Page:Jack Heaton, Wireless Operator (Collins, 1919).djvu/189

 sage is not very interesting but we know that something is going on anyway.

We anchored off Vera Cruz on the 21st and the natives must have thought from the number of warships that hemmed them in that we were going to blow them to smithereens. A few hours after our arrival we landed a thou- sand marines and they drove back Huerta’s soldiers and captured the customs house.

The chief reason this was done was because our government had got wise to the fact that a couple of German ships were scheduled to arrive at Vera Cruz with a cargo of guns and ammunition for Huerta, and our Commander had received orders on the way down to prevent this by seizing the customs house.

There was not much show of armed resistance on the part of Huerta’s men but in the scuffle that took place four of our men were killed and about twenty were wounded. I made up my mind right then and there that if I ever got a chance I’d blow the sombrero off of some greaser out of pure revenge.

The favorite method of warfare that is waged by the Mexicans is sniping, that is, they hide behind something and take a shot now and then