Speaking of courage and self-confidence reminds me of a remark of big Jack McCauley. There was included in the company's property, about five miles from La Gloria, a deserted plantation known as Mercedes. Upon it was an old grove of orange trees, which, in the spring of 1900, bore a fine crop. For a long time everybody was allowed to help himself at will, and Cubans, colonists, and surveyors availed themselves of the opportunity to lay in a supply of fruit. At length, as the oranges grew riper, orders were given that no one should take more than he could eat on the spot, but the oranges continued to disappear by the bagful. Stalwart Jack McCauley was at that time employed about the camp by the company, and it was decided to station him out at Mercedes, with a view to stopping the raids on the orange grove. Before leaving to undertake this duty, Jack quietly remarked: "I'll go out there and see if I've got any influence, and if not, I'll create some!" Big Jack's "influence" proved to be ample, and the balance of the orange crop was saved.
McCauley's close friend and "pardner" was J. A. Messier, familiarly known as "Albany." Together they held a large tract of plantation land. "Albany" worked as a flagman in one of the surveying parties. Once, when the mosquitoes in the woods were more than ordinarily thick and ferocious, he made a complaint, a rare thing in him or any other surveyor. "They surround you," he said, "and you can't push them away because there is nowhere to push them!" "Albany" was the leading big snake killer in the colony, and was an adept at stretching and preparing their skins. But perhaps his greatest distinction was that of being floor manager of the first ball in La Gloria, a notable event which will be described in a later chapter.
[Illustration: LA GLORIA, CUBA, LOOKING SOUTH. (_March, 1900._)]
On the afternoon of February 27, the colonists who came on the third and last trip of the _Yarmouth_, about sixty in number, reached La Gloria. Among them were Arnold Mollenhauer of New York, a representative of the company; John A. Connell of East Weymouth, Mass., and S. W. Storm of Nebraska. The party was brought up from Nuevitas on the snug little steamer _Bay Shore_, and had a very comfortable passage. The _Bay Shore_ was bought by the company to ply between Nuevitas and Port La Gloria, and was to have been used to transport the colonists who came to Cuba on the first _Yarmouth_ excursion, but, unfortunately, she came into collision with another boat at about that time, and was unfit for use for several weeks. This was one of a singular chain of accidents and annoyances which gave the colony a serious setback at the very start. The _Bay Shore_ proved to be a very unlucky boat, and was laid up from one cause or another most of the time. When the _Bay Shore_ was out of commission, a sailboat had to be used between La Gloria and Nuevitas.