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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/17300-8.txt b/17300-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4647d22 --- /dev/null +++ b/17300-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4295 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Story of Baden-Powell, by Harold Begbie + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Story of Baden-Powell + 'The Wolf That Never Sleeps' + +Author: Harold Begbie + +Release Date: December 13, 2005 [EBook #17300] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE STORY OF BADEN-POWELL *** + + + + +Produced by Steven Gibbs, Jeannie Howse and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + + +THE STORY +OF +BADEN-POWELL + +'The Wolf that never Sleeps' + +BY + +HAROLD BEGBIE + +WITH ILLUSTRATIONS + +_Vestigia nulla retrorsum_ + +LONDON +GRANT RICHARDS +1900 + + + + + "... A name and an example, which are at this hour + inspiring hundreds of the youth of England...." + + Southey's _Life of Nelson_. + + +_First printed May 1900. Reprinted May 1900_ + + + + +To SMITH MAJOR + +HONOURED SIR, + +If amid the storm and stress of your academic career you find an +hour's relaxation in perusing the pages of this book, all the travail +that I have suffered in the making of it will be repaid a +thousandfold. Throughout the quiet hours of many nights, when Morpheus +has mercifully muzzled my youngest (a fine child, sir, but a female), +I have bent over my littered desk driving a jibbing pen, comforted and +encouraged simply and solely by the vision of my labour's object and +attainment. I have seen at such moments the brink of a river, warm +with the sun's rays, though sheltered in part by the rustling leaves +of an alder, and thereon, sprawling at great ease, chin in the cups of +the hand, stomach to earth, and toes tapping the sweet-smelling sod, +your illustrious self--deep engrossed in my book. For this alone I +have written. If, then, it was the prospect of thus pleasing you that +sustained me in my task, to whom else can I more fittingly inscribe +the fruits of my labour? Accept then, honoured sir, this work of your +devoted servant, assured that, if the book wins your affection and +leaves an ideal or two in the mind when you come regretfully upon +"Finis," I shall smoke my pipe o' nights with greater pleasure and +contentment than ever I have done since I ventured the task of +sketching my gallant hero's adventurous career. + + I have the honour to be, sir, + + Your most humble and obedient servant, + + THE AUTHOR. + + WEYBRIDGE, _April 1900._ + + + + + + +CONTENTS + + + PAGE +CHAPTER I +AN INTRODUCTORY FRAGMENT 1 + +CHAPTER II +THE FAMILY 6 + +CHAPTER III +HOME LIFE AND HOLIDAYS 16 + +CHAPTER IV +CARTHUSIAN 37 + +CHAPTER V +THE DASHING HUSSAR 55 + +CHAPTER VI +HUNTER 73 + +CHAPTER VII +SCOUT 90 + +CHAPTER VIII +THE FLANNEL-SHIRT LIFE 103 + +CHAPTER IX +ROAD-MAKER AND BUILDER 119 + +CHAPTER X +PUTTING OUT FIRE 135 + +CHAPTER XI +IN RAGS AND TATTERS 158 + +CHAPTER XII +THE REGIMENTAL OFFICER 172 + +CHAPTER XIII +GOAL-KEEPER 192 + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + + PAGE +Major-General R.S.S. Baden-Powell _Frontispiece_ + +Professor Baden Powell 7 + +Mrs. Baden-Powell 11 + +B.-P. reflecting on the After-deck of the _Pearl_ 21 + +Rev. William Haig-Brown, LL.D. 41 + +The Dashing Hussar (B.-P. at 21) 61 + +"Beetle" 79 + +The Family on Board the _Pearl_ 107 + +"_Viret in Ęternum_" 179 + +Goal-Keeper 201 + + + + +CHAPTER I + +AN INTRODUCTORY FRAGMENT ON NO ACCOUNT TO BE SKIPPED + + +You will be the first to grant me, honoured sir, that after +earnestness of purpose, that is to say "keenness," there is no quality +of the mind so essential to the even-balance as humour. The +schoolmaster without this humanising virtue never yet won your love +and admiration, and to miss your affection and loyalty is to lose one +of life's chiefest delights. You are as quick to detect the humbug who +hides his mediocrity behind an affectation of dignity as was dear old +Yorick, of whom you will read when you have got to know the sweetness +of Catullus. This Yorick it was who declared that the Frenchman's +epigram describing gravity as "a mysterious carriage of the body to +cover the defects of the mind," deserved "to be wrote in letters of +gold"; and I make no doubt that had there been a greater recognition +of the extreme value and importance of humour in the early ages of the +world, our history books would record fewer blunders on the part of +kings, counsellors, and princes, and the great churches would not have +alienated the sympathy of so many goodly people at the most important +moment in their existence--the beginning of their proselytism. + +This erudite reflection is to prepare you for the introduction of my +hero, Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell. I introduce him to you as +a hero--and as a humourist. To me he appears the ideal English +schoolboy, and the ideal British officer; but if I had blurted this +out at the beginning of my story you might perhaps have flung the book +into an ink-stained corner, thinking you were in for a dull lecture. +It is the misfortune of goodness to be generally treated with +superstitious awe, as though it were a visitant from heaven, instead +of being part and parcel of our own composition. So I begin by +assuring you that if ever there was a light-hearted, jovial creature +it is my hero, and by promising you that he shall not bore you with +moral disquisitions, nor shock your natural and untainted mind with +impossible precepts. + +He is a hero in the best sense of the word, living cleanly, despising +viciousness equally with effeminacy, and striving after the +development of his talents, just as a wise painter labours at the +perfecting of his picture. Permit me here to quote the words of a +sagacious Florentine gentleman named Guicciardini: "Men," says he, +"are all by nature more inclined to do good than ill; nor is there +anybody who, where he is not by some strong consideration pulled the +other way, would not more willingly do good than ill." + +Goodness, then, is a part of our being; therefore when you are +behaving yourself like a true man, do not flatter yourself that you +are doing any superhuman feat. And do not, as some do, have a sort of +stupid contempt for people who respect truth, honesty, and purity, +people who work hard at school, never insult their masters, and try to +get on in the world without soiling their fingers and draggling their +skirts in the mire. But see you cultivate humour as you go along. +Without that there is danger in the other. + +It is useful to reflect that no man without the moral idea ever +wrought our country lasting service or won himself a place in the +hearts of mankind. On the other hand, most of the men whose names are +associated in your mind with courage and heroism are those who keenly +appreciated the value of Conduct, and strove valiantly to keep +themselves above the demoralising and vulgarising influences of the +world. + +Baden-Powell, then, is a hero, but no prodigy. He is a hero, and +human. A ripple of laughter runs through his life, the fresh wind +blows about him as he comes smiling before our eyes; and if he be too +full of fun and good spirits to play the part of King Arthur in your +imagination, be sure that no knight of old was ever more chivalrous +towards women, more tender to children, and more resolved upon walking +cleanly through our difficult world. + +Ask those who know him best what manner of man he is, and the +immediate answer, made with merry eyes and a deep chuckle, is this: +"He's the funniest beggar on earth." And then when you have listened +to many stories of B.-P.'s pranks, your informant will grow suddenly +serious and tell you what a "straight" fellow he is, what a loyal +friend, what an enthusiastic soldier. But it is ever his fun first. + +One word more. Against such a work as this it is sometimes urged that +there is a certain indelicacy in revealing the virtues of a living man +to whomsoever has a shilling in his pocket to purchase a book. My +answer to such a charge may be given in a few lines. In writing about +Baden-Powell your humble servant has hardly considered the feelings of +Baden-Powell at all. B.-P. has outlived a goodly number of absurd +newspaper biographies, and he will survive this. Of you, and you +alone, most honoured sir, has the present historian thought, and so +long as you are pleased, it matters little to him if the +hypersensitive lift up lean hands, turn pale eyes to Heaven, and +squeak "Indecent!" till they are hoarse. And now, with as little +moralising as possible, and no more cautions, let us get along with +our story. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE FAMILY + + +Baden-Powell had certain advantages in birth. We will not violently +uproot the family tree, nor will we go trudging over the broad acres +of early progenitors. I refer to the fact that his father was a +clergyman. To be a parson's son is the natural beginning of an +adventurous career; and, if we owe no greater debt to the Church of +our fathers, there is always this argument in favour of the +Establishment, that most of the men who have done something for our +Empire have first opened eyes on this planet in some sleepy old +rectory where roses bloom and rooks are blown about the sky. + +[Illustration: Professor Baden Powell. + From a Painting by Hartmann.] + +Mr. Baden-Powell, the father of our hero, was a man of great powers. +He was a renowned professor at Oxford, celebrated for his attainments +in theology and in physical science. But the peace-loving man of +letters died ere his boys had grown to youth, and, alas, the memory of +him is blurred and indistinct in their minds. They remember a quiet, +soft-voiced, tender-hearted man who was tall and of goodly frame, yet +had the scholar's air, about whose knees they would cluster and hear +enchanting tales, the plots of which have long since got tangled in +the red tape of life. He had, what all fathers should surely have, a +great love of natural history, and on his country walks would beguile +his boys with talk of animals, birds, and flowers, implanting in their +minds a love of the open and a study of field geology which has since +stood them in excellent stead. I like to picture this learned +professor, who was attacked by the narrow-minded Hebraists of his day +for showing, as one obituary notice remarked, that the progress of +modern scientific discovery, although necessitating modifications in +many of the still prevailing ideas with which the Christian religion +became encrusted in the times of ignorance and superstition, is in no +way incompatible with a sincere and practical acceptance of its great +and fundamental truths,--I like, I say, to picture this Oxford +professor on one of his walks bending over pebbles, birds' eggs, and +plants, with a troop of bright-eyed boys at his side. One begins to +think of the scent of the hedgerow, the shimmering gossamer on the +sweet meadows, the song of the invisible lark, the goodly savour of +the rich earth, and then to the mind's eye, in the midst of it all, +there springs the picture of the genial parson, tall and spare, +surrounded by his olive-branches, and perhaps with our hero, as one of +the late shoots, riding triumphant on his shoulder. It was his habit, +too, when composing profound papers to read before the Royal Society, +to let his children amuse themselves in his book-lined study, and who +cannot see the beaming face turned often from the written sheets to +look lovingly on his happy children? But, as I say, the memory of this +lovable man is blurred for his children, and the clearest of their +early memories are associated with their mother, into whose hands +their training came while our hero was still in frocks. + +[Illustration: Mrs. Baden-Powell. + From a Painting by Hartmann.] + +Mrs. Baden-Powell's maiden name was Henrietta Grace Smyth. Her father +was a sturdy seaman, Admiral W.H. Smyth, K.S.F., and fortunately for +her children she was trained in a school where neither Murdstone +rigour nor sentimental coddling was regarded as an essential. She was +the kind of mother that rears brave men and true. For discipline she +relied solely on her children's sense of honour, and for the +maintenance of her influence on their character she was content to +trust to a never-wavering interest in all their sports, occupations, +and hobbies. Her children were encouraged to bear pain manfully, but +they were not taught to crush their finer feelings. A simple form of +religion was inculcated, while the boys' natural love for humour was +encouraged and developed. In a word, the children were allowed to grow +up naturally, and the influence brought to bear upon them by this wise +mother was as quiet and as imperceptible as Nature intended it to be. +Dean Stanley, Ruskin, Jowett, Tyndall, and Browning were among those +who were wont to come and ply Mrs. Baden-Powell with questions as to +how she managed to keep in such excellent control half-a-dozen boys +filled to the brim with animal spirits. The truth is, the boys were +unconscious of any controlling influence in their lives, and how could +they have anything but a huge respect for a mother whose knowledge of +science and natural history enabled her to tell them things which +they did not know? In those days mothers were not content to commit +the formation of their children's minds to nursemaids and governesses. + +The eldest boy became a Chief Judge in India, and lived to write what +the _Times_ described as "three monumental volumes on the Land Systems +of British India." The second boy, Warington, of whom we shall have +more to say in the next chapter, went into the Navy, but left that +gallant Service to practise at the Bar, and now is as breezy a Q.C. as +ever brought the smack of salt-water into the Admiralty Court. The +third son, Sir George Baden-Powell, sometime member of Parliament for +Liverpool, had already entered upon a distinguished career when, to +the regret of all who had marked his untiring devotion to Imperial +affairs, his early death robbed the country of a loyal son. The other +brothers of our hero are Frank Baden-Powell, who took Honours at +Balliol, and is a barrister of the Inner Temple, as well as a noted +painter, and Baden F.S. Baden-Powell, Major in the Scots Guards, whose +war-kites at Modder River enabled Marconi's staff to establish +wireless telegraphy across a hundred miles of South Africa. Among +this family of young lions there was one little girl, Agnes, as keen +about natural history as the rest, to whom her brothers were as +earnestly and as passionately devoted as ever was Don Quixote to his +Dulcinea. + +And now to little Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell in +knickerbockers and Holland jerkin. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +HOME LIFE AND HOLIDAYS + + +Baden-Powell is now called either "B.-P." or "Bathing Towel." To his +family he has always been Ste. This name, a contraction of Stephenson, +was found for him by his big brothers in the days when home-made +soldiers and birds'-nesting were life's main business. + +Ste, who we must record was born at 6 Stanhope Street, London, on the +22nd February 1857, and had the engineer Robert Stephenson for one of +his godfathers, was educated at home until he was eleven years of age. +His parents had a great dread of overtaxing young brains, and lessons +were never made irksome to any of their children. Ste learned to +straddle a pony very soon after he had mastered the difficult business +of walking, and with long hours spent in the open in the lively +companionship of his brothers he grew up in vigorous and healthy +boyhood. He had an enquiring mind, and never seemed to look upon +lessons as a "fag." He was always "wanting to know," and there was +almost as much eagerness on the little chap's part to be able to +decline _mensa_ and conjugate _amo_ as he evinced in competing with +his brothers in their sports and games. Such was his gentle, placid +nature that the tutor who looked after his work loved to talk with +people about his charge, never tiring in reciting little instances of +the boy's delicacy of feeling and his intense eagerness to learn. Mark +well, Smith minor, that this is no little Paul Dombey of whom you are +reading. B.-P., so far as I can discover, never heard in the tumbling +of foam-crested waves on the level sands of the sea-shore any +mysterious message to his individual soul from the spirit world. He +was full of fun, full of the joy of life, and as "keen as mustard" on +adventures of any kind. His fun, however, was of the innocent order. +He was not like Cruel Frederick in _Struwwelpeter_, who (the little +beast!) delighted in tearing the wings from flies and hurling +brickbats at starving cats. Baden-Powell would have kicked Master +Frederick rather severely if he had caught him at any such mean +business. No, his fun took quite another form. He was fond of what you +call "playing the fool," singing comic songs, learning to play tunes +on every odd musical instrument he could find, and delighting his +brothers by "taking off" people of their acquaintance. B.-P., you must +know, is a first-rate actor, and in his boyhood it was one of his +chief delights to write plays for himself and his brothers to act. +Some of these plays were moderately clever, but all of them contained +a screamingly funny part for the low comedian of the company--our +friend Ste himself. + +Another of his amusements at this time was sketching. He got into the +habit of holding his pencil or paint-brush in the left hand, and his +watchful mother was troubled in her mind as to the wisdom of allowing +a possible Botticelli to play pranks with his art. One day Ruskin +called when this doubt was in her mind, and to him the question was +propounded. Without a moment's reflection he counselled the mother to +let the boy draw in whatsoever manner he listed, and together they +went to find the young artist at his work. In the play-room they +discovered one brother reading hard at astronomy, and Ste with a +penny box of water-colours painting for dear life--with his left hand. + +"Now I'll show you how to paint a picture," said Ruskin, and with a +piece of paper on the top of his hat and B.-P.'s penny box of paints +at his side he set to work, taking a little china vase for a model. +Both the vase and the picture are now in the drawing-room of Mrs. +Baden-Powell's London house. The result of Ruskin's advice was that +B.-P. continued to draw with his left hand, and now in making sketches +he finds no difficulty in drawing with his left hand and shading in at +the same time with his right. + +There is an incident of his childhood which I must not forget to +record. At a dinner-party at the Baden-Powells', when Ste was not yet +three years old, the guests being all learned and distinguished men, +such as Buckle and Whewell, Thackeray was handing Mrs. Baden-Powell +into dinner when he noticed that one of the little children was +following behind. This was the future scout of the British Army, and +the young gentleman, according to his wont, was just scrambling into a +chair when Thackeray, fumbling in his pocket, produced a new +shilling, and said in his caressing voice, "There, little one, you +shall have this shilling if you are good and run away." Ste quietly +looked up at his mother, and not until she told him that he might go +up to the nursery did he shift his ground. But he carried that +shilling with him, and now it is one of his most treasured +possessions. + +While he was doing lessons at home Baden-Powell gave evidence of his +bent. He was fond of geography, and few things pleased him more than +the order to draw a map. His maps, by the way, were always drawn with +his left hand, and were astonishingly neat and accurate. Then in his +spare hours, with scissors and paper, he would cut out striking +resemblances of the most noted animals in the Zoo, and +these--elephants and tigers, monkeys and bears--were "hung" by his +admiring brothers with due honour on a large looking-glass in the +schoolroom, there to amuse the juvenile friends of the family. He had +the knack, too, of closely imitating the various sounds made by +animals and birds, and one of his infant jokes was to steal behind a +person's chair and suddenly break forth "with conspuent doodle-doo." +And, again, when he was a little older, living at Rosenheim, I.W., +there was surely the future defender of Mafeking in the little chap in +brown Holland on the sands of Bonchurch digging scientific trenches +with wooden spade, and demonstrating to his governess the +impregnability of his sand fortress. With his sister and brother, +little Ste was once out with this governess on a country ramble near +Tunbridge Wells, when the governess discovered that she had walked +farther than she intended and was in strange country. Ste was elated. +But enquiry elicited the information that the party was not lost, and +that they could return home by a shorter route; then was Baden-Powell +miserable and cast down. He protested that he wanted the party to get +lost so that he could find the way home for them. + +[Illustration: B.-P. reflecting on the After-deck of the _Pearl_] + +A favourite holiday haunt was Tunbridge Wells, where Ste's grandfather +owned a spacious and a fair demesne. Here, with miles of wood for +exploration, brothers and sister were in their element. They would +climb into the highest chestnut trees in the woods, taking up hampers +and hay for the construction of nests, and at that exalted altitude +play all manner of wild and romantic games. And yet they would also +take up books into those cool branches and do lessons! Of Ste at this +period his governess remarks, "It gave him great pleasure to enter a +new rule in arithmetic"--an illuminative sentence, in which one sees +the governess as well as the child. + +It was here in Tunbridge Wells that Ste, with little Baden, now +Guardsman and inventor of war-kites, spent laborious days in +constructing a really serviceable dam in the river, digging there a +deep hole in order to make themselves a luxurious bathing-place. From +early infancy they had been taught to do for themselves. Master B.-P. +could dress and undress himself before he was three years old, and at +three he could speak tolerably well in German as well as English. The +children were encouraged to get knowledge as some other children are +encouraged to get bumptiousness; their parents delighted, and showed +the children their delight, whenever a child did something sensible +and clever; there was no unintelligent admiration of precocity. + +The boys dug their own gardens, and from five years of age each child +kept a most careful book of his expenditure by double entry. Their +pennies went chiefly in books and presents, and omnibuses for long +excursions out of London. There was no prohibition as to sweets, but +never a penny of these earnest young double-entry bookkeepers found +its way to the tuck-shop. However, a joke among the brothers was the +following constant entry in the book of one of them: "Orange, £0:0:1." +But no chaff was strong enough to correct that healthy appetite, and +"Orange, £0:0:1" went on through the happy years. + +At eleven years of age, Ste was packed off to a small private school, +and here he distinguished himself in the same manner, though of course +on a smaller scale, as Mr. Gladstone did at Eton. His moral courage, +coupled with his athletic prowess, made him the darling of the little +school, and the headmaster sorrowfully told his mother when the boy's +two years' schooling were over that he would thankfully keep him there +without fee of any kind, because by force of character the plucky +little fellow had raised the entire moral tone of the school. + +And now we come to what I regard as the most important part of our +hero's life. In the last chapter I said we should have to say +something about B.-P.'s big brother, the sailor, Warington, named +after his grandmother, who was a Warington of Waddon Park. The very +name Warington, even though it be spelled with a single 'r,' has an +inspiring sound, and while Thackeray lives will ever be linked with +all that is true and straightforward in the human heart. Imagine the +reverence felt for Warington by the young brothers when he came home +from a sea voyage! Not only were there the broad square shoulders, the +deep chest, and the bronzed face to compel admiration; but a masterful +and commanding manner withal, a stern eye and a rousing voice--and the +overwhelming and crushing fact that he was a British Naval officer! +Warington had been born ten years before Ste, and it is a mighty good +thing for B.-P. (and he would be the first to admit it) that this was +the case. For I believe that the resourcefulness of Baden-Powell is +the result of the early training which he received at the hands of +Warington; without that training he would have grown up a delightful +and an amusing fellow, but, I suspect, as so many delightful and +amusing people are, ineffective. And that is just what B.-P. is not. + +You must know that in the spring holidays the boys spent their days in +ranging field and copse "collecting," riding ponies, often with their +faces towards the tail-end, attending to their innumerable pets, and +doing a certain amount of reading of their own free will. Ste's study +was mainly history and geology, and it was his custom to embellish the +pages of the books he was reading with suitable illustrations as he +went along. With these amusements, and always a good many productions +of Ste's original comedies, the spring holidays slipped away +pleasantly enough. But in the summer holidays came Warington fresh +from the sea, with abounding energy and indomitable will, and +recreation then was of a sterner kind. + +Warington had designed a yacht, a smart 5-tonner, and in supreme +command of this little craft, with his brothers for the crew, and only +one hired hand for the dirty work, he took the schoolboys away from +the ease and comforts of home life to rough it at sea. They shipped as +seamen, and as seamen they lived. It was a case of "lights out" soon +after dusk, and then up again with the sun. This rule, however, was +not followed with comfortable regularity, for sometimes stress of +weather would find the little chaps tumbling out of their hammocks in +the dead of night, and clambering upon deck with knuckles rubbing the +sleep out of their eyes. All the work usually performed by seamen, +with the sole exception of cooking, was done by these little chaps, +and under the eagle eye of Warington it was well and truly done. Not +that they showed any disposition to shirk. On the contrary, a keener +crew was never shipped, but there was something in their knowledge +that the skipper's word was law, that there was no arguing about +orders, which must have given a certain polish to their work. +Warington, of course, was no petty tyrant, lording it over young +brothers, and swaggering in the undisputed character of his sway. Like +the rest he is a humourist, and when a gale was not blowing or the +yacht was not contesting a race, he was as full of merriment and good +spirits as the rest. His opinion of Ste at this time was a high one. +He was always, says he, "most dependable." Receiving his orders, the +future defender of Mafeking would stand as stiff and silent as a +rock, showing scarce a sign that he understood them, but the orders +were always carried out to the letter, and in a thoroughly finished +and seamanlike manner. Ste was always the tallest of his brothers, and +at this time he was singularly lithe and wiry. A tall slight boy with +quite fair hair, a brown skin, and sharp brown eyes, he possessed +extraordinary powers of endurance, and could always outlast the rest +of the brothers. He was quick to perceive the reason of an order, and +always quick to carry it out; he was just as brisk in organising +cruises on his own account, when, with the leave of Skipper Warington, +he would take command of the yacht's dinghy and go off on fishing +expeditions with Baden and Frank. It was a dinghy that moved quickly +with a sail, but in all their cruises up creeks and round about the +hulks of Portsmouth Harbour they never came to grief, and always +returned with a good catch of bass and mullet. + +Danger did come to the yacht itself, however, on more than one +occasion, and but for the courage and skill of Warington, the world +might never have heard of B.-P. and the other brothers. Once, in the +_Koh-i-noor_ (a 10-tonner with about eighteen tons displacement), +which was the second yacht designed by Warington, the boys were +cruising about the south coast, when, towards evening, just off +Torquay, a gale got up, and the sea began to get uncommon rough. As +the gale increased almost to a hurricane and the waves dashed a larger +amount of spray over the gunwale of the gallant little yacht, +Warington decided to change his course and run back to Weymouth. The +night was getting dark, and the storm increased. To add to the +anxieties of the skipper his crew of boys, though showing no funk, +began to grow green about the gills, and presently Warington found +himself in command of an entirely sea-sick crew. He was unable to +leave the helm, and for over thirty-one hours he stood there, giving +his orders in a cheerful voice to the groaning youngsters who were +more than once driven to the ship's drenched and dripping side. +Fortunately Warington knew the coast well, for it was much too dark to +see a chart, and so, despite the raging tempest, the 10-tonner fought +her way through the waves while the sea broke continually over her +side, drenching the shivering boys, who stuck to their posts, and +every now and then shouted to each other with chattering teeth that it +was "awful fun." + +As showing the resourcefulness of the crew, I may narrate another +yachting story. One Saturday, off Yarmouth, when the Baden-Powells +were thinking of a race for which they were entered on the following +Monday, a storm suddenly came on, which played such havoc with the +rigging that the mast was snapped in two, and the whole racing kit +went overboard. With clenched teeth the youngsters set to work and, +with many a long pull and a strong pull, got all the wreck on board. +Then with axes they slashed away at the wire-rigging, and set to work +to rig up a jury-mast. All Sunday they toiled--the spars on an +18-tonner are no child's play--and at last they were able to rig up a +jury-mast which would carry the mainsail with four reefs, while the +foresail was able to catch the wind of heaven with only two. On Monday +morning the yacht sailed out of Yarmouth fully rigged, and made off to +the regatta with as cheerful a crew as ever braved the elements. The +result of this labour was that the Baden-Powells, with a jury rig, won +a second prize, and came in for the warm commendation of wondering +and admiring sailors. + +As I have said, in these expeditions the boys did seamen's work. They +learned how to set sails, how to splice, how to reeve gear, how to +moor a ship, and make all ready for scrubbing the bottom. It was a +fine sight to see the healthy younkers, with trousers rolled over the +knee, ankles well under slate-coloured oozing mud, scrubbing away at +the bottom of the ship, and laughing and singing among themselves, +while the reflective Warington, pipe in mouth, looked on and +encouraged the toilers. + +All round the English coast sailed the Baden-Powells, fighting their +way to glory in regattas, and enjoying themselves from sunrise to +sunset. On racing days it was a case of "strictly to business," and +each boy had his proper station and knew well how to pull or slack out +ropes. On other days it was a case of fun and frolic, and here, of +course, B.-P. was the life and soul of the party. There were no +squabbles, no petty jealousies; never did the brothers throughout +their boyhood come to fisticuffs. But while there was perfect equality +among them and no favouritism was ever shown, Ste was regarded as the +prime comedian, and there was never any question that when theatricals +were the order of the day he should reign in supreme command. + +One of the houses taken by Mrs. Baden-Powell for the holidays was +Llandogo Falls, a most romantic place on the Wye, the property of Mr. +Gallenga, the Italian correspondent of the _Times_, who had previously +got mixed up in a deep political plot in Italy, whereby he gained many +useful secrets, but whereby, at the same time, he was obliged to flee +out of Italy and return to England. We fancy this story in its full +details must have appealed strongly to the imagination of +Baden-Powell, whose after-life, could it be fully written, would +satisfy the keenest appetite for daring, excitement, and romance. But +to return to Llandogo Falls. Mrs. Baden-Powell, her daughter, and all +the servants made the journey from London by means of the railway; but +to the boys the fastest of express trains would have seemed slow, and +accordingly Warington made ready his collapsible boat, and, rowing by +day and sleeping on board by night, these indefatigable youngsters +left London behind them, crossed the Severn, and, pulling up the Wye, +arrived at Llandogo Falls, the first intimation of their arrival to +Mrs. Baden-Powell being the sight of them dragging the boat over the +lawn to the stables. This feat succeeded in endearing them to the +Welsh people in the neighbourhood, who were greatly struck by the +courage of the boys in crossing the Severn in a collapsible boat. + +Here, at Llandogo Falls, the boys spent a great deal of time in riding +practically wild ponies, and even in those days Ste was famous for his +graceful seat, his quiet patience with an untractable steed, and his +daring in attempting difficult jumps. Besides riding, the boys were +fond of wandering about the country, making friends with the natives, +shooting birds to be presently stuffed by themselves and put in the +family museum, collecting rare insects, examining old ruins, and +rowing up the Wye to spend the afternoon in bathing or in fishing, +sometimes in both. + +In this simple, healthy, and thoroughly English fashion the +Baden-Powells spent their holidays, and in their home-life grew up +devoted to each other, and to the mother whose controlling influence +was over all their sports and occupations. It is interesting to note, +ere we leave the subject of early training, that no infliction of +punishment in any shape or form was permitted by Mrs. Baden-Powell. +Whether such a rule would work for good in all families is a question +that I for one, as a father of a young family, will never imperil my +reputation for consistency by answering with a dogmatic affirmative. +Nevertheless, one recognises the truth of Nietzsche's warning, "Beware +of him in whom the impulse to punish is powerful." In the case of the +Baden-Powells the proof of the pudding is in the eating, and you will +get none of them to say that their childhood was not a joyous period, +while Mrs. Baden-Powell will contend with any mother under Heaven that +never before were such honourable, straightforward, and gentle-minded +children. This home-life has never lost its charm, and though the sons +may be scattered over the world on the Queen's service, they come back +to exchange memories with each other under their mother's roof as +often as the exigencies of their professions will allow. And when +B.-P. is in the house, though his hair begins to flourish less +willingly on his brow, he is just like the boy of old, springing up +the stairs three steps at a time, and whistling as he goes with a +heartiness and a joyousness that astonishes the decorous ten-year-old +sparrow Timothy as he flits about the house after Miss Baden-Powell. + +I have in my possession a copy of Mr. Russell's monograph on Mr. +Gladstone, which had fallen into the hands of a grand old Tory parson. +The margins of those pages bristle with the vehement annotations of my +old friend. Against the statement that Mr. Gladstone had "a nature +completely unspoilt by success and prominence and praise," there is a +vigorous "OH!" Where it is recorded how in 1874 Mr. Gladstone promised +to repeal the income-tax, I find a pencil line and the contemptuous +comment, "A bribe for power!" Mr. Forster's resignation of office in +1882 is hailed with a joyful "Bravo, Forster!" and so on throughout +Mr. Russell's interesting book. But on the last page of all there are +three pencil lines marking a sentence, and by the side of the lines +the concession, "Yes--true." The sentence is this: "But the noblest +natures are those which are seen at their best in the close communion +of the home." + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +CARTHUSIAN + + +A gentleman once wrote to the late headmaster of Charterhouse, Dr. +William Haig-Brown, saying that he wished to have his son "interred" +at that school. The headmaster wrote back immediately saying he would +be glad to "undertake" the boy. The same headmaster being shown over a +model farm remarked of the ornamental piggery, built after the manner +of a Chinese Pagoda, that if there was Pagoda outside there was +certainly pig odour inside. + +Such a man as this is sure to have been impressed by the personality +of Master Ste, who, in 1870, came to him in the old Charterhouse, that +hoary, venerable pile which seems to shrink into itself, as if to shut +out the unpoetic and modern atmosphere of Smithfield Meat Market. +B.-P. went to Charterhouse as a gown boy, nominated by the Duke of +Marlborough, and owing to the ease with which his infant studies had +been conducted, was obliged to enter by a low form. But he had, as we +have already said, an enquiring mind. He had also a clear brain, all +the better for not having been crammed in childhood; and, therefore, +strong in body, full of health and good spirits, and just as keen to +get knowledge as to get a rare bird's egg, he began his school-days +with everything in his favour. The result was that 1874 found him in +the sixth, and one of the brilliant boys of his time. + +Dr. Haig-Brown, as we have said, was sure to have been impressed by +B.-P., and there is no need for his assurance that he remembers the +boy perfectly. Of course, when one sits in his medieval study and asks +the Doctor to discourse of B.-P., he begins by recalling Ste's love of +fun; indeed, it is with no great willingness that he leaves that view +of his pupil. But the boy's inflexibility of purpose, his uprightness +and his eagerness to learn are as equally impressed upon the +headmaster's mind, and he likes to talk about the exhilarating effect +which B.-P.'s virile character had upon the moral tone of the school. +"I never doubted his word," Dr. Haig-Brown told me, and by the tone of +the headmaster's voice one realised that B.-P. was just one of those +boys whose word it is impossible to doubt. A clean, self-respecting +boy. + +He was the life of the school in those entertainments for which +Charterhouse has always been famous, and his reputation as a wit +followed him from the stage into the playground. B.-P. was a keen +footballer, and whenever he kept goal there was always a knot of +grinning boys round the posts listening with huge delight to their +hero's facetię. He also had the habit, such were his animal spirits, +of giving the most nerve-fluttering war-whoop imaginable when rushing +the ball forward, and this cry is said to have been of so terrifying a +nature as to fling the opposing side into a state of fear not very far +removed from absolute panic. By the way, it is interesting in the +light of after-events to read in the school's _Football Annual_ (1876, +p. 30) that "R.S.S. B.-P. is a good goalkeeper, _keeping cool, and +always to be depended upon_." + +But it was not only at football that Baden-Powell spent his time in +the playground, although it was only in football that he shone. Into +every game he threw himself with zest and earnestness, playing hard +for his side, and finding himself always regarded by his opponents as +an enemy to be treated with respect. That he continued to play +cricket, racquets, and fives, although not a great success, is +characteristic of his devotion to sports, and his habit of doing what +is the right thing to do. Then he was a faithful and lively +contributor to the school magazine, added his lusty young voice to the +chapel choir, and was for ever seeking out excuses for getting up +theatricals. Of one of his performances at the end of the Long Quarter +in 1872 it is interesting to note that the _Era_ of that time remarked +that it was "full of vivacity and mischief." He was always a great +success as an old woman, and we shall see that in later days he played +a woman's part with huge success in far Afghanistan. At one of these +school entertainments big brother Warington was present, and he +laughingly recalls how the vast audience of shiny-faced boys broke +into a great roar of delight directly B.-P. appeared in the +wings--before he had uttered a word or made a grimace. Dr. Haig-Brown +and the other masters who remember B.-P. like to recall scenes of +this kind, and it is no disparagement of Ste's other sterling +qualities that they seem to have been more impressed by his excellent +fooling than by any other of his good qualities. It is the greater +tribute to his genius for acting. + +[Illustration: Rev. William Haig-Brown, LL.D. + Lombardi & Co., Photographers, 27, Sloane Street, S.W.] + +So long as the world lasts, I suppose, the intelligent boy who works +hard at school will play the clown's part in popular fiction. Tom +Sawyer is the kind of youth we like to see given the chief part in a +novel, while George Washington, we are all agreed, is fit target for +our lofty scorn. But how few of the people we love to read about in +the airy realm of fiction, or the still airier realm of history, +really possess our hearts? Think over the heroes in novels who would +be drawn in with both hands to the fireside did they step out from +between covers and present themselves at our front door in flesh as +solid as the oak itself. And the good boy in fiction is anathema. +Shakespeare himself believed that + + Love goes towards love, as schoolboys from their books; + +and the man is regarded almost as un-English who would have the world +believe that there are British boys for whom the acquisition of +knowledge has almost the same attraction as for their heroes in +fiction has the acquisition of somebody's apples, or the tormenting of +helpless animals. + +The fault is not with the world but with the silly writers of +goody-goody stories, who have so emasculated and effeminated the boy +who works hard and holds his head high that it is now well-nigh +impossible to hear of such an one in real life without instantly +setting him down as an intolerable prig. These writers have committed +the greatest crime against their creations that authors can +commit--they have made them non-human. If the stories about George +Washington had narrated how on one occasion he laughed uproariously, +or how he once ate too many mince-pies, he might have escaped the +lamentable and unjust reputation which seems likely to be his fate for +another ęon or two. That boys can be good and human everybody knows, +and the man who loves Tom Sawyer and sneers at Eric would be the first +to flog and abuse his son if he bore a closer resemblance to the +former than to the latter. + +Baden-Powell as a boy was delightful. A grin always hovered about his +face, and the Spirit of Fun herself looked out of his sharp, brown +eyes. He was for ever making "the other chaps" roar; keeping a +football field on the giggle; sending a concert-audience into fits. +But he was just the sort of schoolboy of whom there would be no +incidents to record. Men who knew him and lived with him in those days +remember him, perhaps, more distinctly than any other boy of their +time, and at the merest mention of his name their eyes twinkle with +delight. "Oh, old Bathing Towel. George! what a funny beggar he was. +Remember him? I should think I did. Stories about him? Well, I don't +remember any just now, but dear old Bathing Towel----!" and off they +go into another roar of laughter. All they can tell you is how he used +to act and recite, and play all manner of musical instruments, or, if +you drag them away from the stage, how he used to rend the air with +his terrible war-whoop at the critical moment in a football match. + +But although this is how it strikes a contemporary, Baden-Powell was +in deadly earnest when it was a matter of books and ink-pots. He might +be the funny man of the school, but he was also one of the most +brilliant. He gave his masters the impression of a boy who really +delighted in getting on; who was really keen about mastering a +difficult subject. His vivacity and freshness, his energy and vigour, +helped him to take pleasure in work which to another boy, less +physically blessed, would have been an irksome toil; but though his +body may have projected him some distance upon his way, it was his +soul that really carried him triumphantly through. The spirit of +Baden-Powell in those days was what it is now--supremely intent upon +beating down obstacles in his path, and resolute to do well whatever +the moment's duty might be. So the boy who was setting a football +field on the roar at one moment, at the next would be sitting with +fixed eyes and knit brows, "hashing" at Latin verses, as serious as a +leader-writer hurling his bolts at the European Powers. + +The master who best remembers B.-P. is Mr. Girdlestone, in whose house +our hero spent four years of his school-days. Looking back over the +past Mr. Girdlestone finds that what impressed him most in B.-P. +during his school-days was the boy's manner with his elders. He was +reserved, very reserved, and he never had any one close chum at +school; but apparently he was quite free of shyness, as he would +approach his masters without any trace of that timidity which too +often marks the commerce of boy with master. On an afternoon's walk, +for instance, B.-P. would not be found among the boys, but side by +side deep in conversation with his master. And these conversations, I +find, convinced his gubernators that he was very much above the +average cut of boy in intelligence; not (Heaven forbid!) that he made +parade of his little knowledge, but rather that he was eager to get +information in really useful subjects from his superiors, and not +above boldly declaring his eagerness. In those days Dr. Haig-Brown had +a great reputation for sternness, and it is said that even the masters +would sometimes quail when they entered his presence; but B.-P. was +perfectly at his ease and entirely self-possessed even in approaching +the presence of the great Doctor. He was never bashful in addressing a +master on new schemes for the benefit of the school, and it was solely +owing to his application to Mr. Girdlestone that Charterhouse first +started its string orchestra, which is now one of the best boys' bands +in the kingdom. Music, it seems, was one of his chief delights at +school, he played the violin really well; but while he loved that king +of instruments, he would stoop to baser, and oft delight his +contemporaries, holding them entranced, by spirited performances on +the mouth organ and the ocarina. + +With no close friend Baden-Powell was a boy without an enemy, and his +popularity may be seen in many ways. Although, for instance, he was +not successful in athletics, he was a regular member of the Sports +Committee, and worked with intense enthusiasm for the success of +Sports-Day. And, another instance; as a memento of their favourite, +the butler of B.-P.'s house and his wife saved a part of the dress he +wore in his last theatrical performance. When the news came of the +relief of Ladysmith this garment was drawn forth from the back of a +drawer and used as a flag of rejoicing, and as I write it is being +jealously guarded to be hung out from the school windows when the +little boy who wore it is delivered from his glorious prison of +Mafeking. + +This butler has a very vivid recollection of Baden-Powell. He +remembers him as a boy "up to mischief," but too much of a gentleman +ever to go beyond proper bounds. His mischief was of the harmless +nature, and he was never "shown up" for a row of any description. Many +a time did the observant butler come upon Baden-Powell in the House +Music Room practising his tunes; but not by any means in a dull and +unoriginal fashion. It was the boy's habit to take off his boots and +stockings, set a chair on a table, climb up to his perch, and from +thence draw forth melody of sorts with his ten toes. After this it is +surely a wonder that Baden-Powell in joining the army did not insist +upon doing Manual Exercise with his extremities. + +There is a story about Master Ste which clearly shows, I think, the +estimation in which he was held by the other boys. Who but a general +favourite could have played the following part? On Shrove Tuesday at +Charterhouse there was of old time a custom called the Lemon Peel +Fight. With every pancake the boys were given a lemon, or half a +lemon, and these were never eaten, being jealously reserved for the +great fight on the green outside after the pancakes had +unmysteriously disappeared. On one occasion, when the sides were drawn +up in grim battle array, facing each other lemon in hand, every boy as +dauntless as Horatius, Herminius, and Spurius Lartius, and just when +the signal for the conflict was to be given,--suddenly upon the scene +appeared Baden-Powell, swathed from head to foot in tremendous +padding, with nothing to be seen of his little brown face save the +bright, mischievous eyes peeping out of two slits. Rushing between the +two lines with a fearsome war-whoop, this alarming apparition squatted +suddenly upon the grass, and looking first on one army and then on the +other, said in the most nonchalant tone of voice: "Let the battle +commence!" + +From the battle-field one goes naturally to the butts. In some of the +newspaper articles concerning Baden-Powell it has been said that he +had nothing to do with the Rifle Corps. This is quite wrong. There was +nothing going on at Charterhouse into which Baden-Powell did not fling +himself with infinite zest, and shooting, of course, had special +attractions for a boy bred in the country and deep-learned in the +mysteries of field and covert. Not only did he take part in the +shooting, but he was an active member of the Shooting Committee. His +last score, shooting as a member of the School VIII. _versus_ the 6th +Regiment at Aldershot on 6th March 1876, was as follows:-- + + 200 yards 500 yards Total + 22 14 36 + +The school was beaten, and Sergeant B.-P. came out of the contest as +third best shot for Charterhouse. The day, says the historian, was +bitterly cold, and a violent and gusty wind blew across the range. +Seven shots were fired at each distance, class targets being used. + +If there is interest in Baden-Powell's score as a schoolboy-marksman, +how much greater interest should there be in Baden-Powell's hit as +orator? It is not always the ready actor who makes the best polemical +speech, but Baden-Powell had a reputation at Charterhouse as a debater +as well as fame as a mimic. That the boy was more than ordinarily +intelligent may even be seen in the abbreviated report of one of his +speeches preserved in the school magazine. The subject of debate was +that "Marshal Bazaine was a traitor to his country," and Baden-Powell +spoke against the motion. The report says that he "appeared to be +firmly convinced that the French plan of the war was to get the +Prussians between Sedan and Metz, and play a kind of game of ball with +them. By surrendering, Bazaine saved lives which would be of use +against the Communists. As there was only a government _de facto_ in +Paris he was compelled to act for himself." But even eloquence of this +order was not sufficient to persuade Charterhouse that Bazaine +deserved no censure. The motion was carried by a majority of 1. + +In those days, too, Baden-Powell was famous as an artist, and his +sketches, with the left hand, were admired and commented upon by +masters as well as boys. One can fancy with what great reverence B.-P. +the caricaturist must have looked upon Thackeray's pencil in the +Charterhouse Library--the pencil of the great man whose shilling he +was then hoarding with the jealousy of a miser. + +Baden-Powell's quality as a schoolboy may be judged by his later life. +Few things are so pleasant about him as his intense loyalty to his +old school. Before leaving India for England in 1898, he wrote to Mr. +Girdlestone, asking his old House Master to send to his London address +a list of all the interesting fixtures at Charterhouse, so that he +might see what was going on directly he arrived in England. Whenever +he is in the old country he pays a visit to Godalming, and one of his +last acts before leaving for South Africa was to call on Dr. +Haig-Brown at the Charterhouse, where he first went to school, to bid +his old Head a brave and cheerful farewell. And what was more English, +what more typical of the public-school man, than the letter B.-P. sent +to England from bombarded Mafeking, saying that he had been looking up +old Carthusians to join him in a dinner on Founder's Day? In India he +never allowed the 12th of December to pass unhonoured, and whether he +be journeying through the bush of the Gold Coast Hinterland, or riding +across the South African veldt, he is always quick to recognise the +face of an old schoolboy, or the Carthusian colours in a necktie. + +The estimation in which Charterhouse holds Baden-Powell may be seen in +the result of a "whip round" for the hero besieged in Mafeking--nearly +a hundred and forty cases of useful goods. These cases contained, among +other things, 962 lbs. of tobacco, 1200 cigars, 23,000 cigarettes, 640 +pipes, 160 dozens of wine and spirits, seven cases of provisions, 490 +shirts, 730 "helmets," 1350 pairs of socks, and 168 pairs of boots. In +addition to this over £1000 was raised by Old Carthusians to be sent +out in its own useful shape. + +Popularity such as this has been justly earned. Baden-Powell's record +as a Carthusian will, as we have seen, bear looking into, and though +the old school may boast of more brilliant scholars and more +world-wide names on its roll, I do not think it has ever sent into the +world a more useful all-round man, a more intrepid soldier, a more +upright gentleman, and a more loyal son. And one knows that there is +no British cheer so likely to touch the heart of Baden-Powell when he +returns to England as the great roar which will assuredly go up in +Charterhouse when this Old Boy comes beaming into the Great Hall. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE DASHING HUSSAR + + +When Baden-Powell turned his back on Charterhouse it was with the +intention of proceeding to Oxford. Professor Jowett, who, by the bye, +was the godfather of Baden, begged our hero to pay him a visit as soon +as he left school, and when on this visit the Master heard that B.-P. +could only spare two years for Oxford, he said, "Then Christ Church is +the college for you, because at Balliol I like each man to remain +three or four years, and go in for honours finally." So Ste made plans +for going to Christ Church, was examined, accepted for the following +term, and Dean Liddell arranged about rooms for him in the House. But +ere B.-P. went up, an Army examination came on, and, "just for fun," +up went our indefatigable hero with a light heart and no other thought +in his mind than the determination to do his level best. The result +of this happy-go-lucky entrance for examination was the unlooked-for +success of our "unbruised youth with unstuffed brain," who passed +second out of seven hundred and eighteen candidates, among whom, by +the way, were twenty-eight University candidates. As a reward for his +brilliancy, B.-P. was informed by the Duke of Cambridge that his +commission would be ante-dated two years. + +Until this memorable event Baden-Powell had expressed no special +predilection for soldiering. His chief desire had been to go in for +some profession that would take him abroad and show him the world. The +first service which seemed to attract him definitely at all was the +Indian Woods and Forests, and this chiefly on account of a burning +desire to roam about the gorgeous East. It was only when an elder +brother suggested that, if he wanted to see India and other countries +as well, he might be better suited in the Army, that this born soldier +gave any indication of his desire for a military career. And only with +the Army examination successfully conquered did he seriously begin to +think of uniforms and swords and the glamour of a soldier's life. + +On the 11th September 1876 Baden-Powell joined the 13th Hussars in +India, and one of his first acts was to take from his baggage an +ocarina, and having assembled all the European children he could find +in the station, to march at their head through the streets of Lucknow, +playing with great feeling, which suffered, however, a little from his +all-comprehensive grin, "The Girl I Left Behind Me." In this manner he +signalised his arrival, earning the undying love of every English +mother in the place, and infusing into the gallant 13th Hussars +(_Viret in Ęternum!_) fresh vigour and fresh spirit. + +The 13th Hussars, Sir Baker Russell's old regiment, boasts a fine +record, and the songs in the canteen at night will tell you how the +regiment rode on the right of the line at Balaclava, when it was known +to fame as the 13th Light Dragoons. One of these songs begins:-- + + Six hundred stalwart warriors, of England's pride the best, + Did grasp the lance and sabre on Balaclava's crest, + And with their trusty leader, Lord Cardigan the brave, + Charged up to spike the Russian guns--or find a soldier's grave. + +And the refrain, which every man present sings with a face as solemn +as my Lord Chancellor sitting on the Woolsack half an hour longer +than usual, runs in this fashion:-- + + Oh, 'tis a famous story; proclaim it far and wide, + And let your children's children re-echo it with pride, + How Cardigan the fearless his name immortal made, + When he crossed the Russian valley with his famous Light Brigade. + +This is the great glory of the regiment, the knowledge of which makes +the recruit blow his chest out another inch and straightway purchase +out of his pay spurs that jingle more musically when he goes abroad +than the miserable things served out by an unromantic Government. +Other legends there are in this regiment, and once Baden-Powell and +his great friend, Captain MacLaren (known to the officers as "The +Boy," to the men as "The Little Prince"), set about compiling its +history; but for some reason or another that work has not yet +appeared, and since its inception B.-P. has deserted to the +Dragoons--_Vestigia nulla retrorsum!_ + +Baden-Powell became popular with his brother-officers directly he +joined. It was his freshness, his overflowing good spirits, his hearty +and unmistakable enjoyment of life, that first won their regard. The +boy suddenly dropped into their midst was no blasé youth, no mere +swaggering puppy. He was afire with the joy of existence, radiant with +happiness, excited--and not ashamed to show it--by all the newness and +fascination of Indian life. The Major screwed his eye-glass into his +eye and smiled encouragingly; the Adjutant measured him with peg to +his lip and knew he would do. Every one felt that the new sub was an +acquisition. + +But it must not be supposed that there was any "bounce" about the new +boy. Apart from his breeding and training, which would effectually +prevent a man from committing the unpardonable sin of the social +world, Baden-Powell by nature was, and still is, a little bashful. +There are people who pooh-pooh the very idea of such a thing, and +declare that the man they have heard act and sing and play the fool is +no more nervous than a bishop among curates. Nevertheless they are +wrong; and your humble servant entirely right. B.-P., like the other +members of his family, suffers from nervousness, and when he goes on +the stage to act, and sits down at the piano to "vamp," it is a sheer +triumph of will over nerves. He is not nervous under the wide and +starry sky, not bashful when he pricks his horse into the long grass +of the veldt and bears down upon a bunch of bloodthirsty savages, not +nervous when he gets a child on his knee all by himself and tells her +delightful stories,--but nervous as a boy on his first day at school +when he finds himself being lionised in a drawing-room, or picked out +of the ruck of guests for any particular notice. And so when he joined +the 13th, behind the ebullient spirits was this innate bashfulness, +which, added to the natural modesty of a gentleman, kept his animal +spirits in a delightful simmer, and found favour for him in the eyes +of his superior officers. How they discovered B.-P.'s quality as a +humourist happened in this way. A day or two after he joined there was +an entertainment of some sort going on in barracks, and during a pause +Sir Baker Russell turned round to Baden-Powell, and said, "Here, young +'un, you can play a bit, I'm sure"; and up went Baden-Powell to the +piano, as if obeying an order. In a few minutes the whole place was in +a roar, and, as one of the officers told me, the regiment recognised +that in B.-P. they had got "a born buffoon, but a devilish clever +fellow." + +[Illustration: The Dashing Hussar. + (B.-P. at 21.)] + +Concerning B.-P. as an actor, it is characteristic of the +thoroughness with which he does everything that he always draws and +redraws any character he may be playing until he is perfectly +satisfied with the dress and make-up; some of these drawings have been +captured by his brother-officers, and are greatly treasured. + +Soon after joining he began to show his quality as a sportsman. In +that regiment of fine riders it has always been hard to shine at polo +or tent-pegging, or heads-and-posts, but there was no mistaking the +perfect horseman in B.-P. when he got into the saddle, with the eyes +of the regiment upon him. Few men ride more gracefully. His seat, of +course, is entirely free from that ramrod stiffness which some of the +Irregular Cavalry cultivate with such painful assiduity; he sits +easily and gracefully, so easily that you might fancy a rough horse +would set him bobbing and slipping like a cockney astride a donkey on +the sands. But with all the ease and grace, there is strength there, +such as would wear down the nastiest of bad brutes. The leg that looks +so lightly and gracefully posed grips like steel, and the pressure +increases relentlessly the more the horse quarrels with his rider. +Many a time has Baden-Powell taken in hand young horses which have +defied the efforts of the rough-riding Sergeant-Major, and so far as I +can gather there was never a case of the horse beating the rider. His +skill as a breaker of horses deserves especial mention because of the +characteristic manner in which it is done. By simply sticking in the +saddle, and gripping with his legs, he wears down the horse's +opposition, silently matching his powers of endurance against the +tricks and tempers of the unruly member. Seldom does whip or spur come +into play when Baden-Powell is fighting for the mastery with an +undisciplined horse. + +But while he was proving himself a good sportsman, B.-P. was getting +to know about soldiering, paying great attention to regimental work +and loyally working to please his captains. Not only did he devote +himself to the ordinary routine of regimental work, but in spare +moments he began to read up special subjects, and it seems only +natural that one of the first of these subjects should be Topography. +The result of this labour was that in 1878 Baden-Powell passed the +Garrison Class, taking a First Class and Extra Certificate (Star) for +Topography. During the lectures he distinguished himself by making +inimitable caricatures, for which he was sometimes taken to task by +the authorities. Also he could not help poking fun at the examiners in +the papers themselves. Asked, "Do you know why so-and-so, and +so-and-so?" Baden-Powell would write an interrogative "No." + +After distinguishing himself in this way, B.-P. came back to England, +in order to go through the Musketry Course at Hythe. Here he did +equally well, taking a First Class Extra Certificate, and a year after +we find him as Musketry Instructor at Quetta. But this book is not +intended to be a "biography" of Baden-Powell, and I shall beg leave to +relate no chronological record of his military career. We are telling +his story as a story, hoping to interest every English schoolboy who +has arrived at years of discretion, hoping to make them keen on sport, +keen on exercise, keen on open-air life, and hoping, in addition, to +be of real practical use to those whose eyes are now set hungrily on +Sandhurst. + +In a later chapter it will be seen how Baden-Powell interested himself +in his men's welfare, and how he encouraged them to become real +soldiers--learned in things other than mere boot-cleaning and +button-polishing. Here we behold him as the gay and dashing Hussar, a +bold sportsman, a keen soldier, and one of the most popular men in +India. + +His popularity, it is only fair to say, was earned very largely by +that gift for acting which had won him fame as a schoolboy. Whispers +that he was going to act in the _Area Belle_, or one of Gilbert and +Sullivan's operas, travelled with amazing rapidity from station to +station in India, and every performance in which he took part was +attended by all the Europeans for miles round. Indeed his fame as an +actor travelled so far afield that the manager of a London theatre +wrote to him in India offering our astonished hero a position in his +company at a salary of ten pounds a week! There is never an occasion +when B.-P. is not willing to get up theatricals. A few months after +the siege of Kandahar he arranged for a performance of _The Pirates of +Penzance_ in that barbarous city, making himself responsible for the +entire management. The dresses were excellent, the stage and scenery +good, and the opera was received with intense enthusiasm; and yet +there was not a single European woman there; all the dresses and +costumes were the work of B.-P., who himself appeared in the character +of Ruth! On another occasion, when _Trial by Jury_ was to be given, it +was discovered at the last moment, to the consternation of every one +except B.-P., that there were no Royal arms. In a few hours he +produced what I am assured was the most splendid and gorgeous national +emblazonry that ever sparkled behind footlights. He had collected a +few crude paints from the natives of the district, and had painted the +arms with an old shaving-brush. Such is his resourcefulness. And what +of his enthusiasm? When he was home in England on sick-leave he sent +out to the 13th Hussars the book of _Les Cloches de Corneville_, with +excellent sketches of the dresses and hints as to its staging. Again, +he has been known to get off a sick-bed in India in order to take part +in some entertainment for the amusement of soldiers. + +It was shortly after the successful performance of _The Pirates of +Penzance_, and after the evacuation of Kandahar, that Baden-Powell +very nearly succeeded in putting an end to himself. He was toying with +a pistol, in the firm conviction that it was unloaded, when, to his +intense indignation, the thing went off and planted a bullet in the +calf of his leg. It might have been a more romantically dangerous +wound, but it was quite sufficiently uncomfortable. Even now, on any +serious change in the weather, B.-P. is unpleasantly reminded of this +adventure in far Afghanistan by rebellious throbbing in the old wound. + +On his return from Kandahar Baden-Powell was appointed Adjutant and +Musketry Inspector to his regiment, and he is spoken of by one who was +himself adjutant of this fine regiment for many years as one of the +best adjutants in the world. Shortly after this his uncle, General +Smyth, Commandant at Woolwich, offered him the tempting appointment of +A.D.C., but Baden-Powell preferred India and his regiment, and +declined. Life in India suited Master Ste. It provided him with a +great deal of real soldiering, much sport, and made him acquainted +with one of the most fascinating countries in the world. After he got +his troop, he became Brigade-Major to Sir Baker Russell's Cavalry +Brigade at Meerut Camp of Exercise, and was appointed Station +Staff-Officer and Cantonment Magistrate at Muttra. With all these +duties he found time for sketching and writing, publishing +_Reconnaissance and Scouting_, and sending many interesting sketches +to the _Graphic_. It may not be out of place here to mention that +Baden-Powell, among other parts, has played the War Correspondent, +working once in that character for the _Daily Chronicle_, and with +considerable success. + +That Baden-Powell was a marked man early in his career is attested by +the fact of his being chosen as a member of the Board for formulating +Cavalry regulations at Simla in 1884. He was eminently a business-man, +a managing man, and all his work in the army has been marked by those +excellent qualities which go to the making of our great merchant +princes. He is shrewd, practical, and what he says is always to the +point. His despatches are admirable examples of what such documents +should be, never saying a word too much, and yet leaving his meaning +clear-cut and unmistakable. For such work he finds a model in the +despatch of Captain Walton, who, under Admiral Byng, destroyed the +entire Spanish fleet off Passaro: "Sir,--We have taken or destroyed all +the Spanish ships on this coast; number as per margin.--Respectfully +yours, G. Walton, _Captain_." Says Baden-Powell, "There is no +superfluous verbosity there." + +But do not let us lose sight altogether of Baden-Powell as the +whimsical humourist. There are two stories in the regiment which +reveal him in this light very nicely. He was once walking with a +friend on the esplanade of some English seaside place, and the day was +piping hot. Suddenly, without explanation of any kind, B.-P. sat +himself down on the kerb, placed his billycock hat solemnly on his +knees, and buried his face in a flaming red handkerchief. This +unprecedented sight stirred the depths of the one and only policeman's +heart, and he strode valiantly across the road, prepared to do his +duty at all costs. Touching B.-P. upon the shoulder with his white +cotton glove, the constable demanded, in a deep voice, "Arnd, whaät's +the matter wi' you, eh?" Slowly removing the handkerchief from his +eyes, and with a perfectly solemn face, B.-P. explained that he had +just at that moment tumbled out of his nurse's arms and that the silly +woman had gone on without noticing it. And the other story: being told +rather rudely at a picture exhibition in Manchester that he must go +back to the hall and leave his stick with the porter, B.-P. walked +briskly away, but presently returned, with his stick, hobbling +painfully along--a man to whom a walking-stick was veritably a staff +of life. The rude official bit his lip and looked the other way. + +When the regiment was at Muttra, Baden-Powell lived in a house which +boasted a very large compound, and this he dignified by the name of +"Bloater Park." At that time it was the habit to speak about men as +"this old bloater" and "that old bloater," and the expression so +tickled B.-P. that he adopted the name for his lordly compound. +Letters would actually reach him from England solemnly addressed to +Bloater Park. + +Life at this time--if we except the 1887 operations against Dinizulu +in Africa, when B.-P. was Assistant Military Secretary, and commanded +a column in attack--was for the most part humdrum, and only enlivened +by theatricals and shooting expeditions. But B.-P. was ever interested +in his men, and planned sports and entertainments for them, which +always kept him fully occupied. A friend of his going to call on him +in Seaforth, where B.-P. was commanding a squadron, was astonished to +find a Maypole in the centre of the dingy barrack square, round which +mounted men rode merrily, each with a coloured ribbon in his hand. On +questioning the commander, the visitor discovered that there was a +deserving charity in Liverpool, and that B.-P. was getting up a +military display on its behalf. + +Before leaving this subject, let us mention that Baden-Powell was +Brigade-Major to the Heavy Brigade at the Jubilee Review of 1887, that +he was sent by Lord Wolseley to arrange about machine guns for cavalry +use at Aldershot, that he was Secretary to the British Commission at +Swaziland in 1888, and in the same year was elected a member of the +United States Cavalry Association. One of his most important staff +appointments was that of Assistant Military Secretary to the Governor +of Malta, where his work for the amelioration of the soldiers' and +sailors' lives produced lasting benefits. + +His work as a regimental officer will be more fully dealt with in a +later chapter. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +HUNTER + + +"The longest march seems short," says Baden-Powell, "when one is +hunting game." Many a time, when he has been marching either alone or +with troops, his clothes in tatters, his shoes soleless, and his mouth +as dry as a saucer licked by a cat, many and many a time has he got +out from under the impending shadow of depression, out into the open +sunlight with his rifle,--to forget all about hunger and thirst in +matching his wits against nature's. This kind of wild sport has an +absorbing interest for Baden-Powell. What he would say if invited to +hunt a tame deer, lifted by human arms out of a cart, kicked away from +playing with the hounds and pushed and beaten into an astonished and +bewildered gallop, neither you nor I must pretend to know; but for +that kind of "sport" it is very certain he would express no such +enthusiasm as he does for the keen, wild, dangerous sport of the +legitimate hunter. He will not seek the destruction of any quarry that +is not worthy of his steel; he likes to go against that quarry where +there are obstacles and dangers for him, and opportunities of escape +for the creature he pursues. He is a sportsman, not a butcher; +mole-catching never stirred the blood in his veins. + +And while he is hunting animals he is educating himself as a scout. +His whole attention becomes riveted on the game he is pursuing; he +studies the spoor, takes account of the nature of the country, and +makes a note in his mind of any observations likely to be of service +during a campaign in that kind of country. It is not the work of +destruction itself that makes Baden-Powell a keen sportsman. + +In the midst of the Matabele war, just as the weary, half-starved +horses which had carried his men eighty-seven miles drew near the +stronghold of Wedza, Baden-Powell was exhilarated by a meeting with a +lion. In his diary against that date he wrote: "To be marked with a +red mark when I can get a red pencil." The incident is well related +in his diary and is a characteristic of B.-P. It runs: "Jackson and a +native boy accompanied me scouting this morning; we three started off +at three in the morning, so that by dawn we were in sight of one of +the hills we expected might be occupied by Paget, and where we hoped +to see his fires. We saw none there; but on our way, in moving round +the hill which overlooks our camp, we saw a match struck high up near +the top of the mountain. This one little spark told us a great deal. +It showed that the enemy were there; that they were awake and alert (I +say 'they,' because one nigger would not be up there by himself in the +dark); and that they were aware of our force being at Possett's (as, +otherwise, they would not be occupying that hill). However, they could +not see anything of us, as it was then quite dark; and we went farther +on among the mountains. In the early morning light we crossed the deep +river-bed of the Umchingwe River, and, in doing so, we noticed the +fresh spoor of a lion in the sand. We went on, and had a good look at +the enemy's stronghold; and on our way back, as we approached this +river-bed, we agreed to go quietly, in case the lion should be moving +about in it. On looking down over the bank, my heart jumped into my +mouth when I saw a grand old brute just walking in behind a bush. +Jackson could not see him, but was off his horse as quick as I was, +and ready with his gun; too ready, indeed, for the moment that the +lion appeared, walking majestically out from behind the bush that had +hidden him, Jackson fired hurriedly, striking the ground under his +foot, and, as we afterwards discovered, knocking off one of his claws. +The lion tossed up his shaggy head and looked at us in dignified +surprise. Then I fired and hit him in the ribs with a leaden bullet +from my Lee-Metford. He reeled, sprang round, and staggered a few +paces, when Jackson, who was firing a Martini-Henry, let him have one +in the shoulder; this knocked him over sideways, and he turned about, +growling savagely. I could scarcely believe that we had actually got a +lion at last, but resolved to make sure of it; so, telling Jackson not +to fire unless it was necessary (for fear of spoiling the skin with +the larger bullet of the Martini), I got down closer to the beast, and +fired a shot at the back of his neck as he turned his head away from +me. This went through his spine, and came out through the lower jaw, +killing him dead." + +It was during the Matabele campaign that Baden-Powell came across a +fine wild boar, which, he remarks, caused quite a flutter in his +breast. "'If I only had you in the open, my friend,' thought I. 'If +only you had a horse that was fit enough to come anywhere near me,' +grinned he. And so we parted." A graphic incident. + +It is in hunting the wild boar that Baden-Powell has a universal +reputation as a sportsman. He is good, very good, at all sports, but +it is as a pig-sticker that he excels, and stands out clear-cut from +the rest. And pig-sticking is the sport of all sports which entail the +killing of animals in which we could wish him to excel. Hear Major +Moray Brown on the subject of fox _versus_ pig: "You cannot compare +the two sports together. To begin with, in fox-hunting you are +dependent on 'scent.' Granted the excitement of a fast burst over a +grass country, and that you are well carried by your horse, the +end--what is it? A poor little fox worried by at least forty times its +number of hounds. Has he a chance, bar his cunning, of baffling his +pursuers? No. Now, how different is the chase of the boar of India! +There you must depend on _yourself_ in every way, and at the end your +quarry meets you on nearly fair and equal terms." Let it be remembered +that the boar is an animal of great reputation among beasts. It is a +well-ascertained fact, says Baden-Powell, that of all animals the boar +does not fear to drink at the same pool with a tiger; nay, a case is +on record of his having taken his drink with a tiger on each side of +him. In his book on pig-sticking Baden-Powell quotes an exciting +description of a battle between a tiger and a boar, a battle which +will give English readers a vivid idea of the boar's pluck and +doggedness. The narrative is as follows: "When the boar saw the tiger +the latter roared. But the old boar did not seem to mind the roar so +very much as might have been anticipated. He actually repeated his +'hoo! hoo!' only in a, if possible, more aggressive, insulting, and +defiant manner. Nay, more, such was his temerity that he actually +advanced with a short, sharp rush in the direction of the striped +intruder. Intently peering through the indistinct light, we eagerly +watched the development of this strange _rencontre_. The tiger was +now crouching low, crawling stealthily round and round the boar, who +changed front with every movement of his lithe and sinewy adversary, +keeping his determined head and sharp, deadly tusks ever facing his +stealthy and treacherous foe. The bristles of the boar's back were up +at a right angle from the strong spine. The wedge-shaped head poised +on the strong neck and thick rampart of muscular shoulder was bent +low, and the whole attitude of the body betokened full alertness and +angry resoluteness. In their circlings the two brutes were now nearer +to each other and nearer to us, and thus we could mark every movement +with greater precision. The tiger was now growling and showing his +teeth; and all this, that takes such a time to tell, was but the work +of a few short minutes. Crouching now still lower, till he seemed +almost flat on the ground, and gathering his sinewy limbs beneath his +lithe, lean body, he suddenly startled the stillness with a loud roar, +and quick as lightning sprang upon the boar. For a brief minute the +struggle was thrilling in its intense excitement. With one swift, +dexterous sweep of the strong, ready paw, the tiger fetched the boar +a terrific slap right across the jaw, which made the strong beast +reel; but with a hoarse grunt of resolute defiance, with two or three +sharp digs of the strong head and neck, and swift, cutting blows of +the cruel, gashing tusks, he seemed to make a hole or two in the +tiger's coat, marking it with more stripes than Nature had ever +painted there; and presently both combatants were streaming with gore. +The tremendous buffet of the sharp claws had torn flesh and skin away +from off the boar's cheek and forehead, leaving a great ugly flap +hanging over his face and half blinding him. The pig was now on his +mettle. With another hoarse grunt he made straight for the tiger, who +very dexterously eluded the charge, and, lithe and quick as a cat +after a mouse, doubled almost on itself, and alighted clean on the +boar's back, inserting his teeth above the shoulders, tearing with his +claws, and biting out great mouthfuls of flesh from the quivering +carcase of his maddened antagonist. He seemed now to be having all the +best of it, so much so that the boar discreetly stumbled and fell +forward, whether by accident or design I know not, but the effect was +to bring the tiger clean over his head, sprawling clumsily on the +ground. I almost shouted 'Aha, now you have him!' for the tables were +turned. Getting his forefeet on the tiger's prostrate carcase, the +boar now gave two or three short, ripping gashes with his strong white +tusks, almost disembowelling his foe, and then exhausted seemingly by +the effort, apparently giddy and sick, he staggered aside and lay +down, panting and champing his tusks, but still defiant with his head +to the foe." But the tiger, too, was sick unto death, and the end of +this battle-royal was that he who saw it emptied the contents of both +his barrels into the two stricken belligerents, and put them out of +their agony. + +[Illustration: "Beetle."] + +It is against such a fierce, resolute, and well-armed enemy that +Baden-Powell loves to match his strength and cunning. Mounted on his +little fourteen-hand Waler, in pith solar topee, grey Norfolk jacket, +light cords, and brown blucher boots, and grasping in his hand his +deadly seventy-inch spear, he goes forth to slay the wild boar, with +all the feelings of romance and knightliness which some people think +vanished from the world when Excalibur sank in the Lake of Lyonnesse. +It is a battle whereof no man need be ashamed; in which only the +strong man can glory. Many a time has the wild boar hurled his great +head and mountainous shoulders against the forelegs of a horse, +bringing the hunter to the ground for mortal combat on foot. Many a +time has the novice, who went out as gaily and contemptuously as the +fox-hunter, returned to his bungalow cut and gored on a stretcher. He +who goes up against the wild boar must, in Baden-Powell's words, "have +matured not only the 'pluck' which brings a man into a desperate +situation, but that 'nerve' which enables him to carry the crisis to a +successful issue." + +When Baden-Powell returned to India from Afghanistan in 1882, he +became an enthusiastic pig-sticker (for reasons which we shall give in +our chapter on Scouting), and during that year he killed no fewer than +thirty-one pigs. In the following year he killed forty-two, and won +the blue-ribbon of hog-hunting--the Kadir Cup. Two years afterwards he +wrote and illustrated the standard book on pig-sticking (published by +Messrs. Harrison and Sons), which is as famous a book in India as Mr. +H.S. Thomas's delightful books on fishing. + +Hunting the boar takes place early in the morning and again in the +evening, so that men find themselves with nothing to do for the +greater part of the day. This time is usually spent in the tent +sketching, dozing, and reading, with occasional "goes" of claret cup. +But it is characteristic of Baden-Powell that he should give useful +advice concerning these waste hours. "If you prefer not to waste this +time altogether," he says, "it is a good practice to take a few books +and dictionary of any foreign language you may wish to be learning." +Again, his character as a thoughtful man may be seen in the warning he +gives novices against ill-treating villagers, or allowing the shikaris +to do so. "Shouting and cursing at a coolie already dumbfoundered at +the very sight of a white man is not the way to clear his +understanding." His remark that native servants under cover of their +master's prestige will frequently tyrannise over the villagers reminds +me of a story which I cannot forbear to tell. A bridge had been thrown +over a river in some outlandish part of India, and his work done, the +Englishman in charge was returning to more civilised regions. Just +before turning his back on the scene of his labours he inquired of a +villager whether he was pleased with the bridge. The man expressed +voluble admiration for the sahib's great skill, but lamented the high +toll that was charged for crossing the bridge. "Toll!" exclaimed the +Briton, "why, there's no toll at all; the bridge is free to +everybody." But the native still protesting that a charge was made, +and saying that a notice to that effect was written up in big English +letters, the engineer went down to the bridge himself to investigate +the mystery. There he discovered his own servant sitting at the +receipt of custom, with a flaming advertisement of Beecham's Pills +pasted on to a board over his head, to which he pointed as his +authority when questioned by rebellious natives. + +Baden-Powell tells an amusing story of an impromptu boar hunt. "At a +grand field-day at Delhi, in the presence of all the foreign +delegates, in 1885, a boar suddenly appeared upon the scene and +charged a Horse Artillery gun, effectually stopping it in its advance +at a gallop by throwing down two of the horses. The headquarters staff +and the foreign officers were spectators of this deed, and hastened to +sustain the credit of the Army by seizing lances from their orderlies +and dashing off in pursuit of the boar, who was now cantering off to +find more batteries on which to work his sweet will. The staff, +however, were too quick for him, and, after a good run and fight, he +fell a victim to their attentions, amidst a chorus of _vivas_, +_sacrés_, and _houplas_." + +The pig is a born fighter. From his early infancy he learns the use of +butting, and perceives, at an age when civilised piggies are just +beginning to root up one's orchard, that his growing tusks are meant +for other uses than those of mere captivation. Little "squeakers" have +been watched by B.-P. having a regular set-to together, while the +older members of their family sat in a pugilistic ring grinning +encouragement. Once Baden-Powell managed to secure a baby pig, and +kept him in his compound, just as he had kept rabbits and guinea-pigs +in England. To watch this squeaker practising "jinking" from a tree +("jinking" is "pig-sticking" for jibbing), and charging ferociously at +an old stump, was one of our hero's pet amusements for many weeks. + +Although dogs are not regularly used in hunting the wild boar they are +sometimes employed for scouting in a particularly thick jungle, and +Baden-Powell frequently went to work of this kind with a half-bred +fox-terrier. He regards as one of the joys of true sport the bending +of animals' wills to his own, and while in this respect the horse +ranks highest in his estimation, he is always glad to work with a keen +dog. Beetle, the fox-terrier, was just such a dog as Baden-Powell +would like; he was quick, full of intelligence, a complete stranger to +fear, and moreover he had an individuality of his own. When B.-P. +started off for the haunt of his quarry, Beetle would sit with an air +of great dignity in the front of the saddle, keeping a sharp look-out +for signs of pig. At a likely spot the little dog would jump nimbly +from the saddle and plunge boldly into the jungle. Then a sharp yap +would reach the ears of B.-P., then a smothered growl, a crashing of +twigs and branches, and at last, with a floundering dash, out came the +boar, struggling into his stride with Beetle at his heels. "In the run +which followed," says Baden-Powell, "the little dog used to tail along +after the hunt, and, straining every sense of sight and hearing as +well as of smell to keep to the line, always managed to be in at the +death, in time to hang on to the ear of a charging boar, or to apply +himself to the back end of one who preferred sulking in a bush." And +in the end it was a change of climate, at Natal, that killed the +gallant-hearted Beetle. He died with a tattered ear, a drooping +eyelid, an enlarged foot, and twelve scars on his game little +body--all honourable mementos of innumerable fights with the dreaded +boar. + +As showing Baden-Powell's prowess as a hunter we may mention some of +the stuffed animals in the hall of his mother's house, all of which +have fallen to our hero: Black Bucks, Ravine Deer, Gnu, Inyala, Eland, +Jackal, Black Bear, Hippopotamus (a huge skull), Lion, Tiger, and Hog +Deer. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +SCOUT + + +All hardy exercise is good for a soldier, but in pig-sticking +Baden-Powell found a sport which, in addition to its effect upon the +nerves and sinews, gives a man what is called a "stalker's eye," and +that, says B.-P., is _par excellence_ the soldier's eye. It was this +that made B.-P. an enthusiastic hunter of the wild boar. "Without +doubt," he exclaims, "the constant and varied exercise of the +inductive reasoning powers called into play in the pursuit must exert +a beneficial effect on the mind, and the actual pleasure of riding and +killing a boar is doubly enhanced by the knowledge that he has been +found by the fair and sporting exercise of one's own bump of +'woodcraft.' The sharpness of intellect which we are wont to associate +with the detective is nothing more than the result of training that +inductive reasoning, which is almost innate in the savage. To the +child of the jungle the ground with its signs is at once his book, his +map, and his newspaper. Remember the volume of meaning contained in +the single print of Friday's foot on Crusoe's beach." And so he +advises officers in India to go with a native tracker to the jungle +and watch him and learn from him "the almost boundless art of deducing +and piecing together correctly information to be gathered from the +various signs found." The importance of tracking, and the art of it, +is shown in an interesting story which B.-P. tells, a story which +demonstrates the close relationship of hunter and scout. A sportsman +in India was out tiger-shooting early one morning, with two +professional trackers walking in front of his elephant, and the usual +company of beaters behind. As they went along, the fresh pugs of a +tiger were seen on the ground, but the professional trackers passed on +without so much as a sign of having noticed the spoor. In a minute the +beaters were up with the professionals, asking, with Asiatic irony, if +they had eyes in their professional heads. To which one of the +trackers merely replied, "Idiots! at what time do rats run about?" And +then the humbled coolies went back to look at the spoor again, and +there they saw, after a close scrutiny, the delicate tracing of a +little field-rat's feet over the mighty pugs of Stripes. This rat only +comes out of its hole early in the night, and retires long before the +Eastern day begins, so that several hours had elapsed since the tiger +journeyed that way, and the professional was a better man than the +amateur. + +Baden-Powell has all the qualifications that go to make a good scout. +His eye is as keen as the hawk's, and many a time "by keeping his eyes +skinned" he has done useful, if unobtrusive, work. Once he was riding +in the night with despatches for headquarters' camp, guiding himself +by the stars. Arriving at the place where he thought the camp ought to +be, he was surprised to find no sign of it. Dismounting from his +saddle, he was thinking of lying up for the night (rather than +overshoot the mark) when a distant spark, for the fraction of a +second, caught his eye. Jumping into the saddle again, he rode towards +the place where the spark had flickered its brief moment, and there he +found a sentry smoking a pipe. The red glow of the baccy in the bowl +had guided B.-P. with his despatches safely to camp. + +But not always does Baden-Powell see what he says he sees. On one +occasion in Kashmir he was matching his eyes against a shikari, and +the story of the contest is related by B.-P. in his _Aids to Scouting_ +(published by Gale and Polden, London and Aldershot): "He pointed out +a hillside some distance off, and asked me if I could see how many +cattle there were grazing on it. It was only with difficulty that I +could see any cattle at all, but presently I capped him by asking him +if he could see the man in charge of the cattle. Now, I could not +actually see this myself, but knowing that there must be a man with +the herd, and that he would probably be up-hill above them somewhere, +and as there was a solitary tree above them (and it was a hot, sunny +day), I guessed he would be under this tree." And when the incredulous +shikari looked through the field-glasses he marvelled at the vision of +the white man--the herdsman was under the tree as happy as a hen in a +dust-bath. The uses of inductive reasoning! + +A good instance of Baden-Powell's skill in "piecing things together" +is given in the same excellent manual on scouting. He was scouting one +day on an open grass plain in Matabeleland accompanied by a single +native. "Suddenly," he says, "we noticed the grass had been recently +trodden down; following up the track for a short distance, it got on +to a patch of sandy ground, and we then saw that it was the spoor of +several women and boys walking towards some hills about five miles +distant, where we believed the enemy to be hiding. Then we saw a leaf +lying about ten yards off the track--there were no trees for miles, +but there were, we knew, trees of this kind at a village 15 miles +distant, in the direction from which the tracks led. Probably, then, +these women had come from that village, bringing the leaf with them, +and had gone to the hills. On picking up the leaf, it was damp and +smelled of native beer. So we guessed that according to the custom of +these people they had been carrying pots of native beer on their +heads, the mouths of the pots being stopped with bunches of leaves. +One of these leaves had fallen out; but we found it ten yards off the +track, which showed that at the time it fell a wind had been blowing. +There was no wind now, but there had been about five A.M., and it was +now nearly seven. So we read from these signs that a party of women +had brought beer during the night from the village 15 miles distant, +and had taken it to the enemy on the hills, arriving there about six +o'clock. The men would probably start to drink the beer at once (as it +goes sour if kept for long), and would, by the time we could get +there, be getting sleepy from it, so we should have a favourable +chance of reconnoitring their position. We accordingly followed the +women's tracks, found the enemy, made our observations, and got away +with our information without any difficulty." + +In the chapters referring to his work as Sir Frederick Carrington's +Chief of the Staff in the Matabele campaign of 1896, we shall see what +great service Baden-Powell has rendered the army by his tireless +scouting. Here I can hardly do better than quote from his _Aids_, for +in this book he unlocks his heart as a scout, and in order to +encourage non-commissioned officers and men to interest themselves in +the more intelligent side of soldiering (not for self-advertisement) +tells us innumerable instances of his own interesting experiences. The +chief charm of scouting, of course, is in actual warfare, when a man +goes out, sometimes alone and unattended, to find out what a +well-armed enemy is doing and how many fighting men are to be expected +in the morrow's battle. But just as Cervantes could "engender" the +ingenious Don Quixote in a miserable prison, so Baden-Powell in the +arid times of peace finds means of enjoying the fascinations of +scouting. When out in India he used to spend many an early morning in +practising, and he gives the result of one of these mornings in his +little book on Scouting, which I would have you read in its entirety. +It is a book which has many of the virtues of a novel, and is written +in plain English. + +The following instance will show you how assiduously B.-P. practises +scouting, and will also give you an idea as to beguiling your next +country walk. + + _Ground:_ A well-frequented road in an Indian + hill-station--dry--gravel, grit, and sand. + + _Atmosphere:_ Bright and dry, no wind. + + _Time:_ 6 A.M. to 8 A.M. + + _Signs: Fresh Wheelmarks._ [Fresh because the tracks were + clearly defined with sharp edges in the sand; they overrode + all other tracks.] + + [This must mean a "rickshaw" (hand-carriage) had passed + this morning--no other carriages are used at this + station.] + + _Going Forward._ [Because there are tracks of bare feet, + some ridden over, others overriding the wheel track, but + always keeping along it, _i.e._ two men pulling in front, + two pushing behind.] + + [Had they been independent wayfarers they would have + walked on the smooth, beaten part of the road.] + + _The men were going at a walk._ (Because the impression of + the fore part of the foot is no deeper than that of the + heel, and the length of pace not long enough for running.) + + _One man wore shoes_, the remaining three were barefooted. + + _One wheel was a little wobbly._ + + _Deduction_ + + _The track was that of a rickshaw conveying an invalid in + comparatively humble circumstances, for a constitutional._ + + Because it went at a slow pace, along a circular road which led + nowhere in particular (it had passed the cemetery and the + only house along that road), at an early hour of the + morning, the rickshaw being in a groggy state and the men + not uniformly dressed. + + NOTE.--This deduction proved correct. On returning from my walk + I struck the same track (_i.e._ the wobbly wheel and the one shod + man) on another road, going ahead of me. I soon overtook them, + and found an old invalid lady being driven in a hired bazaar + rickshaw. + + While following the tracks of the rickshaw, I noticed fresh + tracks of two horses coming towards me, followed by a big dog. + + _They had passed since the rickshaw_ (overriding its tracks). + + _They were cantering_ (two single hoof-prints, and then two near + together). + + _A quarter of a mile farther on they were walking_ for a quarter + of a mile. (Hoof-prints in pairs a yard apart.) Here the dog + dropped behind, and had to make up lost ground by galloping + up to them. (Deep impression of his claws, and dirt kicked + up.) + + _They had finished the walk about a quarter of an hour_ before I + came there. (Because the horse's droppings at this point + were quite fresh; covered with flies; not dried outside by + the sun.) + + _They had been cantering up to the point where they began the + walk, but one horse had shied violently on passing the + invalid in the rickshaw._ (Because there was a great kick up + of gravel and divergence from its track just where the + rickshaw track bent into the side of the road, and + afterwards overrode the horse's tracks.) + + NOTE.--I might have inferred from this that the invalid was + carrying an umbrella which frightened the horse, and was, + therefore, a lady. But I did not think of it at the time and had + rather supposed from the earliness of the hour that the invalid + was a man. Invalid ladies don't, as a rule, get up so early. + + _Deduction_ + + _The tracks were those of a lady and gentleman out for a ride, + followed by her dog._ + + Because had the horses been only out exercising with syces they + would have been going at a walk in single file (or possibly at a + tearing gallop). + + They were therefore ridden by white people, one of whom was a + lady; because, 1st, a man would not take a big, heavy dog to pound + along after his horse (it had pounded along long after the horses + were walking); 2nd, a man would not pull up to walk because his + horse had shied at a rickshaw; but a lady might, especially if + urged to do so by a man who was anxious about her safety, and that + is why I put them down as a man and a lady. Had they been two + ladies, the one who had been shied with would have continued to + canter out of bravado. And the man, probably, either a very + affectionate husband or no husband at all. + + NOTE.--I admit that the above deductions hinge on very + little--one link might just be wrong and so break the whole chain. + This is often, indeed generally, the case, and corroborative + evidence should always be sought for. + + In the present instance my deductions proved pretty correct. I + saw the couple later on, followed by their collie dog, riding + along a lower road; but I could not determine their relationship + to one another. + + _Note on Examples I. and II._ + + Incidentally, the horse-tracks of No. 2 gave me a clue to the + hour at which the invalid in the rickshaw had passed that way. + Thus: I came on the droppings at 7.14. + + Assuming that they were actually 15 minutes old and the horses + had walked 1/4 mile since passing the rickshaw, 19 minutes must + have elapsed since the passing; _i.e._ they passed each other at + 6.55. + + On my arrival at the point where they had passed, the rickshaw + would now be 23 minutes ahead of me, or about 11/4 mile. + +But it is not only on set occasions that Baden-Powell practises +scouting. He rarely takes a walk, boards a 'bus, or enters a train, +without finding opportunity for some subtle inductive reasoning. Thus +he recommends the men in his regiment to notice closely any stranger +with whom they may come in contact, guess what their professions and +circumstances are, and then, getting into conversation, find out how +near the truth their surmises have been. Therefore, dear reader, if +you find yourself in a few months' time drifting into conversation +with a good-looking, bronzed stranger, this side of fifty, who puts +rather pointed questions to you, after having studied your thumbs, +boots, and whiskers intently, take special delight in leading him +harmlessly astray, for thereby you may be beating, with great glory to +yourself, the "Wolf that never Sleeps." + +The joy of a walk in the country is heightened, I think, by following +the example of Baden-Powell, and paying attention to the tracks on the +ground. It would be an uncanny day for England when every man turned +himself into a Sherlock Holmes, but there is no man who might not with +advantage to himself practise scouting in the Essex forests or on the +Surrey hills. The world is filled with life, and yet people go +rambling through fields and woods without having seen anything more +exciting than a couple of rabbits and a few blackbirds. + +The chief joy of scouting, however, is not to be found in what +Baden-Powell calls "dear, drowsy, after-lunch Old England." They who +would seek it must go far from this "ripple of land," far from + + The happy violets hiding from the roads, + The primroses run down to, carrying gold,-- + The tangled hedgerows, where the cows push out + Impatient horns and tolerant churning mouths + 'Twixt dripping ash-boughs,--hedgerows all alive + With birds and gnats and large white butterflies + Which look as if the May-flower had caught life + And palpitated forth upon the wind,-- + Hills, vales, woods, netted in a silver mist, + Farms, granges, doubled up among the hills, + And cattle grazing in the watered vales, + And cottage-chimneys smoking from the woods, + And cottage-gardens smelling everywhere, + Confused with smell of orchards. + +Far from our tight little island must they journey for that inspiring +spell which turns the man of means into a wanderer upon the earth's +surface, driving him out of glittering London, with its twinkling +lights and its tinkling cabs, out of St. James's, and out of the club +arm-chair--out of all this, and wins him into the vast, drear, and +inhuman world, where men of our blood wage a ceaseless war with savage +nature. And it is when Baden-Powell packs his frock-coat into a +drawer, pops his shiny tall hat into a box, and slips exultingly into +a flannel shirt that the life of a scout seems to him the infinitely +best in the world. No man ever cared less for the mere ease of +civilisation than Baden-Powell. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE FLANNEL-SHIRT LIFE + + +In _The Story of My Heart_ Richard Jefferies begins his enchanting +pages with the expression of that desire which every son of Adam feels +at times--the longing for wild, unartificial life. "My heart," he +says, "was dusty, parched for want of the rain of deep feeling; my +mind arid and dry, for there is a dust which settles on the heart as +well as that which falls on a ledge.... A species of thick clothing +slowly grows about the mind, the pores are choked, little habits +become part of existence, and by degrees the mind is inclosed in a +husk." Then he goes on to tell of a hill to which he resorted at such +moments of intellectual depression, and of the sensations that +thrilled him as he moved up the sweet short turf. The very light of +the sun, he says, was whiter and more brilliant there, and standing on +the summit his jaded heart revived, and "obtained a wider horizon of +feeling." Thoreau, too, went to the woods because he wanted to live +deliberately, and front only the essential facts of life. "I wanted to +live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and +Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad +swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to +its lowest terms." + +This longing for a return to nature in minds less imaginative than +Thoreau's and Jefferies' results in globe-trotting or +colonisation--according to circumstances,--it wakes the gipsy in our +blood, be we gentle or simple, and sends us wandering over the waste +places of the earth in quest of glory, adventure, or a gold +mine--anything so long as it entails wandering. When it stirs in the +mind of the disciplined soldier it turns him into a scout, and drives +him out of the orderly-room, out of the barrack square, to wander in +Himalayan passes and ride across the deserts of Africa. Baden-Powell +is a nomad. The smart cavalry officer who can play any musical +instrument, draw amusing pictures, tell delightfully droll stories, +sing a good song, stage-manage theatricals--do everything, in short, +that qualifies a man to take his ease in country houses, loves more +than any other form of existence the loneliness and the wildness of +the scout's. Often, he tells us, when he is about the serious business +of handing teacups in London drawing-rooms, his mind flies off to some +African waste, to some lonely Indian hill, and straightway he longs +with all his soul to fling off the trappings of civilised society, and +be back again with nature, back again in the dear old flannel-shirt +life, living hard, with his life in his hand. + +Once, after two months of wandering, he got into a hotel and, after +dinner, into a bed. But it would not do, he says; in a twinkling he +had whipped the blankets off the bed and was lying outside on mother +earth, with the rain beating upon his face, and deep in refreshing +slumber. The best of beds, according to B.-P., is "the veldt tempered +with a blanket and a saddle." When he is on his lonely wanderings he +always sleeps with his pistol under the "pillow" and the lanyard round +his neck. However soundly he sleeps, if any one comes within ten yards +of him, tread he never so softly, Baden-Powell wakes up without fail, +and with a brain cleared for action. + +One of the sayings of Baden-Powell which I most like is that which +most reveals this side of his character. "A smile and a stick," says +he, "will carry you through any difficulty in the world." And he lives +in accordance with this principle; and it is typical of the man. Over +the world he goes on his solitary expeditions, hunting animals, +hunting men, making notes of what foreign armies are doing, what are +the chief thoughts occupying the minds of distant and dangerous +tribesmen, and he never goes about it blusteringly or with the Byronic +mystery of the stage detective. He trusts to his sense of humour--to +his smile--first; after that, and only when there is no hope for it, +do those hard jaws of his lock with a snap, the eyes light up with +resistless determination, and _whir-r-r_ goes the stick, and--well, it +requires a tough head to bear what follows. + +[Illustration: The Family on Board the _Pearl_] + +Baden-Powell's friends were amused during the early days of the siege +of Mafeking by the complaint of some fellow in the town who had +incurred the Colonel's wrath. I forget the exact words of the silly +creature's complaint, as, indeed, I forget his offence, but it was +something after this fashion: "The Colonel called me before him +and, in a dictatorial manner, told me that if I did it again he would +have me shot. He then most insolently whistled a tune." The last words +I believe to be quite correctly quoted: "He then most insolently +whistled a tune." How they suggest laughter! One of Baden-Powell's +choicest epigrams refers expressly to this very trick of whistling: +"There is nothing like whistling an air when you feel exasperated +beyond reclaim." Uncle Toby whistling "Lillabullero" when muddled by +his scarps and counter-scarps, and Baden-Powell whistling a scrap from +_Patience_ to prevent himself from kicking a dangerous idiot out of +his presence! "He then most insolently whistled a tune." I recall +those words sometimes when I am dropping off to sleep, and they wake +me up to laugh. I tell this story not only for its own dear sake, but +because it is necessary to remember, when considering Baden-Powell's +character, that though he meets you with a smile on his face he +carries a stick in his hand to prevent you from taking liberties with +his good nature. The best-tempered fellow in the world, and blessed +with the keenest sense of humour, he can be as uncompromising a +martinet as the sternest fire-eater of old days--_when there is real +necessity for it_. + +In this flannel-shirt life of his, Baden-Powell has had many +adventures, but few, I think, are more interesting in a subdued way +than one he records in his diary of the Matabele campaign. I give it +in his own words: "To-day, when out scouting by myself, being at some +distance from my boy and the horses, I lay for a short rest and a +quiet look-out among some rocks and grass overlooking a little stream, +and I saw a charming picture. Presently there was a slight rattle of +trinkets, and a swish of the tall yellow grass, followed by the +apparition of a naked Matabele warrior standing glistening among the +rocks of the streamlet, within thirty yards of me. His white war +ornaments--the ball of clipped feathers on his brow, and the long +white cow's-tail plume which depended from his arms and +knees--contrasted strongly with his rich brown skin. His kilt of wild +cat-skins and monkeys' tails swayed round his loins. His left hand +bore his assegais and knobkerrie beneath the great dappled ox-hide +shield; and in his right a yellow walking-staff. He stood for almost a +minute perfectly motionless, like a statue cast in bronze, his head +turned from me, listening for any suspicious sound. Then, with a swift +and easy movement, he laid his arms and shield noiselessly upon the +rocks, and, dropping on all fours beside a pool, he dipped his muzzle +down and drank just like an animal. I could hear the thirsty sucking +of his lips from where I lay. He drank and drank as though he never +meant to stop, and when at last his frame could hold no more, he rose +with evident reluctance. He picked his weapons up, and then stood +again to listen. Hearing nothing, he turned and sharply moved away. In +three swift strides he disappeared within the grass as silently as he +had come. I had been so taken with the spectacle that I felt no desire +to shoot at him--especially as he was carrying no gun himself." It is +little adventures of this kind, I think, which most impress one with +the romance and fascination of a scout's life. + +On his solitary wanderings over the earth Baden-Powell has had many +narrow escapes of death, but none so near, perhaps, as that of an +excited native who, after an action, told B.-P. with bubbling +enthusiasm that a bullet had passed between his ear and his head! +Once Baden-Powell came unexpectedly upon a lion prepared to receive +him with open jaws, and but for perfectly steady nerves, which enabled +him at that critical moment to fire deliberately, he had never brought +home another lion's skin to decorate his mother's drawing-room in +London. Another narrow escape occurred during the Matabele campaign, +when Baden-Powell was quietly and peacefully marching by the side of a +mule battery. One of the mules had a carbine strapped on to its +pack-saddle, and by some extraordinary act of carelessness the weapon +had been left loaded, and at full-cock. Of course the first bush +passed by the battery fired the carbine, and Baden-Powell remarks of +the incident, "Many a man has nearly been shot by an ass, but I claim +to have been nearly shot by a mule." + +It is Baden-Powell's habit to keep in perfect readiness at his London +house an entire kit for service abroad. The most methodical of men, he +has made a study of this important branch of a wanderer's service, and +when he sets out on his journeys he carries with him everything that +is essential both for himself and his horse, and packed in such a way +as would be the despair of the deftest valet. When the War Office +asks him how long he will be before starting on a commission abroad, +B.-P. answers, "I am ready now." Everything is there in a room in his +mother's house, and Baden-Powell is never so happy as when that khaki +kit leaves its resting-place and is packed away in a ship's cabin. And +what journeys he has been on Queen's service! Before he was +twenty-three he had travelled over the greater part of Afghanistan, +and then after seeing most of India, he was in South Africa at +twenty-seven, and did there a wonderful reconnaissance, unaccompanied, +of six hundred miles of the Natal Frontier in twenty days. He has +travelled through Europe, knows the Gold Coast Hinterland as well as +any European, and has almost as good a notion as the Great Powers +themselves concerning their frontier defences. + +This reminds me that Baden-Powell sometimes spends his holidays in +visiting historical battlefields and travelling through various +countries to see how their defences and their guns are getting along. +He is an excellent linguist, and can make his way in any country +without arousing suspicions. During some military manoeuvres one +autumn (we need not enter into special details) Baden-Powell was +wandering at the back of the troops, seeing things not intended for +the accredited representatives of Great Britain, who had the front row +of the stalls, and saw beautifully what they were meant to see. What +he noted on this occasion is regarded by military authorities as very +valuable information. + +But exciting as these adventures are, they possess no such fascination +for Baden-Powell as the life in breeches, gaiters, flannel-shirt, and +cowboy's hat--when the mountains infested with murderous natives are +blurred by the night, and he is free to steal in among their shadows +at his will, and creep noiselessly through the enemy's lines. The +Matabele, of whom we shall speak later on, soon got to distinguish +Baden-Powell from the rest of Sir Frederick Carrington's troops in +1896. They christened him "Impessa" then, and to this day he is spoken +of by the Kaffirs with awe and admiration as the "Wolf that never +Sleeps." Silent in his movements, with eyes that can detect and +distinguish suspicious objects where the ordinary man sees nothing at +all, with ears as quick as a hare's to catch the swish of grass or +the cracking of a twig, he goes alone in and out of the mountains +where the savages who have marked him down are asleep by the side of +their assegais, or repeating stories of the dreadful Wolf over their +bivouac fires. This is the life which has most attractions for +Baden-Powell, and if he had not been locked up in Mafeking all through +those precious months at the beginning of the war, it is no idle +guesswork to say that we should have lost fewer men and fewer guns by +surprise and ambuscade. + +In this flannel-shirt life, however, Baden-Powell is not always on the +serious emprise of soldiering. Most of his holidays, at any rate while +he is abroad, are spent in shirt-sleeves. His periods of rest from the +duties of soldiering are given over to expeditions which carry him far +away from the smooth fields and trim hedges of civilisation; he is for +ever trying to get face to face with nature, living the untrammelled +romantic life of a hunter, independent of slaughterman, +market-gardener, and tax-collector. In his boyhood, as we saw, he +loved few things more than "exploring," and now he has but exchanged +the woods of Tunbridge Wells for the Indian Jungle and the Welsh +mountains for the Matopos. + +Happy the man who carries with him into middle-age the zest and aims +of a clean boyhood. There is something invigorating, almost inspiring, +in the contemplation of Baden-Powell's meridian of life. The fifties +which gave him birth seem now to belong to a remote and benighted era; +and the blindest of his unknown adorers, if she has bought a hatless +photograph, cannot deny that Time's effacing fingers have something +roughly swept the brow where she could wish his hair still +lingered,--and yet at forty-three, Baden-Powell, Colonel of Dragoons, +goes wandering into bush and prairie, striding by stream and striking +up mountain, with all the eagerness, all the keenness, all the +abandonment of the gummy-fingered boy seeking butterflies and birds' +eggs. For him life is as good now as it was with big brother +Warington. He is up with the lark, his senses clear and awake from the +moment the cold water goes streaming over his head; there is no +"lazing" with him, no beefy-mindedness, no affectation and effeminacy. +And I cannot help thinking that if the decadents of our day--for +whose distress of soul only the stony-hearted could express +contempt--would but for a week or two lay aside their fine linen, +donning in its place the magic flannel shirt of Baden-Powell, they +would find not only a happy issue to their jaundice, but even discover +that the world is a good place for a man to spend his days in--if he +but live like a man. + +Hear Baden-Powell on this subject, and get a glimpse of his serious +side, which so seldom peeps out for the world to see: "Old Oliver +Wendell Holmes," he says, "is only too true when he says that most of +us are 'boys all our lives'; we have our toys, and will play with them +with as much zest at eighty as at eight, that in their company we can +never grow old. I can't help it if my toys take the form of all that +has to do with veldt life, and if they remain my toys till I drop. + + "Then here's to our boyhood, its gold and its grey, + The stars of its winter, the dews of its May; + And when we have done with our life-lasting toys, + Dear Father, take care of Thy children, the boys. + +"May it not be that our toys are the various media adapted to +individual tastes through which men may know their God? As +Ramakrishna Paramahansa writes: 'Many are the names of God, and +infinite the forms that lead us to know of Him. In whatsoever name or +form you desire to know Him, in that very name and form you will know +Him.'" + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +ROAD-MAKER AND BUILDER + + +King Prempeh was the first celebrity to receive the attention of B.-P. +In his capital of Kumassi, which being interpreted is "the +death-place," this miserable barbarian had been practising the most +odious cruelties for many years, ignoring British remonstrances, and +failing, like another African potentate, to keep his word to +successive British Governments. Among the Ashantis at this time (1895) +the blood-lust had got complete dominion, and the sacrifice of human +life in the capital of their kingdom was so appalling that England was +at last obliged to buckle on her armour. To quote B.-P. in a +characteristic utterance: "To the Ashanti an execution was as +attractive an entertainment as is a bull-fight to a Spaniard, or a +football match to an Englishman." Even the most coddled schoolboy +will appreciate the force of this comparison. + +To give a general idea of these cruelties we will quote a vivid +passage from Baden-Powell's book, _The Downfall of Prempeh_: "Any +great public function was seized on as an excuse for human sacrifices. +There was the annual yam custom, or harvest festival, at which large +numbers of victims were often offered to the gods. The late king went +every quarter to pay his devotions to the shades of his ancestors at +Bantama, and this demanded the deaths of twenty men over the great +bowl on each occasion. On the death of any great personage, two of the +household slaves were at once killed on the threshold of the door, in +order to attend their master immediately in his new life, and his +grave was afterwards lined with the bodies of more slaves, who were to +form his retinue in the next world. It was thought better if, during +the burial, one of the attendant mourners could be stunned by a club +and dropped, still breathing, into the grave before it was filled +in.... Indeed, if the king desired an execution at any time, he did +not look far for an excuse. It is even said that on one occasion he +preferred a richer colour in the red stucco on the walls of the +palace, and that for this purpose the blood of four hundred virgins +was used." + +The expedition to bring Mr. Prempeh to his senses was under the +command of Sir Francis Scott, and Baden-Powell received the pink +flimsy bearing the magic words, "You are selected to proceed on active +service," with a gush of elation, which, he tells us, a flimsy of +another kind and of a more tangible value would fail to evoke. Of +course he was keen to go. The expedition suggested romance, and it +assured experience. To plunge into the Gold Coast Hinterland is to +find oneself in a world different from anything the imagination can +conceive; civilisation is left an infinite number of miles behind, and +the Londoner is brought face to face with what Thoreau calls the wild +unhandselled globe. The message was received by Baden-Powell on the +14th of November 1895, and on the 13th of December he was walking +through the streets of Cape Coast Castle, and had noted how well +trodden was the grave of the writer L.E.L., who lies buried in the +courtyard of the castle. + +It was the business of B.-P. to raise a force of natives, and to +proceed with this little army as soon as possible in front of the +expedition, acting as a covering force. That is to say, the work of +these undrilled, stupid, and not over-brave natives was scouting, a +duty which while it is the most fascinating part of a soldier's life +is also one of the most difficult. This then was an undertaking of +which many a man might have felt shy, but Baden-Powell (the army is +full of Baden-Powells) went at it cheerfully enough. On the arid +desert outside the castle, which is called the parade ground, B.-P. +and Captain Graham, D.S.O., taught these negroes, under a blazing sun, +the rudiments of soldiering. In one part of their drill a few simple +whistle-signals were substituted for the usual words of command, such +as "Halt" and "Rally," and a red fez was served out to the Levy (which +in the end amounted to 860 men) as a British uniform. The glory of +this "kit," however, was somewhat obscured by a commissariat load +which each warrior carried on his head; but there was no heart under +those shiny ebon skins which did not beat quicker for the possession +of the red fez. The Levy, of course, had its band--a few men who made +a tremendous din on elephant-hide drums, and a few more who produced +two heart-breaking notes on elephants' hollowed tusks garnished with +human jaw-bones. At the head of this force B.-P. and Captain Graham +set out on their journey from Cape Coast to Kumassi, a distance of +nearly 150 miles, on the 21st of December. + +Soon after leaving the coast the little expedition plunged into the +bush, and then amid the giant ferns and palms began to appear "the +solemn, shady miles of forest giants, whose upper parts gleam far +above the dense undergrowth in white pillars against the grey-blue +sky." The Levy had now reached the regular forest, the beautiful, +awe-inspiring, but, alas, evil-smelling forest. Here it was found by +Baden-Powell that, in addition to scouting, his force would have to +play the arduous part of road-makers, and, therefore, whenever he came +upon a village such tools as felling-axes, hatchets, spades, and picks +were requisitioned. But it was no easy task teaching the negroes to +perform this labour. The man who was given a felling-axe immediately +set about scraping up weeds, while the grinning warrior armed with a +spade incontinently hacked at a hoary tree with Gladstonian ardour. +"The stupid inertness of the puzzled negro," says B.-P., "is duller +than that of an ox; a dog would grasp your meaning in one-half the +time." But B.-P. did not despair of his men, neither did he ill-treat +them. For three days he worked hard at tree-felling himself, and he +only desisted from this labour on the discovery that the sight of his +hunting-crop brought more trees to the ground than all his strokes +with the axe. This hunting-crop was called "Volapük," because every +tribe understood its meaning, and during the march Baden-Powell found +it of inestimable value. "But, though often shown," he says, "it was +never used." The men might be stupid, they might be idle, but B.-P. +can get work out of the worst men without bullying and without +continual punishments. + +It is men like Baden-Powell who exercise the greatest power over the +negro's mind. When he condemns them for cruelty or stupidity he is +quick to protest against the assumption that he is "a regular nigger +hater." Here is the secret: "I have met lots of good friends among +them--especially among the Zulus. But, however good they may be, they +must, as a people, be ruled with a hand of iron in a velvet glove; and +if they writhe under it, and don't understand the force of it, it is +of no use to add more padding--you must take off the glove for a +moment and show them the hand. They will then understand and obey." +British rule is only imperilled when men in authority discard the +velvet glove altogether, or--what is probably worse still--wear only +the velvet glove, much padded, over their flaccid hands. + +Just as he encourages Tommy Atkins to learn scouting and the more +intelligent parts of soldiering, so he encouraged these negroes, +duller than oxen, and made them useful pioneers. Here is his own +simple record of the way he got to the hearts of the Levy: "How they +enjoy the palaver in which I tell them that 'they are the eyes to the +body of the snake which is crawling up the bush-path from the coast, +and coiling for its spring! The eyes are hungry, but they will soon +have meat; and the main body of white men, armed with the best of +weapons, will help them win the day, and get their country back again, +to enjoy in peace for ever.' Then I show them my own little repeating +rifle, and firing one shot after another, slowly at first, then faster +and faster, till the fourteen rounds roll off in a roar, I quite bring +down the house. They crowd round, jabbering and yelling, every man +bent on shaking hands with the performer." + +But Baden-Powell, while humane and nothing of a bully, knows the value +of strictness, as we have shown, and he admits that sometimes it is +even necessary to shoot one's own men in order to maintain discipline. +He is, however, careful to remark that an extreme step of this kind +"should be the result only of deliberate and fair consideration of the +case." "Strict justice," he adds, "goes a very long way towards +bringing natives under discipline." + +By these methods B.-P. won the confidence of his troops, and under him +these rough tribesmen, half-devil and half-child, manfully fought +their way through the jungle of forest, cheered by his encouragement, +awed by "Volapük," and gradually growing to respect the dauntless +courage of the white man who managed them so nicely. A description of +an average day's work will give you an idea of Baden-Powell's task, +and the way in which his negroes worked. + +Early in the morning, while the thick white mist is still hanging +athwart the forest, a drummer is kicked out of bed by a white foot and +bidden to sound "Reveillé." Then there is a din of elephant-tusk horns +and the clatter of the elephant-hide drums. The camp is astir, and it +all seems as if the men are as smart and as disciplined as their +brother warriors in Aldershot or Shorncliffe. But the negroes have +only risen thus readily in order to light their fires and settle down +to a lusty breakfast of plantains. After his tub, his quinine and tea, +Baden-Powell sends for King Matikoli and demands to know why his three +hundred Krobo are not on parade. His Majesty smiles and explains to +the white chief that he is suffering from rheumatism in the shoulder, +and therefore he, and consequently his tribe, cannot march that day. +Baden-Powell, with his contradictory smile, solemnly produces a +Cockle's pill (Colonel Burnaby's _vade mecum_), hands it to the +monarch, and remarks that if his tribe are not on the march in five +minutes he will be fined an entire shilling. "The luxury," exclaims +B.-P., "of fining a real, live king to the extent of one shilling." +The king goes away for five minutes, and then returns with the +intelligence that if the white chief will provide his men with some +salt to eat with their "chop" (food) he really thinks they will be +able to march that day. B.-P. expresses a feverish desire to oblige +His Majesty, and proceeds with great alacrity to cut a beautifully +lithe and whippy cane. In an instant that tribe is marching forward +with their commissariat loads upon their heads. But there are others +still to be dealt with. The captains of one tribe are discussing the +situation, and would like Baden-Powell to hear their views. +Baden-Powell treats them as Lord Salisbury, say, would no doubt like +to treat the deputations that sometimes come to give him the benefit +of their opinions; he looks to his repeating rifle, talks about +fourteen corpses blocking the way of retirement, and _hey presto!_ the +other tribe is swinging down the forest-path laughing, singing, and +chattering, like children released from school. + +On they march through the heavy forest, a long twisting line of men, +until the halt is made at mid-day for two hours' chop and parade. +Then tools are served out and every company is set to work. One +clears the bush, another cuts stockade posts, a third cuts palm-leaf +wattle, a fourth digs stockade holes, and a fifth is set to keep guard +over the camp and prevent men from hiding in huts. By sunset some +seven or eight acres are cleared of bush, large palm-thatched sheds +are to be seen in long regular lines, while in the centre stands a +fort with its earth rampart bound up by stockade and wattle, and +having in its interior two huts, one for hospital and one for +storehouse. Besides this the natives bridged innumerable streams and +dug and drained roads wherever necessary. + +This work can only be seen in its true perspective when the character +of the country is borne in mind. For nearly all of its 150 miles the +road from Cape Coast to Kumassi leads through heavy primeval forest. +"The thick foliage of the trees, interlaced high overhead, causes a +deep, dank gloom, through which the sun seldom penetrates. The path +winds among the tree stems and bush, now through mud and morass, now +over steep ascent or deep ravine." And, in addition to the +difficulties of locomotion, there was the haunting menace of the +heavy dews and mists which come at night laden with the poison of +malaria. + +But all these difficulties were met with cheerful courage, and though +Captain Graham and two other officers subsequently attached to the +covering force were incapacitated by fever, the Native Levy fought its +way to Kumassi, and won the admiration of all military authorities. It +was at Kumassi on 17th January, and though no actual fighting had +taken place, the march may be reckoned an achievement of which all +Englishmen can be proud. + +One incident of the march will have a romantic attraction for those +who have sons and brothers doing the Empire's work in distant lands. +As the Native Levy with its two white officers journeyed through the +bush they came now and then upon bridges over streams and causeways +over swamps, all in course of construction at the hands of natives +under the direction of a few ever-travelling, hard-worked white +superintendents. "Here we meet one gaunt and yellow. Surely we have +seen that eye and brow before, although the beard and solar topee do +much to disguise the man. His necktie of faded 'Old Carthusian' +colours makes suspicion a certainty, and once again old +school-fellows are flung together for an hour to talk in an African +swamp of old times in English playing-fields." For an hour in an +African swamp! and then on again through the never-ending dark green +aisles towards the savages smitten with the blood-lust in "the +death-place." + +The Ashantis did not show fight, and King Prempeh, sucking a huge nut, +surrounded by court-criers and fly-catchers, with three dwarfs dancing +in front of his throne, consented humbly and meekly to receive the +soldiers of the Queen. After Sir Francis Scott had presented Prempeh +with his ultimatum the meeting broke up for the night, but the "Wolf +that never Sleeps" was on the look-out with his Native Levy for a +possible surprise, or for His Majesty's escape. You can imagine how +"Sherlock Holmes," as Burnham the American scout calls our hero, +enjoyed that work. In the quiet night, under the white stars, a +council was being held in the savage king's palace, and B.-P. +"shadowed" that regal hut with eyes and ears alive. At three o'clock +in the morning a white light streamed out of the palace doorway, and +through the clinging mist went a string of white-robed figures, one +of them the queen-mother. This little company passed within twenty +yards of B.-P., and it was followed stealthily by him until the +queen's residence, not hitherto known, was marked down. Then the +watchers returned to their ambush outside the palace, and caught a +councillor who was stealing away in the night. Almost immediately +after this gentleman had been made prisoner two fast-footed men came +upon the scene. They evidently suspected something, for they suddenly +pulled up and stood listening intently. One of them was within arm's +length of Baden-Powell. Quietly B.-P. stood up. The man did not move. +A moment's pause, and then, quick as a flash of lightning, +Baden-Powell had gripped him, and had, moreover, got hold of the gun +he was carrying. Then the patrol came up, the Ashanti was pinned, and, +as B.-P. concludes the narrative, "a handsome knife in a leopard-skin +scabbard was added to our spoil." + +After the palace had been searched and the whole of the fetish village +had been burned to the ground, Prempeh, with B.-P. to look after him, +set out for Cape Coast Castle. The bitterness to a soldier of that +return journey, without a shot having been fired, can hardly be +imagined by a civilian, and would certainly be strongly reprehended by +those who regard the justest war with horror and aversion. The +soldiers had set out on that dreadful march through swamp, and bush, +and forest, to fight and bring to the dust a cruel bloodthirsty nation +of savages, contemptuously described by Baden-Powell as "the bully +tribe" of the Gold Coast Hinterland. Instead of finding the bully as +willing to fight as Cuff was willing to face dear old Dobbin, B.-P. +found a cowering, cringing enemy, willing to lick the dust and abase +himself in any manner the ingenious white man might suggest. So it was +with no feelings of elation that the man who had received the pink +flimsy ordering him on active service, who had raised and organised +the Native Levy, who had cut a road through the bush and forest, +draining roads and bridging streams,--turned his back on Kumassi, and +marched King Prempeh to the Cape coast. This march of 150 miles was +accomplished in seven days. Of this expedition B.-P. recalls "ten +minutes' genuine fun,"--that was when a doctor was cutting out from +under his toe-nail the eggs of an insect called the jigger, rude +enough to make a nest of B.-P.'s big toe. It is such incidents as +these that live in the soldier's mind after a hard campaign. + +During the whole of these tiresome operations B.-P. of course was hard +at work sketching and keeping his diary. He added to his wonderful +store of experiences, and had the rare delight of seeing the King of +Bekwai "oblige with a few steps"--specially in his honour. But the +story of his work--and it is the same with all the quiet work done by +servants of the Queen in every part of the Empire--attracted little +public notice, and the man-in-the-street had no more idea of B.-P.'s +service than the man-in-the-moon. At that time, indeed, few people +outside official circles had ever heard of his name, and certainly no +stationer would have been mad enough to stick B.-P.'s photograph in +his window. Whether Baden-Powell, when he awakes to it, will prefer +his present fame to the happy obscurity of those distant days, is a +subject for speculation. I could say definitely, if I chose, which +condition is preferred by the proud mother of as gallant a son as ever +rode horse into the African desert. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +PUTTING OUT FIRE + + +A Brevet-Colonelcy was conferred upon Baden-Powell for his work on the +Gold Coast,--he was then eight-and-thirty,--and in the same year he +was back at regimental work in Ireland. Hardworking as ever, and keen +on making his men practical soldiers, B.-P. was settling down to what +is called the dull part of soldiering when the gods, in the shape of +the heads of the War Office, again interfered with the even tenor of +his way. A telegram from Sir Frederick Carrington arrived at Belfast +towards the end of April telling our hero that there was to be +fighting in Matabeleland, and that there would be room for him on the +staff. B.-P. was attending that day the funeral of a man in his +squadron who had been killed by a fall from his horse, and after the +service he rushed back to barracks, changed his kit, arranged about +selling his horses, dogs, and furniture, and just when the English +world sits down to its most excellent meal of the day, that oasis of +the afternoon desert, he was in a train rushing as fast as an Irish +train can rush towards the steamer that sailed for England. + +At twelve o'clock next day B.-P. was saying good-bye to Sir Frederick +Carrington, who sailed before him, and that done he spent a few +miserable days in constant dread that he would be bowled over by a +hansom, or catch scarlet fever, and thus be prevented from sharing in +the hardships and glory of a campaign. But nothing contrary happened +to him, and after affectionate farewells to his family he embarked for +Cape Town on board the _Tantallon Castle_ on 2nd May. One of his first +labours was to begin an illustrated diary for his mother's +delectation, a diary that was afterwards published by Messrs. Methuen +in book form under the title of "The Matabele Campaign--1896." The +keeping of this diary had its good uses for B.-P.; in what manner he +explains in the preface, addressed to his mother,--"Firstly, because +the pleasures of new impressions are doubled if they are shared with +some appreciative friend (and you are always more than appreciative). +Secondly, because it has served as a kind of short talk with you every +day." That is the way in which British soldiers go forth to war. + +The voyage was uneventful. Drill in pyjamas every morning prevented +B.-P. from putting on flesh, and that drill, especially "Knees Up!" +seems to have been of a pretty severe kind, for it draws from +Baden-Powell the exclamation, "I'd like to kill him who invented +it--but it does us all a power of good." That is the saying of the old +soldier. In the barrack-room it is considered the right thing to +grumble, or "grouse" as it is called, while one is working hardest. +Thus the man with a jack-boot on his left arm and a polishing brush in +his right hand--going like lightning,--the sweat running down his red +face, is the man who swears he ain't goin' to bother about his +blooming boots any more, dashed if he is; and after the brushing +proceeds to "bone" them violently. The first part of B.-P.'s +exclamation reminds me of a friend who says that ever since he arrived +at years of discretion he has been searching for the man who invented +work on purpose to murder him. He is, of course, the hardest of hard +workers. + +There were pleasures as well as drill on board: athletic sports, +tableaux, concerts, and a grand fancy dress ball. At this ball a lady +with a Roman nose appeared as Britannia, but as the peak of the helmet +threatened to bore a hole through the bridge of her nose she was +obliged to wear her war-hat (as the Hussar calls his busby) the wrong +way round. It was probably B.-P. himself who said to the good lady of +her helmet, "That is not the rule, Britannia." + +On the 19th May B.-P. looked from his port and saw "the long, flat top +of grand old Table Mountain" looming darkly against the glittering +stars, its base twinkling with electric lights that glinted on the +water. That day was of course a busy one for B.-P. as Chief of the +Staff, and the first news received by the Man of Mafeking (how odd it +seems now!) was that Sir Frederick Carrington had gone up to Mafeking, +and that he was to follow. In three days Baden-Powell was in Mafeking, +the guest of Mr. Julius Weil, who gave an anxious England as much +important news of the gallant little Mafeking garrison during the Boer +war as the universal Reuter himself. Odd, too, it seems that while in +Mafeking in 1896 B.-P. should write in his diary that "Plumer's force, +specially raised here in the South, had got within touch of Buluwayo." +Names how much more familiar in 1900! + +Buluwayo was the town selected by the Matabele for their first blow, +and accordingly with Sir Frederick Carrington and two other officers +B.-P. set out from Mafeking on the 23rd May in a ramshackle coach, +drawn by ten mules, on a drive of ten days and nights to Buluwayo. On +this journey the officers encountered the celebrated King Khama, and +it interested B.-P. to find that Khama knew him as the brother of Sir +George Baden-Powell, and that he inquired after Sir George's little +girl, just as a lady in the Park asks if one's baby has got over the +measles. This (if we leave out a dinner at a wayside "hotel," where +the waiter smoked as he served our officers) was the one picturesque +incident of that jolting, clattering drive of nearly 560 miles, and, +therefore, while our hero is groaning in the coach or travelling +afield after partridges and guinea-fowl for dinner, we will take leave +to look hastily for the reason of his presence in South Africa. + +Matabeleland, let us say at the beginning, is included in Rhodesia, a +country 750,000 miles in extent, or, so that the size may jump to the +eye, let us say as big as France, Italy, and Spain lumped together. +This vast country was under the administration of the British +Government, but the Matabele, who had been but partially beaten in the +taking of their country in 1893, were only waiting their opportunity +to throw off the white man's yoke. The opportunity came when the +deplorable Jameson raid emptied the country of troops, and left our +brave hard-working colonists at the mercy of these savages. But there +were other causes contributory to the rebellion. Rinderpest was +slaying the cattle of the Matabele by thousands, and the white man's +order that, to prevent the scourge from spreading, healthy beasts as +well as diseased should be killed was, not unnaturally, quite +unintelligible to the Matabele. The rumour spread that the hated white +man was killing the cattle in order that the tribes should perish of +starvation. The fact, too, that raiding weaker tribes for food was +punished by the British further aggravated this "offence." The priests +encouraged the spirit of rebellion, and the oracle-deity, the M'limo, +promised through the priests that if the Matabele would make war upon +the white man his bullets in their flight should be changed to water, +and his cannon shells become eggs. Horrible murders followed upon this +encouragement, too horrible, indeed, to repeat; but a general idea of +the blood-lust which now possessed the Matabele may be gathered from +the fact of over a hundred and fifty English people (scattered, of +course, in outlying districts) being killed within a week of the +M'limo's call to battle. Only a swift blow, then, could prevent the +loss of civilisation to South Africa for many years; only a terrible +lesson could teach the Matabele that the white man was his lord and +master. + +Buluwayo, prior to the time of Sir Frederick Carrington's arrival, +contained about seven hundred women and children and some eight +hundred men. The women and children were accommodated in a laager of +waggons built up with sacks full of earth, and further protected from +assault by a twenty or thirty yards' entanglement of barbed wire with +a sprinkling of broken bottles on the ground. The eight hundred men +were organised in troops, and were armed and horsed in an incredibly +short space of time. + +Outside the town, on the north, south, and east, lay more than seven +thousand Matabele, two thousand of whom were armed with Martini-Henry +rifles, while the others possessed Lee-Metfords, elephant guns, Tower +muskets, and blunderbusses, besides their own native assegais, +knobkerries, and battle-axes. This formidable force was further +strengthened by the desertion of a hundred Native Police, who took +with them to the enemy their Winchester repeaters. Thus it will be +seen that all the odds were in favour of the Matabele, but it is only +when the odds are overwhelming against him that the Englishman feels +he must buck up, and Buluwayo was fortunate enough to possess men of +the true breed. Among these let us make special mention of the Hon. +Maurice Gifford, who lost an arm in a gallant dash upon the +besiegers[1]--a man "for whom rough miners and impetuous cowboys work +like well-broken hounds"; Mr. F.C. Selous, hunter and explorer; +Colonel Napier, and Captain MacFarlane. These men gave the enemy no +rest, and by repeated attacks at last rid the town of any immediate +danger of being rushed by the blacks. + +Baden-Powell's work when he arrived was almost entirely confined to +the office; and working at a desk from early morning to late at night, +with no prospect of an early closing movement, began to tell upon his +spirits. He became convinced that "our force is far too small +adequately to cope with so numerous and fairly well-armed an enemy, +with well-nigh impregnable strongholds to fall back on.... Our force, +bold as it is, is far too small, and yet we cannot increase it by a +man, for the simple reason that if we did we could not find the +wherewithal to feed it." If this sort of thing had gone on much longer +B.-P. might have learned to look glum for an entire five minutes; but +one night at ten o'clock, when he and Sir Frederick Carrington were +putting up the shutters of office, into the town rode Burnham, the +famous American scout, with news of a large impi of the enemy about +three miles outside Buluwayo. This necessitated action, and B.-P. was +himself again. With a police-trooper as a guide he rode out to find +for himself how matters stood, and, after a hard and refreshing ride, +in the early dawn he was able to see the enemy. There they were on the +opposite bank of the Umgusa river, their fires crackling merrily, and +they themselves apparently as happy as bean-feasters in Epping Forest. +Not long after he had caught sight of these fires and the Matabele +going backwards and forwards from the water, Baden-Powell was at the +head of two hundred and fifty men riding towards the Umgusa. Under the +impression, conveyed to them by their sorry old humbug of an oracle, +that the waters of the Umgusa would open its jaws and swallow up the +wicked white man, the Matebele allowed Baden-Powell to get his force +across the stream without firing a shot; but when they found that not +only did the waters fail to overwhelm their enemies, but that these +same enemies were riding hard towards them, the Matabele took to their +heels in order to find cover in some thicker bush. Then the air began +to scream and whistle. Bullets flew by the ears of the charging +English with a _phit, phit!_ and, when they ricocheted off the ground, +with a _wh-e-e-e-w!_ Up and down bobbed the black heads in the long +rank grass, and _bang, bang, bang_ went the guns. Some of +Baden-Powell's force wanted to dismount and return the fire, but +B.-P., without a sword among his men, sang out, "Make a cavalry fight +of it. Forward! Gallop!" Then, as the horses raced snorting forward, +and the English gave a shout of battle, the Matabele, 1200 against +250, poured an irregular volley into their enemies. The next minute +the horses were in among them, flashing by with the lather on their +necks, while their riders' revolvers barked angrily in every quarter +of the field. The Matabele ran. As hard as they could lick, they +bolted like rabbits to their holes, but faster behind them came the +avenging English with the velvet glove flung aside and the iron hand +visible to their terror-stricken eyes. In the general rout, the mere +act of punishment, there were many instances of coolness and bravery. +One man got detached from the rest, and suddenly found himself +confronted by eight of the enemy. In an instant his horse was shot +under him, but almost in the same instant he was standing in front of +the eight with his rifle to his shoulder. Before they could close on +him with their knobkerries and assegais, or before they could shoot +him down, he had used his magazine fire with such deadly effect that +four of his enemy were dead and the other four were sprinting for dear +life. Baden-Powell had two pretty adventures in this engagement. +Having emptied his Colt's repeater, he threw it carefully under a +peculiar tree, so that he might find it when business was done; then +he went to work with his revolver. As he rode forward he came upon an +open stretch of ground, and the first object that struck his attention +was a well-knit Kaffir on one knee covering his body with a +Martini-Henry. The distance was about eighty yards, and Baden-Powell, +telling the story, says that he felt so indignant at the fellow's +rudeness that he rode at him as hard as he could gallop, calling him +every name under the sun. But the Kaffir was not to be moved even by +the best-bred abuse, and he remained kneeling with the rifle pointed +at B.-P., until that horseman, with locked jaws and gleaming eyes +(those who know him will understand), was only ten yards off. Then he +fired, and B.-P. says he felt quite relieved "when I realised he had +clean missed me." That nigger was shot immediately afterwards by one +of Baden-Powell's men, who was riding to his help from behind. + +The other close shave will make the nervous turn cold to think of it. +B.-P. had ridden to the help of two men kept at bay by a nigger under +a tree, and when the nigger had been killed, he was standing for a +moment under the tree, when something moving above him made him look +up. It was a gun-barrel taking aim at him. The man behind the gun, +standing on a branch, was so jammed against the trunk of the tree as +to look part of it, and while B.-P. was making a note of this fact for +his next lecture on scouting, _bang_ went the gun, and the ground in +front of his toes was as if a small earthquake had struck it. That +nigger's knobkerrie and photograph are now in the Baden-Powell +museum--a museum which began with butterflies and birds' eggs, and now +includes mementos of nearly every tribe and animal on the face of the +earth. + +After the fight Baden-Powell got back to Buluwayo in time for late +lunch, and--"made up for lost time in the office." From now it was a +case of office for many weary weeks, and Baden-Powell could only at +rare intervals steal away for exercise, which he took in the form of +hard scouting, sometimes by himself, sometimes with Burnham--"a most +delightful companion." His rides with the famous American gave him +great pleasure, and each man, both born scouts, learned something from +the other. While he was enjoying these expeditions as relaxation from +the cramping work of office, he was at the same time picking up +valuable information concerning the enemy. During this grind at the +office B.-P. used to long for the lunch hour; "it sounds greedy," he +says, "but it is for the glimpse of sunlight that I look forward, +_not_ the lunch." On one occasion his work as Chief of the Staff was +so severe that he was unable to leave the office for four days. He was +feeling "over-boiled," and got rid of this stuffiness of mind in his +own characteristic way. After dinner on the fourth day he saddled up +and rode off to the Matopos, spent the night there, and was back in +the office by 10.30 on the following day, "all the better for a night +out." + +All this time the office work increased, and the anxiety of the +General and his staff was doubled by reports of rebellion in +Mashonaland. The fire of lawlessness was spreading its evil flames in +all directions, till reports of murder and outrage covered an area of +one hundred thousand square miles, and about 2000 whites found arrayed +against them an army of some 20,000 maddened savages. + +Fortunately for B.-P. he had in Sir Frederick Carrington a chief who +never wastes a man. Excellent as Baden-Powell was in the office (and +Tim Linkinwater would not have feared, I believe, to hand the precious +Cherryble ledgers over to his keeping) he could render much more +valuable service in the field. In the middle of July the reward came +for all his independent scouting; he was chosen by Sir Frederick +Carrington, as a man who knew the Matopos country and the whereabouts +of the enemy, to act as guide to Colonel Plumer--the officer chosen +for the immediate direction of operations in the Matopos. With joy +B.-P. flung down the pen and took up the sword. + +His first move was towards Babyan's stronghold, Babyan being one of +the great Matabele chiefs--a chief great in the glorious days of +Lobengula--and who now occupied the central and important impi in the +Matopos. This work was well done, the enemy's exact whereabouts were +ascertained, and the scouting ended in a glorious gallop back to camp +after emptying a few guns into a party of savages attempting to cut +off Baden-Powell's party. After this came battle. + +In the moonlight of the 19th July the little force, nearly a thousand +strong, moved out into the Matopos, Baden-Powell going on alone as +guide. He went alone because he feared to have his attention +distracted by a companion, thereby losing his bearings. There was +something of a weird and delightful feeling, he says, in mouching +along alone, with a dark, silent square of men and horses looming +behind one. So they marched forward, the one incident, and that a sad +one, being the killing with an assegai of a dog who had followed the +force, and had endangered the success of its movement by barking at a +startled buck. The only noise in the column marching behind the lithe, +wiry guide was the occasional muffled cough of a man and the sharp +snort of an excited horse. When the force was within a mile of +Babyan's impi a halt was called, and the men lay down to sleep in the +freezing cold night. It was not a long sleep, for an hour before dawn +they were in the saddle again, and moving through the darkness as +silently as before towards the enemy's stronghold. When the pass was +reached which led into the valley held by Babyan the column was +prepared for attack, the advance force being under the command of +Baden-Powell. + +The guide almost jumped with joy, he says, when he spotted the enemy's +fires. The fight was to begin. The guns were got up, and in a few +minutes they were volleying and thundering, flinging their whirring +shells into the masses of Matabele, whose assegai blades glistened in +the morning sun. While this opening cannonade was proceeding +Baden-Powell found useful work to do. With a few native scouts he +started off on his own account and soon found a large body of the +enemy elsewhere enjoying a bombastic war-dance, which plainly +portended the staggering of humanity and the driving of the British +into the sea. Thinking that Colonel Plumer ought not to miss this +performance, Baden-Powell sent back word of it, and calling together +the Native Levy proceeded to attack the dancers. Their sound of +revelry died away, or changed to something more dismal, when +Baden-Powell and his men came clambering up the rocky height, leaping +over boulders, dodging behind crags, and pouring lead into their +astonished midst. With very little delay the Matabele went to earth, +tumbling pell-mell into their caves and holes, from whence the rattle +of their musketry soon rolled, and where they fancied themselves as +safe as a rabbit in its burrow from the attack of an eagle. To add to +Baden-Powell's difficulty his Native Levy began to show the white +feather, getting behind rocks and wasting their ammunition on the +desert crags. Had the Matabele come out of their caves, given one +war-whoop, and made a show of descending upon the besiegers, those +precious friendlies would assuredly have turned tail and bolted. But +the Matabele in the security of their caves made no such sign, and +Baden-Powell called up the Cape Boys and the Maxims in the nick of +time. In a few minutes the guns were in position on what looked like +inaccessible crags, and the Cape Boys shouting and cheering were +floundering through bogs, leaping over boulders, and firing with firm +hand wherever firing was of use. The fight was now begun in earnest, +and B.-P., on a rock directing the movements of his force, was +surrounded by the deafening roar of artillery. In nearly every cave +on those hills savages lay with rifle to shoulder, finger on trigger, +waiting to pick off the besiegers as they came bounding over the rocks +towards them. The Cape Boys never wavered; up they dashed, panting and +sweating, to the very mouths of the caves, fired their rifles into the +darkness, charged in, to reissue in a few minutes, jabbering to each +other, and then rushing off to "do ditto" wherever these man-holes +existed. Now they were creeping stealthily round rocks "like stage +assassins," now leaping forward through the long yellow grass like men +in a paper-chase,--always fighting well and pluckily, lifting up their +wounded and carrying them to places of safety, and then again joining +in the battle, charging without fear upon their maddened enemy, +parrying the thrust of sudden assegai with the bayonet that kills +almost in the instant that it guards. And while this work was going +on, a sudden corner revealed another string of rebels running down a +path. "For a moment," writes B.-P., "the thought crosses one's mind, +shall we stop to fire or go for them? but before the thought has time +to fashion itself, we find ourselves going for them." Again there was +the cheering rush, the rattle of rifles, and hard fighting till the +enemy was scattered. So the battle went on, and it did not cease until +the stronghold was completely cleared. Then the "flag-waggers" +signalled back to the main body for stretchers.[2] During this pause +Baden-Powell wrote an account of the fighting (illustrated), to be +sent home to his mother. + +In this manner Babyan was beaten, and the victors went back to camp +satisfied with their day's work. On the following morning it was +discovered that a column sent by the General to attack the enemy on +the Inugu Mountain had not returned, and Baden-Powell with a patrol of +a hundred men was ordered to go in search. When the sun was up the +little body moved off towards the mountains, and after passing through +much difficult country, parts of which were actually in the occupation +of the enemy, they struck the spoor of the missing column, and to +Baden-Powell's great joy found that the marks were quite fresh and +leading outwards from the mountains--showing that the missing men +were safe. Very soon after that the patrol was further cheered by +seeing the gleam of the column's camp-fires, and after an exchange of +events Baden-Powell hurried back to camp to acquaint the General with +the good news. + +The next morning, forgetting that he had had another night out, +Baden-Powell started off for solitary exercise in the mountains, his +purpose being to "investigate some signs I had noted two days before +of an impi camped in a new place," and to select a position for the +building of a fort to command the Matopos. Returning to camp he drew +his design and plan for the fort, and in the evening was back in the +mountains again with a number of Cape Boys, ready to begin the +business of building. + +One of Baden-Powell's little relaxations when fighting slackened was +the "rounding off" of cattle, a sport almost as exciting as chasing a +solitary boar, especially when the cattle are being driven into the +mountains for "home consumption" by bloodthirsty and hungry Matabele. +On one of these occasions Baden-Powell was wounded. Having rounded off +some cattle he was riding towards a party of niggers when he felt a +sharp blow on his thigh as though Thor had given him a playful tap +with his big hammer. He was bowled over, and thinking that he must +have charged into the stump of a tree turned round to have a look at +it; but there was no tree. Then he realised that he had only been +struck with a lead-covered stone fired from a big-bore gun, and so +hopped off like a man who has been kicked on the shins in a football +match, to continue the game. No blood was drawn by this bullet, but +our hero's thigh was black and blue for many days afterwards. + +This was the kind of life Baden-Powell lived at this time as Chief of +the Staff. An officer who knows him very well tells me that it is +impossible to wear him out; "Baden-Powell," he says, "is tireless." He +is keen to be given the most risky and the most solitary work; he can +go for days without food and never complains of broken nights. He has +an enthusiasm for hard work, and when that work demands cunning of the +brain as well as quickness of the hand, as in scouting, B.-P. is as +much lost in the labour as a wolf in search of food for its young. +Never throughout the Matabele campaign was Sir Frederick Carrington +better served than when the young Englishman slunk away into the +darkness, and wandered alone and unprotected into the rocky mountains +held by the murderous Matabele. And never were those savages more +disquieted than when news was brought to them in the morning that the +Wolf had been in the mountains during the night. + + * * * * * + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] After the arm was amputated at the shoulder Mr. Gifford used to +feel the pain as if it were in his hand. + +[2] Let it not be thought that B.-P. had neglected to bring +stretchers. They were brought, but the friendlies who carried them, +like the hen that laid the rotten egg, were nervous, and had dropped +them in the river, they themselves taking up positions of safety till +the fighting was over. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +IN RAGS AND TATTERS + + +Baden-Powell now had what one might term a roving commission. He was +sent by Colonel Plumer in charge of a patrol to wander over the vast +country covered by the rebellion and see what he could of the enemy, +and when found make a note of. It was exactly the work B.-P. liked +above all others. There was romance in the dangers of it, and +intellectual joy in its difficulties. There was freedom in it, and the +glorious feeling that every step he took he was carrying his life in +his hand. And not only was life menaced by the bullets and assegais of +Matabele lurking in the tall yellow grass, but there was considerable +danger, though of a more humorous order, even in the taking of a bath, +as B.-P. discovered in going down to a pool and spotting just in time +a leering crocodile in the reeds. Lions, too, were stumbled upon in +clumps, just as in peaceful England one walks upon a covey of +partridges. Then, lying down one day after dinner for a nap, B.-P. +discovered on awaking that a snake had selected precisely the same +spot for its own siesta. The charm of night marches, too, was +occasionally broken by the growling of a bloodthirsty hyęna, following +and snarling at the heels of the horses. These were dangers, however, +that added the few touches necessary to complete the picture of our +smart adjutant of Hussars in cowboy hat, grey flannel shirt, breeches +and gaiters, with a face as brown as a Kaffir's, wandering over the +South African veldt. During these expeditions, by the way, +Baden-Powell's wardrobe came to ignominious grief, and under the +tattered breeches, the stained shirt, and the split boots, he was a +mere network of holes. The ankles of his socks remained true to the +end, but the rest of them, in B.-P.'s euphemistic phrase, were most +delicate lace. The one drawback to the tub in the river, leaving out +the chance of a stray crocodile, was the difficulty he experienced in +getting back into these delicate open-work socks, and the only way of +surmounting this difficulty was by bathing--socks and all! + +The marches, too, had their intervals of fighting, and the little +patrol was frequently so in touch with the enemy that Tommy Atkins and +Master Matabele could exchange compliments. "Sleep well to-night," the +grinning savages would shout from the hills; "to-morrow we will have +your livers fried for breakfast!" And the compliments became sterner +whenever the Matabele recognised in the little force of whites the +dread "Wolf that never Sleeps." "Wolf! Wolf!" they shrieked with +savage ferocity, and if Baden-Powell had the nerves of some of us he +must have had many a bad night after hearing that yell, and marking +the gleaming eyes and the frothing lips that twitched with lust for +his destruction. + +Then there was the bitterest work of all. The closing of suffering +eyes that had grown so strangely dear during the hardships of such +work as this; the saying of farewells to the men who had raced by +one's side with Death at their heels for how many hard weeks. Of one +of these Baden-Powell writes in his diary: "His death is to me like +the snatching away of a pleasing book half read." And solemn as the +funeral service ever is, one fancies how awe-inspiring, how poignant +its impressiveness, when in the dark, "among the gleams of camp-fires +and lanterns, with a storm of thunder and lightning gathering round," +a few fighting Englishmen heard its message over the body of a +fellow-soldier. + +Baden-Powell's description of the day's work at this time gives one a +good idea of the life of a patrol. This is what he wrote in his diary +for his mother's eyes: "Our usual daily march goes thus: Reveillé and +stand to arms at 4.30, when Orion's belt is overhead. (The natives +call this Ingolobu, the pig, the three big stars being three pigs, and +the three little ones being the dogs running after them; this shows +that Kaffirs, like other nations, see pictures in constellations.) We +then feed horses--if we have anything to feed them with, which is not +often; light fires and boil coffee; saddle-up, and march off at 5.15. +We go on marching till about 9.30 or 10, when we off-saddle and lie up +for the heat of the day, during which the horses are grazed, with a +guard to look after them, and we go a-breakfasting, bathing, and in +theory writing and sketching, but in practice sleeping, at least so +far as the flies will allow. At 3.30 saddle-up and march till 5.30; +off-saddle and supper; then we march on again, as far as necessary, +in the cool hours of the early night. On arriving at the end of our +march, we form our little laager; to do this we put our saddles down +in a square, each man sleeping with his head in the saddle, and the +horses inside the square, fastened in two lines on their 'built up' +ropes. To go to bed we dig a small hole for our hip-joints to rest in, +roll ourselves up in our horse-blanket, with our heads comfortably +ensconced in the inside of the saddle, and we would not then exchange +our couch for anything that Maple could try and tempt us with." + +But after months of this hard work, the tireless B.-P. began to knock +up. Fever and dysentery attacked him, and he said unkind things to +people who bothered him--as witness the message sent to one of the +patrolling columns: "If you let the men smoke on a night march, you +might as well let the band play too." The justness of the gibe! + +B.-P. relates a good story, by the way, of smoking while on guard. A +Colonial volunteer officer, Captain Brown, in times of peace Butcher +Brown, ordered a sentry found smoking to consider himself a prisoner. +"What!" exclaimed the volunteer soldier, "not smoke on sentry? Then +where the ---- _am_ I to smoke?" The dignified Captain only reiterated +his first remark. Then did the sentry take his pipe from his mouth and +confidentially tap his officer upon the shoulder. "Now, look here, +Brown," said he, "don't go and make a ---- fool of yourself. If you +do, I'll go elsewhere for my meat." + +To return. B.-P., having lived straight and hard, soon fought down the +fever, and in little more than a week was back again at work. It is +nice to know that during the time of his being on the sick-list Sir +Frederick Carrington went regularly to his bedside and sat for a long +time, retailing all the cheerful news of the campaign. Sir Frederick +and Baden-Powell, by the bye, are probably the two Imperial officers +who know most about South Africa. + +During his illness Major Ridley had started off with a column to make +war upon the Somabula, and when B.-P. got about again he was ordered +to go in search of this force, with three troopers as an escort, and +to take command of it. "I could picture nothing more to my taste," he +says, "than a ride of from eighty to one hundred miles in a wild +country, with three good men, and plenty of excitement in having to +keep a good look-out for the enemy, enjoying splendid weather, +shirt-sleeves, and a reviving feeling of health and freedom." So the +man who had only just got off a sick-bed started for a ride into the +forest after Ridley's column, and during the ride the twentieth +anniversary of his joining Her Majesty's Service came round and +brought its reflections for the diary. "I always think more of this +anniversary than of that of my birth, and I could not picture a more +enjoyable way of spending it. I am here, out in the wilds, with three +troopers.... We are nearly eighty miles from Buluwayo and thirty from +the nearest troops. I have rigged up a shelter from the sun with my +blanket, a rock, and a thorn-bush; thirteen thousand flies are, +unfortunately, staying with me, and are awfully attentive.... I am +looking out on the yellow veldt and the blue sky; the veldt with its +grey hazy clumps of thorn-bush is shimmering in the heat, and its vast +expanse is only broken by the gleaming white sand of the river-bed and +the green reeds and bushes which fringe its banks." How could a man +feel unhappy with the whole of his wardrobe packed away in one wallet +of the saddle, and his larder in the other? Be sure that Lucullus +never enjoyed a banquet with the same sharpness of delight as +Baden-Powell squatting amid the yellow grass of the veldt with his +cocoa and rice. + +But there were anxious moments coming for the man who kept on the open +veldt the twentieth anniversary of his joining Her Majesty's army with +gladness in his heart. After he had found the column and had got into +the Lilliputian forest with its stunted, bushy trees and its sandy +soil, he was brought face to face with the greatest enemy that can +harass, fret, and wear down nerves of steel--absence of water. A +commander whose mind is racked by the difficulty, perhaps the +impossibility, of finding water for his troops is like the man haunted +day and night, waking and sleeping, by debt. "This was our menu," says +Baden-Powell: "weak tea (can't afford it strong), no sugar (we are out +of it), a little bread (we have half a pound a day), Irish stew +(consisting of slab of horse boiled in muddy water with a pinch of +rice and half a pinch of pea-flour), salt, none. For a plate I use one +of my gaiters, it is marked 'Tautz & Sons, No. 3031'; it is a far cry +from veldt and horseflesh to Tautz and Oxford Street!" But this was at +a time when B.-P. wrote in his diary: "Nothing like looking at the +cheery side of things." The morrow came when he could see nothing but +arid miles of sand, when his eyes ached as they ranged the pitiless +desert for water; there is no cheery side to that view. Halting his +party to give them a rest, he and an American scout named Gielgud +started off to make one grand effort to find river or puddle. Hill +after hill was climbed to find only a valley of dead, baked grass +beyond, and at last, broken-hearted and weary, the two riders turned +their horses' heads back to camp. Soon after this the American's head +began to bob till the chin rested on the chest, and he forgot the +quest of water in the fairyland of dreams. But B.-P. could not sleep, +and those keen eyes of his were ranging the desolate country every +dreary minute of that ride. And at last he noticed on the ground +certain marks which he knew to be those of a buck that had scratched +in the sand for water. Overjoyed he got down from the saddle and +continued the work of the buck, digging and digging with his lean +sunburnt fingers till he came to damp earth, and then--to water. At +that moment he saw two pigeons get up from behind a rock some little +way off, and leaving his oozing water in the sand he hastened there +and discovered to his supreme joy the salvation of his party--a little +pool of water. + +On this expedition you will be interested to hear that a man who lent +valuable assistance to Baden-Powell was your hero of the +cricket-field--Major Poore. In the days of the Matabele campaign he +had not slogged Richardson out of the Oval, nor driven Hearne +distracted to the ropes at Lord's; he was there as Captain Poore of +the 7th Hussars, working like a nigger, brave as a Briton, and quite +delighted to be soldiering under the peerless Baden-Powell. His fame +came afterwards. + +During this expedition Baden-Powell gave brilliant evidence of his +capacity as a general. He had drawn up a plan for an attack by his own +and another column upon a great chief named Wedza, who lived with his +warriors in a mountain consisting of six rocky peaks ranging from +eight hundred to a thousand feet high. On the top of these peaks were +perched the kraals, while the mountain itself, nearly three miles +long, resembled nothing so much as a rabbit-warren, being a network of +caves held by the burrowing rebels. Wedza's stronghold was steep, and +its sides were strewn with bush and boulders; only by narrow and +difficult paths was it accessible, and these paths had been fortified +by the Matabele with stockades and breastworks. This important and +well-nigh impregnable stronghold was held by something like sixteen +hundred Matabele--six or seven hundred of whom were real fighting men. +Baden-Powell, nevertheless, drew up his plan for the attack, and sat +down to wait for the other column which was to act with him. That +column never came; only a letter arrived by runner saying that it +would be unable to join in the attack after all. "The only thing we +could do," says Baden-Powell, "was to try and bluff the enemy out of +the place." + +So he arranged to win the battle by cunning of the brain. Sending +five-and-twenty men to climb a hill which commanded a part of the +stronghold, with instructions to act as if they were two hundred and +fifty, and giving small parties of Hussars similar instructions +regarding the left flank and rear of the enemy, Baden-Powell got his +artillery ready to bombard the central position. Just as the +five-and-twenty reached the summit of their hill, however, they were +observed by the enemy and instantly fired upon. From hilltop to +hilltop rang the call to arms, and B.-P. watched through his telescope +the yelling savages rushing with their rifles and assegais to massacre +his gallant little force of five-and-twenty men under a lieutenant. To +create a diversion, Baden-Powell galloped off with seven men to the +left rear of the stronghold, crossing a river on the way, and opened +fire upon a village on the side of the mountain. By continually moving +about in the grass and using magazine fire, B.-P. with his seven men +gave the enemy the impression that he had a large army there, and soon +the strain was taken off the five-and-twenty on the hilltop. Then +Hussars and Artillery joined the five-and-twenty, while a 7-pounder +flung deadly shells at every important point of the mountain. Soon +after this the enemy made a backward move, and the lieutenant on the +hilltop (with the Field-Marshal's baton already in his hand) +incontinently began to harry him effectively from the rear. + +The end of it was that Wedza's warriors were completely bluffed by the +resourceful B.-P.; they were driven out of their stronghold, and the +stronghold itself blown into smithereens. During this attack +Baden-Powell narrowly escaped death, a small party he was with being +fired upon at close range by a number of the enemy hidden behind a +ridge of rocks. "My hat," says B.-P., "was violently struck from my +head as if with a stick." + +This reminds me of the service rendered by Baden-Powell as a doctor. +"Three times in this campaign have I taken out to the field with me a +few bandages and dressings in my holster, and on each occasion I have +found full use for them." Once he doctored some Matabele women and +children who had been hit by stray bullets while lying in the long +grass. On this occasion he invented what he calls a perfect form of +field syringe: "Take an ordinary native girl, tell her to go and get +some lukewarm water, and don't give her anything to get it in. She +will go to the stream, kneel, and fill her mouth, and so bring the +water; by the time she is back the water is lukewarm. You then tell +her to squirt it as you direct into the wound, while you prize around +with a feather." + +After the breaking of Wedza there was work to be done in Mashonaland, +and then, when the rebellion had been crushed and the colonist was +able to search fearlessly among the charred beams of his homestead ere +setting about building anew, the gallant Baden-Powell turned his face +towards Old England. Before leaving South Africa, however, he spent +the Christmas Day of that memorable 1896 in Port Elizabeth. "After +breakfast," he writes in his diary, "to church. Everything exactly +ordered as if at home: the Christmas Day choral service with a good +choir and a fine organ. And as the anthem of peace and goodwill rolled +forth, it brought home to one the fact that a year of strife in savage +wilds had now been weathered to a peaceful close." + +Then came the voyage across the 6000 odd miles of ocean with Cecil +Rhodes, Sir Frederick Carrington, and other interesting people. After +that the English coast, and the train to London. And, after that, +"through the roar of the sloppy, lamp-lit streets, to the comfort and +warmth--of Home." + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE REGIMENTAL OFFICER + + +I hear you say that Baden-Powell has had glorious chances, that the +lot of most officers is humdrum, and that with so much talk about +Arbitration and Universal Millennium, you cannot go up for Sandhurst +with any certainty that your career will contain a single opportunity +for gaining honour and renown. My dear Smith major, believe me, a man +may distinguish himself in a barrack square as well as in African +mountains or a besieged township. General popularity, it is true, does +not come that way; but the opportunity for honour is there all the +same, and the distinction one earns on that field has its appreciation +in the right quarter. Long before the world of London paraded its +streets with portrait badges of Baden-Powell on its heart, or +thereabouts, he was a marked and famous man, and before he had drawn +sword on a field of battle, or fired a revolver into the yellow grass +of the veldt, he was known throughout the British Cavalry as a +first-rate, if not the ideal, soldier. It is not a bad ambition, I +promise you, to try and be a perfect regimental officer. + +A party of sergeants in Baden-Powell's old regiment were once asked by +a civilian whether the men liked him. There was a silence for a minute +or two, and at last one of the sergeants replied, hesitatingly, "Well, +no, I shouldn't say they _like_ him"; then in a burst--"why, they +worship him!" Let me tell you how Baden-Powell has earned their love. + +In the first place, he entered the Army with no mischievous ideas +about the manliness and dash of a fast, raking life. That is a great +start, for if the soldier despises one type of officer more than +another it is the young sprig who affects to consider soldiering a +bore, and comes on parade with the evidence of last night's folly and +dissipation in his drawn face and dull eyes. Baden-Powell was keen +about his work from the first, and never posed as a drawling Silenus +in gold lace. In the second place, Baden-Powell, who always possessed +a great deal of sound common sense, took an interest in his men, +treated them as intelligent beings, and never for once mistook the +drunken, devil-may-care Private of fiction for the soldier who goes +anywhere and does anything. It is a literary "dodge" to reach the +reader's sympathies by drawing the blackguard in order to find the +hero; one good deed in that world of unreality wipes out all the +unworthiness of a lifetime, and the reader puts down the tale with a +longing to fall on the neck and wring the hand of the very next +hiccupping Tommy he encounters. As Bishop Blougram says:-- + + Our interest's on the dangerous edge of things, + The honest thief, the tender murderer, + The superstitious atheist, demireps + That love and save their souls in new French books-- + We watch while these in equilibrium keep + The giddy line midway: one step aside, + They're classed and done with. + +This is all very well in fiction, but I protest it is a little hard on +the soldier, and it is certainly a dangerous belief for the future +officer to grow up in. + +The following letter, which appeared recently in the _Daily Graphic_, +is well and truly written: "Having served as chaplain of one of the +largest recruiting depōts in England, may I thank you for your article +on the Heroic Blackguard style of literature in vogue just now. +Soldiers have often remarked to me that they were represented as +'drunken roughs who couldn't speak the Queen's English.' As a matter +of fact, a steadier, better behaved, better mannered class it would be +difficult to find. There are exceptions, but not popular exceptions. +Blackguardism and heroism very seldom go together, Bret Harte and +other writers notwithstanding. The pluckiest and most reliable +soldiers are not animated beer barrels, but sober, keen-eyed, sensible +fellows, and of such the British Army chiefly consists." + +When you are most inclined to think the Private an irresponsible +good-for-nothing, look hard at the next Commissionaire you meet on the +street. That smart, clean, well-brushed man, with his bronzed face, +his bright keen eyes, and general look of self-respect, was once a +soldier, and indeed it is soldiering that has made him what you see. +Look hard, honoured sir, at the next Commissionaire who comes across +your path, and you will never again be disposed to regard the soldier +as an insensate good-for-nothing. + +"Tommy Atkins," says Baden-Powell, "is not the childish boy that the +British Public are too apt to think him, to be ignored in peace and +petted in war. He is, on the contrary, a man who reads and thinks for +himself, and he is keen on any instruction in really practical +soldiering, especially if it promises a spice of the dash and +adventure which is so dear to a Briton." It was just because +Baden-Powell acted on this assumption in the 13th Hussars that the men +learned to "worship" him. The few regular bad-lots that are to be +found, I suppose, in every regiment, are certainly no heroes among the +rest of the soldiers. The corner in the canteen where they foregather +is not crowded, and I have seen them from that unsplendid isolation +looking wistfully at the fresh, clean, merry-voiced troopers buying +"luxuries" at the bar,--men who are keen soldiers, anxious to excel, +and who do not "nurse the canteen." + +But bad officers may ruin the best men, and the popularity of the Army +with the classes from which its ranks are drawn depends very largely +upon the behaviour of our subalterns and captains. No one likes to be +neglected, and the great mistake made by so many officers, but never +by Baden-Powell, is their apparent indifference to the soldier's +welfare "out of hours." In a cavalry regiment, for instance, for the +greater part of the year the men have practically nothing to do from +dinner-time till the bugle rings for evening stables. Will you believe +it, that the commonest way of spending the afternoon in cavalry +regiments is by going to bed? Immediately after dinner is over, down +go the beds with a clatter, the strap that holds the mattress +doubled-up is unbuckled, and under the thick sheets and the dark +blankets, minus his boots, the trooper smokes his pipe until he falls +asleep. Their officer is with them in the morning, to see that they +brush the scurf out of their horses' manes and put the burnisher over +the backs of the buckles; he puts his nose into their room at +dinner-time to ask if there are any complaints, and withdraws it +almost before it is recognised by the men, as if the odour of the +Irish stew disagreed with him. After that, unless he walks through +the stables in the evening, his men do not see him. Now, how can an +officer who soldiers in this dull, stupid fashion ever gain the +affection of his men? And, more important question, how can men with +such an officer ever grow enthusiastic about soldiering, or even +content with their lot? + +Baden-Powell devoted himself to the men in his troop, and, when he was +adjutant, to the whole regiment. He would get them out of their rooms +in the afternoon for sports of some kind, he would encourage them to +take up flag-wagging or scouting, and he would work like a slave to +provide them with an alternative for public-house and canteen. There +is a story about him, which shows how popular he is with the men, and, +also, that it is possible for soldiers to take an intelligent interest +in practical soldiering. Baden-Powell was delivering a course of +lectures, I think on scouting, and every lecture had been attended by +a large audience which completely filled the room. Men used to wait +outside the door in order to get a seat, just as people stand +patiently for hours at the pit-door of a theatre. Among this audience +there was one young sergeant who had shown a singularly keen +interest in the lectures; he was one of the smartest and +cleanest-living men in the station, and had never been charged with +drunkenness in his life. At one of the lectures B.-P. was surprised to +find the young soldier absent, and he was still more surprised on the +following day to find that this irreproachable sergeant was up on a +charge of drunkenness. "What on earth made you go and get drunk?" +asked B.-P. "Well, sir," said the sergeant doggedly, "I was late +yesterday and couldn't get in to your lecture, so of course I had to +go and get drunk." He said this perfectly seriously, and there was a +very world of meaning in his argumentative "of course." + +[Illustration: "_Viret in Ęternum_" + Van der Weyde, Photographer, 182, Regent St., W.] + +Baden-Powell was as assiduous in his attentions to his men as any +knight to his lady. He wooed them and won them. He did not win by +playing to the gallery, asking if they were quite comfortable in their +room, and giving them little coddling presents. He won as a man wins a +love that is worth winning, by treating the object of his devotion +with respect and perfect trust. His work at Malta, when he was acting +as Assistant Military Secretary to the Governor, secured for him the +affection of hundreds of soldiers and, I am glad to add, sailors too. +He was the life and soul of the place, indefatigable in getting up +sports and theatricals for the men, and building a permanent club for +their use, which effectually prevented the weaker men, or shall we say +the more generous hearted? from spending too much money in +public-houses. It was a sight to see the gymnasium, in which the +theatricals were held, during one of Baden-Powell's performances. The +vast floor of the building was crowded with soldiers packed as tightly +as sardines, and the rafters running from wall to wall were all +bestridden by sailors as happy and as comfortable there as the +Governor and his party sitting in the front row in their splendid +chairs from the palace. And when B.-P. appeared in the wings a shout +such as might have brought down the walls of Jericho shook the great +building, and soldier and sailor vied with each other to see who could +keep that roar of welcome going the longest. And over and over again +did Baden-Powell apply for leave to shirk some great social function +in the palace because the hour of such entertainment clashed with the +time he spent among Tommy and Jack in the gymnasium or the club. + +His opinion of the soldier is a high one, and that is the secret of +his success. He loves to recount instances which have come in his long +experience, showing the soldier in the best light, revealing his +pluck, his love of little children, his chivalrous championing of the +weak, his handiness, his humour, his cheerfulness in depressing +circumstances, his self-respect, and his honesty. What was it that +struck his attention most about the tempting work of searching +Prempeh's palace for treasure? That the work which was entrusted to a +company of British soldiers "was done most honestly and well, without +a single case of looting. Here was a man with an armful of gold-hilted +swords, there one with a box full of gold trinkets and rings, another +with a spirit-case full of bottles of brandy, yet in no instance was +there any attempt at looting." And, eating out his own heart, on that +bitter march back from Kumassi to Cape Coast Castle, he had eyes for +the splendid doggedness of the British soldier: "In truth, that march +down was in its way as fine an exhibition of British stamina and pluck +as any that has been seen of late years. For the casual reader in +England this is difficult to realise, but to one who has himself +wearily tramped that interminable path, heart-sick and foot-sore, the +sight of those dogged British 'Tommies,' heavily accoutred as they +were, still defying fever in the sweltering heat, and ever pressing +on, was one which opened one's eyes and one's heart as well. There was +no malingering _there_; each man went on until he dropped. It showed +more than any fight could have done, more than any investment in a +fort, or surprise in camp, what stern and sterling stuff our men are +made of, notwithstanding all that cavillers will say against our +modern army system and its soldiers." During that bitter march +Baden-Powell asked a young soldier, gripped by fever but manfully +plodding on with the rest, whether his kit was not too heavy for him, +whereat, says Baden-Powell, he replied, with tight-drawn smile and +quavering voice, "It ain't the kit, sir; it's only these extra rounds +that I feel the weight of." "These extra rounds" being those intended +for the fight which never came. + +In the Matabele campaign he was quick to notice the manner in which +private soldiers tended some wounded nigger children. "It did one +good," he says, "to see one or two of the Hussars, fresh from +nigger-fighting, giving their help in binding up the youngsters, and +tenderly dabbing the wounded limbs with bits of their own shirts +wetted." During that haunting march with the Shangani Patrol, when the +rice was cut down to a spoonful, and a horse had been killed to supply +the men with food, Baden-Powell found time to note that "the men are +singing and chaffing away as cheerfully as possible while they scoop +the muddy water from the sand-hole for their tea." And he loves the +soldier for all his little oddities. How he laughed over the man who +carried skates in his kit through India, and the man in the African +desert with a lot of fish-hooks in his wallet! And how he likes to +chaff them out of their failings. At Aldershot one of his most popular +pieces as an entertainer is that in which he impersonates the +barrack-room lawyer. While the audience is waiting for the next +singer, there is a noise heard in the wings, and then a loud voice +cries, "I tell yer I will go on. It's no use of you a-stoppin' of me, +I'm agoin' to tell 'em all about it, I am," and then with a great +clatter a private soldier comes bungling on the stage, tunic open, +hair all over the place, and cap at the back of his head. "Beg +parding, sir," he says to the officer in the front row, "but these +here manoeuvres has all been conducted wrong, they have, and I +warn't to tell the company how they ought to have been managed. Now if +I had had the runnin' of this concern, and not the Field-Marshal, I +should have first of all"--etc. etc. The audience yells with delight, +and if Baden-Powell really should show up, in his own inimitable +fashion, the mistakes of a general (which, by the way, he is quite +capable of doing), the audience and the general too, if he is there, +laugh all the more. + +Men go to him with their private cares and troubles. They know that +the man who can make them laugh till the tears stream down their +faces, can at the right moment show a serious face, and give ear to +the humblest tale of trouble. He makes it his business--and surely it +is part of an officer's business--to know all about his men's lives, +their families, their favourite sports, their objects in life, and the +way in which they spend their leave. When he was in the 13th Hussars +he was always a favourite with the children in the married quarters, +and if you could pick out an apple-cheeked urchin playing in the dust +of the barracks who did not grin from ear to ear when you asked if he +knew Baden-Powell, you had stumbled upon a young gentleman the guest +of the regiment. + +Baden-Powell even got to learn the names men gave their horses. There +was in the 13th Hussars some years ago a handsome little black horse +whose regimental number was, I think, A18. To the men he was Smut, and +no one ever thought of calling him anything else. One day at stables +the squad was called to attention, and the young soldier standing at +the head of A18 was mightily surprised to hear a civilian walking side +by side with the captain of his troop remark, as he passed up the +stable, "Why, there's old Smut!" When the officer and civilian had +passed out he turned to the next man, and asked who the deuce the +bloke was in the brown hat. "Why, that's Captain Baden-Powell," said +the man; and then he added with great pride, "I was his bātman once." +The young soldier had heard of Baden-Powell before, and was furious +that he had not looked longer at him as he passed. An odd +circumstance, by the way, concerning the ex-bātman. He was a terrible +fellow in many ways, always on the look-out for a fight, and in his +cups had disabled more than one policeman in the cities where the 13th +sojourned. But he kept in his box a little faded red book of +quotations, filled with serious and religious thoughts, and he was +particularly fond of two of these apothegms: the one, "A prayer is +merely a wish turned Godward"; and the other, "A grave wherever found +preaches a short and pithy sermon to the soul." He would quote them +over and over again in his confidential moments, and, though he might +pick out others as he turned the well-thumbed pages of that tiny book, +it was always to these two that he returned as perfect specimens of +great sayings. And that book, unless I am mistaken, was given to him +by Baden-Powell. "If I had been with him right along," he would say, +regretting some escapade, "I should have been a sergeant by this +time." + +Baden-Powell's familiarity with the names of his men's horses reminds +one of his difficulty in swallowing horse-flesh during the hungry days +with the Shangani Patrol: "It is one thing to say, 'I'll trouble you +to pass the horse, please,' but quite another to say, 'Give me another +chunk of D15.'" He is a man who can grow very nearly as fond of his +troop's horses as of his own. + +A good description of Baden-Powell is that versatile officer's own +sketch of a man with whom he soldiered on one of his campaigns: "He +has all the qualifications that go to make an officer above the ruck +of them. Endowed with all the dash, pluck, and attractive force that +make a born leader of men, he is also steeped in common sense, is +careful in arrangement of details, and possesses a temperament that +can sing 'Wait till the clouds roll by' in crises where other men are +tearing their hair." The public in the light of recent events will be +quick to recognise B.-P. in the latter part of this portrait; I can +assure them that the rest is equally accurate. As a regimental officer +he exhibits all these good qualities. He can show the men dash and +pluck in every sport they care for, his common sense makes him the +friend of Tommy Atkins as well as his officer, and the affairs of his +regiment are so admirably managed that there is no enervating air of +slackness about the barracks from the first monitory note of +"Reveillé" to the last wailing sound of "Lights Out." + +And while Baden-Powell is loved in the barrack-room he is ever the +most popular figure in the Officers' Mess. There is nothing of the +namby-pamby, I mean, in his solicitude for the soldier's welfare, +nothing to make him unpopular with his brother officers, nothing that +makes even the youngest subaltern a little contemptuous. _Tout au +contraire._ The place he holds in the affections of his brother +officers may, perhaps, be seen in a quotation from the letter of an +officer in the 13th Hussars, which I received during the most anxious +days of the siege of Mafeking. After saying that relief ought to have +been sent before, my Hussar says, "Poor dear chap, he must be severely +tried. As I eat my dinner at night I always wish I could hand it over +to him." Could a Briton do more? + +Such then is Baden-Powell's character as a regimental officer. Beloved +by the little fashionable world of the Officers' Mess, adored by the +men who eat and sleep and clean sword, carbine, and boots in the one +room, he presents to the gaze of the schoolboy whose whole thoughts +are set upon Sandhurst the beau-ideal of a regimental officer. + +To reach that ideal there are five great essentials--keenness, +courage, high-mindedness, self-abnegation, humour. Ability to mix +freely with private soldiers without loss of dignity is, I take it, +the natural gift of a gentleman; and if the officer who devotes +himself to his men is high-minded and courageous, always ready to +ignore self, with the saving virtue of humour, he will earn not only +their respect and admiration, but their loyal and unswerving love. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +GOAL-KEEPER + + +Baden-Powell was at Henley, preparing to enjoy the festivities of the +1899 Regatta in one of the pleasantest houses on the river, when a +telegram arrived calling him to the War Office. This was on Wednesday, +and the business the state of things in the Transvaal. On Saturday he +was on the sea, sailing away from the coast of England. + +As we have said before, Baden-Powell keeps a khaki kit in perfect +readiness for emergencies ("he is terribly methodical," says one of +his brothers), and, therefore, when Lord Wolseley asked him how soon +it would be before he could start, the delighted B.-P. answered with a +very enthusiastic "Immediately." But ships are not kept in such easy +readiness as kits, and two whole days had to elapse before our hero +could set sail for the land where war was brewing. Those two days he +spent with his family and in paying farewell visits to his friends. +The Old Carthusian naturally bent his steps towards Charterhouse, and +sought out Dr. Haig-Brown in the Master's Lodge. "I hope they'll give +me a warm corner," he said, gripping the Doctor's hand. And then in a +few weeks this Old Boy was in his African corner, enjoying its +Avernus-like warmth. + +The story of the siege of Mafeking is one of the most interesting an +Englishman can read about. One may truthfully say that it is the story +of a single man--our hero, B.-P. Good men he has had under him, +skilful officers and valorous troops; but all the daring, all the +gallantry, all the heroism would have been powerless in such a +situation without the unlimited resourcefulness of the intrepid +Goal-Keeper. With a handful of men he has held at bay in a small and +very exposed town as many as 6000 Boers, commanded at one time by the +dogged and unscrupulous Cronje. And not only this. With his small +force he has kept the enemy on tenterhooks all the weary weeks of the +siege, sallying out at night to fling his gallant men upon their +trenches, storming them in their lines by day, and actually giving the +large army besieging his little garrison a taste of cold steel. + +In years to come, I suppose, only the imagination will be able to +realise the effect on the stoical British mind of Baden-Powell's brisk +and witty telegrams. England at that time, let it be known, was in a +state of sullen wonderment. Every dispatch brought consternation to +our minds. Here were our troops pouring into South Africa, soldiers of +renown at their head, regiments famous throughout the world, +representing our courage and prestige, and yet check after check, +reverse after reverse--no progress, no sign of progress. In the midst +of this national gloom came telegrams full of cheery optimism from +little Mafeking--a name hardly known then to the man in the street, +now as familiar as Edinburgh and Dublin. Who, for instance, can forget +the famous message which ran: "October 21st. All well. Four hours' +bombardment. One dog killed"? In an instant the gloom was dispelled. +In 'bus and tram and railway carriage men chuckled over the exquisite +humour of that telegram. Leader writers, unbending, referred to it +decorously. The funny men on newspaper staffs made jests about it, +and the "Oldest Evening Paper" enshrined it in verse:-- + + Four long, long hours they pounded hard, + Whizz! went the screaming shell-- + Of reeking tube and iron shard + There was an awful smell. + + On us they wasted all their lead, + On us who stood at bay, + And with our guns (forgive it, Stead!) + Popped quietly away. + + They could not make the city burn, + However hard they tried. + Not one of us is dead, but learn + A dog it was that died. + +The reaction was extraordinary. The almost unknown Colonel +Baden-Powell instantly became "B.-P." to the general public, and in +the twinkling of an eye his photograph appeared in the shop-windows +beside those of Sir Redvers Buller, Sir George White, and Lord +Methuen. Everybody was cracking jokes about the war, and the Boers +seemed to be already under the heel of the conqueror. When men opened +their newspapers in the railway carriage it was with the remark, +"How's old B.-P. getting along?" The doings of other soldiers in more +important positions lost much of their interest, and the public mind +became riveted on Mafeking. Here was a light-hearted cavalry-officer +locked up in a little frontier town with seven hundred Irregular +cavalry, a few score volunteers, six machine-guns and two 7-pounders; +against whom was pitted the redoubtable Cronje with one 10-pounder, +five 7-pounders, two Krupp 12-pounders, and one Krupp 94-pounder, and +probably an army of something like 6000 wily Boers. And yet the +Goal-Keeper, 870 miles from English Cape Town and only 150 miles from +Boer Pretoria, was as light-hearted and optimistic as a general +leading an overwhelming army against a baffled and disorganised foe. +Englishmen were quick to recognise the virtue of the man who solemnly +sent the death of a dog to be recorded in the archives of the War +Office; quick to appreciate the peril of his position; and I do not +think I am screwing my string too tight when I say that the safety of +Baden-Powell from that moment became a personal matter to thousands of +Englishmen all the world over. Miss Baden-Powell at this time was +travelling in Scotland, and at some out-of-the-way station she and her +boxes detrained. The station-master passing along the platform +noticed the name of Baden-Powell on the trunks, and instantly rushed +towards her, with beaming face and extended hand,--"Gie me the honour, +ma'am," he cried, "o' shakin' your hand." And from this time gifts and +letters poured in ceaselessly upon Mrs. Baden-Powell in London, +letters from all classes of the nation, costly gifts, humble +gifts--all testifying to the giver's love and admiration of her +gallant son in Mafeking. One of these presents took the form of a +large portrait of B.-P. worked in coloured silks, another a little +modest book-marker. And in the streets gutter-merchants were doing a +roaring trade in brooches and badges with B.-P.'s face smiling on the +enamel as contentedly as if immortalised on a La Creevy miniature. +Finally, to complete this apotheosis, Madame Tussaud announced on +flaming placards that Baden-Powell had been added to the number of her +Immortals. + +This, then, was the sudden fate of the man who had returned to England +from wandering alone within a stone's throw of the Matabele bivouac +fires unknown and unhonoured by the public. I wonder if Baden-Powell +had a presentiment of what was to be when, in the early days of the +siege, he corrected the proofs of _Aids to Scouting_, and came upon +his own words towards the end of that manual: "Remember always that +you are helping your _side_ to win, and not merely getting glory for +yourself or your regiment--that will come of itself." + +The wit of Baden-Powell in some measure obscured from the popular view +the grimness of his task. Like the true Briton that he is, he +considered it part of his duty to make light of his difficulties. But +the holding of Mafeking was stern work. The Boers themselves never +dreamed the defence would be seriously maintained, and in the early +days of the siege they sent in a messenger under a flag of truce +offering terms of surrender. Baden-Powell gave the messenger a +sumptuous lunch, himself the most delightful of hosts, and sent him +back with word to the accommodating Boers that he would be sure and +let them know immediately he was ready to yield the town. And to +Cronje's humanitarian plea that Baden-Powell should surrender in order +to avoid further bloodshed, the Goal-Keeper made answer, one can see +his eyes twinkling, "Certainly, but when will the bloodshed begin?" A +little later he got in with a still more irritating piece of irony, +addressing a letter to the burghers asking them if they seriously +thought that they could take the town by sitting down and looking at +it. + +But this was at a time when Baden-Powell, in common with the rest of +us, believed that the triumphant British Army would soon be coming up +to Mafeking, and he himself able to sally out and strike a crushing +blow at the besieging force. Weeks passed and the hope died. The Boers +cut off the water-supply, and, with contrary ideas of logic, thought +that such an action would damp the spirits of Baden-Powell. But that +thoughtful and resourceful commander had seen that all the old wells +were cleaned, and well filled, so that Mafeking was as secure from a +water-famine as it was from the entrance of the Boers. Besides this, +Baden-Powell had constructed bomb-proof shelters everywhere, and a boy +stood ready with bell-rope in hand to ring immediate warning of a +shell's approach. Trenches were dug giving cover and leading from +every portion of the town. So perfect indeed were Baden-Powell's +defences that it was possible to walk entirely round the little town +without being exposed to the Boer fire. Telephones, too, were +established between the headquarter bomb-proofs of outlying posts and +the headquarter bomb-proof where Baden-Powell and Lord Edward Cecil, +D.S.O., laid their heads together and planned the town's defence. And +to keep the enemy at a respectful distance, Baden-Powell continually +sent out little forces to harass them and keep them in a state of +nerves. The Matabele never knew when Impessa was coming, and the Boers +could never lie down to sleep with the assurance that they would not +be awakened by the rattle of British musketry and the dread "Reveillé" +of cold steel. Here is one instance. Knowing that the Boers fear the +bayonet more than rifle bullets, Baden-Powell determined upon a sortie +in which his men should get within striking distance of the large army +closing round the town. One night he sent fifty-three men with orders +to use only the bayonet, and this insignificant force crept silently +to the enemy's trenches in the darkness, and scattered six hundred +Boers from their laager. So close to the town were the assaulted +trenches of the enemy that the officer's sudden and thrilling +"Charge" rang out distinctly on the night to the ears of those +anxiously waiting the result of the sortie in Mafeking. This gallant +attack completely "funked" the Boers, and at two o'clock in the +morning, long after the little force had returned triumphantly to the +town, they began another fusillade, firing furiously at nothing for a +whole hour. Fight after fight ensued. Whenever the enemy occupied a +position likely to inconvenience the town, Baden-Powell took arms +against them, and drove them out. After several experiences of this +kind the Boer lost his temper, and with it all sense of honour. It is +difficult to write without unbridled contempt of their inhuman +bombardment of the women and children's laager in the gallant little +town which neither their valour nor cunning could reduce. Baden-Powell +loves children, and few incidents in the siege of Mafeking could be +more distressing to those who know the stout-hearted Defender than +these cruel bombardments. His sorrow over the killed and wounded +children was of the most poignant character. One of the officers wrote +to his mother during these dark days, saying how the whole garrison +was touched to the heart by seeing their Commander nursing terrified +children in his arms, and soothing their little fears. If anything +could have stirred that just and honest nature to unholy thoughts of +vengeance it would have been the murder of these children; and I doubt +not that he will hit the harder and the more relentlessly when he gets +at close quarters with his enemy, fired by the thought of those +mangled little bodies and the remembrance of their mothers' agony. And +in addition to the murderous shells of the Boers, typhoid and malaria +were at their fell work in the women's laager; the children's +graveyard just outside the laager extended its sad bounds week by +week, and the cheerfulness that marked the beginning of the siege died +in men's hearts. + +[Illustration: Goal-Keeper + By permission of the "Daily Graphic."] + +The cheerfulness, but not the determination. Baden-Powell wrote home +in December, after some two months of the siege, saying that they were +all a little tired of it, but just as determined as ever never to +submit. And in order to keep up the spirits of the garrison in the +hour when it seemed to many Englishmen that Mafeking was to be another +Khartoum and he a second Gordon, Baden-Powell began to plan all +manner of entertainments for the amusement of the women and children. +The special correspondent of the _Pall Mall Gazette_ in Mafeking, who +sent to his journal some of the most interesting letters received +during the siege, bore witness to Baden-Powell's efforts in this +direction. In one of his letters he said: "The Colonel does all in his +power to keep up the spirits of the people. To-day we have quite a big +programme of events--the distribution of flags in the morning, cricket +afterwards, general field sports, plain and fancy cycle races, a +concert in the afternoon, and in the evening a dance given by the +bachelor officers of the garrison. We have no Crystal Palace or +monster variety hall, but nevertheless we manage to enjoy ourselves on +truce days, and it goes without saying that the institution of sports +and pastimes has done wondrous things in the way of relieving the +tension on the public mind, and keeping up the health of the +population. It may shock the mind of some cranks to hear that we so +spend our Sundays; but if such persons wish to test the worth and the +wisdom of a rational Sabbath, transfer them here, and let them have a +week of shell-fire. They will speedily become converts." During the +Matabele campaign, it may be remarked, Baden-Powell always held divine +service on Sunday, and even to those whose training makes them regard +the playing of innocent games on Sunday an offence, this holiday of +Sunday in Mafeking must surely be regarded as a holy-day, pleasing to +the Father of men. The love of Baden-Powell for children, his intense +eagerness to keep alive the flame of joy in their young hearts, and +the spark of hope still burning in the hearts of their defenders, +could not, we may be very certain, inspire any decision displeasing to +high Heaven. + +Baden-Powell's dauntless courage, his brisk unchanging hopefulness, +and his unflinching determination to "stick it out," were the +inspiration of the splendid little garrison. To many of them surrender +would have meant nothing more than release from a diet of horse-flesh +and the irritating confinement of a siege; but no man and no woman in +Mafeking even breathed the suggestion that Baden-Powell should haul +down his flag; and on the hundredth day of the siege Mafeking sent a +telegram of loyal devotion to the Queen, whose anxiety for their +safety was not concealed from the world. A hundred days have long +since passed, and if the request of Lord Roberts that Baden-Powell +should hold out to the middle of May turns out to be history, the +siege will have lasted considerably over two hundred days. And during +these long, long days men have been in the trenches night and day, +children crying to their mothers to be taken away from the pitiless +rain of Boer bullets and the terrifying scream of Boer shells; day by +day fever has crept in to lessen the number of brave men whose faith +in the Old Carthusian never once wavered, and to rob poor mothers of +their little ones. And with all these distressing experiences to wear +him down and sicken his heart, our hero found himself further hampered +by treachery in his own camp. + +Treachery it was that frustrated Baden-Powell's great effort to break +the cordon pressing so relentlessly upon little Mafeking, and by that +means open up communication with those marching to his relief. The +battle of Game Tree fort, as it is called, is one of those events +which thrill the heart with pride, and then at the conclusion bring +tears into the eyes with the reflection that so much skill in the +planning, so much valour in the execution, should be defeated by base +treachery. + +Baden-Powell's plans for the taking of this fort were perfectly +understood by his officers. The little force entrusted with the work +of carrying Game Tree moved out of the town in the dusk of early +morning, and in a few minutes the roar of artillery announced the +beginning of a desperate fight. The scream of the engine of the +armoured train told the men at the guns to cease firing, meaning that +Captain Vernon was ready to rush the position with the bayonet. The +scene that followed was magnificent. Waving their hats and cheering +like schoolboys after a football match, our men started to run through +the scrub towards the silent fort. And then as they went, a pitiless +fire suddenly poured in upon them, a hail of bullets tore up the +ground at their feet, swept down their gallant ranks, like grass +before the scythe, and the men realised amid that enclosing and +remorseless fire that treachery had forewarned the Boers, that Game +Tree was impregnable. But did they waver or turn back? Not them. They +were many yards from the fort, and their orders were to storm it. On +they rushed, the officers well in front, waving their swords in the +air and shouting cheerfully to their men to follow. Three officers, +Vernon, Sandford, and Paton, seem to have made a race of it. Through +that terrible zone of fire these young Englishmen rushed forward with +all the zeal of men striving to be first to touch the tape. Captain +Vernon fell ten yards from the thundering fort, and Sandford and Paton +were left to fight out that splendid race alone. With a shout from his +parched lips, Paton leaped upon the redoubt, caught with his strong +hand the corner of a sandbag, jerked it out of position, thrust his +revolver through the loophole, and, panting like a man spent, fired +into the enemy's midst till he fell, shot through his gallant heart. +Sandford, too, had run a great race, and had almost tied with Paton on +the post. He flung himself upon the piled wall that could only be +broken by heavy artillery, and fell shot through, with his breast +almost against the muzzles of the enemy's guns. Nor were the +non-commissioned officers and men far behind their valiant leaders; +one intrepid sergeant, who was twice wounded, and at some distance +from the redoubt, continued the race across the bullet-swept scrub and +reached the sandbags almost on the heels of Paton. The men went +forward shouting and cheering, unafraid to look death in the face, +afraid only to turn back with their faces from the sandbags where the +smoke drifted, and from whence the hail of bullets rained. There was +no coward among their ranks, and even when the gallant souls realised +that the position was impregnable, there was not a single man among +them who wavered, or dropped back in the race. From the moment when +the order to charge had been given, the attack was an eagerly +contested race, with Death sitting on the flaming fort with the crown +of glory for their prize. + +When an aide-de-camp from the officer commanding the operations +galloped up to Baden-Powell with the woeful intelligence that Captain +Vernon had been repulsed, the Goal-Keeper hesitated, and the +bystanders saw that he was taking counsel with himself as to whether a +second attack should be made upon Game Tree fort. But his decision was +soon reached, and in a quiet voice he said, "Let the ambulance go +out." And that was the way in which Baden-Powell took the defeat of +his great plan for breaking the tightening cordon round Mafeking. + +In history are recorded sieges of a more thrilling character than that +of Mafeking, but if you consider the story of this little town's +defence you will find, I believe, that in few other cases have +difficulties of so oppressive a character been borne with greater +fortitude and courage. In a large town a siege is not so wearing to +the nerves as it is in a little village the size of Mafeking; and in +the case of this miniature garrison the troublesomeness has been +doubled by the small number of men to share the burden of days and +nights spent in the trenches, now blistered by the sun's rays, now +drenched to the skin with rain that converted the ditches into small +rivers. It is not our purpose to magnify Baden-Powell's defence, but +it is necessary to caution you against the natural course of following +his example and treating the Boer bombardment as a joke. It was no +joke; and, if it had been, even the best of jokes pall when repeated +through days and weeks and weary months. But the garrison would never +let anybody dream that they were doing heroic things, never send +imploring messages for help to men already occupied with the enemy in +other parts of South Africa. To the question, "How long can you hold +out?" Baden-Powell had only one answer, "As long as the food lasts." + +And so we take leave of our friend the Old Carthusian defending his +warm corner. As the last page is turned we see him walking through the +streets of Mafeking, now glancing with hard steely eye to the forts +which throw their coward shells into the women's laager, now turning +to give an order with clenched hands and locked jaws, and now stooping +down to lift a child into his arms and caress away its little fears. +On his mind weighs the safety of that town with its handful of brave +lives, the prestige of England, which suffers if the flag once set +above the roofs of any town, whatever the size, falls before the +assault of the Queen's enemies, and the thought that far away in +distant London the mother who made him what he is, waits on the rack +for his delivery. Be sure that never a thought of adding to his own +reputation enters the mind of Baden-Powell in little Mafeking, that +never does bitterness for tardy release enter his soul, and that all +his labour has but one great all-embracing end--the victory of his +side. "Play the game; play that your side may win. Don't think of +your own glorification or your own risks--your side are backing you +up. Play up and make the best of every chance you get." + + +FINIS + + + +_Printed by_ R. & R. CLARK, LIMITED, _Edinburgh_ + + + + + +----------------------------------------------------+ + | | + | PUBLISHER'S ANNOUNCEMENT | + | | + | _Uniform with this volume. 3s. 6d._ | + | | + | SIR GEORGE WHITE | + | V.C. | + | THE HERO OF LADYSMITH | + | | + | By THOMAS H.G. COATES | + | _With Illustrations_ | + | | + | | + | _Cloth, Crown 8vo. 2s._ | + | | + | MAJUBA | + | | + | BRONKERSPRUIT, INGOGO, | + | LANG'S NEK, KRUGERSDORP | + | | + | By HAMISH HENDRY | + | | + | _With 8 Full-page Illustrations by_ | + | R. CATON WOODVILLE | + | | + | | + | LONDON: GRANT RICHARDS | + | 9 HENRIETTA STREET, W.C. | + | | + +----------------------------------------------------+ + + * * * * * + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Story of Baden-Powell, by Harold Begbie + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE STORY OF BADEN-POWELL *** + +***** This file should be named 17300-8.txt or 17300-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/7/3/0/17300/ + +Produced by Steven Gibbs, Jeannie Howse and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Story of Baden-Powell + 'The Wolf That Never Sleeps' + +Author: Harold Begbie + +Release Date: December 13, 2005 [EBook #17300] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE STORY OF BADEN-POWELL *** + + + + +Produced by Steven Gibbs, Jeannie Howse and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<br /> +<br /> +<hr /> +<br /> + + +<h1>THE STORY<br /> +OF<br /> +BADEN-POWELL</h1> +<br /> +<h3>'The Wolf that never Sleeps'</h3> +<br /> +<h5>BY</h5> +<h2>HAROLD BEGBIE</h2> +<br /> +<h3>WITH ILLUSTRATIONS</h3> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<h4><i>Vestigia nulla retrorsum</i></h4> +<br /> +<br /> + +<h5>LONDON<br /> +GRANT RICHARDS<br /> +1900</h5> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<div style="margin-left: 30%; margin-right: 20%;"> +"... A name and an example, which are at this hour<br /> +inspiring hundreds of the youth of England...."<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Southey's <i>Life of Nelson</i>.</span> +</div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<h5><i>First printed May 1900. Reprinted May 1900</i></h5> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<hr /> +<br /> + +<div class="img"><a name="frontis" id="frontis"></a> +<a href="images/frontis.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/frontis.jpg" width="50%" alt="Major-General R.S.S. Baden-Powell" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">Major-General R.S.S. Baden-Powell.<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<hr /> +<br /> + +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_iii" id="Page_iii">[Pg iii]</a></span><br /> +<h3>To SMITH MAJOR</h3> +<br /> + +<p class="sc">Honoured Sir,</p> + +<p>If amid the storm and stress of your academic career you find an +hour's relaxation in perusing the pages of this book, all the travail +that I have suffered in the making of it will be repaid a +thousandfold. Throughout the quiet hours of many nights, when Morpheus +has mercifully muzzled my youngest (a fine child, sir, but a female), +I have bent over my littered desk driving a jibbing pen, comforted and +encouraged simply and solely by the vision of my labour's object and +attainment. I have seen at such moments the brink of a river, warm +with the sun's rays, though sheltered in part by the rustling leaves +of an alder, and thereon, sprawling at great ease, chin in the cups of +the hand, stomach to earth, and toes tapping the sweet-smelling sod, +your illustrious <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_iv" id="Page_iv">[Pg iv]</a></span>self—deep engrossed in my book. For this alone I +have written. If, then, it was the prospect of thus pleasing you that +sustained me in my task, to whom else can I more fittingly inscribe +the fruits of my labour? Accept then, honoured sir, this work of your +devoted servant, assured that, if the book wins your affection and +leaves an ideal or two in the mind when you come regretfully upon +"Finis," I shall smoke my pipe o' nights with greater pleasure and +contentment than ever I have done since I ventured the task of +sketching my gallant hero's adventurous career.</p> + +<p class="noin"> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">I have the honour to be, sir,</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 6em;">Your most humble and obedient servant,</span></p> +<br /> +<p class="right">THE AUTHOR.</p> +<br /> +<p class="noin"><span class="sc">Weybridge</span>, <i>April 1900.</i></p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="toc" id="toc"></a><hr /> +<br /> + +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_v" id="Page_v">[Pg v]</a></span><br /> +<h3>CONTENTS</h3> +<br /> + + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="3" width="60%" summary="Table of Contents"> + <tr> + <td width="90%"> </td> + <td class="tdrsc" width="10%"><span style="font-size: 90%;">Page</span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc">CHAPTER I.</td> + <td> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlsc">An Introductory Fragment</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_I">1</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc">CHAPTER II</td> + <td> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlsc">The Family</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_II">6</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc">CHAPTER III</td> + <td> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlsc">Home Life and Holidays</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_III">16</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc">CHAPTER IV</td> + <td> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlsc">Carthusian</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">37</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc">CHAPTER V</td> + <td> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlsc">The Dashing Hussar</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_V">55</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc">CHAPTER VI</td> + <td> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlsc">Hunter</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">73</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc">CHAPTER VII<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_vi" id="Page_vi">[Pg vi]</a></span></td> + <td> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlsc">Scout</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">90</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc">CHAPTER VIII</td> + <td> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlsc">The Flannel-Shirt Life</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">103</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc">CHAPTER IX</td> + <td> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlsc">Road-Maker and Builder</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">119</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc">CHAPTER X</td> + <td> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlsc">Putting Out Fire</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_X">135</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc">CHAPTER XI</td> + <td> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlsc">In Rags and Tatters</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">158</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc">CHAPTER XII</td> + <td> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlsc">The Regimental Officer</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">172</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc">CHAPTER XIII</td> + <td> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlsc">Goal-Keeper</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">192</a></td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<br /> +<a name="toi" id="toi"></a><hr /> +<br /> + +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">[Pg vii]</a></span><br /> +<h3>ILLUSTRATIONS</h3> +<br /> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="3" width="60%" summary="List of Illustrations"> + <tr> + <td width="90%"> </td> + <td class="tdrsc" width="10%"><span style="font-size: 90%;">Page</span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Major-General R.S.S. Baden-Powell</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#frontis"><i>Frontispiece</i></a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Professor Baden Powell</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#imagep007">7</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Mrs. Baden-Powell</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#imagep011">11</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">B.-P. reflecting on the After-deck of the <i>Pearl</i></td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#imagep021">21</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Rev. William Haig-Brown, LL.D.</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#imagep041">41</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">The Dashing Hussar (B.-P. at 21)</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#imagep061">61</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">"Beetle"</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#imagep079">79</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">The Family on Board the <i>Pearl</i></td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#imagep107">107</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">"<i>Viret in Æternum</i>"</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#imagep179">179</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Goal-Keeper</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#imagep201">201</a></td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a><hr /> +<br /> + +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span><br /> +<h3>CHAPTER I<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h3>AN INTRODUCTORY FRAGMENT ON NO ACCOUNT TO BE SKIPPED</h3> +<br /> + +<p>You will be the first to grant me, honoured sir, that after +earnestness of purpose, that is to say "keenness," there is no quality +of the mind so essential to the even-balance as humour. The +schoolmaster without this humanising virtue never yet won your love +and admiration, and to miss your affection and loyalty is to lose one +of life's chiefest delights. You are as quick to detect the humbug who +hides his mediocrity behind an affectation of dignity as was dear old +Yorick, of whom you will read when you have got to know the sweetness +of Catullus. This Yorick it was who declared that the Frenchman's +epigram describing gravity as "a mysterious carriage of the body to +cover the defects of the mind," deserved "to be wrote in letters of +gold"; and I make no doubt <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span>that had there been a greater recognition +of the extreme value and importance of humour in the early ages of the +world, our history books would record fewer blunders on the part of +kings, counsellors, and princes, and the great churches would not have +alienated the sympathy of so many goodly people at the most important +moment in their existence—the beginning of their proselytism.</p> + +<p>This erudite reflection is to prepare you for the introduction of my +hero, Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell. I introduce him to you as +a hero—and as a humourist. To me he appears the ideal English +schoolboy, and the ideal British officer; but if I had blurted this +out at the beginning of my story you might perhaps have flung the book +into an ink-stained corner, thinking you were in for a dull lecture. +It is the misfortune of goodness to be generally treated with +superstitious awe, as though it were a visitant from heaven, instead +of being part and parcel of our own composition. So I begin by +assuring you that if ever there was a light-hearted, jovial creature +it is my hero, and by promising you that he shall not bore you with +moral disquisitions, nor shock your natural and untainted mind with +impossible precepts.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span>He is a hero in the best sense of the word, living cleanly, despising +viciousness equally with effeminacy, and striving after the +development of his talents, just as a wise painter labours at the +perfecting of his picture. Permit me here to quote the words of a +sagacious Florentine gentleman named Guicciardini: "Men," says he, +"are all by nature more inclined to do good than ill; nor is there +anybody who, where he is not by some strong consideration pulled the +other way, would not more willingly do good than ill."</p> + +<p>Goodness, then, is a part of our being; therefore when you are +behaving yourself like a true man, do not flatter yourself that you +are doing any superhuman feat. And do not, as some do, have a sort of +stupid contempt for people who respect truth, honesty, and purity, +people who work hard at school, never insult their masters, and try to +get on in the world without soiling their fingers and draggling their +skirts in the mire. But see you cultivate humour as you go along. +Without that there is danger in the other.</p> + +<p>It is useful to reflect that no man without the moral idea ever +wrought our country lasting service or won himself a place in the +hearts of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span>mankind. On the other hand, most of the men whose names are +associated in your mind with courage and heroism are those who keenly +appreciated the value of Conduct, and strove valiantly to keep +themselves above the demoralising and vulgarising influences of the +world.</p> + +<p>Baden-Powell, then, is a hero, but no prodigy. He is a hero, and +human. A ripple of laughter runs through his life, the fresh wind +blows about him as he comes smiling before our eyes; and if he be too +full of fun and good spirits to play the part of King Arthur in your +imagination, be sure that no knight of old was ever more chivalrous +towards women, more tender to children, and more resolved upon walking +cleanly through our difficult world.</p> + +<p>Ask those who know him best what manner of man he is, and the +immediate answer, made with merry eyes and a deep chuckle, is this: +"He's the funniest beggar on earth." And then when you have listened +to many stories of B.-P.'s pranks, your informant will grow suddenly +serious and tell you what a "straight" fellow he is, what a loyal +friend, what an enthusiastic soldier. But it is ever his fun first.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span>One word more. Against such a work as this it is sometimes urged that +there is a certain indelicacy in revealing the virtues of a living man +to whomsoever has a shilling in his pocket to purchase a book. My +answer to such a charge may be given in a few lines. In writing about +Baden-Powell your humble servant has hardly considered the feelings of +Baden-Powell at all. B.-P. has outlived a goodly number of absurd +newspaper biographies, and he will survive this. Of you, and you +alone, most honoured sir, has the present historian thought, and so +long as you are pleased, it matters little to him if the +hypersensitive lift up lean hands, turn pale eyes to Heaven, and +squeak "Indecent!" till they are hoarse. And now, with as little +moralising as possible, and no more cautions, let us get along with +our story.</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a><hr /> +<br /> + +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span><br /> +<h3>CHAPTER II<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h3>THE FAMILY</h3> +<br /> + +<p>Baden-Powell had certain advantages in birth. We will not violently +uproot the family tree, nor will we go trudging over the broad acres +of early progenitors. I refer to the fact that his father was a +clergyman. To be a parson's son is the natural beginning of an +adventurous career; and, if we owe no greater debt to the Church of +our fathers, there is always this argument in favour of the +Establishment, that most of the men who have done something for our +Empire have first opened eyes on this planet in some sleepy old +rectory where roses bloom and rooks are blown about the sky.</p> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep007" id="imagep007"></a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span> +<a href="images/imagep007.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep007.jpg" width="52%" alt="Professor Baden Powell." /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;"><span style="font-size: 70%;"><i>From a Painting by Hartmann.</i></span><br /> +Professor Baden Powell.<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span> +</div> + + + +<p>Mr. Baden-Powell, the father of our hero, was a man of great powers. +He was a renowned professor at Oxford, celebrated for his attainments +in theology and in physical science. But the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span>peace-loving man of +letters died ere his boys had grown to youth, and, alas, the memory of +him is blurred and indistinct in their minds. They remember a quiet, +soft-voiced, tender-hearted man who was tall and of goodly frame, yet +had the scholar's air, about whose knees they would cluster and hear +enchanting tales, the plots of which have long since got tangled in +the red tape of life. He had, what all fathers should surely have, a +great love of natural history, and on his country walks would beguile +his boys with talk of animals, birds, and flowers, implanting in their +minds a love of the open and a study of field geology which has since +stood them in excellent stead. I like to picture this learned +professor, who was attacked by the narrow-minded Hebraists of his day +for showing, as one obituary notice remarked, that the progress of +modern scientific discovery, although necessitating modifications in +many of the still prevailing ideas with which the Christian religion +became encrusted in the times of ignorance and superstition, is in no +way incompatible with a sincere and practical acceptance of its great +and fundamental truths,—I like, I say, to picture this Oxford +professor on <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span>one of his walks bending over pebbles, birds' eggs, and +plants, with a troop of bright-eyed boys at his side. One begins to +think of the scent of the hedgerow, the shimmering gossamer on the +sweet meadows, the song of the invisible lark, the goodly savour of +the rich earth, and then to the mind's eye, in the midst of it all, +there springs the picture of the genial parson, tall and spare, +surrounded by his olive-branches, and perhaps with our hero, as one of +the late shoots, riding triumphant on his shoulder. It was his habit, +too, when composing profound papers to read before the Royal Society, +to let his children amuse themselves in his book-lined study, and who +cannot see the beaming face turned often from the written sheets to +look lovingly on his happy children? But, as I say, the memory of this +lovable man is blurred for his children, and the clearest of their +early memories are associated with their mother, into whose hands +their training came while our hero was still in frocks.</p> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep011" id="imagep011"></a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span> +<a href="images/imagep011.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep011.jpg" width="52%" alt="Mrs. Baden-Powell." /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;"><span style="font-size: 70%;"><i>From a Painting by Hartmann.</i></span><br /> +Mrs. Baden-Powell.<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> +</div> + + + + +<p>Mrs. Baden-Powell's maiden name was Henrietta Grace Smyth. Her father +was a sturdy seaman, Admiral W.H. Smyth, K.S.F., and fortunately for +her children she was trained in a school where <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span>neither Murdstone +rigour nor sentimental coddling was regarded as an essential. She was +the kind of mother that rears brave men and true. For discipline she +relied solely on her children's sense of honour, and for the +maintenance of her influence on their character she was content to +trust to a never-wavering interest in all their sports, occupations, +and hobbies. Her children were encouraged to bear pain manfully, but +they were not taught to crush their finer feelings. A simple form of +religion was inculcated, while the boys' natural love for humour was +encouraged and developed. In a word, the children were allowed to grow +up naturally, and the influence brought to bear upon them by this wise +mother was as quiet and as imperceptible as Nature intended it to be. +Dean Stanley, Ruskin, Jowett, Tyndall, and Browning were among those +who were wont to come and ply Mrs. Baden-Powell with questions as to +how she managed to keep in such excellent control half-a-dozen boys +filled to the brim with animal spirits. The truth is, the boys were +unconscious of any controlling influence in their lives, and how could +they have anything but a huge respect for a mother whose knowledge of +science and natural <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span>history enabled her to tell them things which +they did not know? In those days mothers were not content to commit +the formation of their children's minds to nursemaids and governesses.</p> + +<p>The eldest boy became a Chief Judge in India, and lived to write what +the <i>Times</i> described as "three monumental volumes on the Land Systems +of British India." The second boy, Warington, of whom we shall have +more to say in the next chapter, went into the Navy, but left that +gallant Service to practise at the Bar, and now is as breezy a Q.C. as +ever brought the smack of salt-water into the Admiralty Court. The +third son, Sir George Baden-Powell, sometime member of Parliament for +Liverpool, had already entered upon a distinguished career when, to +the regret of all who had marked his untiring devotion to Imperial +affairs, his early death robbed the country of a loyal son. The other +brothers of our hero are Frank Baden-Powell, who took Honours at +Balliol, and is a barrister of the Inner Temple, as well as a noted +painter, and Baden F.S. Baden-Powell, Major in the Scots Guards, whose +war-kites at Modder River enabled Marconi's staff to establish +wireless telegraphy across a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span>hundred miles of South Africa. Among +this family of young lions there was one little girl, Agnes, as keen +about natural history as the rest, to whom her brothers were as +earnestly and as passionately devoted as ever was Don Quixote to his +Dulcinea.</p> + +<p>And now to little Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell in +knickerbockers and Holland jerkin.</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a><hr /> +<br /> + +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span><br /> +<h3>CHAPTER III<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h3>HOME LIFE AND HOLIDAYS</h3> +<br /> + +<p>Baden-Powell is now called either "B.-P." or "Bathing Towel." To his +family he has always been Ste. This name, a contraction of Stephenson, +was found for him by his big brothers in the days when home-made +soldiers and birds'-nesting were life's main business.</p> + +<p>Ste, who we must record was born at 6 Stanhope Street, London, on the +22nd February 1857, and had the engineer Robert Stephenson for one of +his godfathers, was educated at home until he was eleven years of age. +His parents had a great dread of overtaxing young brains, and lessons +were never made irksome to any of their children. Ste learned to +straddle a pony very soon after he had mastered the difficult business +of walking, and with long hours spent in the open in the lively +companionship of his brothers he grew up in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span>vigorous and healthy +boyhood. He had an enquiring mind, and never seemed to look upon +lessons as a "fag." He was always "wanting to know," and there was +almost as much eagerness on the little chap's part to be able to +decline <i>mensa</i> and conjugate <i>amo</i> as he evinced in competing with +his brothers in their sports and games. Such was his gentle, placid +nature that the tutor who looked after his work loved to talk with +people about his charge, never tiring in reciting little instances of +the boy's delicacy of feeling and his intense eagerness to learn. Mark +well, Smith minor, that this is no little Paul Dombey of whom you are +reading. B.-P., so far as I can discover, never heard in the tumbling +of foam-crested waves on the level sands of the sea-shore any +mysterious message to his individual soul from the spirit world. He +was full of fun, full of the joy of life, and as "keen as mustard" on +adventures of any kind. His fun, however, was of the innocent order. +He was not like Cruel Frederick in <i>Struwwelpeter</i>, who (the little +beast!) delighted in tearing the wings from flies and hurling +brickbats at starving cats. Baden-Powell would have kicked Master +Frederick rather severely if he <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span>had caught him at any such mean +business. No, his fun took quite another form. He was fond of what you +call "playing the fool," singing comic songs, learning to play tunes +on every odd musical instrument he could find, and delighting his +brothers by "taking off" people of their acquaintance. B.-P., you must +know, is a first-rate actor, and in his boyhood it was one of his +chief delights to write plays for himself and his brothers to act. +Some of these plays were moderately clever, but all of them contained +a screamingly funny part for the low comedian of the company—our +friend Ste himself.</p> + +<p>Another of his amusements at this time was sketching. He got into the +habit of holding his pencil or paint-brush in the left hand, and his +watchful mother was troubled in her mind as to the wisdom of allowing +a possible Botticelli to play pranks with his art. One day Ruskin +called when this doubt was in her mind, and to him the question was +propounded. Without a moment's reflection he counselled the mother to +let the boy draw in whatsoever manner he listed, and together they +went to find the young artist at his work. In the play-room they +discovered one brother <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span>reading hard at astronomy, and Ste with a +penny box of water-colours painting for dear life—with his left hand.</p> + +<p>"Now I'll show you how to paint a picture," said Ruskin, and with a +piece of paper on the top of his hat and B.-P.'s penny box of paints +at his side he set to work, taking a little china vase for a model. +Both the vase and the picture are now in the drawing-room of Mrs. +Baden-Powell's London house. The result of Ruskin's advice was that +B.-P. continued to draw with his left hand, and now in making sketches +he finds no difficulty in drawing with his left hand and shading in at +the same time with his right.</p> + +<p>There is an incident of his childhood which I must not forget to +record. At a dinner-party at the Baden-Powells', when Ste was not yet +three years old, the guests being all learned and distinguished men, +such as Buckle and Whewell, Thackeray was handing Mrs. Baden-Powell +into dinner when he noticed that one of the little children was +following behind. This was the future scout of the British Army, and +the young gentleman, according to his wont, was just scrambling into a +chair when Thackeray, fumbling <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span>in his pocket, produced a new +shilling, and said in his caressing voice, "There, little one, you +shall have this shilling if you are good and run away." Ste quietly +looked up at his mother, and not until she told him that he might go +up to the nursery did he shift his ground. But he carried that +shilling with him, and now it is one of his most treasured +possessions.</p> + +<p>While he was doing lessons at home Baden-Powell gave evidence of his +bent. He was fond of geography, and few things pleased him more than +the order to draw a map. His maps, by the way, were always drawn with +his left hand, and were astonishingly neat and accurate. Then in his +spare hours, with scissors and paper, he would cut out striking +resemblances of the most noted animals in the Zoo, and +these—elephants and tigers, monkeys and bears—were "hung" by his +admiring brothers with due honour on a large looking-glass in the +schoolroom, there to amuse the juvenile friends of the family. He had +the knack, too, of closely imitating the various sounds made by +animals and birds, and one of his infant jokes was to steal behind a +person's chair and suddenly break forth "with conspuent doodle-doo." +And, again, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span>when he was a little older, living at Rosenheim, I.W., +there was surely the future defender of Mafeking in the little chap in +brown Holland on the sands of Bonchurch digging scientific trenches +with wooden spade, and demonstrating to his governess the +impregnability of his sand fortress. With his sister and brother, +little Ste was once out with this governess on a country ramble near +Tunbridge Wells, when the governess discovered that she had walked +farther than she intended and was in strange country. Ste was elated. +But enquiry elicited the information that the party was not lost, and +that they could return home by a shorter route; then was Baden-Powell +miserable and cast down. He protested that he wanted the party to get +lost so that he could find the way home for them.</p> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep021" id="imagep021"></a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span> +<a href="images/imagep021.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep021.jpg" width="90%" alt="B.-P. reflecting on the After-deck of the Pearl" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">B.-P. reflecting on the After-deck of the <i>Pearl</i><span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span> +</div> + + +<p>A favourite holiday haunt was Tunbridge Wells, where Ste's grandfather +owned a spacious and a fair demesne. Here, with miles of wood for +exploration, brothers and sister were in their element. They would +climb into the highest chestnut trees in the woods, taking up hampers +and hay for the construction of nests, and at that exalted altitude +play all manner of wild and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span>romantic games. And yet they would also +take up books into those cool branches and do lessons! Of Ste at this +period his governess remarks, "It gave him great pleasure to enter a +new rule in arithmetic"—an illuminative sentence, in which one sees +the governess as well as the child.</p> + +<p>It was here in Tunbridge Wells that Ste, with little Baden, now +Guardsman and inventor of war-kites, spent laborious days in +constructing a really serviceable dam in the river, digging there a +deep hole in order to make themselves a luxurious bathing-place. From +early infancy they had been taught to do for themselves. Master B.-P. +could dress and undress himself before he was three years old, and at +three he could speak tolerably well in German as well as English. The +children were encouraged to get knowledge as some other children are +encouraged to get bumptiousness; their parents delighted, and showed +the children their delight, whenever a child did something sensible +and clever; there was no unintelligent admiration of precocity.</p> + +<p>The boys dug their own gardens, and from five years of age each child +kept a most careful book of his expenditure by double entry. Their +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span>pennies went chiefly in books and presents, and omnibuses for long +excursions out of London. There was no prohibition as to sweets, but +never a penny of these earnest young double-entry bookkeepers found +its way to the tuck-shop. However, a joke among the brothers was the +following constant entry in the book of one of them: "Orange, £0:0:1." +But no chaff was strong enough to correct that healthy appetite, and +"Orange, £0:0:1" went on through the happy years.</p> + +<p>At eleven years of age, Ste was packed off to a small private school, +and here he distinguished himself in the same manner, though of course +on a smaller scale, as Mr. Gladstone did at Eton. His moral courage, +coupled with his athletic prowess, made him the darling of the little +school, and the headmaster sorrowfully told his mother when the boy's +two years' schooling were over that he would thankfully keep him there +without fee of any kind, because by force of character the plucky +little fellow had raised the entire moral tone of the school.</p> + +<p>And now we come to what I regard as the most important part of our +hero's life. In <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span>the last chapter I said we should have to say +something about B.-P.'s big brother, the sailor, Warington, named +after his grandmother, who was a Warington of Waddon Park. The very +name Warington, even though it be spelled with a single 'r,' has an +inspiring sound, and while Thackeray lives will ever be linked with +all that is true and straightforward in the human heart. Imagine the +reverence felt for Warington by the young brothers when he came home +from a sea voyage! Not only were there the broad square shoulders, the +deep chest, and the bronzed face to compel admiration; but a masterful +and commanding manner withal, a stern eye and a rousing voice—and the +overwhelming and crushing fact that he was a British Naval officer! +Warington had been born ten years before Ste, and it is a mighty good +thing for B.-P. (and he would be the first to admit it) that this was +the case. For I believe that the resourcefulness of Baden-Powell is +the result of the early training which he received at the hands of +Warington; without that training he would have grown up a delightful +and an amusing fellow, but, I suspect, as so many delightful and +amusing people are, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span>ineffective. And that is just what B.-P. is not.</p> + +<p>You must know that in the spring holidays the boys spent their days in +ranging field and copse "collecting," riding ponies, often with their +faces towards the tail-end, attending to their innumerable pets, and +doing a certain amount of reading of their own free will. Ste's study +was mainly history and geology, and it was his custom to embellish the +pages of the books he was reading with suitable illustrations as he +went along. With these amusements, and always a good many productions +of Ste's original comedies, the spring holidays slipped away +pleasantly enough. But in the summer holidays came Warington fresh +from the sea, with abounding energy and indomitable will, and +recreation then was of a sterner kind.</p> + +<p>Warington had designed a yacht, a smart 5-tonner, and in supreme +command of this little craft, with his brothers for the crew, and only +one hired hand for the dirty work, he took the schoolboys away from +the ease and comforts of home life to rough it at sea. They shipped as +seamen, and as seamen they lived. It was a case of "lights out" soon +after dusk, and then up <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span>again with the sun. This rule, however, was +not followed with comfortable regularity, for sometimes stress of +weather would find the little chaps tumbling out of their hammocks in +the dead of night, and clambering upon deck with knuckles rubbing the +sleep out of their eyes. All the work usually performed by seamen, +with the sole exception of cooking, was done by these little chaps, +and under the eagle eye of Warington it was well and truly done. Not +that they showed any disposition to shirk. On the contrary, a keener +crew was never shipped, but there was something in their knowledge +that the skipper's word was law, that there was no arguing about +orders, which must have given a certain polish to their work. +Warington, of course, was no petty tyrant, lording it over young +brothers, and swaggering in the undisputed character of his sway. Like +the rest he is a humourist, and when a gale was not blowing or the +yacht was not contesting a race, he was as full of merriment and good +spirits as the rest. His opinion of Ste at this time was a high one. +He was always, says he, "most dependable." Receiving his orders, the +future defender of Mafeking would <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span>stand as stiff and silent as a +rock, showing scarce a sign that he understood them, but the orders +were always carried out to the letter, and in a thoroughly finished +and seamanlike manner. Ste was always the tallest of his brothers, and +at this time he was singularly lithe and wiry. A tall slight boy with +quite fair hair, a brown skin, and sharp brown eyes, he possessed +extraordinary powers of endurance, and could always outlast the rest +of the brothers. He was quick to perceive the reason of an order, and +always quick to carry it out; he was just as brisk in organising +cruises on his own account, when, with the leave of Skipper Warington, +he would take command of the yacht's dinghy and go off on fishing +expeditions with Baden and Frank. It was a dinghy that moved quickly +with a sail, but in all their cruises up creeks and round about the +hulks of Portsmouth Harbour they never came to grief, and always +returned with a good catch of bass and mullet.</p> + +<p>Danger did come to the yacht itself, however, on more than one +occasion, and but for the courage and skill of Warington, the world +might never have heard of B.-P. and the other brothers. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span>Once, in the +<i>Koh-i-noor</i> (a 10-tonner with about eighteen tons displacement), +which was the second yacht designed by Warington, the boys were +cruising about the south coast, when, towards evening, just off +Torquay, a gale got up, and the sea began to get uncommon rough. As +the gale increased almost to a hurricane and the waves dashed a larger +amount of spray over the gunwale of the gallant little yacht, +Warington decided to change his course and run back to Weymouth. The +night was getting dark, and the storm increased. To add to the +anxieties of the skipper his crew of boys, though showing no funk, +began to grow green about the gills, and presently Warington found +himself in command of an entirely sea-sick crew. He was unable to +leave the helm, and for over thirty-one hours he stood there, giving +his orders in a cheerful voice to the groaning youngsters who were +more than once driven to the ship's drenched and dripping side. +Fortunately Warington knew the coast well, for it was much too dark to +see a chart, and so, despite the raging tempest, the 10-tonner fought +her way through the waves while the sea broke continually over her +side, drenching the shivering <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span>boys, who stuck to their posts, and +every now and then shouted to each other with chattering teeth that it +was "awful fun."</p> + +<p>As showing the resourcefulness of the crew, I may narrate another +yachting story. One Saturday, off Yarmouth, when the Baden-Powells +were thinking of a race for which they were entered on the following +Monday, a storm suddenly came on, which played such havoc with the +rigging that the mast was snapped in two, and the whole racing kit +went overboard. With clenched teeth the youngsters set to work and, +with many a long pull and a strong pull, got all the wreck on board. +Then with axes they slashed away at the wire-rigging, and set to work +to rig up a jury-mast. All Sunday they toiled—the spars on an +18-tonner are no child's play—and at last they were able to rig up a +jury-mast which would carry the mainsail with four reefs, while the +foresail was able to catch the wind of heaven with only two. On Monday +morning the yacht sailed out of Yarmouth fully rigged, and made off to +the regatta with as cheerful a crew as ever braved the elements. The +result of this labour was that the Baden-Powells, with a jury rig, won +a second prize, and came in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span>for the warm commendation of wondering +and admiring sailors.</p> + +<p>As I have said, in these expeditions the boys did seamen's work. They +learned how to set sails, how to splice, how to reeve gear, how to +moor a ship, and make all ready for scrubbing the bottom. It was a +fine sight to see the healthy younkers, with trousers rolled over the +knee, ankles well under slate-coloured oozing mud, scrubbing away at +the bottom of the ship, and laughing and singing among themselves, +while the reflective Warington, pipe in mouth, looked on and +encouraged the toilers.</p> + +<p>All round the English coast sailed the Baden-Powells, fighting their +way to glory in regattas, and enjoying themselves from sunrise to +sunset. On racing days it was a case of "strictly to business," and +each boy had his proper station and knew well how to pull or slack out +ropes. On other days it was a case of fun and frolic, and here, of +course, B.-P. was the life and soul of the party. There were no +squabbles, no petty jealousies; never did the brothers throughout +their boyhood come to fisticuffs. But while there was perfect equality +among them and no <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span>favouritism was ever shown, Ste was regarded as the +prime comedian, and there was never any question that when theatricals +were the order of the day he should reign in supreme command.</p> + +<p>One of the houses taken by Mrs. Baden-Powell for the holidays was +Llandogo Falls, a most romantic place on the Wye, the property of Mr. +Gallenga, the Italian correspondent of the <i>Times</i>, who had previously +got mixed up in a deep political plot in Italy, whereby he gained many +useful secrets, but whereby, at the same time, he was obliged to flee +out of Italy and return to England. We fancy this story in its full +details must have appealed strongly to the imagination of +Baden-Powell, whose after-life, could it be fully written, would +satisfy the keenest appetite for daring, excitement, and romance. But +to return to Llandogo Falls. Mrs. Baden-Powell, her daughter, and all +the servants made the journey from London by means of the railway; but +to the boys the fastest of express trains would have seemed slow, and +accordingly Warington made ready his collapsible boat, and, rowing by +day and sleeping on board by night, these indefatigable youngsters +left London behind them, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span>crossed the Severn, and, pulling up the Wye, +arrived at Llandogo Falls, the first intimation of their arrival to +Mrs. Baden-Powell being the sight of them dragging the boat over the +lawn to the stables. This feat succeeded in endearing them to the +Welsh people in the neighbourhood, who were greatly struck by the +courage of the boys in crossing the Severn in a collapsible boat.</p> + +<p>Here, at Llandogo Falls, the boys spent a great deal of time in riding +practically wild ponies, and even in those days Ste was famous for his +graceful seat, his quiet patience with an untractable steed, and his +daring in attempting difficult jumps. Besides riding, the boys were +fond of wandering about the country, making friends with the natives, +shooting birds to be presently stuffed by themselves and put in the +family museum, collecting rare insects, examining old ruins, and +rowing up the Wye to spend the afternoon in bathing or in fishing, +sometimes in both.</p> + +<p>In this simple, healthy, and thoroughly English fashion the +Baden-Powells spent their holidays, and in their home-life grew up +devoted to each other, and to the mother whose controlling influence +was over all their sports and occupations. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span>It is interesting to note, +ere we leave the subject of early training, that no infliction of +punishment in any shape or form was permitted by Mrs. Baden-Powell. +Whether such a rule would work for good in all families is a question +that I for one, as a father of a young family, will never imperil my +reputation for consistency by answering with a dogmatic affirmative. +Nevertheless, one recognises the truth of Nietzsche's warning, "Beware +of him in whom the impulse to punish is powerful." In the case of the +Baden-Powells the proof of the pudding is in the eating, and you will +get none of them to say that their childhood was not a joyous period, +while Mrs. Baden-Powell will contend with any mother under Heaven that +never before were such honourable, straightforward, and gentle-minded +children. This home-life has never lost its charm, and though the sons +may be scattered over the world on the Queen's service, they come back +to exchange memories with each other under their mother's roof as +often as the exigencies of their professions will allow. And when +B.-P. is in the house, though his hair begins to flourish less +willingly on his brow, he is just like the boy of old, springing up +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span>the stairs three steps at a time, and whistling as he goes with a +heartiness and a joyousness that astonishes the decorous ten-year-old +sparrow Timothy as he flits about the house after Miss Baden-Powell.</p> + +<p>I have in my possession a copy of Mr. Russell's monograph on Mr. +Gladstone, which had fallen into the hands of a grand old Tory parson. +The margins of those pages bristle with the vehement annotations of my +old friend. Against the statement that Mr. Gladstone had "a nature +completely unspoilt by success and prominence and praise," there is a +vigorous "OH!" Where it is recorded how in 1874 Mr. Gladstone promised +to repeal the income-tax, I find a pencil line and the contemptuous +comment, "A bribe for power!" Mr. Forster's resignation of office in +1882 is hailed with a joyful "Bravo, Forster!" and so on throughout +Mr. Russell's interesting book. But on the last page of all there are +three pencil lines marking a sentence, and by the side of the lines +the concession, "Yes—true." The sentence is this: "But the noblest +natures are those which are seen at their best in the close communion +of the home."</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a><hr /> +<br /> + +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span><br /> +<h3>CHAPTER IV<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h3>CARTHUSIAN</h3> +<br /> + +<p>A gentleman once wrote to the late headmaster of Charterhouse, Dr. +William Haig-Brown, saying that he wished to have his son "interred" +at that school. The headmaster wrote back immediately saying he would +be glad to "undertake" the boy. The same headmaster being shown over a +model farm remarked of the ornamental piggery, built after the manner +of a Chinese Pagoda, that if there was Pagoda outside there was +certainly pig odour inside.</p> + +<p>Such a man as this is sure to have been impressed by the personality +of Master Ste, who, in 1870, came to him in the old Charterhouse, that +hoary, venerable pile which seems to shrink into itself, as if to shut +out the unpoetic and modern atmosphere of Smithfield Meat Market. +B.-P. went to Charterhouse as a gown boy, nominated <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span>by the Duke of +Marlborough, and owing to the ease with which his infant studies had +been conducted, was obliged to enter by a low form. But he had, as we +have already said, an enquiring mind. He had also a clear brain, all +the better for not having been crammed in childhood; and, therefore, +strong in body, full of health and good spirits, and just as keen to +get knowledge as to get a rare bird's egg, he began his school-days +with everything in his favour. The result was that 1874 found him in +the sixth, and one of the brilliant boys of his time.</p> + +<p>Dr. Haig-Brown, as we have said, was sure to have been impressed by +B.-P., and there is no need for his assurance that he remembers the +boy perfectly. Of course, when one sits in his medieval study and asks +the Doctor to discourse of B.-P., he begins by recalling Ste's love of +fun; indeed, it is with no great willingness that he leaves that view +of his pupil. But the boy's inflexibility of purpose, his uprightness +and his eagerness to learn are as equally impressed upon the +headmaster's mind, and he likes to talk about the exhilarating effect +which B.-P.'s virile character had upon the moral tone of the school. +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span>"I never doubted his word," Dr. Haig-Brown told me, and by the tone of +the headmaster's voice one realised that B.-P. was just one of those +boys whose word it is impossible to doubt. A clean, self-respecting +boy.</p> + +<p>He was the life of the school in those entertainments for which +Charterhouse has always been famous, and his reputation as a wit +followed him from the stage into the playground. B.-P. was a keen +footballer, and whenever he kept goal there was always a knot of +grinning boys round the posts listening with huge delight to their +hero's facetiæ. He also had the habit, such were his animal spirits, +of giving the most nerve-fluttering war-whoop imaginable when rushing +the ball forward, and this cry is said to have been of so terrifying a +nature as to fling the opposing side into a state of fear not very far +removed from absolute panic. By the way, it is interesting in the +light of after-events to read in the school's <i>Football Annual</i> (1876, +p. 30) that "R.S.S. B.-P. is a good goalkeeper, <i>keeping cool, and +always to be depended upon</i>."</p> + +<p>But it was not only at football that Baden-Powell spent his time in +the playground, although <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span>it was only in football that he shone. Into +every game he threw himself with zest and earnestness, playing hard +for his side, and finding himself always regarded by his opponents as +an enemy to be treated with respect. That he continued to play +cricket, racquets, and fives, although not a great success, is +characteristic of his devotion to sports, and his habit of doing what +is the right thing to do. Then he was a faithful and lively +contributor to the school magazine, added his lusty young voice to the +chapel choir, and was for ever seeking out excuses for getting up +theatricals. Of one of his performances at the end of the Long Quarter +in 1872 it is interesting to note that the <i>Era</i> of that time remarked +that it was "full of vivacity and mischief." He was always a great +success as an old woman, and we shall see that in later days he played +a woman's part with huge success in far Afghanistan. At one of these +school entertainments big brother Warington was present, and he +laughingly recalls how the vast audience of shiny-faced boys broke +into a great roar of delight directly B.-P. appeared in the +wings—before he had uttered a word or made a grimace. Dr. Haig-Brown +and the other <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span>masters who remember B.-P. like to recall scenes of +this kind, and it is no disparagement of Ste's other sterling +qualities that they seem to have been more impressed by his excellent +fooling than by any other of his good qualities. It is the greater +tribute to his genius for acting.</p> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep041" id="imagep041"></a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span> +<a href="images/imagep041.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep041.jpg" width="50%" alt="Rev. William Haig-Brown, LL.D." /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;"><span style="font-size: 70%;"><i>Lombardi & Co., Photographers, 27, Sloane Street, S.W.</i></span><br /> +Rev. William Haig-Brown, LL.D.<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span> +</div> + +<p>So long as the world lasts, I suppose, the intelligent boy who works +hard at school will play the clown's part in popular fiction. Tom +Sawyer is the kind of youth we like to see given the chief part in a +novel, while George Washington, we are all agreed, is fit target for +our lofty scorn. But how few of the people we love to read about in +the airy realm of fiction, or the still airier realm of history, +really possess our hearts? Think over the heroes in novels who would +be drawn in with both hands to the fireside did they step out from +between covers and present themselves at our front door in flesh as +solid as the oak itself. And the good boy in fiction is anathema. +Shakespeare himself believed that</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Love goes towards love, as schoolboys from their books;</p></div> + +<p>and the man is regarded almost as un-English who would have the world +believe that there are British <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span>boys for whom the acquisition of +knowledge has almost the same attraction as for their heroes in +fiction has the acquisition of somebody's apples, or the tormenting of +helpless animals.</p> + +<p>The fault is not with the world but with the silly writers of +goody-goody stories, who have so emasculated and effeminated the boy +who works hard and holds his head high that it is now well-nigh +impossible to hear of such an one in real life without instantly +setting him down as an intolerable prig. These writers have committed +the greatest crime against their creations that authors can +commit—they have made them non-human. If the stories about George +Washington had narrated how on one occasion he laughed uproariously, +or how he once ate too many mince-pies, he might have escaped the +lamentable and unjust reputation which seems likely to be his fate for +another æon or two. That boys can be good and human everybody knows, +and the man who loves Tom Sawyer and sneers at Eric would be the first +to flog and abuse his son if he bore a closer resemblance to the +former than to the latter.</p> + +<p>Baden-Powell as a boy was delightful. A grin always hovered about his +face, and the Spirit of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span>Fun herself looked out of his sharp, brown +eyes. He was for ever making "the other chaps" roar; keeping a +football field on the giggle; sending a concert-audience into fits. +But he was just the sort of schoolboy of whom there would be no +incidents to record. Men who knew him and lived with him in those days +remember him, perhaps, more distinctly than any other boy of their +time, and at the merest mention of his name their eyes twinkle with +delight. "Oh, old Bathing Towel. George! what a funny beggar he was. +Remember him? I should think I did. Stories about him? Well, I don't +remember any just now, but dear old Bathing Towel——!" and off they +go into another roar of laughter. All they can tell you is how he used +to act and recite, and play all manner of musical instruments, or, if +you drag them away from the stage, how he used to rend the air with +his terrible war-whoop at the critical moment in a football match.</p> + +<p>But although this is how it strikes a contemporary, Baden-Powell was +in deadly earnest when it was a matter of books and ink-pots. He might +be the funny man of the school, but he was also one of the most +brilliant. He gave his masters <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span>the impression of a boy who really +delighted in getting on; who was really keen about mastering a +difficult subject. His vivacity and freshness, his energy and vigour, +helped him to take pleasure in work which to another boy, less +physically blessed, would have been an irksome toil; but though his +body may have projected him some distance upon his way, it was his +soul that really carried him triumphantly through. The spirit of +Baden-Powell in those days was what it is now—supremely intent upon +beating down obstacles in his path, and resolute to do well whatever +the moment's duty might be. So the boy who was setting a football +field on the roar at one moment, at the next would be sitting with +fixed eyes and knit brows, "hashing" at Latin verses, as serious as a +leader-writer hurling his bolts at the European Powers.</p> + +<p>The master who best remembers B.-P. is Mr. Girdlestone, in whose house +our hero spent four years of his school-days. Looking back over the +past Mr. Girdlestone finds that what impressed him most in B.-P. +during his school-days was the boy's manner with his elders. He was +reserved, very reserved, and he never had any one close <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span>chum at +school; but apparently he was quite free of shyness, as he would +approach his masters without any trace of that timidity which too +often marks the commerce of boy with master. On an afternoon's walk, +for instance, B.-P. would not be found among the boys, but side by +side deep in conversation with his master. And these conversations, I +find, convinced his gubernators that he was very much above the +average cut of boy in intelligence; not (Heaven forbid!) that he made +parade of his little knowledge, but rather that he was eager to get +information in really useful subjects from his superiors, and not +above boldly declaring his eagerness. In those days Dr. Haig-Brown had +a great reputation for sternness, and it is said that even the masters +would sometimes quail when they entered his presence; but B.-P. was +perfectly at his ease and entirely self-possessed even in approaching +the presence of the great Doctor. He was never bashful in addressing a +master on new schemes for the benefit of the school, and it was solely +owing to his application to Mr. Girdlestone that Charterhouse first +started its string orchestra, which is now one of the best boys' bands +in the kingdom. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span>Music, it seems, was one of his chief delights at +school, he played the violin really well; but while he loved that king +of instruments, he would stoop to baser, and oft delight his +contemporaries, holding them entranced, by spirited performances on +the mouth organ and the ocarina.</p> + +<p>With no close friend Baden-Powell was a boy without an enemy, and his +popularity may be seen in many ways. Although, for instance, he was +not successful in athletics, he was a regular member of the Sports +Committee, and worked with intense enthusiasm for the success of +Sports-Day. And, another instance; as a memento of their favourite, +the butler of B.-P.'s house and his wife saved a part of the dress he +wore in his last theatrical performance. When the news came of the +relief of Ladysmith this garment was drawn forth from the back of a +drawer and used as a flag of rejoicing, and as I write it is being +jealously guarded to be hung out from the school windows when the +little boy who wore it is delivered from his glorious prison of +Mafeking.</p> + +<p>This butler has a very vivid recollection of Baden-Powell. He +remembers him as a boy <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span>"up to mischief," but too much of a gentleman +ever to go beyond proper bounds. His mischief was of the harmless +nature, and he was never "shown up" for a row of any description. Many +a time did the observant butler come upon Baden-Powell in the House +Music Room practising his tunes; but not by any means in a dull and +unoriginal fashion. It was the boy's habit to take off his boots and +stockings, set a chair on a table, climb up to his perch, and from +thence draw forth melody of sorts with his ten toes. After this it is +surely a wonder that Baden-Powell in joining the army did not insist +upon doing Manual Exercise with his extremities.</p> + +<p>There is a story about Master Ste which clearly shows, I think, the +estimation in which he was held by the other boys. Who but a general +favourite could have played the following part? On Shrove Tuesday at +Charterhouse there was of old time a custom called the Lemon Peel +Fight. With every pancake the boys were given a lemon, or half a +lemon, and these were never eaten, being jealously reserved for the +great fight on the green outside after the pancakes <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span>had +unmysteriously disappeared. On one occasion, when the sides were drawn +up in grim battle array, facing each other lemon in hand, every boy as +dauntless as Horatius, Herminius, and Spurius Lartius, and just when +the signal for the conflict was to be given,—suddenly upon the scene +appeared Baden-Powell, swathed from head to foot in tremendous +padding, with nothing to be seen of his little brown face save the +bright, mischievous eyes peeping out of two slits. Rushing between the +two lines with a fearsome war-whoop, this alarming apparition squatted +suddenly upon the grass, and looking first on one army and then on the +other, said in the most nonchalant tone of voice: "Let the battle +commence!"</p> + +<p>From the battle-field one goes naturally to the butts. In some of the +newspaper articles concerning Baden-Powell it has been said that he +had nothing to do with the Rifle Corps. This is quite wrong. There was +nothing going on at Charterhouse into which Baden-Powell did not fling +himself with infinite zest, and shooting, of course, had special +attractions for a boy bred in the country and deep-learned in the +mysteries of field and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span>covert. Not only did he take part in the +shooting, but he was an active member of the Shooting Committee. His +last score, shooting as a member of the School VIII. <i>versus</i> the 6th +Regiment at Aldershot on 6th March 1876, was as follows:—</p> +<br /> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" width="30%" summary="B,-P.'s shooting score"> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" width="33%">200 yards</td> + <td class="tdc" width="34%">500 yards</td> + <td class="tdc" width="34%">Total</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc">22</td> + <td class="tdc">14</td> + <td class="tdc">36</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> +<br /> + +<p>The school was beaten, and Sergeant B.-P. came out of the contest as +third best shot for Charterhouse. The day, says the historian, was +bitterly cold, and a violent and gusty wind blew across the range. +Seven shots were fired at each distance, class targets being used.</p> + +<p>If there is interest in Baden-Powell's score as a schoolboy-marksman, +how much greater interest should there be in Baden-Powell's hit as +orator? It is not always the ready actor who makes the best polemical +speech, but Baden-Powell had a reputation at Charterhouse as a debater +as well as fame as a mimic. That the boy was more than ordinarily +intelligent may even be seen in the abbreviated report of one of his +speeches preserved in the school magazine. The subject of debate was +that "Marshal Bazaine was a traitor <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span>to his country," and Baden-Powell +spoke against the motion. The report says that he "appeared to be +firmly convinced that the French plan of the war was to get the +Prussians between Sedan and Metz, and play a kind of game of ball with +them. By surrendering, Bazaine saved lives which would be of use +against the Communists. As there was only a government <i>de facto</i> in +Paris he was compelled to act for himself." But even eloquence of this +order was not sufficient to persuade Charterhouse that Bazaine +deserved no censure. The motion was carried by a majority of 1.</p> + +<p>In those days, too, Baden-Powell was famous as an artist, and his +sketches, with the left hand, were admired and commented upon by +masters as well as boys. One can fancy with what great reverence B.-P. +the caricaturist must have looked upon Thackeray's pencil in the +Charterhouse Library—the pencil of the great man whose shilling he +was then hoarding with the jealousy of a miser.</p> + +<p>Baden-Powell's quality as a schoolboy may be judged by his later life. +Few things are so pleasant about him as his intense loyalty to his +old <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span>school. Before leaving India for England in 1898, he wrote to Mr. +Girdlestone, asking his old House Master to send to his London address +a list of all the interesting fixtures at Charterhouse, so that he +might see what was going on directly he arrived in England. Whenever +he is in the old country he pays a visit to Godalming, and one of his +last acts before leaving for South Africa was to call on Dr. +Haig-Brown at the Charterhouse, where he first went to school, to bid +his old Head a brave and cheerful farewell. And what was more English, +what more typical of the public-school man, than the letter B.-P. sent +to England from bombarded Mafeking, saying that he had been looking up +old Carthusians to join him in a dinner on Founder's Day? In India he +never allowed the 12th of December to pass unhonoured, and whether he +be journeying through the bush of the Gold Coast Hinterland, or riding +across the South African veldt, he is always quick to recognise the +face of an old schoolboy, or the Carthusian colours in a necktie.</p> + +<p>The estimation in which Charterhouse holds Baden-Powell may be seen in +the result of a "whip round" for the hero besieged in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span>Mafeking—nearly +a hundred and forty cases of useful goods. These cases contained, among +other things, 962 lbs. of tobacco, 1200 cigars, 23,000 cigarettes, 640 +pipes, 160 dozens of wine and spirits, seven cases of provisions, 490 +shirts, 730 "helmets," 1350 pairs of socks, and 168 pairs of boots. In +addition to this over £1000 was raised by Old Carthusians to be sent +out in its own useful shape.</p> + +<p>Popularity such as this has been justly earned. Baden-Powell's record +as a Carthusian will, as we have seen, bear looking into, and though +the old school may boast of more brilliant scholars and more +world-wide names on its roll, I do not think it has ever sent into the +world a more useful all-round man, a more intrepid soldier, a more +upright gentleman, and a more loyal son. And one knows that there is +no British cheer so likely to touch the heart of Baden-Powell when he +returns to England as the great roar which will assuredly go up in +Charterhouse when this Old Boy comes beaming into the Great Hall.</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a><hr /> +<br /> + +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span><br /> +<h3>CHAPTER V<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h3>THE DASHING HUSSAR</h3> +<br /> + +<p>When Baden-Powell turned his back on Charterhouse it was with the +intention of proceeding to Oxford. Professor Jowett, who, by the bye, +was the godfather of Baden, begged our hero to pay him a visit as soon +as he left school, and when on this visit the Master heard that B.-P. +could only spare two years for Oxford, he said, "Then Christ Church is +the college for you, because at Balliol I like each man to remain +three or four years, and go in for honours finally." So Ste made plans +for going to Christ Church, was examined, accepted for the following +term, and Dean Liddell arranged about rooms for him in the House. But +ere B.-P. went up, an Army examination came on, and, "just for fun," +up went our indefatigable hero with a light heart and no other thought +in his mind than the determination <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span>to do his level best. The result +of this happy-go-lucky entrance for examination was the unlooked-for +success of our "unbruised youth with unstuffed brain," who passed +second out of seven hundred and eighteen candidates, among whom, by +the way, were twenty-eight University candidates. As a reward for his +brilliancy, B.-P. was informed by the Duke of Cambridge that his +commission would be ante-dated two years.</p> + +<p>Until this memorable event Baden-Powell had expressed no special +predilection for soldiering. His chief desire had been to go in for +some profession that would take him abroad and show him the world. The +first service which seemed to attract him definitely at all was the +Indian Woods and Forests, and this chiefly on account of a burning +desire to roam about the gorgeous East. It was only when an elder +brother suggested that, if he wanted to see India and other countries +as well, he might be better suited in the Army, that this born soldier +gave any indication of his desire for a military career. And only with +the Army examination successfully conquered did he seriously begin to +think of uniforms and swords and the glamour of a soldier's life.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span>On the 11th September 1876 Baden-Powell joined the 13th Hussars in +India, and one of his first acts was to take from his baggage an +ocarina, and having assembled all the European children he could find +in the station, to march at their head through the streets of Lucknow, +playing with great feeling, which suffered, however, a little from his +all-comprehensive grin, "The Girl I Left Behind Me." In this manner he +signalised his arrival, earning the undying love of every English +mother in the place, and infusing into the gallant 13th Hussars +(<i>Viret in Æternum!</i>) fresh vigour and fresh spirit.</p> + +<p>The 13th Hussars, Sir Baker Russell's old regiment, boasts a fine +record, and the songs in the canteen at night will tell you how the +regiment rode on the right of the line at Balaclava, when it was known +to fame as the 13th Light Dragoons. One of these songs begins:—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Six hundred stalwart warriors, of England's pride the best,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Did grasp the lance and sabre on Balaclava's crest,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And with their trusty leader, Lord Cardigan the brave,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Charged up to spike the Russian guns—or find a soldier's grave.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>And the refrain, which every man present sings with a face as solemn +as my Lord Chancellor <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span>sitting on the Woolsack half an hour longer +than usual, runs in this fashion:—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Oh, 'tis a famous story; proclaim it far and wide,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And let your children's children re-echo it with pride,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">How Cardigan the fearless his name immortal made,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When he crossed the Russian valley with his famous Light Brigade.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>This is the great glory of the regiment, the knowledge of which makes +the recruit blow his chest out another inch and straightway purchase +out of his pay spurs that jingle more musically when he goes abroad +than the miserable things served out by an unromantic Government. +Other legends there are in this regiment, and once Baden-Powell and +his great friend, Captain MacLaren (known to the officers as "The +Boy," to the men as "The Little Prince"), set about compiling its +history; but for some reason or another that work has not yet +appeared, and since its inception B.-P. has deserted to the +Dragoons—<i>Vestigia nulla retrorsum!</i></p> + +<p>Baden-Powell became popular with his brother-officers directly he +joined. It was his freshness, his overflowing good spirits, his hearty +and unmistakable enjoyment of life, that first won their regard. The +boy suddenly dropped into their <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span>midst was no blasé youth, no mere +swaggering puppy. He was afire with the joy of existence, radiant with +happiness, excited—and not ashamed to show it—by all the newness and +fascination of Indian life. The Major screwed his eye-glass into his +eye and smiled encouragingly; the Adjutant measured him with peg to +his lip and knew he would do. Every one felt that the new sub was an +acquisition.</p> + +<p>But it must not be supposed that there was any "bounce" about the new +boy. Apart from his breeding and training, which would effectually +prevent a man from committing the unpardonable sin of the social +world, Baden-Powell by nature was, and still is, a little bashful. +There are people who pooh-pooh the very idea of such a thing, and +declare that the man they have heard act and sing and play the fool is +no more nervous than a bishop among curates. Nevertheless they are +wrong; and your humble servant entirely right. B.-P., like the other +members of his family, suffers from nervousness, and when he goes on +the stage to act, and sits down at the piano to "vamp," it is a sheer +triumph of will over nerves. He is not nervous under the wide and +starry sky, not bashful when <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span>he pricks his horse into the long grass +of the veldt and bears down upon a bunch of bloodthirsty savages, not +nervous when he gets a child on his knee all by himself and tells her +delightful stories,—but nervous as a boy on his first day at school +when he finds himself being lionised in a drawing-room, or picked out +of the ruck of guests for any particular notice. And so when he joined +the 13th, behind the ebullient spirits was this innate bashfulness, +which, added to the natural modesty of a gentleman, kept his animal +spirits in a delightful simmer, and found favour for him in the eyes +of his superior officers. How they discovered B.-P.'s quality as a +humourist happened in this way. A day or two after he joined there was +an entertainment of some sort going on in barracks, and during a pause +Sir Baker Russell turned round to Baden-Powell, and said, "Here, young +'un, you can play a bit, I'm sure"; and up went Baden-Powell to the +piano, as if obeying an order. In a few minutes the whole place was in +a roar, and, as one of the officers told me, the regiment recognised +that in B.-P. they had got "a born buffoon, but a devilish clever +fellow."</p> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep061" id="imagep061"></a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span> +<a href="images/imagep061.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep061.jpg" width="50%" alt="The Dashing Hussar. (B.-P. at 21.)" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">The Dashing Hussar.<br /> +(B.-P. at 21.)<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span> +</div> + +<p>Concerning B.-P. as an actor, it is characteristic <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span>of the +thoroughness with which he does everything that he always draws and +redraws any character he may be playing until he is perfectly +satisfied with the dress and make-up; some of these drawings have been +captured by his brother-officers, and are greatly treasured.</p> + +<p>Soon after joining he began to show his quality as a sportsman. In +that regiment of fine riders it has always been hard to shine at polo +or tent-pegging, or heads-and-posts, but there was no mistaking the +perfect horseman in B.-P. when he got into the saddle, with the eyes +of the regiment upon him. Few men ride more gracefully. His seat, of +course, is entirely free from that ramrod stiffness which some of the +Irregular Cavalry cultivate with such painful assiduity; he sits +easily and gracefully, so easily that you might fancy a rough horse +would set him bobbing and slipping like a cockney astride a donkey on +the sands. But with all the ease and grace, there is strength there, +such as would wear down the nastiest of bad brutes. The leg that looks +so lightly and gracefully posed grips like steel, and the pressure +increases relentlessly the more the horse quarrels with his rider. +Many a time has <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span>Baden-Powell taken in hand young horses which have +defied the efforts of the rough-riding Sergeant-Major, and so far as I +can gather there was never a case of the horse beating the rider. His +skill as a breaker of horses deserves especial mention because of the +characteristic manner in which it is done. By simply sticking in the +saddle, and gripping with his legs, he wears down the horse's +opposition, silently matching his powers of endurance against the +tricks and tempers of the unruly member. Seldom does whip or spur come +into play when Baden-Powell is fighting for the mastery with an +undisciplined horse.</p> + +<p>But while he was proving himself a good sportsman, B.-P. was getting +to know about soldiering, paying great attention to regimental work +and loyally working to please his captains. Not only did he devote +himself to the ordinary routine of regimental work, but in spare +moments he began to read up special subjects, and it seems only +natural that one of the first of these subjects should be Topography. +The result of this labour was that in 1878 Baden-Powell passed the +Garrison Class, taking a First Class and Extra Certificate (Star) for +Topography. During the lectures he <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span>distinguished himself by making +inimitable caricatures, for which he was sometimes taken to task by +the authorities. Also he could not help poking fun at the examiners in +the papers themselves. Asked, "Do you know why so-and-so, and +so-and-so?" Baden-Powell would write an interrogative "No."</p> + +<p>After distinguishing himself in this way, B.-P. came back to England, +in order to go through the Musketry Course at Hythe. Here he did +equally well, taking a First Class Extra Certificate, and a year after +we find him as Musketry Instructor at Quetta. But this book is not +intended to be a "biography" of Baden-Powell, and I shall beg leave to +relate no chronological record of his military career. We are telling +his story as a story, hoping to interest every English schoolboy who +has arrived at years of discretion, hoping to make them keen on sport, +keen on exercise, keen on open-air life, and hoping, in addition, to +be of real practical use to those whose eyes are now set hungrily on +Sandhurst.</p> + +<p>In a later chapter it will be seen how Baden-Powell interested himself +in his men's welfare, and how he encouraged them to become real +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span>soldiers—learned in things other than mere boot-cleaning and +button-polishing. Here we behold him as the gay and dashing Hussar, a +bold sportsman, a keen soldier, and one of the most popular men in +India.</p> + +<p>His popularity, it is only fair to say, was earned very largely by +that gift for acting which had won him fame as a schoolboy. Whispers +that he was going to act in the <i>Area Belle</i>, or one of Gilbert and +Sullivan's operas, travelled with amazing rapidity from station to +station in India, and every performance in which he took part was +attended by all the Europeans for miles round. Indeed his fame as an +actor travelled so far afield that the manager of a London theatre +wrote to him in India offering our astonished hero a position in his +company at a salary of ten pounds a week! There is never an occasion +when B.-P. is not willing to get up theatricals. A few months after +the siege of Kandahar he arranged for a performance of <i>The Pirates of +Penzance</i> in that barbarous city, making himself responsible for the +entire management. The dresses were excellent, the stage and scenery +good, and the opera was received with intense enthusiasm; and yet +there was not a single <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span>European woman there; all the dresses and +costumes were the work of B.-P., who himself appeared in the character +of Ruth! On another occasion, when <i>Trial by Jury</i> was to be given, it +was discovered at the last moment, to the consternation of every one +except B.-P., that there were no Royal arms. In a few hours he +produced what I am assured was the most splendid and gorgeous national +emblazonry that ever sparkled behind footlights. He had collected a +few crude paints from the natives of the district, and had painted the +arms with an old shaving-brush. Such is his resourcefulness. And what +of his enthusiasm? When he was home in England on sick-leave he sent +out to the 13th Hussars the book of <i>Les Cloches de Corneville</i>, with +excellent sketches of the dresses and hints as to its staging. Again, +he has been known to get off a sick-bed in India in order to take part +in some entertainment for the amusement of soldiers.</p> + +<p>It was shortly after the successful performance of <i>The Pirates of +Penzance</i>, and after the evacuation of Kandahar, that Baden-Powell +very nearly succeeded in putting an end to himself. He was toying with +a pistol, in the firm conviction that it <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span>was unloaded, when, to his +intense indignation, the thing went off and planted a bullet in the +calf of his leg. It might have been a more romantically dangerous +wound, but it was quite sufficiently uncomfortable. Even now, on any +serious change in the weather, B.-P. is unpleasantly reminded of this +adventure in far Afghanistan by rebellious throbbing in the old wound.</p> + +<p>On his return from Kandahar Baden-Powell was appointed Adjutant and +Musketry Inspector to his regiment, and he is spoken of by one who was +himself adjutant of this fine regiment for many years as one of the +best adjutants in the world. Shortly after this his uncle, General +Smyth, Commandant at Woolwich, offered him the tempting appointment of +A.D.C., but Baden-Powell preferred India and his regiment, and +declined. Life in India suited Master Ste. It provided him with a +great deal of real soldiering, much sport, and made him acquainted +with one of the most fascinating countries in the world. After he got +his troop, he became Brigade-Major to Sir Baker Russell's Cavalry +Brigade at Meerut Camp of Exercise, and was appointed Station +Staff-Officer and Cantonment Magistrate at Muttra. With <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span>all these +duties he found time for sketching and writing, publishing +<i>Reconnaissance and Scouting</i>, and sending many interesting sketches +to the <i>Graphic</i>. It may not be out of place here to mention that +Baden-Powell, among other parts, has played the War Correspondent, +working once in that character for the <i>Daily Chronicle</i>, and with +considerable success.</p> + +<p>That Baden-Powell was a marked man early in his career is attested by +the fact of his being chosen as a member of the Board for formulating +Cavalry regulations at Simla in 1884. He was eminently a business-man, +a managing man, and all his work in the army has been marked by those +excellent qualities which go to the making of our great merchant +princes. He is shrewd, practical, and what he says is always to the +point. His despatches are admirable examples of what such documents +should be, never saying a word too much, and yet leaving his meaning +clear-cut and unmistakable. For such work he finds a model in the +despatch of Captain Walton, who, under Admiral Byng, destroyed the +entire Spanish fleet off Passaro: "Sir,—We have taken or destroyed all +the Spanish ships on this coast; number as <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span>per margin.—Respectfully +yours, G. Walton, <i>Captain</i>." Says Baden-Powell, "There is no +superfluous verbosity there."</p> + +<p>But do not let us lose sight altogether of Baden-Powell as the +whimsical humourist. There are two stories in the regiment which +reveal him in this light very nicely. He was once walking with a +friend on the esplanade of some English seaside place, and the day was +piping hot. Suddenly, without explanation of any kind, B.-P. sat +himself down on the kerb, placed his billycock hat solemnly on his +knees, and buried his face in a flaming red handkerchief. This +unprecedented sight stirred the depths of the one and only policeman's +heart, and he strode valiantly across the road, prepared to do his +duty at all costs. Touching B.-P. upon the shoulder with his white +cotton glove, the constable demanded, in a deep voice, "Arnd, whaät's +the matter wi' you, eh?" Slowly removing the handkerchief from his +eyes, and with a perfectly solemn face, B.-P. explained that he had +just at that moment tumbled out of his nurse's arms and that the silly +woman had gone on without noticing it. And the other story: being told +rather rudely at a picture <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span>exhibition in Manchester that he must go +back to the hall and leave his stick with the porter, B.-P. walked +briskly away, but presently returned, with his stick, hobbling +painfully along—a man to whom a walking-stick was veritably a staff +of life. The rude official bit his lip and looked the other way.</p> + +<p>When the regiment was at Muttra, Baden-Powell lived in a house which +boasted a very large compound, and this he dignified by the name of +"Bloater Park." At that time it was the habit to speak about men as +"this old bloater" and "that old bloater," and the expression so +tickled B.-P. that he adopted the name for his lordly compound. +Letters would actually reach him from England solemnly addressed to +Bloater Park.</p> + +<p>Life at this time—if we except the 1887 operations against Dinizulu +in Africa, when B.-P. was Assistant Military Secretary, and commanded +a column in attack—was for the most part humdrum, and only enlivened +by theatricals and shooting expeditions. But B.-P. was ever interested +in his men, and planned sports and entertainments for them, which +always kept him fully occupied. A friend of his going to call on him +in Seaforth, where <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span>B.-P. was commanding a squadron, was astonished to +find a Maypole in the centre of the dingy barrack square, round which +mounted men rode merrily, each with a coloured ribbon in his hand. On +questioning the commander, the visitor discovered that there was a +deserving charity in Liverpool, and that B.-P. was getting up a +military display on its behalf.</p> + +<p>Before leaving this subject, let us mention that Baden-Powell was +Brigade-Major to the Heavy Brigade at the Jubilee Review of 1887, that +he was sent by Lord Wolseley to arrange about machine guns for cavalry +use at Aldershot, that he was Secretary to the British Commission at +Swaziland in 1888, and in the same year was elected a member of the +United States Cavalry Association. One of his most important staff +appointments was that of Assistant Military Secretary to the Governor +of Malta, where his work for the amelioration of the soldiers' and +sailors' lives produced lasting benefits.</p> + +<p>His work as a regimental officer will be more fully dealt with in a +later chapter.</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a><hr /> +<br /> + +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span><br /> +<h3>CHAPTER VI<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h3>HUNTER</h3> +<br /> + +<p>"The longest march seems short," says Baden-Powell, "when one is +hunting game." Many a time, when he has been marching either alone or +with troops, his clothes in tatters, his shoes soleless, and his mouth +as dry as a saucer licked by a cat, many and many a time has he got +out from under the impending shadow of depression, out into the open +sunlight with his rifle,—to forget all about hunger and thirst in +matching his wits against nature's. This kind of wild sport has an +absorbing interest for Baden-Powell. What he would say if invited to +hunt a tame deer, lifted by human arms out of a cart, kicked away from +playing with the hounds and pushed and beaten into an astonished and +bewildered gallop, neither you nor I must pretend to know; but for +that kind of "sport" it is very certain <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span>he would express no such +enthusiasm as he does for the keen, wild, dangerous sport of the +legitimate hunter. He will not seek the destruction of any quarry that +is not worthy of his steel; he likes to go against that quarry where +there are obstacles and dangers for him, and opportunities of escape +for the creature he pursues. He is a sportsman, not a butcher; +mole-catching never stirred the blood in his veins.</p> + +<p>And while he is hunting animals he is educating himself as a scout. +His whole attention becomes riveted on the game he is pursuing; he +studies the spoor, takes account of the nature of the country, and +makes a note in his mind of any observations likely to be of service +during a campaign in that kind of country. It is not the work of +destruction itself that makes Baden-Powell a keen sportsman.</p> + +<p>In the midst of the Matabele war, just as the weary, half-starved +horses which had carried his men eighty-seven miles drew near the +stronghold of Wedza, Baden-Powell was exhilarated by a meeting with a +lion. In his diary against that date he wrote: "To be marked with a +red mark when I can get a red pencil." The <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span>incident is well related +in his diary and is a characteristic of B.-P. It runs: "Jackson and a +native boy accompanied me scouting this morning; we three started off +at three in the morning, so that by dawn we were in sight of one of +the hills we expected might be occupied by Paget, and where we hoped +to see his fires. We saw none there; but on our way, in moving round +the hill which overlooks our camp, we saw a match struck high up near +the top of the mountain. This one little spark told us a great deal. +It showed that the enemy were there; that they were awake and alert (I +say 'they,' because one nigger would not be up there by himself in the +dark); and that they were aware of our force being at Possett's (as, +otherwise, they would not be occupying that hill). However, they could +not see anything of us, as it was then quite dark; and we went farther +on among the mountains. In the early morning light we crossed the deep +river-bed of the Umchingwe River, and, in doing so, we noticed the +fresh spoor of a lion in the sand. We went on, and had a good look at +the enemy's stronghold; and on our way back, as we approached this +river-bed, we agreed to go <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span>quietly, in case the lion should be moving +about in it. On looking down over the bank, my heart jumped into my +mouth when I saw a grand old brute just walking in behind a bush. +Jackson could not see him, but was off his horse as quick as I was, +and ready with his gun; too ready, indeed, for the moment that the +lion appeared, walking majestically out from behind the bush that had +hidden him, Jackson fired hurriedly, striking the ground under his +foot, and, as we afterwards discovered, knocking off one of his claws. +The lion tossed up his shaggy head and looked at us in dignified +surprise. Then I fired and hit him in the ribs with a leaden bullet +from my Lee-Metford. He reeled, sprang round, and staggered a few +paces, when Jackson, who was firing a Martini-Henry, let him have one +in the shoulder; this knocked him over sideways, and he turned about, +growling savagely. I could scarcely believe that we had actually got a +lion at last, but resolved to make sure of it; so, telling Jackson not +to fire unless it was necessary (for fear of spoiling the skin with +the larger bullet of the Martini), I got down closer to the beast, and +fired a shot <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span>at the back of his neck as he turned his head away from +me. This went through his spine, and came out through the lower jaw, +killing him dead."</p> + +<p>It was during the Matabele campaign that Baden-Powell came across a +fine wild boar, which, he remarks, caused quite a flutter in his +breast. "'If I only had you in the open, my friend,' thought I. 'If +only you had a horse that was fit enough to come anywhere near me,' +grinned he. And so we parted." A graphic incident.</p> + +<p>It is in hunting the wild boar that Baden-Powell has a universal +reputation as a sportsman. He is good, very good, at all sports, but +it is as a pig-sticker that he excels, and stands out clear-cut from +the rest. And pig-sticking is the sport of all sports which entail the +killing of animals in which we could wish him to excel. Hear Major +Moray Brown on the subject of fox <i>versus</i> pig: "You cannot compare +the two sports together. To begin with, in fox-hunting you are +dependent on 'scent.' Granted the excitement of a fast burst over a +grass country, and that you are well carried by your horse, the +end—what is it? A poor little fox worried by at least forty times its +number of hounds. Has he a chance, bar his <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span>cunning, of baffling his +pursuers? No. Now, how different is the chase of the boar of India! +There you must depend on <i>yourself</i> in every way, and at the end your +quarry meets you on nearly fair and equal terms." Let it be remembered +that the boar is an animal of great reputation among beasts. It is a +well-ascertained fact, says Baden-Powell, that of all animals the boar +does not fear to drink at the same pool with a tiger; nay, a case is +on record of his having taken his drink with a tiger on each side of +him. In his book on pig-sticking Baden-Powell quotes an exciting +description of a battle between a tiger and a boar, a battle which +will give English readers a vivid idea of the boar's pluck and +doggedness. The narrative is as follows: "When the boar saw the tiger +the latter roared. But the old boar did not seem to mind the roar so +very much as might have been anticipated. He actually repeated his +'hoo! hoo!' only in a, if possible, more aggressive, insulting, and +defiant manner. Nay, more, such was his temerity that he actually +advanced with a short, sharp rush in the direction of the striped +intruder. Intently peering through the indistinct light, we eagerly +watched the development of this <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span>strange <i>rencontre</i>. The tiger was +now crouching low, crawling stealthily round and round the boar, who +changed front with every movement of his lithe and sinewy adversary, +keeping his determined head and sharp, deadly tusks ever facing his +stealthy and treacherous foe. The bristles of the boar's back were up +at a right angle from the strong spine. The wedge-shaped head poised +on the strong neck and thick rampart of muscular shoulder was bent +low, and the whole attitude of the body betokened full alertness and +angry resoluteness. In their circlings the two brutes were now nearer +to each other and nearer to us, and thus we could mark every movement +with greater precision. The tiger was now growling and showing his +teeth; and all this, that takes such a time to tell, was but the work +of a few short minutes. Crouching now still lower, till he seemed +almost flat on the ground, and gathering his sinewy limbs beneath his +lithe, lean body, he suddenly startled the stillness with a loud roar, +and quick as lightning sprang upon the boar. For a brief minute the +struggle was thrilling in its intense excitement. With one swift, +dexterous sweep of the strong, ready paw, the tiger fetched <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span>the boar +a terrific slap right across the jaw, which made the strong beast +reel; but with a hoarse grunt of resolute defiance, with two or three +sharp digs of the strong head and neck, and swift, cutting blows of +the cruel, gashing tusks, he seemed to make a hole or two in the +tiger's coat, marking it with more stripes than Nature had ever +painted there; and presently both combatants were streaming with gore. +The tremendous buffet of the sharp claws had torn flesh and skin away +from off the boar's cheek and forehead, leaving a great ugly flap +hanging over his face and half blinding him. The pig was now on his +mettle. With another hoarse grunt he made straight for the tiger, who +very dexterously eluded the charge, and, lithe and quick as a cat +after a mouse, doubled almost on itself, and alighted clean on the +boar's back, inserting his teeth above the shoulders, tearing with his +claws, and biting out great mouthfuls of flesh from the quivering +carcase of his maddened antagonist. He seemed now to be having all the +best of it, so much so that the boar discreetly stumbled and fell +forward, whether by accident or design I know not, but the effect was +to bring the tiger clean over his head, sprawling <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span>clumsily on the +ground. I almost shouted 'Aha, now you have him!' for the tables were +turned. Getting his forefeet on the tiger's prostrate carcase, the +boar now gave two or three short, ripping gashes with his strong white +tusks, almost disembowelling his foe, and then exhausted seemingly by +the effort, apparently giddy and sick, he staggered aside and lay +down, panting and champing his tusks, but still defiant with his head +to the foe." But the tiger, too, was sick unto death, and the end of +this battle-royal was that he who saw it emptied the contents of both +his barrels into the two stricken belligerents, and put them out of +their agony.</p> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep079" id="imagep079"></a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span> +<a href="images/imagep079.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep079.jpg" width="52%" alt="Beetle" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">"Beetle."<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span> +</div> + + +<p>It is against such a fierce, resolute, and well-armed enemy that +Baden-Powell loves to match his strength and cunning. Mounted on his +little fourteen-hand Waler, in pith solar topee, grey Norfolk jacket, +light cords, and brown blucher boots, and grasping in his hand his +deadly seventy-inch spear, he goes forth to slay the wild boar, with +all the feelings of romance and knightliness which some people think +vanished from the world when Excalibur sank in the Lake of Lyonnesse. +It is a battle whereof no man need be ashamed; in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span>which only the +strong man can glory. Many a time has the wild boar hurled his great +head and mountainous shoulders against the forelegs of a horse, +bringing the hunter to the ground for mortal combat on foot. Many a +time has the novice, who went out as gaily and contemptuously as the +fox-hunter, returned to his bungalow cut and gored on a stretcher. He +who goes up against the wild boar must, in Baden-Powell's words, "have +matured not only the 'pluck' which brings a man into a desperate +situation, but that 'nerve' which enables him to carry the crisis to a +successful issue."</p> + +<p>When Baden-Powell returned to India from Afghanistan in 1882, he +became an enthusiastic pig-sticker (for reasons which we shall give in +our chapter on Scouting), and during that year he killed no fewer than +thirty-one pigs. In the following year he killed forty-two, and won +the blue-ribbon of hog-hunting—the Kadir Cup. Two years afterwards he +wrote and illustrated the standard book on pig-sticking (published by +Messrs. Harrison and Sons), which is as famous a book in India as Mr. +H.S. Thomas's delightful books on fishing.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span>Hunting the boar takes place early in the morning and again in the +evening, so that men find themselves with nothing to do for the +greater part of the day. This time is usually spent in the tent +sketching, dozing, and reading, with occasional "goes" of claret cup. +But it is characteristic of Baden-Powell that he should give useful +advice concerning these waste hours. "If you prefer not to waste this +time altogether," he says, "it is a good practice to take a few books +and dictionary of any foreign language you may wish to be learning." +Again, his character as a thoughtful man may be seen in the warning he +gives novices against ill-treating villagers, or allowing the shikaris +to do so. "Shouting and cursing at a coolie already dumbfoundered at +the very sight of a white man is not the way to clear his +understanding." His remark that native servants under cover of their +master's prestige will frequently tyrannise over the villagers reminds +me of a story which I cannot forbear to tell. A bridge had been thrown +over a river in some outlandish part of India, and his work done, the +Englishman in charge was returning to more civilised regions. Just +before turning his back on the scene of his <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span>labours he inquired of a +villager whether he was pleased with the bridge. The man expressed +voluble admiration for the sahib's great skill, but lamented the high +toll that was charged for crossing the bridge. "Toll!" exclaimed the +Briton, "why, there's no toll at all; the bridge is free to +everybody." But the native still protesting that a charge was made, +and saying that a notice to that effect was written up in big English +letters, the engineer went down to the bridge himself to investigate +the mystery. There he discovered his own servant sitting at the +receipt of custom, with a flaming advertisement of Beecham's Pills +pasted on to a board over his head, to which he pointed as his +authority when questioned by rebellious natives.</p> + +<p>Baden-Powell tells an amusing story of an impromptu boar hunt. "At a +grand field-day at Delhi, in the presence of all the foreign +delegates, in 1885, a boar suddenly appeared upon the scene and +charged a Horse Artillery gun, effectually stopping it in its advance +at a gallop by throwing down two of the horses. The headquarters staff +and the foreign officers were spectators of this deed, and hastened to +sustain the credit of the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span>Army by seizing lances from their orderlies +and dashing off in pursuit of the boar, who was now cantering off to +find more batteries on which to work his sweet will. The staff, +however, were too quick for him, and, after a good run and fight, he +fell a victim to their attentions, amidst a chorus of <i>vivas</i>, +<i>sacrés</i>, and <i>houplas</i>."</p> + +<p>The pig is a born fighter. From his early infancy he learns the use of +butting, and perceives, at an age when civilised piggies are just +beginning to root up one's orchard, that his growing tusks are meant +for other uses than those of mere captivation. Little "squeakers" have +been watched by B.-P. having a regular set-to together, while the +older members of their family sat in a pugilistic ring grinning +encouragement. Once Baden-Powell managed to secure a baby pig, and +kept him in his compound, just as he had kept rabbits and guinea-pigs +in England. To watch this squeaker practising "jinking" from a tree +("jinking" is "pig-sticking" for jibbing), and charging ferociously at +an old stump, was one of our hero's pet amusements for many weeks.</p> + +<p>Although dogs are not regularly used in hunting the wild boar they are +sometimes employed for <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span>scouting in a particularly thick jungle, and +Baden-Powell frequently went to work of this kind with a half-bred +fox-terrier. He regards as one of the joys of true sport the bending +of animals' wills to his own, and while in this respect the horse +ranks highest in his estimation, he is always glad to work with a keen +dog. Beetle, the fox-terrier, was just such a dog as Baden-Powell +would like; he was quick, full of intelligence, a complete stranger to +fear, and moreover he had an individuality of his own. When B.-P. +started off for the haunt of his quarry, Beetle would sit with an air +of great dignity in the front of the saddle, keeping a sharp look-out +for signs of pig. At a likely spot the little dog would jump nimbly +from the saddle and plunge boldly into the jungle. Then a sharp yap +would reach the ears of B.-P., then a smothered growl, a crashing of +twigs and branches, and at last, with a floundering dash, out came the +boar, struggling into his stride with Beetle at his heels. "In the run +which followed," says Baden-Powell, "the little dog used to tail along +after the hunt, and, straining every sense of sight and hearing as +well as of smell to keep to the line, always managed to be in at the +death, in time to hang on <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span>to the ear of a charging boar, or to apply +himself to the back end of one who preferred sulking in a bush." And +in the end it was a change of climate, at Natal, that killed the +gallant-hearted Beetle. He died with a tattered ear, a drooping +eyelid, an enlarged foot, and twelve scars on his game little +body—all honourable mementos of innumerable fights with the dreaded +boar.</p> + +<p>As showing Baden-Powell's prowess as a hunter we may mention some of +the stuffed animals in the hall of his mother's house, all of which +have fallen to our hero: Black Bucks, Ravine Deer, Gnu, Inyala, Eland, +Jackal, Black Bear, Hippopotamus (a huge skull), Lion, Tiger, and Hog +Deer.</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a><hr /> +<br /> + +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span><br /> +<h3>CHAPTER VII<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h3>SCOUT</h3> +<br /> + +<p>All hardy exercise is good for a soldier, but in pig-sticking +Baden-Powell found a sport which, in addition to its effect upon the +nerves and sinews, gives a man what is called a "stalker's eye," and +that, says B.-P., is <i>par excellence</i> the soldier's eye. It was this +that made B.-P. an enthusiastic hunter of the wild boar. "Without +doubt," he exclaims, "the constant and varied exercise of the +inductive reasoning powers called into play in the pursuit must exert +a beneficial effect on the mind, and the actual pleasure of riding and +killing a boar is doubly enhanced by the knowledge that he has been +found by the fair and sporting exercise of one's own bump of +'woodcraft.' The sharpness of intellect which we are wont to associate +with the detective is nothing more than the result of training that +inductive reasoning, which is almost <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span>innate in the savage. To the +child of the jungle the ground with its signs is at once his book, his +map, and his newspaper. Remember the volume of meaning contained in +the single print of Friday's foot on Crusoe's beach." And so he +advises officers in India to go with a native tracker to the jungle +and watch him and learn from him "the almost boundless art of deducing +and piecing together correctly information to be gathered from the +various signs found." The importance of tracking, and the art of it, +is shown in an interesting story which B.-P. tells, a story which +demonstrates the close relationship of hunter and scout. A sportsman +in India was out tiger-shooting early one morning, with two +professional trackers walking in front of his elephant, and the usual +company of beaters behind. As they went along, the fresh pugs of a +tiger were seen on the ground, but the professional trackers passed on +without so much as a sign of having noticed the spoor. In a minute the +beaters were up with the professionals, asking, with Asiatic irony, if +they had eyes in their professional heads. To which one of the +trackers merely replied, "Idiots! at what time do rats run about?" And +then the humbled coolies went back <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span>to look at the spoor again, and +there they saw, after a close scrutiny, the delicate tracing of a +little field-rat's feet over the mighty pugs of Stripes. This rat only +comes out of its hole early in the night, and retires long before the +Eastern day begins, so that several hours had elapsed since the tiger +journeyed that way, and the professional was a better man than the +amateur.</p> + +<p>Baden-Powell has all the qualifications that go to make a good scout. +His eye is as keen as the hawk's, and many a time "by keeping his eyes +skinned" he has done useful, if unobtrusive, work. Once he was riding +in the night with despatches for headquarters' camp, guiding himself +by the stars. Arriving at the place where he thought the camp ought to +be, he was surprised to find no sign of it. Dismounting from his +saddle, he was thinking of lying up for the night (rather than +overshoot the mark) when a distant spark, for the fraction of a +second, caught his eye. Jumping into the saddle again, he rode towards +the place where the spark had flickered its brief moment, and there he +found a sentry smoking a pipe. The red glow of the baccy in the bowl +had guided B.-P. with his despatches safely to camp.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span>But not always does Baden-Powell see what he says he sees. On one +occasion in Kashmir he was matching his eyes against a shikari, and +the story of the contest is related by B.-P. in his <i>Aids to Scouting</i> +(published by Gale and Polden, London and Aldershot): "He pointed out +a hillside some distance off, and asked me if I could see how many +cattle there were grazing on it. It was only with difficulty that I +could see any cattle at all, but presently I capped him by asking him +if he could see the man in charge of the cattle. Now, I could not +actually see this myself, but knowing that there must be a man with +the herd, and that he would probably be up-hill above them somewhere, +and as there was a solitary tree above them (and it was a hot, sunny +day), I guessed he would be under this tree." And when the incredulous +shikari looked through the field-glasses he marvelled at the vision of +the white man—the herdsman was under the tree as happy as a hen in a +dust-bath. The uses of inductive reasoning!</p> + +<p>A good instance of Baden-Powell's skill in "piecing things together" +is given in the same excellent manual on scouting. He was scouting one +day on an open grass plain in Matabeleland <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span>accompanied by a single +native. "Suddenly," he says, "we noticed the grass had been recently +trodden down; following up the track for a short distance, it got on +to a patch of sandy ground, and we then saw that it was the spoor of +several women and boys walking towards some hills about five miles +distant, where we believed the enemy to be hiding. Then we saw a leaf +lying about ten yards off the track—there were no trees for miles, +but there were, we knew, trees of this kind at a village 15 miles +distant, in the direction from which the tracks led. Probably, then, +these women had come from that village, bringing the leaf with them, +and had gone to the hills. On picking up the leaf, it was damp and +smelled of native beer. So we guessed that according to the custom of +these people they had been carrying pots of native beer on their +heads, the mouths of the pots being stopped with bunches of leaves. +One of these leaves had fallen out; but we found it ten yards off the +track, which showed that at the time it fell a wind had been blowing. +There was no wind now, but there had been about five A.M., and it was +now nearly seven. So we read from these signs that a party of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span>women +had brought beer during the night from the village 15 miles distant, +and had taken it to the enemy on the hills, arriving there about six +o'clock. The men would probably start to drink the beer at once (as it +goes sour if kept for long), and would, by the time we could get +there, be getting sleepy from it, so we should have a favourable +chance of reconnoitring their position. We accordingly followed the +women's tracks, found the enemy, made our observations, and got away +with our information without any difficulty."</p> + +<p>In the chapters referring to his work as Sir Frederick Carrington's +Chief of the Staff in the Matabele campaign of 1896, we shall see what +great service Baden-Powell has rendered the army by his tireless +scouting. Here I can hardly do better than quote from his <i>Aids</i>, for +in this book he unlocks his heart as a scout, and in order to +encourage non-commissioned officers and men to interest themselves in +the more intelligent side of soldiering (not for self-advertisement) +tells us innumerable instances of his own interesting experiences. The +chief charm of scouting, of course, is in actual warfare, when a man +goes out, sometimes alone and unattended, to find out what a +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span>well-armed enemy is doing and how many fighting men are to be expected +in the morrow's battle. But just as Cervantes could "engender" the +ingenious Don Quixote in a miserable prison, so Baden-Powell in the +arid times of peace finds means of enjoying the fascinations of +scouting. When out in India he used to spend many an early morning in +practising, and he gives the result of one of these mornings in his +little book on Scouting, which I would have you read in its entirety. +It is a book which has many of the virtues of a novel, and is written +in plain English.</p> + +<p>The following instance will show you how assiduously B.-P. practises +scouting, and will also give you an idea as to beguiling your next +country walk.</p> + +<div class="block2"> + +<div class="block"> +<p class="hang"><i>Ground:</i> A well-frequented road in an Indian +hill-station—dry—gravel, grit, and sand.</p> + +<p class="hang"><i>Atmosphere:</i> Bright and dry, no wind.</p> + +<p class="hang"><i>Time:</i> 6 A.M. to 8 A.M.</p> + +<p class="hang"><i>Signs: Fresh Wheelmarks.</i> [Fresh because the tracks were +clearly defined with sharp edges in the sand; they overrode +all other tracks.]</p> + +<p>[This must mean a "rickshaw" (hand-carriage) had passed +this morning—no other carriages are used at this +station.]</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span><i>Going Forward.</i> [Because there are tracks of bare feet, +some ridden over, others overriding the wheel track, but +always keeping along it, <i>i.e.</i> two men pulling in front, +two pushing behind.]</p> + +<p>[Had they been independent wayfarers they would have +walked on the smooth, beaten part of the road.]</p> + +<p><i>The men were going at a walk.</i> (Because the impression of +the fore part of the foot is no deeper than that of the +heel, and the length of pace not long enough for running.)</p> + +<p><i>One man wore shoes</i>, the remaining three were barefooted.</p> + +<p><i>One wheel was a little wobbly.</i></p> +<br /> + +<p class="cen"><i>Deduction</i></p> + +<p class="hang"><i>The track was that of a rickshaw conveying an invalid in +comparatively humble circumstances, for a constitutional.</i></p> + +<p class="hang">Because it went at a slow pace, along a circular road which led +nowhere in particular (it had passed the cemetery and the +only house along that road), at an early hour of the +morning, the rickshaw being in a groggy state and the men +not uniformly dressed.</p> +<br /> +</div> + +<p><span class="sc">Note</span>.—This deduction proved correct. On returning from my walk +I struck the same track (<i>i.e.</i> the wobbly wheel and the one shod +man) on another road, going ahead of me. I soon overtook them, +and found an old invalid lady being driven in a hired bazaar +rickshaw.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span>While following the tracks of the rickshaw, I noticed fresh +tracks of two horses coming towards me, followed by a big dog.</p> +<br /> + +<div class="block"> +<p class="hang"><i>They had passed since the rickshaw</i> (overriding its tracks).</p> + +<p class="hang"><i>They were cantering</i> (two single hoof-prints, and then two near +together).</p> + +<p class="hang"><i>A quarter of a mile farther on they were walking</i> for a quarter +of a mile. (Hoof-prints in pairs a yard apart.) Here the dog +dropped behind, and had to make up lost ground by galloping +up to them. (Deep impression of his claws, and dirt kicked +up.)</p> + +<p class="hang"><i>They had finished the walk about a quarter of an hour</i> before I +came there. (Because the horse's droppings at this point +were quite fresh; covered with flies; not dried outside by +the sun.)</p> + +<p class="hang"><i>They had been cantering up to the point where they began the +walk, but one horse had shied violently on passing the +invalid in the rickshaw.</i> (Because there was a great kick up +of gravel and divergence from its track just where the +rickshaw track bent into the side of the road, and +afterwards overrode the horse's tracks.)</p> +</div> +<br /> + +<p><span class="sc">Note</span>.—I might have inferred from this that the invalid was +carrying an umbrella which frightened the horse, and was, +therefore, a lady. But I did not think of it at the time and had +rather supposed from the earliness of the hour that the invalid +was a man. Invalid ladies don't, as a rule, get up so early.</p> +<br /> + +<p class="cen"><i>Deduction</i><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span></p> + +<div class="block"> +<p class="hang"><i>The tracks were those of a lady and gentleman out for a ride, +followed by her dog.</i></p> + +<p>Because had the horses been only out exercising with syces they +would have been going at a walk in single file (or possibly at a +tearing gallop).</p> +</div> + + +<p>They were therefore ridden by white people, one of whom was a +lady; because, 1st, a man would not take a big, heavy dog to pound +along after his horse (it had pounded along long after the horses +were walking); 2nd, a man would not pull up to walk because his +horse had shied at a rickshaw; but a lady might, especially if +urged to do so by a man who was anxious about her safety, and that +is why I put them down as a man and a lady. Had they been two +ladies, the one who had been shied with would have continued to +canter out of bravado. And the man, probably, either a very +affectionate husband or no husband at all.</p> + +<p><span class="sc">Note</span>.—I admit that the above deductions hinge on very +little—one link might just be wrong and so break the whole chain. +This is often, indeed generally, the case, and corroborative +evidence should always be sought for.</p> + +<p>In the present instance my deductions proved pretty correct. I +saw the couple later on, followed by their collie dog, riding +along a lower road; but I could not determine their relationship +to one another.</p> +<br /> + +<p class="cen"><i>Note on Examples I. and II.</i></p> + +<p>Incidentally, the horse-tracks of No. 2 gave me a clue to the +hour at which the invalid in the rickshaw had passed that way. +Thus: I came on the droppings at 7.14.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span>Assuming that they were actually 15 minutes old and the horses +had walked ¼ mile since passing the rickshaw, 19 minutes must +have elapsed since the passing; <i>i.e.</i> they passed each other at +6.55.</p> + +<p>On my arrival at the point where they had passed, the rickshaw +would now be 23 minutes ahead of me, or about 1¼ mile.</p> +</div> + +<p>But it is not only on set occasions that Baden-Powell practises +scouting. He rarely takes a walk, boards a 'bus, or enters a train, +without finding opportunity for some subtle inductive reasoning. Thus +he recommends the men in his regiment to notice closely any stranger +with whom they may come in contact, guess what their professions and +circumstances are, and then, getting into conversation, find out how +near the truth their surmises have been. Therefore, dear reader, if +you find yourself in a few months' time drifting into conversation +with a good-looking, bronzed stranger, this side of fifty, who puts +rather pointed questions to you, after having studied your thumbs, +boots, and whiskers intently, take special delight in leading him +harmlessly astray, for thereby you may be beating, with great glory to +yourself, the "Wolf that never Sleeps."</p> + +<p>The joy of a walk in the country is heightened, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span>I think, by following +the example of Baden-Powell, and paying attention to the tracks on the +ground. It would be an uncanny day for England when every man turned +himself into a Sherlock Holmes, but there is no man who might not with +advantage to himself practise scouting in the Essex forests or on the +Surrey hills. The world is filled with life, and yet people go +rambling through fields and woods without having seen anything more +exciting than a couple of rabbits and a few blackbirds.</p> + +<p>The chief joy of scouting, however, is not to be found in what +Baden-Powell calls "dear, drowsy, after-lunch Old England." They who +would seek it must go far from this "ripple of land," far from</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The happy violets hiding from the roads,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The primroses run down to, carrying gold,—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The tangled hedgerows, where the cows push out<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Impatient horns and tolerant churning mouths<br /></span> +<span class="i0">'Twixt dripping ash-boughs,—hedgerows all alive<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With birds and gnats and large white butterflies<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Which look as if the May-flower had caught life<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And palpitated forth upon the wind,—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Hills, vales, woods, netted in a silver mist,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Farms, granges, doubled up among the hills,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And cattle grazing in the watered vales,<br /></span> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span><span class="i0">And cottage-chimneys smoking from the woods,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And cottage-gardens smelling everywhere,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Confused with smell of orchards.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Far from our tight little island must they journey for that inspiring +spell which turns the man of means into a wanderer upon the earth's +surface, driving him out of glittering London, with its twinkling +lights and its tinkling cabs, out of St. James's, and out of the club +arm-chair—out of all this, and wins him into the vast, drear, and +inhuman world, where men of our blood wage a ceaseless war with savage +nature. And it is when Baden-Powell packs his frock-coat into a +drawer, pops his shiny tall hat into a box, and slips exultingly into +a flannel shirt that the life of a scout seems to him the infinitely +best in the world. No man ever cared less for the mere ease of +civilisation than Baden-Powell.</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a><hr /> +<br /> + +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span><br /> +<h3>CHAPTER VIII<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h3>THE FLANNEL-SHIRT LIFE</h3> +<br /> + +<p>In <i>The Story of My Heart</i> Richard Jefferies begins his enchanting +pages with the expression of that desire which every son of Adam feels +at times—the longing for wild, unartificial life. "My heart," he +says, "was dusty, parched for want of the rain of deep feeling; my +mind arid and dry, for there is a dust which settles on the heart as +well as that which falls on a ledge.... A species of thick clothing +slowly grows about the mind, the pores are choked, little habits +become part of existence, and by degrees the mind is inclosed in a +husk." Then he goes on to tell of a hill to which he resorted at such +moments of intellectual depression, and of the sensations that +thrilled him as he moved up the sweet short turf. The very light of +the sun, he says, was whiter and more brilliant there, and standing on +the summit his jaded heart <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span>revived, and "obtained a wider horizon of +feeling." Thoreau, too, went to the woods because he wanted to live +deliberately, and front only the essential facts of life. "I wanted to +live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and +Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad +swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to +its lowest terms."</p> + +<p>This longing for a return to nature in minds less imaginative than +Thoreau's and Jefferies' results in globe-trotting or +colonisation—according to circumstances,—it wakes the gipsy in our +blood, be we gentle or simple, and sends us wandering over the waste +places of the earth in quest of glory, adventure, or a gold +mine—anything so long as it entails wandering. When it stirs in the +mind of the disciplined soldier it turns him into a scout, and drives +him out of the orderly-room, out of the barrack square, to wander in +Himalayan passes and ride across the deserts of Africa. Baden-Powell +is a nomad. The smart cavalry officer who can play any musical +instrument, draw amusing pictures, tell delightfully droll stories, +sing a good song, stage-manage theatricals—do everything, in short, +that qualifies a man to take <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span>his ease in country houses, loves more +than any other form of existence the loneliness and the wildness of +the scout's. Often, he tells us, when he is about the serious business +of handing teacups in London drawing-rooms, his mind flies off to some +African waste, to some lonely Indian hill, and straightway he longs +with all his soul to fling off the trappings of civilised society, and +be back again with nature, back again in the dear old flannel-shirt +life, living hard, with his life in his hand.</p> + +<p>Once, after two months of wandering, he got into a hotel and, after +dinner, into a bed. But it would not do, he says; in a twinkling he +had whipped the blankets off the bed and was lying outside on mother +earth, with the rain beating upon his face, and deep in refreshing +slumber. The best of beds, according to B.-P., is "the veldt tempered +with a blanket and a saddle." When he is on his lonely wanderings he +always sleeps with his pistol under the "pillow" and the lanyard round +his neck. However soundly he sleeps, if any one comes within ten yards +of him, tread he never so softly, Baden-Powell wakes up without fail, +and with a brain cleared for action.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span>One of the sayings of Baden-Powell which I most like is that which +most reveals this side of his character. "A smile and a stick," says +he, "will carry you through any difficulty in the world." And he lives +in accordance with this principle; and it is typical of the man. Over +the world he goes on his solitary expeditions, hunting animals, +hunting men, making notes of what foreign armies are doing, what are +the chief thoughts occupying the minds of distant and dangerous +tribesmen, and he never goes about it blusteringly or with the Byronic +mystery of the stage detective. He trusts to his sense of humour—to +his smile—first; after that, and only when there is no hope for it, +do those hard jaws of his lock with a snap, the eyes light up with +resistless determination, and <i>whir-r-r</i> goes the stick, and—well, it +requires a tough head to bear what follows.</p> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep107" id="imagep107"></a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span> +<a href="images/imagep107.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep107.jpg" width="80%" alt="The Family on Board the Pearl" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">The Family on Board the <i>Pearl</i><span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span> +</div> + +<p>Baden-Powell's friends were amused during the early days of the siege +of Mafeking by the complaint of some fellow in the town who had +incurred the Colonel's wrath. I forget the exact words of the silly +creature's complaint, as, indeed, I forget his offence, but it was +something after this fashion: "The Colonel called me before him +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span>and, in a dictatorial manner, told me that if I did it again he would +have me shot. He then most insolently whistled a tune." The last words +I believe to be quite correctly quoted: "He then most insolently +whistled a tune." How they suggest laughter! One of Baden-Powell's +choicest epigrams refers expressly to this very trick of whistling: +"There is nothing like whistling an air when you feel exasperated +beyond reclaim." Uncle Toby whistling "Lillabullero" when muddled by +his scarps and counter-scarps, and Baden-Powell whistling a scrap from +<i>Patience</i> to prevent himself from kicking a dangerous idiot out of +his presence! "He then most insolently whistled a tune." I recall +those words sometimes when I am dropping off to sleep, and they wake +me up to laugh. I tell this story not only for its own dear sake, but +because it is necessary to remember, when considering Baden-Powell's +character, that though he meets you with a smile on his face he +carries a stick in his hand to prevent you from taking liberties with +his good nature. The best-tempered fellow in the world, and blessed +with the keenest sense of humour, he can be as uncompromising a +martinet as the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span>sternest fire-eater of old days—<i>when there is real +necessity for it</i>.</p> + +<p>In this flannel-shirt life of his, Baden-Powell has had many +adventures, but few, I think, are more interesting in a subdued way +than one he records in his diary of the Matabele campaign. I give it +in his own words: "To-day, when out scouting by myself, being at some +distance from my boy and the horses, I lay for a short rest and a +quiet look-out among some rocks and grass overlooking a little stream, +and I saw a charming picture. Presently there was a slight rattle of +trinkets, and a swish of the tall yellow grass, followed by the +apparition of a naked Matabele warrior standing glistening among the +rocks of the streamlet, within thirty yards of me. His white war +ornaments—the ball of clipped feathers on his brow, and the long +white cow's-tail plume which depended from his arms and +knees—contrasted strongly with his rich brown skin. His kilt of wild +cat-skins and monkeys' tails swayed round his loins. His left hand +bore his assegais and knobkerrie beneath the great dappled ox-hide +shield; and in his right a yellow walking-staff. He stood for almost a +minute perfectly motionless, like a statue cast in bronze, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span>his head +turned from me, listening for any suspicious sound. Then, with a swift +and easy movement, he laid his arms and shield noiselessly upon the +rocks, and, dropping on all fours beside a pool, he dipped his muzzle +down and drank just like an animal. I could hear the thirsty sucking +of his lips from where I lay. He drank and drank as though he never +meant to stop, and when at last his frame could hold no more, he rose +with evident reluctance. He picked his weapons up, and then stood +again to listen. Hearing nothing, he turned and sharply moved away. In +three swift strides he disappeared within the grass as silently as he +had come. I had been so taken with the spectacle that I felt no desire +to shoot at him—especially as he was carrying no gun himself." It is +little adventures of this kind, I think, which most impress one with +the romance and fascination of a scout's life.</p> + +<p>On his solitary wanderings over the earth Baden-Powell has had many +narrow escapes of death, but none so near, perhaps, as that of an +excited native who, after an action, told B.-P. with bubbling +enthusiasm that a bullet had passed between his ear and his head! +Once <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span>Baden-Powell came unexpectedly upon a lion prepared to receive +him with open jaws, and but for perfectly steady nerves, which enabled +him at that critical moment to fire deliberately, he had never brought +home another lion's skin to decorate his mother's drawing-room in +London. Another narrow escape occurred during the Matabele campaign, +when Baden-Powell was quietly and peacefully marching by the side of a +mule battery. One of the mules had a carbine strapped on to its +pack-saddle, and by some extraordinary act of carelessness the weapon +had been left loaded, and at full-cock. Of course the first bush +passed by the battery fired the carbine, and Baden-Powell remarks of +the incident, "Many a man has nearly been shot by an ass, but I claim +to have been nearly shot by a mule."</p> + +<p>It is Baden-Powell's habit to keep in perfect readiness at his London +house an entire kit for service abroad. The most methodical of men, he +has made a study of this important branch of a wanderer's service, and +when he sets out on his journeys he carries with him everything that +is essential both for himself and his horse, and packed in such a way +as would be the despair of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span>the deftest valet. When the War Office +asks him how long he will be before starting on a commission abroad, +B.-P. answers, "I am ready now." Everything is there in a room in his +mother's house, and Baden-Powell is never so happy as when that khaki +kit leaves its resting-place and is packed away in a ship's cabin. And +what journeys he has been on Queen's service! Before he was +twenty-three he had travelled over the greater part of Afghanistan, +and then after seeing most of India, he was in South Africa at +twenty-seven, and did there a wonderful reconnaissance, unaccompanied, +of six hundred miles of the Natal Frontier in twenty days. He has +travelled through Europe, knows the Gold Coast Hinterland as well as +any European, and has almost as good a notion as the Great Powers +themselves concerning their frontier defences.</p> + +<p>This reminds me that Baden-Powell sometimes spends his holidays in +visiting historical battlefields and travelling through various +countries to see how their defences and their guns are getting along. +He is an excellent linguist, and can make his way in any country +without arousing suspicions. During some military man[oe]uvres one +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span>autumn (we need not enter into special details) Baden-Powell was +wandering at the back of the troops, seeing things not intended for +the accredited representatives of Great Britain, who had the front row +of the stalls, and saw beautifully what they were meant to see. What +he noted on this occasion is regarded by military authorities as very +valuable information.</p> + +<p>But exciting as these adventures are, they possess no such fascination +for Baden-Powell as the life in breeches, gaiters, flannel-shirt, and +cowboy's hat—when the mountains infested with murderous natives are +blurred by the night, and he is free to steal in among their shadows +at his will, and creep noiselessly through the enemy's lines. The +Matabele, of whom we shall speak later on, soon got to distinguish +Baden-Powell from the rest of Sir Frederick Carrington's troops in +1896. They christened him "Impessa" then, and to this day he is spoken +of by the Kaffirs with awe and admiration as the "Wolf that never +Sleeps." Silent in his movements, with eyes that can detect and +distinguish suspicious objects where the ordinary man sees nothing at +all, with ears as quick as a hare's to catch the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span>swish of grass or +the cracking of a twig, he goes alone in and out of the mountains +where the savages who have marked him down are asleep by the side of +their assegais, or repeating stories of the dreadful Wolf over their +bivouac fires. This is the life which has most attractions for +Baden-Powell, and if he had not been locked up in Mafeking all through +those precious months at the beginning of the war, it is no idle +guesswork to say that we should have lost fewer men and fewer guns by +surprise and ambuscade.</p> + +<p>In this flannel-shirt life, however, Baden-Powell is not always on the +serious emprise of soldiering. Most of his holidays, at any rate while +he is abroad, are spent in shirt-sleeves. His periods of rest from the +duties of soldiering are given over to expeditions which carry him far +away from the smooth fields and trim hedges of civilisation; he is for +ever trying to get face to face with nature, living the untrammelled +romantic life of a hunter, independent of slaughterman, +market-gardener, and tax-collector. In his boyhood, as we saw, he +loved few things more than "exploring," and now he has but exchanged +the woods of Tunbridge Wells for the Indian <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span>Jungle and the Welsh +mountains for the Matopos.</p> + +<p>Happy the man who carries with him into middle-age the zest and aims +of a clean boyhood. There is something invigorating, almost inspiring, +in the contemplation of Baden-Powell's meridian of life. The fifties +which gave him birth seem now to belong to a remote and benighted era; +and the blindest of his unknown adorers, if she has bought a hatless +photograph, cannot deny that Time's effacing fingers have something +roughly swept the brow where she could wish his hair still +lingered,—and yet at forty-three, Baden-Powell, Colonel of Dragoons, +goes wandering into bush and prairie, striding by stream and striking +up mountain, with all the eagerness, all the keenness, all the +abandonment of the gummy-fingered boy seeking butterflies and birds' +eggs. For him life is as good now as it was with big brother +Warington. He is up with the lark, his senses clear and awake from the +moment the cold water goes streaming over his head; there is no +"lazing" with him, no beefy-mindedness, no affectation and effeminacy. +And I cannot help thinking that if the decadents of our day—for +whose <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span>distress of soul only the stony-hearted could express +contempt—would but for a week or two lay aside their fine linen, +donning in its place the magic flannel shirt of Baden-Powell, they +would find not only a happy issue to their jaundice, but even discover +that the world is a good place for a man to spend his days in—if he +but live like a man.</p> + +<p>Hear Baden-Powell on this subject, and get a glimpse of his serious +side, which so seldom peeps out for the world to see: "Old Oliver +Wendell Holmes," he says, "is only too true when he says that most of +us are 'boys all our lives'; we have our toys, and will play with them +with as much zest at eighty as at eight, that in their company we can +never grow old. I can't help it if my toys take the form of all that +has to do with veldt life, and if they remain my toys till I drop.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Then here's to our boyhood, its gold and its grey,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The stars of its winter, the dews of its May;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And when we have done with our life-lasting toys,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Dear Father, take care of Thy children, the boys.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>"May it not be that our toys are the various media adapted to +individual tastes through which men may know their God? As +Ramakrishna <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span>Paramahansa writes: 'Many are the names of God, and +infinite the forms that lead us to know of Him. In whatsoever name or +form you desire to know Him, in that very name and form you will know +Him.'"</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a><hr /> +<br /> + +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span><br /> +<h3>CHAPTER IX<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h3>ROAD-MAKER AND BUILDER</h3> +<br /> + +<p>King Prempeh was the first celebrity to receive the attention of B.-P. +In his capital of Kumassi, which being interpreted is "the +death-place," this miserable barbarian had been practising the most +odious cruelties for many years, ignoring British remonstrances, and +failing, like another African potentate, to keep his word to +successive British Governments. Among the Ashantis at this time (1895) +the blood-lust had got complete dominion, and the sacrifice of human +life in the capital of their kingdom was so appalling that England was +at last obliged to buckle on her armour. To quote B.-P. in a +characteristic utterance: "To the Ashanti an execution was as +attractive an entertainment as is a bull-fight to a Spaniard, or a +football match to an Englishman." Even the most coddled <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span>schoolboy +will appreciate the force of this comparison.</p> + +<p>To give a general idea of these cruelties we will quote a vivid +passage from Baden-Powell's book, <i>The Downfall of Prempeh</i>: "Any +great public function was seized on as an excuse for human sacrifices. +There was the annual yam custom, or harvest festival, at which large +numbers of victims were often offered to the gods. The late king went +every quarter to pay his devotions to the shades of his ancestors at +Bantama, and this demanded the deaths of twenty men over the great +bowl on each occasion. On the death of any great personage, two of the +household slaves were at once killed on the threshold of the door, in +order to attend their master immediately in his new life, and his +grave was afterwards lined with the bodies of more slaves, who were to +form his retinue in the next world. It was thought better if, during +the burial, one of the attendant mourners could be stunned by a club +and dropped, still breathing, into the grave before it was filled +in.... Indeed, if the king desired an execution at any time, he did +not look far for an excuse. It is even said that on one occasion <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span>he +preferred a richer colour in the red stucco on the walls of the +palace, and that for this purpose the blood of four hundred virgins +was used."</p> + +<p>The expedition to bring Mr. Prempeh to his senses was under the +command of Sir Francis Scott, and Baden-Powell received the pink +flimsy bearing the magic words, "You are selected to proceed on active +service," with a gush of elation, which, he tells us, a flimsy of +another kind and of a more tangible value would fail to evoke. Of +course he was keen to go. The expedition suggested romance, and it +assured experience. To plunge into the Gold Coast Hinterland is to +find oneself in a world different from anything the imagination can +conceive; civilisation is left an infinite number of miles behind, and +the Londoner is brought face to face with what Thoreau calls the wild +unhandselled globe. The message was received by Baden-Powell on the +14th of November 1895, and on the 13th of December he was walking +through the streets of Cape Coast Castle, and had noted how well +trodden was the grave of the writer L.E.L., who lies buried in the +courtyard of the castle.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span>It was the business of B.-P. to raise a force of natives, and to +proceed with this little army as soon as possible in front of the +expedition, acting as a covering force. That is to say, the work of +these undrilled, stupid, and not over-brave natives was scouting, a +duty which while it is the most fascinating part of a soldier's life +is also one of the most difficult. This then was an undertaking of +which many a man might have felt shy, but Baden-Powell (the army is +full of Baden-Powells) went at it cheerfully enough. On the arid +desert outside the castle, which is called the parade ground, B.-P. +and Captain Graham, D.S.O., taught these negroes, under a blazing sun, +the rudiments of soldiering. In one part of their drill a few simple +whistle-signals were substituted for the usual words of command, such +as "Halt" and "Rally," and a red fez was served out to the Levy (which +in the end amounted to 860 men) as a British uniform. The glory of +this "kit," however, was somewhat obscured by a commissariat load +which each warrior carried on his head; but there was no heart under +those shiny ebon skins which did not beat quicker for the possession +of the red fez. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span>The Levy, of course, had its band—a few men who made +a tremendous din on elephant-hide drums, and a few more who produced +two heart-breaking notes on elephants' hollowed tusks garnished with +human jaw-bones. At the head of this force B.-P. and Captain Graham +set out on their journey from Cape Coast to Kumassi, a distance of +nearly 150 miles, on the 21st of December.</p> + +<p>Soon after leaving the coast the little expedition plunged into the +bush, and then amid the giant ferns and palms began to appear "the +solemn, shady miles of forest giants, whose upper parts gleam far +above the dense undergrowth in white pillars against the grey-blue +sky." The Levy had now reached the regular forest, the beautiful, +awe-inspiring, but, alas, evil-smelling forest. Here it was found by +Baden-Powell that, in addition to scouting, his force would have to +play the arduous part of road-makers, and, therefore, whenever he came +upon a village such tools as felling-axes, hatchets, spades, and picks +were requisitioned. But it was no easy task teaching the negroes to +perform this labour. The man who was given a felling-axe immediately +set about scraping up <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span>weeds, while the grinning warrior armed with a +spade incontinently hacked at a hoary tree with Gladstonian ardour. +"The stupid inertness of the puzzled negro," says B.-P., "is duller +than that of an ox; a dog would grasp your meaning in one-half the +time." But B.-P. did not despair of his men, neither did he ill-treat +them. For three days he worked hard at tree-felling himself, and he +only desisted from this labour on the discovery that the sight of his +hunting-crop brought more trees to the ground than all his strokes +with the axe. This hunting-crop was called "Volapük," because every +tribe understood its meaning, and during the march Baden-Powell found +it of inestimable value. "But, though often shown," he says, "it was +never used." The men might be stupid, they might be idle, but B.-P. +can get work out of the worst men without bullying and without +continual punishments.</p> + +<p>It is men like Baden-Powell who exercise the greatest power over the +negro's mind. When he condemns them for cruelty or stupidity he is +quick to protest against the assumption that he is "a regular nigger +hater." Here is the secret: "I have met lots of good friends among +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span>them—especially among the Zulus. But, however good they may be, they +must, as a people, be ruled with a hand of iron in a velvet glove; and +if they writhe under it, and don't understand the force of it, it is +of no use to add more padding—you must take off the glove for a +moment and show them the hand. They will then understand and obey." +British rule is only imperilled when men in authority discard the +velvet glove altogether, or—what is probably worse still—wear only +the velvet glove, much padded, over their flaccid hands.</p> + +<p>Just as he encourages Tommy Atkins to learn scouting and the more +intelligent parts of soldiering, so he encouraged these negroes, +duller than oxen, and made them useful pioneers. Here is his own +simple record of the way he got to the hearts of the Levy: "How they +enjoy the palaver in which I tell them that 'they are the eyes to the +body of the snake which is crawling up the bush-path from the coast, +and coiling for its spring! The eyes are hungry, but they will soon +have meat; and the main body of white men, armed with the best of +weapons, will help them win the day, and get their country back again, +to enjoy in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span>peace for ever.' Then I show them my own little repeating +rifle, and firing one shot after another, slowly at first, then faster +and faster, till the fourteen rounds roll off in a roar, I quite bring +down the house. They crowd round, jabbering and yelling, every man +bent on shaking hands with the performer."</p> + +<p>But Baden-Powell, while humane and nothing of a bully, knows the value +of strictness, as we have shown, and he admits that sometimes it is +even necessary to shoot one's own men in order to maintain discipline. +He is, however, careful to remark that an extreme step of this kind +"should be the result only of deliberate and fair consideration of the +case." "Strict justice," he adds, "goes a very long way towards +bringing natives under discipline."</p> + +<p>By these methods B.-P. won the confidence of his troops, and under him +these rough tribesmen, half-devil and half-child, manfully fought +their way through the jungle of forest, cheered by his encouragement, +awed by "Volapük," and gradually growing to respect the dauntless +courage of the white man who managed them so nicely. A description of +an average day's work will give <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span>you an idea of Baden-Powell's task, +and the way in which his negroes worked.</p> + +<p>Early in the morning, while the thick white mist is still hanging +athwart the forest, a drummer is kicked out of bed by a white foot and +bidden to sound "Reveillé." Then there is a din of elephant-tusk horns +and the clatter of the elephant-hide drums. The camp is astir, and it +all seems as if the men are as smart and as disciplined as their +brother warriors in Aldershot or Shorncliffe. But the negroes have +only risen thus readily in order to light their fires and settle down +to a lusty breakfast of plantains. After his tub, his quinine and tea, +Baden-Powell sends for King Matikoli and demands to know why his three +hundred Krobo are not on parade. His Majesty smiles and explains to +the white chief that he is suffering from rheumatism in the shoulder, +and therefore he, and consequently his tribe, cannot march that day. +Baden-Powell, with his contradictory smile, solemnly produces a +Cockle's pill (Colonel Burnaby's <i>vade mecum</i>), hands it to the +monarch, and remarks that if his tribe are not on the march in five +minutes he will be fined an entire shilling. "The luxury," exclaims +B.-P., <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span>"of fining a real, live king to the extent of one shilling." +The king goes away for five minutes, and then returns with the +intelligence that if the white chief will provide his men with some +salt to eat with their "chop" (food) he really thinks they will be +able to march that day. B.-P. expresses a feverish desire to oblige +His Majesty, and proceeds with great alacrity to cut a beautifully +lithe and whippy cane. In an instant that tribe is marching forward +with their commissariat loads upon their heads. But there are others +still to be dealt with. The captains of one tribe are discussing the +situation, and would like Baden-Powell to hear their views. +Baden-Powell treats them as Lord Salisbury, say, would no doubt like +to treat the deputations that sometimes come to give him the benefit +of their opinions; he looks to his repeating rifle, talks about +fourteen corpses blocking the way of retirement, and <i>hey presto!</i> the +other tribe is swinging down the forest-path laughing, singing, and +chattering, like children released from school.</p> + +<p>On they march through the heavy forest, a long twisting line of men, +until the halt is made at mid-day for two hours' chop and parade. +Then <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span>tools are served out and every company is set to work. One +clears the bush, another cuts stockade posts, a third cuts palm-leaf +wattle, a fourth digs stockade holes, and a fifth is set to keep guard +over the camp and prevent men from hiding in huts. By sunset some +seven or eight acres are cleared of bush, large palm-thatched sheds +are to be seen in long regular lines, while in the centre stands a +fort with its earth rampart bound up by stockade and wattle, and +having in its interior two huts, one for hospital and one for +storehouse. Besides this the natives bridged innumerable streams and +dug and drained roads wherever necessary.</p> + +<p>This work can only be seen in its true perspective when the character +of the country is borne in mind. For nearly all of its 150 miles the +road from Cape Coast to Kumassi leads through heavy primeval forest. +"The thick foliage of the trees, interlaced high overhead, causes a +deep, dank gloom, through which the sun seldom penetrates. The path +winds among the tree stems and bush, now through mud and morass, now +over steep ascent or deep ravine." And, in addition to the +difficulties of locomotion, there was the haunting <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span>menace of the +heavy dews and mists which come at night laden with the poison of +malaria.</p> + +<p>But all these difficulties were met with cheerful courage, and though +Captain Graham and two other officers subsequently attached to the +covering force were incapacitated by fever, the Native Levy fought its +way to Kumassi, and won the admiration of all military authorities. It +was at Kumassi on 17th January, and though no actual fighting had +taken place, the march may be reckoned an achievement of which all +Englishmen can be proud.</p> + +<p>One incident of the march will have a romantic attraction for those +who have sons and brothers doing the Empire's work in distant lands. +As the Native Levy with its two white officers journeyed through the +bush they came now and then upon bridges over streams and causeways +over swamps, all in course of construction at the hands of natives +under the direction of a few ever-travelling, hard-worked white +superintendents. "Here we meet one gaunt and yellow. Surely we have +seen that eye and brow before, although the beard and solar topee do +much to disguise the man. His necktie of faded 'Old Carthusian' +colours makes <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span>suspicion a certainty, and once again old +school-fellows are flung together for an hour to talk in an African +swamp of old times in English playing-fields." For an hour in an +African swamp! and then on again through the never-ending dark green +aisles towards the savages smitten with the blood-lust in "the +death-place."</p> + +<p>The Ashantis did not show fight, and King Prempeh, sucking a huge nut, +surrounded by court-criers and fly-catchers, with three dwarfs dancing +in front of his throne, consented humbly and meekly to receive the +soldiers of the Queen. After Sir Francis Scott had presented Prempeh +with his ultimatum the meeting broke up for the night, but the "Wolf +that never Sleeps" was on the look-out with his Native Levy for a +possible surprise, or for His Majesty's escape. You can imagine how +"Sherlock Holmes," as Burnham the American scout calls our hero, +enjoyed that work. In the quiet night, under the white stars, a +council was being held in the savage king's palace, and B.-P. +"shadowed" that regal hut with eyes and ears alive. At three o'clock +in the morning a white light streamed out of the palace doorway, and +through the clinging mist went a string of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span>white-robed figures, one +of them the queen-mother. This little company passed within twenty +yards of B.-P., and it was followed stealthily by him until the +queen's residence, not hitherto known, was marked down. Then the +watchers returned to their ambush outside the palace, and caught a +councillor who was stealing away in the night. Almost immediately +after this gentleman had been made prisoner two fast-footed men came +upon the scene. They evidently suspected something, for they suddenly +pulled up and stood listening intently. One of them was within arm's +length of Baden-Powell. Quietly B.-P. stood up. The man did not move. +A moment's pause, and then, quick as a flash of lightning, +Baden-Powell had gripped him, and had, moreover, got hold of the gun +he was carrying. Then the patrol came up, the Ashanti was pinned, and, +as B.-P. concludes the narrative, "a handsome knife in a leopard-skin +scabbard was added to our spoil."</p> + +<p>After the palace had been searched and the whole of the fetish village +had been burned to the ground, Prempeh, with B.-P. to look after him, +set out for Cape Coast Castle. The bitterness to a soldier of that +return journey, without a shot <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span>having been fired, can hardly be +imagined by a civilian, and would certainly be strongly reprehended by +those who regard the justest war with horror and aversion. The +soldiers had set out on that dreadful march through swamp, and bush, +and forest, to fight and bring to the dust a cruel bloodthirsty nation +of savages, contemptuously described by Baden-Powell as "the bully +tribe" of the Gold Coast Hinterland. Instead of finding the bully as +willing to fight as Cuff was willing to face dear old Dobbin, B.-P. +found a cowering, cringing enemy, willing to lick the dust and abase +himself in any manner the ingenious white man might suggest. So it was +with no feelings of elation that the man who had received the pink +flimsy ordering him on active service, who had raised and organised +the Native Levy, who had cut a road through the bush and forest, +draining roads and bridging streams,—turned his back on Kumassi, and +marched King Prempeh to the Cape coast. This march of 150 miles was +accomplished in seven days. Of this expedition B.-P. recalls "ten +minutes' genuine fun,"—that was when a doctor was cutting out from +under his toe-nail the eggs of an insect called the jigger, rude +enough to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span>make a nest of B.-P.'s big toe. It is such incidents as +these that live in the soldier's mind after a hard campaign.</p> + +<p>During the whole of these tiresome operations B.-P. of course was hard +at work sketching and keeping his diary. He added to his wonderful +store of experiences, and had the rare delight of seeing the King of +Bekwai "oblige with a few steps"—specially in his honour. But the +story of his work—and it is the same with all the quiet work done by +servants of the Queen in every part of the Empire—attracted little +public notice, and the man-in-the-street had no more idea of B.-P.'s +service than the man-in-the-moon. At that time, indeed, few people +outside official circles had ever heard of his name, and certainly no +stationer would have been mad enough to stick B.-P.'s photograph in +his window. Whether Baden-Powell, when he awakes to it, will prefer +his present fame to the happy obscurity of those distant days, is a +subject for speculation. I could say definitely, if I chose, which +condition is preferred by the proud mother of as gallant a son as ever +rode horse into the African desert.</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a><hr /> +<br /> + +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span><br /> +<h3>CHAPTER X<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h3>PUTTING OUT FIRE</h3> +<br /> + +<p>A Brevet-Colonelcy was conferred upon Baden-Powell for his work on the +Gold Coast,—he was then eight-and-thirty,—and in the same year he +was back at regimental work in Ireland. Hardworking as ever, and keen +on making his men practical soldiers, B.-P. was settling down to what +is called the dull part of soldiering when the gods, in the shape of +the heads of the War Office, again interfered with the even tenor of +his way. A telegram from Sir Frederick Carrington arrived at Belfast +towards the end of April telling our hero that there was to be +fighting in Matabeleland, and that there would be room for him on the +staff. B.-P. was attending that day the funeral of a man in his +squadron who had been killed by a fall from his horse, and after the +service he rushed back to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span>barracks, changed his kit, arranged about +selling his horses, dogs, and furniture, and just when the English +world sits down to its most excellent meal of the day, that oasis of +the afternoon desert, he was in a train rushing as fast as an Irish +train can rush towards the steamer that sailed for England.</p> + +<p>At twelve o'clock next day B.-P. was saying good-bye to Sir Frederick +Carrington, who sailed before him, and that done he spent a few +miserable days in constant dread that he would be bowled over by a +hansom, or catch scarlet fever, and thus be prevented from sharing in +the hardships and glory of a campaign. But nothing contrary happened +to him, and after affectionate farewells to his family he embarked for +Cape Town on board the <i>Tantallon Castle</i> on 2nd May. One of his first +labours was to begin an illustrated diary for his mother's +delectation, a diary that was afterwards published by Messrs. Methuen +in book form under the title of "The Matabele Campaign—1896." The +keeping of this diary had its good uses for B.-P.; in what manner he +explains in the preface, addressed to his mother,—"Firstly, because +the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span>pleasures of new impressions are doubled if they are shared with +some appreciative friend (and you are always more than appreciative). +Secondly, because it has served as a kind of short talk with you every +day." That is the way in which British soldiers go forth to war.</p> + +<p>The voyage was uneventful. Drill in pyjamas every morning prevented +B.-P. from putting on flesh, and that drill, especially "Knees Up!" +seems to have been of a pretty severe kind, for it draws from +Baden-Powell the exclamation, "I'd like to kill him who invented +it—but it does us all a power of good." That is the saying of the old +soldier. In the barrack-room it is considered the right thing to +grumble, or "grouse" as it is called, while one is working hardest. +Thus the man with a jack-boot on his left arm and a polishing brush in +his right hand—going like lightning,—the sweat running down his red +face, is the man who swears he ain't goin' to bother about his +blooming boots any more, dashed if he is; and after the brushing +proceeds to "bone" them violently. The first part of B.-P.'s +exclamation reminds me of a friend who says that ever since he arrived +at <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span>years of discretion he has been searching for the man who invented +work on purpose to murder him. He is, of course, the hardest of hard +workers.</p> + +<p>There were pleasures as well as drill on board: athletic sports, +tableaux, concerts, and a grand fancy dress ball. At this ball a lady +with a Roman nose appeared as Britannia, but as the peak of the helmet +threatened to bore a hole through the bridge of her nose she was +obliged to wear her war-hat (as the Hussar calls his busby) the wrong +way round. It was probably B.-P. himself who said to the good lady of +her helmet, "That is not the rule, Britannia."</p> + +<p>On the 19th May B.-P. looked from his port and saw "the long, flat top +of grand old Table Mountain" looming darkly against the glittering +stars, its base twinkling with electric lights that glinted on the +water. That day was of course a busy one for B.-P. as Chief of the +Staff, and the first news received by the Man of Mafeking (how odd it +seems now!) was that Sir Frederick Carrington had gone up to Mafeking, +and that he was to follow. In three days Baden-Powell was in Mafeking, +the guest of Mr. Julius Weil, who gave <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span>an anxious England as much +important news of the gallant little Mafeking garrison during the Boer +war as the universal Reuter himself. Odd, too, it seems that while in +Mafeking in 1896 B.-P. should write in his diary that "Plumer's force, +specially raised here in the South, had got within touch of Buluwayo." +Names how much more familiar in 1900!</p> + +<p>Buluwayo was the town selected by the Matabele for their first blow, +and accordingly with Sir Frederick Carrington and two other officers +B.-P. set out from Mafeking on the 23rd May in a ramshackle coach, +drawn by ten mules, on a drive of ten days and nights to Buluwayo. On +this journey the officers encountered the celebrated King Khama, and +it interested B.-P. to find that Khama knew him as the brother of Sir +George Baden-Powell, and that he inquired after Sir George's little +girl, just as a lady in the Park asks if one's baby has got over the +measles. This (if we leave out a dinner at a wayside "hotel," where +the waiter smoked as he served our officers) was the one picturesque +incident of that jolting, clattering drive of nearly 560 miles, and, +therefore, while our hero is groaning in the coach or travelling +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span>afield after partridges and guinea-fowl for dinner, we will take leave +to look hastily for the reason of his presence in South Africa.</p> + +<p>Matabeleland, let us say at the beginning, is included in Rhodesia, a +country 750,000 miles in extent, or, so that the size may jump to the +eye, let us say as big as France, Italy, and Spain lumped together. +This vast country was under the administration of the British +Government, but the Matabele, who had been but partially beaten in the +taking of their country in 1893, were only waiting their opportunity +to throw off the white man's yoke. The opportunity came when the +deplorable Jameson raid emptied the country of troops, and left our +brave hard-working colonists at the mercy of these savages. But there +were other causes contributory to the rebellion. Rinderpest was +slaying the cattle of the Matabele by thousands, and the white man's +order that, to prevent the scourge from spreading, healthy beasts as +well as diseased should be killed was, not unnaturally, quite +unintelligible to the Matabele. The rumour spread that the hated white +man was killing the cattle in order that the tribes should perish of +starvation. The fact, too, that raiding weaker tribes for food <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span>was +punished by the British further aggravated this "offence." The priests +encouraged the spirit of rebellion, and the oracle-deity, the M'limo, +promised through the priests that if the Matabele would make war upon +the white man his bullets in their flight should be changed to water, +and his cannon shells become eggs. Horrible murders followed upon this +encouragement, too horrible, indeed, to repeat; but a general idea of +the blood-lust which now possessed the Matabele may be gathered from +the fact of over a hundred and fifty English people (scattered, of +course, in outlying districts) being killed within a week of the +M'limo's call to battle. Only a swift blow, then, could prevent the +loss of civilisation to South Africa for many years; only a terrible +lesson could teach the Matabele that the white man was his lord and +master.</p> + +<p>Buluwayo, prior to the time of Sir Frederick Carrington's arrival, +contained about seven hundred women and children and some eight +hundred men. The women and children were accommodated in a laager of +waggons built up with sacks full of earth, and further protected from +assault by a twenty or thirty yards' entanglement of barbed wire with +a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span>sprinkling of broken bottles on the ground. The eight hundred men +were organised in troops, and were armed and horsed in an incredibly +short space of time.</p> + +<p>Outside the town, on the north, south, and east, lay more than seven +thousand Matabele, two thousand of whom were armed with Martini-Henry +rifles, while the others possessed Lee-Metfords, elephant guns, Tower +muskets, and blunderbusses, besides their own native assegais, +knobkerries, and battle-axes. This formidable force was further +strengthened by the desertion of a hundred Native Police, who took +with them to the enemy their Winchester repeaters. Thus it will be +seen that all the odds were in favour of the Matabele, but it is only +when the odds are overwhelming against him that the Englishman feels +he must buck up, and Buluwayo was fortunate enough to possess men of +the true breed. Among these let us make special mention of the Hon. +Maurice Gifford, who lost an arm in a gallant dash upon the +besiegers<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a>—a man "for whom rough miners and impetuous cowboys work +like <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span>well-broken hounds"; Mr. F.C. Selous, hunter and explorer; +Colonel Napier, and Captain MacFarlane. These men gave the enemy no +rest, and by repeated attacks at last rid the town of any immediate +danger of being rushed by the blacks.</p> + +<p>Baden-Powell's work when he arrived was almost entirely confined to +the office; and working at a desk from early morning to late at night, +with no prospect of an early closing movement, began to tell upon his +spirits. He became convinced that "our force is far too small +adequately to cope with so numerous and fairly well-armed an enemy, +with well-nigh impregnable strongholds to fall back on.... Our force, +bold as it is, is far too small, and yet we cannot increase it by a +man, for the simple reason that if we did we could not find the +wherewithal to feed it." If this sort of thing had gone on much longer +B.-P. might have learned to look glum for an entire five minutes; but +one night at ten o'clock, when he and Sir Frederick Carrington were +putting up the shutters of office, into the town rode Burnham, the +famous American scout, with news of a large impi of the enemy about +three miles outside Buluwayo. This necessitated action, and B.-P. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span>was +himself again. With a police-trooper as a guide he rode out to find +for himself how matters stood, and, after a hard and refreshing ride, +in the early dawn he was able to see the enemy. There they were on the +opposite bank of the Umgusa river, their fires crackling merrily, and +they themselves apparently as happy as bean-feasters in Epping Forest. +Not long after he had caught sight of these fires and the Matabele +going backwards and forwards from the water, Baden-Powell was at the +head of two hundred and fifty men riding towards the Umgusa. Under the +impression, conveyed to them by their sorry old humbug of an oracle, +that the waters of the Umgusa would open its jaws and swallow up the +wicked white man, the Matebele allowed Baden-Powell to get his force +across the stream without firing a shot; but when they found that not +only did the waters fail to overwhelm their enemies, but that these +same enemies were riding hard towards them, the Matabele took to their +heels in order to find cover in some thicker bush. Then the air began +to scream and whistle. Bullets flew by the ears of the charging +English with a <i>phit, phit!</i> and, when they ricocheted off the ground, +with a <i>wh-e-e-e-w!</i> <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span>Up and down bobbed the black heads in the long +rank grass, and <i>bang, bang, bang</i> went the guns. Some of +Baden-Powell's force wanted to dismount and return the fire, but +B.-P., without a sword among his men, sang out, "Make a cavalry fight +of it. Forward! Gallop!" Then, as the horses raced snorting forward, +and the English gave a shout of battle, the Matabele, 1200 against +250, poured an irregular volley into their enemies. The next minute +the horses were in among them, flashing by with the lather on their +necks, while their riders' revolvers barked angrily in every quarter +of the field. The Matabele ran. As hard as they could lick, they +bolted like rabbits to their holes, but faster behind them came the +avenging English with the velvet glove flung aside and the iron hand +visible to their terror-stricken eyes. In the general rout, the mere +act of punishment, there were many instances of coolness and bravery. +One man got detached from the rest, and suddenly found himself +confronted by eight of the enemy. In an instant his horse was shot +under him, but almost in the same instant he was standing in front of +the eight with his rifle to his shoulder. Before they could close on +him with their <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span>knobkerries and assegais, or before they could shoot +him down, he had used his magazine fire with such deadly effect that +four of his enemy were dead and the other four were sprinting for dear +life. Baden-Powell had two pretty adventures in this engagement. +Having emptied his Colt's repeater, he threw it carefully under a +peculiar tree, so that he might find it when business was done; then +he went to work with his revolver. As he rode forward he came upon an +open stretch of ground, and the first object that struck his attention +was a well-knit Kaffir on one knee covering his body with a +Martini-Henry. The distance was about eighty yards, and Baden-Powell, +telling the story, says that he felt so indignant at the fellow's +rudeness that he rode at him as hard as he could gallop, calling him +every name under the sun. But the Kaffir was not to be moved even by +the best-bred abuse, and he remained kneeling with the rifle pointed +at B.-P., until that horseman, with locked jaws and gleaming eyes +(those who know him will understand), was only ten yards off. Then he +fired, and B.-P. says he felt quite relieved "when I realised he had +clean missed me." That nigger was shot immediately <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span>afterwards by one +of Baden-Powell's men, who was riding to his help from behind.</p> + +<p>The other close shave will make the nervous turn cold to think of it. +B.-P. had ridden to the help of two men kept at bay by a nigger under +a tree, and when the nigger had been killed, he was standing for a +moment under the tree, when something moving above him made him look +up. It was a gun-barrel taking aim at him. The man behind the gun, +standing on a branch, was so jammed against the trunk of the tree as +to look part of it, and while B.-P. was making a note of this fact for +his next lecture on scouting, <i>bang</i> went the gun, and the ground in +front of his toes was as if a small earthquake had struck it. That +nigger's knobkerrie and photograph are now in the Baden-Powell +museum—a museum which began with butterflies and birds' eggs, and now +includes mementos of nearly every tribe and animal on the face of the +earth.</p> + +<p>After the fight Baden-Powell got back to Buluwayo in time for late +lunch, and—"made up for lost time in the office." From now it was a +case of office for many weary weeks, and Baden-Powell could only at +rare intervals steal away for <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span>exercise, which he took in the form of +hard scouting, sometimes by himself, sometimes with Burnham—"a most +delightful companion." His rides with the famous American gave him +great pleasure, and each man, both born scouts, learned something from +the other. While he was enjoying these expeditions as relaxation from +the cramping work of office, he was at the same time picking up +valuable information concerning the enemy. During this grind at the +office B.-P. used to long for the lunch hour; "it sounds greedy," he +says, "but it is for the glimpse of sunlight that I look forward, +<i>not</i> the lunch." On one occasion his work as Chief of the Staff was +so severe that he was unable to leave the office for four days. He was +feeling "over-boiled," and got rid of this stuffiness of mind in his +own characteristic way. After dinner on the fourth day he saddled up +and rode off to the Matopos, spent the night there, and was back in +the office by 10.30 on the following day, "all the better for a night +out."</p> + +<p>All this time the office work increased, and the anxiety of the +General and his staff was doubled by reports of rebellion in +Mashonaland. The fire of lawlessness was spreading its evil flames in +all <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span>directions, till reports of murder and outrage covered an area of +one hundred thousand square miles, and about 2000 whites found arrayed +against them an army of some 20,000 maddened savages.</p> + +<p>Fortunately for B.-P. he had in Sir Frederick Carrington a chief who +never wastes a man. Excellent as Baden-Powell was in the office (and +Tim Linkinwater would not have feared, I believe, to hand the precious +Cherryble ledgers over to his keeping) he could render much more +valuable service in the field. In the middle of July the reward came +for all his independent scouting; he was chosen by Sir Frederick +Carrington, as a man who knew the Matopos country and the whereabouts +of the enemy, to act as guide to Colonel Plumer—the officer chosen +for the immediate direction of operations in the Matopos. With joy +B.-P. flung down the pen and took up the sword.</p> + +<p>His first move was towards Babyan's stronghold, Babyan being one of +the great Matabele chiefs—a chief great in the glorious days of +Lobengula—and who now occupied the central and important impi in the +Matopos. This work was well done, the enemy's exact whereabouts were +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span>ascertained, and the scouting ended in a glorious gallop back to camp +after emptying a few guns into a party of savages attempting to cut +off Baden-Powell's party. After this came battle.</p> + +<p>In the moonlight of the 19th July the little force, nearly a thousand +strong, moved out into the Matopos, Baden-Powell going on alone as +guide. He went alone because he feared to have his attention +distracted by a companion, thereby losing his bearings. There was +something of a weird and delightful feeling, he says, in mouching +along alone, with a dark, silent square of men and horses looming +behind one. So they marched forward, the one incident, and that a sad +one, being the killing with an assegai of a dog who had followed the +force, and had endangered the success of its movement by barking at a +startled buck. The only noise in the column marching behind the lithe, +wiry guide was the occasional muffled cough of a man and the sharp +snort of an excited horse. When the force was within a mile of +Babyan's impi a halt was called, and the men lay down to sleep in the +freezing cold night. It was not a long sleep, for an hour before dawn +they were in the saddle again, and moving through the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span>darkness as +silently as before towards the enemy's stronghold. When the pass was +reached which led into the valley held by Babyan the column was +prepared for attack, the advance force being under the command of +Baden-Powell.</p> + +<p>The guide almost jumped with joy, he says, when he spotted the enemy's +fires. The fight was to begin. The guns were got up, and in a few +minutes they were volleying and thundering, flinging their whirring +shells into the masses of Matabele, whose assegai blades glistened in +the morning sun. While this opening cannonade was proceeding +Baden-Powell found useful work to do. With a few native scouts he +started off on his own account and soon found a large body of the +enemy elsewhere enjoying a bombastic war-dance, which plainly +portended the staggering of humanity and the driving of the British +into the sea. Thinking that Colonel Plumer ought not to miss this +performance, Baden-Powell sent back word of it, and calling together +the Native Levy proceeded to attack the dancers. Their sound of +revelry died away, or changed to something more dismal, when +Baden-Powell and his men came clambering up the rocky height, leaping +over boulders, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span>dodging behind crags, and pouring lead into their +astonished midst. With very little delay the Matabele went to earth, +tumbling pell-mell into their caves and holes, from whence the rattle +of their musketry soon rolled, and where they fancied themselves as +safe as a rabbit in its burrow from the attack of an eagle. To add to +Baden-Powell's difficulty his Native Levy began to show the white +feather, getting behind rocks and wasting their ammunition on the +desert crags. Had the Matabele come out of their caves, given one +war-whoop, and made a show of descending upon the besiegers, those +precious friendlies would assuredly have turned tail and bolted. But +the Matabele in the security of their caves made no such sign, and +Baden-Powell called up the Cape Boys and the Maxims in the nick of +time. In a few minutes the guns were in position on what looked like +inaccessible crags, and the Cape Boys shouting and cheering were +floundering through bogs, leaping over boulders, and firing with firm +hand wherever firing was of use. The fight was now begun in earnest, +and B.-P., on a rock directing the movements of his force, was +surrounded by the deafening roar of artillery. In nearly every <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span>cave +on those hills savages lay with rifle to shoulder, finger on trigger, +waiting to pick off the besiegers as they came bounding over the rocks +towards them. The Cape Boys never wavered; up they dashed, panting and +sweating, to the very mouths of the caves, fired their rifles into the +darkness, charged in, to reissue in a few minutes, jabbering to each +other, and then rushing off to "do ditto" wherever these man-holes +existed. Now they were creeping stealthily round rocks "like stage +assassins," now leaping forward through the long yellow grass like men +in a paper-chase,—always fighting well and pluckily, lifting up their +wounded and carrying them to places of safety, and then again joining +in the battle, charging without fear upon their maddened enemy, +parrying the thrust of sudden assegai with the bayonet that kills +almost in the instant that it guards. And while this work was going +on, a sudden corner revealed another string of rebels running down a +path. "For a moment," writes B.-P., "the thought crosses one's mind, +shall we stop to fire or go for them? but before the thought has time +to fashion itself, we find ourselves going for them." Again there was +the cheering rush, the rattle of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span>rifles, and hard fighting till the +enemy was scattered. So the battle went on, and it did not cease until +the stronghold was completely cleared. Then the "flag-waggers" +signalled back to the main body for stretchers.<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> During this pause +Baden-Powell wrote an account of the fighting (illustrated), to be +sent home to his mother.</p> + +<p>In this manner Babyan was beaten, and the victors went back to camp +satisfied with their day's work. On the following morning it was +discovered that a column sent by the General to attack the enemy on +the Inugu Mountain had not returned, and Baden-Powell with a patrol of +a hundred men was ordered to go in search. When the sun was up the +little body moved off towards the mountains, and after passing through +much difficult country, parts of which were actually in the occupation +of the enemy, they struck the spoor of the missing column, and to +Baden-Powell's great joy found that the marks were quite fresh and +leading outwards from the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span>mountains—showing that the missing men +were safe. Very soon after that the patrol was further cheered by +seeing the gleam of the column's camp-fires, and after an exchange of +events Baden-Powell hurried back to camp to acquaint the General with +the good news.</p> + +<p>The next morning, forgetting that he had had another night out, +Baden-Powell started off for solitary exercise in the mountains, his +purpose being to "investigate some signs I had noted two days before +of an impi camped in a new place," and to select a position for the +building of a fort to command the Matopos. Returning to camp he drew +his design and plan for the fort, and in the evening was back in the +mountains again with a number of Cape Boys, ready to begin the +business of building.</p> + +<p>One of Baden-Powell's little relaxations when fighting slackened was +the "rounding off" of cattle, a sport almost as exciting as chasing a +solitary boar, especially when the cattle are being driven into the +mountains for "home consumption" by bloodthirsty and hungry Matabele. +On one of these occasions Baden-Powell was wounded. Having rounded off +some cattle he was riding <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span>towards a party of niggers when he felt a +sharp blow on his thigh as though Thor had given him a playful tap +with his big hammer. He was bowled over, and thinking that he must +have charged into the stump of a tree turned round to have a look at +it; but there was no tree. Then he realised that he had only been +struck with a lead-covered stone fired from a big-bore gun, and so +hopped off like a man who has been kicked on the shins in a football +match, to continue the game. No blood was drawn by this bullet, but +our hero's thigh was black and blue for many days afterwards.</p> + +<p>This was the kind of life Baden-Powell lived at this time as Chief of +the Staff. An officer who knows him very well tells me that it is +impossible to wear him out; "Baden-Powell," he says, "is tireless." He +is keen to be given the most risky and the most solitary work; he can +go for days without food and never complains of broken nights. He has +an enthusiasm for hard work, and when that work demands cunning of the +brain as well as quickness of the hand, as in scouting, B.-P. is as +much lost in the labour as a wolf in search of food for its young. +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span>Never throughout the Matabele campaign was Sir Frederick Carrington +better served than when the young Englishman slunk away into the +darkness, and wandered alone and unprotected into the rocky mountains +held by the murderous Matabele. And never were those savages more +disquieted than when news was brought to them in the morning that the +Wolf had been in the mountains during the night.</p> +<br /> + +<div class="footnotes"><h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> After the arm was amputated at the shoulder Mr. Gifford +used to feel the pain as if it were in his hand.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> Let it not be thought that B.-P. had neglected to bring +stretchers. They were brought, but the friendlies who carried them, +like the hen that laid the rotten egg, were nervous, and had dropped +them in the river, they themselves taking up positions of safety till +the fighting was over.</p></div> +</div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a><hr /> +<br /> + +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span><br /> +<h3>CHAPTER XI<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h3>IN RAGS AND TATTERS</h3> +<br /> + +<p>Baden-Powell now had what one might term a roving commission. He was +sent by Colonel Plumer in charge of a patrol to wander over the vast +country covered by the rebellion and see what he could of the enemy, +and when found make a note of. It was exactly the work B.-P. liked +above all others. There was romance in the dangers of it, and +intellectual joy in its difficulties. There was freedom in it, and the +glorious feeling that every step he took he was carrying his life in +his hand. And not only was life menaced by the bullets and assegais of +Matabele lurking in the tall yellow grass, but there was considerable +danger, though of a more humorous order, even in the taking of a bath, +as B.-P. discovered in going down to a pool and spotting just in time +a leering crocodile in the reeds. Lions, too, were stumbled <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span>upon in +clumps, just as in peaceful England one walks upon a covey of +partridges. Then, lying down one day after dinner for a nap, B.-P. +discovered on awaking that a snake had selected precisely the same +spot for its own siesta. The charm of night marches, too, was +occasionally broken by the growling of a bloodthirsty hyæna, following +and snarling at the heels of the horses. These were dangers, however, +that added the few touches necessary to complete the picture of our +smart adjutant of Hussars in cowboy hat, grey flannel shirt, breeches +and gaiters, with a face as brown as a Kaffir's, wandering over the +South African veldt. During these expeditions, by the way, +Baden-Powell's wardrobe came to ignominious grief, and under the +tattered breeches, the stained shirt, and the split boots, he was a +mere network of holes. The ankles of his socks remained true to the +end, but the rest of them, in B.-P.'s euphemistic phrase, were most +delicate lace. The one drawback to the tub in the river, leaving out +the chance of a stray crocodile, was the difficulty he experienced in +getting back into these delicate open-work socks, and the only way of +surmounting this difficulty was by bathing—socks and all!</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span>The marches, too, had their intervals of fighting, and the little +patrol was frequently so in touch with the enemy that Tommy Atkins and +Master Matabele could exchange compliments. "Sleep well to-night," the +grinning savages would shout from the hills; "to-morrow we will have +your livers fried for breakfast!" And the compliments became sterner +whenever the Matabele recognised in the little force of whites the +dread "Wolf that never Sleeps." "Wolf! Wolf!" they shrieked with +savage ferocity, and if Baden-Powell had the nerves of some of us he +must have had many a bad night after hearing that yell, and marking +the gleaming eyes and the frothing lips that twitched with lust for +his destruction.</p> + +<p>Then there was the bitterest work of all. The closing of suffering +eyes that had grown so strangely dear during the hardships of such +work as this; the saying of farewells to the men who had raced by +one's side with Death at their heels for how many hard weeks. Of one +of these Baden-Powell writes in his diary: "His death is to me like +the snatching away of a pleasing book half read." And solemn as the +funeral service ever is, one fancies how awe-inspiring, how <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span>poignant +its impressiveness, when in the dark, "among the gleams of camp-fires +and lanterns, with a storm of thunder and lightning gathering round," +a few fighting Englishmen heard its message over the body of a +fellow-soldier.</p> + +<p>Baden-Powell's description of the day's work at this time gives one a +good idea of the life of a patrol. This is what he wrote in his diary +for his mother's eyes: "Our usual daily march goes thus: Reveillé and +stand to arms at 4.30, when Orion's belt is overhead. (The natives +call this Ingolobu, the pig, the three big stars being three pigs, and +the three little ones being the dogs running after them; this shows +that Kaffirs, like other nations, see pictures in constellations.) We +then feed horses—if we have anything to feed them with, which is not +often; light fires and boil coffee; saddle-up, and march off at 5.15. +We go on marching till about 9.30 or 10, when we off-saddle and lie up +for the heat of the day, during which the horses are grazed, with a +guard to look after them, and we go a-breakfasting, bathing, and in +theory writing and sketching, but in practice sleeping, at least so +far as the flies will allow. At 3.30 saddle-up and march till 5.30; +off-saddle <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span>and supper; then we march on again, as far as necessary, +in the cool hours of the early night. On arriving at the end of our +march, we form our little laager; to do this we put our saddles down +in a square, each man sleeping with his head in the saddle, and the +horses inside the square, fastened in two lines on their 'built up' +ropes. To go to bed we dig a small hole for our hip-joints to rest in, +roll ourselves up in our horse-blanket, with our heads comfortably +ensconced in the inside of the saddle, and we would not then exchange +our couch for anything that Maple could try and tempt us with."</p> + +<p>But after months of this hard work, the tireless B.-P. began to knock +up. Fever and dysentery attacked him, and he said unkind things to +people who bothered him—as witness the message sent to one of the +patrolling columns: "If you let the men smoke on a night march, you +might as well let the band play too." The justness of the gibe!</p> + +<p>B.-P. relates a good story, by the way, of smoking while on guard. A +Colonial volunteer officer, Captain Brown, in times of peace Butcher +Brown, ordered a sentry found smoking to consider himself a prisoner. +"What!" exclaimed the volunteer <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span>soldier, "not smoke on sentry? Then +where the —— <i>am</i> I to smoke?" The dignified Captain only reiterated +his first remark. Then did the sentry take his pipe from his mouth and +confidentially tap his officer upon the shoulder. "Now, look here, +Brown," said he, "don't go and make a —— fool of yourself. If you +do, I'll go elsewhere for my meat."</p> + +<p>To return. B.-P., having lived straight and hard, soon fought down the +fever, and in little more than a week was back again at work. It is +nice to know that during the time of his being on the sick-list Sir +Frederick Carrington went regularly to his bedside and sat for a long +time, retailing all the cheerful news of the campaign. Sir Frederick +and Baden-Powell, by the bye, are probably the two Imperial officers +who know most about South Africa.</p> + +<p>During his illness Major Ridley had started off with a column to make +war upon the Somabula, and when B.-P. got about again he was ordered +to go in search of this force, with three troopers as an escort, and +to take command of it. "I could picture nothing more to my taste," he +says, "than a ride of from eighty to one hundred miles in a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span>wild +country, with three good men, and plenty of excitement in having to +keep a good look-out for the enemy, enjoying splendid weather, +shirt-sleeves, and a reviving feeling of health and freedom." So the +man who had only just got off a sick-bed started for a ride into the +forest after Ridley's column, and during the ride the twentieth +anniversary of his joining Her Majesty's Service came round and +brought its reflections for the diary. "I always think more of this +anniversary than of that of my birth, and I could not picture a more +enjoyable way of spending it. I am here, out in the wilds, with three +troopers.... We are nearly eighty miles from Buluwayo and thirty from +the nearest troops. I have rigged up a shelter from the sun with my +blanket, a rock, and a thorn-bush; thirteen thousand flies are, +unfortunately, staying with me, and are awfully attentive.... I am +looking out on the yellow veldt and the blue sky; the veldt with its +grey hazy clumps of thorn-bush is shimmering in the heat, and its vast +expanse is only broken by the gleaming white sand of the river-bed and +the green reeds and bushes which fringe its banks." How could a man +feel unhappy with the whole of his wardrobe packed away in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span>one wallet +of the saddle, and his larder in the other? Be sure that Lucullus +never enjoyed a banquet with the same sharpness of delight as +Baden-Powell squatting amid the yellow grass of the veldt with his +cocoa and rice.</p> + +<p>But there were anxious moments coming for the man who kept on the open +veldt the twentieth anniversary of his joining Her Majesty's army with +gladness in his heart. After he had found the column and had got into +the Lilliputian forest with its stunted, bushy trees and its sandy +soil, he was brought face to face with the greatest enemy that can +harass, fret, and wear down nerves of steel—absence of water. A +commander whose mind is racked by the difficulty, perhaps the +impossibility, of finding water for his troops is like the man haunted +day and night, waking and sleeping, by debt. "This was our menu," says +Baden-Powell: "weak tea (can't afford it strong), no sugar (we are out +of it), a little bread (we have half a pound a day), Irish stew +(consisting of slab of horse boiled in muddy water with a pinch of +rice and half a pinch of pea-flour), salt, none. For a plate I use one +of my gaiters, it is marked <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span>'Tautz & Sons, No. 3031'; it is a far cry +from veldt and horseflesh to Tautz and Oxford Street!" But this was at +a time when B.-P. wrote in his diary: "Nothing like looking at the +cheery side of things." The morrow came when he could see nothing but +arid miles of sand, when his eyes ached as they ranged the pitiless +desert for water; there is no cheery side to that view. Halting his +party to give them a rest, he and an American scout named Gielgud +started off to make one grand effort to find river or puddle. Hill +after hill was climbed to find only a valley of dead, baked grass +beyond, and at last, broken-hearted and weary, the two riders turned +their horses' heads back to camp. Soon after this the American's head +began to bob till the chin rested on the chest, and he forgot the +quest of water in the fairyland of dreams. But B.-P. could not sleep, +and those keen eyes of his were ranging the desolate country every +dreary minute of that ride. And at last he noticed on the ground +certain marks which he knew to be those of a buck that had scratched +in the sand for water. Overjoyed he got down from the saddle and +continued the work of the buck, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span>digging and digging with his lean +sunburnt fingers till he came to damp earth, and then—to water. At +that moment he saw two pigeons get up from behind a rock some little +way off, and leaving his oozing water in the sand he hastened there +and discovered to his supreme joy the salvation of his party—a little +pool of water.</p> + +<p>On this expedition you will be interested to hear that a man who lent +valuable assistance to Baden-Powell was your hero of the +cricket-field—Major Poore. In the days of the Matabele campaign he +had not slogged Richardson out of the Oval, nor driven Hearne +distracted to the ropes at Lord's; he was there as Captain Poore of +the 7th Hussars, working like a nigger, brave as a Briton, and quite +delighted to be soldiering under the peerless Baden-Powell. His fame +came afterwards.</p> + +<p>During this expedition Baden-Powell gave brilliant evidence of his +capacity as a general. He had drawn up a plan for an attack by his own +and another column upon a great chief named Wedza, who lived with his +warriors in a mountain consisting of six rocky peaks ranging from +eight <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span>hundred to a thousand feet high. On the top of these peaks were +perched the kraals, while the mountain itself, nearly three miles +long, resembled nothing so much as a rabbit-warren, being a network of +caves held by the burrowing rebels. Wedza's stronghold was steep, and +its sides were strewn with bush and boulders; only by narrow and +difficult paths was it accessible, and these paths had been fortified +by the Matabele with stockades and breastworks. This important and +well-nigh impregnable stronghold was held by something like sixteen +hundred Matabele—six or seven hundred of whom were real fighting men. +Baden-Powell, nevertheless, drew up his plan for the attack, and sat +down to wait for the other column which was to act with him. That +column never came; only a letter arrived by runner saying that it +would be unable to join in the attack after all. "The only thing we +could do," says Baden-Powell, "was to try and bluff the enemy out of +the place."</p> + +<p>So he arranged to win the battle by cunning of the brain. Sending +five-and-twenty men to climb a hill which commanded a part of the +stronghold, with instructions to act as if they were two <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span>hundred and +fifty, and giving small parties of Hussars similar instructions +regarding the left flank and rear of the enemy, Baden-Powell got his +artillery ready to bombard the central position. Just as the +five-and-twenty reached the summit of their hill, however, they were +observed by the enemy and instantly fired upon. From hilltop to +hilltop rang the call to arms, and B.-P. watched through his telescope +the yelling savages rushing with their rifles and assegais to massacre +his gallant little force of five-and-twenty men under a lieutenant. To +create a diversion, Baden-Powell galloped off with seven men to the +left rear of the stronghold, crossing a river on the way, and opened +fire upon a village on the side of the mountain. By continually moving +about in the grass and using magazine fire, B.-P. with his seven men +gave the enemy the impression that he had a large army there, and soon +the strain was taken off the five-and-twenty on the hilltop. Then +Hussars and Artillery joined the five-and-twenty, while a 7-pounder +flung deadly shells at every important point of the mountain. Soon +after this the enemy made a backward move, and the lieutenant on the +hilltop (with the Field-Marshal's <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span>baton already in his hand) +incontinently began to harry him effectively from the rear.</p> + +<p>The end of it was that Wedza's warriors were completely bluffed by the +resourceful B.-P.; they were driven out of their stronghold, and the +stronghold itself blown into smithereens. During this attack +Baden-Powell narrowly escaped death, a small party he was with being +fired upon at close range by a number of the enemy hidden behind a +ridge of rocks. "My hat," says B.-P., "was violently struck from my +head as if with a stick."</p> + +<p>This reminds me of the service rendered by Baden-Powell as a doctor. +"Three times in this campaign have I taken out to the field with me a +few bandages and dressings in my holster, and on each occasion I have +found full use for them." Once he doctored some Matabele women and +children who had been hit by stray bullets while lying in the long +grass. On this occasion he invented what he calls a perfect form of +field syringe: "Take an ordinary native girl, tell her to go and get +some lukewarm water, and don't give her anything to get it in. She +will go to the stream, kneel, and fill her mouth, and so bring the +water; by the time she is back the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span>water is lukewarm. You then tell +her to squirt it as you direct into the wound, while you prize around +with a feather."</p> + +<p>After the breaking of Wedza there was work to be done in Mashonaland, +and then, when the rebellion had been crushed and the colonist was +able to search fearlessly among the charred beams of his homestead ere +setting about building anew, the gallant Baden-Powell turned his face +towards Old England. Before leaving South Africa, however, he spent +the Christmas Day of that memorable 1896 in Port Elizabeth. "After +breakfast," he writes in his diary, "to church. Everything exactly +ordered as if at home: the Christmas Day choral service with a good +choir and a fine organ. And as the anthem of peace and goodwill rolled +forth, it brought home to one the fact that a year of strife in savage +wilds had now been weathered to a peaceful close."</p> + +<p>Then came the voyage across the 6000 odd miles of ocean with Cecil +Rhodes, Sir Frederick Carrington, and other interesting people. After +that the English coast, and the train to London. And, after that, +"through the roar of the sloppy, lamp-lit streets, to the comfort and +warmth—of Home."</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a><hr /> +<br /> + +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span><br /> +<h3>CHAPTER XII<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h3>THE REGIMENTAL OFFICER</h3> +<br /> + +<p>I hear you say that Baden-Powell has had glorious chances, that the +lot of most officers is humdrum, and that with so much talk about +Arbitration and Universal Millennium, you cannot go up for Sandhurst +with any certainty that your career will contain a single opportunity +for gaining honour and renown. My dear Smith major, believe me, a man +may distinguish himself in a barrack square as well as in African +mountains or a besieged township. General popularity, it is true, does +not come that way; but the opportunity for honour is there all the +same, and the distinction one earns on that field has its appreciation +in the right quarter. Long before the world of London paraded its +streets with portrait badges of Baden-Powell on its heart, or +thereabouts, he was a marked and famous man, and before he had drawn +sword on a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span>field of battle, or fired a revolver into the yellow grass +of the veldt, he was known throughout the British Cavalry as a +first-rate, if not the ideal, soldier. It is not a bad ambition, I +promise you, to try and be a perfect regimental officer.</p> + +<p>A party of sergeants in Baden-Powell's old regiment were once asked by +a civilian whether the men liked him. There was a silence for a minute +or two, and at last one of the sergeants replied, hesitatingly, "Well, +no, I shouldn't say they <i>like</i> him"; then in a burst—"why, they +worship him!" Let me tell you how Baden-Powell has earned their love.</p> + +<p>In the first place, he entered the Army with no mischievous ideas +about the manliness and dash of a fast, raking life. That is a great +start, for if the soldier despises one type of officer more than +another it is the young sprig who affects to consider soldiering a +bore, and comes on parade with the evidence of last night's folly and +dissipation in his drawn face and dull eyes. Baden-Powell was keen +about his work from the first, and never posed as a drawling Silenus +in gold lace. In the second place, Baden-Powell, who always possessed +a great deal of sound <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span>common sense, took an interest in his men, +treated them as intelligent beings, and never for once mistook the +drunken, devil-may-care Private of fiction for the soldier who goes +anywhere and does anything. It is a literary "dodge" to reach the +reader's sympathies by drawing the blackguard in order to find the +hero; one good deed in that world of unreality wipes out all the +unworthiness of a lifetime, and the reader puts down the tale with a +longing to fall on the neck and wring the hand of the very next +hiccupping Tommy he encounters. As Bishop Blougram says:—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Our interest's on the dangerous edge of things,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The honest thief, the tender murderer,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The superstitious atheist, demireps<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That love and save their souls in new French books—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">We watch while these in equilibrium keep<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The giddy line midway: one step aside,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">They're classed and done with.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>This is all very well in fiction, but I protest it is a little hard on +the soldier, and it is certainly a dangerous belief for the future +officer to grow up in.</p> + +<p>The following letter, which appeared recently in the <i>Daily Graphic</i>, +is well and truly written: <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span>"Having served as chaplain of one of the +largest recruiting depôts in England, may I thank you for your article +on the Heroic Blackguard style of literature in vogue just now. +Soldiers have often remarked to me that they were represented as +'drunken roughs who couldn't speak the Queen's English.' As a matter +of fact, a steadier, better behaved, better mannered class it would be +difficult to find. There are exceptions, but not popular exceptions. +Blackguardism and heroism very seldom go together, Bret Harte and +other writers notwithstanding. The pluckiest and most reliable +soldiers are not animated beer barrels, but sober, keen-eyed, sensible +fellows, and of such the British Army chiefly consists."</p> + +<p>When you are most inclined to think the Private an irresponsible +good-for-nothing, look hard at the next Commissionaire you meet on the +street. That smart, clean, well-brushed man, with his bronzed face, +his bright keen eyes, and general look of self-respect, was once a +soldier, and indeed it is soldiering that has made him what you see. +Look hard, honoured sir, at the next Commissionaire who comes across +your path, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span>and you will never again be disposed to regard the soldier +as an insensate good-for-nothing.</p> + +<p>"Tommy Atkins," says Baden-Powell, "is not the childish boy that the +British Public are too apt to think him, to be ignored in peace and +petted in war. He is, on the contrary, a man who reads and thinks for +himself, and he is keen on any instruction in really practical +soldiering, especially if it promises a spice of the dash and +adventure which is so dear to a Briton." It was just because +Baden-Powell acted on this assumption in the 13th Hussars that the men +learned to "worship" him. The few regular bad-lots that are to be +found, I suppose, in every regiment, are certainly no heroes among the +rest of the soldiers. The corner in the canteen where they foregather +is not crowded, and I have seen them from that unsplendid isolation +looking wistfully at the fresh, clean, merry-voiced troopers buying +"luxuries" at the bar,—men who are keen soldiers, anxious to excel, +and who do not "nurse the canteen."</p> + +<p>But bad officers may ruin the best men, and the popularity of the Army +with the classes from <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span>which its ranks are drawn depends very largely +upon the behaviour of our subalterns and captains. No one likes to be +neglected, and the great mistake made by so many officers, but never +by Baden-Powell, is their apparent indifference to the soldier's +welfare "out of hours." In a cavalry regiment, for instance, for the +greater part of the year the men have practically nothing to do from +dinner-time till the bugle rings for evening stables. Will you believe +it, that the commonest way of spending the afternoon in cavalry +regiments is by going to bed? Immediately after dinner is over, down +go the beds with a clatter, the strap that holds the mattress +doubled-up is unbuckled, and under the thick sheets and the dark +blankets, minus his boots, the trooper smokes his pipe until he falls +asleep. Their officer is with them in the morning, to see that they +brush the scurf out of their horses' manes and put the burnisher over +the backs of the buckles; he puts his nose into their room at +dinner-time to ask if there are any complaints, and withdraws it +almost before it is recognised by the men, as if the odour of the +Irish stew disagreed with him. After that, unless <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span>he walks through +the stables in the evening, his men do not see him. Now, how can an +officer who soldiers in this dull, stupid fashion ever gain the +affection of his men? And, more important question, how can men with +such an officer ever grow enthusiastic about soldiering, or even +content with their lot?</p> + +<p>Baden-Powell devoted himself to the men in his troop, and, when he was +adjutant, to the whole regiment. He would get them out of their rooms +in the afternoon for sports of some kind, he would encourage them to +take up flag-wagging or scouting, and he would work like a slave to +provide them with an alternative for public-house and canteen. There +is a story about him, which shows how popular he is with the men, and, +also, that it is possible for soldiers to take an intelligent interest +in practical soldiering. Baden-Powell was delivering a course of +lectures, I think on scouting, and every lecture had been attended by +a large audience which completely filled the room. Men used to wait +outside the door in order to get a seat, just as people stand +patiently for hours at the pit-door of a theatre. Among this audience +there was one young sergeant who had shown a singularly keen +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span>interest in the lectures; he was one of the smartest and +cleanest-living men in the station, and had never been charged with +drunkenness in his life. At one of the lectures B.-P. was surprised to +find the young soldier absent, and he was still more surprised on the +following day to find that this irreproachable sergeant was up on a +charge of drunkenness. "What on earth made you go and get drunk?" +asked B.-P. "Well, sir," said the sergeant doggedly, "I was late +yesterday and couldn't get in to your lecture, so of course I had to +go and get drunk." He said this perfectly seriously, and there was a +very world of meaning in his argumentative "of course."</p> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep179" id="imagep179"></a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span> +<a href="images/imagep179.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep179.jpg" width="39%" alt="Viret in Æternum" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;"><span style="font-size: 70%;"><i>Van der Weyde, Photographer, 182, Regent St., W.</i></span><br /> +"<i>Viret in Æternum</i>"<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span> +</div> + +<p>Baden-Powell was as assiduous in his attentions to his men as any +knight to his lady. He wooed them and won them. He did not win by +playing to the gallery, asking if they were quite comfortable in their +room, and giving them little coddling presents. He won as a man wins a +love that is worth winning, by treating the object of his devotion +with respect and perfect trust. His work at Malta, when he was acting +as Assistant Military Secretary to the Governor, secured for him the +affection of hundreds of soldiers and, I <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span>am glad to add, sailors too. +He was the life and soul of the place, indefatigable in getting up +sports and theatricals for the men, and building a permanent club for +their use, which effectually prevented the weaker men, or shall we say +the more generous hearted? from spending too much money in +public-houses. It was a sight to see the gymnasium, in which the +theatricals were held, during one of Baden-Powell's performances. The +vast floor of the building was crowded with soldiers packed as tightly +as sardines, and the rafters running from wall to wall were all +bestridden by sailors as happy and as comfortable there as the +Governor and his party sitting in the front row in their splendid +chairs from the palace. And when B.-P. appeared in the wings a shout +such as might have brought down the walls of Jericho shook the great +building, and soldier and sailor vied with each other to see who could +keep that roar of welcome going the longest. And over and over again +did Baden-Powell apply for leave to shirk some great social function +in the palace because the hour of such entertainment clashed with the +time he spent among Tommy and Jack in the gymnasium or the club.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span>His opinion of the soldier is a high one, and that is the secret of +his success. He loves to recount instances which have come in his long +experience, showing the soldier in the best light, revealing his +pluck, his love of little children, his chivalrous championing of the +weak, his handiness, his humour, his cheerfulness in depressing +circumstances, his self-respect, and his honesty. What was it that +struck his attention most about the tempting work of searching +Prempeh's palace for treasure? That the work which was entrusted to a +company of British soldiers "was done most honestly and well, without +a single case of looting. Here was a man with an armful of gold-hilted +swords, there one with a box full of gold trinkets and rings, another +with a spirit-case full of bottles of brandy, yet in no instance was +there any attempt at looting." And, eating out his own heart, on that +bitter march back from Kumassi to Cape Coast Castle, he had eyes for +the splendid doggedness of the British soldier: "In truth, that march +down was in its way as fine an exhibition of British stamina and pluck +as any that has been seen of late years. For the casual reader in +England this is difficult to realise, but <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span>to one who has himself +wearily tramped that interminable path, heart-sick and foot-sore, the +sight of those dogged British 'Tommies,' heavily accoutred as they +were, still defying fever in the sweltering heat, and ever pressing +on, was one which opened one's eyes and one's heart as well. There was +no malingering <i>there</i>; each man went on until he dropped. It showed +more than any fight could have done, more than any investment in a +fort, or surprise in camp, what stern and sterling stuff our men are +made of, notwithstanding all that cavillers will say against our +modern army system and its soldiers." During that bitter march +Baden-Powell asked a young soldier, gripped by fever but manfully +plodding on with the rest, whether his kit was not too heavy for him, +whereat, says Baden-Powell, he replied, with tight-drawn smile and +quavering voice, "It ain't the kit, sir; it's only these extra rounds +that I feel the weight of." "These extra rounds" being those intended +for the fight which never came.</p> + +<p>In the Matabele campaign he was quick to notice the manner in which +private soldiers tended some wounded nigger children. "It did one +good," he says, "to see one or two of the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span>Hussars, fresh from +nigger-fighting, giving their help in binding up the youngsters, and +tenderly dabbing the wounded limbs with bits of their own shirts +wetted." During that haunting march with the Shangani Patrol, when the +rice was cut down to a spoonful, and a horse had been killed to supply +the men with food, Baden-Powell found time to note that "the men are +singing and chaffing away as cheerfully as possible while they scoop +the muddy water from the sand-hole for their tea." And he loves the +soldier for all his little oddities. How he laughed over the man who +carried skates in his kit through India, and the man in the African +desert with a lot of fish-hooks in his wallet! And how he likes to +chaff them out of their failings. At Aldershot one of his most popular +pieces as an entertainer is that in which he impersonates the +barrack-room lawyer. While the audience is waiting for the next +singer, there is a noise heard in the wings, and then a loud voice +cries, "I tell yer I will go on. It's no use of you a-stoppin' of me, +I'm agoin' to tell 'em all about it, I am," and then with a great +clatter a private soldier comes bungling on the stage, tunic open, +hair all over <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span>the place, and cap at the back of his head. "Beg +parding, sir," he says to the officer in the front row, "but these +here man[oe]uvres has all been conducted wrong, they have, and I +warn't to tell the company how they ought to have been managed. Now if +I had had the runnin' of this concern, and not the Field-Marshal, I +should have first of all"—etc. etc. The audience yells with delight, +and if Baden-Powell really should show up, in his own inimitable +fashion, the mistakes of a general (which, by the way, he is quite +capable of doing), the audience and the general too, if he is there, +laugh all the more.</p> + +<p>Men go to him with their private cares and troubles. They know that +the man who can make them laugh till the tears stream down their +faces, can at the right moment show a serious face, and give ear to +the humblest tale of trouble. He makes it his business—and surely it +is part of an officer's business—to know all about his men's lives, +their families, their favourite sports, their objects in life, and the +way in which they spend their leave. When he was in the 13th Hussars +he was always a favourite with the children in the married quarters, +and if you could pick out an <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span>apple-cheeked urchin playing in the dust +of the barracks who did not grin from ear to ear when you asked if he +knew Baden-Powell, you had stumbled upon a young gentleman the guest +of the regiment.</p> + +<p>Baden-Powell even got to learn the names men gave their horses. There +was in the 13th Hussars some years ago a handsome little black horse +whose regimental number was, I think, A18. To the men he was Smut, and +no one ever thought of calling him anything else. One day at stables +the squad was called to attention, and the young soldier standing at +the head of A18 was mightily surprised to hear a civilian walking side +by side with the captain of his troop remark, as he passed up the +stable, "Why, there's old Smut!" When the officer and civilian had +passed out he turned to the next man, and asked who the deuce the +bloke was in the brown hat. "Why, that's Captain Baden-Powell," said +the man; and then he added with great pride, "I was his bâtman once." +The young soldier had heard of Baden-Powell before, and was furious +that he had not looked longer at him as he passed. An odd +circumstance, by the way, concerning the ex-bâtman. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span>He was a terrible +fellow in many ways, always on the look-out for a fight, and in his +cups had disabled more than one policeman in the cities where the 13th +sojourned. But he kept in his box a little faded red book of +quotations, filled with serious and religious thoughts, and he was +particularly fond of two of these apothegms: the one, "A prayer is +merely a wish turned Godward"; and the other, "A grave wherever found +preaches a short and pithy sermon to the soul." He would quote them +over and over again in his confidential moments, and, though he might +pick out others as he turned the well-thumbed pages of that tiny book, +it was always to these two that he returned as perfect specimens of +great sayings. And that book, unless I am mistaken, was given to him +by Baden-Powell. "If I had been with him right along," he would say, +regretting some escapade, "I should have been a sergeant by this +time."</p> + +<p>Baden-Powell's familiarity with the names of his men's horses reminds +one of his difficulty in swallowing horse-flesh during the hungry days +with the Shangani Patrol: "It is one thing to say, 'I'll trouble you +to pass the horse, please,' but quite another to say, 'Give me another +chunk of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span>D15.'" He is a man who can grow very nearly as fond of his +troop's horses as of his own.</p> + +<p>A good description of Baden-Powell is that versatile officer's own +sketch of a man with whom he soldiered on one of his campaigns: "He +has all the qualifications that go to make an officer above the ruck +of them. Endowed with all the dash, pluck, and attractive force that +make a born leader of men, he is also steeped in common sense, is +careful in arrangement of details, and possesses a temperament that +can sing 'Wait till the clouds roll by' in crises where other men are +tearing their hair." The public in the light of recent events will be +quick to recognise B.-P. in the latter part of this portrait; I can +assure them that the rest is equally accurate. As a regimental officer +he exhibits all these good qualities. He can show the men dash and +pluck in every sport they care for, his common sense makes him the +friend of Tommy Atkins as well as his officer, and the affairs of his +regiment are so admirably managed that there is no enervating air of +slackness about the barracks from the first monitory note of +"Reveillé" to the last wailing sound of "Lights Out."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span>And while Baden-Powell is loved in the barrack-room he is ever the +most popular figure in the Officers' Mess. There is nothing of the +namby-pamby, I mean, in his solicitude for the soldier's welfare, +nothing to make him unpopular with his brother officers, nothing that +makes even the youngest subaltern a little contemptuous. <i>Tout au +contraire.</i> The place he holds in the affections of his brother +officers may, perhaps, be seen in a quotation from the letter of an +officer in the 13th Hussars, which I received during the most anxious +days of the siege of Mafeking. After saying that relief ought to have +been sent before, my Hussar says, "Poor dear chap, he must be severely +tried. As I eat my dinner at night I always wish I could hand it over +to him." Could a Briton do more?</p> + +<p>Such then is Baden-Powell's character as a regimental officer. Beloved +by the little fashionable world of the Officers' Mess, adored by the +men who eat and sleep and clean sword, carbine, and boots in the one +room, he presents to the gaze of the schoolboy whose whole thoughts +are set upon Sandhurst the beau-ideal of a regimental officer.</p> + +<p>To reach that ideal there are five great essentials—keenness, +courage, high-mindedness, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span>self-abnegation, humour. Ability to mix +freely with private soldiers without loss of dignity is, I take it, +the natural gift of a gentleman; and if the officer who devotes +himself to his men is high-minded and courageous, always ready to +ignore self, with the saving virtue of humour, he will earn not only +their respect and admiration, but their loyal and unswerving love.</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a><hr /> +<br /> + +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span><br /> +<h3>CHAPTER XIII<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h3>GOAL-KEEPER</h3> +<br /> + +<p>Baden-Powell was at Henley, preparing to enjoy the festivities of the +1899 Regatta in one of the pleasantest houses on the river, when a +telegram arrived calling him to the War Office. This was on Wednesday, +and the business the state of things in the Transvaal. On Saturday he +was on the sea, sailing away from the coast of England.</p> + +<p>As we have said before, Baden-Powell keeps a khaki kit in perfect +readiness for emergencies ("he is terribly methodical," says one of +his brothers), and, therefore, when Lord Wolseley asked him how soon +it would be before he could start, the delighted B.-P. answered with a +very enthusiastic "Immediately." But ships are not kept in such easy +readiness as kits, and two whole days had to elapse before our hero +could set sail for the land where war was brewing. Those two days he +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span>spent with his family and in paying farewell visits to his friends. +The Old Carthusian naturally bent his steps towards Charterhouse, and +sought out Dr. Haig-Brown in the Master's Lodge. "I hope they'll give +me a warm corner," he said, gripping the Doctor's hand. And then in a +few weeks this Old Boy was in his African corner, enjoying its +Avernus-like warmth.</p> + +<p>The story of the siege of Mafeking is one of the most interesting an +Englishman can read about. One may truthfully say that it is the story +of a single man—our hero, B.-P. Good men he has had under him, +skilful officers and valorous troops; but all the daring, all the +gallantry, all the heroism would have been powerless in such a +situation without the unlimited resourcefulness of the intrepid +Goal-Keeper. With a handful of men he has held at bay in a small and +very exposed town as many as 6000 Boers, commanded at one time by the +dogged and unscrupulous Cronje. And not only this. With his small +force he has kept the enemy on tenterhooks all the weary weeks of the +siege, sallying out at night to fling his gallant men upon their +trenches, storming them in their lines by day, and actually giving the +large <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span>army besieging his little garrison a taste of cold steel.</p> + +<p>In years to come, I suppose, only the imagination will be able to +realise the effect on the stoical British mind of Baden-Powell's brisk +and witty telegrams. England at that time, let it be known, was in a +state of sullen wonderment. Every dispatch brought consternation to +our minds. Here were our troops pouring into South Africa, soldiers of +renown at their head, regiments famous throughout the world, +representing our courage and prestige, and yet check after check, +reverse after reverse—no progress, no sign of progress. In the midst +of this national gloom came telegrams full of cheery optimism from +little Mafeking—a name hardly known then to the man in the street, +now as familiar as Edinburgh and Dublin. Who, for instance, can forget +the famous message which ran: "October 21st. All well. Four hours' +bombardment. One dog killed"? In an instant the gloom was dispelled. +In 'bus and tram and railway carriage men chuckled over the exquisite +humour of that telegram. Leader writers, unbending, referred to it +decorously. The funny men on newspaper staffs made jests about it, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span>and the "Oldest Evening Paper" enshrined it in verse:—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Four long, long hours they pounded hard,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Whizz! went the screaming shell—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of reeking tube and iron shard<br /></span> +<span class="i2">There was an awful smell.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">On us they wasted all their lead,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">On us who stood at bay,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And with our guns (forgive it, Stead!)<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Popped quietly away.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">They could not make the city burn,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">However hard they tried.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Not one of us is dead, but learn<br /></span> +<span class="i2">A dog it was that died.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The reaction was extraordinary. The almost unknown Colonel +Baden-Powell instantly became "B.-P." to the general public, and in +the twinkling of an eye his photograph appeared in the shop-windows +beside those of Sir Redvers Buller, Sir George White, and Lord +Methuen. Everybody was cracking jokes about the war, and the Boers +seemed to be already under the heel of the conqueror. When men opened +their newspapers in the railway carriage it was with the remark, +"How's old B.-P. getting along?" The doings of other soldiers in more +important positions lost much of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span>their interest, and the public mind +became riveted on Mafeking. Here was a light-hearted cavalry-officer +locked up in a little frontier town with seven hundred Irregular +cavalry, a few score volunteers, six machine-guns and two 7-pounders; +against whom was pitted the redoubtable Cronje with one 10-pounder, +five 7-pounders, two Krupp 12-pounders, and one Krupp 94-pounder, and +probably an army of something like 6000 wily Boers. And yet the +Goal-Keeper, 870 miles from English Cape Town and only 150 miles from +Boer Pretoria, was as light-hearted and optimistic as a general +leading an overwhelming army against a baffled and disorganised foe. +Englishmen were quick to recognise the virtue of the man who solemnly +sent the death of a dog to be recorded in the archives of the War +Office; quick to appreciate the peril of his position; and I do not +think I am screwing my string too tight when I say that the safety of +Baden-Powell from that moment became a personal matter to thousands of +Englishmen all the world over. Miss Baden-Powell at this time was +travelling in Scotland, and at some out-of-the-way station she and her +boxes detrained. The station-master passing along the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span>platform +noticed the name of Baden-Powell on the trunks, and instantly rushed +towards her, with beaming face and extended hand,—"Gie me the honour, +ma'am," he cried, "o' shakin' your hand." And from this time gifts and +letters poured in ceaselessly upon Mrs. Baden-Powell in London, +letters from all classes of the nation, costly gifts, humble +gifts—all testifying to the giver's love and admiration of her +gallant son in Mafeking. One of these presents took the form of a +large portrait of B.-P. worked in coloured silks, another a little +modest book-marker. And in the streets gutter-merchants were doing a +roaring trade in brooches and badges with B.-P.'s face smiling on the +enamel as contentedly as if immortalised on a La Creevy miniature. +Finally, to complete this apotheosis, Madame Tussaud announced on +flaming placards that Baden-Powell had been added to the number of her +Immortals.</p> + +<p>This, then, was the sudden fate of the man who had returned to England +from wandering alone within a stone's throw of the Matabele bivouac +fires unknown and unhonoured by the public. I wonder if Baden-Powell +had a presentiment of what was to be when, in the early days of the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span>siege, he corrected the proofs of <i>Aids to Scouting</i>, and came upon +his own words towards the end of that manual: "Remember always that +you are helping your <i>side</i> to win, and not merely getting glory for +yourself or your regiment—that will come of itself."</p> + +<p>The wit of Baden-Powell in some measure obscured from the popular view +the grimness of his task. Like the true Briton that he is, he +considered it part of his duty to make light of his difficulties. But +the holding of Mafeking was stern work. The Boers themselves never +dreamed the defence would be seriously maintained, and in the early +days of the siege they sent in a messenger under a flag of truce +offering terms of surrender. Baden-Powell gave the messenger a +sumptuous lunch, himself the most delightful of hosts, and sent him +back with word to the accommodating Boers that he would be sure and +let them know immediately he was ready to yield the town. And to +Cronje's humanitarian plea that Baden-Powell should surrender in order +to avoid further bloodshed, the Goal-Keeper made answer, one can see +his eyes twinkling, "Certainly, but when will the bloodshed begin?" A +little later he got in with <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span>a still more irritating piece of irony, +addressing a letter to the burghers asking them if they seriously +thought that they could take the town by sitting down and looking at +it.</p> + +<p>But this was at a time when Baden-Powell, in common with the rest of +us, believed that the triumphant British Army would soon be coming up +to Mafeking, and he himself able to sally out and strike a crushing +blow at the besieging force. Weeks passed and the hope died. The Boers +cut off the water-supply, and, with contrary ideas of logic, thought +that such an action would damp the spirits of Baden-Powell. But that +thoughtful and resourceful commander had seen that all the old wells +were cleaned, and well filled, so that Mafeking was as secure from a +water-famine as it was from the entrance of the Boers. Besides this, +Baden-Powell had constructed bomb-proof shelters everywhere, and a boy +stood ready with bell-rope in hand to ring immediate warning of a +shell's approach. Trenches were dug giving cover and leading from +every portion of the town. So perfect indeed were Baden-Powell's +defences that it was possible to walk entirely round the little town +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span>without being exposed to the Boer fire. Telephones, too, were +established between the headquarter bomb-proofs of outlying posts and +the headquarter bomb-proof where Baden-Powell and Lord Edward Cecil, +D.S.O., laid their heads together and planned the town's defence. And +to keep the enemy at a respectful distance, Baden-Powell continually +sent out little forces to harass them and keep them in a state of +nerves. The Matabele never knew when Impessa was coming, and the Boers +could never lie down to sleep with the assurance that they would not +be awakened by the rattle of British musketry and the dread "Reveillé" +of cold steel. Here is one instance. Knowing that the Boers fear the +bayonet more than rifle bullets, Baden-Powell determined upon a sortie +in which his men should get within striking distance of the large army +closing round the town. One night he sent fifty-three men with orders +to use only the bayonet, and this insignificant force crept silently +to the enemy's trenches in the darkness, and scattered six hundred +Boers from their laager. So close to the town were the assaulted +trenches of the enemy that the officer's sudden <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span>and thrilling +"Charge" rang out distinctly on the night to the ears of those +anxiously waiting the result of the sortie in Mafeking. This gallant +attack completely "funked" the Boers, and at two o'clock in the +morning, long after the little force had returned triumphantly to the +town, they began another fusillade, firing furiously at nothing for a +whole hour. Fight after fight ensued. Whenever the enemy occupied a +position likely to inconvenience the town, Baden-Powell took arms +against them, and drove them out. After several experiences of this +kind the Boer lost his temper, and with it all sense of honour. It is +difficult to write without unbridled contempt of their inhuman +bombardment of the women and children's laager in the gallant little +town which neither their valour nor cunning could reduce. Baden-Powell +loves children, and few incidents in the siege of Mafeking could be +more distressing to those who know the stout-hearted Defender than +these cruel bombardments. His sorrow over the killed and wounded +children was of the most poignant character. One of the officers wrote +to his mother during these dark days, saying how the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span>whole garrison +was touched to the heart by seeing their Commander nursing terrified +children in his arms, and soothing their little fears. If anything +could have stirred that just and honest nature to unholy thoughts of +vengeance it would have been the murder of these children; and I doubt +not that he will hit the harder and the more relentlessly when he gets +at close quarters with his enemy, fired by the thought of those +mangled little bodies and the remembrance of their mothers' agony. And +in addition to the murderous shells of the Boers, typhoid and malaria +were at their fell work in the women's laager; the children's +graveyard just outside the laager extended its sad bounds week by +week, and the cheerfulness that marked the beginning of the siege died +in men's hearts.</p> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep201" id="imagep201"></a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span> +<a href="images/imagep201.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep201.jpg" width="52%" alt="Goal-Keeper" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;"><span style="font-size: 70%;"><i>By permission of the "Daily Graphic."</i></span><br /> +Goal-Keeper<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span> +</div> + +<p>The cheerfulness, but not the determination. Baden-Powell wrote home +in December, after some two months of the siege, saying that they were +all a little tired of it, but just as determined as ever never to +submit. And in order to keep up the spirits of the garrison in the +hour when it seemed to many Englishmen that Mafeking was to be another +Khartoum and he a second Gordon, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span>Baden-Powell began to plan all +manner of entertainments for the amusement of the women and children. +The special correspondent of the <i>Pall Mall Gazette</i> in Mafeking, who +sent to his journal some of the most interesting letters received +during the siege, bore witness to Baden-Powell's efforts in this +direction. In one of his letters he said: "The Colonel does all in his +power to keep up the spirits of the people. To-day we have quite a big +programme of events—the distribution of flags in the morning, cricket +afterwards, general field sports, plain and fancy cycle races, a +concert in the afternoon, and in the evening a dance given by the +bachelor officers of the garrison. We have no Crystal Palace or +monster variety hall, but nevertheless we manage to enjoy ourselves on +truce days, and it goes without saying that the institution of sports +and pastimes has done wondrous things in the way of relieving the +tension on the public mind, and keeping up the health of the +population. It may shock the mind of some cranks to hear that we so +spend our Sundays; but if such persons wish to test the worth and the +wisdom of a rational Sabbath, transfer them here, and let them have a +week of shell-fire. They will speedily become <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span>converts." During the +Matabele campaign, it may be remarked, Baden-Powell always held divine +service on Sunday, and even to those whose training makes them regard +the playing of innocent games on Sunday an offence, this holiday of +Sunday in Mafeking must surely be regarded as a holy-day, pleasing to +the Father of men. The love of Baden-Powell for children, his intense +eagerness to keep alive the flame of joy in their young hearts, and +the spark of hope still burning in the hearts of their defenders, +could not, we may be very certain, inspire any decision displeasing to +high Heaven.</p> + +<p>Baden-Powell's dauntless courage, his brisk unchanging hopefulness, +and his unflinching determination to "stick it out," were the +inspiration of the splendid little garrison. To many of them surrender +would have meant nothing more than release from a diet of horse-flesh +and the irritating confinement of a siege; but no man and no woman in +Mafeking even breathed the suggestion that Baden-Powell should haul +down his flag; and on the hundredth day of the siege Mafeking sent a +telegram of loyal devotion to the Queen, whose anxiety for their +safety was not <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span>concealed from the world. A hundred days have long +since passed, and if the request of Lord Roberts that Baden-Powell +should hold out to the middle of May turns out to be history, the +siege will have lasted considerably over two hundred days. And during +these long, long days men have been in the trenches night and day, +children crying to their mothers to be taken away from the pitiless +rain of Boer bullets and the terrifying scream of Boer shells; day by +day fever has crept in to lessen the number of brave men whose faith +in the Old Carthusian never once wavered, and to rob poor mothers of +their little ones. And with all these distressing experiences to wear +him down and sicken his heart, our hero found himself further hampered +by treachery in his own camp.</p> + +<p>Treachery it was that frustrated Baden-Powell's great effort to break +the cordon pressing so relentlessly upon little Mafeking, and by that +means open up communication with those marching to his relief. The +battle of Game Tree fort, as it is called, is one of those events +which thrill the heart with pride, and then at the conclusion bring +tears into the eyes with the reflection that so <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span>much skill in the +planning, so much valour in the execution, should be defeated by base +treachery.</p> + +<p>Baden-Powell's plans for the taking of this fort were perfectly +understood by his officers. The little force entrusted with the work +of carrying Game Tree moved out of the town in the dusk of early +morning, and in a few minutes the roar of artillery announced the +beginning of a desperate fight. The scream of the engine of the +armoured train told the men at the guns to cease firing, meaning that +Captain Vernon was ready to rush the position with the bayonet. The +scene that followed was magnificent. Waving their hats and cheering +like schoolboys after a football match, our men started to run through +the scrub towards the silent fort. And then as they went, a pitiless +fire suddenly poured in upon them, a hail of bullets tore up the +ground at their feet, swept down their gallant ranks, like grass +before the scythe, and the men realised amid that enclosing and +remorseless fire that treachery had forewarned the Boers, that Game +Tree was impregnable. But did they waver or turn back? Not them. They +were many yards from the fort, and their orders were to storm it. On +they rushed, the officers well in front, waving <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span>their swords in the +air and shouting cheerfully to their men to follow. Three officers, +Vernon, Sandford, and Paton, seem to have made a race of it. Through +that terrible zone of fire these young Englishmen rushed forward with +all the zeal of men striving to be first to touch the tape. Captain +Vernon fell ten yards from the thundering fort, and Sandford and Paton +were left to fight out that splendid race alone. With a shout from his +parched lips, Paton leaped upon the redoubt, caught with his strong +hand the corner of a sandbag, jerked it out of position, thrust his +revolver through the loophole, and, panting like a man spent, fired +into the enemy's midst till he fell, shot through his gallant heart. +Sandford, too, had run a great race, and had almost tied with Paton on +the post. He flung himself upon the piled wall that could only be +broken by heavy artillery, and fell shot through, with his breast +almost against the muzzles of the enemy's guns. Nor were the +non-commissioned officers and men far behind their valiant leaders; +one intrepid sergeant, who was twice wounded, and at some distance +from the redoubt, continued the race across the bullet-swept scrub and +reached the sandbags almost <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span>on the heels of Paton. The men went +forward shouting and cheering, unafraid to look death in the face, +afraid only to turn back with their faces from the sandbags where the +smoke drifted, and from whence the hail of bullets rained. There was +no coward among their ranks, and even when the gallant souls realised +that the position was impregnable, there was not a single man among +them who wavered, or dropped back in the race. From the moment when +the order to charge had been given, the attack was an eagerly +contested race, with Death sitting on the flaming fort with the crown +of glory for their prize.</p> + +<p>When an aide-de-camp from the officer commanding the operations +galloped up to Baden-Powell with the woeful intelligence that Captain +Vernon had been repulsed, the Goal-Keeper hesitated, and the +bystanders saw that he was taking counsel with himself as to whether a +second attack should be made upon Game Tree fort. But his decision was +soon reached, and in a quiet voice he said, "Let the ambulance go +out." And that was the way in which Baden-Powell took the defeat of +his great plan for breaking the tightening cordon round Mafeking.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span>In history are recorded sieges of a more thrilling character than that +of Mafeking, but if you consider the story of this little town's +defence you will find, I believe, that in few other cases have +difficulties of so oppressive a character been borne with greater +fortitude and courage. In a large town a siege is not so wearing to +the nerves as it is in a little village the size of Mafeking; and in +the case of this miniature garrison the troublesomeness has been +doubled by the small number of men to share the burden of days and +nights spent in the trenches, now blistered by the sun's rays, now +drenched to the skin with rain that converted the ditches into small +rivers. It is not our purpose to magnify Baden-Powell's defence, but +it is necessary to caution you against the natural course of following +his example and treating the Boer bombardment as a joke. It was no +joke; and, if it had been, even the best of jokes pall when repeated +through days and weeks and weary months. But the garrison would never +let anybody dream that they were doing heroic things, never send +imploring messages for help to men already occupied with the enemy in +other parts of South Africa. To the question, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span>"How long can you hold +out?" Baden-Powell had only one answer, "As long as the food lasts."</p> + +<p>And so we take leave of our friend the Old Carthusian defending his +warm corner. As the last page is turned we see him walking through the +streets of Mafeking, now glancing with hard steely eye to the forts +which throw their coward shells into the women's laager, now turning +to give an order with clenched hands and locked jaws, and now stooping +down to lift a child into his arms and caress away its little fears. +On his mind weighs the safety of that town with its handful of brave +lives, the prestige of England, which suffers if the flag once set +above the roofs of any town, whatever the size, falls before the +assault of the Queen's enemies, and the thought that far away in +distant London the mother who made him what he is, waits on the rack +for his delivery. Be sure that never a thought of adding to his own +reputation enters the mind of Baden-Powell in little Mafeking, that +never does bitterness for tardy release enter his soul, and that all +his labour has but one great all-embracing end—the victory of his +side. "Play the game; play that your <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span>side may win. Don't think of +your own glorification or your own risks—your side are backing you +up. Play up and make the best of every chance you get."</p> +<br /> +<br /> + +<h4 class="sc">Finis</h4> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<h5><i>Printed by</i> <span class="sc">R. & R. Clark, Limited</span>, <i>Edinburgh</i></h5> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<hr /> +<br /> + +<div class="ad"> + +<h4>PUBLISHER'S ANNOUNCEMENT</h4> +<br /> +<h5><i>Uniform with this volume. 3s. 6d.</i></h5> +<br /> +<h2>SIR GEORGE WHITE</h2> +<h4>V.C.</h4> +<h4>THE HERO OF LADYSMITH</h4> +<br /> +<h4>By <span class="sc">Thomas H.G. Coates</span></h4> +<h5><i>With Illustrations</i></h5> +<br /> +<br /> +<h5><i>Cloth, Crown 8vo. 2s.</i></h5> +<br /> +<h2>MAJUBA</h2> +<br /> +<h3>BRONKERSPRUIT, INGOGO,<br /> +LANG'S NEK, KRUGERSDORP</h3> +<br /> +<h4>By <span class="sc">Hamish Hendry</span></h4> +<br /> +<h5><i>With 8 Full-page Illustrations by</i><br /> +<span class="sc">R. Caton Woodville</span></h5> +<br /> +<br /> +<h4>LONDON: GRANT RICHARDS<br /> +9 <span class="sc">Henrietta Street, W.C.</span></h4> +<br /> +</div> + +<br /> +<hr /> +<br /> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Story of Baden-Powell, by Harold Begbie + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE STORY OF BADEN-POWELL *** + +***** This file should be named 17300-h.htm or 17300-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/7/3/0/17300/ + +Produced by Steven Gibbs, Jeannie Howse and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Story of Baden-Powell + 'The Wolf That Never Sleeps' + +Author: Harold Begbie + +Release Date: December 13, 2005 [EBook #17300] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE STORY OF BADEN-POWELL *** + + + + +Produced by Steven Gibbs, Jeannie Howse and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + + +THE STORY +OF +BADEN-POWELL + +'The Wolf that never Sleeps' + +BY + +HAROLD BEGBIE + +WITH ILLUSTRATIONS + +_Vestigia nulla retrorsum_ + +LONDON +GRANT RICHARDS +1900 + + + + + "... A name and an example, which are at this hour + inspiring hundreds of the youth of England...." + + Southey's _Life of Nelson_. + + +_First printed May 1900. Reprinted May 1900_ + + + + +To SMITH MAJOR + +HONOURED SIR, + +If amid the storm and stress of your academic career you find an +hour's relaxation in perusing the pages of this book, all the travail +that I have suffered in the making of it will be repaid a +thousandfold. Throughout the quiet hours of many nights, when Morpheus +has mercifully muzzled my youngest (a fine child, sir, but a female), +I have bent over my littered desk driving a jibbing pen, comforted and +encouraged simply and solely by the vision of my labour's object and +attainment. I have seen at such moments the brink of a river, warm +with the sun's rays, though sheltered in part by the rustling leaves +of an alder, and thereon, sprawling at great ease, chin in the cups of +the hand, stomach to earth, and toes tapping the sweet-smelling sod, +your illustrious self--deep engrossed in my book. For this alone I +have written. If, then, it was the prospect of thus pleasing you that +sustained me in my task, to whom else can I more fittingly inscribe +the fruits of my labour? Accept then, honoured sir, this work of your +devoted servant, assured that, if the book wins your affection and +leaves an ideal or two in the mind when you come regretfully upon +"Finis," I shall smoke my pipe o' nights with greater pleasure and +contentment than ever I have done since I ventured the task of +sketching my gallant hero's adventurous career. + + I have the honour to be, sir, + + Your most humble and obedient servant, + + THE AUTHOR. + + WEYBRIDGE, _April 1900._ + + + + + + +CONTENTS + + + PAGE +CHAPTER I +AN INTRODUCTORY FRAGMENT 1 + +CHAPTER II +THE FAMILY 6 + +CHAPTER III +HOME LIFE AND HOLIDAYS 16 + +CHAPTER IV +CARTHUSIAN 37 + +CHAPTER V +THE DASHING HUSSAR 55 + +CHAPTER VI +HUNTER 73 + +CHAPTER VII +SCOUT 90 + +CHAPTER VIII +THE FLANNEL-SHIRT LIFE 103 + +CHAPTER IX +ROAD-MAKER AND BUILDER 119 + +CHAPTER X +PUTTING OUT FIRE 135 + +CHAPTER XI +IN RAGS AND TATTERS 158 + +CHAPTER XII +THE REGIMENTAL OFFICER 172 + +CHAPTER XIII +GOAL-KEEPER 192 + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + + PAGE +Major-General R.S.S. Baden-Powell _Frontispiece_ + +Professor Baden Powell 7 + +Mrs. Baden-Powell 11 + +B.-P. reflecting on the After-deck of the _Pearl_ 21 + +Rev. William Haig-Brown, LL.D. 41 + +The Dashing Hussar (B.-P. at 21) 61 + +"Beetle" 79 + +The Family on Board the _Pearl_ 107 + +"_Viret in AEternum_" 179 + +Goal-Keeper 201 + + + + +CHAPTER I + +AN INTRODUCTORY FRAGMENT ON NO ACCOUNT TO BE SKIPPED + + +You will be the first to grant me, honoured sir, that after +earnestness of purpose, that is to say "keenness," there is no quality +of the mind so essential to the even-balance as humour. The +schoolmaster without this humanising virtue never yet won your love +and admiration, and to miss your affection and loyalty is to lose one +of life's chiefest delights. You are as quick to detect the humbug who +hides his mediocrity behind an affectation of dignity as was dear old +Yorick, of whom you will read when you have got to know the sweetness +of Catullus. This Yorick it was who declared that the Frenchman's +epigram describing gravity as "a mysterious carriage of the body to +cover the defects of the mind," deserved "to be wrote in letters of +gold"; and I make no doubt that had there been a greater recognition +of the extreme value and importance of humour in the early ages of the +world, our history books would record fewer blunders on the part of +kings, counsellors, and princes, and the great churches would not have +alienated the sympathy of so many goodly people at the most important +moment in their existence--the beginning of their proselytism. + +This erudite reflection is to prepare you for the introduction of my +hero, Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell. I introduce him to you as +a hero--and as a humourist. To me he appears the ideal English +schoolboy, and the ideal British officer; but if I had blurted this +out at the beginning of my story you might perhaps have flung the book +into an ink-stained corner, thinking you were in for a dull lecture. +It is the misfortune of goodness to be generally treated with +superstitious awe, as though it were a visitant from heaven, instead +of being part and parcel of our own composition. So I begin by +assuring you that if ever there was a light-hearted, jovial creature +it is my hero, and by promising you that he shall not bore you with +moral disquisitions, nor shock your natural and untainted mind with +impossible precepts. + +He is a hero in the best sense of the word, living cleanly, despising +viciousness equally with effeminacy, and striving after the +development of his talents, just as a wise painter labours at the +perfecting of his picture. Permit me here to quote the words of a +sagacious Florentine gentleman named Guicciardini: "Men," says he, +"are all by nature more inclined to do good than ill; nor is there +anybody who, where he is not by some strong consideration pulled the +other way, would not more willingly do good than ill." + +Goodness, then, is a part of our being; therefore when you are +behaving yourself like a true man, do not flatter yourself that you +are doing any superhuman feat. And do not, as some do, have a sort of +stupid contempt for people who respect truth, honesty, and purity, +people who work hard at school, never insult their masters, and try to +get on in the world without soiling their fingers and draggling their +skirts in the mire. But see you cultivate humour as you go along. +Without that there is danger in the other. + +It is useful to reflect that no man without the moral idea ever +wrought our country lasting service or won himself a place in the +hearts of mankind. On the other hand, most of the men whose names are +associated in your mind with courage and heroism are those who keenly +appreciated the value of Conduct, and strove valiantly to keep +themselves above the demoralising and vulgarising influences of the +world. + +Baden-Powell, then, is a hero, but no prodigy. He is a hero, and +human. A ripple of laughter runs through his life, the fresh wind +blows about him as he comes smiling before our eyes; and if he be too +full of fun and good spirits to play the part of King Arthur in your +imagination, be sure that no knight of old was ever more chivalrous +towards women, more tender to children, and more resolved upon walking +cleanly through our difficult world. + +Ask those who know him best what manner of man he is, and the +immediate answer, made with merry eyes and a deep chuckle, is this: +"He's the funniest beggar on earth." And then when you have listened +to many stories of B.-P.'s pranks, your informant will grow suddenly +serious and tell you what a "straight" fellow he is, what a loyal +friend, what an enthusiastic soldier. But it is ever his fun first. + +One word more. Against such a work as this it is sometimes urged that +there is a certain indelicacy in revealing the virtues of a living man +to whomsoever has a shilling in his pocket to purchase a book. My +answer to such a charge may be given in a few lines. In writing about +Baden-Powell your humble servant has hardly considered the feelings of +Baden-Powell at all. B.-P. has outlived a goodly number of absurd +newspaper biographies, and he will survive this. Of you, and you +alone, most honoured sir, has the present historian thought, and so +long as you are pleased, it matters little to him if the +hypersensitive lift up lean hands, turn pale eyes to Heaven, and +squeak "Indecent!" till they are hoarse. And now, with as little +moralising as possible, and no more cautions, let us get along with +our story. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE FAMILY + + +Baden-Powell had certain advantages in birth. We will not violently +uproot the family tree, nor will we go trudging over the broad acres +of early progenitors. I refer to the fact that his father was a +clergyman. To be a parson's son is the natural beginning of an +adventurous career; and, if we owe no greater debt to the Church of +our fathers, there is always this argument in favour of the +Establishment, that most of the men who have done something for our +Empire have first opened eyes on this planet in some sleepy old +rectory where roses bloom and rooks are blown about the sky. + +[Illustration: Professor Baden Powell. + From a Painting by Hartmann.] + +Mr. Baden-Powell, the father of our hero, was a man of great powers. +He was a renowned professor at Oxford, celebrated for his attainments +in theology and in physical science. But the peace-loving man of +letters died ere his boys had grown to youth, and, alas, the memory of +him is blurred and indistinct in their minds. They remember a quiet, +soft-voiced, tender-hearted man who was tall and of goodly frame, yet +had the scholar's air, about whose knees they would cluster and hear +enchanting tales, the plots of which have long since got tangled in +the red tape of life. He had, what all fathers should surely have, a +great love of natural history, and on his country walks would beguile +his boys with talk of animals, birds, and flowers, implanting in their +minds a love of the open and a study of field geology which has since +stood them in excellent stead. I like to picture this learned +professor, who was attacked by the narrow-minded Hebraists of his day +for showing, as one obituary notice remarked, that the progress of +modern scientific discovery, although necessitating modifications in +many of the still prevailing ideas with which the Christian religion +became encrusted in the times of ignorance and superstition, is in no +way incompatible with a sincere and practical acceptance of its great +and fundamental truths,--I like, I say, to picture this Oxford +professor on one of his walks bending over pebbles, birds' eggs, and +plants, with a troop of bright-eyed boys at his side. One begins to +think of the scent of the hedgerow, the shimmering gossamer on the +sweet meadows, the song of the invisible lark, the goodly savour of +the rich earth, and then to the mind's eye, in the midst of it all, +there springs the picture of the genial parson, tall and spare, +surrounded by his olive-branches, and perhaps with our hero, as one of +the late shoots, riding triumphant on his shoulder. It was his habit, +too, when composing profound papers to read before the Royal Society, +to let his children amuse themselves in his book-lined study, and who +cannot see the beaming face turned often from the written sheets to +look lovingly on his happy children? But, as I say, the memory of this +lovable man is blurred for his children, and the clearest of their +early memories are associated with their mother, into whose hands +their training came while our hero was still in frocks. + +[Illustration: Mrs. Baden-Powell. + From a Painting by Hartmann.] + +Mrs. Baden-Powell's maiden name was Henrietta Grace Smyth. Her father +was a sturdy seaman, Admiral W.H. Smyth, K.S.F., and fortunately for +her children she was trained in a school where neither Murdstone +rigour nor sentimental coddling was regarded as an essential. She was +the kind of mother that rears brave men and true. For discipline she +relied solely on her children's sense of honour, and for the +maintenance of her influence on their character she was content to +trust to a never-wavering interest in all their sports, occupations, +and hobbies. Her children were encouraged to bear pain manfully, but +they were not taught to crush their finer feelings. A simple form of +religion was inculcated, while the boys' natural love for humour was +encouraged and developed. In a word, the children were allowed to grow +up naturally, and the influence brought to bear upon them by this wise +mother was as quiet and as imperceptible as Nature intended it to be. +Dean Stanley, Ruskin, Jowett, Tyndall, and Browning were among those +who were wont to come and ply Mrs. Baden-Powell with questions as to +how she managed to keep in such excellent control half-a-dozen boys +filled to the brim with animal spirits. The truth is, the boys were +unconscious of any controlling influence in their lives, and how could +they have anything but a huge respect for a mother whose knowledge of +science and natural history enabled her to tell them things which +they did not know? In those days mothers were not content to commit +the formation of their children's minds to nursemaids and governesses. + +The eldest boy became a Chief Judge in India, and lived to write what +the _Times_ described as "three monumental volumes on the Land Systems +of British India." The second boy, Warington, of whom we shall have +more to say in the next chapter, went into the Navy, but left that +gallant Service to practise at the Bar, and now is as breezy a Q.C. as +ever brought the smack of salt-water into the Admiralty Court. The +third son, Sir George Baden-Powell, sometime member of Parliament for +Liverpool, had already entered upon a distinguished career when, to +the regret of all who had marked his untiring devotion to Imperial +affairs, his early death robbed the country of a loyal son. The other +brothers of our hero are Frank Baden-Powell, who took Honours at +Balliol, and is a barrister of the Inner Temple, as well as a noted +painter, and Baden F.S. Baden-Powell, Major in the Scots Guards, whose +war-kites at Modder River enabled Marconi's staff to establish +wireless telegraphy across a hundred miles of South Africa. Among +this family of young lions there was one little girl, Agnes, as keen +about natural history as the rest, to whom her brothers were as +earnestly and as passionately devoted as ever was Don Quixote to his +Dulcinea. + +And now to little Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell in +knickerbockers and Holland jerkin. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +HOME LIFE AND HOLIDAYS + + +Baden-Powell is now called either "B.-P." or "Bathing Towel." To his +family he has always been Ste. This name, a contraction of Stephenson, +was found for him by his big brothers in the days when home-made +soldiers and birds'-nesting were life's main business. + +Ste, who we must record was born at 6 Stanhope Street, London, on the +22nd February 1857, and had the engineer Robert Stephenson for one of +his godfathers, was educated at home until he was eleven years of age. +His parents had a great dread of overtaxing young brains, and lessons +were never made irksome to any of their children. Ste learned to +straddle a pony very soon after he had mastered the difficult business +of walking, and with long hours spent in the open in the lively +companionship of his brothers he grew up in vigorous and healthy +boyhood. He had an enquiring mind, and never seemed to look upon +lessons as a "fag." He was always "wanting to know," and there was +almost as much eagerness on the little chap's part to be able to +decline _mensa_ and conjugate _amo_ as he evinced in competing with +his brothers in their sports and games. Such was his gentle, placid +nature that the tutor who looked after his work loved to talk with +people about his charge, never tiring in reciting little instances of +the boy's delicacy of feeling and his intense eagerness to learn. Mark +well, Smith minor, that this is no little Paul Dombey of whom you are +reading. B.-P., so far as I can discover, never heard in the tumbling +of foam-crested waves on the level sands of the sea-shore any +mysterious message to his individual soul from the spirit world. He +was full of fun, full of the joy of life, and as "keen as mustard" on +adventures of any kind. His fun, however, was of the innocent order. +He was not like Cruel Frederick in _Struwwelpeter_, who (the little +beast!) delighted in tearing the wings from flies and hurling +brickbats at starving cats. Baden-Powell would have kicked Master +Frederick rather severely if he had caught him at any such mean +business. No, his fun took quite another form. He was fond of what you +call "playing the fool," singing comic songs, learning to play tunes +on every odd musical instrument he could find, and delighting his +brothers by "taking off" people of their acquaintance. B.-P., you must +know, is a first-rate actor, and in his boyhood it was one of his +chief delights to write plays for himself and his brothers to act. +Some of these plays were moderately clever, but all of them contained +a screamingly funny part for the low comedian of the company--our +friend Ste himself. + +Another of his amusements at this time was sketching. He got into the +habit of holding his pencil or paint-brush in the left hand, and his +watchful mother was troubled in her mind as to the wisdom of allowing +a possible Botticelli to play pranks with his art. One day Ruskin +called when this doubt was in her mind, and to him the question was +propounded. Without a moment's reflection he counselled the mother to +let the boy draw in whatsoever manner he listed, and together they +went to find the young artist at his work. In the play-room they +discovered one brother reading hard at astronomy, and Ste with a +penny box of water-colours painting for dear life--with his left hand. + +"Now I'll show you how to paint a picture," said Ruskin, and with a +piece of paper on the top of his hat and B.-P.'s penny box of paints +at his side he set to work, taking a little china vase for a model. +Both the vase and the picture are now in the drawing-room of Mrs. +Baden-Powell's London house. The result of Ruskin's advice was that +B.-P. continued to draw with his left hand, and now in making sketches +he finds no difficulty in drawing with his left hand and shading in at +the same time with his right. + +There is an incident of his childhood which I must not forget to +record. At a dinner-party at the Baden-Powells', when Ste was not yet +three years old, the guests being all learned and distinguished men, +such as Buckle and Whewell, Thackeray was handing Mrs. Baden-Powell +into dinner when he noticed that one of the little children was +following behind. This was the future scout of the British Army, and +the young gentleman, according to his wont, was just scrambling into a +chair when Thackeray, fumbling in his pocket, produced a new +shilling, and said in his caressing voice, "There, little one, you +shall have this shilling if you are good and run away." Ste quietly +looked up at his mother, and not until she told him that he might go +up to the nursery did he shift his ground. But he carried that +shilling with him, and now it is one of his most treasured +possessions. + +While he was doing lessons at home Baden-Powell gave evidence of his +bent. He was fond of geography, and few things pleased him more than +the order to draw a map. His maps, by the way, were always drawn with +his left hand, and were astonishingly neat and accurate. Then in his +spare hours, with scissors and paper, he would cut out striking +resemblances of the most noted animals in the Zoo, and +these--elephants and tigers, monkeys and bears--were "hung" by his +admiring brothers with due honour on a large looking-glass in the +schoolroom, there to amuse the juvenile friends of the family. He had +the knack, too, of closely imitating the various sounds made by +animals and birds, and one of his infant jokes was to steal behind a +person's chair and suddenly break forth "with conspuent doodle-doo." +And, again, when he was a little older, living at Rosenheim, I.W., +there was surely the future defender of Mafeking in the little chap in +brown Holland on the sands of Bonchurch digging scientific trenches +with wooden spade, and demonstrating to his governess the +impregnability of his sand fortress. With his sister and brother, +little Ste was once out with this governess on a country ramble near +Tunbridge Wells, when the governess discovered that she had walked +farther than she intended and was in strange country. Ste was elated. +But enquiry elicited the information that the party was not lost, and +that they could return home by a shorter route; then was Baden-Powell +miserable and cast down. He protested that he wanted the party to get +lost so that he could find the way home for them. + +[Illustration: B.-P. reflecting on the After-deck of the _Pearl_] + +A favourite holiday haunt was Tunbridge Wells, where Ste's grandfather +owned a spacious and a fair demesne. Here, with miles of wood for +exploration, brothers and sister were in their element. They would +climb into the highest chestnut trees in the woods, taking up hampers +and hay for the construction of nests, and at that exalted altitude +play all manner of wild and romantic games. And yet they would also +take up books into those cool branches and do lessons! Of Ste at this +period his governess remarks, "It gave him great pleasure to enter a +new rule in arithmetic"--an illuminative sentence, in which one sees +the governess as well as the child. + +It was here in Tunbridge Wells that Ste, with little Baden, now +Guardsman and inventor of war-kites, spent laborious days in +constructing a really serviceable dam in the river, digging there a +deep hole in order to make themselves a luxurious bathing-place. From +early infancy they had been taught to do for themselves. Master B.-P. +could dress and undress himself before he was three years old, and at +three he could speak tolerably well in German as well as English. The +children were encouraged to get knowledge as some other children are +encouraged to get bumptiousness; their parents delighted, and showed +the children their delight, whenever a child did something sensible +and clever; there was no unintelligent admiration of precocity. + +The boys dug their own gardens, and from five years of age each child +kept a most careful book of his expenditure by double entry. Their +pennies went chiefly in books and presents, and omnibuses for long +excursions out of London. There was no prohibition as to sweets, but +never a penny of these earnest young double-entry bookkeepers found +its way to the tuck-shop. However, a joke among the brothers was the +following constant entry in the book of one of them: "Orange, L0:0:1." +But no chaff was strong enough to correct that healthy appetite, and +"Orange, L0:0:1" went on through the happy years. + +At eleven years of age, Ste was packed off to a small private school, +and here he distinguished himself in the same manner, though of course +on a smaller scale, as Mr. Gladstone did at Eton. His moral courage, +coupled with his athletic prowess, made him the darling of the little +school, and the headmaster sorrowfully told his mother when the boy's +two years' schooling were over that he would thankfully keep him there +without fee of any kind, because by force of character the plucky +little fellow had raised the entire moral tone of the school. + +And now we come to what I regard as the most important part of our +hero's life. In the last chapter I said we should have to say +something about B.-P.'s big brother, the sailor, Warington, named +after his grandmother, who was a Warington of Waddon Park. The very +name Warington, even though it be spelled with a single 'r,' has an +inspiring sound, and while Thackeray lives will ever be linked with +all that is true and straightforward in the human heart. Imagine the +reverence felt for Warington by the young brothers when he came home +from a sea voyage! Not only were there the broad square shoulders, the +deep chest, and the bronzed face to compel admiration; but a masterful +and commanding manner withal, a stern eye and a rousing voice--and the +overwhelming and crushing fact that he was a British Naval officer! +Warington had been born ten years before Ste, and it is a mighty good +thing for B.-P. (and he would be the first to admit it) that this was +the case. For I believe that the resourcefulness of Baden-Powell is +the result of the early training which he received at the hands of +Warington; without that training he would have grown up a delightful +and an amusing fellow, but, I suspect, as so many delightful and +amusing people are, ineffective. And that is just what B.-P. is not. + +You must know that in the spring holidays the boys spent their days in +ranging field and copse "collecting," riding ponies, often with their +faces towards the tail-end, attending to their innumerable pets, and +doing a certain amount of reading of their own free will. Ste's study +was mainly history and geology, and it was his custom to embellish the +pages of the books he was reading with suitable illustrations as he +went along. With these amusements, and always a good many productions +of Ste's original comedies, the spring holidays slipped away +pleasantly enough. But in the summer holidays came Warington fresh +from the sea, with abounding energy and indomitable will, and +recreation then was of a sterner kind. + +Warington had designed a yacht, a smart 5-tonner, and in supreme +command of this little craft, with his brothers for the crew, and only +one hired hand for the dirty work, he took the schoolboys away from +the ease and comforts of home life to rough it at sea. They shipped as +seamen, and as seamen they lived. It was a case of "lights out" soon +after dusk, and then up again with the sun. This rule, however, was +not followed with comfortable regularity, for sometimes stress of +weather would find the little chaps tumbling out of their hammocks in +the dead of night, and clambering upon deck with knuckles rubbing the +sleep out of their eyes. All the work usually performed by seamen, +with the sole exception of cooking, was done by these little chaps, +and under the eagle eye of Warington it was well and truly done. Not +that they showed any disposition to shirk. On the contrary, a keener +crew was never shipped, but there was something in their knowledge +that the skipper's word was law, that there was no arguing about +orders, which must have given a certain polish to their work. +Warington, of course, was no petty tyrant, lording it over young +brothers, and swaggering in the undisputed character of his sway. Like +the rest he is a humourist, and when a gale was not blowing or the +yacht was not contesting a race, he was as full of merriment and good +spirits as the rest. His opinion of Ste at this time was a high one. +He was always, says he, "most dependable." Receiving his orders, the +future defender of Mafeking would stand as stiff and silent as a +rock, showing scarce a sign that he understood them, but the orders +were always carried out to the letter, and in a thoroughly finished +and seamanlike manner. Ste was always the tallest of his brothers, and +at this time he was singularly lithe and wiry. A tall slight boy with +quite fair hair, a brown skin, and sharp brown eyes, he possessed +extraordinary powers of endurance, and could always outlast the rest +of the brothers. He was quick to perceive the reason of an order, and +always quick to carry it out; he was just as brisk in organising +cruises on his own account, when, with the leave of Skipper Warington, +he would take command of the yacht's dinghy and go off on fishing +expeditions with Baden and Frank. It was a dinghy that moved quickly +with a sail, but in all their cruises up creeks and round about the +hulks of Portsmouth Harbour they never came to grief, and always +returned with a good catch of bass and mullet. + +Danger did come to the yacht itself, however, on more than one +occasion, and but for the courage and skill of Warington, the world +might never have heard of B.-P. and the other brothers. Once, in the +_Koh-i-noor_ (a 10-tonner with about eighteen tons displacement), +which was the second yacht designed by Warington, the boys were +cruising about the south coast, when, towards evening, just off +Torquay, a gale got up, and the sea began to get uncommon rough. As +the gale increased almost to a hurricane and the waves dashed a larger +amount of spray over the gunwale of the gallant little yacht, +Warington decided to change his course and run back to Weymouth. The +night was getting dark, and the storm increased. To add to the +anxieties of the skipper his crew of boys, though showing no funk, +began to grow green about the gills, and presently Warington found +himself in command of an entirely sea-sick crew. He was unable to +leave the helm, and for over thirty-one hours he stood there, giving +his orders in a cheerful voice to the groaning youngsters who were +more than once driven to the ship's drenched and dripping side. +Fortunately Warington knew the coast well, for it was much too dark to +see a chart, and so, despite the raging tempest, the 10-tonner fought +her way through the waves while the sea broke continually over her +side, drenching the shivering boys, who stuck to their posts, and +every now and then shouted to each other with chattering teeth that it +was "awful fun." + +As showing the resourcefulness of the crew, I may narrate another +yachting story. One Saturday, off Yarmouth, when the Baden-Powells +were thinking of a race for which they were entered on the following +Monday, a storm suddenly came on, which played such havoc with the +rigging that the mast was snapped in two, and the whole racing kit +went overboard. With clenched teeth the youngsters set to work and, +with many a long pull and a strong pull, got all the wreck on board. +Then with axes they slashed away at the wire-rigging, and set to work +to rig up a jury-mast. All Sunday they toiled--the spars on an +18-tonner are no child's play--and at last they were able to rig up a +jury-mast which would carry the mainsail with four reefs, while the +foresail was able to catch the wind of heaven with only two. On Monday +morning the yacht sailed out of Yarmouth fully rigged, and made off to +the regatta with as cheerful a crew as ever braved the elements. The +result of this labour was that the Baden-Powells, with a jury rig, won +a second prize, and came in for the warm commendation of wondering +and admiring sailors. + +As I have said, in these expeditions the boys did seamen's work. They +learned how to set sails, how to splice, how to reeve gear, how to +moor a ship, and make all ready for scrubbing the bottom. It was a +fine sight to see the healthy younkers, with trousers rolled over the +knee, ankles well under slate-coloured oozing mud, scrubbing away at +the bottom of the ship, and laughing and singing among themselves, +while the reflective Warington, pipe in mouth, looked on and +encouraged the toilers. + +All round the English coast sailed the Baden-Powells, fighting their +way to glory in regattas, and enjoying themselves from sunrise to +sunset. On racing days it was a case of "strictly to business," and +each boy had his proper station and knew well how to pull or slack out +ropes. On other days it was a case of fun and frolic, and here, of +course, B.-P. was the life and soul of the party. There were no +squabbles, no petty jealousies; never did the brothers throughout +their boyhood come to fisticuffs. But while there was perfect equality +among them and no favouritism was ever shown, Ste was regarded as the +prime comedian, and there was never any question that when theatricals +were the order of the day he should reign in supreme command. + +One of the houses taken by Mrs. Baden-Powell for the holidays was +Llandogo Falls, a most romantic place on the Wye, the property of Mr. +Gallenga, the Italian correspondent of the _Times_, who had previously +got mixed up in a deep political plot in Italy, whereby he gained many +useful secrets, but whereby, at the same time, he was obliged to flee +out of Italy and return to England. We fancy this story in its full +details must have appealed strongly to the imagination of +Baden-Powell, whose after-life, could it be fully written, would +satisfy the keenest appetite for daring, excitement, and romance. But +to return to Llandogo Falls. Mrs. Baden-Powell, her daughter, and all +the servants made the journey from London by means of the railway; but +to the boys the fastest of express trains would have seemed slow, and +accordingly Warington made ready his collapsible boat, and, rowing by +day and sleeping on board by night, these indefatigable youngsters +left London behind them, crossed the Severn, and, pulling up the Wye, +arrived at Llandogo Falls, the first intimation of their arrival to +Mrs. Baden-Powell being the sight of them dragging the boat over the +lawn to the stables. This feat succeeded in endearing them to the +Welsh people in the neighbourhood, who were greatly struck by the +courage of the boys in crossing the Severn in a collapsible boat. + +Here, at Llandogo Falls, the boys spent a great deal of time in riding +practically wild ponies, and even in those days Ste was famous for his +graceful seat, his quiet patience with an untractable steed, and his +daring in attempting difficult jumps. Besides riding, the boys were +fond of wandering about the country, making friends with the natives, +shooting birds to be presently stuffed by themselves and put in the +family museum, collecting rare insects, examining old ruins, and +rowing up the Wye to spend the afternoon in bathing or in fishing, +sometimes in both. + +In this simple, healthy, and thoroughly English fashion the +Baden-Powells spent their holidays, and in their home-life grew up +devoted to each other, and to the mother whose controlling influence +was over all their sports and occupations. It is interesting to note, +ere we leave the subject of early training, that no infliction of +punishment in any shape or form was permitted by Mrs. Baden-Powell. +Whether such a rule would work for good in all families is a question +that I for one, as a father of a young family, will never imperil my +reputation for consistency by answering with a dogmatic affirmative. +Nevertheless, one recognises the truth of Nietzsche's warning, "Beware +of him in whom the impulse to punish is powerful." In the case of the +Baden-Powells the proof of the pudding is in the eating, and you will +get none of them to say that their childhood was not a joyous period, +while Mrs. Baden-Powell will contend with any mother under Heaven that +never before were such honourable, straightforward, and gentle-minded +children. This home-life has never lost its charm, and though the sons +may be scattered over the world on the Queen's service, they come back +to exchange memories with each other under their mother's roof as +often as the exigencies of their professions will allow. And when +B.-P. is in the house, though his hair begins to flourish less +willingly on his brow, he is just like the boy of old, springing up +the stairs three steps at a time, and whistling as he goes with a +heartiness and a joyousness that astonishes the decorous ten-year-old +sparrow Timothy as he flits about the house after Miss Baden-Powell. + +I have in my possession a copy of Mr. Russell's monograph on Mr. +Gladstone, which had fallen into the hands of a grand old Tory parson. +The margins of those pages bristle with the vehement annotations of my +old friend. Against the statement that Mr. Gladstone had "a nature +completely unspoilt by success and prominence and praise," there is a +vigorous "OH!" Where it is recorded how in 1874 Mr. Gladstone promised +to repeal the income-tax, I find a pencil line and the contemptuous +comment, "A bribe for power!" Mr. Forster's resignation of office in +1882 is hailed with a joyful "Bravo, Forster!" and so on throughout +Mr. Russell's interesting book. But on the last page of all there are +three pencil lines marking a sentence, and by the side of the lines +the concession, "Yes--true." The sentence is this: "But the noblest +natures are those which are seen at their best in the close communion +of the home." + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +CARTHUSIAN + + +A gentleman once wrote to the late headmaster of Charterhouse, Dr. +William Haig-Brown, saying that he wished to have his son "interred" +at that school. The headmaster wrote back immediately saying he would +be glad to "undertake" the boy. The same headmaster being shown over a +model farm remarked of the ornamental piggery, built after the manner +of a Chinese Pagoda, that if there was Pagoda outside there was +certainly pig odour inside. + +Such a man as this is sure to have been impressed by the personality +of Master Ste, who, in 1870, came to him in the old Charterhouse, that +hoary, venerable pile which seems to shrink into itself, as if to shut +out the unpoetic and modern atmosphere of Smithfield Meat Market. +B.-P. went to Charterhouse as a gown boy, nominated by the Duke of +Marlborough, and owing to the ease with which his infant studies had +been conducted, was obliged to enter by a low form. But he had, as we +have already said, an enquiring mind. He had also a clear brain, all +the better for not having been crammed in childhood; and, therefore, +strong in body, full of health and good spirits, and just as keen to +get knowledge as to get a rare bird's egg, he began his school-days +with everything in his favour. The result was that 1874 found him in +the sixth, and one of the brilliant boys of his time. + +Dr. Haig-Brown, as we have said, was sure to have been impressed by +B.-P., and there is no need for his assurance that he remembers the +boy perfectly. Of course, when one sits in his medieval study and asks +the Doctor to discourse of B.-P., he begins by recalling Ste's love of +fun; indeed, it is with no great willingness that he leaves that view +of his pupil. But the boy's inflexibility of purpose, his uprightness +and his eagerness to learn are as equally impressed upon the +headmaster's mind, and he likes to talk about the exhilarating effect +which B.-P.'s virile character had upon the moral tone of the school. +"I never doubted his word," Dr. Haig-Brown told me, and by the tone of +the headmaster's voice one realised that B.-P. was just one of those +boys whose word it is impossible to doubt. A clean, self-respecting +boy. + +He was the life of the school in those entertainments for which +Charterhouse has always been famous, and his reputation as a wit +followed him from the stage into the playground. B.-P. was a keen +footballer, and whenever he kept goal there was always a knot of +grinning boys round the posts listening with huge delight to their +hero's facetiae. He also had the habit, such were his animal spirits, +of giving the most nerve-fluttering war-whoop imaginable when rushing +the ball forward, and this cry is said to have been of so terrifying a +nature as to fling the opposing side into a state of fear not very far +removed from absolute panic. By the way, it is interesting in the +light of after-events to read in the school's _Football Annual_ (1876, +p. 30) that "R.S.S. B.-P. is a good goalkeeper, _keeping cool, and +always to be depended upon_." + +But it was not only at football that Baden-Powell spent his time in +the playground, although it was only in football that he shone. Into +every game he threw himself with zest and earnestness, playing hard +for his side, and finding himself always regarded by his opponents as +an enemy to be treated with respect. That he continued to play +cricket, racquets, and fives, although not a great success, is +characteristic of his devotion to sports, and his habit of doing what +is the right thing to do. Then he was a faithful and lively +contributor to the school magazine, added his lusty young voice to the +chapel choir, and was for ever seeking out excuses for getting up +theatricals. Of one of his performances at the end of the Long Quarter +in 1872 it is interesting to note that the _Era_ of that time remarked +that it was "full of vivacity and mischief." He was always a great +success as an old woman, and we shall see that in later days he played +a woman's part with huge success in far Afghanistan. At one of these +school entertainments big brother Warington was present, and he +laughingly recalls how the vast audience of shiny-faced boys broke +into a great roar of delight directly B.-P. appeared in the +wings--before he had uttered a word or made a grimace. Dr. Haig-Brown +and the other masters who remember B.-P. like to recall scenes of +this kind, and it is no disparagement of Ste's other sterling +qualities that they seem to have been more impressed by his excellent +fooling than by any other of his good qualities. It is the greater +tribute to his genius for acting. + +[Illustration: Rev. William Haig-Brown, LL.D. + Lombardi & Co., Photographers, 27, Sloane Street, S.W.] + +So long as the world lasts, I suppose, the intelligent boy who works +hard at school will play the clown's part in popular fiction. Tom +Sawyer is the kind of youth we like to see given the chief part in a +novel, while George Washington, we are all agreed, is fit target for +our lofty scorn. But how few of the people we love to read about in +the airy realm of fiction, or the still airier realm of history, +really possess our hearts? Think over the heroes in novels who would +be drawn in with both hands to the fireside did they step out from +between covers and present themselves at our front door in flesh as +solid as the oak itself. And the good boy in fiction is anathema. +Shakespeare himself believed that + + Love goes towards love, as schoolboys from their books; + +and the man is regarded almost as un-English who would have the world +believe that there are British boys for whom the acquisition of +knowledge has almost the same attraction as for their heroes in +fiction has the acquisition of somebody's apples, or the tormenting of +helpless animals. + +The fault is not with the world but with the silly writers of +goody-goody stories, who have so emasculated and effeminated the boy +who works hard and holds his head high that it is now well-nigh +impossible to hear of such an one in real life without instantly +setting him down as an intolerable prig. These writers have committed +the greatest crime against their creations that authors can +commit--they have made them non-human. If the stories about George +Washington had narrated how on one occasion he laughed uproariously, +or how he once ate too many mince-pies, he might have escaped the +lamentable and unjust reputation which seems likely to be his fate for +another aeon or two. That boys can be good and human everybody knows, +and the man who loves Tom Sawyer and sneers at Eric would be the first +to flog and abuse his son if he bore a closer resemblance to the +former than to the latter. + +Baden-Powell as a boy was delightful. A grin always hovered about his +face, and the Spirit of Fun herself looked out of his sharp, brown +eyes. He was for ever making "the other chaps" roar; keeping a +football field on the giggle; sending a concert-audience into fits. +But he was just the sort of schoolboy of whom there would be no +incidents to record. Men who knew him and lived with him in those days +remember him, perhaps, more distinctly than any other boy of their +time, and at the merest mention of his name their eyes twinkle with +delight. "Oh, old Bathing Towel. George! what a funny beggar he was. +Remember him? I should think I did. Stories about him? Well, I don't +remember any just now, but dear old Bathing Towel----!" and off they +go into another roar of laughter. All they can tell you is how he used +to act and recite, and play all manner of musical instruments, or, if +you drag them away from the stage, how he used to rend the air with +his terrible war-whoop at the critical moment in a football match. + +But although this is how it strikes a contemporary, Baden-Powell was +in deadly earnest when it was a matter of books and ink-pots. He might +be the funny man of the school, but he was also one of the most +brilliant. He gave his masters the impression of a boy who really +delighted in getting on; who was really keen about mastering a +difficult subject. His vivacity and freshness, his energy and vigour, +helped him to take pleasure in work which to another boy, less +physically blessed, would have been an irksome toil; but though his +body may have projected him some distance upon his way, it was his +soul that really carried him triumphantly through. The spirit of +Baden-Powell in those days was what it is now--supremely intent upon +beating down obstacles in his path, and resolute to do well whatever +the moment's duty might be. So the boy who was setting a football +field on the roar at one moment, at the next would be sitting with +fixed eyes and knit brows, "hashing" at Latin verses, as serious as a +leader-writer hurling his bolts at the European Powers. + +The master who best remembers B.-P. is Mr. Girdlestone, in whose house +our hero spent four years of his school-days. Looking back over the +past Mr. Girdlestone finds that what impressed him most in B.-P. +during his school-days was the boy's manner with his elders. He was +reserved, very reserved, and he never had any one close chum at +school; but apparently he was quite free of shyness, as he would +approach his masters without any trace of that timidity which too +often marks the commerce of boy with master. On an afternoon's walk, +for instance, B.-P. would not be found among the boys, but side by +side deep in conversation with his master. And these conversations, I +find, convinced his gubernators that he was very much above the +average cut of boy in intelligence; not (Heaven forbid!) that he made +parade of his little knowledge, but rather that he was eager to get +information in really useful subjects from his superiors, and not +above boldly declaring his eagerness. In those days Dr. Haig-Brown had +a great reputation for sternness, and it is said that even the masters +would sometimes quail when they entered his presence; but B.-P. was +perfectly at his ease and entirely self-possessed even in approaching +the presence of the great Doctor. He was never bashful in addressing a +master on new schemes for the benefit of the school, and it was solely +owing to his application to Mr. Girdlestone that Charterhouse first +started its string orchestra, which is now one of the best boys' bands +in the kingdom. Music, it seems, was one of his chief delights at +school, he played the violin really well; but while he loved that king +of instruments, he would stoop to baser, and oft delight his +contemporaries, holding them entranced, by spirited performances on +the mouth organ and the ocarina. + +With no close friend Baden-Powell was a boy without an enemy, and his +popularity may be seen in many ways. Although, for instance, he was +not successful in athletics, he was a regular member of the Sports +Committee, and worked with intense enthusiasm for the success of +Sports-Day. And, another instance; as a memento of their favourite, +the butler of B.-P.'s house and his wife saved a part of the dress he +wore in his last theatrical performance. When the news came of the +relief of Ladysmith this garment was drawn forth from the back of a +drawer and used as a flag of rejoicing, and as I write it is being +jealously guarded to be hung out from the school windows when the +little boy who wore it is delivered from his glorious prison of +Mafeking. + +This butler has a very vivid recollection of Baden-Powell. He +remembers him as a boy "up to mischief," but too much of a gentleman +ever to go beyond proper bounds. His mischief was of the harmless +nature, and he was never "shown up" for a row of any description. Many +a time did the observant butler come upon Baden-Powell in the House +Music Room practising his tunes; but not by any means in a dull and +unoriginal fashion. It was the boy's habit to take off his boots and +stockings, set a chair on a table, climb up to his perch, and from +thence draw forth melody of sorts with his ten toes. After this it is +surely a wonder that Baden-Powell in joining the army did not insist +upon doing Manual Exercise with his extremities. + +There is a story about Master Ste which clearly shows, I think, the +estimation in which he was held by the other boys. Who but a general +favourite could have played the following part? On Shrove Tuesday at +Charterhouse there was of old time a custom called the Lemon Peel +Fight. With every pancake the boys were given a lemon, or half a +lemon, and these were never eaten, being jealously reserved for the +great fight on the green outside after the pancakes had +unmysteriously disappeared. On one occasion, when the sides were drawn +up in grim battle array, facing each other lemon in hand, every boy as +dauntless as Horatius, Herminius, and Spurius Lartius, and just when +the signal for the conflict was to be given,--suddenly upon the scene +appeared Baden-Powell, swathed from head to foot in tremendous +padding, with nothing to be seen of his little brown face save the +bright, mischievous eyes peeping out of two slits. Rushing between the +two lines with a fearsome war-whoop, this alarming apparition squatted +suddenly upon the grass, and looking first on one army and then on the +other, said in the most nonchalant tone of voice: "Let the battle +commence!" + +From the battle-field one goes naturally to the butts. In some of the +newspaper articles concerning Baden-Powell it has been said that he +had nothing to do with the Rifle Corps. This is quite wrong. There was +nothing going on at Charterhouse into which Baden-Powell did not fling +himself with infinite zest, and shooting, of course, had special +attractions for a boy bred in the country and deep-learned in the +mysteries of field and covert. Not only did he take part in the +shooting, but he was an active member of the Shooting Committee. His +last score, shooting as a member of the School VIII. _versus_ the 6th +Regiment at Aldershot on 6th March 1876, was as follows:-- + + 200 yards 500 yards Total + 22 14 36 + +The school was beaten, and Sergeant B.-P. came out of the contest as +third best shot for Charterhouse. The day, says the historian, was +bitterly cold, and a violent and gusty wind blew across the range. +Seven shots were fired at each distance, class targets being used. + +If there is interest in Baden-Powell's score as a schoolboy-marksman, +how much greater interest should there be in Baden-Powell's hit as +orator? It is not always the ready actor who makes the best polemical +speech, but Baden-Powell had a reputation at Charterhouse as a debater +as well as fame as a mimic. That the boy was more than ordinarily +intelligent may even be seen in the abbreviated report of one of his +speeches preserved in the school magazine. The subject of debate was +that "Marshal Bazaine was a traitor to his country," and Baden-Powell +spoke against the motion. The report says that he "appeared to be +firmly convinced that the French plan of the war was to get the +Prussians between Sedan and Metz, and play a kind of game of ball with +them. By surrendering, Bazaine saved lives which would be of use +against the Communists. As there was only a government _de facto_ in +Paris he was compelled to act for himself." But even eloquence of this +order was not sufficient to persuade Charterhouse that Bazaine +deserved no censure. The motion was carried by a majority of 1. + +In those days, too, Baden-Powell was famous as an artist, and his +sketches, with the left hand, were admired and commented upon by +masters as well as boys. One can fancy with what great reverence B.-P. +the caricaturist must have looked upon Thackeray's pencil in the +Charterhouse Library--the pencil of the great man whose shilling he +was then hoarding with the jealousy of a miser. + +Baden-Powell's quality as a schoolboy may be judged by his later life. +Few things are so pleasant about him as his intense loyalty to his +old school. Before leaving India for England in 1898, he wrote to Mr. +Girdlestone, asking his old House Master to send to his London address +a list of all the interesting fixtures at Charterhouse, so that he +might see what was going on directly he arrived in England. Whenever +he is in the old country he pays a visit to Godalming, and one of his +last acts before leaving for South Africa was to call on Dr. +Haig-Brown at the Charterhouse, where he first went to school, to bid +his old Head a brave and cheerful farewell. And what was more English, +what more typical of the public-school man, than the letter B.-P. sent +to England from bombarded Mafeking, saying that he had been looking up +old Carthusians to join him in a dinner on Founder's Day? In India he +never allowed the 12th of December to pass unhonoured, and whether he +be journeying through the bush of the Gold Coast Hinterland, or riding +across the South African veldt, he is always quick to recognise the +face of an old schoolboy, or the Carthusian colours in a necktie. + +The estimation in which Charterhouse holds Baden-Powell may be seen in +the result of a "whip round" for the hero besieged in Mafeking--nearly +a hundred and forty cases of useful goods. These cases contained, among +other things, 962 lbs. of tobacco, 1200 cigars, 23,000 cigarettes, 640 +pipes, 160 dozens of wine and spirits, seven cases of provisions, 490 +shirts, 730 "helmets," 1350 pairs of socks, and 168 pairs of boots. In +addition to this over L1000 was raised by Old Carthusians to be sent +out in its own useful shape. + +Popularity such as this has been justly earned. Baden-Powell's record +as a Carthusian will, as we have seen, bear looking into, and though +the old school may boast of more brilliant scholars and more +world-wide names on its roll, I do not think it has ever sent into the +world a more useful all-round man, a more intrepid soldier, a more +upright gentleman, and a more loyal son. And one knows that there is +no British cheer so likely to touch the heart of Baden-Powell when he +returns to England as the great roar which will assuredly go up in +Charterhouse when this Old Boy comes beaming into the Great Hall. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE DASHING HUSSAR + + +When Baden-Powell turned his back on Charterhouse it was with the +intention of proceeding to Oxford. Professor Jowett, who, by the bye, +was the godfather of Baden, begged our hero to pay him a visit as soon +as he left school, and when on this visit the Master heard that B.-P. +could only spare two years for Oxford, he said, "Then Christ Church is +the college for you, because at Balliol I like each man to remain +three or four years, and go in for honours finally." So Ste made plans +for going to Christ Church, was examined, accepted for the following +term, and Dean Liddell arranged about rooms for him in the House. But +ere B.-P. went up, an Army examination came on, and, "just for fun," +up went our indefatigable hero with a light heart and no other thought +in his mind than the determination to do his level best. The result +of this happy-go-lucky entrance for examination was the unlooked-for +success of our "unbruised youth with unstuffed brain," who passed +second out of seven hundred and eighteen candidates, among whom, by +the way, were twenty-eight University candidates. As a reward for his +brilliancy, B.-P. was informed by the Duke of Cambridge that his +commission would be ante-dated two years. + +Until this memorable event Baden-Powell had expressed no special +predilection for soldiering. His chief desire had been to go in for +some profession that would take him abroad and show him the world. The +first service which seemed to attract him definitely at all was the +Indian Woods and Forests, and this chiefly on account of a burning +desire to roam about the gorgeous East. It was only when an elder +brother suggested that, if he wanted to see India and other countries +as well, he might be better suited in the Army, that this born soldier +gave any indication of his desire for a military career. And only with +the Army examination successfully conquered did he seriously begin to +think of uniforms and swords and the glamour of a soldier's life. + +On the 11th September 1876 Baden-Powell joined the 13th Hussars in +India, and one of his first acts was to take from his baggage an +ocarina, and having assembled all the European children he could find +in the station, to march at their head through the streets of Lucknow, +playing with great feeling, which suffered, however, a little from his +all-comprehensive grin, "The Girl I Left Behind Me." In this manner he +signalised his arrival, earning the undying love of every English +mother in the place, and infusing into the gallant 13th Hussars +(_Viret in AEternum!_) fresh vigour and fresh spirit. + +The 13th Hussars, Sir Baker Russell's old regiment, boasts a fine +record, and the songs in the canteen at night will tell you how the +regiment rode on the right of the line at Balaclava, when it was known +to fame as the 13th Light Dragoons. One of these songs begins:-- + + Six hundred stalwart warriors, of England's pride the best, + Did grasp the lance and sabre on Balaclava's crest, + And with their trusty leader, Lord Cardigan the brave, + Charged up to spike the Russian guns--or find a soldier's grave. + +And the refrain, which every man present sings with a face as solemn +as my Lord Chancellor sitting on the Woolsack half an hour longer +than usual, runs in this fashion:-- + + Oh, 'tis a famous story; proclaim it far and wide, + And let your children's children re-echo it with pride, + How Cardigan the fearless his name immortal made, + When he crossed the Russian valley with his famous Light Brigade. + +This is the great glory of the regiment, the knowledge of which makes +the recruit blow his chest out another inch and straightway purchase +out of his pay spurs that jingle more musically when he goes abroad +than the miserable things served out by an unromantic Government. +Other legends there are in this regiment, and once Baden-Powell and +his great friend, Captain MacLaren (known to the officers as "The +Boy," to the men as "The Little Prince"), set about compiling its +history; but for some reason or another that work has not yet +appeared, and since its inception B.-P. has deserted to the +Dragoons--_Vestigia nulla retrorsum!_ + +Baden-Powell became popular with his brother-officers directly he +joined. It was his freshness, his overflowing good spirits, his hearty +and unmistakable enjoyment of life, that first won their regard. The +boy suddenly dropped into their midst was no blase youth, no mere +swaggering puppy. He was afire with the joy of existence, radiant with +happiness, excited--and not ashamed to show it--by all the newness and +fascination of Indian life. The Major screwed his eye-glass into his +eye and smiled encouragingly; the Adjutant measured him with peg to +his lip and knew he would do. Every one felt that the new sub was an +acquisition. + +But it must not be supposed that there was any "bounce" about the new +boy. Apart from his breeding and training, which would effectually +prevent a man from committing the unpardonable sin of the social +world, Baden-Powell by nature was, and still is, a little bashful. +There are people who pooh-pooh the very idea of such a thing, and +declare that the man they have heard act and sing and play the fool is +no more nervous than a bishop among curates. Nevertheless they are +wrong; and your humble servant entirely right. B.-P., like the other +members of his family, suffers from nervousness, and when he goes on +the stage to act, and sits down at the piano to "vamp," it is a sheer +triumph of will over nerves. He is not nervous under the wide and +starry sky, not bashful when he pricks his horse into the long grass +of the veldt and bears down upon a bunch of bloodthirsty savages, not +nervous when he gets a child on his knee all by himself and tells her +delightful stories,--but nervous as a boy on his first day at school +when he finds himself being lionised in a drawing-room, or picked out +of the ruck of guests for any particular notice. And so when he joined +the 13th, behind the ebullient spirits was this innate bashfulness, +which, added to the natural modesty of a gentleman, kept his animal +spirits in a delightful simmer, and found favour for him in the eyes +of his superior officers. How they discovered B.-P.'s quality as a +humourist happened in this way. A day or two after he joined there was +an entertainment of some sort going on in barracks, and during a pause +Sir Baker Russell turned round to Baden-Powell, and said, "Here, young +'un, you can play a bit, I'm sure"; and up went Baden-Powell to the +piano, as if obeying an order. In a few minutes the whole place was in +a roar, and, as one of the officers told me, the regiment recognised +that in B.-P. they had got "a born buffoon, but a devilish clever +fellow." + +[Illustration: The Dashing Hussar. + (B.-P. at 21.)] + +Concerning B.-P. as an actor, it is characteristic of the +thoroughness with which he does everything that he always draws and +redraws any character he may be playing until he is perfectly +satisfied with the dress and make-up; some of these drawings have been +captured by his brother-officers, and are greatly treasured. + +Soon after joining he began to show his quality as a sportsman. In +that regiment of fine riders it has always been hard to shine at polo +or tent-pegging, or heads-and-posts, but there was no mistaking the +perfect horseman in B.-P. when he got into the saddle, with the eyes +of the regiment upon him. Few men ride more gracefully. His seat, of +course, is entirely free from that ramrod stiffness which some of the +Irregular Cavalry cultivate with such painful assiduity; he sits +easily and gracefully, so easily that you might fancy a rough horse +would set him bobbing and slipping like a cockney astride a donkey on +the sands. But with all the ease and grace, there is strength there, +such as would wear down the nastiest of bad brutes. The leg that looks +so lightly and gracefully posed grips like steel, and the pressure +increases relentlessly the more the horse quarrels with his rider. +Many a time has Baden-Powell taken in hand young horses which have +defied the efforts of the rough-riding Sergeant-Major, and so far as I +can gather there was never a case of the horse beating the rider. His +skill as a breaker of horses deserves especial mention because of the +characteristic manner in which it is done. By simply sticking in the +saddle, and gripping with his legs, he wears down the horse's +opposition, silently matching his powers of endurance against the +tricks and tempers of the unruly member. Seldom does whip or spur come +into play when Baden-Powell is fighting for the mastery with an +undisciplined horse. + +But while he was proving himself a good sportsman, B.-P. was getting +to know about soldiering, paying great attention to regimental work +and loyally working to please his captains. Not only did he devote +himself to the ordinary routine of regimental work, but in spare +moments he began to read up special subjects, and it seems only +natural that one of the first of these subjects should be Topography. +The result of this labour was that in 1878 Baden-Powell passed the +Garrison Class, taking a First Class and Extra Certificate (Star) for +Topography. During the lectures he distinguished himself by making +inimitable caricatures, for which he was sometimes taken to task by +the authorities. Also he could not help poking fun at the examiners in +the papers themselves. Asked, "Do you know why so-and-so, and +so-and-so?" Baden-Powell would write an interrogative "No." + +After distinguishing himself in this way, B.-P. came back to England, +in order to go through the Musketry Course at Hythe. Here he did +equally well, taking a First Class Extra Certificate, and a year after +we find him as Musketry Instructor at Quetta. But this book is not +intended to be a "biography" of Baden-Powell, and I shall beg leave to +relate no chronological record of his military career. We are telling +his story as a story, hoping to interest every English schoolboy who +has arrived at years of discretion, hoping to make them keen on sport, +keen on exercise, keen on open-air life, and hoping, in addition, to +be of real practical use to those whose eyes are now set hungrily on +Sandhurst. + +In a later chapter it will be seen how Baden-Powell interested himself +in his men's welfare, and how he encouraged them to become real +soldiers--learned in things other than mere boot-cleaning and +button-polishing. Here we behold him as the gay and dashing Hussar, a +bold sportsman, a keen soldier, and one of the most popular men in +India. + +His popularity, it is only fair to say, was earned very largely by +that gift for acting which had won him fame as a schoolboy. Whispers +that he was going to act in the _Area Belle_, or one of Gilbert and +Sullivan's operas, travelled with amazing rapidity from station to +station in India, and every performance in which he took part was +attended by all the Europeans for miles round. Indeed his fame as an +actor travelled so far afield that the manager of a London theatre +wrote to him in India offering our astonished hero a position in his +company at a salary of ten pounds a week! There is never an occasion +when B.-P. is not willing to get up theatricals. A few months after +the siege of Kandahar he arranged for a performance of _The Pirates of +Penzance_ in that barbarous city, making himself responsible for the +entire management. The dresses were excellent, the stage and scenery +good, and the opera was received with intense enthusiasm; and yet +there was not a single European woman there; all the dresses and +costumes were the work of B.-P., who himself appeared in the character +of Ruth! On another occasion, when _Trial by Jury_ was to be given, it +was discovered at the last moment, to the consternation of every one +except B.-P., that there were no Royal arms. In a few hours he +produced what I am assured was the most splendid and gorgeous national +emblazonry that ever sparkled behind footlights. He had collected a +few crude paints from the natives of the district, and had painted the +arms with an old shaving-brush. Such is his resourcefulness. And what +of his enthusiasm? When he was home in England on sick-leave he sent +out to the 13th Hussars the book of _Les Cloches de Corneville_, with +excellent sketches of the dresses and hints as to its staging. Again, +he has been known to get off a sick-bed in India in order to take part +in some entertainment for the amusement of soldiers. + +It was shortly after the successful performance of _The Pirates of +Penzance_, and after the evacuation of Kandahar, that Baden-Powell +very nearly succeeded in putting an end to himself. He was toying with +a pistol, in the firm conviction that it was unloaded, when, to his +intense indignation, the thing went off and planted a bullet in the +calf of his leg. It might have been a more romantically dangerous +wound, but it was quite sufficiently uncomfortable. Even now, on any +serious change in the weather, B.-P. is unpleasantly reminded of this +adventure in far Afghanistan by rebellious throbbing in the old wound. + +On his return from Kandahar Baden-Powell was appointed Adjutant and +Musketry Inspector to his regiment, and he is spoken of by one who was +himself adjutant of this fine regiment for many years as one of the +best adjutants in the world. Shortly after this his uncle, General +Smyth, Commandant at Woolwich, offered him the tempting appointment of +A.D.C., but Baden-Powell preferred India and his regiment, and +declined. Life in India suited Master Ste. It provided him with a +great deal of real soldiering, much sport, and made him acquainted +with one of the most fascinating countries in the world. After he got +his troop, he became Brigade-Major to Sir Baker Russell's Cavalry +Brigade at Meerut Camp of Exercise, and was appointed Station +Staff-Officer and Cantonment Magistrate at Muttra. With all these +duties he found time for sketching and writing, publishing +_Reconnaissance and Scouting_, and sending many interesting sketches +to the _Graphic_. It may not be out of place here to mention that +Baden-Powell, among other parts, has played the War Correspondent, +working once in that character for the _Daily Chronicle_, and with +considerable success. + +That Baden-Powell was a marked man early in his career is attested by +the fact of his being chosen as a member of the Board for formulating +Cavalry regulations at Simla in 1884. He was eminently a business-man, +a managing man, and all his work in the army has been marked by those +excellent qualities which go to the making of our great merchant +princes. He is shrewd, practical, and what he says is always to the +point. His despatches are admirable examples of what such documents +should be, never saying a word too much, and yet leaving his meaning +clear-cut and unmistakable. For such work he finds a model in the +despatch of Captain Walton, who, under Admiral Byng, destroyed the +entire Spanish fleet off Passaro: "Sir,--We have taken or destroyed all +the Spanish ships on this coast; number as per margin.--Respectfully +yours, G. Walton, _Captain_." Says Baden-Powell, "There is no +superfluous verbosity there." + +But do not let us lose sight altogether of Baden-Powell as the +whimsical humourist. There are two stories in the regiment which +reveal him in this light very nicely. He was once walking with a +friend on the esplanade of some English seaside place, and the day was +piping hot. Suddenly, without explanation of any kind, B.-P. sat +himself down on the kerb, placed his billycock hat solemnly on his +knees, and buried his face in a flaming red handkerchief. This +unprecedented sight stirred the depths of the one and only policeman's +heart, and he strode valiantly across the road, prepared to do his +duty at all costs. Touching B.-P. upon the shoulder with his white +cotton glove, the constable demanded, in a deep voice, "Arnd, whaaet's +the matter wi' you, eh?" Slowly removing the handkerchief from his +eyes, and with a perfectly solemn face, B.-P. explained that he had +just at that moment tumbled out of his nurse's arms and that the silly +woman had gone on without noticing it. And the other story: being told +rather rudely at a picture exhibition in Manchester that he must go +back to the hall and leave his stick with the porter, B.-P. walked +briskly away, but presently returned, with his stick, hobbling +painfully along--a man to whom a walking-stick was veritably a staff +of life. The rude official bit his lip and looked the other way. + +When the regiment was at Muttra, Baden-Powell lived in a house which +boasted a very large compound, and this he dignified by the name of +"Bloater Park." At that time it was the habit to speak about men as +"this old bloater" and "that old bloater," and the expression so +tickled B.-P. that he adopted the name for his lordly compound. +Letters would actually reach him from England solemnly addressed to +Bloater Park. + +Life at this time--if we except the 1887 operations against Dinizulu +in Africa, when B.-P. was Assistant Military Secretary, and commanded +a column in attack--was for the most part humdrum, and only enlivened +by theatricals and shooting expeditions. But B.-P. was ever interested +in his men, and planned sports and entertainments for them, which +always kept him fully occupied. A friend of his going to call on him +in Seaforth, where B.-P. was commanding a squadron, was astonished to +find a Maypole in the centre of the dingy barrack square, round which +mounted men rode merrily, each with a coloured ribbon in his hand. On +questioning the commander, the visitor discovered that there was a +deserving charity in Liverpool, and that B.-P. was getting up a +military display on its behalf. + +Before leaving this subject, let us mention that Baden-Powell was +Brigade-Major to the Heavy Brigade at the Jubilee Review of 1887, that +he was sent by Lord Wolseley to arrange about machine guns for cavalry +use at Aldershot, that he was Secretary to the British Commission at +Swaziland in 1888, and in the same year was elected a member of the +United States Cavalry Association. One of his most important staff +appointments was that of Assistant Military Secretary to the Governor +of Malta, where his work for the amelioration of the soldiers' and +sailors' lives produced lasting benefits. + +His work as a regimental officer will be more fully dealt with in a +later chapter. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +HUNTER + + +"The longest march seems short," says Baden-Powell, "when one is +hunting game." Many a time, when he has been marching either alone or +with troops, his clothes in tatters, his shoes soleless, and his mouth +as dry as a saucer licked by a cat, many and many a time has he got +out from under the impending shadow of depression, out into the open +sunlight with his rifle,--to forget all about hunger and thirst in +matching his wits against nature's. This kind of wild sport has an +absorbing interest for Baden-Powell. What he would say if invited to +hunt a tame deer, lifted by human arms out of a cart, kicked away from +playing with the hounds and pushed and beaten into an astonished and +bewildered gallop, neither you nor I must pretend to know; but for +that kind of "sport" it is very certain he would express no such +enthusiasm as he does for the keen, wild, dangerous sport of the +legitimate hunter. He will not seek the destruction of any quarry that +is not worthy of his steel; he likes to go against that quarry where +there are obstacles and dangers for him, and opportunities of escape +for the creature he pursues. He is a sportsman, not a butcher; +mole-catching never stirred the blood in his veins. + +And while he is hunting animals he is educating himself as a scout. +His whole attention becomes riveted on the game he is pursuing; he +studies the spoor, takes account of the nature of the country, and +makes a note in his mind of any observations likely to be of service +during a campaign in that kind of country. It is not the work of +destruction itself that makes Baden-Powell a keen sportsman. + +In the midst of the Matabele war, just as the weary, half-starved +horses which had carried his men eighty-seven miles drew near the +stronghold of Wedza, Baden-Powell was exhilarated by a meeting with a +lion. In his diary against that date he wrote: "To be marked with a +red mark when I can get a red pencil." The incident is well related +in his diary and is a characteristic of B.-P. It runs: "Jackson and a +native boy accompanied me scouting this morning; we three started off +at three in the morning, so that by dawn we were in sight of one of +the hills we expected might be occupied by Paget, and where we hoped +to see his fires. We saw none there; but on our way, in moving round +the hill which overlooks our camp, we saw a match struck high up near +the top of the mountain. This one little spark told us a great deal. +It showed that the enemy were there; that they were awake and alert (I +say 'they,' because one nigger would not be up there by himself in the +dark); and that they were aware of our force being at Possett's (as, +otherwise, they would not be occupying that hill). However, they could +not see anything of us, as it was then quite dark; and we went farther +on among the mountains. In the early morning light we crossed the deep +river-bed of the Umchingwe River, and, in doing so, we noticed the +fresh spoor of a lion in the sand. We went on, and had a good look at +the enemy's stronghold; and on our way back, as we approached this +river-bed, we agreed to go quietly, in case the lion should be moving +about in it. On looking down over the bank, my heart jumped into my +mouth when I saw a grand old brute just walking in behind a bush. +Jackson could not see him, but was off his horse as quick as I was, +and ready with his gun; too ready, indeed, for the moment that the +lion appeared, walking majestically out from behind the bush that had +hidden him, Jackson fired hurriedly, striking the ground under his +foot, and, as we afterwards discovered, knocking off one of his claws. +The lion tossed up his shaggy head and looked at us in dignified +surprise. Then I fired and hit him in the ribs with a leaden bullet +from my Lee-Metford. He reeled, sprang round, and staggered a few +paces, when Jackson, who was firing a Martini-Henry, let him have one +in the shoulder; this knocked him over sideways, and he turned about, +growling savagely. I could scarcely believe that we had actually got a +lion at last, but resolved to make sure of it; so, telling Jackson not +to fire unless it was necessary (for fear of spoiling the skin with +the larger bullet of the Martini), I got down closer to the beast, and +fired a shot at the back of his neck as he turned his head away from +me. This went through his spine, and came out through the lower jaw, +killing him dead." + +It was during the Matabele campaign that Baden-Powell came across a +fine wild boar, which, he remarks, caused quite a flutter in his +breast. "'If I only had you in the open, my friend,' thought I. 'If +only you had a horse that was fit enough to come anywhere near me,' +grinned he. And so we parted." A graphic incident. + +It is in hunting the wild boar that Baden-Powell has a universal +reputation as a sportsman. He is good, very good, at all sports, but +it is as a pig-sticker that he excels, and stands out clear-cut from +the rest. And pig-sticking is the sport of all sports which entail the +killing of animals in which we could wish him to excel. Hear Major +Moray Brown on the subject of fox _versus_ pig: "You cannot compare +the two sports together. To begin with, in fox-hunting you are +dependent on 'scent.' Granted the excitement of a fast burst over a +grass country, and that you are well carried by your horse, the +end--what is it? A poor little fox worried by at least forty times its +number of hounds. Has he a chance, bar his cunning, of baffling his +pursuers? No. Now, how different is the chase of the boar of India! +There you must depend on _yourself_ in every way, and at the end your +quarry meets you on nearly fair and equal terms." Let it be remembered +that the boar is an animal of great reputation among beasts. It is a +well-ascertained fact, says Baden-Powell, that of all animals the boar +does not fear to drink at the same pool with a tiger; nay, a case is +on record of his having taken his drink with a tiger on each side of +him. In his book on pig-sticking Baden-Powell quotes an exciting +description of a battle between a tiger and a boar, a battle which +will give English readers a vivid idea of the boar's pluck and +doggedness. The narrative is as follows: "When the boar saw the tiger +the latter roared. But the old boar did not seem to mind the roar so +very much as might have been anticipated. He actually repeated his +'hoo! hoo!' only in a, if possible, more aggressive, insulting, and +defiant manner. Nay, more, such was his temerity that he actually +advanced with a short, sharp rush in the direction of the striped +intruder. Intently peering through the indistinct light, we eagerly +watched the development of this strange _rencontre_. The tiger was +now crouching low, crawling stealthily round and round the boar, who +changed front with every movement of his lithe and sinewy adversary, +keeping his determined head and sharp, deadly tusks ever facing his +stealthy and treacherous foe. The bristles of the boar's back were up +at a right angle from the strong spine. The wedge-shaped head poised +on the strong neck and thick rampart of muscular shoulder was bent +low, and the whole attitude of the body betokened full alertness and +angry resoluteness. In their circlings the two brutes were now nearer +to each other and nearer to us, and thus we could mark every movement +with greater precision. The tiger was now growling and showing his +teeth; and all this, that takes such a time to tell, was but the work +of a few short minutes. Crouching now still lower, till he seemed +almost flat on the ground, and gathering his sinewy limbs beneath his +lithe, lean body, he suddenly startled the stillness with a loud roar, +and quick as lightning sprang upon the boar. For a brief minute the +struggle was thrilling in its intense excitement. With one swift, +dexterous sweep of the strong, ready paw, the tiger fetched the boar +a terrific slap right across the jaw, which made the strong beast +reel; but with a hoarse grunt of resolute defiance, with two or three +sharp digs of the strong head and neck, and swift, cutting blows of +the cruel, gashing tusks, he seemed to make a hole or two in the +tiger's coat, marking it with more stripes than Nature had ever +painted there; and presently both combatants were streaming with gore. +The tremendous buffet of the sharp claws had torn flesh and skin away +from off the boar's cheek and forehead, leaving a great ugly flap +hanging over his face and half blinding him. The pig was now on his +mettle. With another hoarse grunt he made straight for the tiger, who +very dexterously eluded the charge, and, lithe and quick as a cat +after a mouse, doubled almost on itself, and alighted clean on the +boar's back, inserting his teeth above the shoulders, tearing with his +claws, and biting out great mouthfuls of flesh from the quivering +carcase of his maddened antagonist. He seemed now to be having all the +best of it, so much so that the boar discreetly stumbled and fell +forward, whether by accident or design I know not, but the effect was +to bring the tiger clean over his head, sprawling clumsily on the +ground. I almost shouted 'Aha, now you have him!' for the tables were +turned. Getting his forefeet on the tiger's prostrate carcase, the +boar now gave two or three short, ripping gashes with his strong white +tusks, almost disembowelling his foe, and then exhausted seemingly by +the effort, apparently giddy and sick, he staggered aside and lay +down, panting and champing his tusks, but still defiant with his head +to the foe." But the tiger, too, was sick unto death, and the end of +this battle-royal was that he who saw it emptied the contents of both +his barrels into the two stricken belligerents, and put them out of +their agony. + +[Illustration: "Beetle."] + +It is against such a fierce, resolute, and well-armed enemy that +Baden-Powell loves to match his strength and cunning. Mounted on his +little fourteen-hand Waler, in pith solar topee, grey Norfolk jacket, +light cords, and brown blucher boots, and grasping in his hand his +deadly seventy-inch spear, he goes forth to slay the wild boar, with +all the feelings of romance and knightliness which some people think +vanished from the world when Excalibur sank in the Lake of Lyonnesse. +It is a battle whereof no man need be ashamed; in which only the +strong man can glory. Many a time has the wild boar hurled his great +head and mountainous shoulders against the forelegs of a horse, +bringing the hunter to the ground for mortal combat on foot. Many a +time has the novice, who went out as gaily and contemptuously as the +fox-hunter, returned to his bungalow cut and gored on a stretcher. He +who goes up against the wild boar must, in Baden-Powell's words, "have +matured not only the 'pluck' which brings a man into a desperate +situation, but that 'nerve' which enables him to carry the crisis to a +successful issue." + +When Baden-Powell returned to India from Afghanistan in 1882, he +became an enthusiastic pig-sticker (for reasons which we shall give in +our chapter on Scouting), and during that year he killed no fewer than +thirty-one pigs. In the following year he killed forty-two, and won +the blue-ribbon of hog-hunting--the Kadir Cup. Two years afterwards he +wrote and illustrated the standard book on pig-sticking (published by +Messrs. Harrison and Sons), which is as famous a book in India as Mr. +H.S. Thomas's delightful books on fishing. + +Hunting the boar takes place early in the morning and again in the +evening, so that men find themselves with nothing to do for the +greater part of the day. This time is usually spent in the tent +sketching, dozing, and reading, with occasional "goes" of claret cup. +But it is characteristic of Baden-Powell that he should give useful +advice concerning these waste hours. "If you prefer not to waste this +time altogether," he says, "it is a good practice to take a few books +and dictionary of any foreign language you may wish to be learning." +Again, his character as a thoughtful man may be seen in the warning he +gives novices against ill-treating villagers, or allowing the shikaris +to do so. "Shouting and cursing at a coolie already dumbfoundered at +the very sight of a white man is not the way to clear his +understanding." His remark that native servants under cover of their +master's prestige will frequently tyrannise over the villagers reminds +me of a story which I cannot forbear to tell. A bridge had been thrown +over a river in some outlandish part of India, and his work done, the +Englishman in charge was returning to more civilised regions. Just +before turning his back on the scene of his labours he inquired of a +villager whether he was pleased with the bridge. The man expressed +voluble admiration for the sahib's great skill, but lamented the high +toll that was charged for crossing the bridge. "Toll!" exclaimed the +Briton, "why, there's no toll at all; the bridge is free to +everybody." But the native still protesting that a charge was made, +and saying that a notice to that effect was written up in big English +letters, the engineer went down to the bridge himself to investigate +the mystery. There he discovered his own servant sitting at the +receipt of custom, with a flaming advertisement of Beecham's Pills +pasted on to a board over his head, to which he pointed as his +authority when questioned by rebellious natives. + +Baden-Powell tells an amusing story of an impromptu boar hunt. "At a +grand field-day at Delhi, in the presence of all the foreign +delegates, in 1885, a boar suddenly appeared upon the scene and +charged a Horse Artillery gun, effectually stopping it in its advance +at a gallop by throwing down two of the horses. The headquarters staff +and the foreign officers were spectators of this deed, and hastened to +sustain the credit of the Army by seizing lances from their orderlies +and dashing off in pursuit of the boar, who was now cantering off to +find more batteries on which to work his sweet will. The staff, +however, were too quick for him, and, after a good run and fight, he +fell a victim to their attentions, amidst a chorus of _vivas_, +_sacres_, and _houplas_." + +The pig is a born fighter. From his early infancy he learns the use of +butting, and perceives, at an age when civilised piggies are just +beginning to root up one's orchard, that his growing tusks are meant +for other uses than those of mere captivation. Little "squeakers" have +been watched by B.-P. having a regular set-to together, while the +older members of their family sat in a pugilistic ring grinning +encouragement. Once Baden-Powell managed to secure a baby pig, and +kept him in his compound, just as he had kept rabbits and guinea-pigs +in England. To watch this squeaker practising "jinking" from a tree +("jinking" is "pig-sticking" for jibbing), and charging ferociously at +an old stump, was one of our hero's pet amusements for many weeks. + +Although dogs are not regularly used in hunting the wild boar they are +sometimes employed for scouting in a particularly thick jungle, and +Baden-Powell frequently went to work of this kind with a half-bred +fox-terrier. He regards as one of the joys of true sport the bending +of animals' wills to his own, and while in this respect the horse +ranks highest in his estimation, he is always glad to work with a keen +dog. Beetle, the fox-terrier, was just such a dog as Baden-Powell +would like; he was quick, full of intelligence, a complete stranger to +fear, and moreover he had an individuality of his own. When B.-P. +started off for the haunt of his quarry, Beetle would sit with an air +of great dignity in the front of the saddle, keeping a sharp look-out +for signs of pig. At a likely spot the little dog would jump nimbly +from the saddle and plunge boldly into the jungle. Then a sharp yap +would reach the ears of B.-P., then a smothered growl, a crashing of +twigs and branches, and at last, with a floundering dash, out came the +boar, struggling into his stride with Beetle at his heels. "In the run +which followed," says Baden-Powell, "the little dog used to tail along +after the hunt, and, straining every sense of sight and hearing as +well as of smell to keep to the line, always managed to be in at the +death, in time to hang on to the ear of a charging boar, or to apply +himself to the back end of one who preferred sulking in a bush." And +in the end it was a change of climate, at Natal, that killed the +gallant-hearted Beetle. He died with a tattered ear, a drooping +eyelid, an enlarged foot, and twelve scars on his game little +body--all honourable mementos of innumerable fights with the dreaded +boar. + +As showing Baden-Powell's prowess as a hunter we may mention some of +the stuffed animals in the hall of his mother's house, all of which +have fallen to our hero: Black Bucks, Ravine Deer, Gnu, Inyala, Eland, +Jackal, Black Bear, Hippopotamus (a huge skull), Lion, Tiger, and Hog +Deer. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +SCOUT + + +All hardy exercise is good for a soldier, but in pig-sticking +Baden-Powell found a sport which, in addition to its effect upon the +nerves and sinews, gives a man what is called a "stalker's eye," and +that, says B.-P., is _par excellence_ the soldier's eye. It was this +that made B.-P. an enthusiastic hunter of the wild boar. "Without +doubt," he exclaims, "the constant and varied exercise of the +inductive reasoning powers called into play in the pursuit must exert +a beneficial effect on the mind, and the actual pleasure of riding and +killing a boar is doubly enhanced by the knowledge that he has been +found by the fair and sporting exercise of one's own bump of +'woodcraft.' The sharpness of intellect which we are wont to associate +with the detective is nothing more than the result of training that +inductive reasoning, which is almost innate in the savage. To the +child of the jungle the ground with its signs is at once his book, his +map, and his newspaper. Remember the volume of meaning contained in +the single print of Friday's foot on Crusoe's beach." And so he +advises officers in India to go with a native tracker to the jungle +and watch him and learn from him "the almost boundless art of deducing +and piecing together correctly information to be gathered from the +various signs found." The importance of tracking, and the art of it, +is shown in an interesting story which B.-P. tells, a story which +demonstrates the close relationship of hunter and scout. A sportsman +in India was out tiger-shooting early one morning, with two +professional trackers walking in front of his elephant, and the usual +company of beaters behind. As they went along, the fresh pugs of a +tiger were seen on the ground, but the professional trackers passed on +without so much as a sign of having noticed the spoor. In a minute the +beaters were up with the professionals, asking, with Asiatic irony, if +they had eyes in their professional heads. To which one of the +trackers merely replied, "Idiots! at what time do rats run about?" And +then the humbled coolies went back to look at the spoor again, and +there they saw, after a close scrutiny, the delicate tracing of a +little field-rat's feet over the mighty pugs of Stripes. This rat only +comes out of its hole early in the night, and retires long before the +Eastern day begins, so that several hours had elapsed since the tiger +journeyed that way, and the professional was a better man than the +amateur. + +Baden-Powell has all the qualifications that go to make a good scout. +His eye is as keen as the hawk's, and many a time "by keeping his eyes +skinned" he has done useful, if unobtrusive, work. Once he was riding +in the night with despatches for headquarters' camp, guiding himself +by the stars. Arriving at the place where he thought the camp ought to +be, he was surprised to find no sign of it. Dismounting from his +saddle, he was thinking of lying up for the night (rather than +overshoot the mark) when a distant spark, for the fraction of a +second, caught his eye. Jumping into the saddle again, he rode towards +the place where the spark had flickered its brief moment, and there he +found a sentry smoking a pipe. The red glow of the baccy in the bowl +had guided B.-P. with his despatches safely to camp. + +But not always does Baden-Powell see what he says he sees. On one +occasion in Kashmir he was matching his eyes against a shikari, and +the story of the contest is related by B.-P. in his _Aids to Scouting_ +(published by Gale and Polden, London and Aldershot): "He pointed out +a hillside some distance off, and asked me if I could see how many +cattle there were grazing on it. It was only with difficulty that I +could see any cattle at all, but presently I capped him by asking him +if he could see the man in charge of the cattle. Now, I could not +actually see this myself, but knowing that there must be a man with +the herd, and that he would probably be up-hill above them somewhere, +and as there was a solitary tree above them (and it was a hot, sunny +day), I guessed he would be under this tree." And when the incredulous +shikari looked through the field-glasses he marvelled at the vision of +the white man--the herdsman was under the tree as happy as a hen in a +dust-bath. The uses of inductive reasoning! + +A good instance of Baden-Powell's skill in "piecing things together" +is given in the same excellent manual on scouting. He was scouting one +day on an open grass plain in Matabeleland accompanied by a single +native. "Suddenly," he says, "we noticed the grass had been recently +trodden down; following up the track for a short distance, it got on +to a patch of sandy ground, and we then saw that it was the spoor of +several women and boys walking towards some hills about five miles +distant, where we believed the enemy to be hiding. Then we saw a leaf +lying about ten yards off the track--there were no trees for miles, +but there were, we knew, trees of this kind at a village 15 miles +distant, in the direction from which the tracks led. Probably, then, +these women had come from that village, bringing the leaf with them, +and had gone to the hills. On picking up the leaf, it was damp and +smelled of native beer. So we guessed that according to the custom of +these people they had been carrying pots of native beer on their +heads, the mouths of the pots being stopped with bunches of leaves. +One of these leaves had fallen out; but we found it ten yards off the +track, which showed that at the time it fell a wind had been blowing. +There was no wind now, but there had been about five A.M., and it was +now nearly seven. So we read from these signs that a party of women +had brought beer during the night from the village 15 miles distant, +and had taken it to the enemy on the hills, arriving there about six +o'clock. The men would probably start to drink the beer at once (as it +goes sour if kept for long), and would, by the time we could get +there, be getting sleepy from it, so we should have a favourable +chance of reconnoitring their position. We accordingly followed the +women's tracks, found the enemy, made our observations, and got away +with our information without any difficulty." + +In the chapters referring to his work as Sir Frederick Carrington's +Chief of the Staff in the Matabele campaign of 1896, we shall see what +great service Baden-Powell has rendered the army by his tireless +scouting. Here I can hardly do better than quote from his _Aids_, for +in this book he unlocks his heart as a scout, and in order to +encourage non-commissioned officers and men to interest themselves in +the more intelligent side of soldiering (not for self-advertisement) +tells us innumerable instances of his own interesting experiences. The +chief charm of scouting, of course, is in actual warfare, when a man +goes out, sometimes alone and unattended, to find out what a +well-armed enemy is doing and how many fighting men are to be expected +in the morrow's battle. But just as Cervantes could "engender" the +ingenious Don Quixote in a miserable prison, so Baden-Powell in the +arid times of peace finds means of enjoying the fascinations of +scouting. When out in India he used to spend many an early morning in +practising, and he gives the result of one of these mornings in his +little book on Scouting, which I would have you read in its entirety. +It is a book which has many of the virtues of a novel, and is written +in plain English. + +The following instance will show you how assiduously B.-P. practises +scouting, and will also give you an idea as to beguiling your next +country walk. + + _Ground:_ A well-frequented road in an Indian + hill-station--dry--gravel, grit, and sand. + + _Atmosphere:_ Bright and dry, no wind. + + _Time:_ 6 A.M. to 8 A.M. + + _Signs: Fresh Wheelmarks._ [Fresh because the tracks were + clearly defined with sharp edges in the sand; they overrode + all other tracks.] + + [This must mean a "rickshaw" (hand-carriage) had passed + this morning--no other carriages are used at this + station.] + + _Going Forward._ [Because there are tracks of bare feet, + some ridden over, others overriding the wheel track, but + always keeping along it, _i.e._ two men pulling in front, + two pushing behind.] + + [Had they been independent wayfarers they would have + walked on the smooth, beaten part of the road.] + + _The men were going at a walk._ (Because the impression of + the fore part of the foot is no deeper than that of the + heel, and the length of pace not long enough for running.) + + _One man wore shoes_, the remaining three were barefooted. + + _One wheel was a little wobbly._ + + _Deduction_ + + _The track was that of a rickshaw conveying an invalid in + comparatively humble circumstances, for a constitutional._ + + Because it went at a slow pace, along a circular road which led + nowhere in particular (it had passed the cemetery and the + only house along that road), at an early hour of the + morning, the rickshaw being in a groggy state and the men + not uniformly dressed. + + NOTE.--This deduction proved correct. On returning from my walk + I struck the same track (_i.e._ the wobbly wheel and the one shod + man) on another road, going ahead of me. I soon overtook them, + and found an old invalid lady being driven in a hired bazaar + rickshaw. + + While following the tracks of the rickshaw, I noticed fresh + tracks of two horses coming towards me, followed by a big dog. + + _They had passed since the rickshaw_ (overriding its tracks). + + _They were cantering_ (two single hoof-prints, and then two near + together). + + _A quarter of a mile farther on they were walking_ for a quarter + of a mile. (Hoof-prints in pairs a yard apart.) Here the dog + dropped behind, and had to make up lost ground by galloping + up to them. (Deep impression of his claws, and dirt kicked + up.) + + _They had finished the walk about a quarter of an hour_ before I + came there. (Because the horse's droppings at this point + were quite fresh; covered with flies; not dried outside by + the sun.) + + _They had been cantering up to the point where they began the + walk, but one horse had shied violently on passing the + invalid in the rickshaw._ (Because there was a great kick up + of gravel and divergence from its track just where the + rickshaw track bent into the side of the road, and + afterwards overrode the horse's tracks.) + + NOTE.--I might have inferred from this that the invalid was + carrying an umbrella which frightened the horse, and was, + therefore, a lady. But I did not think of it at the time and had + rather supposed from the earliness of the hour that the invalid + was a man. Invalid ladies don't, as a rule, get up so early. + + _Deduction_ + + _The tracks were those of a lady and gentleman out for a ride, + followed by her dog._ + + Because had the horses been only out exercising with syces they + would have been going at a walk in single file (or possibly at a + tearing gallop). + + They were therefore ridden by white people, one of whom was a + lady; because, 1st, a man would not take a big, heavy dog to pound + along after his horse (it had pounded along long after the horses + were walking); 2nd, a man would not pull up to walk because his + horse had shied at a rickshaw; but a lady might, especially if + urged to do so by a man who was anxious about her safety, and that + is why I put them down as a man and a lady. Had they been two + ladies, the one who had been shied with would have continued to + canter out of bravado. And the man, probably, either a very + affectionate husband or no husband at all. + + NOTE.--I admit that the above deductions hinge on very + little--one link might just be wrong and so break the whole chain. + This is often, indeed generally, the case, and corroborative + evidence should always be sought for. + + In the present instance my deductions proved pretty correct. I + saw the couple later on, followed by their collie dog, riding + along a lower road; but I could not determine their relationship + to one another. + + _Note on Examples I. and II._ + + Incidentally, the horse-tracks of No. 2 gave me a clue to the + hour at which the invalid in the rickshaw had passed that way. + Thus: I came on the droppings at 7.14. + + Assuming that they were actually 15 minutes old and the horses + had walked 1/4 mile since passing the rickshaw, 19 minutes must + have elapsed since the passing; _i.e._ they passed each other at + 6.55. + + On my arrival at the point where they had passed, the rickshaw + would now be 23 minutes ahead of me, or about 11/4 mile. + +But it is not only on set occasions that Baden-Powell practises +scouting. He rarely takes a walk, boards a 'bus, or enters a train, +without finding opportunity for some subtle inductive reasoning. Thus +he recommends the men in his regiment to notice closely any stranger +with whom they may come in contact, guess what their professions and +circumstances are, and then, getting into conversation, find out how +near the truth their surmises have been. Therefore, dear reader, if +you find yourself in a few months' time drifting into conversation +with a good-looking, bronzed stranger, this side of fifty, who puts +rather pointed questions to you, after having studied your thumbs, +boots, and whiskers intently, take special delight in leading him +harmlessly astray, for thereby you may be beating, with great glory to +yourself, the "Wolf that never Sleeps." + +The joy of a walk in the country is heightened, I think, by following +the example of Baden-Powell, and paying attention to the tracks on the +ground. It would be an uncanny day for England when every man turned +himself into a Sherlock Holmes, but there is no man who might not with +advantage to himself practise scouting in the Essex forests or on the +Surrey hills. The world is filled with life, and yet people go +rambling through fields and woods without having seen anything more +exciting than a couple of rabbits and a few blackbirds. + +The chief joy of scouting, however, is not to be found in what +Baden-Powell calls "dear, drowsy, after-lunch Old England." They who +would seek it must go far from this "ripple of land," far from + + The happy violets hiding from the roads, + The primroses run down to, carrying gold,-- + The tangled hedgerows, where the cows push out + Impatient horns and tolerant churning mouths + 'Twixt dripping ash-boughs,--hedgerows all alive + With birds and gnats and large white butterflies + Which look as if the May-flower had caught life + And palpitated forth upon the wind,-- + Hills, vales, woods, netted in a silver mist, + Farms, granges, doubled up among the hills, + And cattle grazing in the watered vales, + And cottage-chimneys smoking from the woods, + And cottage-gardens smelling everywhere, + Confused with smell of orchards. + +Far from our tight little island must they journey for that inspiring +spell which turns the man of means into a wanderer upon the earth's +surface, driving him out of glittering London, with its twinkling +lights and its tinkling cabs, out of St. James's, and out of the club +arm-chair--out of all this, and wins him into the vast, drear, and +inhuman world, where men of our blood wage a ceaseless war with savage +nature. And it is when Baden-Powell packs his frock-coat into a +drawer, pops his shiny tall hat into a box, and slips exultingly into +a flannel shirt that the life of a scout seems to him the infinitely +best in the world. No man ever cared less for the mere ease of +civilisation than Baden-Powell. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE FLANNEL-SHIRT LIFE + + +In _The Story of My Heart_ Richard Jefferies begins his enchanting +pages with the expression of that desire which every son of Adam feels +at times--the longing for wild, unartificial life. "My heart," he +says, "was dusty, parched for want of the rain of deep feeling; my +mind arid and dry, for there is a dust which settles on the heart as +well as that which falls on a ledge.... A species of thick clothing +slowly grows about the mind, the pores are choked, little habits +become part of existence, and by degrees the mind is inclosed in a +husk." Then he goes on to tell of a hill to which he resorted at such +moments of intellectual depression, and of the sensations that +thrilled him as he moved up the sweet short turf. The very light of +the sun, he says, was whiter and more brilliant there, and standing on +the summit his jaded heart revived, and "obtained a wider horizon of +feeling." Thoreau, too, went to the woods because he wanted to live +deliberately, and front only the essential facts of life. "I wanted to +live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and +Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad +swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to +its lowest terms." + +This longing for a return to nature in minds less imaginative than +Thoreau's and Jefferies' results in globe-trotting or +colonisation--according to circumstances,--it wakes the gipsy in our +blood, be we gentle or simple, and sends us wandering over the waste +places of the earth in quest of glory, adventure, or a gold +mine--anything so long as it entails wandering. When it stirs in the +mind of the disciplined soldier it turns him into a scout, and drives +him out of the orderly-room, out of the barrack square, to wander in +Himalayan passes and ride across the deserts of Africa. Baden-Powell +is a nomad. The smart cavalry officer who can play any musical +instrument, draw amusing pictures, tell delightfully droll stories, +sing a good song, stage-manage theatricals--do everything, in short, +that qualifies a man to take his ease in country houses, loves more +than any other form of existence the loneliness and the wildness of +the scout's. Often, he tells us, when he is about the serious business +of handing teacups in London drawing-rooms, his mind flies off to some +African waste, to some lonely Indian hill, and straightway he longs +with all his soul to fling off the trappings of civilised society, and +be back again with nature, back again in the dear old flannel-shirt +life, living hard, with his life in his hand. + +Once, after two months of wandering, he got into a hotel and, after +dinner, into a bed. But it would not do, he says; in a twinkling he +had whipped the blankets off the bed and was lying outside on mother +earth, with the rain beating upon his face, and deep in refreshing +slumber. The best of beds, according to B.-P., is "the veldt tempered +with a blanket and a saddle." When he is on his lonely wanderings he +always sleeps with his pistol under the "pillow" and the lanyard round +his neck. However soundly he sleeps, if any one comes within ten yards +of him, tread he never so softly, Baden-Powell wakes up without fail, +and with a brain cleared for action. + +One of the sayings of Baden-Powell which I most like is that which +most reveals this side of his character. "A smile and a stick," says +he, "will carry you through any difficulty in the world." And he lives +in accordance with this principle; and it is typical of the man. Over +the world he goes on his solitary expeditions, hunting animals, +hunting men, making notes of what foreign armies are doing, what are +the chief thoughts occupying the minds of distant and dangerous +tribesmen, and he never goes about it blusteringly or with the Byronic +mystery of the stage detective. He trusts to his sense of humour--to +his smile--first; after that, and only when there is no hope for it, +do those hard jaws of his lock with a snap, the eyes light up with +resistless determination, and _whir-r-r_ goes the stick, and--well, it +requires a tough head to bear what follows. + +[Illustration: The Family on Board the _Pearl_] + +Baden-Powell's friends were amused during the early days of the siege +of Mafeking by the complaint of some fellow in the town who had +incurred the Colonel's wrath. I forget the exact words of the silly +creature's complaint, as, indeed, I forget his offence, but it was +something after this fashion: "The Colonel called me before him +and, in a dictatorial manner, told me that if I did it again he would +have me shot. He then most insolently whistled a tune." The last words +I believe to be quite correctly quoted: "He then most insolently +whistled a tune." How they suggest laughter! One of Baden-Powell's +choicest epigrams refers expressly to this very trick of whistling: +"There is nothing like whistling an air when you feel exasperated +beyond reclaim." Uncle Toby whistling "Lillabullero" when muddled by +his scarps and counter-scarps, and Baden-Powell whistling a scrap from +_Patience_ to prevent himself from kicking a dangerous idiot out of +his presence! "He then most insolently whistled a tune." I recall +those words sometimes when I am dropping off to sleep, and they wake +me up to laugh. I tell this story not only for its own dear sake, but +because it is necessary to remember, when considering Baden-Powell's +character, that though he meets you with a smile on his face he +carries a stick in his hand to prevent you from taking liberties with +his good nature. The best-tempered fellow in the world, and blessed +with the keenest sense of humour, he can be as uncompromising a +martinet as the sternest fire-eater of old days--_when there is real +necessity for it_. + +In this flannel-shirt life of his, Baden-Powell has had many +adventures, but few, I think, are more interesting in a subdued way +than one he records in his diary of the Matabele campaign. I give it +in his own words: "To-day, when out scouting by myself, being at some +distance from my boy and the horses, I lay for a short rest and a +quiet look-out among some rocks and grass overlooking a little stream, +and I saw a charming picture. Presently there was a slight rattle of +trinkets, and a swish of the tall yellow grass, followed by the +apparition of a naked Matabele warrior standing glistening among the +rocks of the streamlet, within thirty yards of me. His white war +ornaments--the ball of clipped feathers on his brow, and the long +white cow's-tail plume which depended from his arms and +knees--contrasted strongly with his rich brown skin. His kilt of wild +cat-skins and monkeys' tails swayed round his loins. His left hand +bore his assegais and knobkerrie beneath the great dappled ox-hide +shield; and in his right a yellow walking-staff. He stood for almost a +minute perfectly motionless, like a statue cast in bronze, his head +turned from me, listening for any suspicious sound. Then, with a swift +and easy movement, he laid his arms and shield noiselessly upon the +rocks, and, dropping on all fours beside a pool, he dipped his muzzle +down and drank just like an animal. I could hear the thirsty sucking +of his lips from where I lay. He drank and drank as though he never +meant to stop, and when at last his frame could hold no more, he rose +with evident reluctance. He picked his weapons up, and then stood +again to listen. Hearing nothing, he turned and sharply moved away. In +three swift strides he disappeared within the grass as silently as he +had come. I had been so taken with the spectacle that I felt no desire +to shoot at him--especially as he was carrying no gun himself." It is +little adventures of this kind, I think, which most impress one with +the romance and fascination of a scout's life. + +On his solitary wanderings over the earth Baden-Powell has had many +narrow escapes of death, but none so near, perhaps, as that of an +excited native who, after an action, told B.-P. with bubbling +enthusiasm that a bullet had passed between his ear and his head! +Once Baden-Powell came unexpectedly upon a lion prepared to receive +him with open jaws, and but for perfectly steady nerves, which enabled +him at that critical moment to fire deliberately, he had never brought +home another lion's skin to decorate his mother's drawing-room in +London. Another narrow escape occurred during the Matabele campaign, +when Baden-Powell was quietly and peacefully marching by the side of a +mule battery. One of the mules had a carbine strapped on to its +pack-saddle, and by some extraordinary act of carelessness the weapon +had been left loaded, and at full-cock. Of course the first bush +passed by the battery fired the carbine, and Baden-Powell remarks of +the incident, "Many a man has nearly been shot by an ass, but I claim +to have been nearly shot by a mule." + +It is Baden-Powell's habit to keep in perfect readiness at his London +house an entire kit for service abroad. The most methodical of men, he +has made a study of this important branch of a wanderer's service, and +when he sets out on his journeys he carries with him everything that +is essential both for himself and his horse, and packed in such a way +as would be the despair of the deftest valet. When the War Office +asks him how long he will be before starting on a commission abroad, +B.-P. answers, "I am ready now." Everything is there in a room in his +mother's house, and Baden-Powell is never so happy as when that khaki +kit leaves its resting-place and is packed away in a ship's cabin. And +what journeys he has been on Queen's service! Before he was +twenty-three he had travelled over the greater part of Afghanistan, +and then after seeing most of India, he was in South Africa at +twenty-seven, and did there a wonderful reconnaissance, unaccompanied, +of six hundred miles of the Natal Frontier in twenty days. He has +travelled through Europe, knows the Gold Coast Hinterland as well as +any European, and has almost as good a notion as the Great Powers +themselves concerning their frontier defences. + +This reminds me that Baden-Powell sometimes spends his holidays in +visiting historical battlefields and travelling through various +countries to see how their defences and their guns are getting along. +He is an excellent linguist, and can make his way in any country +without arousing suspicions. During some military manoeuvres one +autumn (we need not enter into special details) Baden-Powell was +wandering at the back of the troops, seeing things not intended for +the accredited representatives of Great Britain, who had the front row +of the stalls, and saw beautifully what they were meant to see. What +he noted on this occasion is regarded by military authorities as very +valuable information. + +But exciting as these adventures are, they possess no such fascination +for Baden-Powell as the life in breeches, gaiters, flannel-shirt, and +cowboy's hat--when the mountains infested with murderous natives are +blurred by the night, and he is free to steal in among their shadows +at his will, and creep noiselessly through the enemy's lines. The +Matabele, of whom we shall speak later on, soon got to distinguish +Baden-Powell from the rest of Sir Frederick Carrington's troops in +1896. They christened him "Impessa" then, and to this day he is spoken +of by the Kaffirs with awe and admiration as the "Wolf that never +Sleeps." Silent in his movements, with eyes that can detect and +distinguish suspicious objects where the ordinary man sees nothing at +all, with ears as quick as a hare's to catch the swish of grass or +the cracking of a twig, he goes alone in and out of the mountains +where the savages who have marked him down are asleep by the side of +their assegais, or repeating stories of the dreadful Wolf over their +bivouac fires. This is the life which has most attractions for +Baden-Powell, and if he had not been locked up in Mafeking all through +those precious months at the beginning of the war, it is no idle +guesswork to say that we should have lost fewer men and fewer guns by +surprise and ambuscade. + +In this flannel-shirt life, however, Baden-Powell is not always on the +serious emprise of soldiering. Most of his holidays, at any rate while +he is abroad, are spent in shirt-sleeves. His periods of rest from the +duties of soldiering are given over to expeditions which carry him far +away from the smooth fields and trim hedges of civilisation; he is for +ever trying to get face to face with nature, living the untrammelled +romantic life of a hunter, independent of slaughterman, +market-gardener, and tax-collector. In his boyhood, as we saw, he +loved few things more than "exploring," and now he has but exchanged +the woods of Tunbridge Wells for the Indian Jungle and the Welsh +mountains for the Matopos. + +Happy the man who carries with him into middle-age the zest and aims +of a clean boyhood. There is something invigorating, almost inspiring, +in the contemplation of Baden-Powell's meridian of life. The fifties +which gave him birth seem now to belong to a remote and benighted era; +and the blindest of his unknown adorers, if she has bought a hatless +photograph, cannot deny that Time's effacing fingers have something +roughly swept the brow where she could wish his hair still +lingered,--and yet at forty-three, Baden-Powell, Colonel of Dragoons, +goes wandering into bush and prairie, striding by stream and striking +up mountain, with all the eagerness, all the keenness, all the +abandonment of the gummy-fingered boy seeking butterflies and birds' +eggs. For him life is as good now as it was with big brother +Warington. He is up with the lark, his senses clear and awake from the +moment the cold water goes streaming over his head; there is no +"lazing" with him, no beefy-mindedness, no affectation and effeminacy. +And I cannot help thinking that if the decadents of our day--for +whose distress of soul only the stony-hearted could express +contempt--would but for a week or two lay aside their fine linen, +donning in its place the magic flannel shirt of Baden-Powell, they +would find not only a happy issue to their jaundice, but even discover +that the world is a good place for a man to spend his days in--if he +but live like a man. + +Hear Baden-Powell on this subject, and get a glimpse of his serious +side, which so seldom peeps out for the world to see: "Old Oliver +Wendell Holmes," he says, "is only too true when he says that most of +us are 'boys all our lives'; we have our toys, and will play with them +with as much zest at eighty as at eight, that in their company we can +never grow old. I can't help it if my toys take the form of all that +has to do with veldt life, and if they remain my toys till I drop. + + "Then here's to our boyhood, its gold and its grey, + The stars of its winter, the dews of its May; + And when we have done with our life-lasting toys, + Dear Father, take care of Thy children, the boys. + +"May it not be that our toys are the various media adapted to +individual tastes through which men may know their God? As +Ramakrishna Paramahansa writes: 'Many are the names of God, and +infinite the forms that lead us to know of Him. In whatsoever name or +form you desire to know Him, in that very name and form you will know +Him.'" + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +ROAD-MAKER AND BUILDER + + +King Prempeh was the first celebrity to receive the attention of B.-P. +In his capital of Kumassi, which being interpreted is "the +death-place," this miserable barbarian had been practising the most +odious cruelties for many years, ignoring British remonstrances, and +failing, like another African potentate, to keep his word to +successive British Governments. Among the Ashantis at this time (1895) +the blood-lust had got complete dominion, and the sacrifice of human +life in the capital of their kingdom was so appalling that England was +at last obliged to buckle on her armour. To quote B.-P. in a +characteristic utterance: "To the Ashanti an execution was as +attractive an entertainment as is a bull-fight to a Spaniard, or a +football match to an Englishman." Even the most coddled schoolboy +will appreciate the force of this comparison. + +To give a general idea of these cruelties we will quote a vivid +passage from Baden-Powell's book, _The Downfall of Prempeh_: "Any +great public function was seized on as an excuse for human sacrifices. +There was the annual yam custom, or harvest festival, at which large +numbers of victims were often offered to the gods. The late king went +every quarter to pay his devotions to the shades of his ancestors at +Bantama, and this demanded the deaths of twenty men over the great +bowl on each occasion. On the death of any great personage, two of the +household slaves were at once killed on the threshold of the door, in +order to attend their master immediately in his new life, and his +grave was afterwards lined with the bodies of more slaves, who were to +form his retinue in the next world. It was thought better if, during +the burial, one of the attendant mourners could be stunned by a club +and dropped, still breathing, into the grave before it was filled +in.... Indeed, if the king desired an execution at any time, he did +not look far for an excuse. It is even said that on one occasion he +preferred a richer colour in the red stucco on the walls of the +palace, and that for this purpose the blood of four hundred virgins +was used." + +The expedition to bring Mr. Prempeh to his senses was under the +command of Sir Francis Scott, and Baden-Powell received the pink +flimsy bearing the magic words, "You are selected to proceed on active +service," with a gush of elation, which, he tells us, a flimsy of +another kind and of a more tangible value would fail to evoke. Of +course he was keen to go. The expedition suggested romance, and it +assured experience. To plunge into the Gold Coast Hinterland is to +find oneself in a world different from anything the imagination can +conceive; civilisation is left an infinite number of miles behind, and +the Londoner is brought face to face with what Thoreau calls the wild +unhandselled globe. The message was received by Baden-Powell on the +14th of November 1895, and on the 13th of December he was walking +through the streets of Cape Coast Castle, and had noted how well +trodden was the grave of the writer L.E.L., who lies buried in the +courtyard of the castle. + +It was the business of B.-P. to raise a force of natives, and to +proceed with this little army as soon as possible in front of the +expedition, acting as a covering force. That is to say, the work of +these undrilled, stupid, and not over-brave natives was scouting, a +duty which while it is the most fascinating part of a soldier's life +is also one of the most difficult. This then was an undertaking of +which many a man might have felt shy, but Baden-Powell (the army is +full of Baden-Powells) went at it cheerfully enough. On the arid +desert outside the castle, which is called the parade ground, B.-P. +and Captain Graham, D.S.O., taught these negroes, under a blazing sun, +the rudiments of soldiering. In one part of their drill a few simple +whistle-signals were substituted for the usual words of command, such +as "Halt" and "Rally," and a red fez was served out to the Levy (which +in the end amounted to 860 men) as a British uniform. The glory of +this "kit," however, was somewhat obscured by a commissariat load +which each warrior carried on his head; but there was no heart under +those shiny ebon skins which did not beat quicker for the possession +of the red fez. The Levy, of course, had its band--a few men who made +a tremendous din on elephant-hide drums, and a few more who produced +two heart-breaking notes on elephants' hollowed tusks garnished with +human jaw-bones. At the head of this force B.-P. and Captain Graham +set out on their journey from Cape Coast to Kumassi, a distance of +nearly 150 miles, on the 21st of December. + +Soon after leaving the coast the little expedition plunged into the +bush, and then amid the giant ferns and palms began to appear "the +solemn, shady miles of forest giants, whose upper parts gleam far +above the dense undergrowth in white pillars against the grey-blue +sky." The Levy had now reached the regular forest, the beautiful, +awe-inspiring, but, alas, evil-smelling forest. Here it was found by +Baden-Powell that, in addition to scouting, his force would have to +play the arduous part of road-makers, and, therefore, whenever he came +upon a village such tools as felling-axes, hatchets, spades, and picks +were requisitioned. But it was no easy task teaching the negroes to +perform this labour. The man who was given a felling-axe immediately +set about scraping up weeds, while the grinning warrior armed with a +spade incontinently hacked at a hoary tree with Gladstonian ardour. +"The stupid inertness of the puzzled negro," says B.-P., "is duller +than that of an ox; a dog would grasp your meaning in one-half the +time." But B.-P. did not despair of his men, neither did he ill-treat +them. For three days he worked hard at tree-felling himself, and he +only desisted from this labour on the discovery that the sight of his +hunting-crop brought more trees to the ground than all his strokes +with the axe. This hunting-crop was called "Volapuek," because every +tribe understood its meaning, and during the march Baden-Powell found +it of inestimable value. "But, though often shown," he says, "it was +never used." The men might be stupid, they might be idle, but B.-P. +can get work out of the worst men without bullying and without +continual punishments. + +It is men like Baden-Powell who exercise the greatest power over the +negro's mind. When he condemns them for cruelty or stupidity he is +quick to protest against the assumption that he is "a regular nigger +hater." Here is the secret: "I have met lots of good friends among +them--especially among the Zulus. But, however good they may be, they +must, as a people, be ruled with a hand of iron in a velvet glove; and +if they writhe under it, and don't understand the force of it, it is +of no use to add more padding--you must take off the glove for a +moment and show them the hand. They will then understand and obey." +British rule is only imperilled when men in authority discard the +velvet glove altogether, or--what is probably worse still--wear only +the velvet glove, much padded, over their flaccid hands. + +Just as he encourages Tommy Atkins to learn scouting and the more +intelligent parts of soldiering, so he encouraged these negroes, +duller than oxen, and made them useful pioneers. Here is his own +simple record of the way he got to the hearts of the Levy: "How they +enjoy the palaver in which I tell them that 'they are the eyes to the +body of the snake which is crawling up the bush-path from the coast, +and coiling for its spring! The eyes are hungry, but they will soon +have meat; and the main body of white men, armed with the best of +weapons, will help them win the day, and get their country back again, +to enjoy in peace for ever.' Then I show them my own little repeating +rifle, and firing one shot after another, slowly at first, then faster +and faster, till the fourteen rounds roll off in a roar, I quite bring +down the house. They crowd round, jabbering and yelling, every man +bent on shaking hands with the performer." + +But Baden-Powell, while humane and nothing of a bully, knows the value +of strictness, as we have shown, and he admits that sometimes it is +even necessary to shoot one's own men in order to maintain discipline. +He is, however, careful to remark that an extreme step of this kind +"should be the result only of deliberate and fair consideration of the +case." "Strict justice," he adds, "goes a very long way towards +bringing natives under discipline." + +By these methods B.-P. won the confidence of his troops, and under him +these rough tribesmen, half-devil and half-child, manfully fought +their way through the jungle of forest, cheered by his encouragement, +awed by "Volapuek," and gradually growing to respect the dauntless +courage of the white man who managed them so nicely. A description of +an average day's work will give you an idea of Baden-Powell's task, +and the way in which his negroes worked. + +Early in the morning, while the thick white mist is still hanging +athwart the forest, a drummer is kicked out of bed by a white foot and +bidden to sound "Reveille." Then there is a din of elephant-tusk horns +and the clatter of the elephant-hide drums. The camp is astir, and it +all seems as if the men are as smart and as disciplined as their +brother warriors in Aldershot or Shorncliffe. But the negroes have +only risen thus readily in order to light their fires and settle down +to a lusty breakfast of plantains. After his tub, his quinine and tea, +Baden-Powell sends for King Matikoli and demands to know why his three +hundred Krobo are not on parade. His Majesty smiles and explains to +the white chief that he is suffering from rheumatism in the shoulder, +and therefore he, and consequently his tribe, cannot march that day. +Baden-Powell, with his contradictory smile, solemnly produces a +Cockle's pill (Colonel Burnaby's _vade mecum_), hands it to the +monarch, and remarks that if his tribe are not on the march in five +minutes he will be fined an entire shilling. "The luxury," exclaims +B.-P., "of fining a real, live king to the extent of one shilling." +The king goes away for five minutes, and then returns with the +intelligence that if the white chief will provide his men with some +salt to eat with their "chop" (food) he really thinks they will be +able to march that day. B.-P. expresses a feverish desire to oblige +His Majesty, and proceeds with great alacrity to cut a beautifully +lithe and whippy cane. In an instant that tribe is marching forward +with their commissariat loads upon their heads. But there are others +still to be dealt with. The captains of one tribe are discussing the +situation, and would like Baden-Powell to hear their views. +Baden-Powell treats them as Lord Salisbury, say, would no doubt like +to treat the deputations that sometimes come to give him the benefit +of their opinions; he looks to his repeating rifle, talks about +fourteen corpses blocking the way of retirement, and _hey presto!_ the +other tribe is swinging down the forest-path laughing, singing, and +chattering, like children released from school. + +On they march through the heavy forest, a long twisting line of men, +until the halt is made at mid-day for two hours' chop and parade. +Then tools are served out and every company is set to work. One +clears the bush, another cuts stockade posts, a third cuts palm-leaf +wattle, a fourth digs stockade holes, and a fifth is set to keep guard +over the camp and prevent men from hiding in huts. By sunset some +seven or eight acres are cleared of bush, large palm-thatched sheds +are to be seen in long regular lines, while in the centre stands a +fort with its earth rampart bound up by stockade and wattle, and +having in its interior two huts, one for hospital and one for +storehouse. Besides this the natives bridged innumerable streams and +dug and drained roads wherever necessary. + +This work can only be seen in its true perspective when the character +of the country is borne in mind. For nearly all of its 150 miles the +road from Cape Coast to Kumassi leads through heavy primeval forest. +"The thick foliage of the trees, interlaced high overhead, causes a +deep, dank gloom, through which the sun seldom penetrates. The path +winds among the tree stems and bush, now through mud and morass, now +over steep ascent or deep ravine." And, in addition to the +difficulties of locomotion, there was the haunting menace of the +heavy dews and mists which come at night laden with the poison of +malaria. + +But all these difficulties were met with cheerful courage, and though +Captain Graham and two other officers subsequently attached to the +covering force were incapacitated by fever, the Native Levy fought its +way to Kumassi, and won the admiration of all military authorities. It +was at Kumassi on 17th January, and though no actual fighting had +taken place, the march may be reckoned an achievement of which all +Englishmen can be proud. + +One incident of the march will have a romantic attraction for those +who have sons and brothers doing the Empire's work in distant lands. +As the Native Levy with its two white officers journeyed through the +bush they came now and then upon bridges over streams and causeways +over swamps, all in course of construction at the hands of natives +under the direction of a few ever-travelling, hard-worked white +superintendents. "Here we meet one gaunt and yellow. Surely we have +seen that eye and brow before, although the beard and solar topee do +much to disguise the man. His necktie of faded 'Old Carthusian' +colours makes suspicion a certainty, and once again old +school-fellows are flung together for an hour to talk in an African +swamp of old times in English playing-fields." For an hour in an +African swamp! and then on again through the never-ending dark green +aisles towards the savages smitten with the blood-lust in "the +death-place." + +The Ashantis did not show fight, and King Prempeh, sucking a huge nut, +surrounded by court-criers and fly-catchers, with three dwarfs dancing +in front of his throne, consented humbly and meekly to receive the +soldiers of the Queen. After Sir Francis Scott had presented Prempeh +with his ultimatum the meeting broke up for the night, but the "Wolf +that never Sleeps" was on the look-out with his Native Levy for a +possible surprise, or for His Majesty's escape. You can imagine how +"Sherlock Holmes," as Burnham the American scout calls our hero, +enjoyed that work. In the quiet night, under the white stars, a +council was being held in the savage king's palace, and B.-P. +"shadowed" that regal hut with eyes and ears alive. At three o'clock +in the morning a white light streamed out of the palace doorway, and +through the clinging mist went a string of white-robed figures, one +of them the queen-mother. This little company passed within twenty +yards of B.-P., and it was followed stealthily by him until the +queen's residence, not hitherto known, was marked down. Then the +watchers returned to their ambush outside the palace, and caught a +councillor who was stealing away in the night. Almost immediately +after this gentleman had been made prisoner two fast-footed men came +upon the scene. They evidently suspected something, for they suddenly +pulled up and stood listening intently. One of them was within arm's +length of Baden-Powell. Quietly B.-P. stood up. The man did not move. +A moment's pause, and then, quick as a flash of lightning, +Baden-Powell had gripped him, and had, moreover, got hold of the gun +he was carrying. Then the patrol came up, the Ashanti was pinned, and, +as B.-P. concludes the narrative, "a handsome knife in a leopard-skin +scabbard was added to our spoil." + +After the palace had been searched and the whole of the fetish village +had been burned to the ground, Prempeh, with B.-P. to look after him, +set out for Cape Coast Castle. The bitterness to a soldier of that +return journey, without a shot having been fired, can hardly be +imagined by a civilian, and would certainly be strongly reprehended by +those who regard the justest war with horror and aversion. The +soldiers had set out on that dreadful march through swamp, and bush, +and forest, to fight and bring to the dust a cruel bloodthirsty nation +of savages, contemptuously described by Baden-Powell as "the bully +tribe" of the Gold Coast Hinterland. Instead of finding the bully as +willing to fight as Cuff was willing to face dear old Dobbin, B.-P. +found a cowering, cringing enemy, willing to lick the dust and abase +himself in any manner the ingenious white man might suggest. So it was +with no feelings of elation that the man who had received the pink +flimsy ordering him on active service, who had raised and organised +the Native Levy, who had cut a road through the bush and forest, +draining roads and bridging streams,--turned his back on Kumassi, and +marched King Prempeh to the Cape coast. This march of 150 miles was +accomplished in seven days. Of this expedition B.-P. recalls "ten +minutes' genuine fun,"--that was when a doctor was cutting out from +under his toe-nail the eggs of an insect called the jigger, rude +enough to make a nest of B.-P.'s big toe. It is such incidents as +these that live in the soldier's mind after a hard campaign. + +During the whole of these tiresome operations B.-P. of course was hard +at work sketching and keeping his diary. He added to his wonderful +store of experiences, and had the rare delight of seeing the King of +Bekwai "oblige with a few steps"--specially in his honour. But the +story of his work--and it is the same with all the quiet work done by +servants of the Queen in every part of the Empire--attracted little +public notice, and the man-in-the-street had no more idea of B.-P.'s +service than the man-in-the-moon. At that time, indeed, few people +outside official circles had ever heard of his name, and certainly no +stationer would have been mad enough to stick B.-P.'s photograph in +his window. Whether Baden-Powell, when he awakes to it, will prefer +his present fame to the happy obscurity of those distant days, is a +subject for speculation. I could say definitely, if I chose, which +condition is preferred by the proud mother of as gallant a son as ever +rode horse into the African desert. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +PUTTING OUT FIRE + + +A Brevet-Colonelcy was conferred upon Baden-Powell for his work on the +Gold Coast,--he was then eight-and-thirty,--and in the same year he +was back at regimental work in Ireland. Hardworking as ever, and keen +on making his men practical soldiers, B.-P. was settling down to what +is called the dull part of soldiering when the gods, in the shape of +the heads of the War Office, again interfered with the even tenor of +his way. A telegram from Sir Frederick Carrington arrived at Belfast +towards the end of April telling our hero that there was to be +fighting in Matabeleland, and that there would be room for him on the +staff. B.-P. was attending that day the funeral of a man in his +squadron who had been killed by a fall from his horse, and after the +service he rushed back to barracks, changed his kit, arranged about +selling his horses, dogs, and furniture, and just when the English +world sits down to its most excellent meal of the day, that oasis of +the afternoon desert, he was in a train rushing as fast as an Irish +train can rush towards the steamer that sailed for England. + +At twelve o'clock next day B.-P. was saying good-bye to Sir Frederick +Carrington, who sailed before him, and that done he spent a few +miserable days in constant dread that he would be bowled over by a +hansom, or catch scarlet fever, and thus be prevented from sharing in +the hardships and glory of a campaign. But nothing contrary happened +to him, and after affectionate farewells to his family he embarked for +Cape Town on board the _Tantallon Castle_ on 2nd May. One of his first +labours was to begin an illustrated diary for his mother's +delectation, a diary that was afterwards published by Messrs. Methuen +in book form under the title of "The Matabele Campaign--1896." The +keeping of this diary had its good uses for B.-P.; in what manner he +explains in the preface, addressed to his mother,--"Firstly, because +the pleasures of new impressions are doubled if they are shared with +some appreciative friend (and you are always more than appreciative). +Secondly, because it has served as a kind of short talk with you every +day." That is the way in which British soldiers go forth to war. + +The voyage was uneventful. Drill in pyjamas every morning prevented +B.-P. from putting on flesh, and that drill, especially "Knees Up!" +seems to have been of a pretty severe kind, for it draws from +Baden-Powell the exclamation, "I'd like to kill him who invented +it--but it does us all a power of good." That is the saying of the old +soldier. In the barrack-room it is considered the right thing to +grumble, or "grouse" as it is called, while one is working hardest. +Thus the man with a jack-boot on his left arm and a polishing brush in +his right hand--going like lightning,--the sweat running down his red +face, is the man who swears he ain't goin' to bother about his +blooming boots any more, dashed if he is; and after the brushing +proceeds to "bone" them violently. The first part of B.-P.'s +exclamation reminds me of a friend who says that ever since he arrived +at years of discretion he has been searching for the man who invented +work on purpose to murder him. He is, of course, the hardest of hard +workers. + +There were pleasures as well as drill on board: athletic sports, +tableaux, concerts, and a grand fancy dress ball. At this ball a lady +with a Roman nose appeared as Britannia, but as the peak of the helmet +threatened to bore a hole through the bridge of her nose she was +obliged to wear her war-hat (as the Hussar calls his busby) the wrong +way round. It was probably B.-P. himself who said to the good lady of +her helmet, "That is not the rule, Britannia." + +On the 19th May B.-P. looked from his port and saw "the long, flat top +of grand old Table Mountain" looming darkly against the glittering +stars, its base twinkling with electric lights that glinted on the +water. That day was of course a busy one for B.-P. as Chief of the +Staff, and the first news received by the Man of Mafeking (how odd it +seems now!) was that Sir Frederick Carrington had gone up to Mafeking, +and that he was to follow. In three days Baden-Powell was in Mafeking, +the guest of Mr. Julius Weil, who gave an anxious England as much +important news of the gallant little Mafeking garrison during the Boer +war as the universal Reuter himself. Odd, too, it seems that while in +Mafeking in 1896 B.-P. should write in his diary that "Plumer's force, +specially raised here in the South, had got within touch of Buluwayo." +Names how much more familiar in 1900! + +Buluwayo was the town selected by the Matabele for their first blow, +and accordingly with Sir Frederick Carrington and two other officers +B.-P. set out from Mafeking on the 23rd May in a ramshackle coach, +drawn by ten mules, on a drive of ten days and nights to Buluwayo. On +this journey the officers encountered the celebrated King Khama, and +it interested B.-P. to find that Khama knew him as the brother of Sir +George Baden-Powell, and that he inquired after Sir George's little +girl, just as a lady in the Park asks if one's baby has got over the +measles. This (if we leave out a dinner at a wayside "hotel," where +the waiter smoked as he served our officers) was the one picturesque +incident of that jolting, clattering drive of nearly 560 miles, and, +therefore, while our hero is groaning in the coach or travelling +afield after partridges and guinea-fowl for dinner, we will take leave +to look hastily for the reason of his presence in South Africa. + +Matabeleland, let us say at the beginning, is included in Rhodesia, a +country 750,000 miles in extent, or, so that the size may jump to the +eye, let us say as big as France, Italy, and Spain lumped together. +This vast country was under the administration of the British +Government, but the Matabele, who had been but partially beaten in the +taking of their country in 1893, were only waiting their opportunity +to throw off the white man's yoke. The opportunity came when the +deplorable Jameson raid emptied the country of troops, and left our +brave hard-working colonists at the mercy of these savages. But there +were other causes contributory to the rebellion. Rinderpest was +slaying the cattle of the Matabele by thousands, and the white man's +order that, to prevent the scourge from spreading, healthy beasts as +well as diseased should be killed was, not unnaturally, quite +unintelligible to the Matabele. The rumour spread that the hated white +man was killing the cattle in order that the tribes should perish of +starvation. The fact, too, that raiding weaker tribes for food was +punished by the British further aggravated this "offence." The priests +encouraged the spirit of rebellion, and the oracle-deity, the M'limo, +promised through the priests that if the Matabele would make war upon +the white man his bullets in their flight should be changed to water, +and his cannon shells become eggs. Horrible murders followed upon this +encouragement, too horrible, indeed, to repeat; but a general idea of +the blood-lust which now possessed the Matabele may be gathered from +the fact of over a hundred and fifty English people (scattered, of +course, in outlying districts) being killed within a week of the +M'limo's call to battle. Only a swift blow, then, could prevent the +loss of civilisation to South Africa for many years; only a terrible +lesson could teach the Matabele that the white man was his lord and +master. + +Buluwayo, prior to the time of Sir Frederick Carrington's arrival, +contained about seven hundred women and children and some eight +hundred men. The women and children were accommodated in a laager of +waggons built up with sacks full of earth, and further protected from +assault by a twenty or thirty yards' entanglement of barbed wire with +a sprinkling of broken bottles on the ground. The eight hundred men +were organised in troops, and were armed and horsed in an incredibly +short space of time. + +Outside the town, on the north, south, and east, lay more than seven +thousand Matabele, two thousand of whom were armed with Martini-Henry +rifles, while the others possessed Lee-Metfords, elephant guns, Tower +muskets, and blunderbusses, besides their own native assegais, +knobkerries, and battle-axes. This formidable force was further +strengthened by the desertion of a hundred Native Police, who took +with them to the enemy their Winchester repeaters. Thus it will be +seen that all the odds were in favour of the Matabele, but it is only +when the odds are overwhelming against him that the Englishman feels +he must buck up, and Buluwayo was fortunate enough to possess men of +the true breed. Among these let us make special mention of the Hon. +Maurice Gifford, who lost an arm in a gallant dash upon the +besiegers[1]--a man "for whom rough miners and impetuous cowboys work +like well-broken hounds"; Mr. F.C. Selous, hunter and explorer; +Colonel Napier, and Captain MacFarlane. These men gave the enemy no +rest, and by repeated attacks at last rid the town of any immediate +danger of being rushed by the blacks. + +Baden-Powell's work when he arrived was almost entirely confined to +the office; and working at a desk from early morning to late at night, +with no prospect of an early closing movement, began to tell upon his +spirits. He became convinced that "our force is far too small +adequately to cope with so numerous and fairly well-armed an enemy, +with well-nigh impregnable strongholds to fall back on.... Our force, +bold as it is, is far too small, and yet we cannot increase it by a +man, for the simple reason that if we did we could not find the +wherewithal to feed it." If this sort of thing had gone on much longer +B.-P. might have learned to look glum for an entire five minutes; but +one night at ten o'clock, when he and Sir Frederick Carrington were +putting up the shutters of office, into the town rode Burnham, the +famous American scout, with news of a large impi of the enemy about +three miles outside Buluwayo. This necessitated action, and B.-P. was +himself again. With a police-trooper as a guide he rode out to find +for himself how matters stood, and, after a hard and refreshing ride, +in the early dawn he was able to see the enemy. There they were on the +opposite bank of the Umgusa river, their fires crackling merrily, and +they themselves apparently as happy as bean-feasters in Epping Forest. +Not long after he had caught sight of these fires and the Matabele +going backwards and forwards from the water, Baden-Powell was at the +head of two hundred and fifty men riding towards the Umgusa. Under the +impression, conveyed to them by their sorry old humbug of an oracle, +that the waters of the Umgusa would open its jaws and swallow up the +wicked white man, the Matebele allowed Baden-Powell to get his force +across the stream without firing a shot; but when they found that not +only did the waters fail to overwhelm their enemies, but that these +same enemies were riding hard towards them, the Matabele took to their +heels in order to find cover in some thicker bush. Then the air began +to scream and whistle. Bullets flew by the ears of the charging +English with a _phit, phit!_ and, when they ricocheted off the ground, +with a _wh-e-e-e-w!_ Up and down bobbed the black heads in the long +rank grass, and _bang, bang, bang_ went the guns. Some of +Baden-Powell's force wanted to dismount and return the fire, but +B.-P., without a sword among his men, sang out, "Make a cavalry fight +of it. Forward! Gallop!" Then, as the horses raced snorting forward, +and the English gave a shout of battle, the Matabele, 1200 against +250, poured an irregular volley into their enemies. The next minute +the horses were in among them, flashing by with the lather on their +necks, while their riders' revolvers barked angrily in every quarter +of the field. The Matabele ran. As hard as they could lick, they +bolted like rabbits to their holes, but faster behind them came the +avenging English with the velvet glove flung aside and the iron hand +visible to their terror-stricken eyes. In the general rout, the mere +act of punishment, there were many instances of coolness and bravery. +One man got detached from the rest, and suddenly found himself +confronted by eight of the enemy. In an instant his horse was shot +under him, but almost in the same instant he was standing in front of +the eight with his rifle to his shoulder. Before they could close on +him with their knobkerries and assegais, or before they could shoot +him down, he had used his magazine fire with such deadly effect that +four of his enemy were dead and the other four were sprinting for dear +life. Baden-Powell had two pretty adventures in this engagement. +Having emptied his Colt's repeater, he threw it carefully under a +peculiar tree, so that he might find it when business was done; then +he went to work with his revolver. As he rode forward he came upon an +open stretch of ground, and the first object that struck his attention +was a well-knit Kaffir on one knee covering his body with a +Martini-Henry. The distance was about eighty yards, and Baden-Powell, +telling the story, says that he felt so indignant at the fellow's +rudeness that he rode at him as hard as he could gallop, calling him +every name under the sun. But the Kaffir was not to be moved even by +the best-bred abuse, and he remained kneeling with the rifle pointed +at B.-P., until that horseman, with locked jaws and gleaming eyes +(those who know him will understand), was only ten yards off. Then he +fired, and B.-P. says he felt quite relieved "when I realised he had +clean missed me." That nigger was shot immediately afterwards by one +of Baden-Powell's men, who was riding to his help from behind. + +The other close shave will make the nervous turn cold to think of it. +B.-P. had ridden to the help of two men kept at bay by a nigger under +a tree, and when the nigger had been killed, he was standing for a +moment under the tree, when something moving above him made him look +up. It was a gun-barrel taking aim at him. The man behind the gun, +standing on a branch, was so jammed against the trunk of the tree as +to look part of it, and while B.-P. was making a note of this fact for +his next lecture on scouting, _bang_ went the gun, and the ground in +front of his toes was as if a small earthquake had struck it. That +nigger's knobkerrie and photograph are now in the Baden-Powell +museum--a museum which began with butterflies and birds' eggs, and now +includes mementos of nearly every tribe and animal on the face of the +earth. + +After the fight Baden-Powell got back to Buluwayo in time for late +lunch, and--"made up for lost time in the office." From now it was a +case of office for many weary weeks, and Baden-Powell could only at +rare intervals steal away for exercise, which he took in the form of +hard scouting, sometimes by himself, sometimes with Burnham--"a most +delightful companion." His rides with the famous American gave him +great pleasure, and each man, both born scouts, learned something from +the other. While he was enjoying these expeditions as relaxation from +the cramping work of office, he was at the same time picking up +valuable information concerning the enemy. During this grind at the +office B.-P. used to long for the lunch hour; "it sounds greedy," he +says, "but it is for the glimpse of sunlight that I look forward, +_not_ the lunch." On one occasion his work as Chief of the Staff was +so severe that he was unable to leave the office for four days. He was +feeling "over-boiled," and got rid of this stuffiness of mind in his +own characteristic way. After dinner on the fourth day he saddled up +and rode off to the Matopos, spent the night there, and was back in +the office by 10.30 on the following day, "all the better for a night +out." + +All this time the office work increased, and the anxiety of the +General and his staff was doubled by reports of rebellion in +Mashonaland. The fire of lawlessness was spreading its evil flames in +all directions, till reports of murder and outrage covered an area of +one hundred thousand square miles, and about 2000 whites found arrayed +against them an army of some 20,000 maddened savages. + +Fortunately for B.-P. he had in Sir Frederick Carrington a chief who +never wastes a man. Excellent as Baden-Powell was in the office (and +Tim Linkinwater would not have feared, I believe, to hand the precious +Cherryble ledgers over to his keeping) he could render much more +valuable service in the field. In the middle of July the reward came +for all his independent scouting; he was chosen by Sir Frederick +Carrington, as a man who knew the Matopos country and the whereabouts +of the enemy, to act as guide to Colonel Plumer--the officer chosen +for the immediate direction of operations in the Matopos. With joy +B.-P. flung down the pen and took up the sword. + +His first move was towards Babyan's stronghold, Babyan being one of +the great Matabele chiefs--a chief great in the glorious days of +Lobengula--and who now occupied the central and important impi in the +Matopos. This work was well done, the enemy's exact whereabouts were +ascertained, and the scouting ended in a glorious gallop back to camp +after emptying a few guns into a party of savages attempting to cut +off Baden-Powell's party. After this came battle. + +In the moonlight of the 19th July the little force, nearly a thousand +strong, moved out into the Matopos, Baden-Powell going on alone as +guide. He went alone because he feared to have his attention +distracted by a companion, thereby losing his bearings. There was +something of a weird and delightful feeling, he says, in mouching +along alone, with a dark, silent square of men and horses looming +behind one. So they marched forward, the one incident, and that a sad +one, being the killing with an assegai of a dog who had followed the +force, and had endangered the success of its movement by barking at a +startled buck. The only noise in the column marching behind the lithe, +wiry guide was the occasional muffled cough of a man and the sharp +snort of an excited horse. When the force was within a mile of +Babyan's impi a halt was called, and the men lay down to sleep in the +freezing cold night. It was not a long sleep, for an hour before dawn +they were in the saddle again, and moving through the darkness as +silently as before towards the enemy's stronghold. When the pass was +reached which led into the valley held by Babyan the column was +prepared for attack, the advance force being under the command of +Baden-Powell. + +The guide almost jumped with joy, he says, when he spotted the enemy's +fires. The fight was to begin. The guns were got up, and in a few +minutes they were volleying and thundering, flinging their whirring +shells into the masses of Matabele, whose assegai blades glistened in +the morning sun. While this opening cannonade was proceeding +Baden-Powell found useful work to do. With a few native scouts he +started off on his own account and soon found a large body of the +enemy elsewhere enjoying a bombastic war-dance, which plainly +portended the staggering of humanity and the driving of the British +into the sea. Thinking that Colonel Plumer ought not to miss this +performance, Baden-Powell sent back word of it, and calling together +the Native Levy proceeded to attack the dancers. Their sound of +revelry died away, or changed to something more dismal, when +Baden-Powell and his men came clambering up the rocky height, leaping +over boulders, dodging behind crags, and pouring lead into their +astonished midst. With very little delay the Matabele went to earth, +tumbling pell-mell into their caves and holes, from whence the rattle +of their musketry soon rolled, and where they fancied themselves as +safe as a rabbit in its burrow from the attack of an eagle. To add to +Baden-Powell's difficulty his Native Levy began to show the white +feather, getting behind rocks and wasting their ammunition on the +desert crags. Had the Matabele come out of their caves, given one +war-whoop, and made a show of descending upon the besiegers, those +precious friendlies would assuredly have turned tail and bolted. But +the Matabele in the security of their caves made no such sign, and +Baden-Powell called up the Cape Boys and the Maxims in the nick of +time. In a few minutes the guns were in position on what looked like +inaccessible crags, and the Cape Boys shouting and cheering were +floundering through bogs, leaping over boulders, and firing with firm +hand wherever firing was of use. The fight was now begun in earnest, +and B.-P., on a rock directing the movements of his force, was +surrounded by the deafening roar of artillery. In nearly every cave +on those hills savages lay with rifle to shoulder, finger on trigger, +waiting to pick off the besiegers as they came bounding over the rocks +towards them. The Cape Boys never wavered; up they dashed, panting and +sweating, to the very mouths of the caves, fired their rifles into the +darkness, charged in, to reissue in a few minutes, jabbering to each +other, and then rushing off to "do ditto" wherever these man-holes +existed. Now they were creeping stealthily round rocks "like stage +assassins," now leaping forward through the long yellow grass like men +in a paper-chase,--always fighting well and pluckily, lifting up their +wounded and carrying them to places of safety, and then again joining +in the battle, charging without fear upon their maddened enemy, +parrying the thrust of sudden assegai with the bayonet that kills +almost in the instant that it guards. And while this work was going +on, a sudden corner revealed another string of rebels running down a +path. "For a moment," writes B.-P., "the thought crosses one's mind, +shall we stop to fire or go for them? but before the thought has time +to fashion itself, we find ourselves going for them." Again there was +the cheering rush, the rattle of rifles, and hard fighting till the +enemy was scattered. So the battle went on, and it did not cease until +the stronghold was completely cleared. Then the "flag-waggers" +signalled back to the main body for stretchers.[2] During this pause +Baden-Powell wrote an account of the fighting (illustrated), to be +sent home to his mother. + +In this manner Babyan was beaten, and the victors went back to camp +satisfied with their day's work. On the following morning it was +discovered that a column sent by the General to attack the enemy on +the Inugu Mountain had not returned, and Baden-Powell with a patrol of +a hundred men was ordered to go in search. When the sun was up the +little body moved off towards the mountains, and after passing through +much difficult country, parts of which were actually in the occupation +of the enemy, they struck the spoor of the missing column, and to +Baden-Powell's great joy found that the marks were quite fresh and +leading outwards from the mountains--showing that the missing men +were safe. Very soon after that the patrol was further cheered by +seeing the gleam of the column's camp-fires, and after an exchange of +events Baden-Powell hurried back to camp to acquaint the General with +the good news. + +The next morning, forgetting that he had had another night out, +Baden-Powell started off for solitary exercise in the mountains, his +purpose being to "investigate some signs I had noted two days before +of an impi camped in a new place," and to select a position for the +building of a fort to command the Matopos. Returning to camp he drew +his design and plan for the fort, and in the evening was back in the +mountains again with a number of Cape Boys, ready to begin the +business of building. + +One of Baden-Powell's little relaxations when fighting slackened was +the "rounding off" of cattle, a sport almost as exciting as chasing a +solitary boar, especially when the cattle are being driven into the +mountains for "home consumption" by bloodthirsty and hungry Matabele. +On one of these occasions Baden-Powell was wounded. Having rounded off +some cattle he was riding towards a party of niggers when he felt a +sharp blow on his thigh as though Thor had given him a playful tap +with his big hammer. He was bowled over, and thinking that he must +have charged into the stump of a tree turned round to have a look at +it; but there was no tree. Then he realised that he had only been +struck with a lead-covered stone fired from a big-bore gun, and so +hopped off like a man who has been kicked on the shins in a football +match, to continue the game. No blood was drawn by this bullet, but +our hero's thigh was black and blue for many days afterwards. + +This was the kind of life Baden-Powell lived at this time as Chief of +the Staff. An officer who knows him very well tells me that it is +impossible to wear him out; "Baden-Powell," he says, "is tireless." He +is keen to be given the most risky and the most solitary work; he can +go for days without food and never complains of broken nights. He has +an enthusiasm for hard work, and when that work demands cunning of the +brain as well as quickness of the hand, as in scouting, B.-P. is as +much lost in the labour as a wolf in search of food for its young. +Never throughout the Matabele campaign was Sir Frederick Carrington +better served than when the young Englishman slunk away into the +darkness, and wandered alone and unprotected into the rocky mountains +held by the murderous Matabele. And never were those savages more +disquieted than when news was brought to them in the morning that the +Wolf had been in the mountains during the night. + + * * * * * + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] After the arm was amputated at the shoulder Mr. Gifford used to +feel the pain as if it were in his hand. + +[2] Let it not be thought that B.-P. had neglected to bring +stretchers. They were brought, but the friendlies who carried them, +like the hen that laid the rotten egg, were nervous, and had dropped +them in the river, they themselves taking up positions of safety till +the fighting was over. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +IN RAGS AND TATTERS + + +Baden-Powell now had what one might term a roving commission. He was +sent by Colonel Plumer in charge of a patrol to wander over the vast +country covered by the rebellion and see what he could of the enemy, +and when found make a note of. It was exactly the work B.-P. liked +above all others. There was romance in the dangers of it, and +intellectual joy in its difficulties. There was freedom in it, and the +glorious feeling that every step he took he was carrying his life in +his hand. And not only was life menaced by the bullets and assegais of +Matabele lurking in the tall yellow grass, but there was considerable +danger, though of a more humorous order, even in the taking of a bath, +as B.-P. discovered in going down to a pool and spotting just in time +a leering crocodile in the reeds. Lions, too, were stumbled upon in +clumps, just as in peaceful England one walks upon a covey of +partridges. Then, lying down one day after dinner for a nap, B.-P. +discovered on awaking that a snake had selected precisely the same +spot for its own siesta. The charm of night marches, too, was +occasionally broken by the growling of a bloodthirsty hyaena, following +and snarling at the heels of the horses. These were dangers, however, +that added the few touches necessary to complete the picture of our +smart adjutant of Hussars in cowboy hat, grey flannel shirt, breeches +and gaiters, with a face as brown as a Kaffir's, wandering over the +South African veldt. During these expeditions, by the way, +Baden-Powell's wardrobe came to ignominious grief, and under the +tattered breeches, the stained shirt, and the split boots, he was a +mere network of holes. The ankles of his socks remained true to the +end, but the rest of them, in B.-P.'s euphemistic phrase, were most +delicate lace. The one drawback to the tub in the river, leaving out +the chance of a stray crocodile, was the difficulty he experienced in +getting back into these delicate open-work socks, and the only way of +surmounting this difficulty was by bathing--socks and all! + +The marches, too, had their intervals of fighting, and the little +patrol was frequently so in touch with the enemy that Tommy Atkins and +Master Matabele could exchange compliments. "Sleep well to-night," the +grinning savages would shout from the hills; "to-morrow we will have +your livers fried for breakfast!" And the compliments became sterner +whenever the Matabele recognised in the little force of whites the +dread "Wolf that never Sleeps." "Wolf! Wolf!" they shrieked with +savage ferocity, and if Baden-Powell had the nerves of some of us he +must have had many a bad night after hearing that yell, and marking +the gleaming eyes and the frothing lips that twitched with lust for +his destruction. + +Then there was the bitterest work of all. The closing of suffering +eyes that had grown so strangely dear during the hardships of such +work as this; the saying of farewells to the men who had raced by +one's side with Death at their heels for how many hard weeks. Of one +of these Baden-Powell writes in his diary: "His death is to me like +the snatching away of a pleasing book half read." And solemn as the +funeral service ever is, one fancies how awe-inspiring, how poignant +its impressiveness, when in the dark, "among the gleams of camp-fires +and lanterns, with a storm of thunder and lightning gathering round," +a few fighting Englishmen heard its message over the body of a +fellow-soldier. + +Baden-Powell's description of the day's work at this time gives one a +good idea of the life of a patrol. This is what he wrote in his diary +for his mother's eyes: "Our usual daily march goes thus: Reveille and +stand to arms at 4.30, when Orion's belt is overhead. (The natives +call this Ingolobu, the pig, the three big stars being three pigs, and +the three little ones being the dogs running after them; this shows +that Kaffirs, like other nations, see pictures in constellations.) We +then feed horses--if we have anything to feed them with, which is not +often; light fires and boil coffee; saddle-up, and march off at 5.15. +We go on marching till about 9.30 or 10, when we off-saddle and lie up +for the heat of the day, during which the horses are grazed, with a +guard to look after them, and we go a-breakfasting, bathing, and in +theory writing and sketching, but in practice sleeping, at least so +far as the flies will allow. At 3.30 saddle-up and march till 5.30; +off-saddle and supper; then we march on again, as far as necessary, +in the cool hours of the early night. On arriving at the end of our +march, we form our little laager; to do this we put our saddles down +in a square, each man sleeping with his head in the saddle, and the +horses inside the square, fastened in two lines on their 'built up' +ropes. To go to bed we dig a small hole for our hip-joints to rest in, +roll ourselves up in our horse-blanket, with our heads comfortably +ensconced in the inside of the saddle, and we would not then exchange +our couch for anything that Maple could try and tempt us with." + +But after months of this hard work, the tireless B.-P. began to knock +up. Fever and dysentery attacked him, and he said unkind things to +people who bothered him--as witness the message sent to one of the +patrolling columns: "If you let the men smoke on a night march, you +might as well let the band play too." The justness of the gibe! + +B.-P. relates a good story, by the way, of smoking while on guard. A +Colonial volunteer officer, Captain Brown, in times of peace Butcher +Brown, ordered a sentry found smoking to consider himself a prisoner. +"What!" exclaimed the volunteer soldier, "not smoke on sentry? Then +where the ---- _am_ I to smoke?" The dignified Captain only reiterated +his first remark. Then did the sentry take his pipe from his mouth and +confidentially tap his officer upon the shoulder. "Now, look here, +Brown," said he, "don't go and make a ---- fool of yourself. If you +do, I'll go elsewhere for my meat." + +To return. B.-P., having lived straight and hard, soon fought down the +fever, and in little more than a week was back again at work. It is +nice to know that during the time of his being on the sick-list Sir +Frederick Carrington went regularly to his bedside and sat for a long +time, retailing all the cheerful news of the campaign. Sir Frederick +and Baden-Powell, by the bye, are probably the two Imperial officers +who know most about South Africa. + +During his illness Major Ridley had started off with a column to make +war upon the Somabula, and when B.-P. got about again he was ordered +to go in search of this force, with three troopers as an escort, and +to take command of it. "I could picture nothing more to my taste," he +says, "than a ride of from eighty to one hundred miles in a wild +country, with three good men, and plenty of excitement in having to +keep a good look-out for the enemy, enjoying splendid weather, +shirt-sleeves, and a reviving feeling of health and freedom." So the +man who had only just got off a sick-bed started for a ride into the +forest after Ridley's column, and during the ride the twentieth +anniversary of his joining Her Majesty's Service came round and +brought its reflections for the diary. "I always think more of this +anniversary than of that of my birth, and I could not picture a more +enjoyable way of spending it. I am here, out in the wilds, with three +troopers.... We are nearly eighty miles from Buluwayo and thirty from +the nearest troops. I have rigged up a shelter from the sun with my +blanket, a rock, and a thorn-bush; thirteen thousand flies are, +unfortunately, staying with me, and are awfully attentive.... I am +looking out on the yellow veldt and the blue sky; the veldt with its +grey hazy clumps of thorn-bush is shimmering in the heat, and its vast +expanse is only broken by the gleaming white sand of the river-bed and +the green reeds and bushes which fringe its banks." How could a man +feel unhappy with the whole of his wardrobe packed away in one wallet +of the saddle, and his larder in the other? Be sure that Lucullus +never enjoyed a banquet with the same sharpness of delight as +Baden-Powell squatting amid the yellow grass of the veldt with his +cocoa and rice. + +But there were anxious moments coming for the man who kept on the open +veldt the twentieth anniversary of his joining Her Majesty's army with +gladness in his heart. After he had found the column and had got into +the Lilliputian forest with its stunted, bushy trees and its sandy +soil, he was brought face to face with the greatest enemy that can +harass, fret, and wear down nerves of steel--absence of water. A +commander whose mind is racked by the difficulty, perhaps the +impossibility, of finding water for his troops is like the man haunted +day and night, waking and sleeping, by debt. "This was our menu," says +Baden-Powell: "weak tea (can't afford it strong), no sugar (we are out +of it), a little bread (we have half a pound a day), Irish stew +(consisting of slab of horse boiled in muddy water with a pinch of +rice and half a pinch of pea-flour), salt, none. For a plate I use one +of my gaiters, it is marked 'Tautz & Sons, No. 3031'; it is a far cry +from veldt and horseflesh to Tautz and Oxford Street!" But this was at +a time when B.-P. wrote in his diary: "Nothing like looking at the +cheery side of things." The morrow came when he could see nothing but +arid miles of sand, when his eyes ached as they ranged the pitiless +desert for water; there is no cheery side to that view. Halting his +party to give them a rest, he and an American scout named Gielgud +started off to make one grand effort to find river or puddle. Hill +after hill was climbed to find only a valley of dead, baked grass +beyond, and at last, broken-hearted and weary, the two riders turned +their horses' heads back to camp. Soon after this the American's head +began to bob till the chin rested on the chest, and he forgot the +quest of water in the fairyland of dreams. But B.-P. could not sleep, +and those keen eyes of his were ranging the desolate country every +dreary minute of that ride. And at last he noticed on the ground +certain marks which he knew to be those of a buck that had scratched +in the sand for water. Overjoyed he got down from the saddle and +continued the work of the buck, digging and digging with his lean +sunburnt fingers till he came to damp earth, and then--to water. At +that moment he saw two pigeons get up from behind a rock some little +way off, and leaving his oozing water in the sand he hastened there +and discovered to his supreme joy the salvation of his party--a little +pool of water. + +On this expedition you will be interested to hear that a man who lent +valuable assistance to Baden-Powell was your hero of the +cricket-field--Major Poore. In the days of the Matabele campaign he +had not slogged Richardson out of the Oval, nor driven Hearne +distracted to the ropes at Lord's; he was there as Captain Poore of +the 7th Hussars, working like a nigger, brave as a Briton, and quite +delighted to be soldiering under the peerless Baden-Powell. His fame +came afterwards. + +During this expedition Baden-Powell gave brilliant evidence of his +capacity as a general. He had drawn up a plan for an attack by his own +and another column upon a great chief named Wedza, who lived with his +warriors in a mountain consisting of six rocky peaks ranging from +eight hundred to a thousand feet high. On the top of these peaks were +perched the kraals, while the mountain itself, nearly three miles +long, resembled nothing so much as a rabbit-warren, being a network of +caves held by the burrowing rebels. Wedza's stronghold was steep, and +its sides were strewn with bush and boulders; only by narrow and +difficult paths was it accessible, and these paths had been fortified +by the Matabele with stockades and breastworks. This important and +well-nigh impregnable stronghold was held by something like sixteen +hundred Matabele--six or seven hundred of whom were real fighting men. +Baden-Powell, nevertheless, drew up his plan for the attack, and sat +down to wait for the other column which was to act with him. That +column never came; only a letter arrived by runner saying that it +would be unable to join in the attack after all. "The only thing we +could do," says Baden-Powell, "was to try and bluff the enemy out of +the place." + +So he arranged to win the battle by cunning of the brain. Sending +five-and-twenty men to climb a hill which commanded a part of the +stronghold, with instructions to act as if they were two hundred and +fifty, and giving small parties of Hussars similar instructions +regarding the left flank and rear of the enemy, Baden-Powell got his +artillery ready to bombard the central position. Just as the +five-and-twenty reached the summit of their hill, however, they were +observed by the enemy and instantly fired upon. From hilltop to +hilltop rang the call to arms, and B.-P. watched through his telescope +the yelling savages rushing with their rifles and assegais to massacre +his gallant little force of five-and-twenty men under a lieutenant. To +create a diversion, Baden-Powell galloped off with seven men to the +left rear of the stronghold, crossing a river on the way, and opened +fire upon a village on the side of the mountain. By continually moving +about in the grass and using magazine fire, B.-P. with his seven men +gave the enemy the impression that he had a large army there, and soon +the strain was taken off the five-and-twenty on the hilltop. Then +Hussars and Artillery joined the five-and-twenty, while a 7-pounder +flung deadly shells at every important point of the mountain. Soon +after this the enemy made a backward move, and the lieutenant on the +hilltop (with the Field-Marshal's baton already in his hand) +incontinently began to harry him effectively from the rear. + +The end of it was that Wedza's warriors were completely bluffed by the +resourceful B.-P.; they were driven out of their stronghold, and the +stronghold itself blown into smithereens. During this attack +Baden-Powell narrowly escaped death, a small party he was with being +fired upon at close range by a number of the enemy hidden behind a +ridge of rocks. "My hat," says B.-P., "was violently struck from my +head as if with a stick." + +This reminds me of the service rendered by Baden-Powell as a doctor. +"Three times in this campaign have I taken out to the field with me a +few bandages and dressings in my holster, and on each occasion I have +found full use for them." Once he doctored some Matabele women and +children who had been hit by stray bullets while lying in the long +grass. On this occasion he invented what he calls a perfect form of +field syringe: "Take an ordinary native girl, tell her to go and get +some lukewarm water, and don't give her anything to get it in. She +will go to the stream, kneel, and fill her mouth, and so bring the +water; by the time she is back the water is lukewarm. You then tell +her to squirt it as you direct into the wound, while you prize around +with a feather." + +After the breaking of Wedza there was work to be done in Mashonaland, +and then, when the rebellion had been crushed and the colonist was +able to search fearlessly among the charred beams of his homestead ere +setting about building anew, the gallant Baden-Powell turned his face +towards Old England. Before leaving South Africa, however, he spent +the Christmas Day of that memorable 1896 in Port Elizabeth. "After +breakfast," he writes in his diary, "to church. Everything exactly +ordered as if at home: the Christmas Day choral service with a good +choir and a fine organ. And as the anthem of peace and goodwill rolled +forth, it brought home to one the fact that a year of strife in savage +wilds had now been weathered to a peaceful close." + +Then came the voyage across the 6000 odd miles of ocean with Cecil +Rhodes, Sir Frederick Carrington, and other interesting people. After +that the English coast, and the train to London. And, after that, +"through the roar of the sloppy, lamp-lit streets, to the comfort and +warmth--of Home." + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE REGIMENTAL OFFICER + + +I hear you say that Baden-Powell has had glorious chances, that the +lot of most officers is humdrum, and that with so much talk about +Arbitration and Universal Millennium, you cannot go up for Sandhurst +with any certainty that your career will contain a single opportunity +for gaining honour and renown. My dear Smith major, believe me, a man +may distinguish himself in a barrack square as well as in African +mountains or a besieged township. General popularity, it is true, does +not come that way; but the opportunity for honour is there all the +same, and the distinction one earns on that field has its appreciation +in the right quarter. Long before the world of London paraded its +streets with portrait badges of Baden-Powell on its heart, or +thereabouts, he was a marked and famous man, and before he had drawn +sword on a field of battle, or fired a revolver into the yellow grass +of the veldt, he was known throughout the British Cavalry as a +first-rate, if not the ideal, soldier. It is not a bad ambition, I +promise you, to try and be a perfect regimental officer. + +A party of sergeants in Baden-Powell's old regiment were once asked by +a civilian whether the men liked him. There was a silence for a minute +or two, and at last one of the sergeants replied, hesitatingly, "Well, +no, I shouldn't say they _like_ him"; then in a burst--"why, they +worship him!" Let me tell you how Baden-Powell has earned their love. + +In the first place, he entered the Army with no mischievous ideas +about the manliness and dash of a fast, raking life. That is a great +start, for if the soldier despises one type of officer more than +another it is the young sprig who affects to consider soldiering a +bore, and comes on parade with the evidence of last night's folly and +dissipation in his drawn face and dull eyes. Baden-Powell was keen +about his work from the first, and never posed as a drawling Silenus +in gold lace. In the second place, Baden-Powell, who always possessed +a great deal of sound common sense, took an interest in his men, +treated them as intelligent beings, and never for once mistook the +drunken, devil-may-care Private of fiction for the soldier who goes +anywhere and does anything. It is a literary "dodge" to reach the +reader's sympathies by drawing the blackguard in order to find the +hero; one good deed in that world of unreality wipes out all the +unworthiness of a lifetime, and the reader puts down the tale with a +longing to fall on the neck and wring the hand of the very next +hiccupping Tommy he encounters. As Bishop Blougram says:-- + + Our interest's on the dangerous edge of things, + The honest thief, the tender murderer, + The superstitious atheist, demireps + That love and save their souls in new French books-- + We watch while these in equilibrium keep + The giddy line midway: one step aside, + They're classed and done with. + +This is all very well in fiction, but I protest it is a little hard on +the soldier, and it is certainly a dangerous belief for the future +officer to grow up in. + +The following letter, which appeared recently in the _Daily Graphic_, +is well and truly written: "Having served as chaplain of one of the +largest recruiting depots in England, may I thank you for your article +on the Heroic Blackguard style of literature in vogue just now. +Soldiers have often remarked to me that they were represented as +'drunken roughs who couldn't speak the Queen's English.' As a matter +of fact, a steadier, better behaved, better mannered class it would be +difficult to find. There are exceptions, but not popular exceptions. +Blackguardism and heroism very seldom go together, Bret Harte and +other writers notwithstanding. The pluckiest and most reliable +soldiers are not animated beer barrels, but sober, keen-eyed, sensible +fellows, and of such the British Army chiefly consists." + +When you are most inclined to think the Private an irresponsible +good-for-nothing, look hard at the next Commissionaire you meet on the +street. That smart, clean, well-brushed man, with his bronzed face, +his bright keen eyes, and general look of self-respect, was once a +soldier, and indeed it is soldiering that has made him what you see. +Look hard, honoured sir, at the next Commissionaire who comes across +your path, and you will never again be disposed to regard the soldier +as an insensate good-for-nothing. + +"Tommy Atkins," says Baden-Powell, "is not the childish boy that the +British Public are too apt to think him, to be ignored in peace and +petted in war. He is, on the contrary, a man who reads and thinks for +himself, and he is keen on any instruction in really practical +soldiering, especially if it promises a spice of the dash and +adventure which is so dear to a Briton." It was just because +Baden-Powell acted on this assumption in the 13th Hussars that the men +learned to "worship" him. The few regular bad-lots that are to be +found, I suppose, in every regiment, are certainly no heroes among the +rest of the soldiers. The corner in the canteen where they foregather +is not crowded, and I have seen them from that unsplendid isolation +looking wistfully at the fresh, clean, merry-voiced troopers buying +"luxuries" at the bar,--men who are keen soldiers, anxious to excel, +and who do not "nurse the canteen." + +But bad officers may ruin the best men, and the popularity of the Army +with the classes from which its ranks are drawn depends very largely +upon the behaviour of our subalterns and captains. No one likes to be +neglected, and the great mistake made by so many officers, but never +by Baden-Powell, is their apparent indifference to the soldier's +welfare "out of hours." In a cavalry regiment, for instance, for the +greater part of the year the men have practically nothing to do from +dinner-time till the bugle rings for evening stables. Will you believe +it, that the commonest way of spending the afternoon in cavalry +regiments is by going to bed? Immediately after dinner is over, down +go the beds with a clatter, the strap that holds the mattress +doubled-up is unbuckled, and under the thick sheets and the dark +blankets, minus his boots, the trooper smokes his pipe until he falls +asleep. Their officer is with them in the morning, to see that they +brush the scurf out of their horses' manes and put the burnisher over +the backs of the buckles; he puts his nose into their room at +dinner-time to ask if there are any complaints, and withdraws it +almost before it is recognised by the men, as if the odour of the +Irish stew disagreed with him. After that, unless he walks through +the stables in the evening, his men do not see him. Now, how can an +officer who soldiers in this dull, stupid fashion ever gain the +affection of his men? And, more important question, how can men with +such an officer ever grow enthusiastic about soldiering, or even +content with their lot? + +Baden-Powell devoted himself to the men in his troop, and, when he was +adjutant, to the whole regiment. He would get them out of their rooms +in the afternoon for sports of some kind, he would encourage them to +take up flag-wagging or scouting, and he would work like a slave to +provide them with an alternative for public-house and canteen. There +is a story about him, which shows how popular he is with the men, and, +also, that it is possible for soldiers to take an intelligent interest +in practical soldiering. Baden-Powell was delivering a course of +lectures, I think on scouting, and every lecture had been attended by +a large audience which completely filled the room. Men used to wait +outside the door in order to get a seat, just as people stand +patiently for hours at the pit-door of a theatre. Among this audience +there was one young sergeant who had shown a singularly keen +interest in the lectures; he was one of the smartest and +cleanest-living men in the station, and had never been charged with +drunkenness in his life. At one of the lectures B.-P. was surprised to +find the young soldier absent, and he was still more surprised on the +following day to find that this irreproachable sergeant was up on a +charge of drunkenness. "What on earth made you go and get drunk?" +asked B.-P. "Well, sir," said the sergeant doggedly, "I was late +yesterday and couldn't get in to your lecture, so of course I had to +go and get drunk." He said this perfectly seriously, and there was a +very world of meaning in his argumentative "of course." + +[Illustration: "_Viret in AEternum_" + Van der Weyde, Photographer, 182, Regent St., W.] + +Baden-Powell was as assiduous in his attentions to his men as any +knight to his lady. He wooed them and won them. He did not win by +playing to the gallery, asking if they were quite comfortable in their +room, and giving them little coddling presents. He won as a man wins a +love that is worth winning, by treating the object of his devotion +with respect and perfect trust. His work at Malta, when he was acting +as Assistant Military Secretary to the Governor, secured for him the +affection of hundreds of soldiers and, I am glad to add, sailors too. +He was the life and soul of the place, indefatigable in getting up +sports and theatricals for the men, and building a permanent club for +their use, which effectually prevented the weaker men, or shall we say +the more generous hearted? from spending too much money in +public-houses. It was a sight to see the gymnasium, in which the +theatricals were held, during one of Baden-Powell's performances. The +vast floor of the building was crowded with soldiers packed as tightly +as sardines, and the rafters running from wall to wall were all +bestridden by sailors as happy and as comfortable there as the +Governor and his party sitting in the front row in their splendid +chairs from the palace. And when B.-P. appeared in the wings a shout +such as might have brought down the walls of Jericho shook the great +building, and soldier and sailor vied with each other to see who could +keep that roar of welcome going the longest. And over and over again +did Baden-Powell apply for leave to shirk some great social function +in the palace because the hour of such entertainment clashed with the +time he spent among Tommy and Jack in the gymnasium or the club. + +His opinion of the soldier is a high one, and that is the secret of +his success. He loves to recount instances which have come in his long +experience, showing the soldier in the best light, revealing his +pluck, his love of little children, his chivalrous championing of the +weak, his handiness, his humour, his cheerfulness in depressing +circumstances, his self-respect, and his honesty. What was it that +struck his attention most about the tempting work of searching +Prempeh's palace for treasure? That the work which was entrusted to a +company of British soldiers "was done most honestly and well, without +a single case of looting. Here was a man with an armful of gold-hilted +swords, there one with a box full of gold trinkets and rings, another +with a spirit-case full of bottles of brandy, yet in no instance was +there any attempt at looting." And, eating out his own heart, on that +bitter march back from Kumassi to Cape Coast Castle, he had eyes for +the splendid doggedness of the British soldier: "In truth, that march +down was in its way as fine an exhibition of British stamina and pluck +as any that has been seen of late years. For the casual reader in +England this is difficult to realise, but to one who has himself +wearily tramped that interminable path, heart-sick and foot-sore, the +sight of those dogged British 'Tommies,' heavily accoutred as they +were, still defying fever in the sweltering heat, and ever pressing +on, was one which opened one's eyes and one's heart as well. There was +no malingering _there_; each man went on until he dropped. It showed +more than any fight could have done, more than any investment in a +fort, or surprise in camp, what stern and sterling stuff our men are +made of, notwithstanding all that cavillers will say against our +modern army system and its soldiers." During that bitter march +Baden-Powell asked a young soldier, gripped by fever but manfully +plodding on with the rest, whether his kit was not too heavy for him, +whereat, says Baden-Powell, he replied, with tight-drawn smile and +quavering voice, "It ain't the kit, sir; it's only these extra rounds +that I feel the weight of." "These extra rounds" being those intended +for the fight which never came. + +In the Matabele campaign he was quick to notice the manner in which +private soldiers tended some wounded nigger children. "It did one +good," he says, "to see one or two of the Hussars, fresh from +nigger-fighting, giving their help in binding up the youngsters, and +tenderly dabbing the wounded limbs with bits of their own shirts +wetted." During that haunting march with the Shangani Patrol, when the +rice was cut down to a spoonful, and a horse had been killed to supply +the men with food, Baden-Powell found time to note that "the men are +singing and chaffing away as cheerfully as possible while they scoop +the muddy water from the sand-hole for their tea." And he loves the +soldier for all his little oddities. How he laughed over the man who +carried skates in his kit through India, and the man in the African +desert with a lot of fish-hooks in his wallet! And how he likes to +chaff them out of their failings. At Aldershot one of his most popular +pieces as an entertainer is that in which he impersonates the +barrack-room lawyer. While the audience is waiting for the next +singer, there is a noise heard in the wings, and then a loud voice +cries, "I tell yer I will go on. It's no use of you a-stoppin' of me, +I'm agoin' to tell 'em all about it, I am," and then with a great +clatter a private soldier comes bungling on the stage, tunic open, +hair all over the place, and cap at the back of his head. "Beg +parding, sir," he says to the officer in the front row, "but these +here manoeuvres has all been conducted wrong, they have, and I +warn't to tell the company how they ought to have been managed. Now if +I had had the runnin' of this concern, and not the Field-Marshal, I +should have first of all"--etc. etc. The audience yells with delight, +and if Baden-Powell really should show up, in his own inimitable +fashion, the mistakes of a general (which, by the way, he is quite +capable of doing), the audience and the general too, if he is there, +laugh all the more. + +Men go to him with their private cares and troubles. They know that +the man who can make them laugh till the tears stream down their +faces, can at the right moment show a serious face, and give ear to +the humblest tale of trouble. He makes it his business--and surely it +is part of an officer's business--to know all about his men's lives, +their families, their favourite sports, their objects in life, and the +way in which they spend their leave. When he was in the 13th Hussars +he was always a favourite with the children in the married quarters, +and if you could pick out an apple-cheeked urchin playing in the dust +of the barracks who did not grin from ear to ear when you asked if he +knew Baden-Powell, you had stumbled upon a young gentleman the guest +of the regiment. + +Baden-Powell even got to learn the names men gave their horses. There +was in the 13th Hussars some years ago a handsome little black horse +whose regimental number was, I think, A18. To the men he was Smut, and +no one ever thought of calling him anything else. One day at stables +the squad was called to attention, and the young soldier standing at +the head of A18 was mightily surprised to hear a civilian walking side +by side with the captain of his troop remark, as he passed up the +stable, "Why, there's old Smut!" When the officer and civilian had +passed out he turned to the next man, and asked who the deuce the +bloke was in the brown hat. "Why, that's Captain Baden-Powell," said +the man; and then he added with great pride, "I was his batman once." +The young soldier had heard of Baden-Powell before, and was furious +that he had not looked longer at him as he passed. An odd +circumstance, by the way, concerning the ex-batman. He was a terrible +fellow in many ways, always on the look-out for a fight, and in his +cups had disabled more than one policeman in the cities where the 13th +sojourned. But he kept in his box a little faded red book of +quotations, filled with serious and religious thoughts, and he was +particularly fond of two of these apothegms: the one, "A prayer is +merely a wish turned Godward"; and the other, "A grave wherever found +preaches a short and pithy sermon to the soul." He would quote them +over and over again in his confidential moments, and, though he might +pick out others as he turned the well-thumbed pages of that tiny book, +it was always to these two that he returned as perfect specimens of +great sayings. And that book, unless I am mistaken, was given to him +by Baden-Powell. "If I had been with him right along," he would say, +regretting some escapade, "I should have been a sergeant by this +time." + +Baden-Powell's familiarity with the names of his men's horses reminds +one of his difficulty in swallowing horse-flesh during the hungry days +with the Shangani Patrol: "It is one thing to say, 'I'll trouble you +to pass the horse, please,' but quite another to say, 'Give me another +chunk of D15.'" He is a man who can grow very nearly as fond of his +troop's horses as of his own. + +A good description of Baden-Powell is that versatile officer's own +sketch of a man with whom he soldiered on one of his campaigns: "He +has all the qualifications that go to make an officer above the ruck +of them. Endowed with all the dash, pluck, and attractive force that +make a born leader of men, he is also steeped in common sense, is +careful in arrangement of details, and possesses a temperament that +can sing 'Wait till the clouds roll by' in crises where other men are +tearing their hair." The public in the light of recent events will be +quick to recognise B.-P. in the latter part of this portrait; I can +assure them that the rest is equally accurate. As a regimental officer +he exhibits all these good qualities. He can show the men dash and +pluck in every sport they care for, his common sense makes him the +friend of Tommy Atkins as well as his officer, and the affairs of his +regiment are so admirably managed that there is no enervating air of +slackness about the barracks from the first monitory note of +"Reveille" to the last wailing sound of "Lights Out." + +And while Baden-Powell is loved in the barrack-room he is ever the +most popular figure in the Officers' Mess. There is nothing of the +namby-pamby, I mean, in his solicitude for the soldier's welfare, +nothing to make him unpopular with his brother officers, nothing that +makes even the youngest subaltern a little contemptuous. _Tout au +contraire._ The place he holds in the affections of his brother +officers may, perhaps, be seen in a quotation from the letter of an +officer in the 13th Hussars, which I received during the most anxious +days of the siege of Mafeking. After saying that relief ought to have +been sent before, my Hussar says, "Poor dear chap, he must be severely +tried. As I eat my dinner at night I always wish I could hand it over +to him." Could a Briton do more? + +Such then is Baden-Powell's character as a regimental officer. Beloved +by the little fashionable world of the Officers' Mess, adored by the +men who eat and sleep and clean sword, carbine, and boots in the one +room, he presents to the gaze of the schoolboy whose whole thoughts +are set upon Sandhurst the beau-ideal of a regimental officer. + +To reach that ideal there are five great essentials--keenness, +courage, high-mindedness, self-abnegation, humour. Ability to mix +freely with private soldiers without loss of dignity is, I take it, +the natural gift of a gentleman; and if the officer who devotes +himself to his men is high-minded and courageous, always ready to +ignore self, with the saving virtue of humour, he will earn not only +their respect and admiration, but their loyal and unswerving love. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +GOAL-KEEPER + + +Baden-Powell was at Henley, preparing to enjoy the festivities of the +1899 Regatta in one of the pleasantest houses on the river, when a +telegram arrived calling him to the War Office. This was on Wednesday, +and the business the state of things in the Transvaal. On Saturday he +was on the sea, sailing away from the coast of England. + +As we have said before, Baden-Powell keeps a khaki kit in perfect +readiness for emergencies ("he is terribly methodical," says one of +his brothers), and, therefore, when Lord Wolseley asked him how soon +it would be before he could start, the delighted B.-P. answered with a +very enthusiastic "Immediately." But ships are not kept in such easy +readiness as kits, and two whole days had to elapse before our hero +could set sail for the land where war was brewing. Those two days he +spent with his family and in paying farewell visits to his friends. +The Old Carthusian naturally bent his steps towards Charterhouse, and +sought out Dr. Haig-Brown in the Master's Lodge. "I hope they'll give +me a warm corner," he said, gripping the Doctor's hand. And then in a +few weeks this Old Boy was in his African corner, enjoying its +Avernus-like warmth. + +The story of the siege of Mafeking is one of the most interesting an +Englishman can read about. One may truthfully say that it is the story +of a single man--our hero, B.-P. Good men he has had under him, +skilful officers and valorous troops; but all the daring, all the +gallantry, all the heroism would have been powerless in such a +situation without the unlimited resourcefulness of the intrepid +Goal-Keeper. With a handful of men he has held at bay in a small and +very exposed town as many as 6000 Boers, commanded at one time by the +dogged and unscrupulous Cronje. And not only this. With his small +force he has kept the enemy on tenterhooks all the weary weeks of the +siege, sallying out at night to fling his gallant men upon their +trenches, storming them in their lines by day, and actually giving the +large army besieging his little garrison a taste of cold steel. + +In years to come, I suppose, only the imagination will be able to +realise the effect on the stoical British mind of Baden-Powell's brisk +and witty telegrams. England at that time, let it be known, was in a +state of sullen wonderment. Every dispatch brought consternation to +our minds. Here were our troops pouring into South Africa, soldiers of +renown at their head, regiments famous throughout the world, +representing our courage and prestige, and yet check after check, +reverse after reverse--no progress, no sign of progress. In the midst +of this national gloom came telegrams full of cheery optimism from +little Mafeking--a name hardly known then to the man in the street, +now as familiar as Edinburgh and Dublin. Who, for instance, can forget +the famous message which ran: "October 21st. All well. Four hours' +bombardment. One dog killed"? In an instant the gloom was dispelled. +In 'bus and tram and railway carriage men chuckled over the exquisite +humour of that telegram. Leader writers, unbending, referred to it +decorously. The funny men on newspaper staffs made jests about it, +and the "Oldest Evening Paper" enshrined it in verse:-- + + Four long, long hours they pounded hard, + Whizz! went the screaming shell-- + Of reeking tube and iron shard + There was an awful smell. + + On us they wasted all their lead, + On us who stood at bay, + And with our guns (forgive it, Stead!) + Popped quietly away. + + They could not make the city burn, + However hard they tried. + Not one of us is dead, but learn + A dog it was that died. + +The reaction was extraordinary. The almost unknown Colonel +Baden-Powell instantly became "B.-P." to the general public, and in +the twinkling of an eye his photograph appeared in the shop-windows +beside those of Sir Redvers Buller, Sir George White, and Lord +Methuen. Everybody was cracking jokes about the war, and the Boers +seemed to be already under the heel of the conqueror. When men opened +their newspapers in the railway carriage it was with the remark, +"How's old B.-P. getting along?" The doings of other soldiers in more +important positions lost much of their interest, and the public mind +became riveted on Mafeking. Here was a light-hearted cavalry-officer +locked up in a little frontier town with seven hundred Irregular +cavalry, a few score volunteers, six machine-guns and two 7-pounders; +against whom was pitted the redoubtable Cronje with one 10-pounder, +five 7-pounders, two Krupp 12-pounders, and one Krupp 94-pounder, and +probably an army of something like 6000 wily Boers. And yet the +Goal-Keeper, 870 miles from English Cape Town and only 150 miles from +Boer Pretoria, was as light-hearted and optimistic as a general +leading an overwhelming army against a baffled and disorganised foe. +Englishmen were quick to recognise the virtue of the man who solemnly +sent the death of a dog to be recorded in the archives of the War +Office; quick to appreciate the peril of his position; and I do not +think I am screwing my string too tight when I say that the safety of +Baden-Powell from that moment became a personal matter to thousands of +Englishmen all the world over. Miss Baden-Powell at this time was +travelling in Scotland, and at some out-of-the-way station she and her +boxes detrained. The station-master passing along the platform +noticed the name of Baden-Powell on the trunks, and instantly rushed +towards her, with beaming face and extended hand,--"Gie me the honour, +ma'am," he cried, "o' shakin' your hand." And from this time gifts and +letters poured in ceaselessly upon Mrs. Baden-Powell in London, +letters from all classes of the nation, costly gifts, humble +gifts--all testifying to the giver's love and admiration of her +gallant son in Mafeking. One of these presents took the form of a +large portrait of B.-P. worked in coloured silks, another a little +modest book-marker. And in the streets gutter-merchants were doing a +roaring trade in brooches and badges with B.-P.'s face smiling on the +enamel as contentedly as if immortalised on a La Creevy miniature. +Finally, to complete this apotheosis, Madame Tussaud announced on +flaming placards that Baden-Powell had been added to the number of her +Immortals. + +This, then, was the sudden fate of the man who had returned to England +from wandering alone within a stone's throw of the Matabele bivouac +fires unknown and unhonoured by the public. I wonder if Baden-Powell +had a presentiment of what was to be when, in the early days of the +siege, he corrected the proofs of _Aids to Scouting_, and came upon +his own words towards the end of that manual: "Remember always that +you are helping your _side_ to win, and not merely getting glory for +yourself or your regiment--that will come of itself." + +The wit of Baden-Powell in some measure obscured from the popular view +the grimness of his task. Like the true Briton that he is, he +considered it part of his duty to make light of his difficulties. But +the holding of Mafeking was stern work. The Boers themselves never +dreamed the defence would be seriously maintained, and in the early +days of the siege they sent in a messenger under a flag of truce +offering terms of surrender. Baden-Powell gave the messenger a +sumptuous lunch, himself the most delightful of hosts, and sent him +back with word to the accommodating Boers that he would be sure and +let them know immediately he was ready to yield the town. And to +Cronje's humanitarian plea that Baden-Powell should surrender in order +to avoid further bloodshed, the Goal-Keeper made answer, one can see +his eyes twinkling, "Certainly, but when will the bloodshed begin?" A +little later he got in with a still more irritating piece of irony, +addressing a letter to the burghers asking them if they seriously +thought that they could take the town by sitting down and looking at +it. + +But this was at a time when Baden-Powell, in common with the rest of +us, believed that the triumphant British Army would soon be coming up +to Mafeking, and he himself able to sally out and strike a crushing +blow at the besieging force. Weeks passed and the hope died. The Boers +cut off the water-supply, and, with contrary ideas of logic, thought +that such an action would damp the spirits of Baden-Powell. But that +thoughtful and resourceful commander had seen that all the old wells +were cleaned, and well filled, so that Mafeking was as secure from a +water-famine as it was from the entrance of the Boers. Besides this, +Baden-Powell had constructed bomb-proof shelters everywhere, and a boy +stood ready with bell-rope in hand to ring immediate warning of a +shell's approach. Trenches were dug giving cover and leading from +every portion of the town. So perfect indeed were Baden-Powell's +defences that it was possible to walk entirely round the little town +without being exposed to the Boer fire. Telephones, too, were +established between the headquarter bomb-proofs of outlying posts and +the headquarter bomb-proof where Baden-Powell and Lord Edward Cecil, +D.S.O., laid their heads together and planned the town's defence. And +to keep the enemy at a respectful distance, Baden-Powell continually +sent out little forces to harass them and keep them in a state of +nerves. The Matabele never knew when Impessa was coming, and the Boers +could never lie down to sleep with the assurance that they would not +be awakened by the rattle of British musketry and the dread "Reveille" +of cold steel. Here is one instance. Knowing that the Boers fear the +bayonet more than rifle bullets, Baden-Powell determined upon a sortie +in which his men should get within striking distance of the large army +closing round the town. One night he sent fifty-three men with orders +to use only the bayonet, and this insignificant force crept silently +to the enemy's trenches in the darkness, and scattered six hundred +Boers from their laager. So close to the town were the assaulted +trenches of the enemy that the officer's sudden and thrilling +"Charge" rang out distinctly on the night to the ears of those +anxiously waiting the result of the sortie in Mafeking. This gallant +attack completely "funked" the Boers, and at two o'clock in the +morning, long after the little force had returned triumphantly to the +town, they began another fusillade, firing furiously at nothing for a +whole hour. Fight after fight ensued. Whenever the enemy occupied a +position likely to inconvenience the town, Baden-Powell took arms +against them, and drove them out. After several experiences of this +kind the Boer lost his temper, and with it all sense of honour. It is +difficult to write without unbridled contempt of their inhuman +bombardment of the women and children's laager in the gallant little +town which neither their valour nor cunning could reduce. Baden-Powell +loves children, and few incidents in the siege of Mafeking could be +more distressing to those who know the stout-hearted Defender than +these cruel bombardments. His sorrow over the killed and wounded +children was of the most poignant character. One of the officers wrote +to his mother during these dark days, saying how the whole garrison +was touched to the heart by seeing their Commander nursing terrified +children in his arms, and soothing their little fears. If anything +could have stirred that just and honest nature to unholy thoughts of +vengeance it would have been the murder of these children; and I doubt +not that he will hit the harder and the more relentlessly when he gets +at close quarters with his enemy, fired by the thought of those +mangled little bodies and the remembrance of their mothers' agony. And +in addition to the murderous shells of the Boers, typhoid and malaria +were at their fell work in the women's laager; the children's +graveyard just outside the laager extended its sad bounds week by +week, and the cheerfulness that marked the beginning of the siege died +in men's hearts. + +[Illustration: Goal-Keeper + By permission of the "Daily Graphic."] + +The cheerfulness, but not the determination. Baden-Powell wrote home +in December, after some two months of the siege, saying that they were +all a little tired of it, but just as determined as ever never to +submit. And in order to keep up the spirits of the garrison in the +hour when it seemed to many Englishmen that Mafeking was to be another +Khartoum and he a second Gordon, Baden-Powell began to plan all +manner of entertainments for the amusement of the women and children. +The special correspondent of the _Pall Mall Gazette_ in Mafeking, who +sent to his journal some of the most interesting letters received +during the siege, bore witness to Baden-Powell's efforts in this +direction. In one of his letters he said: "The Colonel does all in his +power to keep up the spirits of the people. To-day we have quite a big +programme of events--the distribution of flags in the morning, cricket +afterwards, general field sports, plain and fancy cycle races, a +concert in the afternoon, and in the evening a dance given by the +bachelor officers of the garrison. We have no Crystal Palace or +monster variety hall, but nevertheless we manage to enjoy ourselves on +truce days, and it goes without saying that the institution of sports +and pastimes has done wondrous things in the way of relieving the +tension on the public mind, and keeping up the health of the +population. It may shock the mind of some cranks to hear that we so +spend our Sundays; but if such persons wish to test the worth and the +wisdom of a rational Sabbath, transfer them here, and let them have a +week of shell-fire. They will speedily become converts." During the +Matabele campaign, it may be remarked, Baden-Powell always held divine +service on Sunday, and even to those whose training makes them regard +the playing of innocent games on Sunday an offence, this holiday of +Sunday in Mafeking must surely be regarded as a holy-day, pleasing to +the Father of men. The love of Baden-Powell for children, his intense +eagerness to keep alive the flame of joy in their young hearts, and +the spark of hope still burning in the hearts of their defenders, +could not, we may be very certain, inspire any decision displeasing to +high Heaven. + +Baden-Powell's dauntless courage, his brisk unchanging hopefulness, +and his unflinching determination to "stick it out," were the +inspiration of the splendid little garrison. To many of them surrender +would have meant nothing more than release from a diet of horse-flesh +and the irritating confinement of a siege; but no man and no woman in +Mafeking even breathed the suggestion that Baden-Powell should haul +down his flag; and on the hundredth day of the siege Mafeking sent a +telegram of loyal devotion to the Queen, whose anxiety for their +safety was not concealed from the world. A hundred days have long +since passed, and if the request of Lord Roberts that Baden-Powell +should hold out to the middle of May turns out to be history, the +siege will have lasted considerably over two hundred days. And during +these long, long days men have been in the trenches night and day, +children crying to their mothers to be taken away from the pitiless +rain of Boer bullets and the terrifying scream of Boer shells; day by +day fever has crept in to lessen the number of brave men whose faith +in the Old Carthusian never once wavered, and to rob poor mothers of +their little ones. And with all these distressing experiences to wear +him down and sicken his heart, our hero found himself further hampered +by treachery in his own camp. + +Treachery it was that frustrated Baden-Powell's great effort to break +the cordon pressing so relentlessly upon little Mafeking, and by that +means open up communication with those marching to his relief. The +battle of Game Tree fort, as it is called, is one of those events +which thrill the heart with pride, and then at the conclusion bring +tears into the eyes with the reflection that so much skill in the +planning, so much valour in the execution, should be defeated by base +treachery. + +Baden-Powell's plans for the taking of this fort were perfectly +understood by his officers. The little force entrusted with the work +of carrying Game Tree moved out of the town in the dusk of early +morning, and in a few minutes the roar of artillery announced the +beginning of a desperate fight. The scream of the engine of the +armoured train told the men at the guns to cease firing, meaning that +Captain Vernon was ready to rush the position with the bayonet. The +scene that followed was magnificent. Waving their hats and cheering +like schoolboys after a football match, our men started to run through +the scrub towards the silent fort. And then as they went, a pitiless +fire suddenly poured in upon them, a hail of bullets tore up the +ground at their feet, swept down their gallant ranks, like grass +before the scythe, and the men realised amid that enclosing and +remorseless fire that treachery had forewarned the Boers, that Game +Tree was impregnable. But did they waver or turn back? Not them. They +were many yards from the fort, and their orders were to storm it. On +they rushed, the officers well in front, waving their swords in the +air and shouting cheerfully to their men to follow. Three officers, +Vernon, Sandford, and Paton, seem to have made a race of it. Through +that terrible zone of fire these young Englishmen rushed forward with +all the zeal of men striving to be first to touch the tape. Captain +Vernon fell ten yards from the thundering fort, and Sandford and Paton +were left to fight out that splendid race alone. With a shout from his +parched lips, Paton leaped upon the redoubt, caught with his strong +hand the corner of a sandbag, jerked it out of position, thrust his +revolver through the loophole, and, panting like a man spent, fired +into the enemy's midst till he fell, shot through his gallant heart. +Sandford, too, had run a great race, and had almost tied with Paton on +the post. He flung himself upon the piled wall that could only be +broken by heavy artillery, and fell shot through, with his breast +almost against the muzzles of the enemy's guns. Nor were the +non-commissioned officers and men far behind their valiant leaders; +one intrepid sergeant, who was twice wounded, and at some distance +from the redoubt, continued the race across the bullet-swept scrub and +reached the sandbags almost on the heels of Paton. The men went +forward shouting and cheering, unafraid to look death in the face, +afraid only to turn back with their faces from the sandbags where the +smoke drifted, and from whence the hail of bullets rained. There was +no coward among their ranks, and even when the gallant souls realised +that the position was impregnable, there was not a single man among +them who wavered, or dropped back in the race. From the moment when +the order to charge had been given, the attack was an eagerly +contested race, with Death sitting on the flaming fort with the crown +of glory for their prize. + +When an aide-de-camp from the officer commanding the operations +galloped up to Baden-Powell with the woeful intelligence that Captain +Vernon had been repulsed, the Goal-Keeper hesitated, and the +bystanders saw that he was taking counsel with himself as to whether a +second attack should be made upon Game Tree fort. But his decision was +soon reached, and in a quiet voice he said, "Let the ambulance go +out." And that was the way in which Baden-Powell took the defeat of +his great plan for breaking the tightening cordon round Mafeking. + +In history are recorded sieges of a more thrilling character than that +of Mafeking, but if you consider the story of this little town's +defence you will find, I believe, that in few other cases have +difficulties of so oppressive a character been borne with greater +fortitude and courage. In a large town a siege is not so wearing to +the nerves as it is in a little village the size of Mafeking; and in +the case of this miniature garrison the troublesomeness has been +doubled by the small number of men to share the burden of days and +nights spent in the trenches, now blistered by the sun's rays, now +drenched to the skin with rain that converted the ditches into small +rivers. It is not our purpose to magnify Baden-Powell's defence, but +it is necessary to caution you against the natural course of following +his example and treating the Boer bombardment as a joke. It was no +joke; and, if it had been, even the best of jokes pall when repeated +through days and weeks and weary months. But the garrison would never +let anybody dream that they were doing heroic things, never send +imploring messages for help to men already occupied with the enemy in +other parts of South Africa. To the question, "How long can you hold +out?" Baden-Powell had only one answer, "As long as the food lasts." + +And so we take leave of our friend the Old Carthusian defending his +warm corner. As the last page is turned we see him walking through the +streets of Mafeking, now glancing with hard steely eye to the forts +which throw their coward shells into the women's laager, now turning +to give an order with clenched hands and locked jaws, and now stooping +down to lift a child into his arms and caress away its little fears. +On his mind weighs the safety of that town with its handful of brave +lives, the prestige of England, which suffers if the flag once set +above the roofs of any town, whatever the size, falls before the +assault of the Queen's enemies, and the thought that far away in +distant London the mother who made him what he is, waits on the rack +for his delivery. Be sure that never a thought of adding to his own +reputation enters the mind of Baden-Powell in little Mafeking, that +never does bitterness for tardy release enter his soul, and that all +his labour has but one great all-embracing end--the victory of his +side. "Play the game; play that your side may win. Don't think of +your own glorification or your own risks--your side are backing you +up. Play up and make the best of every chance you get." + + +FINIS + + + +_Printed by_ R. & R. CLARK, LIMITED, _Edinburgh_ + + + + + +----------------------------------------------------+ + | | + | PUBLISHER'S ANNOUNCEMENT | + | | + | _Uniform with this volume. 3s. 6d._ | + | | + | SIR GEORGE WHITE | + | V.C. | + | THE HERO OF LADYSMITH | + | | + | By THOMAS H.G. COATES | + | _With Illustrations_ | + | | + | | + | _Cloth, Crown 8vo. 2s._ | + | | + | MAJUBA | + | | + | BRONKERSPRUIT, INGOGO, | + | LANG'S NEK, KRUGERSDORP | + | | + | By HAMISH HENDRY | + | | + | _With 8 Full-page Illustrations by_ | + | R. CATON WOODVILLE | + | | + | | + | LONDON: GRANT RICHARDS | + | 9 HENRIETTA STREET, W.C. | + | | + +----------------------------------------------------+ + + * * * * * + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Story of Baden-Powell, by Harold Begbie + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE STORY OF BADEN-POWELL *** + +***** This file should be named 17300.txt or 17300.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/7/3/0/17300/ + +Produced by Steven Gibbs, Jeannie Howse and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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