A string of five Cubans, in linen that had turned earthy brown in
colour, slid through the woods at a pace that was neither a walk nor a
run. It was a kind of rack. In fact the whole manner of the men, as
they thus moved, bore a rather comic resemblance to the American pacing
horse. But they had come many miles since sun-up over mountainous and
half-marked paths, and were plainly still fresh. The men were all
practicos--guides. They made no sound in their swift travel, but moved
their half-shod feet with the skill of cats. The woods lay around them
in a deep silence, such as one might find at the bottom of a lake.
Suddenly the leading practico raised his hand. The others pulled up
short and dropped the butts of their weapons calmly and noiselessly to
the ground. The leader whistled a low note and immediately another
practico appeared from the bushes. He moved close to the leader without
a word, and then they spoke in whispers.
"There are twenty men and a sergeant in the blockhouse."
"And the road?"
"One company of cavalry passed to the east this morning at seven
o'clock. They were escorting four carts. An hour later, one horseman
rode swiftly to the westward. About noon, ten infantry soldiers with a
corporal were taken from the big fort and put in the first blockhouse,
to the east of the fort. There were already twelve men there. We saw a
Spanish column moving off toward Mariel."
"No more?"
"No more."
"Good. But the cavalry?"
"It is all right. They were going a long march."
"The expedition is a half league behind. Go and tell the general."
The scout disappeared. The five other men lifted their guns and resumed
their rapid and noiseless progress. A moment later no sound broke the
stillness save the thump of a mango, as it dropped lazily from its tree
to the grass. So strange had been the apparition of these men, their
dress had been so allied in colour to the soil, their passing had so
little disturbed the solemn rumination of the forest, and their going
had been so like a spectral dissolution, that a witness could have
wondered if he dreamed.