"There appears to me evidence that, as regards professes to have traveli truthful. When he tells east coast of the Caspian the Hazara country, eve some time in and aber and afterwards passe him. At the Thu: were almost a 11 ¡line and e Far re the Indus. e teach for ever as very known. nd all the There is e undaunted el Gardner's been greatelse could he months, and he › seemed to have him as far as poshe have drawn to thers whom he led een so little mentioned nes is a marvel. But he was a man without and or any country might narrative that enables us to excuse the untruth of many of the details. "In other words, had Gardner not travelled over a great part of the ground he professes to describe, it would not have been possible for him to interpolate the doubtful portions of his story. He could not have known enough of the surrounding conditions or even the names of places and tribes, nor have met with the people whose clumsy inventions he at times serves out It is necessary, for instance, that a man who could never have read of the Pamir region should at least have visited that country or its neighbourhood before he could invent or repeat stories regarding Shakh Dara or the Yaman Yar, or be able to dictate the name of Shighnan." to us. I will conclude this brief introduction of Colonel Gardner and his writings with a summary of his career with which Sir Henry Durand completed a sketch entitled 'Life of a Soldier of the Olden Time: An unwritten Page of History': "Even in outline the story is of great interest, -a life drama indeed, as full of incident and adventure as drama can well be. The story of Dugald Dalgetty is nothing to this, as it will be seen by the light of times to come. GARDNER'S MAGNETIC INFLUENCE. 11 "To take the two ends of the long tangled line is something wonderful, -one end bright and sunny on the banks of Lake Superior in the Far West; the other end approaching, where the chapter will close, in lands watered by the Indus. And then the schooling in Ireland, and the teaching in Lahore; the parting from home for ever for a life from end to end of perils such as very few men have ever imagined, still less known. "It is difficult perhaps to comprehend all the career, but much may be understood. There is no mistake about the high heart, the undaunted courage, the unflagging will. Colonel Gardner's personal influence, too, must have been great— what is called magnetic; for how else could he have bound to himself for nine months, and he all the time a prisoner, men who seemed to have an interest in separating from him as far as possible? And how else could he have drawn to himself those Sowars and others whom he led to Kabul and elsewhere? "That such a man has been so little mentioned in the history of the times is a marvel. But we must remember that he was a man without a country, though England or any country might be proud to claim him. "Faithful to his standard, whatever it was, obeying without questioning military orders, he presented and presents, perhaps, one of the finest specimens ever known of the soldier of fortune. "He must have been a man, too, who did not care to force himself into notice so long as he could obtain employment; and the fact that he secured the respect and confidence of so many persons, of characters so widely different, is enough to show that besides being a bold soldier, he was possessed of rare tact and skill, of qualities indeed which, if the love of adventure had been urged on by anything like an equal share of ambition, would have gone far to gather together the turbulent elements among which he lived, and make of them a more devastating flame than even Gardner himself ever saw." Such a tribute, coming from so honoured a source, surely entitles Gardner to "a fair field and no favour," and never in his life did he ask for more. CHAPTER II. EARLY LIFE AND TRAVELS, 1785-1819. PARENTAGE AND BIRTH OF THE TRAVELLER-A WANDERER FROM AND ASTRAKHAN GARDNER'S ABOUT the middle of the last century a certain Scottish surgeon named Gardner accompanied his father to North America, and subsequently took an active part in the War of Independence. It appears that he was intimately associated with several of the leaders of the rebellious colonists, particularly with George Washington and the Marquis de Lafayette, and he long preserved their correspondence with him. After the War of Independence had ceased Dr Gardner obtained employment under the Mexican Government, and while living in Mexico married the daughter of an Englishman named Haughton, |