The reconnoitring squadron must continually endeavour to maintain communication with the distant patrols which send in reports to it. As the main body must always be careful to render communication with the reconnoitring squadron possible and to facilitate it, so is communication with the patrols one of the most important duties of the latter. It will often be necessary, when the distances become great or the ground difficult, to push forward relay posts to facilitate and accelerate the service of transmission. These posts must have a sufficiency of force assigned to them. The squadron leader, further, must most minutely instruct the patrols in anything that can serve to assist the carrying out of their task, and as to all arrangements for the transmission of reports. A patrol's instructions must be short and clear, and must leave no room for doubt in the patrol leader's mind as to what is expected of him. The instructions must contain: all that is known of the enemy; a statement of the general situation, and of the system of reconnaissance, as far as it may concern the patrol in question; an indication of the proposed march and the objective of the squadron; points where messages as to the position of the squadron may be deposited, in case it should be found necessary to depart from the preconceived plan; exact data as to when and where the relieving patrol will be sent and also when the patrol is to rejoin the squadron. Although such arrangements may not always have the desired results, as all such dispositions are liable to be disturbed by the action of the enemy, they yet form a good groundwork on which to build further, according to circumstances, and which can be suited to any alteration of the situation. Such arrangements should therefore never be neglected. In manoeuvres, the leaving of such information--for instance, under stones--in prearranged places or localities that are easy to find, and which must be determined by the map according to the expected situation, will be found a valuable exercise. Communication will, as a rule, be best secured if the reconnoitring squadron can succeed in beating the hostile organs of reconnaissance and security. We must not, of course, assume that a squadron that has been thrown back and pursued for a space will be rendered incapable of carrying out its rôle. It will still try to support its patrols as before. If, however, such successful combats become numerous, a superiority will at length be obtained, particularly on the main avenues of communication, that will considerably facilitate the task of obtaining and transmitting information.