io8 PINK AND SCARLET 



current ? Could Infantry or Cavalry ford it ? if so, 

 where ? Would two or three of the willows on its 

 banks reach across, and so form a bridge if cut 

 down ? Are there other trees, gates, etc., near at 

 hand which could be used for this purpose ? and if 

 we were to bridge it, should we have to make a 

 single or double lock bridge ? Is there any suitable 

 position for a covering party to take up, supposing 

 the brook had to be crossed under fire ? Are the 

 meadows sound enough to carry guns and transport 

 if required ? Could the brook be dammed and 

 made to flood the vale ? Where would you cross 

 with your men supposing the enemy was holding 

 yonder knoll, and where would you post a portion 

 of your force to hold him and distract his attention 

 while you crossed the brook with the rest ? Could 

 you not get down to the proposed place of crossing 

 without being seen by going behind that fold of the 

 ground, and then through the little spinney which 

 reaches almost down to the brook ? 



In connection with the bridge which takes our 

 road over the brook, and which we are now nearing, 

 we can have no thoughts as regards hunting, except 

 it be that we have no business on it unless it 

 comes well in our line, or the brook is unjumpable. 

 With soldiering, however, it is very different, and 

 we may consider its width, i. c. does it make a defile ? 

 its strength, the material of which it is built, the 

 number of its arches and their size, and how should 

 we destroy it, or prepare it for destruction. 



It is not meant, of course, that we should get down 



