THE BATTLE 151 



hounds, and give no " chances." Taking no notice 

 when the slack ones say of us in the Real — as they 

 assuredly will do — "What unnecessary precautions ; 

 why, there's no enemy within twenty miles ! " or, 

 " What a devil of a funk this chap is in ! What's 

 the good of bothering the men so ? " etc., etc. Just 

 as they will say of us in the Image — "What a 

 jealous-riding chap that is ! " or " How unnecessarily 

 he buckets his horse!" etc., etc. 



It's no good, either in soldiering or in sport, 

 any more than it is in life in general, trying to 

 please every one, and the only safe thing to do is 

 to always play the game. 



Whyte- Melville says — " Keep an eye forward." 

 The acquirement of this habit is certainly necessary 

 if we are to acquit ourselves well when riding to 

 hounds, but how much more is it so when we lead 

 our men on the field of battle ? In the former, the 

 lack of it merely means that we lose our place in 

 the run ; in the latter, its absence may mean defeat 

 and the loss of our men's lives. It is not, however, 

 only forward that we must have an eye in the Real, 

 but on both sides as well, and sometimes, like the 

 great beast in Revelation, behind also. 



Whyte-Melville tells us, too, what the eye is to 

 be kept on — the hounds, the ground, on the look-out 

 for the fox, and what may be his point, or what 

 may head or turn him. The hounds may be 

 likened to our scouts, the fox to those of the enemy, 

 and the things which may turn him may be thought 

 of as formed bodies of the enemy's troops on which 



