10 PINK AND SCARLET 



Having done with the Cavalry, pass to the young 

 Gunner and talk to him much in the same way. 

 Inquire how he learnt to tell at a glance that 

 yonder hill should be a good position for his guns, 

 and that there is most likely a cart track to it by 

 those stacks. Having decided this, what taught 

 him to take his horse by the head and turn him 

 out of the road over the bank, to open the next 

 gate with a swing, and pop over the rails beyond 

 in order to go and see quickly if the position was 

 as good as he thought? Say to him, "Well, 

 did the ' shop ' or Shoeburyness teach you 

 this ? " 



Ask the young beetle-crusher what enabled him 

 to tell his corporal that his patrol must " go through 

 the rides in the wood"; or "There is a stream 

 where the willows are, so you must follow the cart 

 track to the bridge ;" or " You are quite safe from 

 the cavalry as long as you keep that straggling 

 boundary fence between them and you." Again, 

 how did he learn to take in the lie of the country 

 at a glance, and thus be able to say, " Your detached 

 post will be near that mill " ? Ask him, " Did they 

 teach you this at Sandhurst, or was it on the 

 barrack square that you picked it up ? " 



Will it convince you, oh disbeliever, if, in nine 

 cases out of ten, in which the young idea you 

 are questioning possesses the knowledge and the 

 qualities indicated above, the answer is, " Oh ! it 

 comes natural enough after having hunted a 

 bit"? 



