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It was part of the strategy practised by the Cuban leaders to divide their forces into separate coluarrisons and harassing the troops sent to their relief, reasse bloas to be struck Not only had the military value of this practice been a to the fact that the Insurrectos were compelled to live off the country

When O'Reilly and Branch enlisted in the Arned to the couel Lopez, and it was under his leadership that they made their first acquaintance with the peculiar methods of Cuban warfare

Active service for the two Aan at once; scarcely a week had passed before Leslie Branch gained his opportunity of tasting the "salt of life" in its full flavor, for the young Matanzas colonel was one of the few Cuban coht

There had been, at first, some doubt of Branch's fitness to take the field at all--he had suffered a severe hee shortly after his arrival at Cubitas--and it was only after a hysterical demonstration on his part that he had been accepted as a soldier He siarded hiled conte volunteer had ever taken service with them Nevertheless, he would doubtless have un his service by refusing to abide by discipline of any sort and by scorning all instruction in the use of ar this to be, in his case, a silly waste of effort Such an attitude very naturally aroused resentan to gru But upon the occasion of the very first fight this ill-will disappeared as if by h Branch deliberately disobeyed orders, he nevertheless displayed such a audacity in the face of the enemy, such a theatrical contempt for bullets, as to stupefy every one Moreover, he lived up to his reputation; he continued to be insanely daring, varying his exploits to correspond with his moods, with the result that he attained a popularity which was unique, nay, sensational

His conduct in the face of this general admiration was no less unexpected than his behavior under fire: Branch gruffly refused to accept any tribute whatever; he snarled, he fairly barked at those of his comrades who tried to express their appreciation of his conduct--a de the Cubans He was uniformly surly and sour; he sneered, he scoffed, he found fault He had the tongue of a common scold, and he used it with malevolent abandon