But there was one notable event on that first holiday not down on the program, and one which few of the colonists knew anything about at the time and of which not many had subsequent knowledge. As I wended my way in the direction of my tent near General Van der Voort's house, under the mellow rays of the declining sun, three excited colonists intercepted me. They were Chief Engineer Kelly, John A. Connell, and D. E. Lowell. Drawing me aside from the thoroughfare, they hastily informed me that a lawyer by the name of C. Hugo Drake, of Puerto Principe, had just come into La Gloria with Lieutenant Cienfuente, the owner of the Viaro tract, with the intention of dispossessing the colonists of their land. They had ridden in on horseback from Puerto Principe, forty-five miles away. Lieutenant Cienfuente was an elderly Spaniard who had been an officer in the Spanish army, and Drake claimed to have charge, in part, of his business affairs. We had heard from Drake before, and knew perfectly well that he had induced the landholding Spaniard to come with him to La Gloria. Drake was an American, having come to Cuba from Mississippi just after the war with Spain and set up as a lawyer and restaurant keeper in Puerto Principe. He was a young man of a prominent family, but was reputed to be somewhat dissipated. He has since persistently claimed that his errand to La Gloria was not to dispossess the colonists, but in reality was in their interest. This explanation cannot be accepted, however, except upon the hypothesis that the colonists were bound to lose their lands under the contracts which they held. This, as the event proved, was a groundless fear; their holdings were perfectly secure.