Hard sailoring, hard soldiering, hard colonising by those old British sea-dogs, Sir Francis Drake, Sir Walter Raleigh, Hawkins, Frobisher, and, best of all to my mind, Captain John Smith.
He left Louth Grammar School in Lincolnshire to become a clerk in an office, but he soon went off to the wars. After two years' fighting he returned home.
He admitted he had gone out as a "tenderfoot," and had not properly prepared himself as a boy for a life of adventure; so he set to work then and there to learn scouting. He built himself a hut in the woods, and learnt stalking game, and killing and cooking it for himself; he learnt to read maps and to draw them, and also the use of weapons; and then, when he had made himself really good at scoutcraft, he went off to the wars again.
He afterwards became a sailor, fought in some very tough sea-fights, and eventually, in 1607, he went with an expedition to colonise Virginia in America. They sailed from London in three ships, the biggest of which was only 100 tons, the smallest 30 tons. But they got there after five months, and started a settlement on the James River.
Here John Smith was captured by the Red Indians one day when out shooting (as you have seen by the play in Chapter I.), and they were proceeding to kill him when the King's daughter, Pocahontas, asked for him to be spared. After this the Red Indians and the Whites got on good terms with each other. Pocahontas became a Christian, and married Smith's lieutenant, Rolfe, and came to England. After many strange and exciting adventures in America, John Smith got much damaged by an accidental explosion of gunpowder, and came home ill. He eventually died in London.
He was a splendid character—and always did his duty in spite of all temptations to let it slide. He was a tremendous worker, very keen, and very brave. He was never defeated by any difficulty however great, because he was always cheery under the worst of circumstances. His motto was, "We were born not for ourselves, but to do good to others," and he acted up to it.
In South Africa we had to drive out the Dutch and then fight the natives for our foothold, which once gained we never let go—and though it has cost us thousands of lives and millions of money we have got it now.
Australia was got by our sailor-adventurers, like Captain Cook, outstripping all other nations in their plucky navigation of immense unknown oceans.
India was practically in possession of the French when Clive and Wellesley drove them out, and then in turn had to fight the hordes of fighting natives of the interior, and gradually, foot by foot, by dint of hard fighting, we have won that country for our Empire.
East Africa, Uganda, and the Soudan beyond Egypt, and Somaliland have also been fought for and won in quite recent times.