
With a Frontispiece byH. RICHARD BOEHM
NEW YORKWESSELS & BISSELL CO.1910
PROLOGUE
PEOPLE OF POSITION
CHAPTER I
CHAPTER II
CHAPTER III
CHAPTER IV
CHAPTER V
CHAPTER VI
A weary rifleman tends the fallen body of his English comrade amid the tangled jungles of South America, the scent of gunpowder still hanging in the air. The prologue introduces Grierson, a hard‑spent wanderer who has drifted from conflict to conflict—China, India, Australia—only to find himself caught in a desperate skirmish against a ragtag band of insurgents. As he smooths the dead man’s hair and watches an American officer’s wary eyes, the story reveals the uneasy camaraderie and the bitter humor that sustain soldiers on the edge of chaos.
Grierson’s restless yearning for a fresh start in England is tempered by the weight of his past: missed opportunities, broken dreams, and a lingering sense of duty. Through sharp dialogue and vivid battlefield detail, the opening sets a tone of gritty realism and quiet introspection, inviting listeners to follow a man whose restless spirit and scar‑streaked life may finally find a place to call home.
Language
en
Duration
~5 hours (344K characters)
Publisher of text edition
Project Gutenberg
Credits
Produced by Peter Vachuska, Julia Miller, Martin Pettit and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
Release date
2009-06-30
Rights
Public domain in the USA.

1877–1914
An Edwardian adventurer who turned a restless life on the road into vivid books about travel, danger, and hard luck. His writing draws on real experience in places like Africa, Australia, and the Philippines, giving his stories an immediacy that still feels striking.
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