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He was abundantly civil; professing himself ready to serve me in any way, and promising to give me the earliest intelligence of the arrival of the Bandera. I then returned to mine host's, to whom I had strong letters of introduction from some Kingston friends. I soon found that I had landed amongst a family of originals.
As the man sat there nervously smoking his long, "green" cigar, and telling me of the Gómezes, both the white one and the black one, of Macéo and Bandera, he grew positively eloquent. He also showed that he was a man of considerable education and reading. He spoke English excellently, and frequently surprised me by using words one would hardly expect from a foreigner.
During the whole of the following day, there was still no appearance of the frigate, and I had in consequence now to execute the ulterior part of my orders, which were, that if I did not find her at anchor when I arrived, or if she did not make her appearance within forty eight hours thereafter, I was myself to leave the Wave in Porto Bello, and proceed overland across the isthmus to Panama, and to deliver, on board of H. M. S. Bandera, into the Captain's own hands, a large packet with despatches from the Government at home, as I understood, of great importance, touching the conduct of our squadron, with reference to the vagaries of some of the mushroom American Republics on the Pacific.
Two performers played on the outside of the ring, one on a large drum, the other on the bandera. The singer in the ring was not interrupted during his recitations, but at the end of every verse, the instruments struck up, and the whole party joined in loud chorus, dancing round the man in the circle, stooping to the ground, and throwing up their legs alternately.
The cousins, though on opposite sides of the war, befriended each other in many instances, and it is said that more than once Captain-General Campos owed his life to his unacknowledged relative. The latter's half brother, Jose Maceo, was captured early in the war and sent to the African prison, Centa; whence he escaped later on with Quintín Bandera and others of his staff.
The sun had gone down and the moon was flooding the fronds of the palms with pale, silvery light. Maceo held a short conference with Quintin Bandera, and not long afterward the blacks wheeled in column and disappeared. Meantime the Cuban cavalry continued its course. By midnight it had reached Cemetery Hill, overlooking the town of San Luis. The moon was half way down the sky.
The last named Negro Colonel is to-day a prominent figure. "Quintin Bandera" means "fifteen flags," and the appellation was bestowed upon him by his grateful countrymen after he had captured fifteen Spanish ensigns. Everybody seems to have forgotten his real name, and Quintin Bandera he will remain in history.
Maceo and Bandera camped on the estate of Mejorana, about six miles away. It was here that Marti, Gomez, the two Maceos, Crombet, Guerra, and Rabi met not long before this to inaugurate the new revolution. Bandera and Maceo found plenty of provisions at the estate, but no bread.
With wonderful prescience he anticipated the movements of the Spaniards. His troopers were armed with machetes and the infantry with rifles and ammunition captured at Paralejo. Bandera commanded this band of blacks. The march had been terrific, and horses and men were nearly fagged. With sparse supplies the pace had been kept up for hours.
At length, after being two months in Panama, and still no appearance of the Bandera, I received a letter from the Admiral, desiring me to rejoin the Wave immediately, as it was then known that the line of battle ship had returned to the River Plate.
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