Foreword

Part I — Clearing the Trail

Part II — Building the Trail

Part III — Defending the Trail

Part IV Remembering the Trail

Westward, along the level prairies of a kingdom yet to be, my memory runs, with a clear vision of the days when romance died not and strong hearts never failed. The glamour of the plains is before my eyes; the tingle of courage, danger-born, is in my pulse-beat; the soft hand of love is touching my hand. I live again the drama of life wherein there are no idle actors, no stale, unmeaning lines. And beyond the action, this way up the years, there runs also the forward-gazing vision toward a new Hesperides:

Through the veins
Of whose vast Empire flows, in strength’ning tides,
Trade, the calm health of nations.

And sometimes I would doubt
If statesmen, rocked and dandled into power,
Could leave such legacies to kings.

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