A good infantryman must be able to shoot well and march well. If you are in good condition, you perhaps think nothing of a ten-mile walk. But suppose you are loaded up, as the soldier is, with rifle, bayonet, and knapsack, ammunition pouches, haversack, water-bottle, and entrenching tool, a total weight of about sixty-one pounds, you will find ten miles a long and very tiring distance. Our infantry usually march at about two and three-quarter miles an hour on a fourteen-mile march. The French are famous for what are called "forced marches"--that is, for marches more than twenty miles in one day--but British soldiers have done even better. In 1898, before the Battle of Atbara, some of our infantrymen covered 134 miles--mostly desert--in six and a half days, ninety-eight miles being covered in four successive days. The men were in fine condition, otherwise they could not have stood the strain. As it was, many of them arrived at their destination barefooted, the soles of their boots having come off owing to the rough nature of the country. This, of course, made the march all the more creditable. In South Africa the 2nd Shropshire Light Infantry once marched forty-three miles in thirty-two hours. When pursuing De Wet in August 1900, the City Imperial Volunteers (C.I.V.) marched thirty miles in seventeen hours. [Illustration: The Lee-Enfield Rifle. A spring (A) at the bottom of the magazine pushes the cartridges up towards the top. By pushing forward the bolt (B) in the direction of the arrow, you shove the top cartridge (C) into the chamber (D). After you have fired, you pull back the bolt, and this pulls out the empty cartridge case. A small metal leaf can be pushed across the top of the magazine at E, so that you can load and fire the rifle without using the cartridges in the magazine. This leaf is called the "cut-off."] [Footnote 178: For diagram see p. 192.] [Footnote 179: Quoted from "First Lessons in War," by Spenser Wilkinson.] CHAPTER XIX. CAVALRY AND ARTILLERY. Cavalry are soldiers mounted on horses. One of the finest of our cavalry regiments is the 12th Lancers. In peace time the troopers of this regiment wear blue tunics with red fronts and cuffs, helmets with square-cut tops and red feathery plumes, and carry long, slender lances with red and white pennons. As they ride by, bolt upright on their splendid chargers, in all the glory of scarlet, blue, and gold, you cannot imagine a gayer and more gallant sight. None of this finery, however, is worn in war time; they are clad in the same kind of khaki as the infantry.