From directly ahead of him came a burst of music swelling grandly through the solemn stillness of the forest.

A regimental band was playing "The Star-spangled Banner," and never before had such glorious notes been borne to his ears.

Tears started to his eyes; but without pausing to brush them away he dashed forward.

A minute later he stood on the brow of a declivity looking down upon the sea-coast village of Siboney, which he instantly recognized, though its transformation from what it was when he had last seen it was wonderful.
Then it had been a stronghold of Spanish troops.

Now the fortifications crowning its encircling hills, abandoned by those who had erected them, stood empty and harmless; while in the village, and on the narrow plain surrounding it, an advance-guard of the American army was pitching its tents.