In the case of Red, their own and the enemy’s movements are disconcerting and inimical to accuracy of fire. In the case of Blue, movement every moment is conferring increased advantages on him, and not the least of these liberty of action. Red, since he must send his horses to some distance back, takes a long time to mount and move; and would give opportunities to Blue during his movement.[26] As regards the difficulty of hitting a galloping horseman, the following incident in South Africa may be of interest. An officer and four good shots, with their horses close at hand, remained to observe after the squadron had been withdrawn from a debatable kopje. Occasionally they took long shots at the Boers, who in twos and threes rode strung out across the front, almost out of range. Without any warning, suddenly about seventy Boers turned and galloped straight at the kopje. “Fire steadily till I tell you to mount,” was the order given by the officer, who then fired at a man in the centre on a white horse and well in advance. No Boers were seen to fall, and with 100 yards start the five raced back to their squadron. When they came to compare notes, it was found that all had fired at the same man on a white horse, at whom some forty rounds had been discharged. The conclusion arrived at was that rifle fire is not effective against galloping individual horsemen, a conclusion which was duly acted upon. Cavalry must have space to manœuvre and fight. Without these, cavalry lose the advantages conferred on them by mobility, and become at a disadvantage compared with infantry. That there are very diverse opinions on the power of rifle fire against cavalry must be evident from the fact that instructions so very different in their import as the following were issued in Mounted Troops’ Manuals shortly after the war in South Africa:-- “This Memorandum is not meant for cavalry who turn their backs, but for those who, when they see the enemy preparing to charge with sabre and lance, will coolly dismount, form up, and when he gets within reach, pour in such a withering fire as will in five minutes kill as many of the enemy as the same enemy with sword and lance would kill in five hours on active service.”--Preface to Lord Dundonald’s _Cavalry Training_, Canada, 1904. “If an attack of cavalry is imminent, mounted troops should, if time admits, gallop to cover or enclosed or broken ground and there repel and retaliate.”--General Hutton’s _Mounted Service Manual, Australian Commonwealth_. The method is illustrated on an opposite page and shows the formation of square, horses inside. This formation offers a splendid target to H.A. or machine-gun fire for preparation of the attack which would undoubtedly be made by cavalry from a direction at right angles to that fire. Colonel Henderson, in _Science of War_, page 160, sums up the situation as follows:--