152 PINK AND SCARLET 



we must keep an eye, and whose movements we 

 must, if possible, anticipate. 



"Always ride to command hounds if you can," 

 says our author. This goes on all-fours with taking 

 the initiative and manoeuvring for position, so as to 

 be able to compel the enemy to accept the actual 

 collision when it suits us. To do so successfully 

 the commander of men must follow Napoleon's 

 example, and be always up with his most advanced 

 troops,^ with his scouts if it appears desirable (as it 

 often may with a small force), just as he who would 

 command hounds (for the purpose of riding to them) 

 must always be on terms with the body of the pack. 

 In no other position will either be able to properly 

 anticipate (and this is one of the secrets of success 

 in both cases) the movements of the enemy. 



While riding in this way, to command hounds, it 

 is good to think of how you would direct — command 

 in fact — men following you. It is very easy, when 

 looking one way and going another, to say right 

 when you mean left. 



The Boer War of 1 88 1 is a sore subject, but the 

 author of A Narrative of the Boer War gives an 

 instance of men who were retirins:, beine told to 

 rally on the right, the result being that they in 

 reality rallied on the left of the original fighting 

 line. In this case the mistake (if it was one ?) did 

 not make any difference, but the incident may 



^ When complaining of the way in which his brother Jerome 

 was conducting a campaign in 1S07, Napoleon wrote — "Why 

 does he not make war as I do, and bivouac with his outposts ? " 



