"On that night it rained cats and dogs and hammer-handles," said one of the soldiers afterward. "It was inky dark--darker than I have ever known it to be anywhere on the plains. The water made a muddy pond of the whole camp, and the trenches were half filled in no time. Everything was blown helter-skelter by the furious wind, and some of our outfits we never recovered. In the midst of the confusion some fellows reported that the Spaniards were trying to break through our lines, but the report was false,--the outsiders were starving Cubans who had come in looking for shelter and something to eat. We gave them what we could--which was precious little, for we had next to nothing ourselves--and then got them to help us get things together again. One of the Cubans was an old man, who could speak a little English. He said he had lost two daughters and three grandchildren by starvation since the war between Spain and Cuba had started. He himself was little more than a skeleton."