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"FORWARD, MARCH"
A Tale of the Spanish-American War
by
KIRK MUNROE
Author of "The Painted Desert," "Rick Dale," The "Mate Series," etc.
Illustrated
New York and London
Harper & Brothers Publishers
1899
[Frontispiece: The Rough Riders fought without seeing
the enemy.]
CONTENTS
CHAPTER
I. A BOWL OF ROSES
II. WAR IS DECLARED
III. ROLLO THE TERROR
IV. THE ROUGH RIDERS AT SAN ANTONIO
V. RIDGE BECOMES A TROOPER
VI. OFF FOR THE WAR
VII. THE STORY OF HOBSON AND THE _MERRIMAC_
VIII. CHARGED WITH A SECRET MISSION
IX. HERMAN DODLEY INTERPOSES DIFFICULTIES
X. ON THE CUBAN BLOCKADE
XI. A LIVELY EXPERIENCE OF CUBAN HOSPITALITY
XII. DENOUNCED BY A FRIEND
XIII. TO BE SHOT AT SUNRISE
XIV. REFUGEES IN THE MOUNTAINS
XV. DIONYSIO CAPTURES A SPANIARD
XVI. ASLEEP WHILE ON GUARD
XVII. IN THE HANDS OF SPANISH GUERILLAS
XVIII. DEATH OF SEÑORITA
XIX. CALIXTO GARCIA THE CUBAN
XX. THE TWO ADMIRALS
XXI. A SPANIARD'S LOYALTY
XXII. ROLLO IN CUBA
XXIII. THE "TERRORS" IN BATTLE
XXIV. FACING SAN JUAN HEIGHTS
XXV. RIDGE WINS HIS SWORD
XXVI. MUTINY ON A TRANSPORT
XXVII. DESTRUCTION OF THE SPANISH SHIPS
XXVIII. LAST SHOT OF THE CAMPAIGN
XXIX. TWO INVALID HEROES
XXX. ROLLO MAKES PROPOSITIONS
ILLUSTRATIONS
THE ROUGH RIDERS FOUGHT WITHOUT SEEING THE ENEMY . . . (Frontispiece)
"SILAS PINE GAZED ABOUT HIM WITH THE AIR OF ONE WHO IS DAZED"
"'HIM HOLGUIN SPANIARD. NOW YOU SHOOT HIM,' SAID THE CUBAN"
RIDGE ESCORTS A CUBAN FAMILY INTO SANTIAGO
"FORWARD, MARCH!"
CHAPTER I
A BOWL OF ROSES
In the morning-room of a large, old-fashioned country-house, situated a
few miles outside the city of New Orleans, sat a young man arranging a
bowl of roses. Beside him stood a pretty girl, in riding costume, whose
face bore a trace of petulance.
"Do make haste, Cousin Ridge, and finish with those stupid flowers. You
have wasted half an hour of this glorious morning over them already!" she
exclaimed.
"Wasted?" rejoined Ridge Norris, inquiringly, and looking up with a
smile. "I thought you were too fond of flowers to speak of time spent in
showing them off to best advantage as 'wasted.'"
"Yes, of course I'm fond of them," answered Spence Cuthbert, who was from
Kentucky on a Mardi Gras visit to Dulce Norris, her school-chum and
cousin by several removes, "but not fond enough to break an engagement on
account of them."
"An engagement?"
"Certainly. You promised to go riding with me this morning."
"And so I will in a minute, when I have finished with these roses."
"But I want you to come this instant."
"And leave a duty unperformed?" inquired Ridge, teasingly.
"Yes; now."
"In a minute."
"No. I won't wait another second."
With this the girl flung herself from the room, wearing a very determined
expression on her flushed face.
Ridge rose to follow her, and then resumed his occupation as a clatter of
hoofs on the magnolia-bordered driveway announced the arrival of a
horseman.
"She won't go now that she has a caller to entertain," he said to himself.
But in this he was mistaken; for within a minute another clatter of
hoofs, mingled with the sound of laughing voices, gave notice of a
departure, and, glancing from an open window, Ridge saw Spence Cuthbert
ride gayly past in company with a young man whose face seemed familiar,
but whose name he could not recall.
As they swept by both looked up laughing, while the horseman lifted his
hat in a bow that was almost too sweeping to be polite.
"What did you say Ridge was doing?" he asked, as they passed beyond
earshot.
"Arranging a bowl of roses," answered Spence.
"Nice occupation for a man," sneered the other. "And he preferred doing
that to riding with you?"
"So it seems."
"Well, I am not wholly surprised, for, as I remember him, he was a
soft-hearted, Miss Nancy sort of a boy, who was always coddling sick
kittens, or something of the kind, and never would go hunting because he
couldn't bear to kill things. He apparently hadn't a drop of sporting
blood in him, and I recall having to thrash him on one occasion because
he objected to my shooting a bird. I thought of course, though, that he
had outgrown all such nonsense by this time."
"There is no nonsense about him!" flashed out Spence, warmly; and then,
to her companion's amazement, the girl began a most spirited defence of
her absent cousin, during which she denounced in such bitter terms the
taking of innocent lives under the name of "sport" that the other was
finally thankful to change the conversation to a more congenial topic.
In the mean time Dulce Norris had entered the morning-room to find out
why Spence had gone to ride with Herman Dodley instead of with Ridge, as
had been arranged.
"Was that Herman Dodley?" asked the latter, without answering his
sister's question.
"Yes, of course, but why do you ask with such a tragic air?"
"Because," replied Ridge, "I have heard reports concerning him which, if
confirmed, should bar the doors of this house against him forever."
"What do you mean, Ridge Norris? I'm sure Mr. Dodley bears as good a
reputation as the majority of young men one meets in society. Of course
since he has got into politics his character has been assailed by the
other party; but then no one ever believes what politicians say of one
another."
"No matter now what I mean," rejoined the young man. "Perhaps I will
tell you after I have spoken to father on the subject, which I mean to do
at once."
Ridge Norris, on his way to the library, where he hoped to find his
father, was somewhat of a disappointment to his family. Born of a mother
in whose veins flowed French and Spanish blood, and who had taught him to
speak both languages, and of a New England father, who had spent his
entire business life in the far South, Ridge had been reared in an
atmosphere of luxury. He had been educated in the North, sent on a grand
tour around the world, and had finally been given a position, secured
through his father's influence, in a Japanese-American banking house.
From Yokohama he had been transferred to the New York office, where, on
account of a slight misunderstanding with one of his superiors, he had
thrown up his position to return to his home only a few days before this
story opens.
Now his family did not know what to do with him. He disliked business,
and would not study for a profession. He was a dear, lovable fellow,
honest and manly in all his instincts; but indolent, fastidious in his
tastes, and apparently without ambition. He was devoted to music and
flowers, extremely fond of horses, which he rode more than ordinarily
well, and had a liking for good books. He had, furthermore, returned
from his travels filled with pride for his native land, and declaring
that the United States was the only country in the world worth fighting
and dying for.
Taking the morning's mail from the hand of a servant who had just brought
it, Ridge entered his father's presence.
"Here are your letters, sir," he said, "but before you read them I should
like a few moments' conversation with you."
"Certainly, son. What is it?"
As Ridge told what he had heard concerning Herman Dodley, the elder man's
brows darkened; and, when the recital was finished, he said:
"I fear all this is true, and have little doubt that Dodley is no better
than he should be; but, unfortunately, I am so situated at present that I
cannot forbid him the house. I will warn Dulce and her friend against
him; but just now I am not in a position to offend him."
"Why, father!" cried Ridge, amazed to hear his usually fearless and
self-assertive parent adopt this tone. "I thought that you were--"
"Independent of all men," interrupted the other, finishing the sentence.
"So I believed myself to be. But I am suddenly confronted by business
embarrassments that force me temporarily to adopt a different policy.
Truly, Ridge, we are threatened with such serious losses that I am making
every possible sacrifice to try and stem the tide. I have even placed
our summer home on the Long Island coast in an agent's hands, and am
deeply grieved that you should have thrown up a position, promising at
least self-support, upon such slight provocation."
"But he ordered me about as though I were a servant, instead of
requesting me to do things in a gentlemanly way."
"And were you not a servant?"
"No, sir, I was not--at least, not in the sense of being amenable to
brutal commands. I was not, nor will I ever be, anybody's slave."
"Oh well, my boy!" replied the elder, with a deep sigh, "I fear you will
live to discover by sad experience that pride is the most expensive of
earthly luxuries, and that one must consent to obey orders long before he
can hope to issue commands. But we will discuss your affairs later, for
now I must look over my letters."
While Mr. Norris was thus engaged, Ridge opened the morning paper, and
glanced carelessly at its headlines. Suddenly he sprang to his feet with
a shout, his dark face glowing and his eyes blazing with excitement.
"By heavens, father!" he cried, "the United States battle-ship _Maine_
has been blown up in Havana Harbor with a loss of two hundred and sixty
of her crew. If that doesn't mean war, then nothing in the world's
history ever did. You needn't worry about me any more, sir, for my duty
is clearly outlined."
"What do you propose to do?" asked the elder man, curiously. "Will you
try to blow up a Spanish battle-ship in revenge?"
"No, sir. But I shall enlist at the very first call to arms, and offer
my life towards the thrashing of the cowards who have perpetrated this
incredible crime."
Thrilled to the core by the momentous news he had just read, Ridge
hastened to impart it to his mother and sister. At the same time he
ordered a horse on which he might ride to the city for further details of
the stupendous event. As he was about to depart, Spence Cuthbert and her
escort, returning from their ride, dashed up to the doorway.
"Have you heard the news?" cried Ridge, barely nodding to Dodley.
"Yes," replied Spence. "Isn't it dreadful? Mr. Dodley told me all about
it, and after hearing it I couldn't bear to ride any farther, so we came
back."
"I wish he had told me before you started," said Ridge, "so that I might
have been in the city long ago."
"You were so busily and pleasantly engaged with your roses that I
hesitated to interrupt you," murmured Herman Dodley. "Now, however, if I
can be of any assistance to you in the city, pray consider me at your
service."
"Can you assist me, sir, to obtain a commission in the army that will be
summoned to visit a terrible punishment upon Spain for her black
treachery?"
"Undoubtedly I could, and of course I would do so with pleasure if the
occasion should arise. But there won't be any war. The great Yankee
nation is too busy accumulating dollars to fight over a thing of this
kind. We will demand a money indemnity, it will be promptly paid, and
the whole affair will quickly be forgotten."
"Sir!" cried Ridge, his face pale with passion. "The man who utters such
words is at heart a traitor to his country."
"If it were not for the presence of ladies, I would call you to account
for that remark," muttered Dodley. "As it is, I shall not forget it.
Ladies, I have the honor to wish you a very good-morning."
With this the speaker, who had not dismounted, turned his horse's head
and rode away.