In the first place, the engagement was in no sense a battle, but merely a raid.  The number of troops engaged was, perhaps, one-fifth of the generous total ascribed by the historians, and as a military manoeuver it served no purpose whatsoever.  That the Cubans delivered a spirited attack there is no denying.  As a matter of fact, the engagement was characterized by an abandon, by a lack of caution, truly sensational, the reason being that the Insurrectos were half starved and stormed the town much as hungry hoboes attack a lunch-counter.  Nevertheless, since the affair had a direct bearing upon the fortunes of several people connected with this story, it is, perhaps, worth relating.

The Baths of St. Anthony consisted of a sulphur spring which for many years had been held in high regard by gouty and rheumatic Camagueyans; around this spring a village had arisen which boasted rather better shops than the ordinary country town.  It was this fact which had induced the gallant and obliging Colonel Lopez to attack it, for, as he explained to his American friends, if any place outside of Habana was likely to contain pickles, jam, sardines, candy, tooth-powder, and such other delicacies as appeared necessary to the contentment of a visiting American lady, San Antonio de los Banos was the one.  Colonel Lopez did not believe in half measures:  once he had determined to prove his devotion to Norine Evans, he would have sacrificed himself and the flower of his command; he would have wasted his last precious three-pound shell in breaching the walls of San Antonio de los Banos rather than fail.  But as a matter of fact the village had no walls and it was defended only by a couple of blockhouses.  Therefore the colonel left his artillery behind.

Perhaps its name was the most impressive thing about San Antonio de los Banos.  Its streets were narrow and steep and stony, and its flinty little plaza was flanked by stores of the customary sort, the fronts of which were open so that mounted customers from the country might ride in to make their purchases.  Crowning two commanding eminences just outside the village limits were the loopholed fortinas, where for months past the Spanish garrison had been dozing.

Lopez and his troop approached the town in the early morning.  As they deployed for the attack the colonel issued private instructions to certain members of his command.

“O’Reilly, you and Senor Branch will enter one grocery-store after another.  You will purchase that jam, those sardines, and whatever else you think Miss Evans would like.  Captain Judson, you and Major Ramos will go to the apothecary-shop—­I understand there is a very good one—­and look for tooth-powder and candy and the like, I shall see that the streets are cleared, then I shall endeavor to discover some pickles; but as God is my judge, I doubt if there is such a thing this side of Habana.”

Leslie Branch, whose temper had not improved with the long night ride, inquired, caustically:  “Do you expect us to buy the groceries?  Well, I’m broke, and so is O’Reilly.”