Again, in June you are sent on a message eastwards. 
Vou see AUair halfwa}- up in the heavens, which gives 
you south-east. Half-left from Altair will give you 
east. After a while it becomes second nature to judge 
your bearings at sight. If the buttons down the front of 
your coat are towards the North, or other direction stars, 
your right or left breasts give you roughly half a right 
or left angle of 45 degrees from the star, and your 
shoulders a right angle. The stars mentioned in the 
little book are exceptionally large ones, and easily 
identified from planets, which do not twinkle, and each 
has its own distinctive appearance and colour. 
It is a very simple matter to pick them out, and 
then it is only a question of a little practice to know their 
courses. You can easily see when one of the direction 
stars is full up if you get behind a tree or building. You 
will then see it rising from the earth, or setthng towards 
the earth. A quicker way, however, is to draw a rough 
line with your eye from the north through a spot imme- 
diately above your head. If it is not on that line it is not 
full up, and you can judge your bearing accordingly. 
You soon also get to know the appearance of the 
heavens at various times and seasons. For instance, 
Altair is rising in the east as Regulus sets in the west, 
and conversely. Again, Altair is full up when the giant 
star Arcturus (at the tail of the Great Bear) is setting 
westwards. As Vega sets N.W. Castor takes its place 
about N.E. As Altair sets Orion takes its place in the 
east. A calendar giving the true direction of the largest 
stars in the heavens for every hour and month of the 
year, with a ver>- simple star-chart, is given in " March- 
ing by Night." but for ordinary rough work the 
following will be sufficient, and if you take the smallest 
trouble to learn them by sight, you cannot lose your way 
at night if any of them are visible. 
\\'hen no stars are visible there are three ways by 
which you know your direction : 
1. By knowing the features over which one of your direc- 
tion stars pass and where they rise and set. 
2. Direction of wind and clouds. 
3. Westwards is lighter than eastwards for the earlier 
part of the night. 
The North Star is practically always due north 
iWiUi your left shoulder on the North Star you roughly 
face east, and your right shoulder points south. .With 
your right shoulder on the North Star you face west, 
and your left shoulder points .south. 
if there arc any clouds about it is very hard to dis- 
tinguish the North Star. The following will be visible 
on a fairly clear night, and will give you your bearings 
in r.iigland and similar latitudes. 
some time you are wounded in the shoulder, and want 
to get back to the dressing-station, which is somewhere 
near the place \'OU got out of the motor-bus. Turn about 
with your back on Regulus, and your right shoulder on 
the North Star, and you will be going about west, to- 
wards the dressing-station, with Vega as a guide setting 
in the north-west. 
TheVorthStax 
* * * * 
Arctaras 
• 
• ' 
• 
S 
^ 
• 
V^a 
• 
Altair 
It has been frequently predicted by well-known 
authorities that the armies best trained in night-fighting 
would be victorious in a European war, and now that 
troops can be made night-perfect how will warfare be 
influenced ? All reports agree that — 
(1) The ability to find one's way at night has a far-reach- 
ing influence upon men's fighting efficiency, because it re- 
moves the helpless feeling most Englishmen have in the dark 
and. consequently, it gives all ranks confidence and self- 
reliance when engaged in night operations. 
(2) No one has any difficulty in recognising the key-star 
.\ltair, and then it is only necessary for tlie men to have 
an occasional look at the heavens to become night perfect. 
(3) Men will not be so liable to fire in the wrong direc- 
tion and it greatly facilitates intercommunication, trench- 
•^^ging, <fec. Wounded men, able to walk, can get to the 
dressing-stations without losing their way. 
(4) It is a great help to the stretcher bearers in bringing 
back the wounded. 
Other obvious advantages could be enumerated. 
To sum up, armies in a few years' time will be able 
to move almost as easily on a starlit night as in day- 
light, and most of the effective fighting will be done at 
night. But why is this night work forced uf)on armies 
of the present day? The answer is the development of: 
aircraft. So let us briefly consider their future. 
No movements by large bodies of troops can be 
made on a fairly fine day without " the eyes of the 
Army " rendering a correct report of all concentrations, 
and it is only under cover of darkness that troops can 
be assembled without the enemy knowing full details of 
the movement. At present the primary duty of aero- 
planes is reconnaissance, which, up to date, can only 
be done satisfaaorily in daylight, but in a very short 
time we shall see the new battle-aeroplane perfected. 
Its champions claim that this protected air-cruiser 
will be immune from direct rifle fire and only a direct hit 
from a shell will bring it down. At comparatively low 
altitudes they w ill be able to soar over troops and observe 
their everj' movement as well as being able to assume a 
strong offensive with bombs and machine-gun fire. 
It is hard enough to hit a grouse with a scatter-gun 
flying at, say, sixty miles an hour; a direct hit with a 
shell on a protected air-cruiser at an altitude of, say, 
1,000 feet would be, to say the least, extremely difficult. 
The Zeppelin is forced to be a night-bird because — 
(1) It is a comparatively easy mark for artillery in 
daylight. 
(2) It cannot be easily attacked by the hawks of the air 
(aeroplanes) at night. 
At present aeroplanes are well-nigh helpless at night 
unless they have specially prepared landing-places, but 
this difficulty is not insuperable, and directly it is sur- 
mounted we shall see the heavier-than-air machine 
champion of the night as well as the day. But they will 
never be able to carry out an effective reconnaissance In 
the dark, and so important fighting and concentrations 
must take place at night, ana conseguently the troops 
best trained in night warfare will be victorious. 
U 
