They have individual intelligence
and skill, a faculty for observation, and the habit of thinking for
themselves. They are therefore able to take care of themselves in a way
which our regular troops, mostly town-bred men, without independent
training, cannot do.
The difference comes out chiefly in scouting, including all the flanking
and advance guard business, extending for several miles to left and
right, and in front and rear of an army column, by which that column
feels its way through an enemy's country. The regulars usually carry out
these tactics in long lines with wide intervals between the men. But
nothing is so conspicuous as a long line of men riding at fifty yards'
interval. They can be detected a dozen miles off, and plenty of
opportunities will occur for a mobile, cunning enemy like the Boers to
lie in ambush and get a shot at the outsider. Our regulars are better at
this game than they used to be, but many lives have been lost at it. On
the other hand, Colonials adopt more the tactics of a Scotch gillie in a
deer forest, whose object is to see, but not to be seen. Sky-lines are
avoided and cover taken every advantage of. From places where a good
view is to be obtained the country is intently studied; not by a
horseman poised in relief like the Achilles statue in Hyde Park, but by
a man who has left his horse on the reverse slope and lies hidden among
the rocks with his glass.
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