Not long ago I dined at the same table with a big city pot, who after dinner gassed inordinately about OUR Empire, laying a great stress on the “our,” as if he had been a prime mover in the settlement of every country contained in it. New Zealand was the country under discussion, and amongst other twaddle he discoursed on the wonderful progress WE (a very big “we”) had made in those islands. During a pause in the conversation I humbly asked him: “How did England acquire this fruitful country?” With a disdainful smile he condescended to inform me Captain Cook found it and gave it to England. “But,” said I, “surely in my young days I remember a lot of fighting going on there.” “Oh yes,” he replied, “there was some trouble out there, but WE” (a big “we” again) “sent out our soldiers, who soon put a stop to that, and then WE” (a huge “we” this time) “developed the country until it is one of the gardens of the world.” Still with due humility I asked if he were a New Zealand colonist, and was not astonished when he replied: “Good gracious me, no; I have never been in the country, and except to occasionally visit the Continent, I never leave England.” This and many other instances determined me to jump into the breach, and try if a yarn, even written by such a duffer as myself, can educate some few of my countrymen, and let them know what sort of a life the men of the Lost Legion led during the wars that took place in New Zealand from 1866 to 1871, which wars eventually pacified the North Island, and were fought without the assistance of a single Imperial soldier. Moreover thousands of novels have been written with plots founded on the splendid achievements of our gallant army and navy, then why should not one be penned about the deeds of the Lost Legion, the men who have not only rolled out the map of the Empire, as the deft hand of a cook rolls out a lump of dough, but who have also held that ground until properly settled by their own countrymen. Innumerable and unknown are the graves of the Lost Legionaries, slain as they have been by the bullet, tomahawk and assagai of their savage opponents, or cut down by hunger, thirst and the malarial fevers of the lands into which they have penetrated. And now if I need any further excuse for inflicting this badly written (for I claim no pretensions to literary skill) yarn upon you, let me inform you that in the main the facts are all strictly true, and that the men I have tried to depict lived, starved, fought and died in the very manner described in this volume. So now that we are inspanned let’s trek. _THE LOST LEGION_