lace; entrenchments
were dug commanding the approach to it and to the one or two other spots
where it was thought that the passage of the river might possibly be
forced; a further supply of ammunition was sent for; and a small lookout
and semaphore station was constructed on the hillside, at a point which
commanded a view of every possible approach to the estate. And then
ensued a period of rather trying inactivity, during which Jack and
Carlos were kept constantly on the tenterhooks of expectancy, vainly
striving to get some inkling of the intentions of the enemy.

Then at length came the news that General Weyler, baffled in his efforts
to force a general engagement with, the enemy, and galled by the
constant heavy losses which he was sustaining, through the ravages of
disease and at the hands of the insurgents, had issued an order for the
concentration of the entire rural population in the fortified towns, in
order that they might thus be prevented from supplying the various bands
of armed revolutionaries with provisions and other necessaries. The
effect of this cruel and tyrannical order was to drive practically every
man into the ranks of the rebels--since he could no longer follow his
vocation without exposing himself to severe punishment for disobedience;
while the women and children, to the number of some sixty thousand, were
perforce obliged to obey the decree, and, forsaking their homes, betake
themselves to the towns. But no sooner had they done so than it became
apparent that no sufficient provision had been made for their
maintenance; and, since it was impossible for them to earn a living for
themselves, the suffering and loss of life among these unfortunates
quickly assumed appalling proportions, to the horror and indignation of
the American people, who had been watching, with steadily and rapidly
growing disapproval, the peculiar methods of the Spaniards for the
suppression of the rebellion. It was the opinion of America, indeed--
and not of America alone, it may be said--that there would have been no
rebellion in Cuba but for the gross corruption and inefficiency of the
local government; and that the proper method of suppression was, not
force of arms, but the introduction of reforms into the system of
government. The fact is, that the state of affairs in Cuba was
generating a strong and increasing feeling of hostility between the
United States of America and Spain; for while, on the one hand, the
ou