April 28th. Tuesday
Yesterday afternoon Major Butler came to see us. He is in command at the “roundhouse” of Mr. Cummings’s telegraphic episode, and is decidedly downcast at the idea that some peaceful agreement of a makeshift order will be reached. He is like a hungry man who has been given thin bread and butter when he wants beefsteak and potatoes. He seemed, also, rather embarrassed to be calling on us peacefully, on the Minnesota’s deck, instead of rescuing us after a successful storming of Chapultepec, or a siege at the Embassy.
Yesterday a notice was sent to hundreds of newspapers at home (without my knowledge, of course) that I was getting up a Red Cross nurse corps; but there is no need for it. The Solace is not half full, the hospitals on shore have plenty of room, and the ships’ doctors are not too busy. I had said that if fighting continued I would return from New York with the first corps of nurses that came out. I have a feeling that instead of pushing on to Panama via Mexico and Guatemala we are going to make some patchwork with the A. B. C. combination. It can be only a makeshift, at the best, and in any event will be a reprieve for Huerta, though that is the last thing our government intends. Its heart is given elsewhere.
Last night Admiral Cradock and Captain Watson came to dinner. No mention was made by them of the raising of the flag over Vera Cruz and of the salutes that had so thrilled us. I imagine each admiral and captain in port confined his activities during the afternoon to cabling to his home government. The only thing Sir Christopher said on the situation was to mildly inquire, “Do you know yet whether you are at war or not?” Captain Simpson had an excellent dinner, and we played bridge afterward, the starry night concealing the fateful flag above the English railroad terminal.
A belated norte is predicted, but my land eyes see no sign of it. General Funston, of Aguinaldo and San Francisco earthquake fame, arrives this morning. The army, I understand, has more suitable equipment and paraphernalia for the work of occupation, or whatever they call it; but I am unforgettably thrilled by the majesty and might of our great navy.