“Why,” he exclaimed, “the Boers could ride in here and take the whole outfit, for there isn’t an outpost on the camp; and you are the only one who heard me coming on with a whole wagon-train.”
It staggers an American to comprehend such a situation; and if the Boers had had a little energy that night they might easily have taken the whole command. It is an instinct of animals and birds to have their pickets. When a herd of deer is grazing on the plains, a few are always left on the outskirts to watch for danger; when a flock of birds is feeding on the ground, sentries are left in the trees; but the ordinary British officer does not seem to share that useful instinct. I asked one of General French’s staff if it was the custom of all commands to ignore the necessity of placing outposts, and he said:
“Oh, what’s the use? They never attack at night.”
The fact that they do not make night attacks and are not more keenly alive to such possibilities does not justify the British neglect of outposts and pickets. I have ridden in and out of Pretoria at all times of day and night without once being challenged, although it was well known at headquarters that the residents of the town were communicating with the Boer commanders every day. A little Afrikander girl of sixteen told me as a jolly joke that she had ridden out on her bicycle to see her father, who had a command in the hills within five miles of the center of Pretoria. She said that she rode part of the way with a mounted picket, with whom she chatted as they rode along. An order was issued by the military governor that every one who wished to ride a bicycle or a horse, or to drive in a carriage, must get a permit to do so; and the fair young patriot said that after this it was easier than ever, for she used the permit as a pass, and none of the Tommies ever knew the difference.
The conclusion of my observations is that in every-day tactics the British officer still commits the radical error of taking too much for granted. This is almost a racial error, for it has always been his besetting sin to despise his foe and to be surprised by clever tricks. Herein he is thoroughly unlike the American officer, as well as unlike his own allies from Canada and Australia. The nimble wit of the newer countries and the expert training of the West Pointer lead both Americans and colonials to keep thinking what the enemy may be doing and to take no bravado chances.