gravity would have crept over them in the nearness of such unpleasant
possibilities; but never were they more gay and care-free, to all
appearance. Old jests already worn to shreds before we left the transport
at Guanica were once more revived, and capered with new life. Good-natured
irony flew from lip to lip in fantastic speculation as to probable
promotions in case all the officers should be killed at the first go-off.
The horses were told, individually and with great tenderness, just what
every man expected of them in the approaching crisis. And no comrade gave
another any instructions regarding mother or the girl at home, if he were
to bite the dust. For my own part, I found my mind so busy in going over
the cadences of a waltz I had danced with Somebody months before that I
could not bring myself to consider anything else but the beauty of its
refrain--or was it Her eyes?--try as I might. And, besides, it is not
profitable to shake hands with the devil until you are within reach of his
claw.

[Illustration: Road from Mayaguez to Añasco.]

The wagon-road leading from San German, over which we were now marching,
follows the valley of the Rio Grande, whose flats, varying in width from a
few hundred to a thousand yards, extend on each side to a chain of hills.
On either hand, in the immediate distance, are fields of sugar-cane,
bounded wherever they touch the road by wire fences.

San German, the city through which we had just passed, is a place of nearly
10,000 inhabitants, with a jurisdiction numbering 30,600. It has three
very fine markets, a charity hospital, a seminary, good school buildings,
theatre, and casino. There is a railroad in construction, a post-office and
telegraph station. It is situated on a long, uneven hill, at the foot of
which lies the beautiful valley of the Juanjibos and Boqueròn Rivers,