THE RENDEZVOUS 137 



the process of " inductive reasoning," the elements, 

 in fact, of that most important factor in war — 

 scouting. Captain Mayne Reid's novels dealing with 

 prairie life, which we have all read as boys, give us 

 excellent examples of the art of scouting ; so, in a 

 different way, do the Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes. 



A very excellent example of what may be done 

 by " inductive reasoning " was given by Colonel 

 R. S. Baden-Powell, 5th Dragoon Guards, in a lec- 

 ture " On the Campaign in Rhodesia," given before 

 the Military Society of Ireland in 1897. He said — 

 " I was out scouting with my native boy in the neigh- 

 bourhood of the Matopos. Presently we noticed 

 some grass-blades freshly trodden down. This led 

 us to find some footprints on a patch of sand ; they 

 were those of women or boys, because they were 

 small ; they were on a long march, because they wore 

 sandals ; they were pretty fresh, because the sharp 

 edges of the footprints were still well defined ; and 

 they were heading towards the Matopos. Then my 

 nigger, who was examining the ground a short 

 distance away from the track, suddenly started, as 

 Robinson Crusoe must have done when he came on 

 Friday's footmark. But in this case the boy had 

 found, not a footmark, but a single leaf. But that 

 leaf meant a good deal ; it belonged to a tree that 

 did not grow in this neighbourhood, though we 

 knew of such trees ten or fifteen miles away. It 

 was damp, and smelt of Kaffir beer. From these 

 two signs, then, the footprints and the beery leaf, 

 we were able to read a good deal. A party of 



