1 82 The Rough Riders 



my orderly, always pitched and struck my tent and 

 built me a bunk of bamboo poles, whenever we 

 changed camp. So I personally endured very little 

 discomfort; for, of course, no one minded the two 

 or three days preceding or following each fight, when 

 we all had to get along as best we could. Indeed, 

 as long as we were under fire or in the immediate 

 presence of the enemy, and I had plenty to do, there 

 was nothing of which I could legitimately complain ; 

 and what I really did regard as hardships, my men 

 did not object to for later on, when we had some 

 leisure, I would have given much for complete soli- 

 tude and some good books. 



Whether there was a truce, or whether, as some- 

 times happened, we were notified that there was no 

 truce but merely a further cessation of hostilities by 

 tacit agreement, or whether the fight was on, we 

 kept equally vigilant watch, especially at night. In 

 the trenches every fourth man kept awake, the 

 others sleeping beside or behind him on their rifles ; 

 and the Cossack post and pickets were pushed out 

 in advance beyond the edge of the jungle. At least 

 once a night at some irregular hour I tried to visit 

 every part of our line, especially if it was dark and 

 rainy, although sometimes, when the lines were in 

 charge of some officer like Wilcox or Kane, Green- 

 way or Goodrich, I became lazy, took off my boots, 

 and slept all night through. Sometimes at night 



