Roving and Fighting - Adventures Under Four Flags #266918

The chief merit of a tale of personal adventures is in its truthfulness. In writing this story of twenty years of roving and fighting in many lands I have had no notes or diary to guide me. With only memory as my guide I have had to go back over the long trail searching for incidents which might prove of interest. In shadowy retrospection the years have passed in review, leading me back through The Spanish War, the Philippine insurrection, as an officer in the Chinese, Venezuela and Mexican armies. The man who stays at home will perhaps wonder why the wanderer chooses to follow an aimless road to the odd corners of the world. The wanderer himself, could not give the reason. He pays the price for his freedom in hardships and loneliness. As a reward he finds a few of life's great moments, a wealth of memories, and broad horizons. In setting down this rambling story I have found that it is the trivial incidents which some times stand out the clearest, while events of world importance have faded into the mist of the past. I have fought with a coolie on the docks of China for a dry loaf of bread. The only reason I got the bread was that I wore shoes and he did not.