THE RENDEZVOUS 135 



men were paraded unnecessarily early, and while 

 they wait, perhaps in the cold and wet, for those 

 who have had half-an-hour longer in bivouac or 

 camp, they will probably grumble at those who 

 were responsible for their too early hour of 

 march. 



To be either too early or too late shows bad 

 calculation in those very important factors in war, 

 time and space. 



To be late at the Rendezvous in the Real may 

 be very serious, and it concerns others as well as 

 ourselves. To be late at it in the Imao-e is our 

 own concern only, and it may be that, through this 

 very lateness, we may learn a lesson that will serve 

 us in good stead in the Real. 



Let us think of the thing as it happens. 



We arrive at the meet, say half-an-hour late. No 

 one about. At last a man at work in a garden, 

 or an old woman in a cottage, says — 



" Oh ! yes, they be moved off half-an-hour ago." 



We bustle our already lathering horse on to the 

 covert. Not a sign nor a sound. The rooks have 

 settled down again peacefully in those tall trees, 

 that blackbird going away with his " twit-twit-twee," 

 much as a sentinel school-boy cries " cave, cave, 

 cave ! " seems almost as if he had not been disturbed 

 before to-day, while that man ploughing over 

 yonder appears to have no eye for anything else 

 but his horses. 



Can this be the right covert ? 



Look at the ground. Yes, no doubt about it, 



