Soon the life of the cowboys lured him, and he learned their duties, their ways, and the best and worst sides of them. He spent a great deal of time hunting, it being claimed, not by him, however, that he had killed specimens of all of the game found on our prairies or in the mountains. Most of his hunting was done in search of first-hand information for his books, since he started authorship very early in his career, and no friends were more greatly cherished or more enjoyed than the little group of naturalists, John Burroughs among them, with whom he found congenial association. Practically all of his long hunting trips were those of exploration. In his boyhood days at Oyster Bay, Theodore Roosevelt had made a pal of the young daughter of a neighbour of his parents, Edith Carew. Her tastes were much like his own, and in the gay parties, sleighing, skating, and dancing, he liked to have her for a partner. She also had known the girl he married, and though she had been living in England for some time when she heard of his wife’s death, she wrote him of her sympathy. This letter followed him out to Elkhorn Ranch. He answered; more letters followed, and soon other vistas of life more alluring than round-ups, branding cattle, shooting wildcats, and studying mountain lions, drew him back to the centres of civilization. A trip to London ensued, and a wedding in a little English chapel was solemnized December 2, 1886. After a leisurely honeymoon about Europe, Roosevelt brought his wife back to New York. He entered the political field again. President Harrison appointed him a member of the United States Civil Service Commission in 1889. President Cleveland continued him, but he resigned in 1895 to become Police Commissioner of New York City. In this capacity he instituted many reforms. In 1897, President McKinley made him Assistant Secretary of the Navy. He had just begun to make his energy felt in the discharge of the duties of this position when war was declared with Spain. Of his recruiting a regiment of hardy plainsmen, cowboys, miners, athletes--his own friends of the West, men who could ride, shoot, fight, and stand hardship, the Rough Riders--everyone knows. Dr. Wood was made Colonel and Roosevelt Lieutenant Colonel. They were commissioned, and the regiment speedily organized and ready for service in five weeks. They were sent to Cuba with the regulars, landing for the trouble around Santiago. They rendered valiant services from the beginning. Colonel Wood was promoted, and Roosevelt became the commander of the regiment. Their storming of Kettle Hill when almost a fifth of them were killed or wounded has been told again and again. With the fighting over, Roosevelt came back to stir up interest in better care for the health of our soldiers, and he began his fight for an adequate army and navy--large enough for any sudden emergency.