After a careful consideration of all the remonstrances and the strenuous denial by the candidate of all and every allegation and his desire that the promised honor be conferred upon him at once and without delay, it was decided by General Schwan that in the face of so much opposition there was nothing to do but to leave the residents of Mayaguez to decide the question for themselves which they did in a most emphatic manner by refusing to endorse the planter as a possibility, and presenting the name of Senor Santiago Palmer as an acceptable party.

This latter gentleman subsequently received the appointment, which was satisfactory to all concerned.

* * * * *

The news that we were about to meet the Spanish forces face to face spread rapidly among the men in the ranks, and aroused more enthusiasm than terrapin and champagne could have done.  Nobody any longer complained of the heat; and, when it began to shower by fits and starts, nobody complained of that, either.  There were no more stragglers casting a windward eye to an empty ambulance, nor growls because we pressed forward so rapidly.

[Illustration:  Custom-house at Mayaguez occupied by General Schwan as Brigade Headquarters.]

On that particular afternoon I was with the advance-guard; and, when we had learned what we might expect before sunset, I studied the men about me with a lively curiosity as to what effect the probability of immediate action would have upon their visible emotions.

Most of them, in our platoon of artillery at least, were boys, or little more than boys, and almost without exception recruits of less than six months’ standing.  It might have been expected that some degree of 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 Anasco.]

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.