and buried by his master. In
other words, the owners of these useless helots have hoodwinked the
slave emancipators by representing their decrepit human property as
defunct, while they substitute fresh importations in their places.
Subsequently I learn that a landing of blacks has been lately effected
near Guantanamo, and, upon a closer investigation, I gather the curious
particulars, which are these:--

The Capitan de Partido, or Major of the district, where the nefarious
transaction took place, was naively requested by the parties interested
in the landing to absent himself from the locality during a certain
week; for which simple act he wou