He told me that once a year an old vessel that was about to be broken
up was towed along behind a steamer down the straits to afford a
target to the defence forts as she passed on. He said regretfully:--
"We are number three fort, and so far, no vessel has ever successfully
passed one and two--they always get sunk before they reach us"--and he
gave me the exact range and the number of rounds fired, which showed
that their shooting was pretty good.
Many other details I found out as to the number of the men, their
feeding and hospital arrangements; and a few days later I was able
to take myself home with a good stock of valuable information and
the good wishes and hopes of my various friends that I some day would
return to shoot the partridges. But I am certain that one man was not
taken in by my professions, either as an artist or as a sportsman, and
that was the muleteer.
FOOLING A GERMAN SENTRY.
On another occasion I wanted to ascertain what value there was in the
musketry training of a foreign infantry. Also it had been reported
that they had recently acquired a new form of machine gun which was a
particularly rapid firer and very accurate in its effects. Its calibre
was known, and its general pattern (from photographs), but its actual
capabilities were still a matter of conjecture.
On this occasion I thought the simplest way would be to go
undisguised.
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