that sort, he did not wait to put letters and rations in his haversack,
but went straight to his Senior. "A party of Uhlans, about 100 strong,
have broken through the line further up. We have got to prevent them
from taking us by surprise on this flank. So you had better take a
couple of sections to keep them off." Commands on the battlefield must
never be didactic and narrow. Tell a man what to do, give him his
mission, and how he will carry it out, the methods he will employ, are
for himself to determine.

He hurriedly collected his men and took up a position astride a road
that ran behind, parallel to the lines. In peace-time manoeuvres one
had generally been told the direction from which to expect the enemy,
hours before he actually came; now, when the great game was being played
in real earnest, he found that he had to guess. The Uhlans might have
come unsuspecting along the road, in which case the game would be his;
or they might come blundering along from somewhere in the rear and
enfilade him, in which case the game would most assuredly be theirs.
Fortunately, the Uhlans did not come at all.

Meanwhile a very rare and lucky circumstance was beginning to be
apparent. The enemy were actually attacking from the direction they
were expected! But this was only to be a rear-guard action, so he never
saw his rations or letters again, after all.

The Senior Subaltern was left to "hold out" in a small cottage in the
firing-line until the rest had "got away." With characteristic
forethought and presence of mind he not only got his men away without
loss, but seized all luxuries in the place!

As on the day before, in getting clear away from the enemy, the Company