Raising the Regiment 27 



left much to be desired in some respects, but 

 whose horsemanship was unexceptionable. He was 

 mounted on an exceedingly bad bronco, which would 

 bolt out of the ranks at drill. He broke it of this 

 habit by the simple expedient of giving it two tre- 

 mendous twists, first to one side and then to the 

 other, as it bolted, with the result that, invariably, 

 at the second bound its legs crossed and over it went 

 with a smash, the rider taking the somersault with 

 unmoved equanimity. 



The life histories of some of the men who joined 

 our regiment would make many volumes of thrilling 

 adventure. 



We drew a great many recruits from Texas ; and 

 from nowhere did we get a higher average, for 

 many of them had served in that famous body of 

 frontier fighters, the Texas Rangers. Of course, 

 these rangers needed no teaching. They were al- 

 ready trained to obey and to take responsibility. 

 They were splendid shots, horsemen, and trailers. 

 They were accustomed to living in the open, to en- 

 during great fatigue and hardship, and to encoun- 

 tering all kinds of danger. 



Many of the Arizona and New Mexico men had 

 taken part in warfare with the Apaches, those ter- 

 rible Indians of the waterless Southwestern moun- 

 tains the most bloodthirsty and the wildest of all 

 the red men of America, and the most formidable 



