IT may go without saying that the sixty men from the cruiser had a
very interesting time before the night was over. The entire village
was in a constant uproar; the poor natives, horrified by what they had
witnessed during the afternoon, ran hither and thither, some even
leaving the place entirely and starting for the interior with their
goods and families. The rebel soldiers had evidently gone for good,
and a small party sent out to look for traces of them returned without
learning anything of their whereabouts. The bombardment of the village
had certainly had great effect.
It was only a tiny place, with possibly not more than a thousand
inhabitants, but there were evidences that it had been formerly a
flourishing town. There were fine residences in some of the streets,
which were now quite deserted, and there were some very respectable
business houses in the village square. All these had once been
occupied by Spanish traders, who had been driven away when the rebels
came, and if the insurgents had never come the town might now have
been a booming place. But the rebels were lazy, as usual, and did no
work, so that now the fine residences were vacant, and the business
blocks stood empty.
Some of the sailors looked about for a casino, where they might be
able to find entertainment of some kind for the evening, but every
place of amusement was closed, and the streets were deserted.
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