16 The Rough Riders 



interested in sport, I occasionally met him on the 

 hunting field, had seen him on the deck of the De- 

 fender when she vanquished the Valkyrie, and knew 

 the part he had played on the Navajoe, when, in her 

 most important race, that otherwise unlucky yacht 

 vanquished her opponent, the Prince of Wales's 

 Britannia. When the war was on, Kane felt it his 

 duty to fight for his country. He did not seek any 

 position of distinction. All he desired was the chance 

 to do whatever work he was put to do well, and to 

 get to the front ; and he enlisted as a trooper. When 

 I went down to the camp at San Antonio he was on 

 kitchen duty, and was cooking and washing dishes 

 for one of the New Mexican troops; and he was 

 doing it so well that I had no further doubt as to 

 how he would get on. 



My friend of many hunts and ranch partner, Rob- 

 ert Munro Ferguson, of Scotland, who had been on 

 Lord Aberdeen's staff as a Lieutenant but a year be- 

 fore, likewise could not keep out of the regiment. 

 He, too, appealed to me in terms which I could not 

 withstand, and came in like Kane to do his full duty 

 as a trooper, and like Kane to win his commission 

 by the way he thus did his duty. 



I felt many qualms at first in allowing men of 

 this stamp to come in, for I could not be certain that 

 they had counted the cost, and was afraid they would 

 find it very hard to serve not for a few days, but 



