8 PINK AND SCARLET 



" This brings us to the crux of the whole thing — 

 the officer. It is he, and his, not their training 

 that will make Mounted Infantry useful or not, like 

 hawks or like barn-door fowls. It is he who in the 

 stable must be the guide, from the handling of a 

 brush to the fit of a saddle ; who in the field must 

 get them along, keep them together, and tell them 

 when to swoop. It is he who has made them earn 

 a reputation in the past, and who alone can make 

 them keep it in the future. In fact, without him 

 they are like an engine without steam. 



" And of what sort must the officers -be to do 

 all this ? The answer is — good soldiers, good 

 horsemen, good horse-masters, and, as the present 

 commander of the Mounted Infantry at^Aldershot 

 says in his book on the suppression of the Mashona 

 rising of 1896, 'sportsmen and good men to hounds, 

 such as we try to get into the Mounted Infantry.' 

 Lucky indeed is Great Britain, who alone of all 

 nations can 'home-grow' such 'plants.'" 



The Broad An^ow does not tell us why no other 

 nation can grow the plants, because it is obvious, 

 and the reason is so simple. No other nation has 

 the soil — i. e. the hunting-field — in which they grow. 



The United Service Magazine iox December 1898 

 has an article by "Reiver" designated "Thoughts 

 on Cavalry." In it he says — " A new ' notion ' — 

 to wit, the ' dclairetir' — has lately been started in 

 the Russian cavalry. Men in the ranks are chosen 

 for their horsemanship, keen sight, power to over- 

 come difficulties, and dash. Then they are trained 



