A CHECK. THE BATTLE CONTINUED 159 



is another way in which this being able to take our 

 own line in the Image will fit us for the Real, for all 

 those who have seen the war of to-day, that is, war 

 between two European nations armed with modern 

 weapons, and also all our thinking military writers, 

 tell us that there can be no more galloping about of 

 Staff officers and adjutants with orders when troops 

 have been once launched in the attack. The Junior 

 Officers, the company and section commanders, in 

 fact, must " go their own lines," and if they cannot 

 get on in one way, they must find or devise means to 

 do so in another. Indeed, we must go much further 

 and say that, in the war of to-day, "get on " must 

 be the creed, not only of all Officers, but also of the 

 individual soldier, just as he who would ride to 

 hounds well must carry with him an unswerving 

 determination to " be with them " whatever happens. 



Surely the two are identical ? 



We have already seen (p. 2) how hunting edu- 

 cation, and the " will of a horseman to move for- 

 ward," " got on " the 7th Fusiliers at the Alma. 

 The Alma was fought over forty-five years ago, and 

 during these forty-five years " the country " has been 

 continually growing stiffer for the soldier, much as 

 barbed wire has made it more dangerous for the 

 follower of Diana. 



Prominent among the new " fences " which the 

 soldier has to face are an effective shrapnel shell, 

 smokeless powder,^ the magazine rifle with a flat 



^ It seems likely that the absence of smoke, which will enable 

 the soldier to see, not only his own immediate comrades, but also 



