TRACKING, ETC.
Nearly all men brought up in the country have a certain instinct, and habitually read the story of tracks on the ground wherever they go, but the remainder require a considerable amount of training not to ride over the most obvious tracks without any observation and deduction. A few lessons of following tracks in the early morning after a wet night across country and along roads will tend to establish this very necessary habit in a cavalry soldier, and once acquired, it will last him a lifetime.
The institution of regimental scouts has gone far to train our troops in all these forms of useful knowledge, and where commanding officers make a point of passing all those who are likely to come on for promotion to N.C.O.’s, through the scouts’ course, the advance of the regiment in a most useful, but not very showy, accomplishment has been most marked. In all this form of instruction it is well worth while to make the schemes interesting and even romantic, and let them run to a conclusion which depends largely on the cunning and ability of the officers and men engaged.
There can surely be few more marked successes in the efforts of the nation to “return to the wild” in the body, whilst raising the mind to the higher levels, than the institution of “Boy Scouts,” and it is one which every genuine soldier must heartily welcome.
In all detached work where the cavalryman is engaged “on his own” against well-armed men, far more dangerous antagonists than any wild animals, there usually comes a time when prudence calls loudly to the ordinary man to turn and so avoid the chance of a bullet, whilst duty tells him that he should try and see or find out more. There is no reward in sight, there are no onlookers to applaud, there is none of the retriever dog’s instinct to save, which leads men to sacrifice their life in pulling out a comrade; there may be a love for excitement and taking chances, but it is soon dulled by frequent experiences, or there may be the callousness resulting from daily risk. It is at these times that the previous training and bringing up, the tone of his corps and comrades, and the thought that he has a duty to those comrades, may have a good deal to say to a man alone with his duty.
The sneering, niggling cynic will calculate, “What reward is there for this?” and go back ready to lie, whilst the honest soldier will go forward ready to take his medicine, even if he feels the anticipatory pain about the third button of the waistcoat. That was the right sort of man, who, when chaffed by a comrade for his evident trepidation, replied, “Yes, and if you were half as much afraid as I am, you would run away.” It is the reasoned four-o’clock-in-the-morning courage, determination, and honesty, backed by a trained knowledge of his duty, that is needed when the cavalry soldier is on detached work.