They wanted to know what difference
there is in a column of dust raised by cavalry and by trek wagons,
how to tell whether a horse that has passed was going at a trot or a
gallop, the way to throw a diamond hitch, how to make a fire
without at the same time making a target of yourself,
how--why--what--and how?
And what made us most admire Burnham was that when he did not
know he at once said so.
Within two nights he had us so absolutely at his mercy that we
would have followed him anywhere; anything he chose to tell us,
we would have accepted. We were ready to believe in flying foxes,
flying squirrels, that wild turkeys dance quadrilles--even that you
must never sleep in the moonlight. Had he demanded: "Do you
believe in vampires?" we would have shouted "Yes." To ask that a
scout should on an ocean steamer prove his ability was certainly
placing him under a severe handicap.
As one of the British officers said: "It's about as fair a game as
though we planted the captain of this ship in the Sahara Desert,
and told him to prove he could run a ten-thousand-ton liner."
Burnham continued with Lord Roberts to the fall of Pretoria, when
he was invalided home.
During the advance north he was a hundred times inside the Boer
laagers, keeping Headquarters Staff daily informed of the enemy's
movements; was twice captured and twice escaped.
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