For more than a third of a century I have been urged and entreated by my legions of friends to give these incidents to the public, but until now I have been restrained from the fear that I would be looked upon as an egotistical braggart — for my long life, of more than three — quarters of a century, has been a busy and eventful one, and filled with adventures in every clime under the sun. And whether in early childhood as a schoolboy, or as an Indian, a captive, on the wild Western plains of my own native State, as sailor, soldier, explorer, hunter, or civil engineer, I have been guided by devotion, concentration, and absolute persistence in the duties involved in whatever enterprise or calling I at the time engaged in. I always tried to excel in whatever I undertook. I was taught in my early childhood by one of the best of mothers that whatever was worth doing was worth doing well, and this idea has always been uppermost in my mind, and has been my guide through life.