148 PINK AND SCARLET 



initiative, is one of these times. It is then that, in 

 the Image, we must, if necessary, jump at short 

 notice an extra - forbidding-looking fence, or an 

 awkward stile, and in the real battle be pre- 

 pared to take some risks, in order that we may- 

 strike quickly; remembering, as Whyte-Melville says, 

 that " the first blow is half the battle in many 

 nobler struggles than a street brawl with a cad." 

 Having got a start we can afford to look about us 

 and pick our places a bit. 



It is not proposed to write a run, or to explain 

 how it should be ridden : Whyte-Melville has done 

 it so deliciously in Chapter XI. oi Riding Recollections 

 that it would be both superfluous and presumptuous 

 to attempt to do so here. We may, however, scan 

 what he writes with a view to seeing where lessons 

 for soldiering can be deduced. 



The first point he draws attention to is the 

 necessity of keeping the eyes open — of observation, 

 in fact. How essential this habit is for soldiering 

 has already been pointed out in Chapter VIII., and 

 there is no need to say more. 



Having got a good start, " Do not therefore lose 

 your head," says Whyte-Melville. There is no 

 doubt that the sight of a pack of fox-hounds dashing 

 across the first field or two, with that "drive" which 

 is their characteristic, sets the blood coursing 

 through one's body as do the first shots of battle. 

 Here then is education indeed, for he who keeps 

 his head under the one circumstance will probably 

 do so under the other. 



