Of our best generals, were held in check from
seven in the morning until two in the afternoon. But the difference
between seven hours of one day and six days is considerable. Still,
at present at San Juan that is the sort of information upon which the
patriotic and puzzled American tourist is fed.
Young Casanova, the only other authority in Santiago, is not so sure
of his facts as is his father, and is willing to learn. He went with
me to hold my pony while I took the photographs that accompany this
article, and I listened with great interest to his accounts of the
battle. Finally he made a statement that was correct. "How did you
happen to get that right?" I asked.
"Yesterday," he said, "I guided Colonel Hayes here, and while I
guided him he explained it to me."
THE SOUTH AFRICAN WAR
I - WITH BULLER'S COLUMN
"Were you the station-master here before this?" I asked the man in
the straw hat, at Colenso. "I mean before this war?"
"No fear!" snorted the station-master, scornfully. "Why, we didn't
know Colenso was on the line until Buller fought a battle here.
That's how it is with all these way-stations now. Everybody's
talking about them.
