“They got to Manila, though, safe and sound, and Dick was greeted by his friend Carson. Manila was intensely amusing for a boy of fourteen. Amusing, and mighty exciting. The excitement included a lone combat with a gang of angry rebels armed with knives—from which the young Dick escaped only by the fleetness of his pony’s heels. That’s the sort of adventure young boys dream of, and that’s the sort they should have to look back on, if they are to live the full sort of life that Richard Byrd did. “From Manila, Dick went visiting to Darim Island. On the island the cholera plague was raging, and Dick got exposed to the disease. They put him into quarantine. He didn’t get the cholera, but all around him men were dying in terrible agony. Finally the doctor managed to get Dick to the seaport, and he got a boat for Manila. They were glad to see him back, and he was glad to be back. “After Manila, Dick went on his merry way around the world by way of Ceylon and the Red Sea to Port Said, where he reshipped for the last lap of his cruise. It was a wonderful trip for a boy, and there’s no doubt that it had a great influence on all that he did later. “When Richard got back, and had settled down more or less, his parents decided that he should go to Virginia Military Institute. He was popular at the Institute, as he was popular wherever he went, for his spirit—that old spirit that carried him around the world, and later across both of the earth’s poles. It was the same spirit that made him try out for the football team at V.M.I.—and carried him to the position of end on the first team. It was at that time that an incident occurred which was to be very significant in his later life. In one game of the season he broke his ankle. This was not important in itself—but it happened to be the first break of an ankle that was going to bother Dick again and again—and almost at one time defeat him entirely. “But I’m getting ahead of my story. After being graduated from the Military Institute, Dick Byrd went quite naturally to Annapolis. He entered in 1908. He carried his popularity and his success with him to this place. His grades were not of the highest, but he excelled in athletics, going out for football again, besides track, boxing, and wrestling. “In his last year at Annapolis, Dick’s ankle made itself felt again. Dick was Captain of his gym squad, which was competing in the big exhibition of the year. Dick, as Captain, wanted to make a spectacular showing, and cinch the meet for his team. To do this, he invented an intricate, complicated series of tricks on the bars, calculated to stir up the most lethargic members of the audience. It would have been a great trick—if it had succeeded—but it didn’t. Dick slipped, somehow, and his hands failed to connect with the bars. Down he went—on the same ankle, breaking it once more.