Rosa fought him as she had fought at the first
moment of desperation, but he lifted her easily and went striding
across the field behind his men.
Esteban's party made good time over the hills and into the San
Juan, for Asensio knew the country well. Mid-afternoon found them
in sight of La Joya. Cueto's cane was thick and high; it was ready
for the knife or for the torch. Making a detour, the incendiaries
approached it from the east in order to have the trade-winds at
their backs. They dismounted in the shelter of a wood and removed
the bags which they had carried on their saddles. Inside these
bags were several snakes, the largest perhaps eight feet in
length. To the tail of each the negroes fastened a leather thong,
and then to each thong a length of telegraph-wire, the end of
which had been bent into a loop to hold a bundle of oil-soaked
waste. These preliminaries accomplished, they bore the reptiles
into the cane-fields at widely separated places and lighted the
waste.
Esteban, from his saddle, saw the first wisps of smoke arise and
grow and unwind into long ribbons, reaching deep into the standing
crop. Soon tongues of flame appeared and the green tops of the
cane began to shrivel and to wave as the steady east wind took
effect. From the nearest conflagration a great snapping and
crackling of juicy stalks arose.
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