To Cuba 45 



our entire time of service, I never heard in the offi- 

 cers' mess a foul story or a foul word; and though 

 there was occasional hard swearing in moments of 

 emergency, yet even this was the exception. 



The regiment attracted adventurous spirits from 

 everywhere. Our chief trumpeter was a native 

 American, our second trumpeter was from the Medi- 

 terranean I think an Italian who had been a sol- 

 dier of fortune not only in Egypt, but in the French 

 Army in Southern China. Two excellent men were 

 Osborne, a tall Australian, who had been an officer 

 in the New South Wales Mounted Rifles ; and Cook, 

 an Englishman, who had served in South Africa. 

 Both, when the regiment disbanded, were plaintive 

 in expressing their fond regret that it could not be 

 used against the Transvaal Boers! 



One of our best soldiers was a man whose real 

 and assumed names I, for obvious reasons, conceal. 

 He usually went by a nickname which I will call 

 Tennessee. He was a tall, gaunt fellow, with a 

 quiet and distinctly sinister eye, who did his duty 

 excellently, especially when a fight was on, and 

 who, being an expert gambler, always contrived 

 to reap a rich harvest after pay-day. When the 

 regiment was mustered out, he asked me to put a 

 brief memorandum of his services on his discharge 

 certificate, which I gladly did. He much appre- 

 ciated this, and added, in explanation, "You see, 



