THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR 254 the Spanish boys;andIhave seen the great armies of Germany, France, and America, and many of the troops of Italy and England. A favourite disposition of the army by its enemies is to speak of it as composed of boys,but that shows ignorance of war. It is never safe to despise boys in any capacity, least of all in armies. On the battlefield of Shiloh it was remarked of the dead when they were gathered for burial— it was true of the boys in blue and grey alike— that hardly one in three was a bearded man. The boys,in the true sense of the word, were in the great majority. The Spanish lads under arms in Cuba are sturdy, swarthy fellows, wellfitted andequipped for the field, and many of them with kindly, friendly, humorous faces. The boys of whom Ispeak were fairly drilled,and though just landed,had evidently been set up and put through their steps. They had the swing for a long tramp. The Spanish army is not one to be despised, and howeverit may suffer from the ambuscades for which the tropical vegetation affords such eminent facilities, it will make itself respected when it meets foes it can see."

of wounds and death. There was anotable example in the Carlist war, wherea regularbattalion, six hundred strong, hemmed in by superior forcesina wildpass in the mountainsofNavarre, withall hope of retreat cut off and ammunition running short, refused summons after summons to surrender. The officers were shot down,but the sergeantskept the men together,answering shot withshot so long as a cartridge remained, and then rallying in desperate groups with fixed bayonets to meetthe finalrushthat overpowered them with mere weight of numbers. Of the six hundred not fifty were left when the final struggle hand to hand put an end to their glorious resistance.

Behind walls and breastworks, and among the houses of towns and villages even, the Spanish irregulars might be counted dangerous foes. The national history is full of records of splendid deeds done even by hastily armed levies in such positions. Numantia and Saguntum in classic days, Saragossa and Gerona in modern times, are names that tellof devoted heroism against hopeless odds, and with such memories Marshal Blanco might wellcount uponmaking a hard fight for the" Pearl of the Antilles" when the invader at last landed on the soil ofCuba.

One soldierly quality the Spanish regulars possessed in an eminent degree. They had shown on many battlefields a reckless contempt IIF.UTENANT-GENERAL AUGUSTIK, IN COMMAND OF THE SPANISH FORCES AT MANILA.