"Forward, March" A Tale of the Spanish-American War   By: Kirk Munroe (1850-1930)

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."