our weary way across the black prairies--in the howling "Norther"--in our pursuit of these deserters. Little or no thought was given to the training received at the Military Academy beyond a well nourished pride in its motto of "Honor--Duty--Country"--the balance was in our pride as battle-service soldiers of the Civil War--and all of our knowledge and experience gained thereby--but especially so far as the writer was concerned to a short period of service at a huge conscript and "substitute" camp[B] where he acted as a provost guard--and as a young detective among many deserters from every Army and Navy in the world--hardened and desperate criminals of the worst description--intent on receiving a large bounty only to desert at the first opportunity and enlisting at another rendezvous--repeating this trick ad libitum. Here was real human character depicted in its worst forms of iniquity--depravity--greed--selfishness--low cunning--trickery, treachery--atrocity--and the most desperate crimes--not stopping short of black-jacking--garroting--sand-bagging--robbery and frequent murders. To mingle with them was to know their types--their methods--habits, resources, etc. All this knowledge was of incalculable value to the writer when the plunge was made into darkness and the depths of an uncertainty--of an adventure the outcome of which could be but problematical or only to be guessed at. [B] Note--Men who had been paid large bounties during the draft period to take the place of men who were _long_ on money, but were _short on gall_--and who had no stomach for a fight of any kind. All this applied to Lawton, who, although he was not a graduate of West Point, had had the same campaign and battle experience as the writer--and as Lieut. Colonel Commanding the 30th Indian Volunteer Infantry had developed in him all of the necessary elements at Chickamauga--Missionary Ridge--Dalton--Resaca--Kenesaw Mountain and in his march with Sherman "from Atlanta to the sea"--which, as essential factors would fit into our problem--and which, many years later, he fully exemplified in the Philippines by his push, energy, iron will, resourcefulness, well-balanced judgment and quick, decisive action which strongly marked every movement in his campaigns, and characterized him as the personification of an ever ready and perfectly trained--although not _intensively_ trained--soldier--the magnificent soldier without frills, furbelows, fuss or feathers--that he was-- Training of the "Rough Riders"