He served as war correspondent of the _Standard_ during the Austro-Italian campaign of 1866, and was afterwards a correspondent in the Abyssinian War, the Franco-German War, the Ashanti War, &c. His first book for boys was published in 1868, and was followed by a long and very successful series, including _The Young Franc-Tireurs_ (1872), _In Times of Peril_ (1881), _Under Drake's Flag_ (1883), _With Clive in India_ (1884), _The Lion of the North_ (1886), _Orange and Green_ (1888), _The Lion of St. Mark_ (1889), _By Pike and Dyke_ (1890), _By Right of Conquest_ (1891), _With Moore at Corunna_ (1898), _With Kitchener in the Soudan_ (1903), and _With the Allies to Pekin_ (1904).
