Class .£_Zi5-7- hick * H ^ "Look at his eye-glasses!" "See that brand-new hunting outfit!" Thus the talk ran down the one street of Medora, a primitive little cattle town in what is now North Dakota. The man they jeered was Theodore Roosevelt, a young man of importance in New York State; but an unknown, untried quantity in Medora. Roosevelt was a lonely, heartsick man in these days. He had dropped politics for the time. His plans were unsettled. He was only twenty-five, yet he had lost both his wife and his mother, and life seemed hardly worth living. Only one thing promised to restore his hope and confidence in life— that was the West. It called to him and he went. In the fall of 1882 he had hunted along the Red River in Dakota. Now, in his hour of grief, it seemed to him a good place to go. He left his baby daughter 50 Trail Leads JVest — East Again 51 Alice in the loving care of his elder sister and took a train for the Bad Lands. Roosevelt found more than adventure in the West. He found pioneer braveiy and hardihood that made him stronger through contact with it. The section which first appealed to him was that territory ac- quired for $15,000,000 by Thomas Jefferson, when he was President, under the terms of the Louisiana Pur- chase. France then sold the United States the country which now is occupied by the State of Arkansas, Mis- souri, Iowa, part of Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, most of Kansas, Oklahoma, and parts of Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, and Louisiana. Strange indeed was the contrast between the men Roosevelt had left behind him in the East and those whom he moved among now. Hunters and trappers, men of the type of Daniel Boone, still lived. Here and there in the crowd that passed through Medora, one would meet one of these veterans of the hills, clad picturesquely in a fringed buckskin hunting shirt. Of all the men in the West the hunter was the most independent. He built his own hut far from the abodes of men. He provided his own food, except for the flour, salt, sugar and tea he carried along. He slept on his own deer-skins — all that he was dependent upon was the shagg}^ pony that served as his pack-horse. Some of these, tiring of the loneliness, took Indian wives. These hunters were frowned upon by the plainsmen and called "squaw men." The cowboys outnumbered the hunters and trappers. In addition to those of his own and neighboring ranches, he often met strange cow-punchers while in search of 52 Jungle Roads straying horses, and found them friendly, Hkeable fel- lows. Often they took him into their confidence. One day he met two young Texans who were exiled from their native state because of a race war between Americans and Mexicans in which they had become en- gaged. A Mexican village had been stormed in re- venge for the killing of an American cowboy, and four "Greasers" slain. The authorities were in search of the men who had witnessed or taken part in the attack, and these two thought it well to stay away from the border. The uproars the cowboys caused when they came to town was largely due to their fun-loving spirit. Some- times, indeed, they would shoot off high hats, or make a man dance by firing bullets in a circle around his feet, but usually, Roosevelt tells us, such a deed was called forth by some foolish act of the person thus treated. If cowboys "shot up" a saloon, more than likely they put down enough money to pay for the damage; if they lost six months' pay in a few days' spree, they rode cheerily back to the ranch for another season of the hardest kind of work. The cow-puncher who became a hard character soon lost his employment. Of rascals, however, the country had its full share. Some ranch owners themselves were cattle thieves who employed bad men to shift unbranded calves to the side of his own cows, or to cover blurred brands on the cattle of a neighbor with his own brand, or to alter a plain brand so that it looked like the brand of the robber ranchman. The appointment of tramed brand inspectors largely put a stop to this evil. Then there were bands'of thieves who stole horses Trail Leads West — East Again 53 from cow-punchers, hunters or settlers, thus depriv- ing thern of their most useful and valuable posses- sions. Horse-stealing was therefore considered a major crime by the men of the frontier and whenever a thief was caught by the vigilantes he was hanged in short order. Good men and bad men; sober workers and bar-room loafers; blustering gun-men and quiet men who killed in self-defense — Roosevelt rubbed elbows with all. The parson who beat a man over the head with an axe; the man from Minnesota who slew a bullying Scotch- man and soon after led a dance at a cowboys' ball — at which our hero went through the lanciers with the victor's wife; the French-Canadian trapper fleeing from justice; the simple-hearted plainsman who would share his last bit of sun-jerked venison with a stranger; — these and a score of other picturesque types Roose- velt knew. Roosevelt's former experiences with rough lumber- men in the Maine woods stood him in good stead. He had learned how to meet men on their own ground; when to take a joke; when not to. He picked out Joe Ferris as the man who was to be his chief friend in that crowd, and accepted gladly open-hearted Joe's invitation to his ranch, the Chimney Butte, about ten miles from Medora, on the Little Missouri River. There he met Sylvane Ferris, Joe's brother, and Arthur N. Merrifield, their partner. Sylvane it was who took Roosevelt in search of buffaloes, and in Syl- vane's words we give the story of this hunt: "It meant hard work to get a buffalo at that time, and whether the thin young man could stand the trip was a question, but Roosevelt was on horseback and 54 Jungle Roads / he rode better than I did, and could stand just as much knocking about as I could, "On the first night out, when we were twenty-five or thirty miles from a settlement, we went into camp on the open prairie, with our saddle blankets over us, our horses picketed and the picket ropes tied about the horns of our saddles, which we used for pillows. In the middle of the night there was a rush, our pillows were swept from under our heads and our horses went tearing off over the prairie, frightened by wolves. "Roosevelt was up and off in a minute after the horses. "On the fourth or fifth day out, I think it was, our horses pricked up their ears and I told Roosevelt that a buffalo was close at hand. We dismounted and ad- vanced to a big 'washout' near, peered over its edge, and there stood a huge buffalo bull, calmly feeding and unaware of our presence. " 'Hit him where that patch of red shows on his side,' said I, 'and you've got him !' "Roosevelt was cool as a cucumber, took a careful aim and fired. Out came the buffalo from the wash- out, with blood pouring from his mouth and nose. 'You've shot him,' I shouted, and so it proved, for the buffalo plunged a few steps and fell." Roosevelt learned more on this hunt than how to shoot a bull bison. His companions were cattlemen, and their talk was of cow-punching, round-ups, and the prospects of making money at their arduous calling. Roosevelt had money awaiting investment. His life in the East seemed to him now a closed book. He decided to cast his lot wath these men in what was thought to be a coming cattle country. So carried away Trail Leads West— East Again 55 was he by the prospect that he bought Chimney Butte Ranch at once, with Sylvane Ferris and Merrifield as his partners, and with Sylvane as ranch manager. He ^aid $45,000 for the ranch, and gave his check at once for $10,000, in partial payment. He came East three weeks later to prepare for the new mode of life. BILL SEWALL JOINS ROOSEVELT He wrote to Bill Sewall of his plans and asked if Bill and his nephew Dow, whom Roosevelt knew well, did not want to go West and begin ranching with him. He knew that while Bill was pleasantly located at Island Falls and Lake IMattawamkeag, his income was not a steady one. He held out the prospect of making big money and guaranteed that they would not lose anything by making the trip. This is the letter that led the two woodsmen to cast in their fortunes with Roosevelt: "Now, a little plain talk, though I do not think it necessary for I know you too well. If you are afraid of hard work and privation do not come West. If you expect to make a fortune in a year or two, do not come West. If you will give up under temporary discour- agements, do not come West. If, on the other hand, you are willing to work hard, especially the first year; if you realize that for a couple of years you cannot expect to make much more than you are now making; and if you also know that at the end of that time you will be in receipt of about a thousand dollars for the third year, with an unlimited rise ahead of you and a future as bright as you yourself choose to make it — then come. Now, I take it for granted you will not 56 Jungle Roads / hesitate at this time. So fix up your affairs at once, and be ready to start before the end of this month." Both Sewall and Dow were married. Dakota seemed at the end of the world to them. The fact that they made the journey gives ample proof of their faith in the would-be ranchman who called to them. They reached Medora in July of thai year. Their wives came later. They found the country even wilder than they expected; instead of the trackless forests of the north country they found treeless plains where the coyote and prairie dogs made their home. Roosevelt acquired two ranches, the Chimney Butte and a new one forty miles north. On the latter site, Roosevelt found the antlers of two elks which had died in combat and named the place The Elkhorn. Their first job was to build a new house on the Elkhorn ranch. They hewed cottonwood logs, the only kind of timber they could find. The lumber for the roof came from Minneapolis. Roosevelt toiled with them. He overheard someone ask Dow what the total cut of logs had been. Dow, not knowing that he was within hearing, said: "Well, Bill cut down fifty-three, I cut forty-nine and the boss he beavered seventeen." The force of the jest lay, not in the small number of trees his ax felled, but in the likening of his chop- ping to the gnawing of the beaver. Roosevelt joined in the laughter and afterwards told his Eastern friends this joke on himself. LIFE ON ELKHORN RANCH The ranch was completed by Spring. Dow went East to escort the women folks to their new home. He Trail Leads \Vest — East Again 57 brought his bride along, and with him came Sewall's wife and three-year-old daughter. Sewall's family oc- cupied one room; Mr. and Mrs. Dow another; Roose- velt another; while the kitchen, dining room, and other small rooms were open to all. The ranch lay on both sides of the river, a long, low house of hewn logs, surrounded by outbuildings. The nearest neighbor was ten miles distant. The house stood in a glade, protected from the summer's heat by an old line of cottonwoods. Thorny underbrush lay all about, through which bridle paths and wagon roads had been chopped. Deer inhabited this brush, sometimes coming to within two hundred yards of the house. Sometimes they could be seen peering out of their shelter, or warily making their way down to the river to drink. Inside the ranchhouse there was a primitive sitting room with a huge fire place built for winter comfort. The house had a broad veranda, shaded by the cotton- woods, and here in the hot noontide hours of mid- summer, when work was slack, the young ranch-owner would sit, stretched back in a rocking chair, reading or smoking. Before him lay the river, now nearly dry, and on the opposite side the cliffs. There was no sound except the note of the mourning dove, or the sound of bulls and steers in conflict as they came down from the hills to drink at the river. A little distance away from the ranch, prairie dogs came to the mouth of their burrows and stared curi- ously at the intruding ranchmen. On the outskirts of these prairie-dog settlements, called "dog towns," foxes, ferrets, coyotes, badgers and skunks could be seen steal- ing up to prey upon the prairie dogs. 58 Jungle Roads In the Fall, prairie fowl, ducks, geese and other water-fowl frequented the river, sometimes alighting in the ranch yard. The bagging of these brought to the ranchers a delightful change of food. Roosevelt related to Dr. F. C. Iglehart, who recorded it in his book, this delightful yarn of his ranch life: On going to his ranch from the East, he was handed condensed milk for his coffee. "What does this mean," he said, "condensed milk with hundreds of cows with calves in the herds?" "Boss," said the cook, "will you go milkin' with the boys to get some cream for tomorrow?" "I certainly will !" the young ranch owner replied. The next day the men took ponies and ropes and went out to the herd. A fine, healthy-looking cow was singled out. She gave Roosevelt a look far different from the placid one bestowed on the milkman by a Long Island cow, kicked up her heels and started to run as fast as she could. The cowboys pursued and lassoed her. She was throv/n to the ground and milked by force, but it took the entire group to handle her. Roosevelt now understood why condensed milk w^as in favor with ranchmen. Wall-eyed pike, catfish and other strange fish were caught by leaving lines set out overnight in the pools of the river. The mid-day meal, the chief one of the day, con- sisted of smoked elk meat, home made bread, venison or broiled antelope steak, or roasted or fried prairie chick- ens, with eggs, butter, wild plums anH tea or coffee. A small garden yielded them potatoes and other vege- tables. Trail Leads West — East Again 59 For eatables, the Roosevelt ranch fared far better than most of the ranches. The usual food for many of Roosevelt's neighbors, outside of what was secured by hunting, was salt pork, canned goods and bread. With the coming of Spring, many kinds of birds ar- rived to keep the young naturalist company. He tells of having been companioned by the ]\Iissouri skylark, which sang so high in the air that it was often im- possible to see it; the white-shouldered lark bunting,' whose song resembled the bobolink's ; the lark-finch ; the bluebird; the flicker; the towhee; and the meadow- lark. In June came the wood thrush, song sparrow and grosbeak. Then, to complete the choir, came black- birds and whippoorwills and yellow-heads and even owls. In the A\'inter, when the river lay frozen, wolves and lynxes traveled up and down the ice, as if it were a highroad. Roosevelt's cowboys, in their crude way, have borne eloquent testimony to his fair dealing and comrade- ship. One of them said: "He worked for a part of a season as a cowboy. He had his own 'string' of horses and they were as ugly and ill-tempered as the majority of cow-horses. He was not a broncho-breaker as he has been pictured to be, and he took no unnecessary chances in mounting or endeavoring to tame an especially ugly horse. But he did not shrink from riding his own horses when they cut up the customary capers of mustangs and although he was sometimes thrown and on one or two occasions pretty badly bruised and hurt, he stuck to his mounts, until he had mastered them." 6o Jungle Roads IX, Along the Cattle Trail The Stampede "Into the pitchy darkness of the night, With spur and quirt and shot and wild halloo, Lithe figures speed to check their frenzied flight, As on the panic-stricken thousands go! And now the storm God's wrath is spent and gone; Hushed is his voice upon the mesa's crest; The stars peep forth through scudding clouds, and dawn Finds wearied riders safe; the herd at rest." — E. A. Brininstool. T?RC)M Canada to Mexico, through the middle of the -*■ United States, the cattle country lay. Farms were few in this region; the entire district was a huge pasture in which there were no restricting fences. Each ranchman had to depend on the industry of his cowboys and upon the brands he burnt into the sides of his cattle to safeguard his stock. Roosevelt adopted the Maltese cross as his brand for the upper ranch, and on the lower ranch his brands were the elkhorn and triangle. Those of his neighbors were Three Sevens, The Thistle, the OX, the Quarter Circle Diamond, and several other queer devices. Un- branded cattle, called "mavericks," when captured at a round-up were usually branded by the owner of the range on which they were found. In the section of country in which Roosevelt set- Trail Leads West — East Again 6i t\e<^ the ground was so poor that in winter an average of twenty-five acres had to be allowed for each animal; thus on a range ten miles square, there would be found just two or three thousand head of stock. The greatest danger of loss to the cattlemen came in the winter. Herds that drifted North in the summer were caught in blizzards or severe winter rains. They then found the grass frozen and uneatable and died in great numbers. Roosevelt tells of one owner who lost tliirty-six hundred out of a total of four thousand. The remainder were kept alive by feeding them the tops of trees. Roosevelt and his men were often "on the trail," driving cattle from one pasture to another, or taking them to a depot for shipment to market. These trips sometimes lasted months; the cattle could not be hurried; hard toil and patience were the qualities re- quired of the men who cared for them. As a relief to the monotony of such work, there were a series of exciting round-ups which began in May and ended in October. The first round-up of the season, when most of the calves were branded, was the chief event. Stray cattle had to be searched for far and wide, and the round up therefor lasted for six or seven weeks. The horses used on the ranch, — "Mani- tou," "Dynamite Jimmy," "Wire Fence," "Fall Back," "Water Skip," and other animals with nick-names as strange, had also to be broken into the work that lay ahead of them. On May 25th the round-up began. Each ranch in the district sent its cowboys. Ranches from outside the district sent representatives to redeem such of their cattle that had strayed into the region. 62 Jungle Roads The outfit from the Chimney Butte ranch consisted of the "grub wagon" and twelve cow-punchers. Two "horse-wranglers" had charge of the hundred horses used in the herding. While on this round-up Roosevelt made the mistake of choosing as his mounts horses that had not been sufficiently broken. One of these bronchos bucked him, breaking one of his ribs. Another had the trick of balking and then throwing himself over backward. This one also threw Roosevelt, injuring his shoulder so that he could not use his arm freely for weeks. Arriving at the encampment, a scene of wild ex- citement followed. Four-horse wagons rushed hither and thither; horse-wranglers struggled to keep their animals together; broncho-busters toiled to tame un- broken horses, sticking to the backs of their vicious mounts despite the broncho's bucking and plunging, and meeting the jars and bounces and cries of the spec- tators with unfailing good humor. Every man acted as if his chief business was not to herd cattle but to have a frolic; Wrestling matches and foot races were engaged in. Men with racing ponies attended the round-up; races were run betv/een two rows of spectators. Each horse had its enthusi- astic friends; the excitement became intense; large sums of money v/ere wagered. With waving hands and voices hoarse with cheering the cowboys urged on their favorite riders and bronchos, and even fired their revolvers in the air to stimulate them to victory. Then came a day when all arrangements had been completed, and the work for which they had come to- gether was started. At three o'clock in the morning, long before daylight, the men arose and ate a hasty Trail Leads West— East Again 63 breakfast. Then off the cowboys rode to bring in every herd of cattle in sight, driving them towards the meeting-place. This completed, the animals were herded closely together while cowboys from each ranch looked through the herds and "cut out" those that bore the brands of their ranches. Finding such a beast, the cowboy cau- tiously drove him to the outskirts of the herd, thwart- ing it in its swift attempts to rejoin its fellows. Sometimes the "cutting out" resembled a bull-fight — except that it was a cow or steer instead of a bull who lunged at the rider. The cow-puncher is adept at meet- ing such charges, and the beast is quickly roped and tied. Then, after the animals sought for have been sep- arated from the herd, the branding begins. A fire is built; the branding irons are heated; the calf is lassoed and thrown and held up to the fire by the ropers while the man with the heated iron applies the brand. Danger comes Vvhen a branded maverick turns vic- ious when set free and charges the men who have roped it. The cowboys scatter; the horses leap and twist ; there is a tangle of taut lariats and bleating calves and shouting men. The chief danger that confronts the herders is a stampede that will scatter to the four winds the cattle gathered with so much labor. On one occasion Roose- velt and his men set out to take a thousand head of young cattle down from the Elkhorn ranch to the Chimney Butte range. The river was high and it be- came necessary to take an inland trail. Water became scarce and the cattle went a whole day without drink- ing. That night the thirsty, restless animals started to 64 Jungle Roads stampede. Roosevelt and one cow-puncher were on guard. They rode desperately around the herd in op- posite directions, knowing that if once the cattle broke away, there would be no chance of assembling them again. They would turn back the herd at one point, only to find them breaking forth at another. Sometimes their horses tripped over broken ground and the riders would somersault out of their saddles. Finally, wet with sweat and with their bronchos trembling with ex- haustion and excitement, they managed to calm the herd. A more serious menace came during a round-up, when a blizzard swept down upon a herd of two thousand head. "I guess there's racing and chasing on Cannobie Lea, now, sure!" a cowboy with a love of poetry sud- denly sang out. Roosevelt's eyes followed his pointing finger. The cattle had begun to drift before the lash- ing storm. The night guards were unable to control them. The other cowboys were mounting and riding to the aid of their hard-pressed companions. Roose- velt rode with the latter. In front of the fan-shaped mass of frightened beasts the cowboys dashed, darting to and fro from one danger point to another. With every thunder-clap the herd would try to break away. Luckily, there were three corrals within a mile of the herd, and luckily its drift was towards them. When the first corral was reached the shouting, galloping riders cut off a part of the cattle and drove them into it. The same thing was done at the second corral, and again at the third until the entire herd was safely quartered. One day Roosevelt was chosen to represent the Trail Leads West — East Again 65 cattle-owners of the Little Missouri at a round-up in a neighboring territory. Being still considered a tender- foot, the young cattleman decided to be as unobtrusive as possible in his contact with strange cow-punchers. He rode off, driving eight or ten horses before him, one of which carried his bedding. The journey took two days. Reaching his destination, he went to the wagon to which he had been assigned, and reported to the wagon boss or cook. His horses he turned into the "Saddle-band." The cook — a privileged character — grumbled at hav- ing the new-comer as an addition to his mess. He asked Roosevelt, however, if he wanted anything to eat, and Roosevelt, to please him, replied that he could wait until the regular meal-time. Roosevelt then spread his bedding on the grass, out of the way of the bedding of the other cow-boys of the group. The wagon foreman asked what brands he rep- resented, but the other men merely nodded. Roosevelt kept silent, and after a supper of bread, coffee and ba- con, went to sleep. At three in the morning the cook roused them for breakfast. Each man then rolled up and corded his bedding. Then the men approached the fire and took their breakfast standing or squatting. Then the night wrangler brought up the pony herd. Each man singled out and mounted his own horse, and in the gray dawn they rode away to begin the work of the round-up. After the day of galloping and cattle-driving and branding, Roosevelt had become acquainted with the men, and his qualities had become known. His spec- tacles were forgiven; he was treated as one of the outfit. 66 Jungle Roads Roosevelt heard much of rough speech during his life on the plains, but he shrunk from unclean thought or action, and never hesitated to show those who of- fended in his presence that their words or deeds dis- gusted him. He could speak as vigorously as any of his mates when occasion required but no vulgar blas- phemy crossed his lips. Roosevelt did not become an unusually good roper or rider, but on a round-up it was the steady-going man rather than the brilliant one who was the most valu- able, and the owner of the Elkhorn Ranch was one of the former. A cow or calf would run into a thick patch of bulberry bush and balk at coming out; a steer would grow fighting mad; a calf would try to lie down. The fancy rider would be tempted to go on and leave the work of bringing in such beasts to others, but Roosevelt stayed on the job and herded his animal whenever such a case arose. There were times when prairie fires started, and as they destroy large areas of feeding ground, it was necessary for the ranchmen to fight them with all of their resources. The method of firefighting was a unique one. A steer v/ould be split in half. Each half would be dragged by a horse, bloody side down, along the line of the fire, the riders going in opposite directions. The cowboys on foot would follow the horsemen, beating out with horse blankets or "slickers" the flames that were not smothered by the carcass of the steer. The horse would need to be urged, and the men were hot, smoke-begrimed and exhausted before the fire was put out. Roosevelt's experiences with bronchos were both hu- Trail Leads West — East Again 67 morous and painful. Whenever he tried out a new broncho, it was an occasion for much fun among the cowboys, who, of course, enjoyed seeing "the boss" in a "tickhsh" situation. One day he tried to mount a big sulky horse named Ben Butler, which promptly rolled over backwards. When he was forced to his feet Ben Butler Balked. The men were anxious to start. Sylvane Ferris therefore gave Roosevelt his horse, Baldy, and undertook to ride Ben Butler himself. Roosevelt relates that he was chagrined to hear Syl- vane call out, as Ben Butler started off docilely, "Why, there's nothing the matter with this horse ; he's a plumb gentle horse!" A few minutes later, however, Sylvane was crying: "Come along ! Here, you ! Go on, you ! Hi, hi, fel- lows, help me out! He's lying on me!" In response to these frantic appeals, Roosevelt and the cQwboys were forced to turn back and help to pull Sylvane cut from under Big Ben, and Roosevelt felt that his comrades had been persuaded that his own ability as a rider was not so poor after all. 68 Jungle Roads X. Our Hero Floors a Gunman and Prepares to Fight a Duel "Whatever happens to me, I thank God that I have toiled and lived with men." — Roosevelt. /^ NE evening-, after he had spent the day in pursuit ^-^ of lost horses, Roosevelt came to a settlement on the prairies, and rode up to its hotel, which proved to be little more than a saloon. Entering the bar-room he found himself among a group of sheep-herders who were being terrorized by the town's "bad man," a fierce- looking tough who brandished a revolver. The ruffian spied Roosevelt's gold eye-glasses and his Angora "chaps" and decided that here was a dude from the East with whom he could have a world of fun. He informed the crowd that "four-eyes" was going to treat. Roosevelt sat down behind the stove and paid no attention to the coarse jests hurled at him. His retirement strengthened the bully's belief that here was fine meat for sport. Suddenly Roosevelt found himself looking into the muzzle of a gun. A curt com- mand to walk up to the bar accompanied this display of fire-arms. The young ranchman arose as if to obey. Then the boxer in him came to the fore. His fist shot past the gun and landed on the jaw of the desperado. The gun went off, but the bullet hit the ceiling and he who had brandished it so boldly lay sprawled on the floor in deadly fear of another jolt from the fist of Roose- Trail Leads West — East Again 69 velt. He scrambled to his feet, dropped his revolver at Roosevelt's demand, and shuffled out of the saloon to the jeers of the men he had ruled by terror. Another encounter, of which Roosevelt again emerged with flying colors, came when the Marquis de Mores, in honor of whose daughter the town Medora was named, sent word to him that the Roose- velt ranch was being built on ground owned by him, and that he had better stop work on it. The Marquis's own ranch was nearby. He was a pioneer in that region and, while he himself and all of the other ranches in those days were merely squatters on land owned by the Government or by the Northern Pacific Railroad, he had come to regard himself as the lord of what he surveyed, and had gathered about him a group of toughs. It was known that they had killed two men who had stayed too long on land claimed by the Mar- quis, and they were loud in their threats to harm others who came to what they called their master's land. The Marquis, in support of his claims, stated that his sheep were on the land when Roosevelt settled upon it. Roosevelt replied that all he found in his neighborhood were dead sheep, and he did not think their bones could be used to dispute his possession. Then came word that Maunders, captain of the forces of de Mores, had declared his intention of shooting the new-comer. Roosevelt met this challenge by going in person to Maunders' house and inquiring of him if he had made such a statement. Awed by the steely look in Roosevelt's eyes. Maunders denied hav- ing made the threat. Later, one of the Marquis's men remarked that there would be some dead men around the Elkhorn ranch 70 Jungle Roads some day, and, as if to carry out this threat, six of the Marquis's herders rode up, firing their guns in air to frighten Roosevelt's men. Sewah, in his quiet, woods- man's way, greeted them and invited them into the shack. On this occasion too the moral force and physi- cal strength possessed by Roosevelt's party tamed the ruffians and again trouble was averted. Then came a day when the Sheriff arrested some of the Marquis's men who had engaged in a shooting affray. The trial was held in Medora, and Roose- velt's name was brought out in the trial in a way that made the Marquis think Roosevelt was using the law against him. Thereupon the young cattleman received by messenger another note from de Mores. The Mar- quis had shifted his ground enough to profess a friendly feeling for Roosevelt, but now that the latter had taken such action against him, he declared that there was "a way of settling such differences between gentlemen," Roosevelt's reply was short and to the point. He stated that he had no hostile feeling to his neighbor, but — "As the closing sentence of your letter implies a threat, I feel it ray duty to say that I am ready at all times and all places to answer for my actions." When the answer was sent Roosevelt prepared to take part in the duel which he thought de Mores in- tended to bring about. He decided to choose Win- chester rifles as the dueling pieces. There was no duel. Instead the Marquis sent Roose- velt an invitation to dinner. As if in training for his future work as Police Com- missioner of New York, Roosevelt gathered with other cattle owners in a little, bare freight shanty at Medora, Trail Leads West — East Again 71 for the purpose of putting a curb on the lawless ele- ment that was working havoc among the ranches. One of the complaints of the cattlemen was that a certain deputy sheriff was shielding the roughs who were cre- ating the disorder. This man was present at the meet- ing. Roosevelt addressed the meeting, but before long the cattle-owners saw that their young associate had taken a position where he looked the deputy sheriff square in the face. They found out too, that instead of talking to them, Roosevelt was directing his words squarely at the renegade officer. He accused the sher- iff of dishonesty and told him that he was totally unfit for his office. The sheriff carried a revolver at his belt. The charges the speaker made were regarded as fighting words in that territory. But Roosevelt had the moral influence on his side that physical prowess was never able to stand against. The sheriff hung his head and said never a word, and he went out from among the little band of law-upholding frontiersmen a broken man. Roosevelt, following his code not to shrink from public service when it seemed to be his duty to enter upon it, accepted the office of deputy sheriff. ROOSEVELT MEETS SETH BULLOCK At this time Seth Bullock, who, as one of the Presi- dent's closest friends, served as captain of Troop A in the Rough Rider regiment, was sheriff in the Black Hills district. Roosevelt captured a horse-thief who had eluded Seth, and this feat made the sheriff aware that there was a young man in the neighborhood who had real police stuff in him. 72 Jungle Roads About this time Seth went in search of cattle that had strayed from his ranch at Belle Fourche, South Dakota, one hundred and sixty miles from Roosevelt's ranch. Meanwhile, Roosevelt, with two comrades, had ridden south in search of some of his own cattle, and out on the prairies he met Seth. Seth did not recognize any of the three men, who were weary and travel stained. He watched them sus- piciously as they approached, but when their identity became known he grew friendly, "You see," he ex- plained to Roosevelt, "by your looks I thought you were some kind of a tin-horn gambling outfit, and that I might have to keep an eye on you!" Seth soon found that Roosevelt was more than what he had first deemed him : — "a tenderfoot from the East who had come to the Bad Lands to recover from the evil effects of the fast pace of the East." He soon grew to be one of the young ranchman's staunchest friends. Roosevelt admired Seth so mUch that when he be- came President he assigned to the Sheriff the duty of giving his four sons a taste of prairie life. "Rope, throw and brand them," he told Seth, in true cattlemen's language. The following letters written to Travers D. Carman by George Emlen Roosevelt, the Colonel's cousin, and Lieutenant-Colonel Theodore Roosevelt, both published in The Outlook, show how well Seth merited the con- fidence of the boys' parents: "As I remember," wrote George Emlen Roosevelt, "I was about twelve years old when I first went out West with Ted to Deadwood to go bear-hunting with Seth Bullock. He was a man with a reputation through- Trail Leads West— East Again 73 out all that section of the country as a huntsman and a dead shot, a very dangerous opponent in any kind of a fight. He was our typical old-time cow-puncher and Western gun-fighter. That did not seem to be the exact training to qualify a man to take care of two young boys, and I cannot imagine any one who would have, in every way, exercised a better influence. He never allowed profanity in the camp while we were there; he never permitted us to wander around in gambling halls and saloons, which were the natural rendezvous in all the small towns wx visited; and al- though we were living in the mountains and riding a good many miles a day, with wonderful skill he saw to it that we did not get over-tired or into danger. Of course he had an endless fund of stories that he used to tell us in the evenings; and he knew all about the Black Hills, the mining prospectors, and game, and ex- plained it all to us in a way that was a real education. In losing Seth Bullock the country has lost one of its pic- turesque and truly great characters." "My last recollection of Seth was when as a boy of twelve or thirteen I went on a camping expedition with him," wrote Lieutenant-Colonel Roosevelt, in part. "I never shall forget his silhouette as he rode forward through the moonlight one night across the Bad Lands, his rifle held over the pommel of his saddle. Seth combined courage and determination with gentleness and kindness. He typifies, to my mind, the men who built up the West." When he was elected Sheriff of Deadwood, Seth Bullock took his job seriously and set out to rid the town of the rascals who had brought it a bad repu- tation. 74 Jungle Roads Trouble arose at Hidden Treasure Gulch. Twenty miners took possession of Hidden Treasure mine and threatened to hold it until they were paid a sum they claimed to be due them. Seth tried to oust them, but was shot at repeatedly. He sent for a company of cavalry, and, reinforced by them, lowered burning sul- phur into the mine. The miners had to choose between smothering or surrendering. They came out and yielded themselves to the Federal troops. Roosevelt when vice-president secured the appoint- ment of Seth as Forest Supervisor of the Black Hills Reserve. "As soon as I was appointed," Seth told Mr. Carman, "Washington commenced to send a lot of dudes out here as Forest Rangers. I didn't want them. I wanted Forest Rangers who could sleep out m the open with or without a blanket, put out a fire, and catch a horse thief, and I wrote to the Colonel about it." Roosevelt persuaded Secretary of the Interior Hitchcock to let Seth select his own assistants. When Roosevelt was elected President, Seth rode in the inaugural parade at the head of a band of cowboys. He was appointed United States Marshal in South Dakota by Roosevelt. At the dedication of IMount Theodore Roosevelt on July 4th, 1919, in the Black Hills, Seth headed the com- mittee that thus honored his dead chieftain. Less than three months later he followed his leader on the trail that leads beyond the world. FINNIGAN THE OUTLAW Roosevelt's crowning work as deput}?- sheriff came when he was called on to arrest three desperadoes, who. Trail Leads West — East Again 75 in fear of the vigilantes, had stolen the only boat he possessed in order to escape down the river. With the aid of Sewall and Dow, the young deputy sheriff built a scow, loaded it with supplies, and started in pursuit. On the third day of their jour- ney they saw the stolen boat drawn up on a bank. The smoke of a campfire rose near it. Roosevelt and his comrades landed above the outlaws' camp, arranged their rifles and stole up on the shiftless German who had been left to guard the outfit while his companions went hunting. When the two thieves returned they v/alked into three cocked rifles. One of them, a half- breed, obeyed Roosevelt's command to throw up his hands, but Finnigan, the burly, red-headed ruffian who was the leader, hesitated. Roosevelt walked a few paces toward him, covering his chest with his rifle. Then the man, with an oath, let his own rifle drop and threw his hands high above his head. The trip to Dickinson, where the nearest jail was lo- cated, proved to be an arduous one. At last they came to a cow camp. There they learned that at a ranch fifteen miles away a large prairie schooner and two tough bronchos for the transportation of the pris- oners could be secured. Sewall and Dow went back to the boat. Roosevelt put the prisoners in the wagon along with an old settler, who drove the horses while he walked behind, ankle-deep in mud, with his Winchester over his shoulder. After thirty-six hours of sleeplessness the wagon jolted into the main street of Dickinson, where Roosevelt lodged his captives in jail. 76 Jungle Roads ADVENTURES WITH INDIANS "Redskins!" The cry was one that used to frighten the early settler in the region through which Roose- velt roved, but in his day danger from them was not so great. True, white trappers who ventured into the nearby hunting grounds of the Grosventres, Mandans, Sioux and Cheyennes were sometimes plundered and killed, and once in a while Cheyennes or Sioux at- tacked cowboys on the ranges; but on the other hand, hands of peaceful Indians with their squaws and chil- dren came to the ranches to trade and hunt. Fre- quently Roosevelt visited the wigwams of redskins camped in the neighborhood of his ranches and on these occasions he found them meek and friendly. He came to know the habits of the tribes and in his writings in regard to them he did not mince words in telling of his opinion of them. An upper class Cherokee he considered as good as a white man ; his opinion of the Nez Perces was high; he had little use for an Apache or a "digger Snake," or an ''^-apahoe; but he found much to admire in the Pueblo, nor did he fail to pay tribute to the fighting qualities of the Cheyenne. One of his most diligent neighbors was a Chippewa half-breed; and he knew two rich cattlemen who had taken Indian wives and sent their children to be edu- cated in convents. It should be borne in mind, however, that his de- scription of these tribesmen was written in the early eighties. Roosevelt if he were living now to write of our Indian brothers, would give them unstinted praise for furnishing so many brave young scouts to fight with Pershing in France. Trail Leads West — East Again 77 The only dangerous encounter the young rancher had with redskins happened when a band of Sioux bucks who had broken away from their reservation came whooping down on him while he was riding his horse Manitou over a lonely part of the prairie. He drew rein; dismounted; threw up his rifle and drew a bead of the nearest brave. "How! Me good Indian!" the redskin shouted, flee- ing with his companions. They made several advances towards Roosevelt, repeating again that they were good Indians, but finding his rifle was still trained at them, they rode off, hurling curses at him in English. That evening Roosevelt learned that the Indians were Sioux horse thieves, who had coveted his horse and rifle — and perhaps his scalp ! Young America should realize that it is part of their civic duty to see that full justice is done by the white man to the Indian. That the Indian can make good use of opportunities for self-government is shown in the record that has been made by red men who are now members of the United States Senate and House of Representatives. In the army of the United States during the war of the nations there were over ten thousand Indians. Two- thirds of them were volunteers. BOYS AND GIRLS OF THE PRAIRIE Roosevelt, In recounting his western experiences, does not forget to tell of the sturdy boys and girls he met. Where one was found, there was usually many. They grew up vi^ithout much schooling or training; many could testify, with Topsy, that they "jest growed." 78 Jungle Roads Sometimes he found that a busy mother, to keep her youngest and most mischievous tots out of trouble, had picketed them out as a cowboy pickets ponies, by driving a stake into the ground and attaching the child to it by means of a long leather string tied to its legs. It was a hard method of child-raising; the mother her- self would have preferred softer means ; but she did the best her circumstances allowed — and she raised true, stalwart sons and fearless hard-working, uncomplain- ing daughters. Trail Leads West — East Again 79 XI. Hunting Adventures "In hunting, the finding and killing of the game is, after all, but a part of the zvhole. Tlie free, self-reliant, adventurous life, with its rugged and stalwart democracy; the wild surroundings, the grand beauty of the scenery, the chance to study the ways and habits of the woodland creatures — all these unite to give the career of the wilderness hunter its peculiar charm." — Theodore Roosevelt. THE story of Roosevelt's earlier hunting takes the reader along many wild and far-reaching trails. It begins in the northern woods, near Lake St. Regis, where as a youth he went out with two guides. Hank Martin and Mose Sawyer, and shot his first deer. His canoe swung out from between forest-lined banks into a little bay. There he saw, knee-deep among the water lilies that fringed the shore, a yearling buck. His first shot killed him. The road ends in the jungles of Africa, in dense wildernesses, which the foot of white man had never before penetrated. Some of the early adventures along this hazardous trail are told below: A MISSISSIPPI BEAR HUNT While President, Roosevelt went on a bear hunt in a part of the United States he had not previously ex- plored — the cane-brakes of Mississippi. This section was miles from the railroad and had been the fa- vorite hunting ground of General Wade Hampton, leader of the Confederate Black Horse Cavalry. 8o Jungle Roads The experiences of the Colonel on this four days' trip can best be told in the words of "Ho" Collier, a negro swamp guide and bear hunter. Collier was a slave in his youth and knew every foot of Mississippi soil from Vicksburg to Memphis. It was a great oc- casion for him when a President of the United States came to hunt under his guidance, and his account shows that he made the most of it. Not so much for the picture of "Ho," but for the way it reveals the Colonel when on a sporting trip, we repeat the story as Frederick C. Drinker and Jay Henry Mowbray have passed it on: "I know all those gentlemen in de party has had a mighty fine time, and as for de President, I never seen a man in all my times of hunting in dese woods what 'joyed a hunt like he did. He was jes' as happy as a schoolboy, and he certainly is a dead-game sport. "We started out Thursday, and it took us 'bout till dark to get in camp and get settled good. So on Friday morning, 'fore we started out, Mr. Roosevelt said he was awful anxious to kill a b'ar, "So when he said dat, I told him dat I Vv^as deter-- mined for bin; to get dat chance, and if I had to run a b'ar down and tie him I would see dat he got a chance to get a shot. "Of course de party all scattered, and we begins to hunt, and somehow I felt like I was a'going to get a big one up, and sho'nuff, I wasn't wrong, 'cause dat b'ar we first started was de biggest he b'ar I ever see or heard tell of for a long time. "He was a hard one to run down, too. I am here to tell yo' and when I heerd dat rascal breaking through de cane and my dogs hot after him I knew I was a-going to get close after him. I was anxious for Trail Leads West — East Again 8i some one to ride around and get the President to fol- low in with us, as I kept on feeling dat he could get a big b'ar 'fore long. "Whar was de President? Why, Lordy, chile, he was a snooking 'round on his own hook in de jungle. Dat man wouldn't be tied to nobody. I done make a terrible noise, so he'd come whar de b'ar was, but whar wuz he? "When my dogs did run dat b'ar down he went down in a mud hole, and it was kinder thick and hard to get at, so I stood round and didn't shoot, case I wanted 'the Colonel' to hurry up and come in behind me so he could kill the first one. "I tried my best to get dat big b'ar to tree, but he wouldn't so I thought he was jes' going to get the best of my pack, so I hit him with the butt of my gun and then throwed my lassoo 'bout his neck and made him fast to a wilier tree. "^Then they done got de President, and den when he come up, I says, 'Shoot de b'ar. Colonel, he's tied !' " 'Scuse me,' sez Colonel Roosevelt, laffan at de ba'r all tied up dar nice and snug, 'Scuse me,' sez he, 'dat's too easy.' "De President was sholy sort of contempuse wid de situation, and I feel more liken a mule dan a hunter. "De President said sumpin', I spect it war from de Bible, 'bout it ain't no use slayin' de helpless. Dere I wuz wif my b'ar done tied up, and I think mighty fast to get out of dat fix. " 'Stick him,' sez I to Massa Parker, and den I showed him how to do de trick. I tell you, my honey, dat big rascal didn't las' much longer after dat knife went into him. 82 Jungle Roads "I say, 'Colonel, you watch me close an' you sholy gits a b'ar.' Den he lafs and sez, 'All right. Ho, I'll keep an eye onto you.' "We didn't do no huntin' on Sunday, 'ca'se all of us is 'ligious. It was awful quiet in de camp, as we wus all meditatin' on de foolishness of life and eatin'. I saw de President mos' every minute, and I do say dat he showed himself to be such a fine, good gentleman dat I was always admirin' of him. "I tell you we done had a grand dinner, such like dey couldn't possibly have at de White House. How could dey git 'possum and b'ar, which we had wif sweet 'taters dat melt in de President's mouf and mak' him look so happy dat he had a good appetite? Den we had turkey gobbler, and dis nigger too perlite to say dat he eat more dan de President. It done mak's me hungry ag'in when I looks back on dat dinner. "De President says befoah dinner dat he wants to go on a little stroll in de woods. Den one of de gentlemen sez to de President: 'Mistoo President, why doan you take you gun wid you?' "De President he shakes his head an' walks away. He says: 'No; I ain't been alone since a long time gone, an' I'se goin' be alone for a little while now.' "I seed what he done. He goes off an' sits down by de crick, an' looks into de water an' at de woods. Spec' he was thinkin', too, but I couldn't tell. Den he gits up an' comes in an' settles down to business a'eatin' of de 'possum an' de b'ar an' de taters an' de gobbler, an' looks like he was wholly happy. "De President cheer me up, an' de rest, too. He tells me, just like it was nuffin', 'bout some mighty fine hunts he done had over in de Rockies, 'bout shootin' Trail Leads West — East Again 83 lions and moose. He say he had some mighty good times, 'But Ho !' he says, 'I gwine tell dat he ain' never had no nicer time anywhere den right here in dese Misippy woods.' Dat's de very words de Colonel sez to me. "Den he talked to de gentlemen 'bout various things, but I ain't gwine tell you dat, 'case we was talkin' private. "De same hoodoo was on us de third day, but I done feel sure de President gits a shot at a b'ar. He sholy did nearly git one dat he chased all de way from 8 to 3 o'clock. "Den what you think dat scoun'rel b'ar do? He breaks away from de dogs and goes shoppin' acrost a ribber, and Ho knows he is done gone for good. Den I tole de gentlemen dere wan't no use goin' no furder. " 'I spec,' sez de President, laffin, 'dat we ain't goin' git no b'ar dis trip.' "De President he took de skull of the big b'ar dat Mister Parker stick, and he say dat he take dat skull home to keep. When we gets ready to leave de camp de President was de most jolly of all de gentlemen. Dey all say we hates to leave his camp and de Presi- dent say it was a d-e-l-i-g-h-t-f-u-1 place, jes' like dat." ADVENTURES WITH. GRIZZLIES The most exciting moments in Roosevelt's western hunting expeditions came when he shouldered his rifle and went out to search for grizzly. In his book, "Outdoor Pastimes of an American Hunter," he describes several of his experiences with this dangerous animal. 84 Jungle Roads A grizzly he had wounded turned and charged through the brush. He came so swiftly that Roosevelt was not able to aim his rifle at his brain, as he had planned to do. He fired instantly, with both barrels of his magazine Winchester, In those days black powder was used, and the smoke hung. As the hunter fired his last shot, the huge paw of the bear struck at him. Roosevelt escaped it by making a desperate leap to one side. The bear tried to turn in his direction, but in the endeavor fell dead. At another time Roosevelt and Merrifield went off on a hunt for grizzlies. Blacktail deer were in the woods, as well as bands of cow and calf elk, but they found no signs of grizzly. Roosevelt and Merrifield separated but later Merrifield joined him and announced that there were bear tracks about ten miles distant. They rode to the spot. Roosevelt there came across the huge footprints of a great grizzly which had evidently passed a short time before. He followed the tracks in the fading twilight until it became too dark to see them, and had to give up the pursuit as darkness closed in about him. Merrifield was a skillful tracker, and later he took up the trail at once where it had been left off. The beast's footprints were plain in the dust. The trail turned into a thicket. Merrifield suddenly sank on one knee. Roosevelt strode past him with his rifle ready. The great bear rose slowly from his bed among young spruces. Sud- denly he caught sight of the hunters and dropped on his fores, the hair on his neck and shoulders seeming to bristle as he turned toward them. The bear's head was bent down. Roosevelt looked Trail Leads West — East Again 85 squarely into the small, glittering eyes and pulled his trigger. The bear half rose, then toppled over in the death throes. The bullet had gone into his brain. Merrifield was disappointed. He did not fear a griz- zly. He wanted to see the bear come toward them in a typical grizzly charge and to bring him down in the rush. Roosevelt, not so much a veteran at bear-hunt- ing, was satisfied that he had brought down the mon- strous fellow before his charge commenced. Roosevelt wore on his hunting trips a suit of fringed buckskin, similar to that worn by the old wilderness hunter. He carried a 40-90 Winchester, which bore a scar received in a battle with a mountain lion, which occurred in Colorado. When he came to close quarters with the cougar, he thrust the stock of his gun into its mouth. The teeth of the animal sank into the wood, leaving a permanent mark. To his cartridge belt, a hunting knife was attached. Most of his bullets were soft-nosed, though he also carried bullets encased in steel jackets, for long-dis- tance shooting. A TOUGH "tenderfoot" The Colonel had all sorts of companions on his hunt- ing trips. Most of his guides or shooting partners were thoroughly congenial, but on one occasion, shortly after he had gone West, he picked a guide who, after they had gone into the lonely mountains, caused trouble. The Colonel thus tells the story in his Autobiography: "For the only time in all iny experience, I had a difficulty with my guide. He was a crippled old moun- tain man, with a profound contempt for 'tenderfeet,' a contempt that in my case was accentuated by the S6 Jungle Roads fact that I wore spectacles — which at that day and in that region were usually held to indicate a defective moral character in the wearer. He had never pre- viously acted as guide, or, as he expressed it, 'trundled a tenderfoot,' and though a good hunter, who showed me much game, our experience together was not happy. He was very rheumatic and liked to lie abed late, so that I usually had to get breakfast, and, in fact, do most of the work around camp. Finally one day he declined to go out with me, saying that he had a pain. When, that afternoon, I got back to camp I speedily found what the 'pain' was. We were traveling very light indeed, I having practically nothing but my buffalo sleeping-bag, my wash kit, and a pair of socks, I had also taken a flask of whisky for emergencies — al- though, as I found that the emergencies never arose and that tea was better than whisky when a man was cold or done out, I abandoned the practice of taking whisky on hunting trips twenty years ago. When I got back to camp the old fellow was sitting on a tree-trunk, very erect with his rifle across his knees, and in response to my nod of greeting he merely leered at me. I leaned my rifle against a tree, walked over to where my bed was lying, and, happening to rummage in it for something, I found the whiskey flask was empty, I turned on him at once and accused him of having drunk it, to which he merely responded by asking what I was going to do about it. There did not seem much to do, so I said that we would part company — we were only four or five days from a settlement — and I would go in alone, taking one of the horses. He responded by cocking his rifle and saying that I could go alone and be damned to me, but I could not take any horse. I Trail Leads West — East Again 87 answered 'all right/ that if I could not I could not, and began to move around to get some flour and salt pork. He was misled by my quietness and by the fact that I had not in any way resented either his actions or his language during the days we had been together, and did not watch me as closely as he ought to have done. He was sitting with the cocked rifle across his knees, the muzzle to the left. My rifle was leaning against a tree near the cooking things to his right. Managing to get near it, I whipped it up and threw the bead on him, calling, 'Hands up!' He of course put up his hands, and then said, 'Oh, come, I was only joking'; to which I answered, 'Well, I am not. Now straighten your legs and let your rifle go to the ground.' He remonstrated, saying the rifle would go off, and I told him to let it go off. However, he straightened his legs in such fashion that it came to the ground without a jar. I then made him move back, and picked up the rifle. By this time he was quite sober, and really did not seem angry, looking at me quizzically. He told me that if I would give him back his rifle, he would call it quits and w^e could go on to- gether. I did not think it best to trust him, so I told him that our hunt was pretty well through, anyway, and that I would go home. There was a blasted pine on the trail, in plain view of the camp, about a mile off, and I told him that I would leave his rifle at that blasted pine if I could see him in camp, but that he must not come after me, for if he did I should assume that it was with hostile intent and would shoot. He said he had no intention of coming after me; and as he was very much crippled with rheumatism, I did not be- lieve he would do so. 88 Jungle Roads "Accordingly I took the little mare, with nothing but some flour, bacon, and tea, and my bed-roll, and started off. At the blasted pine I looked around, and as I could see him in camp, I left his rifle there. I then traveled till dark, and that night, for the only time in my ex- perience, I used in camping a trick of the old-time trappers in the Indian days. I did not believe I would be followed, but still it was not possible to be sure, so, after getting supper, while my pony fed round, I left the fire burning, repacked the mare and pushed ahead until it literally became so dark that I could not see. Then I picketed the mare, slept where I was without a fire until the first streak of dawn, and then pushed on for a couple of hours before halting to take break- fast and to let the little mare have a good feed. No plainsman needs to be told that a man should not lie near a fire if there is danger of an enemy creeping up on him, and that above all a man should not put him- self in a position where he can be ambushed at dawn. On this second day I lost the trail, and toward night- fall gave up the effort to find it, camped where I was, and went out to shoot a grouse for supper. "When I reached the settlement and went into the store, the storekeeper identified me by remarking: 'You're the tenderfoot that old Hank was trundling, ain't you?' I admitted that I was." A COUGAR HUNT In 1901, Roosevelt entered the Rockies for a five- week cougar hunt. The chase is made with hounds, and John B. Goff, the hunter who led the party, had a pack that was trained to follow and bring down cougars, bobcats and even bears. It took three of Trail Leads West — East Again 89 these dogs to kill a female cougar, and they could keep a big male in check until the hunters approached to kill it with a knife. The hunters followed the dogs on horses, which were hardy animals that could climb hills and rocks with the sureness of goats. The cougar, called by some writers panther, puma, mountain lion or Mexican lion, is a strange creature that is timid one moment and bloodthirsty the next. It kills sheep, pigs and colts, and loves to feed on mountain sheep. Sometimes it even attacks children. When pursued by dogs it takes to a tree. Goff and his dogs had in this way killed three hundred of them. Snow had fallen on the ground covered by the hunt and Roosevelt and his comrades were able to track the cougars by their footprints. They could tell too by the trail where the cougars had killed deer or other beasts. The party killed fourteen cougars, measuring in length from four to eight feet. The largest cougar killed was brought down by a knife-thrust delivered by Roosevelt. The baying of the dogs told the hunters that they had found and treed the brute. The men came up and found the dogs growling and snarling around the tree. Three of the dogs had been badly scratched and bitten. To have shot at the cougar would have been to endanger the dogs. Therefore, while three of the dogs engaged the animal, biting and pulling at its head, Roosevelt found a way to deliver its death-blow. Another cougar kept up a low savage growling as Roosevelt approached, glaring at him with its yellow eyes, waiting for a chance to claw or bite him, but he killed this one with a bullet. 90 Jiingle Roads ABERNETHY AND THE WOLF Another exciting hunt with horses and dogs came when Roosevelt followed John Abernethy in a chase after coyotes. Here Roosevelt was more of a spectator than a performer, watching while Abernethy mounted on a tough white horse and accompanied by grey- hounds, started to pursue a coyote. They chased the coyote until it was tired and until all the grey-hounds except one had grown weary and fallen back. The hunter at last overtook it and headed it off. The grey- hound made a rush, pinned it by its hind leg, and threw it. The wolf bit the grey-hound and the dog let go. At this, Abernethy leaped from his horse and sprang on top of the wolf. With one hand he held the reins of his horse. With the other he jammed his thickly gloved hand down the wolf's throat, seizing the lower jaw and bending it so that the wolf could not bite him. He held the wolf in this way until it stopped its struggles. Roosevelt, when he came up, found Aber- nethy sitting on the live wolf with as much ease as if it were a cushion. IN YELLOWSTONE PARK Yellowstone Park, in which the comrades Roosevelt and Burroughs spent sixteen days of keen enjoyment, has a background of history well worth exploring. When, in 1804-6, Lewis and Clark made their famous pioneer trip across the continent, they sent a map to President Thomas Jefferson in which they gave the name "Yellow Stone" to a river which emptied into the Missouri. The reason for this name lies in the fact that it embraces the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, Trail Leads West — East Again 91 the walls of which are brilliantly colored with tints of yellow and orange. Geysers abound in these regions, and it is said that the Indians avoided this locality because of their fear of what seemed to them to belong to the supernatural. Fifty years passed after the discovery of the head- waters of the Yellowstone before this remarkable re- gion began to be known to the people of America. Trappers and hunters were its only inhabitants. The place now known as Yellowstone Park was first discovered by a private soldier named John Colter, who was a member of the Lewis and Clark expedition. He was released by them at his own request, in order that he might trap beavers. His chiefs wrote of him: "The example of this man shows how easily men may be weaned from the habits of civilized Hfe to the ruder but scarcely less fascinating manners of the woods." Colter, parting company with the expedition, ex- plored alone what is now Yellowstone Park and later described his journeys to Lewis and Clark, who charted them from his descriptions. In one of his trips Colter was captured by Indians and told to run for his life. He outstripped a hundred savages, seized the spear of the only Indian who could overtake him, and slew him. Eleven days later, naked and almost starved, he reached a fort. The Yellowstone expedition of 1870, known as the Washburn-Doane expedition, discovered marvelous falls, geysers and hot springs as well as superbly beautiful landscapes, and convinced the nation of the importance of preserving the wonders of the region, and in 1872 Congress passed a bill creating it a game preserve and a public park. 92 Jungle Roads When Roosevelt and John Burroughs visited Yellow- stone Park, the Colonel was much amused to learn that the bears which lived in the park had become so used to seeing tourists that they were for the most part tame and friendly. It was a common sight, Indeed, to see in the summer months the bears come up to the back of the hotels and feed from the garbage heaps. Sometimes, in diggmg through the garbage, empty tin cans stuck on their paws. On one occasion, the old guide, Buffalo Jones, seeing a bear with a tin can on its paw which it was unable to dislodge, lassoed the bear, tied him up, and cut the tin can off his paw. To Roosevelt, who had been used to hunting griz- zlies in their native wilds, it was strange to read no- tices posted on the trees warning tourists that the bears were really wild animals and should not be fed or teased. He heard that one tourist, deciding to find out how near he could come to a bear, approached so near that he was knocked down by an ill-tempered she- bear. The man's wife, however, came to the rescue, and drove the bear off — with her umbrella! Sometimes the bears, not satisfied with what they found in the garbage, entered the kitchens, drove the cooks away from their food, and helped themselves to it. One hotel manager complained to the park supervisor that as many as seventeen bears approached in an evening at his garbage heap. He asked that a trooper be sent to keep tourists from coming too close to the bears and suggested, not the driving off of the bears, but the arrest of two campers! Jrail Leads West — East Again 93 XII. The Rancher Returns to the East "All day on the prair-ee in the saddle I ride. Not even a dog, boys, to trot by my side; My fire I must kindle with chips gathered round; And boil my own coffee without being ground. I wash in a pool and I wipe on a sack; I car-re e my ward-robe all on my own back; My books are the brooks and my sermon the stones; My parson's a wolf on a pulpit of bones." —Old Trail Song. ROOSEVELT was forced to admit that his ranching enterprise was a failure. For a long time he hesi- tated to look this fact in the face. He had invested about $125,000 in cattle and horses (of horses alone there were one hundred on his ranch) and he had done this against the wishes of some of his business advisers in the East. When Roosevelt first looked into the prospects of making money by cattle-raising, the outlook was prom- ising, but shortly after he entered the business the price of cattle began to go down, and the drop con- tinued steadily during his career as a ranchman. The Bad Lands had proved themselves to be as bad for cattle as for the other things that had earned them their name. The winters were very hard and long and the summer suns scorched and dried up the vegetation. Many of the cattle died. After spending two years and four months in trying to put his ranches on a profitable basis, his friend Dow returned from Chicago, to which place he had gone to 94 Jungle Roads sell several hundred heads of cattle, with the report that the market's price for the stock was $10 less per head than the sum it had cost to raise the cattle and ship them to the stock-yards. This meant a severe loss and the prospects were that the losses would grow greater in the future. Roosevelt hated to own that he was beaten; yet he was courageous enough to admit that he could not fight against summer droughts and blighting winter storms. He decided to abandon cattle-raising. His agreement with Sewall and Dow had resolved itself into an arrangement to share the profits with them — if there were any to share. Should there be losses they were to lose nothing, and were to be paid wages regularly. Sewall and Dow had brought their wives to the ranch — which made the place vastly more home-like for Roosevelt and all concerned. Babies had come, too — "the Bad Land Babies" they were called. Cowboys came from near and far to see the infants, and Roosevelt, with his fondness for chil- dren, was of course, delighted to have them on the ranch. But the ranch home was to be abandoned. Long before the end of the ranching venture, Sewall had had an inkling that the East would call his em- ployer back to it. When the two started ranching, Roosevelt told Sewall that he had nothing to live for; that all that was dear to him lay buried in the East. As time went by this feeling passed away. He took several trips to New York to consult with his pub- lishers; to talk over old times with his friends; and to put his finger on the pulse of politics. Bill predicted to him that the country would some Trail Leads West — East Again 95 day call him to be President. It seemed like a wild dream to the young rancher, and he scoffed at the thought. But the voice of the people was beginning to be heard even then. His friends in the East v/anted him to rim for Alayor of New York City. It was to Sewall and Dow that the young ranch- owner first spoke of his intention to give up cattle- raising. Sewall and Dow and their wives said with one voice that they would go back East too, Roosevelt had become engaged to Miss Edith Kermit Carow, the com- panion of his boyhood, and the new avenues of life which were opening for him in his home city helped to soothe the hurt he felt at giving up his life in the West. Roosevelt ran for Ma)-or of New York on an Inde- pendent ticket shortly after he came East, and made a vigorous campaign. The fight, however, was a hope- less one from the start. Tammany Hall nominated a good candidate, Abram S. Hewitt, and Hewitt won. Roosevelt went abroad. In December, at St. George's Church, London, he married Miss Carow. The cere- mony was performed by a canon of the English Church who was a cousin of the bride. IMiss Carow, like Roosevelt, had traveled widely, and was a woman of broad culture. Roosevelt's letters to his children are full of loving references to his wife, and one can read a wealth of devotion between the lines. He brought his bride back to the new house he had built two years before, now known to the country as Saga- more Hill, Oyster Bay. Although Roosevelt kept possession of his ranches for several years more, and returned to them on sev- 96 Jungle Roads eral hunting expeditions, his days as a cattleman were over. Some of his Western neighbors took over his cattle on shares, but the following winter proved to be one of the hardest that had ever visited the Bad Lands. The snow lay so deep that it was impossible to ride a horse a mile. The cattle perished by thou- sands. He found his stock lying dead everywhere. Roosevelt got very little money back out of the stock he had left behind him. At the close of winter he went West to count the damage. In a letter to Sewall and Dow he summed up the losses in this way: "You boys were lucky to get out when you did; if you had waited till this spring I guess it would have been a case of walking." In 1900, Roosevelt on a trip to Helena, Montana, stopped off at Medora. A reporter for the New York Telegraph who went with him on the trip thus de- scribed the scenes and incidents of the visit: "The creaking, weather-beaten ruins of the old pack- ing house and stockyard built in that treeless and al- most waterless wilderness by the ill-fated Marquis de Mores were yet standing, loot to the owl, the prairie dog and tlie coyote, when the little crowd of old neighbors (they had ridden in from incredible dis- tances) grabbed him in their arms on the station plat- form, called him 'Teddy' and allowed that he hadn't changed 'so's you could notice it.' And I found that they didn't lionize him as a mighty hunter, nor yet as a rough-riding Centaur, nor even as a crack shot with pistol or rifle. For these were not uncommon qualifi- cations in that country and Roosevelt did not equal, much less excel, his old comrades of the trail either as a horseman or marksman. Trail Leads West — East Again 97 "I was a bit disappointed to find, for instance, that 'Old Man' Myers, Roosevelt's old ranch cook, dated his first access of admiration for the Colonel to the day when the outfit, hungry and tired, ran out of flour and had to eat biscuits made of ground cow peas. *Y' never heard such a holler in yer life as them buckaroos put up,' said Myers, 'every larrupin' cowpuncher in the bunch let out a squawk 'cept th' tenderfoot. Teddy never hollered a-tall, and et 'em like he liked 'em. I been for him ever sence.' " 'Standing the gaff' is what they call it out West, but it was Roosevelt's uncomplaining and even cheer- ful patience under hardship, accident and ridicule that made him 'strong' with the range riders and hunters of the old Medora days. Many a broncho 'outlaw' worsted him in his early efforts at 'bustin' those ener- getic man-haters, and his persistent attempts to hold his own with the hip-shots and hair-trigger riflemen of the region came very near saddling him with the nickname of 'Telescope Teddy' because in addition to the thick lenses of his eyeglasses he had all of the 'long guns' fitted with small telescopes for long-distance shooting. " 'He couldn't hit a flock o' ranch houses without his spyglass,' Myers told me, 'but oncet he spotted it, he could cut off a kiote's tail runnin !' " "And I found that his old neighbors out there loved him chiefly because he had the grit to keep on trying, and the stamina which prevents strong characters from changing 'so's you can notice it'." If Roosevelt and his lieutenants failed to become cattle- kings, there were many other benefits derived from his career as a plainsman whose value more than com- 98 Jungle Roads pensated him for his losses. He returned East with hardened lungs, a strong constitution; an ability to take hard knocks and do the work of three or four ordinary men. He found time to write the life of Thomas Hart Benton, who was one of the first states- men to arise to national prominence from the country west of the Mississippi; and to become a valued con- tributor to great magazines. He knew how to talk and act with all sorts of men. He said, later in his career, that his experience in democracy while on the plains helped to make him President. Trail Leads West— East Again 99 XIII. The Men With the "Night-Sticks" ""T^OX'T go — you are needed here in Washington!" J^ The speaker was U. S. Civil Service Commis- sioner John A. Procter, and the man he spoke to was Theodore Rooseveh. Procter was one of those who tried to dissuade Rooseveh from accepting the invitation that now came to him from Mayor Strong of New York to become President of the Board of Pohce Commissioners for the metropohs. New York City, in electing Mayor Strong, had reg- istered its opinion that the time had come to reform its police department. Roosevelt seemed to be an ideal man for the office. During the six years following Roosevelt's return from the West, he had filled the office of U. S. Civil Service Commissioner. When President Benjamin Harrison appointed him to the position he had desired in- stead to be Assistant Secretar>' of State, but he did not sulk. His friends told him the office was too small for him. He proved that they were wrong. For six years he toiled with marked success to make it easy for ambitious, hard-working young men to gain a place in the government service without political in- fluence, and when he left the office his successful battle against spoilsmen had made him a national figure. Thousands of obscure young men and women remem- bered with gratitude that he had made it possible for them to succeed by their own efforts instead of by "pull." 100 Jungle Roads "Old friend!" Roosevelt said to Procter when the latter protested against his taking charge of Manhat- tan's police force, "I have made up my mind that it is right for me to go." That settled it — he went. The letter that President Cleveland sent him in accepting his resignation showed how much this sturdy Democrat appreciated Roose- velt's vigorous and fearless conduct in office. "I have come to help — Theodore Roosevelt." One day Jacob Rlis, a reporter on the New York Sun, found a visiting card on his desk with this message scrawled on it. Riis was a man with ideals. When he saw the condition of the poor in the crowded slums of the metropolis, he was moved to give all the time he could spare from his daily work to make life easier for them. To create a public sentiment that would remove the wrongs that were done to the poor who inhabited the dark streets and ramshackle tenements of the East Side, he wrote "How the Other Half Lives." Roosevelt, as President of the Police Board, and as member of the Health Board, felt that Jacob Riis had written a personal message to him, and he enlisted in the work. "I thought the storm center was in New York," Roosevelt said when he accepted the office of Police Commissioner, "and so I came here. It is a great piece of practical work. I like to take hold of work that has been done by a Tammany leader and do it as well, only by approaching it from the opposite direc- Trail Leads West — East Again loi tion. The thing that attracted me to it was that it was to be done in the hurly-burly, for I don't like cloister life." New York City was prey to the "system." Bribery, blackmail, gambling, every form of law-breaking, thrived. This net of evil was spun in Tammany Hall, which then earned itself a notoriety from which it has never been able to free itself. This net spread out over saloons, gambling houses, policy-shops, and other evil places. Evil-doers paid political leaders for "protection"; the sum collected from various sources of evil amounted to millions yearly. These same political bosses con- trolled the appointment of police officers and patrol- men — indeed the policeman who could pay $200 for the next higher post, was sure of obtaining it, no matter how unfit he was. A police lieutenant who could raise $10,000 to pay to the politicians could thus gain a captaincy. Securing place and promotion by these means, some of the police lost their sense of honor and became the tools of the bosses in their blackmail- ing. The honest policeman seemed to have no chance. Many of them stayed honest but their lot was a hard one. To give encouragement to such men, Roosevelt took pleasure in discovering and promoting honest, effi- cient and courageous officers. Policeman A, while patrolling a lonely part of his beat, came upon three young highwaymen Avho were robbing a pedler. The officer darted to the rescue, us- ing his night-stick to subdue the thugs. One of them attacked him with a bludgeon and broke his left hand. Despite the pain, the policeman plied his night-stick with such vim that he knocked down and captured two 102 Jungle Roads of the thieves and brought them both to the station house. He then went to the hospital; had his broKen hand set, and went back to duty, without losing an hour. He never mentioned his courageous deed, and it was only by accident that the details came to the at- tention of the police commissioners. They promoted him to a roundsman. Officer B was asleep in his home when a fire broke out a few doors away. He ran across roofs, and found that four women and a baby were in an apart- ment on the fourth floor, cut off from the doors and windows by flames. He descended to a fourth-story window of the house next door, crossed to the burn- ing house by gaining foothold on a three-inch coping, and by holding on to the framing of the windows, and finally reached the women and the child. Taking them one by one, he bore them back the same way he had come, while the firemen, who had just arrived, held a net beneath them. All were saved, and then, as an officer of the law, he arrested the two men whose carelessness had caused the fire. He was promoted. Officer C was suddenly summoned by Roosevelt to appear before him. This policeman liad grown gray in the service. He had no political backing. In the twenty-three years of his service he had gained no promotion beyond that of roundsman, yet Roosevelt had found out that in his career as a policeman he had saved twenty-nine lives. Roosevelt had him made a sergeant and in honor of the promotion the veteran went out and rescued a man from drowning, leaping out into the dark, chill waters of the river to do this act. The men whose profits were hurt when Roosevelt Trail Leads West — East Again 103 enforced the law threatened to kill him. Threats of assassination were in every mail. One day a bomb was sent to him, wound up to explode at a certain time, but a policeman discovered it and saved the Commis- sioner. He said to Dr. F. C. Iglehart, the jMethodist cler^man who was one of his strongest supporters : "But I am not afraid of one of them singly or all of them together. There are gunmen in this city that would kill me and kill you for $100, and there are many that would put up the money, but bad men are mis- erable cowards. I am not afraid of one of them, and I will go down on the East Side as often as I please and as late at night as I care to, and I will be hunting them while they are hunting me, and I tell you, my friend, if I succeed in this task, my life and your life and the lives of our citizens will be far more secure and New York will be a safer and better city." He continued, "Doctor, life is a tragedy; there is a risk at every step of the way, and duty too. I shall do duty and leave the risk to God. It is only the weakling and the coward that halts at danger; it is the true man who scorns it and does what is right. These threats are only a challenge to greater courage and a more strenuous fight." After several months, there came a summing up of the situation. Sunday brawls, and arrests for crimes due to drunkenness had been done away with; savings banks reported increased deposits; mothers and children gave thanks for Sabbath days unmarred by the drunken moods of their husbands and fathers. Certain newspapers and political leaders tried to suppress him by conspiring to abolish his office. This 104 Jungle Roads scheme was discovered by the moral elements of the city and opposed so strongly that it was dropped. It was such things that made Roosevelt's task a heartbreaking one, and that at last led him to resign his position for the large task that loomed ahead of him in the Navy Department. To Dr. Iglehart he said: "President McKinley has appointed me Assistant Secretary of the Navy. * * * j^ looks like the Lord is on my side, to give me an honorable way out of this beastly job, thankless and perplexing to the highest degree. And yet I am not sorry I tackled it and gave two years of my life to it. I have gotten good discipline for anything else that may follow in Hfe." A WAR ROAD XIV. Preparing Our Navy for War THE United States Navy was getting ready for war. Neither the Secretary of the Navy or his vig- orous young Assistant Secretary, Roosevelt, would talk about it in public; but there was proof on every hand that the battle fleets of the United States were being made ready for a conflict. "Who is back of this?" the people asked. "Theodore Roosevelt," said men who knew. He was getting in- formation about merchant vessels that could be used as an auxiliary navy. He was buying coal and storing it at basic points. He was purchasing old vessels and refitting them as colliers. He was recruiting stalwart, fearless young men and spending fortunes in teaching them how to handle big guns. It had come to be the talk of Congress — the amount he had spent for ammu- nition. Not satisfied with the first large sum granted him, he had asked for a second one, and when he had been questioned as to where the first money had gone, he had boldly replied: "Every cent of it has been spent for powder and shot." "What will you do with the additional amount?" a Congressman asked. "It will be spent within the next 30 days for prac- tice shooting!" 105 io6 Jungle Roads "A rash, head-strong, impulsive man!" said pacifists. A far-sighted, well-balanced man the country found him when war with Spain became a fact. Amid the rush of war preparation, Roosevelt found time to remember and record amusing occurrences : "One day in the Spring of 1898," he wrote, "when it fell to my lot to get the navy ready for war, I and my naval aide. Lieutenant Sharpe, went out to buy aux- iliary cruisers. On that particular day we had spent about $7,000,000. It began to rain. 'Sharpe,' I said, 'I have only four cents in my pocket. Lend me a cent or five cents, will you, so that I can ride home?' "Sharpe answered, 'I haven't a single cent,' and I answered him, 'Never mind, Sharpe, that's why we will beat the Spaniards ! It isn't every country where two public servants could spend $7,000,000 and not have a cent in their pockets after they are through." On Sunday morning in March, 1898, Roosevelt was discussing with Francis S. Leupp the report that Ce- vera's squadron was about to sail for Cuba. " 'If I could do what I pleased,' he exclaim.ed, 'I would send Spain notice today that we should consider her dispatch of that squadron a hostile act. Then, if she didn't heed the warning, she would have to take the consequences.' " 'You are sure,' Leupp asked, 'that it is with un- friendly intent that she is sending the squadron?' " 'What else can it be ? The Cubans have no navy ; therefore the squadrons cannot be coming to fight the insurgents. The only naval power interested in Cuban affairs is the United States. Spain is simply fore- stalling the "brush" which she knows, as we do, is coming sooner or later.' A War Road 107 " 'And if she refused to withdraw the orders to Cer- vera' — " 'I should send out a squadron to meet his on tlie high seas and smash it! Then I would force the fight- ing from that day to the end of the war,' " Roosevelt replied. Major-General Leonard Wood, writing in the Metro- politan Magazine of Roosevelt in these days, gives this picture of the Assistant Secretary, fighting to over- come the backwardness of his timiid chief: "Secretary Long, much exhausted by long, hard ser- vice and anxiety, decided to take a short leave. The Colonel and I always took an afternoon run as soon as he could get out of his office and I could finish my work. On this particular day, he came up to my house on R Street, panting hard. He had been running all the way up Connecticut Avenue. As soon as I came out on the steps he said, 'Leonard, I have done some real work this afternoon. Mr. Long went off to take a rest, a much-needed rest.' — And with great emphasis — 'I was Secretary of the Navy this afternoon for some three or four hours, and the responsibility for action was mine. I have mobilized everything at Mare Island, at League Island; I have bought thousands of tons of coal in the Far East for the fleet; I have di- rected a certain concentration of ships now in the Far Eastern waters under Dewey.' Then he stopped a minute to catch his breath; he said, 'You know, I think Mr. Long will be back in the morning very early, but I have done what I could to get the Navy ready.' "Next day, I asked, 'Did Secretary Long come back?' 'Yes,' he said, 'he was in the office earlier than he had ever been before, and it is a question now whether I io8 Jungle Roads am sustained or he. I think the President is going to sustain me.' And he did. The young Assistant Sec- retary of the Navy, filled with the conviction that war was upon us, and realizing the importance of being ready; unafraid of responsibility, had, in his short period of full authority, done what he deemed best. Subsequent events proved that his action was a wise and far-seeing one. One of far-reaching effect in se- curing sea control in the Far East and victory in the Philippines." General Wood thus testifies to the cordial relations existing between McKinley and Roosevelt: "President McKinley, one of the best and most lov- able of men, whose real worth and character were too little understood by many, was thoroughly familiar with the views of his Assistant Secretary of the Navy and my own and he understood and appreciated them. When I came in in the morning, he would laughingly ask, 'Well, have you and Theodore declared war yet?' and I sometimes replied, 'No, ]\Ir. President, we have not, but we think you should take steps in that direc- tion, sir.' One night, after we had been talking for some time about the probability of war, the President said with great seriousness, 'I shall never sanction war until all efforts to obtain our ends by other means have failed, and only when I am sure that God and man approve. I have been through one great war. I have seen the dead scattered over many battlefields — I have seen the suffering and I do not want to see another unless the cause of right and humanity make it neces- sary. I pray God we may escape it!' And hesitating a moment, he continued, 'But the intolerable situation in Cuba must be terminated, even if it has to be done A War Road 109 through war.' The President at that time was bearing bravely the heavy burden of serious ilhiess in his fam- ily, illness which taxed him to the uttermost, and strug- gling against a peace-at-any-price group; but rapidly reaching the conclusion that war was inevitable." Secretary Long wrote generously of Roosevelt when the latter resigned to go to the front: "He was heart and soul in his work. His typewrit- ers had no rest. He, like most of us, lacks the rare knack of brevity. He was especially stimulating to the young officers who gathered about him and made his office as busy as a hive. He was especially helpful in the purchasing of ships and in every line where he could push on the work of preparation for war. Al- most as soon, however, as it was declared, he resigned the assistant-secretaryship of the navy to accept the lieutenant-colonelcy of the Rough Rider regiment in the army. * * * Hg j^ad the dash of Henry of Navarre without any of his vices. His room in the Navy Department after his decision to enter the army, which preceded for some time his resignation as As- sistant Secretary, was an interesting scene. It bubbled over with enthusiasm, and was filled with bright young fellows from all over the country, college graduates and old associates from the Western ranches, all eager to serve with Roosevelt. The Rough Rider uniform was in evidence; it climbed the steps of the Navy De- partment; it filled the corridors; guns, uniforms, all sorts of military traps, and piles of papers littered the Assistant Secretary's room, but it was all the very in- spiration of young manhood." President McKinley, foreseeing that war with Spain over Cuba was almost sure to come, now began to no Jungle Roads plan that there would be no alliance of other European powers with Spain. To accomplish this he sent John Hay, the distinguished American diplomat, to London. Lord Salisbury was then the Premier of Great Brit- ain, and was a strong friend to America. Other influ- ential British statesmen were also well disposed to- wards this country. Russia, seeing that the war was approaching, made proposals to England that Spain should be persuaded to sell or exchange Cuba. By this plan England was to become the possessor of the island, and was to add it to her other West Indian territory. If the United States objected, it was to be hinted that both England and Russia favored the plan, and would go to the length of war to carry it through. Germany was to be persuaded to agree to this plan and France, being then allied with Russia, could not oppose it. Lord Salisbury refused to involve his country in the scheme. He stated that the Cuban situation was a matter that concerned only Spain and the United States; that Britain would be neutral if they fought, and would expect other European nations to remain neutral. Spain appealed to her friend, Austria, and Austria in turn asked her allies, Germany and Italy, to take sides with Spain against the United States, but the German Emperor was cautious and held aloof, while Italy, which was on good terms with England, could not be persuaded to take part against her. France, when appealed to, also decided to stay neutral. Thus Mr. Hay was enabled to cable to President McKinley that if Spain did not yield to the just demands A War Road iii of the United States she would have no aid from other European powers. The scene shifted to Washington, where the Spanish Ambassador sought to persuade the ministers who rep- resented the other European countries to prevent the United States taking action against Spain. Here, too, Britain, acting through Sir Juhan Pauncefote, refused to take sides against the United States and thus blocked Spain's efforts. Later, at Manila, Captain Chichester, commanding the British warsTiip "Powerful," thwarted Admiral Diederichs, the German commander, when he attempted to interfere with Admiral Dewey's operations. When Spain was defeated and asked for peace, Great Britain again stood back of the United States in the dispute concerning the possession of the Philippine Islands. Spain wanted a European power to buy the Philippines from her in order that the United States might not control them. Germany, desiring to have a foothold in the East, was anxious to secure the Philippines. Great Britain, however, announced that as long as the United States decided to hold the islands, no other countries should interfere. These things show that in a period when almost the entire world was hostile to us^ Great Britain remained our friend. 112 Jungle Roads XV. Giving Dewey and Sims Their Chance WHEN Admiral Dewey captured the Spanish fleet in Manila harbor at the beginning of our hos- tilities with Spain, few Americans knew of the part Roosevelt had played in this great naval drama. "I knew," Roosevelt said, "that in the event of war Dewey could be slipped like a wolf-hound from a leash; I was sure that if he was given half a chance he would strike instantly and with telling effect; and I made up my mind that all I could do to give him that half- chance should be done. I was in the closest touch with Senator Lodge throughout this period, and either consulted him about or notified him of all the moves I was taking. By the end of February I felt it was vital to send Dewey (as well as each of our other commanders who were not in home waters) instructions that would enable him to be in readiness for immediate action." The naval board ordered the battleship Olympia sent home. Roosevelt had the order revoked, and sent in- stead this telegram: "Dewey, Hong Kong: "Order the squadron, except the Monocacy, to Hong Kong. Keep full of coal. In the event of declaration of war Spain, your duty will be to see that the Spanish squadron does not leave the Asiatic coast, and then offensive operations in Philippine Islands. Keep Olympia until further orders. Roosevelt." Later, when war had been declared, he sent a still more thrilling message to the tense Commodore: "Capture or destroy!" A War Road 113 The nation knows how gallantly Dewey obeyed orders. And now comes into our narrative a certain naval lieutenant named Sims. As a youth Sims, when the appointment to the Naval Academy for his district had gone begging, took the entrance examination and failed. Next year, the position being still open, he tried again. He barely passed; to use his own words, he "just scraped in." He graduated in 1880 — in the same year Roosevelt graduated from Harvard. For fifteen years, there being little activity in our then insignificant navy, he led an uneventful life. At the time of the Spanish War he was forty-'three, and still a lieutenant. He was then in charge of secret service work in Spain, Russia and Italy and his duty was to keep our naval officials informed as to the conditions of other squad- rons. Two years prior to this time he had begun to send to the Navy Department from his post at the China station reports that criticised both the boats of our navy and the way in which they were being handled. So embarrassing were his letters that the naval bureaucrats at Washington destroyed them. In 1895 Captain Perry Scott of the British Navy had made the discovery of continuous aim, by v/hich a British gunner was enabled, at a distance of 1600 yards, to make eight hits out of eight shots — a mar- velous record. Lieutenant Sims looked into this development in shooting and reported to Roosevelt, then Assistant Sec- retary, that American gunnery compared badly with that of the British Navy. With the exception of Wainwright, the other officials in the Navy Department 114 Jungle Roads advised Roosevelt that Sims was over-fond of sending in alarming reports, and Roosevelt admits that he partly agreed with this view. The Spanish-American war was then looming up. There was no time for new methods. The matter was suspended. Sims, however, had made an impression upon Roose- velt by his earnest reports and when the war ended and the latter was suddenly elevated to the Presidency, he again took up the matter of marksmanship. Sims was given charge of the work of training our gunners and tlie President testified that in the course of six years, he made our Navy's fighting efificiency three times as effective. In November, 1906, Roosevelt went for a cruise on the battleship Louisiana. In a letter to Theodore, Jr., he expressed his pride at the great warship with its per- fect equipment and its splendid personnel. He con- trasted its clean and healthful arrangements; the excel- lent food and the other modern features of life in the United States Navy, with the wretched conditions which prevailed in the time of the seafaring hero of Smollett's novel, and expressed his belief that the officers and men of today are better fighters than the seamen who served under Nelson or Drake. On this trip Roosevelt attended a "garrison meeting" of enlisted men, in the torpedo-room of the ship. He was introduced as "comrade and shipmate Theodore Roosevelt. President of the United States." A War Road 115 XVI. "David and Jonathan" Become Leaders of THE "Rough Riders" "One crowded hour of glorious life Is worth an age witJioiit a name." Op HERE Is one man who can tell us better than anyone -*• else what kmd of a man Roosevelt was at the time of the outbreak of the Spanish-American War. That man is Major-General Leonard Wood — his close comrade. General Wood, in the Metropolitan Magazine, gives us this vivid picture of the Colonel in the days of the Spanish War: "In 1897 he came to Washington as Assistant Sec- retary of the Navy. He was at the height of his ener- getic manhood, thirty-eight or thirty-nine years of age, physically hard as nails, — a fighter who was beginning to worry the faint-hearted by his demands for vigor in national and international affairs, — a keen-visioned and patriotic American who saw storm clouds ahead and realized the need of making ready in advance. In me he found a keen sympathizer, for I had seen enough of Washington to feel that we were rather drifting with the tide in all which pertained to preparedness for pos- sible trouble. "From the very beginning of our acquaintance we were thrown much in each other's company. We were both fond of exercise in the open, and did a great deal of tramping and climbing up and down the banks and cliffs of the Potomac, where it was rough enough to give ii6 Jungle Roads lis a bit of hard work, and took long tramps and runs in such rough country as we could find about Washington. "New national problems were looming up. Already the country was becoming stirred to indignant protest by reports o£ atrocities in Cuba, and the heroic but des- perate struggle of the Cubans for independence was making strong appeals to American sympathy. "Many Americans who had espoused the cause of Cuba were already serving in the Cuban ranks, and there was more and more talk of war with Spain. Each day's events were bringing it nearer and nearer. "Roosevelt was outspoken in his views as to our duty toward Cuba. The suffering of the Cubans, the conditions of starvation and pestilence which sur- rounded them, moved his sympathies. Our delay aroused his indignant protest. He saw the 'blood of the Cubans on the steps of the White House' if we did not intervene. "Finally, war did come. Every day he had been growing more and more impatient to go. On the other hand, I felt very strongly that he could render the best service by remaining in the Navy Department. It seemed to me that, as Assistant Secretary of the Navy, he was really a great driving force in that Department. He felt, however, that he had done pretty much all that he could do in the Navy; he realized the unpre- paredness of the Spanish Navy, and felt sure that our Navy would be able to handle the situation afloat, and that his place was really in the fighting line, and one day he announced definitely that he had decided to go. 'I cannot remain here in Washington. I have been telling people to go; I have been urging war, and I am going to take an active part in it myself.' A War Road 117 "As an officer he was thoroughly subordinate and ab- solutely loyal. Some one said to me, 'Well, you are going to have trouble with Theodore as a subordinate.' There was absolutely nothing of the sort. He was a most subordinate and efficient officer. He knew per- fectly the line between subordination and servility. There never was any difficulty. He would always give his opinion very frankly and then carry out orders to the letter, regardless as to whether or not his views were accepted." In his book "The Rough Riders," Roosevelt gives this account of the selection of Wood and himself for the command of the famous regim.ent: "Wood hoped he might get a commission in his na- tive State of Massachusetts; but in Massachusetts, as in every other State, it proved there were ten men who wanted to go to the war for every chance to go. Then we thought we might get positions as field-officers under an old friend of mine, Colonel — now General — Francis V. Greene, of New York, the Colonel of the Seventy- first; but again there were no vacancies. "Our doubts were resolved when Congress author- ized the raising of these cavalry regiments from among the wild riders and riflemen of the Rockies and the Great Plains. During Wood's service in the South- west he had commanded not only regulars and Indian scouts, but also white frontiersmen. In the North- west I had spent much of my time, for many years, either on my ranch or in long hunting trips, and had lived and worked for months together with the cow- boy and the mountain hunter, faring in every way pre- cisely as they did. "Secretary Alger offered me the command of one of Ii8 Jungle Roads these regiments. If I had taken it, being entirely Inex- perienced in mihtary work, I should not have known how to get it equipped most rapidly, for I should have spent valuable weeks in learning its needs, with the re- sult that I should have missed the Santiago campaign, and might not even have had the consolation prize of going to Porto Rico. Fortunately, I was wise enough to tell the Secretary that while I believed I could learn to command the regiment in a month, yet it was just this very month which I could not afford to spare, and that therefore I would be quite content to go as Lieutenant-Colonel, if he would make Wood Colonel. "This was entirely satisfactory to both the President and Secretary, and, accordingly Wood and I were speedily commissioned as Colonel and Lieutenant- Colonel of the First United States Volunteer Cavalry. This was the official title of the regiment, but for some reason or other the public promptly christened us the 'Rough Riders.' At first we fought against the use of the term, but to no purpose, and when finally the Generals of Division and Brigade began to write in formal communications about our regiment as the 'Rough Riders,' we adopted the term ourselves." Orders at last came to move from San Antonio to Tampa, the point of embarkment for Cuba, but no trains were provided. Roosevelt solved this problem by taking possession of a string of empty coal cars. The engineer, in response to his appeal, started to Tampa, and the officers and men reached that port covered with coal dust, but jubilant at beholding their trans- ports waiting. There were thirty transports. Each carried fifteen thousand men. They were convoyed by battle ships and A War Road 119 torpedo boats. Just as our American boys, crowded together, sailed to Europe to do their part in the world war, so these men sailed to free Cuba. On June 22d, the fleet came to anchor a few miles from Santiago. In letters from the camp at Santiago Roosevelt wrote to Ethel of funny little lizards that scurried about the dusty roads and then stood still with their heads up; of beautiful red cardinal cuckoo birds and tanagers; of ground doves and of gorgeous flowers; of the dust and mosquitoes among which he made his bed; and of the terrific tropical storm that blew down his tent and hammock, turned the dust to mud, and left him sprawled in it! 120 Jungle Roads XVII. Through Cuban Jungles "Never they wait nor waver, but on they climb and on, With 'Up with the flag of the Stripes and Stars, and down with the flag of the Don!' What should they bear through the shot-rent air but rout to the ranks of Spain, For the blood that throbs in their hearts is the blood of the boys of Anthony Wayne! See, they have taken the trenches! Where are the foemenf Gone! Aiid now 'Old Glory' waves in the breeze from the heights of San Juan! And so, while the dead are laureled, the brave of the elder years, A song, we say, for the men of to-day who have proved them- selves their peers!" — Clinton Scollaed. ''TpHE Rough Riders, in their eagerness to get Into -■- the thick of the fight, had boarded the trans- ports out of turn, and when the ships arrived off Dai- quiri, near Santiago, they disembarked out of turn — for the same good reason. They marched from Diaquiri to Siboney, a nearby town, through a drenching rain, and when they arrived dried their clothes at a camp- fire, ate the food they had carried in their pockets, and asked: "Where do we go next?" Roosevelt's regiment was under Brigadier-General Sam Young. General Young, who had risen from the ranks, was an old friend of the Colonel's and promised him before leaving Washington that he would place him where he would be able to engage in actual fighting. He proved to be as good as his word. He now sent A War Road 121 word to the Rough Riders that he had received per- mission to move at dawn and strike the advance posi- tions of the Spanish. He ordered Wood to move with his men along a hill trail, while he, with the First and Tenth Regulars, marched along the valley trail. Wood obeyed with eagerness, and early the next morning the Rough Riders found themselves in con- flict with the Spaniards just about the time General Young's troops began to fight them on the valley track. Wood ordered Roosevelt to command the Rough Rider's right wing. The country was mountainous and covered with thick jungle and it was hard to locate the battle line. Richard Harding Davis, the famous fiction writer and war correspondent, accompanied Roosevelt. Davis first pointed out to Roosevelt the exact location of the Spaniards : "There they are, Colonel !" he cried, "I see their heads near that glade!" Roosevelt looked where Davis pointed, saw the enemy, and directed his men to fire at them. Officers and men advanced chatting and laughing un- mindful that they were in the enemy's country. Then Wood stopped the head of the column, conferred with Capron, who had been scouting, and then said to Roosevelt : "Pass the word to keep silence in the ranks." The outposts of the enemy had been sighted. Each trooper, at the word of command, plunged forward through the thicket. They came into an open space, dropped to their knees, and began to return the Span- iards' fire. 122 Jungle Roads It was a trying situation for the men. None of them were famiUar with the Krag-Jorgensen carbines that had been furnished them just before saihng. Most of them had never been under fire. They had only slept three hours the night before and now they were in action under a sun that beat down on them terrific heat. The ground was also strange to them. They saw their comrades shot and yet found no trace of the enemy's hiding-places. They went forward, however, like true Americans, cleaning out a bush or thicket in much the same way our doughboys cleaned out machine-gun nests in the Argonne forest. After advancing a mile and a half in this way, they came to Guasimas, a hilly place that was the key to the Spanish positions. Roosevelt gave the order to charge. The stronghold was taken under a hot fire in short order, the enemy withdrawing toward Santiago. The Rough Riders in this first skirmish had eight men killed and thirty- four wounded. They had driven out of the Spanish fortifications over twelve hundred men. After the battle Roosevelt heard that General Wood had been slain, and at once took com- mand of the Regiment. As he was moving his men towards the main body, however, he was overjoyed to see Wood coming towards him, bearing tidings that the victory had extended all along the line. THE SAN JUAN BATTLE The Rough Riders had been handicapped in the Guasimas fight because they could not see their foe. In the San Juan battle, however, which followed a week afterward the Spaniards were in sight and the Colonel, A War Road 123 highly elated at being in command of his own regiment, the men of which he said were of "Dragon's blood," knew exactly what orders to give. Early on the morning when the San Juan battle opened, the Colonel marched his men along a muddy road that led through a thick jungle to Cuba. A bullet from the shrapnel fired by the Spaniards struck Roose- velt's wrist and raised an enormous bump. The Rough Riders, along with other regiments belonging to Gen- eral Wheeler's left wing, came at last within range of the San Juan hills, upon which the Spaniards had dug intrenchments. They were following the three regi- ments of the first Brigade. These regiments came to a little river that lay at the foot of these hills. Their orders were to cross tliis stream and connect with the forces of General Lawton. They forded it in safety and defiled along its opposite bank. When, however, the Rough Riders began to cross, the Spaniards opened fire. Some of the Rough Riders fell, and Roosevelt halted his men and sent messengers to the rear to obtain from headquarters permission to at- tack the foe upon the hills in front. General Sumner at last sent word to advance. The soldier who brought the message told Roosevelt that the orders were that the Rough Riders should support the regulars in the as- sault on the hills, and that the Colonel should choose as his objective a hill upon which stood a red^tiled ranch-house. This place, because of a huge kettle that was later found on it, was called by the Americans "Kettle Hill." Roosevelt remained on horseback, although this made him a shining mark for the bullets of the enemy. He did this, not out of a bravado spirit, but because, as his 124 Jungle Roads men were lying down, he found it Hard to give orders to them on foot. Up and down the Hnes he rode, encour- aging them much in the same manner as our American officers did in the war with Germany, when they led their men "over the top." He saw a "slacker" creep under a bush. "Are you afraid to stand up while I am on horse- back?" he demanded. Just then a bullet fired by a Spanish sharp-shooter to slay the Colonel struck and killed the coward. Roosevelt at last rode past his own regiment and up to the head of the regular soldiers of the first brigade, behind which the Rough Riders were waiting. He found no officers, among the regulars, of superior rank to him. He had reached the decision that his duty was to charge the Spaniards at once. He told the captain in charge of the rear platoons that his orders were to sup- port the regulars, and that he thought the hills should be rushed. The captain replied that he had orders to keep the men where they were, and that he could not charge until new orders came. Roosevelt inquired for the colonel, but could not see him. "Then I am the ranking officer here," he said, "and I give the order to charge." The captain refused to obey an order that had not come from his own superior officer. "Then let my men through, sir!" cried Roosevelt, ordering the Rough Riders to advance. In others parts of the field Colonels Carrol and Hamilton and Captains McBlain and Taylor, of the regulars, had at about this moment, given the order to advance. The entire line, indeed, was straining to be A War Road 125 released for the attack. Roosevelt, riding on his horse, Little Texas, and waving his hat as he rode, led his eager men up the hill. The younger officers and the enlisted men of the regulars mingled with the Rough Riders. The fort was captured with a rush; the Spaniards fled before the charge. General Sumner now arrived, and Roosevelt re- ceived permission to storm a line of intrenchments still farther on. These hills were also captured, and then word came from the rear for the Rough Riders to halt. The Spaniards counter-attacked but were driven back. That night, Roosevelt wrapped himself in the blanket of a dead Spaniard and slept through the chill tropic night in the satisfied peace of a victor. On the next day the battle became a siege. Old General Wheeler, on his visit to the front, told Roose- velt it might be necessary to fall back, as the front lines were not adapted to withstand a strong counter- attack. Roosevelt, with typical boldness, and, with that dis- regard of those in high places that made him often the despair of the regulars, replied: "Well, General, I really don't know whether we would obey an order to fall back. We can take that city by a rush, and if we have to move out of here at all I should be inclined to make the rush in the right direc- tion." The General, with a reputation for gallantry that the Spanish- American campaign made even more bril- liant, pondered a moment over this statement; then, seeing that the spirit of the man could overcome the handicap of poor defenses, nodded assent. Two weeks later, Santiago surrendered. Its fall 126 Jungle Roads marked the beginning of the close of the war. Wood, now a brigadier-general, was put in command of the city. Roosevelt became commander of the brigade in his place. The next task that fell to the lot of the Colonel was to get our soldiers home. Yellow fever and malarial fever had attacked them. The War Department was disposed to keep the men in the stifling jungles of Cuba in spite of the fact that their work was done. Roose- velt was about to leave the army and did not share the regular officer's natural fear of getting into the bad graces of the officials at Washington by making com- plaints. He led in a public appeal which resulted in an immediate demand by the people that the troops be brought back to the United States. At Montauk Point, Long Island, New York, the Rough Riders landed. Here the admirers of the Colonel and the friends of his soldiers thronged to pay tribute to the gallant regiment. One day Roosevelt was called out of his tent. He found his men formed into a hollow square. He was escorted to the center and presented with a bronze statute of "The Broncho Buster." The men, for a brief time, were popular heroes, but their Colonel sagely warned them that these tokens of the public's appreciation could not be ex- pected to last, and that they must be prepared to go back to private life and take up routine work where they had left off. On the night before the mustering out there was a huge celebration. A huge bonfire was kindled. The Indian members of the regiment engaged in native dances. The cowboys performed tricks they had learned A War Road 127 on the plains. Everybody took part in the fun and the Colonel led! The reason why Roosevelt was so loved by his men, was that he spared neither money, time, or strength to administer to their comfort. After the Guasimas fight there came a sTiortage of food and Roosevelt, who had already spent $5,000 of his own money to provide comforts for his men, went out to forage for what in our newer war slang was called "chow." He found eleven hundred pounds of beans on the beach at Sib- oney, and told the officer in charge that he wanted them for his men. The officer told him that the beans could only be issued for the officer's mess. Thereupon Roosevelt made request for eleven hundred pounds of beans for his officers. "Why Colonel," said the guardian of the stores, "your officers can't eat eleven hundred pounds of beans !" "You don't know what appetites my officers have!" retorted Roosevelt. This good-natured verbal sparring resulted in a com- promise — and the Colonel came back to camp with a plentiful supply of beans. After the battle of San Juan the Colonel ate hard- tack with the rest of his men. Never did he indulge in luxuries when they were short of rations. He played no favorites. Two of the men he loved the most he sent on hazardous missions that resulted in their death; yet he himself rode into perils as great. "The life," he said, "even of the most useful man, of the best citizen, is not to be hoarded if there be need to spend it!" Yet he was lenient when duty permitted. He gives 128 Jungle Roads in his autobiography this instance of his stretching a point to favor one of his Rough Riders: "One of my men, an ex-cow-puncher and former round-up cook, a very good shot and rider, got into trouble on the way down on the transport. He under- stood entirely that he had to obey the officers of his own regiment, but, like so many volunteers, or at least like so many volunteers of my regiment, he did not un- derstand that this obligation extended to officers of other regiments. One of the regular officers on the transport ordered him to do something which he de- clined to do. When the officer told him to consider himself under arrest, he responded by offering to fight him for a trifling consideration. He was brought be- fore a court martial which sentenced him to a year's imprisonment at hard labor with dishonorable dis- charge, and the major-general commanding the division approved the sentence. "We were on the transport. There was no hard labor to do; and the prison consisted of another cow- puncher who kept guard over him with his carbine, evidently divided in his feelings as to whether he would like most to shoot him or to let him go. When we landed, somebody told the prisoner that I intended to punish him by keeping him with the baggage. He at once came to me in great agitation, saying: 'Colonel, they say you're going to leave me with the baggage when the fight is on. Colonel, if you do that, I will never show my face in Arizona again. Colonel, if you will let me go to the front, I promise I will obey any one you say; any one you say. Colonel,' with the evi- dent feeling that, after this concession, I could not, as a gentleman, refuse his request. Accordingly I answered : A War Road 129 'Shields, there is no one in this regiment more entitled to be shot than you are, and you shall go to the front.' His gratitude was great, and he kept repeating, Til never forget this. Colonel, never/ Nor did he. When we got very hard up, he would now and then manage to get hold of some flour and sugar, and would cook a doughnut and bring it round to me, and watch me with a delighted smile as I ate it. He behaved ex- tremely well in both fights, and after the second one I had him formally before me and remitted his sen- tence — something which of course I had not the slight- est power to do, although at the time it seemed natural and proper to me. "When we came to be mustered out, the regular of- ficer who was doing the mustering, after all the men had been discharged, finally asked me where the pris- oner was. I said, 'What prisoner?' He said, 'The prisoner, the man who was sentenced to a year's im- prisonment with hard labor and dishonorable discharge.' I said, *Oh ! I pardoned him' ; to which he responded, 'I beg your pardon; you did what?' This made me grasp the fact that I had exceeded authority, and I could only answer, 'Well, I did pardon him, anyhow, and he has gone with the rest'; whereupon the muster- ing-out officer sank back in his chair and remarked, 'He was sentenced by a court martial, and the sentence was approved by the major-general commanding the div- ision. You were a lieutenant-colonel, and you par- doned him. Well, it was nervy, that's all I'll say.' " THE WAY TO THE WHITE HOUSE XVHI. From San Juan to the Presidency THE ROUGH RIDER BECOMES GOVERNOR OF NEW YORK "TXTTiEN Colonel Theodore Roosevelt disembarked » ' at Montauk Point from the transport which brought him and his Rough Riders from Santiago," wrote Lincoln Steffens, "he was full of the fight that was over. A score of his friends who had hurried down eager to see him were pressing against the line of bayonets at the end of the pier; they were full of something else. One by one they seized him, and one by one they whispered to him: " 'You are the next Governor of New York.' " 'Good,' he said, half hearing; but he turned to wave at the yellow fellows just tumbling out of the boat. 'What do you think of the regiment?' he asked. " 'Campaign buttons are out with your picture al- ready/ " 'Yes ? Bully ! Look at them. Aren't they crack- a- jacks?' " 'But how do you feel ? Do you think you can stand the strain of a political campaign ?' " 'I feel like a bull moose. I'm ashamed of myself to be so sound and well. See, that's K Troop.' "And he pointed out men who had distinguished themselves. It was impossible to get his attention. 130 The Way to the White House 131 " 'Colonel, Croker said a few weeks ago that the man who would be the next governor must have been wounded in battle.' " 'Did he ? Well, I have a wound. See here on my wrist, a piece of shrapnel— see ?' There was no trace left. 'Well, it was there, anyhow.' "He laughed with the crowd, but he again turned to the column of khaki, and was soon off with his men in Cuba again, when a sober- faced man with a steady, quiet voice said: " 'Piatt wants you to run for governor. Colonel.' "The soldier turned sharply, looked at the man a moment, then said: " 'I'll see you again about this matter.' " The Colonel, finding himself able to make terms with Piatt that did not injure his self-respect or hamper his freedom of action, accepted the nomination. Roosevelt's campaign for election as governor was spectacular. He traveled in a special train, accom- panied by a group of Rough Riders in their pic- turesque uniforms. The crowds cheered him. What was more, they voted for him. When elected Governor of New York State he built his work on the foundation-stones of honesty and fair- dealing, considering the good, not of the bosses and "interests," but of the people. As the end of his first term approached, he desired to be reelected as governor. The bosses, because of the Governor's independence, were anxious to be rid of him. They decided to shelve him into the office of Vice- President of the United States. His enthusiastic friends in the West welcomed the suggestion. The movement gathered headway. He opposed it. He saw no hopes 132 Jungle Roads for advancement in the Vice-Presidency. It was too quiet an office for one of his active nature. His views were stated in a letter to General Wood shortly after the nomination was forced upon him: "I feel very much, as Lodge's boy put it, 'as though I had taken the veil!' I see my finish as a failure at the bar or as a teacher of history, in a second-rate country college." Wood states that the letter seemed to him one of "profound depression." His comrade seemed certain that he had ended his' political career in accepting the nomination. At the National Convention Roosevelt still strug- gled in vain against the attempt to get him out of the way. He told Senator Piatt: "I shall tell the delegates that I shall, if nominated for Vice-President, arise in the convention and decline \" "But you can not be renominated for Governor!" Piatt said, "your successor is in this room !" The Senator pointed to Chairman Odell. Roosevelt saw that the New York politicians had barred the door to him. He accepted the nomination for Vice-Presi- dent. Now that he was a candidate for the office, he made a "whirlwind tour" of the country, relieving President McKinley of the cares of travel. The Colonel's train chanced to stop at a station where Bryan's train was at a standstill. Bitter as their speeches had been, their greeting was jovial: "Hello, Bill !" called Roosevelt. "Hello, Teddy!" returned Bryan. "How is your voice after these many speeches?" The Way to the White House 133 "Oh, my voice is as rough as the platform of the Democrats," laughed Roosevelt. "Mine," retorted Bryan, "is as broken as the prom- ises of the Republicans." Within eight weeks Roosevelt covered twenty-two thousand miles, visited half of the states of the Union, and spoke to millions of people. Richard Croker, the former Tammany boss, whom Roosevelt attacked bitterly in his campaign in 1900, said bitterly: "That wild man's at it again. I see he was mobbed at Elmira. I wouldn't be surprised if he put the job up on himself." And again Croker remarked: "It puzzles me when the heart of the American peo- ple is beating for love of him, as the wild man says it is, he never shows his face but someone throws a brick at him." At Victor, Colorado, near Cripple Creek, a band of rowdies greeted the Roosevelt special train and heckled the Colonel throughout his address. As he left the hall there was a movement toward him by some of the roughs, but a company of Rough Riders surrounded him to protect him from insult. A tough made a rush at Colonel Roosevelt and succeeded in hitting him in the breast with a stick. Daniel M. Sullivan, the post- master at Cripple Creek, knocked the assailant down. The mob then tried to drag the khaki-clad Rough Riders from their horses, but the procession succeeded in gaining the train without injury to any of its members. McKinley and Roosevelt were elected by a big ma- jority. The Colonel entered upon his duties as vice-president 134 Jungle Roads on March 4, 1901, presiding over the Senate during the following session. IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF MCKINLEY Six months later, in Buffalo, an assassin's bullet slew President McKinley and Roosevelt become the head of the nation. Roosevelt, after the shooting, hearing that President McKinley's condition was improving, went on a brief trip to the Adirondacks, near the foot of Mount Tahawas. Two of his children had been in the hos- pital, and his family had taken a trip to the mountains to enable them to regain their health. He had gone to bring them home. The day after the Vice-President joined them, he set out for a climb up the side of Mount Marcy. On Friday morning, while several unemployed guides sat around a fire in the Upper Tahawas Clubhouse at the foot of Mount Marcy, a messenger from a lower settlement drove up in a mud-bespattered wagon. "Boys," said David Hunter, the superintendent. "There is bad news for the President. Who will carry the message to Mr. Roosevelt?" The lot fell to a tall, thin, weather-beaten guide named Harrison Hall. He crossed the tiny footbridge which spans the Hudson at that point and threaded a forest to Lake Colton. He learned on the trail that Roosevelt was climbing the side of Mount Marcy, which clasps, as in a giant's cup, a beautiful body of water which rests 4,500 feet above sea level and is the source of the Hudson River. At about two o'clock La Casse, Roosevelt's guide, looked down and beheld Harrison The Way to the White House 135 Hall waving to them. He clasped in his hand the yellow sheet of a telegram and Roosevelt knew that he was the messenger of fate. Then began the thirty-five mile drive in a light wagon on a steep, dangerous trail. A correspondent of the New York Herald wrote this vivid description of Roosevelt's return from Mount Marcy : "The full story of that ride will never be written; save for a few frightened deer, aroused by the splash- ing hoofs and peering wide-eyed at the swaying lan- tern through the fog, there was no spectator of the journey. The drivers, trained hunters from their youth, have learned silence as the first lesson of their calling, and questions elicit naught save the barest out- line of the trip. "Well, I knew, by the feel of the wagon, we were off the road once or twice, and I told Mr. Roosevelt we might be a hundred feet below the next moment for all I could tell, but he just told me to 'Go ahead !' " said Driver Kellogg. "Yes, the horses stumbled badly once, and I wanted to slow up; but he said, 'Keep right on!'" admitted Cronin. * * * "Still the obstinate hope of a strong willed man, who refuses to take no from fate, possessed Mr. Roose- velt. " They say the Presiclent is dying,' he told Kellogg, 'but I have hope yet.' * * * "A country dance was just breaking up at a little schoolhouse on the way. The plunging team dashed past the returning revelers, black and silent, in sharp contrast on its sad errand. * * * 136 Jungle Roads "At twenty-one minutes after 5 o'clock Mr. Roosevelt leaped out on the station steps at North Creek. Half way up he received from a representative of the Herald the first notification that President McKinley was dead." They reached the station in the gray dav/n of a new day — a day in which America mourned for a President dead, and looked with anxious eyes to where a figure of destiny was emerging to take his place. That evening Roosevelt at the earnest request of Secretary Root and the other members of McKinley's cabinet, took, in the house of Ansley Wilcox, at Buffalo, the regular oath of office: *T do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office of the President of the United States, and will, to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States." He was only forty-two — our youngest President. His rise had been amazingly swift. He had a long line of good ancestors behind him; he was wealthy; yet he was simple in his habits and a friend of the plain people. The nation welcomed such a man. When he took the oath of office he made this simple •statement : "It shall be my aim to continue, absolutely unbroken, the policy of William McKinley for the peace, pros- perity and honor of this beloved country." He followed this pledge as closely as possible, chang- ing McKinley's policy only as the needs of the public required. He made the McKinley Cabinet his own Cabinet, thus securing the aid of such distinguished men as John Hay and Elihu Root. When he filled vacancies in the Cabinet, he chose men who had occupied other of- The Way to the White House 137 fices under McKinley to fill the empty places. Among these was Wm. H. Taft. His rule to use McKinley's staff held good even when he selected his own private secretary; Mr. Cortelyou had held this place under President McKinley and Roosevelt not only retained his services but also later promoted him to a Cabinet position. THE GREAT COAL STRIKE The battle between capital and labor was waged fu- riously during Roosevelt's first years as President. He saw that there was right on each side and tried his ut- most to have the two sides settle their difficulties, by giving each other the "square deal." If one side tried to monopolize his aid, he soon showed it that he was the President, not of one clique, but of all parties. He said once to Jacob Riis: "Whether your children or my children shall be happy or unhappy in this country in the year 1950, de- pends on whether every man of honor is a firm friend to every other man of honor, be he workman or capi- talist — This class spirit is the cancer that is eating away the life of our republic. I am for neither capital or labor, but I am for honesty, against dishonesty, for patriotism against selfishness, for right against wrong." "The White House door," he told a group of labor leaders, "while I am here, shall swing open as easily for the labor man as for the capitalist, and no easier!" In the fall of 1902 occurred the great Anthracite Coal Strike. Trouble had been brewing for a long time between the mine-owners and the miners. To avert the coal famine Roosevelt now decided if 138 Jungle Roads his plan to settle the strike should fail through the stub- bornness of the mine-owners, to send the United States Army to the coal fields to run the mines. On October 13th, however, the operators agreed to arbitrate. The men went back to work at once. They secured in the end ten per cent, increase in pay and a nine-hour day. Roosevelt, when his first term had expired, sought re-election. "I do not believe In playing the hypocrite," he said. "Any strong man fit to be President would desire a nomination and re-election after his first term. Lin- coln was President in so great a crisis that perhaps he neither could nor did feel any personal interest in his own re-election. But at present I should like to be elected President, just as John Quincy Adams, or Mc- Kinley, or Cleveland or John Adams, or Washington himself desired to be elected. It is pleasant to think that one's countrymen think well of him. But I shall not do anything whatever to secure my nomination save to try to carry on the public business in such shape that decent citizens will believe I have shown wisdom, integrity and courage," ^ (P) Underwood & Underwood ROOSEVELT AMONG THE CANAL DIGGERS The Way to the White House 139 XIX. Important Events of Roosevelt's Presidency THE MAN WHO BUILT THE PANAMA CANAL IT had been the dream of a century to connect the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean by cutting a channel through the narrow Isthmus of Panama. Columbus dreamed that he could find a route west- ward from Europe to Asia. America stood in his path. Balboa and other hardy explorers tried to dis- cover a way by which the Arnerican continent could be crossed by water, but found none. Later, men began to dream of cutting a channel to the Pacific, so that their ships could go on to the Orient. As early as 1550 the King of Spain was urged by Antonio Galvao, a sailor, to dig a canal through the Isthmus of Panama. Admiral Nelson, in 1780, suggested that such a pas- sage should be dug across Nicaragua. A traveler named Humboldt in 1804 proposed five routes ; the path of the canal follows closely one of these suggested paths. When gold was discovered in California in 1849, and gold-seekers and trade began to drift to the west coast, the need for the canal grew greater. In 1888 the Frenchman de Lesseps began the canal but he became involved in financial troubles and the at- tempt was a failure. When war with Spain came, and the battleship Ore- gon had to travel from the Pacific Coast around Cape 140 Jungle Roads Horn to join our Atlantic squadron, the entire country saw how convenient it would be to have a short cut between the two oceans by way of the Isthmus. When Roosevelt decided to build the canal, he chose between two possible locations for it; through Nic- aragua, or through Panama, along the line already plotted by the French. The latter route was chosen. The people of Panama wanted the Canal built. Thwarted by the new government of Colombia they started a revolution. It occurred on November 3, 1903. Roosevelt recognized the Republic of Panama, and made a new canal treaty with it. The Senate rati- fied the treaty. Other nations soon followed the ex- ample of the United States in recognizing Panama as a separate country. The Canal was begun. To Colonel Goethals belongs the credit of carrying through the gigantic task swiftly and well. He was immensely aided by Doctor (Sur- geon-General) Gorgas, who drove out malaria and 3^ellow fever and made the Canal Zone as healthful as an American ocean resort. Former President Wm. H. Taft, in his foreword to Dr. Lewis's Life of Roosevelt, pays this tribute to the Colonel for his work in building the Canal: "If the name of the Panama Canal could be changed, it should be called the 'Theodore Roosevelt Canal.' It is more due to him than to any other man, and without him it may well be doubted whether it would now be begun. The hoggish and unjust attitude of Colombia toward the enterprise as well as toward Panama, whose people favored giving the United States an opportunity to build and own it, aroused the deep indignation of Roosevelt. He knew there was no equity in the po- The Way to the White House 141 sition of Colombia. He welcomed the possibility of a revolution which should separate Panama from Co- lombia." To take a trip through the Canal is the best way to understand what a great work Roosevelt set in motion when he started the steam shovels at Panama. If the voyage is started on the eastern end, the traveler comes first to Gatun. The original town of Gatun is now submerged under the waters of the lake that was formed by letting in the Chagres River, held in place by the great dam at this point. Here have been built the largest locks, which are big enough to take the biggest ocean liners, and one marvels at the immensity of their emergency gates and control houses. The Gatun Dam, the lake behind it, the locks and the Canal blend into the landscape so that it is hard to realize that men had anything to do with creating it. In the cement locks the water has a depth of thirty-four feet, but elsewhere the water is over eighty feet deep — the time it takes to empty a lock is just eight minutes. In going through the canal, the ships pass through twelve gates. The passage takes about ten hours. Canal pilots direct the course of the ships through the canal and through the locks the vessels are towed by electric locomotives that run along the quays. As the journey proceeds, the traveler sees white light- houses projecting out of the surrounding jungle, with beautiful mountains in the background. At last the famous Culebra Cut is reached. To cut the canal here was a work of tremendous difficulty. Our engineers at this place cut through the highest point of the mountain range. There is a soft layer of rock here that causes stone to crumble and slide from both 142 Jungle Roads sides into the Canal, so that dredges have often to be employed to keep the Canal open. In 1906, Roosevelt sailed on the battleship Louisiana for Panama. Here he inspected the work of build- ing the canal. In a letter to Kermit, describing the trip, he grew enthusiastic over the ninety-five ton steam shovels that were at work in the Culebra Cut and told of see- ing them scoop huge masses of rock and gravel and dirt and deposit them on trains. In this way, entire hills were removed from the track of the canal. The white supervisors an3 the black men who did the rough work awakened his admiration and it was with im- mense satisfaction that he saw his own great dream made real through the efforts of these untiring workers. CURBING THE KAISER "Walk Softly, But Carry a Big Stick." "I want Uncle Sam to be peaceful," wrote Roosevelt; "I want Uncle Sam to show scrupulous regard for the rights of others; but I want to see Uncle Sam owe his safety to two facts: in the first place, that he will do nothing but good to men ; and, in the second place, that he will submit to wrong from no man." These words fitly express the foreign policy followed by the President during his term of office. Toward a blustering, grasping nation he uplifted "the big stick"; with peaceful nations he walked softly. What is known in our history as "the Venezuelan" affair, took place a little over a year after Roosevelt became President. The German Emperor had long The Way to the White House 143 looked on the Western Hemisphere as a field for con- quest, by commerce or by arms. When the Spanish- American war broke out, he asked England and France to join with his fleet in checking our naval operations. Mr. Balfour, then in charge of the British War office, crushed him with the reply: "No, if the British fleet takes any part in the war, it will be to put itself between the American fleet and those of your coalition." Thus the German Emperor was forced to content him- self with the threat: "If I had had ships enough, I would have taken the Americans by the scruff of the neck." Here is Roosevelt's own story of what happened, told in September, 1917, at a luncheon in Chicago, and reported in the New York Times: "It was about a year after I took office. Germany was striving to extend her dominion. She had in view certain chosen positions in South America, She aimed to turn South America into a German appendage. Venezuela at that time had a dictator named Castro, cqpmonly known as the 'Monkey of the Andes.' "At that time England was backing Germ.any, and, while I had both against me, I paid little attention to England. It was the last flicker of England's antag- onism to the United States. "I called the attention of the Ambassador (von Hol- leben) to the fact that Germany had a squadron of warships near Venezuela, threatening the mouth of the proposed isthmian canal ! I demanded a statement of what Germany meant by temporary possession; say- ing that I did not propose to have any ninety-nine year leases. 144 Jungle Roads "The Ambassador told me he did not feel that he was at liberty to discuss such an important question. That conference wound up with the following ultimatum: " 'Tell your Government that in ten days it must ar- bitrate the matter, or I will send Dewey down there.' " 'I can not send such a message, Mr. President. I do not think you realize what it means !' the Ambassa- dor replied. "'You think it means war?' I asked. " 'I do not want to say what I think !' was tlie reply. " 'If it means war, you have chosen the one spot where you cannot fight us,' I replied, and I showed by our maps our commanding position. When he retired I sent word to Dewey to be ready to sail on an hour's notice. About a week later the Ambassador called on me and admitted that he had not dared send the message. I then told him that I would order Dewey to sail in forty-eight hours. He told me that it would be an awful thing for this country. " 'Yes, but it will be more awful for your country,' I replied. Inside of thirty-six hours he came back smiling and said he had received instructions from the German Government that they v/ould arbitrate." The President acted just as vigorously in the famous case of the kidnapped Perdicaris. Raizuli, a Moroccan bandit, seized Perdicaris, an American, and held him for ransom. He threatened that he would kill the prisoner unless the money he asked for was paid. John Hay, the Secretary of State, cabled the American consul at Tangier: "We want Perdicaris alive or Raizuli dead," adding that Gummere was "not to commit us about landing marines or seizing customhouse." The Way to the White House 145 In his diary, according to William Roscoe Thayer, Hay made the following entries: "June 23. My telegram to Gummere had an un- called for success. It is curious how a concise im- propriety hits the public." "June 24. Gummere telegraphs that he expects Perdi- caris to-night." "June 27. Perdicaris wires his thanks." In 1903 a massacre of Jews occurred in Kishinef, Russia. The Jews of America petitioned the President to ask the Czar of Russia to safeguard the lives of the Jews of Russia against such outbreaks. The Russian government would not discuss the subject. Roosevelt, however, had promised that he would bring the appeal of his countrymen to the notice of the Czar. Would Russia resent such a move? Was war on the horizon ? No trouble arose. True, the Russian government re- fused to receive the memorial, but the American con- sul at St. Petersburg visited the Foreign Office with a letter from Secretary Hay, which inquired as to whether the Russian government would accept the document. This letter set forth the full text of the memorial. The Russian Foreign Office accepted it. Its publication in the press put before the world every word of the petition of the American Jews. The ob- ject of the latter had been gained. The eyes of the world had been drawn to the afflictions of the Hebrews of Russia. MAKING PEACE BETWEEN JAPAN AND RUSSIA When war broke out on February 10th, 1904, between Russia and Japan, Roosevelt, the man who had been 146 Jungle Roads declared by his foes to be war-loving himself, was the one who without any other aid, made peace between them. Japan had become alarmed over the way Russia had expanded her dominions. The Czar's forces had reached the shores of the Yellow Sea and were threatening to control China. Japan herself was then in her infancy as a world power. Fifty years before, her soldiers had been armed with primitive bows and arrows. Now, however, she had a new army, which had been trained after the European methods of warfare. This army she sent to drive back the Czar. To the amazement of the world, the giant Russia was defeated. Some of her highest officials were grafters; her armies were poorly trained and disorganized. On the Japanese side a brilliant general, Kuroki, arose. He commanded one of the Nippon armies in Man- churia, directed the battle which isolated Port Arthur, and took part in the battles at Liao-Yang, Chaho and Mukden. At the last-named place the concluding bat- tle of the war was fought, in Which the Japanese were victorious. The United States had representatives in Manchuria taking notes of the campaign. Among these were Cap- tain John J. Pershing and Captain Peyton C. March; the former of these in the great world war directed our armies in France and the latter was Chief of Staff of the armies assembled at home for service abroad. Roosevelt, in spite all of the problems that he had to deal with at home, watched the war with great con- cern. At last he decided to try to end it. On June 8, 1905, he sent to both powers a letter in which he pleaded with them "not only for their own sakes but The Way to the White House 147 in the interest of the whole civiHzed world to open direct negotiations for peace with each other." The President had found out beforehand that both countries would be willing to make peace; the question now to determine was where the peace council should meet. At last the United States was decided upon. On August 5th, the Russian and Japanese envoys first met. The place was Oyster Bay, aboard the President's yacht, "The Mayflower." At this rather strained meeting, the President proposed this toast, which proved to be the first step toward peace: "Gentlemen, I propose a toast to which there will be no answer and which I ask you to drink in silence, standing. I drink to the welfare and prosperity of the sovereigns and the people of the two great nations, whose representatives have met one another on this ship. It is my earnest hope and prayer in the inter- est not only of these two great powers, but of all civ- ilized mankind, that a just and lasting peace may speed- ily be concluded between them." The peace conference then convened at Portsmouth, N. H. The Russian envoys agreed to most of the terms laid down by the Japanese, but refused to pay a money indemnity or to surrender territory. Roosevelt here used his good offices to bring an agreement. He persuaded Japan to withdraw her claim for money. He persuaded Russia to cede to Japan half of the Island of Saghalien, which had been captured by Japan. Satis- fied, the commissioners came together again, and on September 5th the peace treaty was signed. Roosevelt's services on this occasion in behalf of world peace won for him the Nobel Peace Prize, a medal, one of the awards set aside by Alfred B. Nobel, 148 Jungle Roads a Scandinavian, to be presented to those whose deeds benefited mankind. With the prize went a -gift of $40,000. Roosevelt was praised by the entire world for having brought about peace. The Czar of Russia and the Emperor of Japan sent him warm letters of thanks. Important as this event was, it was yet only one of Roosevelt's peace-making acts. He saw that South America, with its Spanish population, might be made hostile to the United .States. He therefore sent Sec- retary of State Elihu Root on a tour through South America. Mr. Root met the statesmen of the tropics with a tact and friendliness that won their hearts and did much to allay their suspicions of the country he represented. Among other acts of good will done by Roosevelt was the return by the United States to China, for edu- cational purposes, of half of the money China had agreed to pay the United States for damages done dur- ing the Boxer uprising. Our Fleet Circles the Globe "Yes, it is good to battle, and good to he strong and free, To carry the hearts of a people to the uttermost ends of the sea, To see the day steal up the bay wliere the enemy lies in wait. To run your ship to the harbor's Up and sink her across the strait : — But better the golden evening when the ships round heads for home, And the long gray miles slip szuiftly past in the szvirl of a seething foam, And the people wait at the haven's gate to greet the mat zvho zuin ! Thank God for peace! Thank God for peace, when the great gray ships come in!" —Guy Wetmore Carryl The \¥ay to the White House 149 In the final year of his Presidency, Roosevelt found himself confronting a grave situation with Japan — one that unless delicately handled might cause war. The people along the Pacific Coast, fearing then, as they fear now, that their states would be over-run by Japanese laborers who could live cheaper and work for lower wages than American workmen, demanded that the Japanese be excluded from this country. There were anti-Japanese riots in several places. The State of California passed a rule excluding Japanese chil- dren from its public schools. Roosevelt met the situation by sending Secretary of War Taft to Japan as an "iVmbassador of Peace." Taft, at a public dinner given to him in Tokio, de- clared that talk of war between the two countries was "infamous." Japan, to show her desire to avoid trouble, sent General Kuroki to the United States to return Taft's words of peace. A "gentleman's agree- ment" was made between the two governments. Japan agreed to restrict the sending of Japanese laborers to America, California agreed to withdraw her school order. Yet in diplomatic circles throughout the world the occurrence had set tongues to wagging; and agitators kept the threat of war alive. Then Roosevelt, to give Japan a friendly warning, and to prove to the world the truth of his conviction that all was well between the two nations, sent the American fleet on a voyage around the world. Admiral Bob Evans indiscreetly described the squadron as be- ing fit "for either a frolic or a fight," but Japan rose nicely to the occasion by officially inviting it to a frolic in her waters. The sixteen battleships went through the Strait of 150 Jungle Roads Magellan to San Francisco. From there they sailed to New Zealand and Australia, stopping at the Phil- ippines, China and Japan, then home through the Suez Canal, stopping in the Mediterranean. The most notable incident of the cruise was the cordial reception given to the fleet by the Japanese. When the fleet returned after its sixteen months' voyage, Roosevelt received it in Hampton Roads and made a speech highly praising its officers and crew. When visiting Berlin at the end of his African trip, Colonel Roosevelt had an interesting talk with Von Tirpitz, who later became infam^ous through the cruel- ties committed by his U-boats during the world war. Von Tirpitz was greatly interested in the voyage around the world of the American battle-fleet. He said that he expected that Japan woiild attack the fleet on its voy- age, and he asked Roosevelt if he had not also expected this. The Colonel replied that he had not expected it, although there was a chance that it might happen. Von Tirpitz told Roosevelt that he thought the voyage of the battle-fleet had done more to bring about peace in the Orient than any other event. The Way to the White House 151 XX. Our Sportsman-President Roosevelt in Wyoming (Told by a guide— 1899) Do yoii know Yaucey'sf When the winding trail From Washburn Mountains strikes the old stage road? And wagons front Cooke City and the mail Unhitch awhile and teamsters shift the load? A handy bunch of men are round the stove At Yancey's — hunters back from Jackson's hole And Ed Hough telling of a mighty drove Of elk that he ran down at Tcnton Bowl. And Yancey he says: "Mr. Woody, there Can tell a hunting yarn or two beside, He guided Roosevelt when he shot a bear And six bull elk with antlers spreading wide" \But Woody is a guide who doesn't brag, He puffed his pipe awhile, then gravely said: "I knew he'd put the Spaniards in a bag, For Mister Roosevelt always picked a head. "That man won't clotch around in politics And zvasfe his time a-killing little game; He studies elk, and men, and knows their tricks, And when he picks a head he hits the same." Now, down at Yancey's every man's a sport. And free to back his knowledge up with lead; And each believes that Roosevelt is the sort To run the State, because he "picks a head." — Robert Bridges, in "Bramble Bral." Copyright by Charles Scrlbner's Sons. 152 Jungle Roads T?OR seven and a half years, Roosevelt toiled in the -*• Presidency. He did the work of five ordinary men, yet he kept well and vigorous. His good health was due to outdoor exercise. His vigorous open-air life served not only to keep him "fit" but also spurred his associates to sports and exercise which helped them to bear up under the hard tasks that came to them in those strenuous years. He valued men who kept themselves "fit" by mental exertion and outdoor exercise. It was these qualities in John J. Pershing, for instance, that led the President to select him for promotion to a higher rank. When Roosevelt was President the splendid record of a young army officer, Captain Pershing, was brought to his attention. The reports that came to the War De- partment from the Philippines showed that Pershing was doing remarkable work in subduing unruly Filipinos and in keeping his men up to the mark. Pershing was in line for a promotion to colonel or lieutenant-colonel, but Congress had passed a law that, while it was not directed at any one officer, hindered promotion of a meritorious captain to one of these ranks. However, Roosevelt had the right to appoint an officer to the rank of brigadier-general, so he took ad- vantage of this loop-hole and raised Pershing to this rank, advancing him over many other army officers. The promotion aroused much criticism at the time but Pershing proved that he deserved it. His record later in Mexico and France showed that Roosevelt's judgment was right when he chose to raise young and active men to positions of power. The President devoted at least two hours of every day to horse-back riding, wrestling, tennis, walking or The Way to the White House 153 broad sword or single-stick exercise. He rode horse- back and jumped hurdles as well as the best of riders. One day, however, he fell from his horse and wrenched his neck and shoulders. George von L. Meyer, a close friend of Roosevelt's, tells us that once when he was out for a horseback ride along the Potomac with the President, who was also accompanied by his friends Elihu Root and Henry Cabot Lodge, Meyer suddenly set his horse to jumping certain fences. Roosevelt told Meyer that he would join in the hurdling. "Lodge," Meyer writes, "said my horse jumped in much better form. He was carrying, however, about thirty pounds less. After that, without realizing what effect it would have on the President, I put my horse over the five-foot jump. I had no sooner done it than the President went at it. His horse refused, so he turned his horse, set his teeth, and went at it again. This time his horse cleared it well forward, but dragged his hind legs. Lodge was very much put out that the President had taken such a risk with his weight . . . The President said, T could not let one of my Cabinet give me a lead and not follow.' " Roosevelt was interested in the Japanese science of jiu jitsu, and in a letter to Theodore, Jr., he described an encounter between Professor Yamashita and the Colonel's friend, Grant. The Japanese was a jiu jitsu expert, while Grant was skilled at wrestling. The Colonel wrote, however, that it was hard to compare the arts of the two men, since wrestling was merely a sport like tennis, while jui jitsu was tlie science of killing or disabling an adversary. He described how Grant put Yamashita on his back and how Yamashita a minute later got a hold that choked Grant and also an elbow 154 Jungle Roads hold that, if tightened, would have broken Grant's arm. The Colonel gave it as his opinion that one of our strong American wrestlers, with a little training, would be more than a match for a Japanese who practiced jiu jitsu. Cross-country walking was his favorite exercise. He took with him cabinet officers, diplomats, senators, rep- resentatives or his own more intimate friends. The walk would generally be along the Potomac and would be taken after dark, so that the public could not see him at sport that might be thought unbecoming in a President. Major-General Leonard Wood, in his recollections published in Metropolitan Magazine, gives this account of these walks: "Whenever I landed in Washington it always meant a hard run through the parks, up and down the banks of Rock Creek — always with men, few of whom went a second time. Once, I remember, he took out a num- ber of m^en who were aspirants for promotion to the grade of brigadier. He looked them over and said, 'Leonard, I am going to give those gentlemen a trv- out. We want active officers.' "And try them out he did. We started out on one of those rough-and-tumble walks. It was a slippery climb along the rocks and banks of Rock Creek after the rain. One of our brigadiers (who had already been appointed, by the way) turned out with a straw hat, patent leather shoes, white waistcoat, projecting pearl but- tons, glasses, and carrying a smart looking walking stick. When he had gotten half way down Rock Creek this gentleman had lost all the buttons on his waistcoat, he had broken his glasses; some of the buttons were gone The Way to the White House 155 from the upper part of his trousers. He had been across Rock Creek several tunes; he was a complete and total wreck and knew it — so did the Colonel. The Colonel hailed a mounted policeman who chanced to be on the other side of the stream, called him up and said, 'Mr. Officer, this is a general in the army,' pointing to the exhausted and dejected victim. 'He belongs in the city of Washington and wishes to go there; you take him down now and put him on the car. Remember that he is a general !' " Here is the picture Wood gives of Roosevelt and his comrades at football: "Occasionally we had some work with the football — kicking, catching, falling and tackling. Once or twice Senator Lodge came out with us. He was very active, and knew something of the game. We also beguiled an unfortunate German, a member of the Embassy, to come out with us occasionally. I say 'unfortunate' be- cause he certainly had rather rough handling in a form of exercise with which he was entirely unfamiliar. He was big, heavy and willing; but knew absolutely nothing of American football methods. The Colonel thought the best way to break him in was to let him begin by learning to tackle and run with the ball. So the Baron was sent full speed down the field with orders to get by the Colonel, who invariably attacked him in the most aggressive fashion. Then the Colonel would take the ball, and when the Baron attempted to tackle he would find the Colonel's palm in his face and over he would go. On the whole, he had a very unhappy time the few afternoons he was with us. The Baron would run at full speed; Roosevelt, with his teeth set, would invariably dive solidly into his stomach. After 156 Jungle Roads several attempts at this form of exercise, which was undertaken more in a sense of courtesy to the Colonel than from any love of it, the Baron disappeared. There was no more football for him after that. And so it went; always something of hard, strenuous work in the open air after hours of concentrated work in the office." As a result of his conversation with young army and navy officers who went with him on these walks, Roose- velt determined that he would compel the older army officers stationed around Washington to keep in good physical condition. This he accomplished by issuing an order that each officer should show that he could walk fifty miles or ride one hundred miles within three days. The older officers rebelled against the order and used their influence with Congress and the newspapers to have the command ridiculed. Roosevelt, however, proved that the complaints of these men were absurd by himself riding, with two officers, more than a hun- dred miles in one day over the frozen roads of Vir- ginia. The nation decided that what the President could do in one day, the army and navy officers should be willing to do in three days, and opposition to the order died. Cary T. Grayson, the President's physician, was a naval officer. When certain generals and colonels pro- tested against Roosevelt's order, he sent for Grayson, and, according to Ray Stannard Baker, said: "Can you ride horseback?" "Yes," Grayson said, "I was brought up with horses." "Some of the officers object to the test I have put to them. They think it too severe. Now I want myself The Way to the White House 157 to do the ninety miles and do it all in one day. And I want you to come along." The two ment went, and Grayson treasures this record of his journey, penned by the President: THE WHITE HOUSE Washington, January 15, 1909. My dear Dr. Grayson: On January 13 you accompanied me on a ride from the White House, at Washington, to the inn at War- renton and back, 98 miles, as we measured it, but, as I am now informed, 104 miles. We started at 3.40 in the morning and returned at 8.40 in the evening, stop- ping for an hour and a quarter at Warrenton and for five or ten minutes at other places. We had four relays of horses. For most of the time coming in the weather was very bad, a sleet storm driving in our faces, and the roads were frozen and difficult. On the last stretch, which was the hardest of all, your horse was smooth shod, which greatly increased the difficulty and risk as we made our way against the sleet storm over the frozen roads thru the pitch darkness; yet at that time your only thought seemed to be to look out for me, the sleet having frozen on my glasses so that I was unable to see at all; and I had to repeatedly ask you to look out for yourself, in view of your horse being smooth shod. You, like the rest of the party, ended the trip in first-class condition. Sincerely yours, Theodore Roosevelt. P. A. Surgeon Gary T. Grayson, U.S.N., Naval Dispensary, Washington, D. C. 158 Jungle Roads XXI. The Chum of Boys I HAVE taught my boys to take their own part," the President once said. "I do not know which I should punish my boys for quickest, for cruelty or for flinching!" Roosevelt's letters to his children reveal how he kept his mind and his heart on a level with his boys at each stage of their careers. In this respect he was like one of his heroes, Daniel Boone, who took his nine- year-old son with him on hunting expeditions, to train him in woodcraft. His eldest son has recently borne testimony to this trait. Lieutenant-Colonel Roosevelt has granted us permission to reprint from the Phila- delphia Public Ledger this account of the way in which the Colonel trained and companioned his boys: "From the time when we were very little boys we were always interested in military preparedness. My father believed very strongly in the necessity of each boy being able and willing not only to look out for him- self but to look out for those near and dear to him. This gospel was preached to us all from, the time we were very, very small. A story, told in the family of an incident which happened long before I can remem- ber, illustrated this. Father told me one day always to be willing to fight any one who insulted me. Shortly after this wails of grief arose from the nursery. Mother ran upstairs and found my little brother Ker- mit howling in a corner. When she demanded explana- tion I told her that he had insulted me by taking away (C) Underwood & Uiuicitvood THE PRESIDENT ABOARD THE "MAYFLOWER" The Way to the White House 159 some of my blocks so I had hit him on the head with a mechanical rabbit. "Our little boy fights were discussed in detail with father. Although he insisted on the willingness to fight he was the first to object to and punish anything that resembled bullying. We always told him ever>'- thing, as we knew he would give us a real and svni- pathctic interest. "Funny incidents of these early combats stick in my mind. One day one of my brothers came home from school ver>' proud. lie said he had had a fight with a boy. When asked how the fight resulted he said he had won by kicking the boy in the wind[)ipc. Fur- ther investigation dcvcIo|»cd the fact that the windpipe was the pit of the stomach. My brother felt that it must be the windpipe because when you kicked some one there he lost his breath. I can remember father to this day explaining that no matter how effective this method of attack was it was not considered sports- manlike to kick. "Father and mother l)elicved in robust righteousness. In the stories and i>oems that they read us they alwuys bore this in mind. 'Pilgrim's Progress' and 'The Battle Hymn of Republic' we knew when we were very young. When father was dressing for dinner he used to teach us poetr)'. I can remember memorizing all the most stirring parts of Longfellow's 'Saga of King Olaf,' 'Sheridan's Ride' and the 'Sinking of the Cumberland.' The gallant incidents in histor)- were told us in such a way that we never forgot them. In Washington when father was civil service commissioner I often walked to the office with him. On the way down he would talk history to me — not the dry history of dates and 'i6o Jungle Roads charters, but the history where you yourself in imagi- nation could assume the role of the principal actors, as every well-constructed boy wishes to do when inter- ested. During every battle we would stop and father would draw out the full plan in the dust in the gutter with the tip of his umbrella. "We spent our summers at Oyster Bay. There, in addition to our family, were three other families of little Roosevelts. We were all taught out-of-door life. We spent our days riding and shooting, wandering through the woods and playing out-of-aoor games. Un- derlying all this was father's desire to have all of us children grow up manly and cleanminded, with not only the desire but the ability to play our part at the country's need. "Father himself was our companion whenever he could get away from his work. Many times he camped out with us on Lloyds Neck, the only 'grown up' of the party. We always regarded him as a great asset at times like these. He could think up more delightful things to do than we could in a 'month of Sundays.' " A boy from Catonsville, Md., climbed the steps of the White House. "I'm Sherwood Thompson, of the Catonsville 'Rough Riders,' " he told Secretary Loeb. "I've come to call on President Roosevelt. I was one of his escorts when he visited Baltimore four years ago." "But the President is engaged with Senators," Mr. Loeb explained kindly. "Hello, young Thompson, come over here ! How's that pony of yours !" someone called. It was the Presi- dent, remembering and greeting after four years a boy he had met only once ! The Way to the White House i6i AT SAGAMORE HILL The White House held second place in the President's affections ; Sagamore Hill was always his first choice. The house at Oyster Bay was the place he loved best. No matter how far off he wandered, his thoughts al- ways turned back to this spot. The demands made upon him by his public life served only to make him love his home more. The Sagamore Hill estate was an ideal one for a nature-lover like Roosevelt. The roads are formed of gravel. Underwood grows thickly. Oak and maple trees abound. On the outskirts are fields, barns and gardens. From the house the waters of Loag Island Sound can be seen. So fond was the Colonel of the birds at Oyster Bay that he had posted each Spring on trees on his grounds signs warning boys not to molest them or disturb their nests. The trophy room at Oyster Bay was a wonderful place to visit. When, during the world war, soldiers came to call on the Colonel, he guided them through this room, showing them the costly rug presented to him by the Sultan of Turkey; the immense elephant tusks presented to him by the Emperor of Abyssinia; the snuff-boxes from Pope Leo XHI; and valuable gifts from the Empress of China, King Victor Emmanuel of Italy, the Czar of Russia, Indian chiefs and many other personages. Roosevelt taught his boys to shoot big game by first teaching them to shoot smaller game, such as possums and raccoons. He tells how one of his boys — a youngster of five years — rushed into his study to tell him that the hired i62 Jungle Roads man had found a coon near the wood-pile pond, a muddy pool a few hundred yards from the house. Chickens had been slain by some such animal, and the Colonel was anxious to keep minks and coons from coming too near his coops, so he picked up his rifle and went down stairs. His small son followed, clasp- ing* the butt of the gun. The coon was found asleep in the hollow of a blasted chestnut, about forty feet from the ground. Roosevelt raised his rifle, but found that its rear sight was off. He was anxious to prove a good shot to his son, but to his vexation had to fire three or four shots before he brought down the coon. The father and son walked back to the house in tri- umph, each holding a hind leg of the coon. On another day, when the Colonel was out walking with two of his boys his dog Susan treed a possum. He shot it, and while his five-year-old remarked to his seven-year-old "it's the first time I've seen a fellow killed!" During the summer. Colonel Roosevelt loved to row and swim in Long Island Sound. Rev. Warren I. Bowman, the former pastor of the Methodist Church at Oyster Bay, thus described for Dr. Iglehart a rowing race he had with the Colonel : "Colonel Roosevelt was a fine swimmer. His daughter Ethel often came down with him to the Sound for a swim. One afternoon I saw Mr. Roosevelt and Miss Ethel plunging into the water and making a race for the float some distance out on the Sound. It was a close race, each reaching the goal about the same time. Miss Ethel dived from the float and swam about it for fifteen or twenty minutes. Meanwhile the Colonel walked back and forth on the float apparently The Way to the White House 163 in a brown study. I suspected he was preparing some great message or speech. When his daughter had finished her swim, he banished his serious thoughts and resumed the sporting spirit, and the two dived to- gether and made a race back to the shore. "He was a fine oarsman; he had powerful arms; they were well skilled, and he made his boat fairly skip through the water. I am pretty strong myself and apt in handling the oars. One day I was out with my boat and, as was his custom, Mrs. Roosevelt and he were out in his boat, and I said to myself, 'I will pass him/ so I hurried and got pretty nearly up with him and he looked back and noticed that I was racing him. He struck his oars into the water, multiplied the stroke at a wonderful rate and the gap between was widened. He looked back at me laughingly, as much as to say, 'Young man, you must grow a little older before you can pass me.' " The Colonel's interest in the Boy Scout movement is thus set forth by Rev. George E. Talmage, rector of the Episcopal Church at Oyster Bay: "When General Baden-Powell was in this country in the interest of the new movement, there was an in- formal luncheon at Sagamore Hill, at which the general and some men prominent in the movement were pres- ent. The rector, although of little importance to the conference, was invited to meet them. He was intro- duced as 'my pastor,' and while the men tried their best to commit the Colonel to their cause they got no further than this — that he pointed out the importance of the individual scout master, and turned the discussion to a consideration of the merits of men in the village who might be fitted for such leadership. Without doubt 164 Jungle Roads the invitation to the local pastor was for the very pur- pose of so turning the discussion. Later on he took a prominent place in the movement, and w^hen the Roosevelt Troop of Boy Scouts was organized in the parish, consented to serve and did serve on the troop committee." Edward Bok, editor of The Ladies' Home Journal, has recently revealed that Colonel Roosevelt seriously considered taking the leadership of the Boy Scout move- ment in America. THE colonel's PETS I have tried to make a list of the pets the Colonel and his children fostered. The task is too big, but here are some of them mentioned in his letters : Five guinea pigs, named by the boys, Bishop Doane, Dr. Johnson, Father Grady, Fi^fhting Bob Evans, and Admiral Dewey; A small bear named Jonathan Edwards; Maude, a large white pig, an inhabitant of Keystone Ranch; The dogs Black Jack, Shady, Ace, Skip, Hector, Brier, Sailor Boy, Mike and Scamp; Josiah, the badger; The horses Fidelity, Yagenka, Betsy, Algonquin, Wyoming, Bleistein, Chief, Rusty, Ordgy, Renown ; Slipper, a cat; Tom Quartz, the kitten that played hide and seek with the leg of Joseph Cannon, Speaker of the House; Bill, the lizard; A King snake and "two little wee snakes"; "The kitchen cat" (otherwise unnamed) ; And a hive of bees. It) (j nde I'M i I i - I t I i-u 1 A TYPICAL AFRICAN HUNTING SCENE THROUGH THE AFRICAN WILDERNESS XXH. "EwANA TuMBo"— The Great Hunter "Beyond the sea there's much contented grunting, The wild hyena laughs; The elephant has trumpeted : 'No hunting! And no more photographs!' Beyond the sea the totn-toms are a-drummtng, Farewell to Theodore; All Africa with business is now humming, Dried up the trail of gore. He xvill not change for monkeys, lions, tigers. The empire of the West, Sweet Oyster Bay's cool plunge for torrid Niger's, The man who knows no rest." — Walter Beverly Crane, in "Life." AN elephant, straying from its herd, broke into a bazaar in Masingi, East Africa. It played havoc with the merchandise spread out for sale and created a panic among the natives. "Do not worry," their ruler told them, "Colonel Roosevelt is on his way to hunt in this section; he will rid Masingi of bad elephants." Lions had approached Kilindini, the landing-place at Mombasa. The people were in terror. "Be at peace — President Roosevelt will slay them!" the natives were told. Thus Roosevelt's fame went before him. 165 i66 Jungle Roads Roosevelt faced other dangers on this trip than those which arose from contact with wild animals. Some of the native tribes of the Somalis, called the Mullahs, had been showing signs of rebellion and it was feared by the British Government that they would go on the war-trail and attack white hunters. When these tribes go on the rampage, they set out for the hunting dis- tricts where game abounds and then if they meet white men trouble is likely to arise. To protect the Roosevelt party against such attacks, the Governor of the pro- tectorate was ordered by the Colonial Office in Lon- don to use all available means of safeguarding the Colonel and his comrades. Due probably to these pre- cautions, no conflicts with the Mullahs occurred. The welcome that awaited Roosevelt at Mombasa de- lighted him. Natives from all parts of the country had heard of the coming of the "Great White Chief" and had poured into Mombasa to greet him. The black women v/ore flaring dresses of cheap, many- colored cotton prints and huge anklets of silver, wrought by hand and weighing many pounds. Farther back in the country the cotton cloth was replaced as a dress material by the skins of wild animals, and on that part of the limbs which the furs did not cover, rolls of iron or copper wire were worn. Mingling with the natives who thronged Mombasa to greet the great American were many Britons. The best blood of the British Empire flowed in the veins of these English settlers. They were men and women who had ample incomes, being members of the aris- tocracy and of wealthy classes who had been drawn to Africa by a love of the wilderness. They greeted Roosevelt with warmth and admiration, and made him Through the African Wilderness 167 the guest of honor at a dinner given at the Mombasa Club. Roosevelt, while arrangements for his hunting were being completed, found time to go sight-seeing. He visited the spot in Mombasa where until within a few decades, Tippu-Tib, a notorious Arab slave- dealer, had brought in the natives captured by him in his raids through the jungle, and had sold them at auction to the Arabs of Mombasa. He also visited the ancient fort which, in the sev- enth century, was begun by Arab conquerors. Vasco Da Gama, the famous Portuguese explorer, had come to these shores at a later period and had completed the building of this fort. Its massive walls had changed ownership many times. Within the enclosure the white man and the Arab had fought again and again for its control. Then came a time when Yussuf, an Arab chieftain, defeated the Portuguese governor, whereupon followed a massacre in which every white man, woman and child were put to death. Pleased as the Colonel was with Mombasa and its people, he was yet anxious to be off for the hunt. It was decided that the party should go by special train to Nairobi, which was to be used as hunting head- quarters. A hunter reported that he had recently shot in the cannibal country an elephant whose tusks weighed 290 pounds. "That promises good sport!" Roosevelt cried. Baron Tallian de Vizek, a Hungarian hunter, re- ported that he had found plenty of antelope, zebra, elands, gnu and rhinoceri. "Guess we won't have our trip for nothing, Kermit!" laughed the Colonel. i68 Jungle Roads Their ride on the Uganda Railway was in itself a unique experience for the travelers. Roosevelt was proud to find that the locomotives used on this rail- road had been made in Philadelphia. The country through which the train passed abounded with wild animals. It was, in fact, a gigantic zoological garden where every sort of jungle creature could be seen. The cow-catcher of the engine w^as used as an observation car. A seat wide enough to hold five per- sons was fastened on to the engine's front, resting on the cow-catcher. Roosevelt, it need not be said, occu- pied a place on this unique sight-seeing contrivance. No traveler enters into the wilds of Africa without thinking of men who went before into these vast jungles — such as the valiant missionary David Living- stone and the fearless explorer Henry M. Stanley. LIVINGSTONE AND STANLEY Livingstone had been sent to Africa by the Lon- don Missionary Society, and had begun work in Bech- uanaland. x^s he skirted the wilderness he yearned to be able to penetrate their depths, to reach the multi- tudes who had never heard the Gospel. At last an English big game hunter, William Cotton Oswell, supplied him with funds and the two men together be- gan to explore the "regions beyond." In June, 1851, they reached Central Zambesi. Liv- ingstone then returned, procured more funds, and made a remarkable journey into Central Africa from the South, tracing the Zambesi river to near its source and discovering streams leading into the Congo. Stanley was born in Wales. His father died when the boy was young and Henry was left to the care of a work- house. He escaped from this and went to live with an Through the African Wilderness 169 aunt in Liverpool and when the Civil "War broke out in America joined the Southern side. Later he enlisted in the United States Navy and by his letters to news- papers, began his career as a journalist. In 1868 he offered himself to the New York Herald as a correspondent for the English campaign in Abys- sinia and was accepted. He then received a cable- gram from James Gordon Bennett, editor of the Her- ald, instructing him to find Livingstone. Lie started from Zanzibar on March 21st, 1871, with a company of three white men, thirty-one armed Zanzibar free- men, and 153 porters. He carried bales of cloth and loads of beads and wire in place of money. At an Arab port on Lake Tanganyika he heard that an old w^iite man had passed that way. The hope that this was Livingstone spurred Stanley. A six hours' march brought them to Ujiji. The na- tives flocked about them. A tall black man, clad in a long white shirt, said "Good Morning!" in English. "Who are you?" asked Stanley. "I am Susi, Sir, the servant of Dr. Livingstone." Stanley, overjoyed, followed Susi to the market-place of the town and found an old man clad in a red flan- nel blouse, gray trousers, and a blue cap. "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?" he said, lifting his helmet. "Yes!" said the old man with a smile. "I thank God, doctor, that I have been permitted to see you!" said Stanley. "I feel more thankful that I am here to welcome you !" replied Livingstone. Livingstone decided that it was his duty to stay and finish his work. Eight months later he died. 170 Jungle Roads Stanley then undertook the duty of continuing Liv- ingston's explorations. When he met the Emperor of Uganda, Stanley translated the Gospel of St. Luke for him. The Em- peror, M'tesa, grew interested in the Christian religion. "Shall we believe in Jesus or in Mohammed?" he asked his people. "Jesus !" they said. The white men had won because they had set a better example than the Arab traders who believed in Mohammed. Stanley circled Lake Victoria Nyanza and traced "Livingston's River" to its outlet into the Atlantic Ocean. To do this Stanley had to cut his way through hundreds of miles of almost impassable forests, bat- tling with cannibal tribes most of the journey. It was through these historic regions the Roosevelt party journeyed. On the evening preceding the day of the Colonel's trip, giraffes had knocked down a telegraph pole and some wires along the track, thus putting the telegraph service out of commission. The train rolled away from the jungles of the coast, passed through magnificent forests, and emerged on broad prairies. On this open land the hunters saw immense numbers of antelopes, zebras and ostriches. The Colonel could not but contrast his easy entrance into Africa with the hardships endured by Livingstone and Stanley when they blazed a trail into its heart. The clatter of the trains had frightened the lion and the rhinoceros from the vicinity of the tracks, but in some places the lion could still be seen. One of the places passed through was Simba, called "The Place Through the African Wilderness 171 of Lions." At "Rift Valley" they beheld vast flocks of flamingoes, as well as giraffes and elephants. Roosevelt left the train at Kepiti Plain Station. Here his host, Sir Alfred Pease, greeted him. With him was R. J. Cuninghame, a Scotch scout and hunter, who was to guide the party. Two hundred natives, who were to act as gun-bearers, tent-boys and horse- boys, shouted their welcome. With them were fifteen native soldiers, to keep order among the porters. At one place where they pitched tents the grass took fire and threatened to burn up the camp and the outfits. However, all hands set to work to fight it. Colonel Roosevelt took an active part, and his experience with prairie fires on our Western prairies helped him con- quer this jungle blaze. All of the grass surrounding the camp was at once cleared away and the tents were thus made safe. 172 Jungle Roads XXIII. Tracking Big Game Ty OOSEVELT hunted in two ways. At first he -*-^ made his headquarters on the estate of settlers like Sir Alfred Pease, George McMillan or Hugh Heatley, and made daily trips into the jungle for game. After that he marched with his porters into the wilderness, pitching his tent at night, and going daily farther into the jungle. This latter mode of traveling was called "on safari." The string of blacks, bearing heavy loads, marched along the trail as happy as children. They would wear the clothing that the government regulations required, but whenever possible they would add to it some comical ornament, such as a red fez, or a head-dress of feathers, or pieces of skin. The native who secured possession of an umbrella, no mat- ter how torn or faded it was, was fortunate indeed, in the eyes of his fellows. The march would be en- livened by the blowing of horns or the beating of tom- toms, or the chanting of native refrains. The "askiris," or camp policemen, marched at the front. Then came the head-man, who was free of the duty of carrying a burden, and whose sign of authority was a dirty-white umbrella. Then came the flag-bearer, holding aloft "Old Glory." Then came a man whose duty it was to either blow an antelope horn or beat a drum to keep the porters stepping lively. Through the African Wilderness 173 At the day's end, the tents were pitched in rows, with a street between them, a camp-fire was kindled, and the Colonel and his comrades sat around it and read or chatted. The Colonel's tent was covered by an awning to protect it from the tropical sun. It had a rear apartment for bathing and a canvas floor to, keep out ticks, jiggers and scorpions. SLAYING THE LION To arouse the game, the native beaters strode before the hunters, urged on by the "head man." They were provided with all sorts of noise-making devices to scare the beasts. The beaters as a rule go into the jungle timidly, but they had heard that Roosevelt was a great hunter, and showed no fear. Kermit secured as many trophies with his camera as he did with his gun. Colonel Roosevelt bagged most of the speci- mens. At the Pease ranch, however, Kermit shot the first animal — an antelope that sped past him. Two days later the Colonel shot two wildebeests and a gazelle. Such hunting was too tame for Roosevelt. He was eager to track the lion, rhinoceros, hippopotamus and elephant. His desire was soon gratified. On a lion hunt a few days later, a big lion sprang from the bushes. Roosevelt met it as coolly as though he had been lion-hunting all his life, and easily killed it. While on this trip Kermit lost himself in the wilder- ness and was forced to spend the night alone in its depths. His father, greatly anxious, was overjoyed when he found his way into camp the next day. Leav- ing the Pease ranch, the party went to that of Mr. 174 Jungle Roads George McMillan, an American who had been attracted to this wild country from St. Louis. The native way of killing lions was far different from that of the white sportsmen. Long, sharp spears were the only weapons used by the blacks. They came upon a lion and spread out and surrounded him. Then they closed in upon the roaring beast. The spears- men approached imtil they were within a few yards of the lion. He charged them repeatedly, but each time the warriors remained steadfast, repelling the snarling brute with their weapons. At last he gath- ered himself for a desperate leap against his enemies. A dozen spears entered his body. Nevertheless, he managed to drag down one of the hunters, who, how- ever, escaped without serious wounds. On another such hunt a native spearsman found himself deserted by his fellows when the lion made his last desperate spring. He stood his ground. The lion, speared by the hunter, bit and clawed him, but the spearsman saved himself from serious injury by thrusting his elbow into the dying brute's mouth. His arm was chewed and gashed, but not beyond healing. An encounter with a large, black-maned lion in the Sotik district brought Roosevelt as near to death as he was at any time throughout the trip. The lion may not be the most dangerous African beast when un- molested, but when wounded or cornered it fights des- perately and a man who approaches it is in grave peril. Such was the case with Roosevelt. The brute had taken refuge in a clump of bushes. The beaters were trying to drive it from its lair. Suddenly the lion sprang from the bush, growling furiously. It charged full speed at Roosevelt. With ThrougH the African Wilderness 175 cool courage and deliberate aim he fired his rifle. The bullet went true, and the lion fell in a heap almost at the Colonel's feet. The bullet struck the animal in the chest and entered its heart. Roosevelt's escape was narrow, yet he had the satisfaction of knowing that he had met the chief peril of the jungle and come out safe by his own wit and steadiness. In this locality Kermit was fortunate enough to kill a large, tawny-maned lion that was the largest of its kind obtained by the expedition. THE AFRICAN BUFFALO There came now an echo of Roosevelt's hunt for American bison, for on these trips into the jungle he met and slew the African buffalo. This beast is dan- gerous because of his tendency to charge the hunter. The rush of a herd carries everything before it. Roosevelt and his comrades found a herd of these lurking in a papyrus swamp. They wounded two of them. The hunters had no thought that there were others buffaloes nearby, but suddenly a big herd of them rushed out into the open and halted before them. Had the brutes charged in the direction of the hunters, the men would have been trampled to death. If any of the party had shown fear and started to run the beasts would have pursued. If a shot were fired at one or two, the herd would have rushed at its assailants. The men stared at the buffaloes; the buffaloes stared at them. Then, suddenly, the herd relieved the sus- pense by turning and scampering away in the oppo- site direction. 176 Jungle Roads AN ELEPHANT CHARGE F. C. Selous, the famous big game hunter, who in his career killed over three hundred Hons, was for a time Roosevelt's companion in Africa. It was Selous's wise counsel that saved Roosevelt from a dangerous situation when the hunters came upon a herd of ele- phants. The Colonel had gone into a dense thicket in pursuit of a wounded lion. Following him went Selous and Kermit. The Colonel, meanwhile, had caught sight of a herd of elephants, led by a huge tusker. Roosevelt lifted his gun to fire. Selous called to him: "For the life of you, don't shoot ! A bullet will bring a charge of the herd and we may be trampled to death. Follow me!" The three men climbed a nearby tree. From this po- sition Roosevelt raised his Winchester and sent a half- dozen bullets into the leader of the herd. The elephant, screaming with pain, charged, but when close to the tree he fell with a crash. The remainder of the herd rushed into the forest. The warning of Selous had probably saved the Colonel from being trampled by the beast or from being crushed by its swirling trunk. Another battle with an elephant occurred after the party had followed the tracks of a small herd and come upon it in a dense part of the jungle. Roose- velt caught a glimpse of a big bull elephant which was resting his tusks on the branch of a tree. The elephant fell, severely wounded, but just at that moment another bull elephant\ broke through the bushes and charged so Through the African Wilderness 177 close to the Colonel that if he had not been panic- stricken, he could have caught Roosevelt in his trunk. Cuninghame fired but the brute's rush had carried him to safety. One day the party met a baby elephant, about two months old. They took it alive to camp by means of a rope and sent it as a gift to the Zoological Gardens at New York. HUNTING THE HIPPOPOTAMUS In the Sotik district the hunters had an exciting battle with a hippopotamus. This animal is at home in either deep or shallow water, but he prefers the shallows, in which he can travel fast. Roosevelt and his party were skirting the shore of Lake Naivasha. On the shore of a little bay they espied a big hippopotamus. Cuninghame, Kermit and the Colonel entered a rowboat and started toward him. The last-named fired a bullet through the shoulder of the beast while he was about one hundred yards away. The beast sprang into the water, and with gaping jaws, lumbered toward their boat. The Colonel fired his gun repeatedly, while Kermit fired — his camera! The hippopotamus approached dangerously close to the boat, but at last one of the bullets tore into a vital spot, and he fell dead in the water. Roosevelt, while visiting the Attenborough brothers at Lake Naivasha, remembered that he had not yet added to his bag a bull hippopotamus. His hosts in- sisted on his hunting one in their lake. Roosevelt found and shot his hippopotamus without lyS Jungle Roads great trouble, though this type of beast is dangerous when aroused. In recalHng his African experiences in his Auto- biography, Rooseveh touched very modestly upon his encounters with wild beasts: "Taking into account not only my own personal ex- perience, but the experiences of many veteran hunters, I regard all the four African animals, but especially the lion, elephant, and buffalo, as much more dangerous than the grizzly. As it happened, however, the only narrow escape I personally ever had was from a grizzly, and in Africa the animal killed closest to me as it was charging was a rhinoceros — all of which goes to show that a man must not generalize too broadly from his own personal experiences. On the whole, I think the lion the most dangerous of all these five animals; that is, I think that, if fairly hunted, there is a larger percentage of hunters killed or mauled for a given number of lions killed than for a given number of any one of the other animals. Yet I personally had no difficulties with lions. I twice killed lions which were at bay and just starting to charge, and I killed a heavy-maned male while it was in full charge. But in each instance I had plenty of leeway, the animal being so far off that even if my bullet had not been fatal I should have had time for a couple more shots. A bull elephant, a vicious 'rogue,' which had been killing people in the native villages, did charge before being shot at. My son Kermit and I stopped it at forty yards. Another bull elephant, also unwounded, which charged, nearly got me, as I had just fired both cartridges from my heavy double-barreled rifle in killing the bull I was after — the first wild elephant I had ever seen. The ThrougH the African Wilderness 179 second bull came through the thick brush to my left like a steam plow through a light snowdrift, everything snapping before his rush, and was so near that he could have hit me with his trunk. I slipped past him behind a tree. People have asked me how I felt on this occa- sion. My answer has always been that I suppose I felt as most men of like experience feel on such occasions. At such a moment a hunter is so very busy that he has no time to get frightened. He wants to get in his cartridges and try another shot." Mr. McMillan, whom Colonel Roosevelt visited on his ranch near Nairobi, said: "Colonel Roosevelt is a fair shot, not an extraordinary marksman. Kermit is a better shot than his father, as Colonel Roosevelt admits to every one except Kermit. He is afraid it would make the young man think too much -of himself to tell him so. It does not, however, take any wonderful marksmanship to hit an elephant or rhinoceros." "Bwano Tumbo is a mighty hunter," said Cuning- hame, "but if his laurels have been imperiled at all on this expedition it has been by Kermit, who is one of the deadliest shots and nerviest men, young or old, I ever met." The President in a letter to his daughter Ethel, from the 'Nzor River, Africa, described vividly the sensation of a night spent in the jungle, with hyenas howling and lions roaring about the camp. In this letter he pays a warm tribute to Kermit, praising him for his keenness, cool nerve, horsemanship and other sportsmanlike quali- ties. He states that it is rare for a boy with Kermit's refined tastes and love of literature to be at the same time a bold, cool, hardy hunter. i8o Jungle Roads In the National Museum in Washington may be seen the trophies Roosevelt brought back from the hunt. The metal plates which explain to visitors the contents of the cases, are enduring witnesses of his prowess as a hunter and his skill as a naturalist. Roosevelt was not the kind of hunter who goes forth merely to slaughter. He shot nothing on his African trip except what was required in the interest of science or for food for his caravan. He expressed his abhor- ence of the wanton killing of game in these words: "Kermit and I kept about a dozen trophies for our- selves. Otherwise we shot nothing that was not used either as a museum specimen or for meat — usually for both purposes. We were on hunting grounds practically as good as any that had ever existed; but we did not kill a tenth, nor a hundredth part of what we might have killed had we been willing. The mere size of the bag indicates little as to a man's prowess as a hunter, and almost nothing as to the interest or value of his achieve- ments." h Q. > UJ I o O oc I I- o z Q i o o OC Through the African Wilderness i8i XKIV. The Return From the Jungle FROM Nairobi the naturalists shipped to America the specimens they had gathered. The long homeward journey began. They went south of the railroad into the Sotik district, which abounded in birds and beasts of all kinds. They hunted northward in the region of Mt. Elgon, a district known as Uasin Gishu Plateau. After that a visit was made to Lake X'ictoria Nyanza. Here they boarded a steamer and went to Entebbe, the headquarters of the British Governor of Uganda. At Campalla the Colonel met the native king of Uganda, and in a Catholic mission there was thrilled to hear the native children, under the direction of Father Paul, a friend of the Colonel, sing our national anthem, "The Star Spangled Banner." From the vic- inity of Victoria Nyanza they followed the road 160 miles to Lake Albert Nyanza, where tribal chiefs brought them gifts of fruit and sheep. From this lake they went by boat past the mouth of the Victorian Nile, which teemed with crocodiles, into the White Nile, where they came to a hot country known as the "Lardo." From this region they marched to Gondo- koro, and here, after an eleven months' trip their hunting ended. Gondokoro proved to be a settlement at which a few traders made their headquarters. Small shops kept by Greeks and Indians were found there. It is located on the White Nile. Once a month the place was visited by steamers from Kliartoura. A large ivory and slave 1 82 Jungle Roads trade once centered here, and ivory trading is still car- ried on. The community is also a famous mission sta- tion. On the outskirts of the town. Chief Keriba, attended by his native band, met the Roosevelt expedition and es- corted them into Gondokoro. The first tune to greet the Colonel was "America." At Gondokoro Colonel Roosevelt and Kermit were overjoyed to receive a message from Mrs. Roosevelt and Ethel, who had arrived at Naples on their way to Khartoum to meet the Colonel. "It made me realize just how near home I was get- ting!" he said. On Cleopatra's River At the end of the hunting expedition, the Colonel chose the Nile River as the route for his return to civilization. The source of the Nile is in Uganda. Its head waters are in lake Victoria Nyanza, which is at an elevation of four thousand feet. From here the Nile flows down through the smaller lake of Albert Nyanza, and then continues on its course for three thousand and five hundred miles, v/here it flows into the Medit- erranean. Parts of the Nile are unnavigable, so that to make the entire journey, one must go by foot-paths past rapids, then by canoe or steamboat, then by rail, and then again by boat. At Gondokoro, Uganda, the Colonel boarded the Gov- ernment steamer "Dal." Towed by the steamer was a huge barge, bearing the specimens secured in the hunt, in charge of eleven picturesque negroes who had be- longed to his "safari." The boat route continued to Khartoum, a desert cit}^, the history of which is full of Through the African Wilderness 183 stirring episodes. When the Mahdi rebellion occurred in the Egyptian Soudan, in 1884, this city which was a headquarter for English officials, was attacked by the Arab insurrectionists. General Gordon defended it, but before the army sent to aid him reached the place, the city fell and brave Gordon was slain. The English retired and left the Arabs in possession. The latter then built the city of Omdurman, across the river from Khartoum. In 1898 Kitchener led the Eng- lish against the Arabs and defeated them, ending their control in this territory. At Khartoum today stands Gor- don College, named in honor of the gallant General, and the sons of Arabs who fought against Gordon are among its students. Below Khartoum a series of cataracts make the Nile difficult to navigate. The Roosevelt party, now in- creased by Mrs. Roosevelt and Ethel, who had joined the Colonel at Khartoum, went by train a distance of about six hundred miles, where at Wady Halfi they re- sumed their river voyage. At Abu Sambul, they viewed four tremendous statues of Rameses the Great overlooking the valley of the Nile. At Assouan they visited tombs containing the mummies of Egyptian kings who had lived a thousand years before Christ. At Luxor they saw the ruins of the ancient city of Thebes, where the most ancient as well as the best specimens of Eg>'ptian art and architecture, such as the temple of Ammon, were still standing. The guide who took Roosevelt through the tombs of the kings at Karnak and Luxor was surprised to find that the former was well informed as to the lives of the ancient rulers. Hatesu VIII, he remembered, was the first woman ruler of civilized history. 184 Jungle Roads From Luxor, the party continued to Cairo, the mod- ern capital of Egypt. Here they mounted camels and visited by moonHght the Great Sphinx and the pyramids. The Sphinx, a wingless lion with a human head, was found to be 189 feet long, carved out of an enormous rock by Egyptian sculptors, probably of the fourth dyn- asty. At Cairo, when cheered by the Americans who called on him, he replied : "I wish I could give three cheers for every State from California to Massachusetts." In Cairo, where the Mohammedan religion holds sway, Roosevelt paid a visit to the Elazhar mosque, which houses a Moslem university. The Colonel, in spite of the fact that he was an ex-President of the United States, was an infidel to the followers of Mohammed, and he was asked to tie yellow-colored Moslem shoes over his boots, so that the floors of the temple would not be profaned by the touch of an unbeliever. With amused tolerance, he complied. He found in the Uni- versity that the teaching of the Koran was continued just as it had been for over a thousand years. The students, taught by white-bearded sheiks, droned out verses from Allah's Sacred Book. He found out that some of the students spent their entire lives in the University. Before he left Cairo, Wally Bey, a devout Mohammedan, as a token of appreciation of Roose- velt's interest in the Moslem religion, presented him with twelve books of the Koran, in Arabic, beautifully illu- minated in gold, and probably two centuries old. From Cairo the Roosevelts sailed to Alexandria and then took steamer for Naples, Italy. Through the African Wilderness 185 XXV. "Hang These Kings !" SETH BULLOCK, Marshal of North Dakota, was wanted in London. His old chief had sent a cable- gram to him. Colonel Roosevelt, surrounded by kings and court dignitaries, was lonely. He wanted to talk to a man after his own heart. "Hang these kings ! I wish they would leave me alone!" he exclaimed jok- ingly when the monarchs and princes of Europe crowded in on him at Dorchester House, London, where they had gathered at the death of King Edward. Roosevelt, when he decided to take a journey through Europe on his way home from Africa, had planned to travel as a private citizen. When, however, he emerged from the jungle and started down the Nile, the crowds that thronged at each landing to cheer him, showed him that he must submit to celebrations and banquets and parades wherever he went. In Egypt his reception was far more enthusiastic than that given to Prince Eitel, the Kaiser's son, who was then visiting that land. At Alexandria the Colonel and his party took a steamer for Italy and here his triumphal journey through the courts of the old world began. In Rome, "The Eternal City," he dined with the king and queen of Italy and found them delightful folk. He was amused, when he came to dine at the palace, to find a court rule that made him hold on to his hat until after he had walked into the table with the queen. When he entered the anteroom he tried to put down 1 86 Jungle Roads his hat, but the attendant looked horrified and returned it to him. When he saw the queen approaching he again tried to put it down, but was again prevented. He found out at last that he was expected to walk in with the queen on one arm and his hat in the other hand. It reminded him of an East-Side wedding he had attended when Police Commissioner, at which he had escorted the bride's mother, with the lady on one arm and the hat in his other hand. The king invited the Colonel to go out to his country-place for the strange sport of digging badgers, but Roosevelt v/as forced to decline. When Roosevelt agreed to deliver the Romanes Lec- ture at Oxford, he did not dream what a great task he was entering upon. When the news was announced, the Kaiser wanted him to speak in the University of Berlin. France wanted him to speak at the vSorbonne; Norway beseeched him to give the Nobel Lecture at Christiania ; and so it went. Thus, on his way to Lon- don, he visited Rome, Vienna, Budapest, Paris, Brussels, The Hague, Copenhagen, Christiania, Stockholm, and Berlin. Roosevelt found the sovereigns of Europe living what seemed to him pitifully restricted lives, shut off from contact with most of their people and with the rest of the world. They were eager to hear from him the stories that had come to them of his Wild- West adven- tures. They asked him how Ben Daniels, marshal of Arizona, got his ear bit off while enforcing the law; or they desired him to describe what was meant by a "gun-fighter." His encounters with grizzlies and pumas in America thrilled them, and they listened to his ad- ventures in Africa with fascination. Through the African Wilderness 187 On the field of Vincennes in France, mimic warfare was conducted for the Colonel's benefit. "There was one thing I absolutely had to see here before I went to Germany," said he, "and that was the French army." When he spoke at the Sorbonne, the entrance was covered with American and French flags, and multi- tudes crowded around the building to cheer him. Of his address the journal "Liberte" said: "We have few men in France with energy equal to Mr. Roosevelt's, but thousands upon thousands who think as he does." In Belgium King Albert greeted the Colonel warmly. The two had met in the United States when the king was crown prince. In Holland Roosevelt told tlie people who greeted him: "I am visiting the country from which my people came three centuries ago." Queen Wilhelmina awaited the Roosevelt party at her castle Het Loo, situated eighty miles away from The Hague. The Colonel arrived when Princess Juliana Louise Emma Marie Wilhelmina, who in spite of her title and long name was only one year old, was having a birthday celebration. The Queen was very much interested in hearing about the founder of Roosevelt's family, who centuries before, had left Holland for America. Roosevelt had quoted in his address an old nursery rhyme, and the queen referred to this verse and mentioned in turn some that had been sung to her when she was a child. The next day the Roosevelt party inspected a display of tulips, Holland's world-famous flower. It was pointed out to the Colonel that every year over eight million pounds of tulips were shipped by Holland 1 88 Jungle Roads to America, where, as we know, they blossom into gorgeous crimson and golden cups in parks and gardens. When the travelers arrived at the Danish Court, in Copenhagen, they were met by Crown Prince Chris- tian. An entire palace was loaned to the party. The American minister, Maurice Francis Egan, guided the Colonel through the mazes of court custom. Roosevelt, however, had lost his baggage en route, and had to dine at the palace in a gray flannel shirt. When he first met the crown prince the thought of his missing dress suit was on his mind, and his first words to the prince were: "I want to tell you about my baggage!" The most interesting part of Roosevelt's visit to Denmark came when he visited the historic castle of Elsinore. Here the royal characters who appear in Hamlet are said to have lived. On these walls the ghost of Hamlet's father strode. The Danes told the Colonel their belief that Shakespeare had actually visited Elsinore with a company of players, and that on this visit the idea for his immortal drama had come to him. "I'll speak to it, though hell itself should gape and bid me hold my peace !" Roosevelt exclaimed as he walked the walls, repeating Hamlet's words. The Colonel's intimate knowledge of wild beasts was revealed when, at Copenhagen, he was presented with four plaques of Danish porcelain, decorated with pic- tures of wild animals. "This is not an African elephant !" he said of one il- lustration. "You are right," replied the giver. "We had no study of African elephants, so we used the Asiatic type." Through the African Wilderness 189 Little Prince Olaf of Norway was wildly excited. A great hunter had come to visit his father and mother. King Haakon and Queen Maud. The visitor had brought his wife and son and daughter with him, and they were all the kind of folks a boy likes to play with. And Olaf, even if he was a prince, liked just what other boys liked. Olaf had a liking for stories of wild animals. The great hunter had just come from Africa, where he had shot all kinds of savage beasts. He told Olaf of his adventures, and tHe young prince listened with open mouth, and staring eyes. Then the hunter, even though the king and queen were looking on, began to romp over the palace floor with Olaf just as if he were Olaf's own age. Olaf was so delighted that he shrieked. The court was in an uproar. The attend- ants were startled. Nothing like this had ever hap- pened. Who was this American who was upsetting court dignity? When they heard that it was Theodore Roosevelt, they understood. His fame had spread before him. He was the man who treated monarchs just as if they were plain people. And most surprising of all, they had learned, the kings and princes liked to be treated this way. They could prove it by their own eyes. Weren't King Haakon and Queen Maud delighted to see Olaf playing with this friendly man? When Olaf heard that Mr. and Mrs. Roosevelt and Kermit and Ethel were going away, he was broken- hearted. Later, he went with his parents to London, and when he entered Buckingham Palace, where Queen Alexan- dra of Britain stayed, he heard that Colonel Roose- 190 Jungle Roads velt was calling on her. He demanded to see him- — in fact, he squealed to see him! He found the Colonel at last, and there began an- other game of romps! Roosevelt tossed him in the air and rolled him on the floor just as he had done to his own sons when they were young, and Olaf's cries of delight were so loud that they brought the Empress of Russia to the door. Her coming stopped the play, although Olaf clamored to be again tossed to the ceiling. At Christiania, Roosevelt made a strong address in which he advocated an agreement among nations to reduce armies and navies, and to bring about a League of Peace. "We should form a League of Peace," he said, "not only to keep the peace among ourselves, but to pre- vent, by force if necessary, its being broken by others." When Roosevelt met the princes and noblemen of Austria, they were very eager to know how he in- tended to educate his boys. They looked at Kermit with admiration, and wondered how a youth so quiet and modest could have killed lions and elephants. Then the Colonel, perhaps to have fun with Kermit, told them that Ted was a still better shot and rider than either he or Kermit was. He answered their questions about his sons' educa- tion by telling them that Ted, when he left Harvard, had gone into a mill ; worked in a blouse ; carried a dinner pail; become one with his f ellov/- workmen ; and that he had gone from the mill to San Francisco, where he had learned how to sell carpets. He told them that Kermit, when his Harvard course was ended^ would have the same training. He let these Through the African Wilderness 191 noblemen, who were too often spendthrifts and idlers, know that he would feel disgraced if any of his sons refused to work hard for his living. When the Colonel reached Berlin he found an invi- tation awaiting him to be the guest of the Kaiser. Mrs. Roosevelt was not mentioned in the invitation. The Colonel, discovering this, declined the invitation and informed the Emperor that he would stop at the Ameri- can embassy. The invitation was repeated. "Mrs. Roosevelt and I," replied the Colonel, with the em- phasis on the 'Mrs.', "will stop at the Embassy." The Kaiser at last saw that Roosevelt did not mean to go to a place where his wife was not welcomed and sent an invitation that included Mrs. Roosevelt and himself, whereupon the Colonel accepted. It is interesting to recall, in view of the later events in which, Roosevelt helping, the German army was re- duced to a ghost of its former might, that on his trip through Germany the Colonel sat on a horse beside the Kaiser and watched the latter's army wage a realistic sham battle. To attire himself fittingly for this spectacle, Roosevelt wore his American campaign- ing outfit, consisting of khaki jacket and riding breeches, tan leggings, and a black slouch hat. The Emperor wore the uniform of a general of infantry. When the engagement was over, the Kaiser, with more pride than he was able to display in the real battles of the world war, approached the Colonel, and said in the presence of his pompous staff officers: "Mein freund Roosevelt, I am happy to welcome you in the presence of my guards. We are glad you have seen a part of our army. You are the only private citizen who ever reviewed German troops!" 192 Jungle Roads Several years later the Kaiser's war-weary soldiers had a chance to review our troops. We called them "The American Army of Occupation," and Roosevelt's eldest son was among them as a Lieutenant-Colonel — but that of course is another story. In London, due to the death of King Edward, the Colonel's entrance into the city was a quiet one. He rode in the funeral procession and afterwards was a guest at the royal luncheon given in Windsor Castle, where he sat at the table of King George. Over a hundred kings, queens, princes and princesses were present. Roosevelt spent four weeks in England. After the king's funeral he made his first public appearance at Cambridge, where he went to receive a degree. His new D. D. robes were of pink and scarlet. The under- graduates, bent on fun, placed in the middle of his path a "Teddy Bear," and when he was leaving the hall the students in the galleries dangled "Teddy Bears" on strings, about his head. In their college paper, the "Gownsman," appeared these lines: "Now, seriously, Teddy, we're proud to have you here; Your speeches may be out of date, your methods may be queer; But you've done some pretty decent things without delay or fuss. And you're full of grit inside, and that's what appeals to us." These student pranks were taken good-naturedly by the Colonel. They were offset a thousand times by the honors paid him. At Oxford, where he went to deliver an address and Through the African Wilderness 193 receive a degree, the audience sang "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow." Lord Curzon, in bestowing on him the degree of doctor of civil law, opened his speech with this jesting rhyme, spoken in Latin: "Behold, chancellor, the promised wight Before whose coming comets turned to flight And all the startled mouths of seven- fold Nile took fright." When he went to the Mansion House luncheon he was amused to find himself conveyed in the Lord Mayor's carriage of state, driven, Cinderella style, by a fat coachman who wore a cocked hat, plush breeches, silk stockings, plush coat and white wig. At the Guildhall he made a speech that stirred both America and Great Britain, through its frank advice to the British on their government of Egypt. Some said that he had failed to consider the feelings of his hosts, but Great Britain as a whole took his words as the counsel of a sincere friend. The Foreign Secre- tary, Sir Edward Grey, announced that he had seen the address before its delivery and had approved of it. The Irish Party gave him a luncheon also, and he sat at a table decorated with Irish flags, shamrocks, and floral designs of Irish harps. He praised the men of Irish descent he had worked with in America. One of the most delightful adventures that came to the Colonel while he was in England was the trip he made with Sir Edward Grey through the valley of Itchen, for the purpose of studying bird life. Roose- velt, through his reading of English poetry, had become interested in the birds who had inspired Shakespeare, Milton, Keats and Shelley. He wanted to see them in 194 Jungle Roads their native surroundings and he entered New Forest with Lord Grey with as much eagerness as when he plunged into the jungle to shoot lions. The two men tramped for three or four hours. The trip began at Basingstoke. From that place they drove through the valley of the Itchen, and then tramped through New Forest to an inn at Brockenhurst. Among the forty-one birds they met and heard sing were thrushes, blackbirds, larks, yellowhammers, goldfinches, stock doves, starlings, pheasants, swallows and partridges. The note of the blackbird pleased the Colonel especially. He saw the lark sing and soar exactly as Wordsworth described it. Ten days later, when the traveler came home to Sagamore Hill, he plunged into the v^roods surround- ing it and had the interesting experience of comparing Long Island birds with those he had heard in Eng- land. On his voyage from England to New York, the Colonel showed that his association with kings had not made him one whit less democratic. One day he went down into the stokehold, grasped warmly the black hands of the stokers, talked with them about their work, and at last lifted a shovel and threw several shovels of coal into one of the great furnaces. MORE TRAILS OF ADVENTURE XXVI. The Bull Moose WHEN the Colonel returned to America he found a host of political friends demanding that he again take part in the conduct of the nation. In a talk with Lawrence F. Abbott, of the "Outlook," an intimate friend, he expressed a wisJi to live the life of a country gentleman, living outdoors and reading, writing and lecturing as occasions rose. "My political career is ended," he said. "No man in American public life has ever reached the crest of the wave without the wave's breaking and engulfing him. Remember Dewey!" When he landed. President Taft, whom Roosevelt had chosen to succeed him, had been in office a year. A group of powerful insurgents had arisen in the Re- publican party and these claimed that the rest of the party, which they called the "Old Guard," and with which Taft was included, represented a backward in- stead of a forward movement in Republican politics. The Progressives set to work to find a candidate who would oppose Taft in the next Presidential election. Roosevelt, in spite of his first resolve, was gradually drawn back into politics, and great pressure was brought to bear on him to become again a candidate for President. Seven Republican governors urged him to run. 195 196 Jungle Roads At the Republican National Convention the rival candidates for the Presidential nomination were Taft and Roosevelt. Roosevelt appeared to have enough votes to secure his nomination. He conducted his own campaign at the convention but the Credentials Com- mittee decided against him in a number of state con- tests and this prevented his getting the leadership of the party. Taft was nominated. The delegates who voted for Roosevelt, believing that they represented a true majority of the Convention, "bolted," and gathered in a nearby hall and nominated Roosevelt for the presidency. Hiram W. Johnson of California, who in 1920 made a typical Roosevelt fight for the Presidential nomination, was nominated for Vice-President. Johnson said: "I would rather go down to defeat with Theodore Roosevelt than to vic- tory with any other presidential candidate." Thus the Progressive Party came to life. Its battle, its leaders said, was in behalf of "Human Rights." The party was jokingly called "The Bull Moose," because when Roosevelt was asked how he felt, he replied: "I feel like a Bull Moose." The contest which followed between Roosevelt and Taft was a bitter one — and involved somewhat of a tragedy in that formerly the two men had been the warmest of friends. Fortunately, before Roosevelt died, this stormy period was forgotten by them and the breach of friendship healed. While Roosevelt was making his campaign for election, he visited Milwaukee. He entered an automo- bile in front of the Gilpatrick Hotel to go to the Au- ditorium, where he was to speak. At that moment he was shot by a weak-minded man named John Schrank. More Trails of Adventure 197 The bullet lodged in his shoulder. His first thought was to save the man who shot him from mob vengeance. "Don't hurt the poor creature !" he said. He insisted on going to the hall and delivering his speech. Kermit tried to persuade him to stop, but he kept on. At last the blood soaked through his clothing and showed a large stain. He staggered off the stage, supported by his son. Then he submitted to an X-ray examination and was moved to a Chicago hospital, where he soon recovered. He wrote to Sir George Otto Trevelyan that he could not understand a public man not being so ab- sorbed in his work as to exclude thoughts of assassi- nation. The divided Republican party went down to defeat before the Democrats. The Progressive campaign had proved to be a strong personal triumph for Roosevelt, but from that time on his political fortunes ebbed. Later, the Republican Party was glad to welcome him back. To Senator Warren G. Harding the Colonel said that while it had been necessary for him to disrupt the party he would be very glad to re-enter the ranks. Roosevelt found a hundred tasks awaiting him when his "Bull Moose" campaign ended in defeat. He became a contributing editor to The Outlook, The Metropolitan Magazine and the Kansas City Star. He began to write his autobiography. He went after men who had been making false accusations against him The editor of the "Ishpeming Iron Ore" published in his paper an article which stated that "Mr. Roosevelt curses, lies and gets drunk frequently, and all his friends and intimates know this." 198 Jungle Roads This article was brought to the Colonel's attention by indignant friends. He said that the time had come to slay a slander that had been circulating among people hostile to him. He brought suit to recover damages for slander. The case was tried in a Michigan court-house. Roosevelt testified that while he was "not a total abstainer" he never drank to excess. Damages were awarded the Colonel. The editor ad- mitted that he was mistaken. The Colonel said with a grin: "I have wanted to nail that lie for a long time, and now it is nailed." / BACK TO THE WEST On a trip he took West after the Bull Moose cam- paign, Roosevelt arrived at Cheyenne, Wyoming. Among the throngs that greeted the Colonel were cow-boys who had known him in his ranching days. Indians, in gayly-colored blankets, came to see the "great paleface chief." The cow-boy and Indian races that were held brought back to the Colonel the thrills of his prairie days. While at Cheyenne, the Colonel took a thirty- mile broncho ride to the ranch of Senator Warren. The cowboys jokingly bet that Roosevelt would not come back on his mount. He returned at nine o'clock that night In an automo- bile. The cowboys saw him and began to shout. He chuckled. "Now, I would have come back on that broncho," he explained, "but it was so late when we started back that Senator Warren thought I ought to ride in the car. He did not want me to ride in the dark on the broncho, you see." More Trails of Adventure 199 But the cowboys still yelled derisively. Leulla Irwin, a thirteen-year-old girl who took part in a pony race, won the Colonel's praise because, though she had been hurt by a fall from her horse the day before, she insisted despite her bruises, on riding in the pony race the Colonel was to see. "Then there was Buffalo Vernon," said Colonel Roosevelt. "I noticed that Vernon in his performance of throwing the wild buffalo had his wrist bandaged. I asked Vernon about this and he told me the wrist* was broken the day before he threw the buffalo. There he was going through a performance that was hard enough with two sound wrists and he threw the buffalo, too. "That is the spirit that these people show, and it is an answer to those who now and then say that under our civilization people are getting too soft. I liked to see the courage and admirable qualities displayed by these people yesterday; there was nothing soft about them." His next undertaking was a trip to the Grand Canyon of Colorado. The main object of this trip was to give Archie and Quentin a taste of both the thrills and hardships of primitive Western life. Carrying no gun himself, he showed his boys how to hunt cougars. From the country above the canyon, the party moved with its pack train to the Navajo Desert, a lonely, desolate place, where nothing lived except lizards and rattlesnakes. They passed in their travels the broken, deserted vil- lages of the cliff-dwellers, reaching at last, the gorge of the Natural Bridge. Quitting this inspiring scene, the party came, after a three-days' journey, to the vil- 200 Jungle Roads lages of the Hopi, an Indian tribe. Here a snake dance was in progress. Only men of the tribe were permitted at this dance, but, since Roosevelt, when president, had been regarded by them as their Great White Chief, he was admitted to the sacred room. On the floor squatted the naked, copper-colored In- dian priests. Against the wall, on a dais, were a num- ber of writhing rattlesnakes. A priest sat on the floor with his back to the snakes. A snake left the mass and darted toward him. The Indian guarding the snakes touched it with a fan of eagle feathers and it turned and glided back. This happened several times. One snake, unseen by the guardian, came close to the Colonel's knee. A priest threw dust in its face. Then the guardian approached and stroked it with the fan of eagle feathers, and it too turned back. Another ceremony attended by Roosevelt was that of the washing of the snakes, in which priests dipped rattlers in a great wooden bowl of water placed in the center of the room. The priests near the bowl began to sway and chant. The guardians of the snakes passed them the poisonous serpents, until each priest near the bowl had as many as he could handle. Then the chant ascended to a scream, and, all acting at the same time, the priests plunged the snakes into the great bowl, drew them forth, and threw them toward the altar. Then the priests with the fans of eagle feathers soothed them and sent them back to the dais. More Trails of Adventure 201 BIG GAME OF THE SEA Roosevelt was never fond of fishing. Land hunting occupied most of his spare time, yet, in the Spring of 1917, he spent a week in the exciting sport of devil- fishing off the Florida keys. Russell J. Coles, a sci- entific sportsman, persuaded the Colonel to go with him on a hunt for devilfish. The Colonel, having tried almost every other kind of sport, was eager to test the mettle of the "big game of the sea" and consented to spend a week at the sport. Coles hired a launch and an efficient crew of six men, and the fun began. The custom was to live on a scow near the shore and to go from there by boat to the part of the sea where devilfish were usually found. Harpoons were the weapons used. Roosevelt brought his "iron" home with him and added it to his collec- tion of hunting trophies. The harpoon, when in use, is attached to a rope which is tied to the boat. One of the devilfish the Colonel and Coles slew, after the iron had entered its body, dragged the boat a full half mile before its strength failed. Then the crew drew the boat alongside and killed the fish. The devilfish will not attack a person, but if at- tacked it will defend itself savagely. The skill re- quired for devllfishing consists largely of being able to judge the speed at which the fish moves and to throw the harpoon accordingly. When Roosevelt killed his first devilfish, after missing one by an ill-timed throw, his weapon went through the hide, flesh and bone of the fish, clean through to its heart. 202 Jungle Roads XXVII. The River of Doubt Becomes the River Theodore THE Colonel was always planning a new trip. When he came back from Africa he began to think of going to South America. When this was done, he meant to visit the South Sea islands. The latter trip he was never able to take. The last trail Roose- velt followed into the wilderness was when in 1913 to 1914, he plunged into the jungles of Brazil. Father Zahm, a Catholic priest with whom he was well ac- quainted, had proposed such a trip to him while he was President. His African trip was then uppermost in the Colonel's mind and the South American trip was postponed. On his return from Africa, however, Roosevelt accepted invitations from Argentina and Brazil to address cer- tain societies. It occurred to him then that after mak- ing this tour he could come north through the middle of the continent into the valley of the Amazon. Frank Chapman, curator of the American Museum of Natural History, New York, appointed the naturalists George K. Cherrie and Leo E. Miller to accompany the party. Both were veterans of the tropical American forests, Anthony Fiala, an Arctic explorer, went along. Father Zahm also agreed to go. With him went an at- tendant Jacob Zigg. Kermit Roosevelt joined the party. The naturalists planned to secure animal and plant specimens from the central plateau of Brazil, located More Trails of Adventure 203 between the headquarters of the Amazon and the Para- guay Rivers. At Rio de Janeiro, the Colonel met Mr. Lanro Miiller, the Brazilian Minister of Foreign Affairs, who pro- posed a more adventurous trip than had been projected. He recalled to Roosevelt's mind that through the vast wilderness of western Brazil, there flowed a great river whose destination had never been traced, and which was therefore called Rio da Duvida, the River of Doubt. Colonel Rondon, a Brazilian explorer, was about to make an attempt to trace the source of this river, and Miiller suggested to Roosevelt that he should go with him. Having completed his speech-making tour, the Colonel started on this expedition from the city of Ascuncion, Paraguay. His party steamed northward up the Para- guay River, and when the Brazilian line came in con- tact with this river, Colonel Rondon and his comrades joined them. Rondon had had a quarter-century ex- perience in exploring the Brazilian wilds and was there- fore well fitted to guide them through the perils of the journey. As they proceeded, Kermit captured a huge ant-eater, which was sent to the Natural Museum at New York. When passing through forests of palm they saw an immense number of gorgeous-colored parrots, para- keets and macaws. On the ranch of Senhor de Barras' they hunted spotted jaguars, and saw the armadillo, a turtle-like creature that, however, when pursued by dogs, fled with a speed no turtle possessed. On the ranch of Senhor Marques, they hunted peccaries — fierce wild pigs. Brazil abounds in birds and wild life. The most dangerous are the jaguar, ocelot and puma. Count- 204 Jungle Roads less varieties of monkeys inhabit the forests, including howling monkeys. The birds range from the humming bird to the eagle. The Brazilians poetically call one kind of humming bird the "winged flower." Along the banks of the Amazon the grasses and wild plants over- grow the banks and the traveler is apt to step among these and find an alligator protruding his jaws close to his feet. Touching upon Roosevelt's love of birds, Father Zahm describes in The Outlook this incident which happened while the Colonel was sailing up the Paraguay: "He and I were reading on the quarter deck of the cruiser which was conveying our party from Asuncion to Corumba when presently we heard repeated rifle shots toward the bow. On inquiry we discovered that some member of the crew, in order to while away time, was firing at the birds which, in large numbers, were perched on trees on both sides of the river. As soon as he saw what was going on my companion became visibly agitated. The idea of killing and mutilating innocent birds as a mere pastime was too much for him. Rising hastily to his feet he explained with char- acteristic emphasis: "By George, this thing must stop!" And stop it did, in short order. Father Zahm tells another story which further illus- trates that Roosevelt was a hunter-naturalist instead of a game butclier. When in Brazil the Colonel was anxious to get a shot at a tapir, a curious animal he had never seen. However, after he had secured by his rifle the specimens he desired nothing could induce him to shoot another. On January 21st, they sent back to the United States More Trails of Adventure 205 the specimens they had secured and all unnecessary bag- gage, and, quitting the river travels, began their overland journey, to the River of Doubt. After five weeks of difficult traveling they made their first contact with the river. Meanwhile, Father Zahm and his attendant Zigg had parted company with them, and Fiala and Miiller had started on separate expedi- tions through other parts of the country. Those who remained to trace the river to its source were Roosevelt and Kermit, Cherri, Colonel Rondon, Lieutenant Lyra, Doctor Cajazeira, and sixteen pad- dlers. They carried fifty days' rations. In seven dugout canoes they started. When they came to rapids, which was frequently, it was necessary to walk along the shores until smooth water was reached. All sorts of insects tormented them. One night ants ate all of the doctor's undershirt. The in- sect bites in many cases developed into festering sores. When the party took to the shore, the boats had to be carried, and to make this portage possible, roads had often to be cut. The journey began on February 27th, 1914, but by March 10th only sixty miles had been covered. Two of the canoes drifted from their moor- ings and were smashed. At one place, Kermit's canoe was swept down the rapids. Simplicio, one of the pad- dlers, was sucked under and drowned. Kermit, half- drowned and wholly exhausted, managed to swim to the shore. One of the dogs of the Roosevelt party was found dead with two Indian arrows in its body. From that time the party had to take precautions against Indian attacks. The temper of the attendants became sorely tried. At last came a tragedy. Julio, one of their at- 2o6 Jungle Roads tendants, a powerful fellow but a rogue, shot Paishon, a good-natured negro sergeant. The murderer escaped into the wilderness and was never found. Their rations began to get low, and they were forced to limit themselves to two meals a day. They had to wade through water for days at a time. For two days Roosevelt lay desperately ill. He had tried to right an upset canoe and had struck his leg against a boulder. The wound became inflamed, and fever set in. When the fever broke he was able to get to his feet, but he had to be carried over the portages on an improvised chair. The wound in his leg de- veloped into an abscess. Then, before the journey ended another fever attacked him, and kept him pros- trate for ten days, nursed by Kermit and his compan- ions. He grew so weak and feverish that he despaired of ever seeing his home again. They came at last to a signboard bearing the initials J. A. This board had been set up to mark the limits of the explorations of a rubber-seeker. Near this place they found the hut of an old Brazilian peasant, the first human being they had met in their seven weeks' journey. Exhausted and sorely tried by the terrible hardships they had undergone, the explorers at last reached their destination. They had put on the map a river of some 1,500 kilometers' length, from its highest source to its confluence with the Amazon. Travel became easy from this point. The party went by steamer down the Ma- deira River, then to the Amazon and then back to the United States. The Colonel and his party had undoubtedly rendered a great service to geographers by locating exactly the More Trails of Adventure 207 course and destination of this river. Other explorers had discovered its source but they possessed neither the courage nor endurance to follow it to its mouth. It was a real River of Doubt, because nobody knew where it led until Colonel Roosevelt cleared away the mys- tery. A detailed account of the trip is contained in the Roosevelt volume "Through the Brazilian Wilderness." The journey had been too much for even the Colonel's great strength and endurance. When he returned to New York, highly honored by the Brazilian govern- ment and praised for his achievements by explorers who knew the importance and difficuhies of his undertaking, he was a sick man. His health was undermined. He admitted now that he had waited too long to undertake what had turned out to be the hardest and most peri- lous task of his outdoor career. "There is no place in the world like it!" Roosevelt said the morning after his return from Brazil, as he sat on the porch of his home at Sagamore Hill and looked out at the landscape. "Then, Colonel," a reporter for the New York Sun ventured, "why did you leave it and go on that long trip at your time of life?" "I felt," said Roosevelt, "that if I wanted to do any- thing like that while I still had the strength to go through with it I should have to do so now." Then he admitted that perhaps he had undertaken the trip too late. AMERICA'S AWAKENER XXVIII. "America Arouse!" "No nation ever amounted to a^iything if its population was composed of pacifists and poltroons, if its sons did not have the fighting edge, if its women did not feel as the mothers of Wash- ington's Continentals felt, as the mothers of the men who fol- lowed Grant and Lee felt; men who are not ready to fight for the right are not fit to live in a free democracy." —Theodore Roosevelt. WHEN Germany, pursuing her vain dream of world conquest, crushed Belgium and invaded France, Roosevelt was among the first in America to declare that the duty of the United States was to fight beside the Allies. In his efforts to arouse the public to action, he quoted Lowell's homely lines: "Better that all our ships an' all their crews Should sink to rot in ocean's dreamless ooze. Each torn flag wavin' challenge as it went. An' each dumb gun a brave man's monument. Than seek sech peace ez only cowards crave ; Give me the peace of dead men or of brave." Roosevelt's reasons for urging the United States to join with the Allies against Germany were clearly set forth in a letter he wrote about this time to Samuel T. Dutton, Chairman of the Committee on Armenian 208 America's Awakener 209 Outrages, which appears in his book, "Fear God and Take Your Own Part." "The invasion of Belgium was followed by a policy of terrorism toward the Belgian population, the shooting of men, women and children, the destruction of Dinant and Louvain and many other places; the bombardment of unfortified places, not only by ships and by land forces but by air-craft, resulting in the killing of many hundreds of civilians, men, women and children, in England, France, Belgium and Italy; in the destruc- tion of mighty temples and great monuments of art, in Rheims, in Venice, in Verona, The devastation of Poland and of Serbia has been awful beyond descrip- tion, and has been associated with infamies surpassing those of the dreadful religious and racial wars of sev- enteenth century Europe. Such deeds as have been done by the nominally Christian powers in Europe, from the invasion of Belgium by Germany to the kill- ing of Miss Cavell by the German Government, things done wholesale, things done retail, have been such as we had hoped would never again occur in civilized warfare. They are far worse than anything that has occurred in such warfare since the close of the Na- poleonic contests a century ago. Such a deed as the execution of Miss Cavell, for instance, would have been utterly impossible in the days of the worst ex- citement during our Civil War." When the Lusitania was sunk by a German sub- marine on May 7, 1915, and 1,153 innocent souls, among whom were 114 Americans, went down to their death, Roosevelt flamed forth in indignation, and de- clared : "Unless we act with immediate decision and vigor 210 Jungle Roads we shall have failed in the duty demanded by humanity at large, and demanded even more clearly by self- respect of the American public." The presidential election of 1916 came. Prepared- ness was an issue. Roosevelt was spoken of as a can- didate for the Presidency. "It would be a mistake to nominate me," he said, "unless the country has in its mood something of the heroic; unless it feels not only like devoting itself to ideals, but to the purpose measurably to realize those ideals in action." The Colonel was not nominated. A few months after the election Germany's disre- gard of American rights caused our country to enter the conflict against her. On February 2, 1917, the Colonel wrote to the Secretary of War again asking permission to raise a volunteer division. "In such event, I and my four sons will go," he pub- licly announced, and added: "I don't want to be put in the position of saying to my fellow countrymen, 'Go to war,' I want to be in the position of saying: 'Come to the war ; I am going with you.' " Thousands of plain and distinguished Americans above the draft age volunteered to serve under him. So eager was he to go to the front at the head of his own regiment that in April, 1917, he went to Wash- ington to plead in person with the President for his permission. He went unannounced and, failing to find the President in, he called on him again. The President listened to the ex-President's views with interest and courtesy, but did not give him a definite reply. A writer who was close to Wilson states that the Presi- America's Avvakener 211 dent was inclined to grant Roosevelt's request but was over-ruled by war officers. Later, the Secretary of War praised the Colonel for his patriotic spirit, but forwarded the recommendation of the General Staff to the effect that no American troops be employed in active service at the battlefront until after an adequate period of training and that only regular officers be put in command of them. This plan excluded regiments of the type suggested by Roose- velt. Roosevelt said, out of his bitter disappointment: "As far as I am concerned, this is a very exclusive war," Later, he wrote to his boys: "The toothless old lion must stay at home, while the lion's brood is out fighting!" Men who could not forget partisan politics were ready to criticize Roosevelt when he was pouring out his dearest treasures to save our people — including his critics — from the heel of Prussian oppression. When Kermit chose to accept a commission with the British forces — from which he later entered the American army — the Colonel's foes said that it was unpatriotic for Kermit to fight under the Union Jack instead of under the Stars and Stripes. John J. Leary, Jr., records in his book "Conversations with Roosevelt," the old lion's wrath : "I do not care a hang how or where my boys or any other man's boys fight, so long as they do fight," he declared. "The important thing is that they are fighting and that they are fighting Germany. "Three of my boys are in the American army and in American uniforms. This one is going to fight in a 212 Jungle Roads British uniform. It does not make any difference to me what uniform they fight in. The main point is they are fighting, and I don't care a continental whether they fight in Yankee uniforms or British uniforms, or in their night shirts, so long as they are fighting. That's the main point — they are fighting." America's Awakener 213 XXIX. "QUENTIN, THE EaGLE" FIGHTING STOCK Quentin, the eagle, nobly dead ! Theodore wounded, but plunging ahead; Archie, torn in the shrapnel's rain, Pleading to lead his lads again ! Kermit, leaping from honors won To wrench new victories from the Hun! Here is no shielded princeling clan. But front-line champions of man ! Come, have we called the roll entire? Nay, add to it that sturdy sire Who guides in spirit his Bayard breed To starry goal and shining deed ! Fighting stock! Fighting stock.' And millions more of the same brave strain. Plowing through Picardy and Lorraine! What tyrant can withstand their shock? Fighting stock! Fighting stock! — By Daniel Henderson. Archie came back, to recover from his wounds, in time to be with his father at his death. Theodore, Jr., though gassed and wounded, and Kermit remained at the battle-front until the last troops came home. Quen- tin stays in France, buried near where he, to use the Colonel's own reference, "had fought in high air like an eagle, and, like an eagle, fighting had died." One of the things that contributed to the breakdown of Roosevelt, was the death of Quentin, who was the youngest son and very close to his heart. Yet when news came of Quentin's death, he uncon- sciously gave other parents an example of fortitude by simply announcing: 214 Jungle Roads "Quentin's mother and I are very glad he got to the front and had the chance to render some service to his country and show the stuff that was in him before his fate befell him." It is said that on the morning after he received the news of Quentin's death the father went into the stable at Sagamore Hill, put his arms around Quentin's favorite pony, and gave way to tears. Reverend Ambler M. Blackford, a former teacher of Quentin's, has told in The Outlook, that when eleven years old, Quentin, like his father, was inter- ested in every conceivable subject; had marked powers of concentration; was a good student, and passed his examinations with flying colors. He was greatly interested in the domestic animals around the school. One day he bought from the stableman for seventy-five cents a young pig, put it in a sack, slung it over his shoulder, and carried it two miles to the trolley that ran to Washington. Boarding the crowded car, he put the bag down beside him. A passenger started to sit down on the bag, and a squeak from within it revealed its contents to the amused pas- sengers. Quentin, with the instincts of a trader, sold the pig at a higher price to a dealer in Washington. When his father heard of it he ordered a second pig from Quentin for a dinner at the White House. That Quentin would become an aviator was peculiarly foreshadowed in a letter he wrote to Mr. Blackford in 1919 from Paris: "We were at Rheims and saw all the aeroplanes fly- ing and saw Curtis who won the Gordon Bennett Cup for the swiftest flight. You don't know how pretty it is to see all the aeroplanes flying at a time. At one America's Awakener 215 time there were four aeroplanes in the air. It was the prettiest thing I ever saw. The prettiest one of the ones was a monoplane called the Antoinette, which looks like a great big bird in the air. It does not wiggle at all, and goes very fast. It is av/fully pretty turn- ing. Tell S that I am sending him a model of an aeroplane that winds up with a rubber band. They work quite well. I have one which can fly a hundred yards, and goes higher than my head. Much love to all, from Quentin." Captain Alexander H. McLanahan of Philadelphia, one of Quentin's fellow-aviators, has thus given to the public, through Irvin R. Bacon, the story of Quentin's last battle: "Our airdrome was north of Verdun, about twenty miles back of the American front line, Quentin had joined us June 1. He had been instructor at the avia- tion school at Issoudun and I had formed his acquaint- ance there. I left Issoudun for patrol work at the front about two months before Quentin was allowed to join us. They liked his work at the aviation school so well that he had a hard time to obtain leave to get into the more perilous work at the front, for which he was always longing. "July 14 was an exceptionally fine day! ideal for our kind of work. We went up at 11 o'clock in the forenoon. There were eight of us, all, at that time, lieutenants — Curtis, of Rochester, N. Y. ; Sewall, of Bath, Me.; Mitchell, of Manchester, Mass.; Buford, of Nashville, Tenn., Roosevelt, Hamilton, JMontague and I. As was customary, we chatted together before we went up, and of course planned what we were going to do. It was arranged that Lieutenant Hamilton was 2i6 Jungle Roads to lead, and in case of any hitch to his motor, Lieu- tenant Curtis was to take his place in the van. "There was a rather stiff wind blowing in the direc- tion of the German lines, and when we reached an altitude of about 10,000 feet we began to be carried with great rapidity toward them. We had not yet sighted any enemy airplanes after we had been aloft an hour. Hamilton's motor went wrong about that time and he had to glide back home. In a few min- utes he was followed by Montague, whose motor also had gone back on him. "Half an hour after this, when we were five miles inside the German lines, we saw six of their Fokker planes coming toward us. They had been concealed until then by clouds between them and us, they flying on the under side of the clouds. Our planes were of the Nieuport type, of the lightest pursuing kind, and in almost every respect like the type the Germans ap- proaching us were using. "From the moment that I singled out the enemy whom I was to engage in duel I naturally lost sight of everything else and kept my eyes pretty well glued upon him alone. Now and then, of course, I would, when I got a chance, look backward, too. For one can never tell but that another enemy plane, having disposed of its opponent, may pay his respects to another one. "After I had fired every round of ammunition, which seemed to be about the same time as my adversary discovered himself to be in the same plight, we drew away from each other and flew toward our respective bases. During our duel my airplane had become separated from the others of our unit and I could see no trace of them. I assumed, however, that they were either America's Awakener 217 still fighting or had also finished and were on their way back home. Somehow I did not think of the third alternative, namely, that anything serious had happened to any of them. "Buford and I reached our airdrome about the same time. Except for Quentin Roosevelt, the others had been there for some time ahead of us. We were not alarmed about Quentin at the moment. But when hours went by and he failed to return we knew that something had gone wrong with him. Still, we did not think he had been killed. "We were encouraged to hope for the best by the fact that Quentin had remained out a considerable time longer than the rest of us three days before. On that occasion, he had become separated from the squad, I don't know in what way, and when we saw him again he jumped out of his airplane in great excite- ment and so radiant with elation and with so broad a smile that his teeth showed exactly in the same famous way as his father's used to do. He never reminded us so much of his father as on that occasion. "He told us that after losing track of us he sighted a group of airplanes which he believed to be ours and headed his airplane toward them. He was too cautious, however, to take anything for granted, and so in steering toward the group he kept himself In the rear of them and when he got closer he discovered that they had the cross of the Germans painted on them. "His first impulse was to get away as fast as pos- sible; but then the hero in him spoke up and he de- cided to avail himself of the chance to reduce the num- ber of our enemies by at least one. And so, flying quite close to the last one of the airplanes, he fired quickly 2i8 Jungle Roads and with such good aim that the plane immediately went down, spinning around, with its nose pointed to the ground. "'I guess I got that one all right,' he said; but he did not wait to see what the final outcome might be, for aviators are full of tricks, and, by feigning dis- aster to their own machines, often succeeded in draw- ing an overconfident enemy to destruction. Quentin knew this; and moreover he had another big contract on his hands, namely, to get away from the associates of the man whom he had attacked. They all turned upon him, firing from a dozen machine guns; but in firing his own gun he had wheeled about at the same instant, and in that way had a big handicap over the pursuers. He kept far enough in advance of them to get back within the American lines before they were able to lessen the distance sufficiently to make their shells effective. The rate of speed, by the way, was 140 miles an hour. "Despite his excitement and the really exceptional achievement, Quentin modestly refrained from de- claring positively that he had bagged his man. It was only afterward, when we learned through an artillery observation balloon that the airplane brought down by Quentin had been seen to strike the earth with a crash, that he himself felt satisfied that he was en- titled to be regarded the victor. This was the occa- sion which brought him the Croix de Guerre." "After the armistice was signed," said Captain Mc- Lanahan, "we saw the aviator who had killed Quentin. He was a non-commissioned officer and one of the most expert fliers in the enemy's air service. After the America's Awakener 219 armistice he was acting as an Inspector in tlie surrender of German airplanes to the AlHes. "This man said that when he learned that the officer whom he had brought down belonging to so prominent a family in America he felt sorry. " 'He was identified by a metal identification plate fastened by a little chain to his wrist/ said the Ger- man, 'and I was then told of the young man's promi- nence and his own personal popularity. Of course, even if I had known during the battle who he was, I would not have hesitated to try my best to down him; because if I hadn't he surely would have downed me. " 'He made a gallant fight, although I recognized almost from the beginning of our duel that he was not as experienced as some others I had encountered and won out against. " 'As it was he dipped and circled and looped and tried in a variety of ways to get above and behind me. It was not at all an easy task for me to get the upper hand and down him.' " In Belgium there is a section which the "Tommies" named "Plug Street." The graves of ten thousand soldiers fill a ravine there. Above this crude burying- ground a painted sign has been nailed. Bullets and shrapnel have battered it, but these words can be traced : "They Gave Their Today for Your Tomorrow." Thus it was with Quentin Roosevelt; thus it was with all of our soldiers who fell along the frontiers of liberty. Will the boys of today remember their debt to these men, and make themselves worthy of the sacrifice made for them? 220 Jungle Roads THE COLONEL PASSES The father did not live long after the death of Quentin. He passed away on January 6, 1919. His personal attendant, James Lee, sat at his bedside. To him the Colonel spoke his last words : "Put out the light, please." He was buried at a spot which he himself had selected as his resting place. It lies on a hillside, at the bottom of which flow the blue waters of Long Island Sound. Across familiar woods rises his beloved cottage on Sagamore Hill, The wild flowers Roose- velt loved have sprung up to beautify his grave. Fitting tributes were paid to him by his country and by the world. Flags flew at half-mast. Official salutes were fired by the American armies at home and abroad. Kings and Presidents cabled their tributes to him and their sympathy with his family. A touching tribute was the sending of an order by the national headquarters of the American Boy Scouts to its scouts, that each troop should plant one or more trees with appropriate ceremonies, in memory of the ex-President, as a "per- manent expression of all Colonel Roosevelt stood for to the boys of the nation." Because of the plain grave In the simple cemetery. Oyster Bay has become a national shrine. Thousands of pilgrims come to the Colonel's resting-place every year. They come to do honor to his dust; they know that his brave soul is living and abroad in the land. THE END .t:r.