to join us, or was waiting outside the city for us to come up and join
him.

Laguerre at once ordered the bugles to sound "Boots and saddles," and
within five minutes we were on the trail again with instructions to
press the men forward as rapidly as possible. The loss of Santa
Barbara was a serious calamity. It was the town third in importance in
Honduras, and it had been the stronghold of the revolutionists. The
moral effect of the fact that Garcia held it, had been of the greatest
possible benefit. As Garcia's force consisted of 2,000 men and six
pieces of artillery, it was inexplicable to Laguerre how without a
fight he had abandoned so valuable a position.

The country through which we now passed was virtually uninhabited, and
wild and rough, but grandly beautiful. At no time, except when we
passed through one of the dusty little villages, of a dozen sun-baked
huts set around a sun-baked plaza, was the trail sufficiently wide to
permit us to advance unless in single file. And yet this was the
highway of Honduras from the Caribbean Sea to the Pacific Ocean, and
the only road to Tegucigalpa, the objective point of our expedition.
The capital lay only one hundred miles from Porto Cortez, but owing to
the nature of this trail it could not be reached from the east coast,
either on foot or by mule, in less than from six to nine days. No
wheeled vehicle could have possibly attempted the trip without shaking
to pieces, and it was only by dragging and lifting our Gatling guns by
hand that we were able to bring them with us.

At sunset we halted at a little village, where, as usual, the people
yelled "Vivas!" at us, and protested that they were good
revolutionists. The moon had just risen, and, as the men rode forward,