INTRODUCTION 15 



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periods of our history, have been made the sub- 

 jects of elaborate biography with far less title to 

 the honor than this lamented young officer. Time 

 was not granted him to embody in a permanent 

 shape a tithe of his personal experiences and 

 strange adventures in three quarters of the globe. 

 Considering, indeed, the amount of physical labor 

 he underwent, and the extent of the fields over 

 which his wanderings spread, it is almost sur- 

 prising he found leisure to write so much. 



" At the early age of seventeen, Mr. Ruxton 

 quitted Sandhurst, to learn the practical part of 

 a soldier's profession in the civil wars of Spain. 

 He obtained a commission in a squadron of lan- 

 cers then attached to the division of General Diego 

 Leon, and was actively engaged in several of the 

 most important combats of the campaign. For 

 his marked gallantry on these occasions he re- 

 ceived from Queen Isabella II. the cross of the 

 first class of the Order of St. Fernando, an honor 

 which has seldom been awarded to one so young. 



" On his return from Spain he found himself 

 gazetted to a commission in the 89th Regiment; 

 and it was whilst serving with that distinguished 

 corps in Canada that he first became acquainted 

 with the stirring scenes of Indian life, which he 

 has since so graphically portrayed. His eager 

 and enthusiastic spirit soon became wearied with 

 the monotony of the barrack-room ; and, yielding 

 to that impulse which in him was irresistibly de- 



