receiving any payment in return. They prefer to leave Cuba rather than
be ruined.

In the mean while Havana has been thrown into a panic by the report that
General Gomez is marching on the city. The truth of the rumor could not
be ascertained, but the fear was strengthened by the sudden return of
General Weyler, who had gone off on one of his famous pacifying
expeditions.

No sooner had Weyler returned than he began to make extraordinary
preparations to defend the city, and so it is generally believed in
Havana that the report is true.

It is known positively that the Cubans are very near the city, and that
Gomez has issued orders to all the insurgent leaders to press the war
forward with unceasing activity.

* * * * *

It seems that the Sultan has really been brought to terms.

The ambassadors, if you remember, gave him a stern refusal to treat with
any one but Tewfik Pasha, and repeated their demand for a written
acceptance of the frontier.

After this meeting with Tewfik the diplomats held a conference which
resulted in the preparation of a note to their governments in which they
gave it as their opinion that the Sultan could never be brought to terms
unless some decided action was taken.