FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   27   28   29   30   31   32   33   34   35   36   37   38   39   40   41   42   43   44   45   46   47   48   49   50   51  
52   53   54   55   56   57   58   59   60   61   62   63   >>  
review at Aldershot, where I was in full rig as an Hussar officer. It was difficult to persuade him that I was his former friend the plumber. Later on, when employed on a reconnaissance mission in South Africa, I had grown a red beard to an extent that would have disguised me from my own mother. Coming out of the post office of a small country town, to my surprise I came up against the Colonel of my regiment, who was there for an outing. I at once--forgetting my disguise--accosted him with a cheery "Hullo, Colonel, I didn't know you were here," and he turned on me and stared for a minute or two, and then responded huffily that he did not know who I was. As he did not appear to want to, I went my ways, and only reminded him months later of our brief meeting! THE SPORT OF SPYING. Undoubtedly spying would be an intensely interesting sport even if no great results were obtainable from it. There is a fascination which gets hold of anyone who has tried the art. Each day brings fresh situations and conditions requiring quick change of action and originality to meet them. Here are a few instances from actual experiences. None of these are anything out of the common, but are merely the everyday doings of the average agent, but they may best explain the sporting value of the work. One of the attractive features of the life of a spy is that he has, on occasion, to be a veritable Sherlock Holmes. He has to notice the smallest of details, points which would probably escape the untrained eye, and then he has to put this and that together and deduce a meaning from them. I remember once when carrying out a secret reconnaissance in South Africa I came across a farmhouse from which the owner was absent at the moment of my arrival. I had come far and would have still further to go before I came across any habitation, and I was hard up for a lodging for the night. After off-saddling and knee-haltering my horse, I looked into the various rooms to see what sort of a man was the inhabitant. It needed only a glance into his bedroom in this ramshackle hut to see that he was one of the right sort, for there, in a glass on the window-sill, were two tooth-brushes. I argued that he was an Englishman and of cleanly habits, and would do for me as a host--and I was not mistaken in the result! THE VALUE OF HIDE-AND-SEEK. The game of Hide-and-Seek is really one of the best games for a boy, and can be elaborated until it bec
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   27   28   29   30   31   32   33   34   35   36   37   38   39   40   41   42   43   44   45   46   47   48   49   50   51  
52   53   54   55   56   57   58   59   60   61   62   63   >>  



Top keywords:

Colonel

 

Africa

 

reconnaissance

 

elaborated

 

deduce

 

carrying

 

secret

 

farmhouse

 

remember

 

meaning


moment

 

absent

 

arrival

 

details

 

attractive

 

features

 

sporting

 

average

 
explain
 

points


escape

 
untrained
 

smallest

 

notice

 

veritable

 

occasion

 

Sherlock

 

Holmes

 

brushes

 
argued

window
 

Englishman

 

cleanly

 

result

 
mistaken
 
habits
 
ramshackle
 

bedroom

 
lodging
 

saddling


habitation

 

haltering

 

inhabitant

 

needed

 

glance

 

doings

 

looked

 

disguise

 

forgetting

 

accosted