"Good! A commissioned officer was selected for this duty, but he is
prevented by illness from performing it. You have been chosen to take
his place on the recommendation of Colonel Roosevelt because of your
knowledge of Spanish, your military record, and because you are a
native-born American. I could have found plenty of Cubans to undertake
the mission, and possibly one of them would have carried it to a
satisfactory ending, but I wanted an American."

"Plain North American Yankee," growled General Shafter.

"As you know," continued General Miles, "a powerful expedition is about
to leave this place for Cuba. Very few persons have any idea where it
is to land; but you must know that in about ten days from now it will
appear off Daiquiri, some twelve miles east of Santiago, in which city
I want you to be at that time. You will sail to-night in the
despatch-boat _Speedy_, of which this gentleman, Lieutenant Boldwood,
is the commander. Within three days he will land you on the northern
coast of the province of Santiago. During the following week I want
you to visit the Spanish commanders at Holguin, Jiguani, and Santiago,
to all of whom you will bear what purport to be important despatches
from Señor Carranza, chief of the Spanish secret service in North
America, whose headquarters are in Montreal.

"You will represent yourself to be José Remelio, one of the clerks
attached to the recent Spanish Legation at Washington. You will
estimate the strength and condition of the Spanish forces in the
province. Also, you will meet as many of the insurgent leaders as
possible, inform them of the coming of our expedition, and impress upon
them the necessity of intercepting supplies or re-inforcements for
Santiago. For the sake of appearances, I authorize you to assume any