Produced by paksenarrion, Suzanne Shell and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net GENTLEMEN ROVERS [Illustration: Commodore Truxtun leaped into the shrouds.] GENTLEMEN ROVERS BY E. ALEXANDER POWELL, F.R.G.S. AUTHOR OF "THE LAST FRONTIER," ETC. ILLUSTRATED CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS NEW YORK 1913 COPYRIGHT, 1913, BY CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS Published September, 1913 [Illustration] To THE FINEST GENTLEMAN I KNOW MY FATHER "There's a Legion that never was 'listed, That carries no colors or crest, But, split in a thousand detachments, Is breaking the road for the rest. * * * * * The ends o' the Earth were our portion, The ocean at large was our share, There was never a skirmish to windward But the Leaderless Legion was there. * * * * * We preach in advance of the Army, We skirmish ahead of the Church, With never a gunboat to help us When we're scuppered and left in the lurch. But we know as the cartridges finish And we're filed on our last little shelves, That the Legion that never was 'listed Will send us as good as ourselves. * * * * * Then a health (we must drink it in whispers) To our wholly unauthorized horde-- To the line of our dusty foreloopers, To the Gentlemen Rovers abroad!" --_The Lost Legion._ FOREWORD