For a time it was a question whether Luque's command would not be wiped out. They were practically surrounded by Maceo's men, and for fully an hour and a half the fighting was desperate. It is impossible to unravel the stories of both sides so as to arrive at a clear idea of the encounter. When the cannonading ceased, four companies of infantry charged up the hill and occupied it before the insurgents, who had been driven out by the artillery, could regain it. Shortly the hill on the left of the road was taken in the same way, and Luque, although at a great loss, had repelled Maceo's attack from the rear. The battle had lasted for a little over two hours. Maceo had about forty of his men wounded and left four dead on the field, taking away ten others. Twenty or more of his horses were killed. The Spanish reported that he had 1,000 killed, the next day reduced the number to 300, and finally to the statement that "the enemy's losses must have been enormous," the usual phrase when the true number is humiliating. Luque's losses have never been officially reported, but it is variously estimated at from seventy-five to a hundred men. THE WORK OF FIENDS. The Cubans give horrible details of a battle at Paso Heal, between General Luque's army and a division of Maceo's forces under Bermudez. Witnesses of the encounter claim that the Spaniards invaded the hospital and killed wounded insurgents in their beds, and that, Bermudez, in retaliation, formed a line, and shot thirty-seven Spanish prisoners. Luque says in his report of this engagement: "The rebels made a strong defense, firing from the tops of houses and along the fences around the city. The Spanish vanguard, under Colonel Hernandez, attacked the vanguard, center and rear guard of the rebels in the central streets of the town, driving them with continuous volleys and fierce cavalry charges into the outskirts of the town. Up to this point we had killed ten insurgents." The people of Paso Real say this report is true, as far as it goes, but that Luque neglects to add that he then attacked the hospital, and murdered twenty-eight wounded men, firing at them as they lay on their cots, through the windows, and finally breaking down the door, and killing the rest with the bayonet. Under date of February 8th we have an account of the operations of the Spanish General Sabas Marin, who left Havana a short time before. His campaign in search of General Gomez was disastrous, and the official reports of Spanish victories were misleading. There were losses on both sides, but Marin accomplished absolutely nothing of what he intended to achieve.