130 PINK AND SCARLET 



Down in a hollow, and yet on a rise, and thus, 

 although not subject to direct distant artillery fire, 

 it has, from an Infantry point of view, a good field 

 of fire itself. A substantially-built house, stables, 

 and all, and look at the kitchen-garden wall running 

 along exactly the right place on the slope, high 

 enough, too, for two tiers of fire, and with the 

 sunk fence as an obstacle in front. Suppose those 

 howitzers, of which we hear so much now-a-days,^ 

 found the range of the house, etc., these folds of 

 the ground on either side outside the garden should 

 serve us until the fire ceases, and then we can run 

 back into the buildings long before the Infantry 

 attack comes on, etc., etc. 



What if our rendezvous has none of these ad- 

 vantages ? No matter, take what it has, or think 

 of its disadvantages, and, clothed in the pink coat 

 of the chase, we may learn some scarlet lessons 

 of war from any meeting-place of hounds, if we will 

 only use our eyes and think a little. 



One more thing before we descend the slope and 

 report ourselves, i. e. reach the meet. Let us look 

 at the picture — fore-ground, middle distance, and 



1 Lieut.-Col. Elmslie, R. A., in a lecture on " The possible effect 

 on tactics of recent improvements in weapons," given before the 

 Aldershot Military Society on February 6, 1899, when referring 

 to the use of farms, villages, etc., as tactical points in a defensive 

 line, said — " Now, perhaps the most striking development of the 

 next war will be the rapid and complete demoralization of the 

 defenders of such place by means of the field howitzer in its 

 modem form, using smokeless powder, and firing high-explosive 

 shells." 



