His conduct in the face of this general admiration was no less
unexpected than his behavior under fire: Branch gruffly refused to
accept any tribute whatever; he snarled, he fairly barked at those
of his comrades who tried to express their appreciation of his
conduct--a demeanor which of course awakened even greater
admiration among the Cubans. He was uniformly surly and sour; he
sneered, he scoffed, he found fault. He had the tongue of a common
scold, and he used it with malevolent abandon.
It was fortunate indeed that he knew no Spanish and that most of
his companions were equally ignorant of English, for mere
admiration, even of the fervent Latin quality, would scarcely have
been proof against his spleen. As it was, his camp-mates endured
his vituperations blandly, putting him down as a pleasing
eccentric in whom there blazed a curious but inspiring spirit of
patriotism.
O'Reilly alone understood the reason for the fellow's morbid
irritability, his suicidal recklessness; but when he privately
remonstrated he was gruffly told to mind his own business. Branch
flatly refused to modify his conduct; he seemed really bent upon
cheating the disease that made his life a misery.
But, as usual, Fate was perverse; she refused to humor the sick
man's hope. When, after blindly inviting death, Leslie had emerged
from several engagements unscathed, his surprise--and perhaps a
natural relief at finding himself whole--became tinged with a
certain apprehension lest he survive those deliberately courted
dangers, only to succumb to the ills and privations of camp life.
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