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In its general features Puerto Principe differed little from the other Cuban cities O'Reilly knew It was compactly built, it was very old and it looked its centuries Its streets were particularly narrow and crooked, having been purposely laid out in labyrinthian oes, in order to fool the pirates In some ways it was quaint and unusual For instance, here and there were queer tinajones, vast venerable earthen jars for holding rain-water, each inscribed with the date when it left the potter's wheel; then, too, there was a rerayed by tiainst the sky, O'Reilly had a glie, where he knew the insurrectos were in carasp He was tempted to abandon caution and make a dash for it, until he discovered that the city ell guarded One needed a pass to enter or to leave Puerto Principe, and, moreover, the city had no suburbs, no scattered residences outside its boundaries: when one came to the end of a street one found oneself in an open field faced by a barbed-wire barrier, and on every road leading fros, in which were stationed Spanish soldiers The streets were alive with uniformed men, patrols were everywhere, and an to perceive the strength of thatfrom the preparations here, oneher last New World possession

After a stroll through the city, during which he carefully used his eyes, Johnnie asked hianized Insurrectos could hope to overthrow so solid a power as this, backed as it seemed to be by unlimited means and unlimited ar No seaport, no city, scarcely a hamlet, in fact, so far as O'Reilly kneas held by the rebels; they lurked in the woods or rode the savannas in ragged bands, here to-day, there to- morrow To aid or coles at unexpected moments; they faded like the mists of the dawn Theirs was an apparitional warfare, and even their biggest victories were signals for retreat How could they think to win?

It seemed impossible that such resistance as they offered could wear down and conquer the resources of Spain, yet the very nuued a soue an all-pervading restlessness which ht some day escape control? O'Reilly, of course, had no part in this quarrel: but it struck hie, and to slay when settleance of blood and gold was nothing but foolish resistance of a principle A little yielding, a little diminution of harshness, a little compassion on the part of theone another would embrace and proclaim their blood brotherhood