LANCERS IN WAR 173 



nights, and of white bears that came round the snow- 

 huts of the explorers, greedy to eat them, and themselves 

 destined to be eaten by them. Of all the party Cherrie's 

 experiences had covered the widest range. This was 

 partly owing to the fact that the latter-day naturalist 

 of the most vigorous type who goes into the untrodden 

 wastes of the world must see and do many strange 

 things ; and still more owing to the character of the 

 man himself. The things he had seen and done and 

 undergone often enabled him to cast the light of his 

 own past experience on unexpected subjects. Once we 

 were talking about the proper weapons for cavalry, and 

 someone mentioned the theory that the lance is especially 

 formidable because of the moral eflFect it produces on the 

 enemy. Cherrie nodded emphatically ; and a little cross- 

 examination elicited the fact that he was speaking from 

 lively personal recollection of his own feelings when 

 charged by lancers. It was while he was fighting with 

 the Venezuelan insurgents in an unsuccessful uprising 

 against the tyranny of Castro. He was on foot, with 

 five Venezuelans, all cool men and good shots. In an 

 open plain they were charged by twenty of Castro's 

 lancers, who galloped out from behind cover two or 

 three hundred yards off. It was a war in which neither 

 side gave quarter, and in which the wounded and the 

 prisoners were butchered — ^just as President Madero 

 was butchered in Mexico. Cherrie knew that it meant 

 death for him and his companions if the charge came 

 home ; and the sight of the horsemen running in at full 

 speed, with their long lances in rest and the blades 

 glittering, left an indelible impression on his mind. 

 But he and his companions shot deliberately and ac- 

 curately; ten of the lancers were killed, the nearest 

 falling within fifty yards ; and the others rode off in 



