n's birth are
falling by the wayside, and few have left a record of their
adventures. It is from such that history is written.

In revising the manuscript, "by order" of my truest of Klondike
friends, Colonel S. B. Steele, C.B., M.V.O. (the lion of the Yukon),
I have endeavored to interfere as little as possible with Sergeant
Rundle's pleasant and simple style of narrative, and it has been a
pleasure to assist one whose record and character are without stain,
and whose loyalty to sovereign and country is without blemish.

HENRY J. WOODSIDE.

Ottawa, Ont., August 9, 1909.

A SOLDIER'S LIFE.

CHAPTER I.

I was born September 17th, 1838, in the town of Penryn, County of
Cornwall, England, and was educated at the national and private
schools. When my education was sufficiently advanced, I was apprenticed
to learn the trade of carpenter and joiner. My father was a
paper-maker, and lived all his lifetime in the town. He was a strict
teetotaler, and brought up his family, four boys and one girl, on the
principles of temperance, which he assured us would form the basis of
our future prosperity and happiness.

There are but two of our family living--my eldest brother, now in his
eightieth year, and the writer. My brother is able to attend to his
business at the factory where he has worked all his lifetime, and we
bless our father's memory.

It was at the age of fifteen that I began to learn my trade, my
master's name being Samuel Rogers, builder and contractor. I entered
upon my duties full of life and ambition, determined to become a good
mechanic, and at the end of five years my progress toward that end was
quite satisfactory.

However, a change was to take place. On a beautiful summer morning I
bought a ticket for Plymouth, and took passage on a small steamer that
plied between Falmouth and that port. My friends were not aware of my
intention not to return again, but understood I was visiting. It did
not take long for me to get in touch with the military stationed in the
garrison. The parade marching past and the bands playing filled me with
admiration, and finally I made up my mind to enlist in one of the
regiments.

After the Crimean war the 17th Leicestershire Regiment was quartered in
Quebec, and early in 1858 the Horse Guards ordered the raising of a
second battalion. The nucleus was supplied by the first battalion, sent
to England and quartered on Maker Heights, in the Plymouth district.
Hav