On August 7 the Rough Riders embarked on the transport Miamee. At last the transport sighted the Long Island coast, and late on the afternoon of the 14th it entered the waters of the Sound and cast anchor at Montauk Point. The Rough Riders stood by their Colonel to the man. In the United States disparaging remarks had been made about the Colonel and his regiment. Some of the officials in Washington, angered at his criticisms of the canned beef and the short supplies sent to the men, took occasion to sneer at his campaign. In the jungles of Cuba, however, the Rough Riders saw Roosevelt in his true light. He looked after their comfort and well-being. He sympathized with them in their predicaments. He understood them and helped them out of many difficulties. When they broke rules he was as merciful to them as it was possible to be, and whatever attitude he assumed toward them was felt by them to be for their own good. These were times when battles were won, not by the side that had the greatest amount of shells and shock troops, but by those who displayed a personal bravery, and Roosevelt fought in such a gallant manner that those who had accused him of enlisting for personal motives soon grew ashamed of their spitefulness. Roosevelt was not given to profanity, but when there came times when a soldier could only be handled by the use of language he knew, the Colonel did not balk at using that language. It is said of him that he once confessed to another officer in a repentant manner: “I swore today.” Then he made this explanation: “A captain riding off in cool disregard of orders is enough to make the sweetest-tempered archangel use ‘language.’ What I said, or rather bellowed was: ‘What in ---- are you doing? Good ----, wheel into line!’ What I might have said was: ‘Really, my dear sir, do you not observe that you are acting in direct opposition to my instructions? I beg that you will not march your troop into Kamchatka.’ Well, one always thinks afterward of what one might have said.” [Illustration: COPYRIGHT, UNDERWOOD & UNDERWOOD HALL AT SAGAMORE HILL] It is interesting to note that the original idea for a regiment such as the Rough Riders was suggested to Roosevelt several years before the Spanish War by no other man than Baron von Sternburg of the German Embassy. The baron, when only seventeen, had served in the Franco-Prussian War as a hussar. There was no war with Germany on the American horizon in those days and the baron spent a week in camp at Montauk with the Rough Riders upon their return.