And spirits of the brave,
Watching o'er his lone grave,
Weep—weep—weep."
Mayne Reid, during the storming of Chapultepec, was a very conspicuous figure, wearing a brilliant uniform, and an officer who did not know him, but witnessed his daring achievement, inquired who he was, and was answered thus graphically:—
"A New Yorker, by the name of Mayne Reid—a hell of a fellow."
A rough tribute of praise, of which no doubt the Captain was prouder than of more refined eulogiums.
About this period Captain Reid was described in an American journal as possessing the physical perfections of Adonis and the Apollo Belvedere, with a dash of the Centaur. There is no doubt that he was a handsome, reckless, dashing young militaire, of graceful figure and engaging manners, if a trifle hot-tempered. During the campaign Mayne Reid had to place in irons a regimental desperado of immense frame and strength, who had broken out of the guardhouse on many occasions. On Mayne Reid entering his cell, the fellow made a mad rush at him. Reid drew his sword to repel the attack, and ran the ruffian through. It was impossible to do otherwise, as the prisoner in his frantic fury really impaled himself upon the blade. Before dying the man confessed that Lieutenant Reid was blameless in the matter, and had only performed his duty as an officer. Reid was, however, tried by court-martial for killing the man, and acquitted.
In 1849, on the conclusion of the hostilities with Mexico, Captain Mayne Reid, still "untired by war's alarms," started with "a chosen band," raised by himself, to assist the Hungarian patriots in their ill-fated insurrection. He never, however, arrived at the scene of action, being encountered by news of their disastrous defeat. Bidding the country adieu in which he had spent such eventful years, he came to England, and again embarking in literature, at once took a leading position as a writer of fiction, producing in rapid succession "The Rifle Ranger," "The Scalp Hunters" (which been translated into as many languages as "The Pilgrim's Progress," and of which over a million copies have been sold), and other books, which at once found their way to every boy's library, and in which Mayne Reid utilised his strangely acquired experiences, so that in part they may be deemed autobiographical. It is the merit of Captain Reid's works that they are all as thoroughly manly, healthy in tone, and good in purpose, as they are entrancing. Not an ignoble thought or word is to be found in them. His pen would never trace an unworthy sentence—the brilliant imagery in which he revelled was that of a devoted lover of nature, and the noble deeds of his heroes and heroines were the reflex of his own honourable and chivalric nature. His novels are veritable romances of the prairie, breathing of the forest primeval, and the prairie's limitless expanse. Though written in the language of a prose poem, his tales revealed exciting plots and thrilling situations, and as often as not were adventures of his own elaborated, or stories that he had heard related round the camp fire by reckless and desperate trappers. The years Captain Reid spent in pursuit of the buffalo and the bison, his acquaintance with the hunting and fishing grounds of the various tribes of Indians, his intimate knowledge of their habits and characteristics, could not fail to leave their impress upon most of his literary productions, which are redolent
"With the odours of the forest,
With the dew and damp of meadows;
With the curling smoke of wigwams,
With the rushing of great rivers,
With their frequent repetitions,
And their wild reverberations,
As of thunder in the mountains."
The charming volumes, written more especially for the entertainment of boys, "The Desert Home," "The Boy Hunters," "The Young Voyageurs," "The Forest Exiles," and "The Bush Boys," written between 1850 and 1856, contained in attractive guise a vast amount of botanical, geological, and zoological information. His instruction in those subjects was imperceptibly administered, being interwoven with captivatingly recounted deeds of bravery or perilous exploration, such as boys love, and were calculated to inspire a desire for travel, and ambition for honourable adventure in the youthful breast. The Captain was a most prolific writer, his principal works being over forty in number. In the numerous illustrated journals for the young, the pages of which he enlivened, he always occupied the first place in the expectation of its impatient readers.
In 1853 Captain Reid had a passage of arms with The Times, which caused at the time considerable excitement in the journalistic world. There appeared in The
