by Richard Harding Davis

SIX WHO DARED outlines the lives of six of the most daring, most outrageous, most endearing soldiers of fortune in history. William Walker: If comfortable careers in law, medicine and the church bore you, perhaps you should consider invading various countries with a handful of men until you can eventually become president of one? Ronald Douglas: Born into wealth, married into even more, Douglas died broke-and as a hero in eighteen countries. James Hardin-Hickey: When you come across an uninhabited island in the Atlantic, why not declare it a kingdom and yourself as it's king-at least until England decides she wants the place. Winston Churchill: What better way for a young man to see action than to become a war correspondent, serve in numerous campaigns, get captured, and stage one of the most daring escapes in history? Philo McGiffin: When you graduate near the bottom of your class at the U.S. Naval Academy and your own country won't even give you a commission, what else is there to do but command a squadron of Chinese battleships and become commandant of their naval academy? Frederick Burnham: Just your basic story of how a city boy from Pasadena, CA grows up to be the the finest scout in Africa, and have more hair-raising adventures than Indiana Jones. 'A powerful and original writer.' Theodore Roosevelt