8 The Rough Riders 



many of the gallant fighters with whom it was later 

 my good fortune to serve, he combined, in a very 

 high degree, the qualities of entire manliness with 

 entire uprightness and cleanliness of character. It 

 was a pleasure to deal with a man of high ideals, 

 who scorned everything mean and base, and who 

 also possessed those robust and hardy qualities of 

 body and mind, for the lack of which no merely neg- 

 ative virtue can ever atone. He was by nature a 

 soldier of the highest type, and, like most natural 

 soldiers, he was, of course, born with a keen long- 

 ing for adventure; and, though an excellent doctor, 

 what he really desired was the chance to lead men 

 in some kind of hazard. To every possibility of 

 such adventure he paid quick attention. For in- 

 stance, he had a great desire to get me to go with 

 him on an expedition into the Klondike in mid-win- 

 ter, at the time when it was thought that a relief 

 party would have to be sent there to help the starv- 

 ing miners. 



In the summer he and I took long walks together 

 through the beautiful broken country surrounding 

 Washington. In winter we sometimes varied these 

 walks by kicking a football in an empty lot, or, on 

 the rare occasions when there was^ enough snow, 

 by trying a couple of sets of skis or snow-skates, 

 which had been sent me from Canada. 



But always on our way out to and back from these 



