soldiers of fortune

“There were only eleven hundred infantry; the half battalion of the 43rd and the weak battalion of Frenchmen (if they could be called that, seeing that many of them were soldiers of fortune of all nations) and although Hornblower had enough sense not to try to judge the Frenchmen as they lay in rows in the dark and stinking 'tweendecks in the agonies of seasickness he was puzzled that anyone could expect results from such a small force.”

Mr. Midshipman Easy

“At the lines of the constitutionalists, three American soldiers of fortune who had fought the entire campaign with Francisco "Pancho" Villa, and the German officers who assisted them, tell them they are nearly the only Americans left in Tampico.”

“It was the Golden Fleece ready for the shearing.”

“The story of St. John is cast in barbaric colours during the hundred years that it was a trading post visited by passing sailors and soldiers of fortune from many lands, and for ever the scene of the jealous little wars of fur traders.”

Canadian Cities of Romance

“The citadel of the town was formidable, especially as it was occupied by more than a thousand Carian and Greek mercenaries—but soldiers of fortune are nothing if not practical.”

Simon & Schuster: Alexander the Great