given him a vision of the prairies and the great open spaces and the overarching sky." At 11, Nabokov even translated The Headless Horseman into French alexandrines. Alexander Bek mentions the well-read K. K. Rokossovky, future Marshal of the Soviet Union, referring to Reid's work in early 1942. The Polish writer Czesław Miłosz cites Russian translations of Reid as well-remembered early reading matter, which allowed him to learn Russian and the Cyrillic alphabet. A chapter on Reid appears in his essay collection Emperor of the Earth (1976). Anton Chekhov in Island, a Journey to Sakhalin (1893–94) mentions "Mayne Reid" in Chapter 10: "The morose, angry sea has spread itself boundlessly for thousands of versts. When a little boy has been reading Mayne Reid and his blanket falls off during the night, he starts shivering, and it is than that he dreams of such a sea." United States President Theodore Roosevelt, in his autobiography, credits Reid with being a major early inspiration. The shy, asthmatic aristocrat, Teddy Roosevelt, would grow up to pursue naturalistic zoology and adventure travel. Russell Miller, in his biography of Arthur Conan Doyle, credits Reid as one of Conan Doyle's favourite childhood authors and a great influence on his writings. Although Reid called himself and is listed often as Captain, Francis B. Heitman's definitive Historical Register and Dictionary of the U.S. Army only shows him as a lieutenant. Bibliography Reid wrote about 75 novels and many short stories and sketches. The Rifle Rangers; or, Adventures in Southern Mexico (1850) The Scalp Hunters: A Romance of the Plain (1851) The Desert Home: The Adventures of a Lost Family in the Wilderness (1851) The Forest Exiles; or, The Perils of a Peruvian Family Amid the Wilds of the Amazon (1852) The White Chief; A Legend of North Mexico (1855) The Boy Hunters, or, Adventures in Search of a White Buffalo (1853) The Hunter's Feast; or, Conversations Around the Camp-fire (1856) The Bush Boys: History and Adventures of a Cape Farmer and His Family (1856) The Quadroon: or, A Lover's Adventures in Louisiana: in 3 volumes (1856) The War-trail: or, The Hunt of the Wild Horse; a Romance of the Prairie (1857) The Young Yagers, or, A Narrative of Hunting Adventures in Southern Africa (1857) The Plant Hunters; or, Adventures Among the Himalaya Mountains (1858) Osceola the Seminole, or, The Red Fawn of the Flower Land (1858) Wild Life; or,