get into prolongation of it to fire down it, or you
can "wiggle" it about in many ways, so that it is not straight, or
make "traverses" across it, or dig separate trenches for every two or
three men.

14. Do not have your trench near rising ground over which you cannot
see, and which you cannot hold.

15. Do not huddle all your men together in a small trench like sheep
in a pen. Give them air.

16. As once before--cover from sight is often worth more than cover
from bullets.

For close shooting from a non-concealed trench, _head cover_ with
_loopholes_ is an advantage. This should be bullet-proof and not be
conspicuously on the top of the parapet, so as to draw fire, or it
will be far more dangerous than having none.

17. To surprise the enemy is a great advantage.

18. If you wish to obtain this advantage, _conceal_ your position.
Though for promotion it may be sound to advertise your position, for
defence it is not.

19. To test the concealment or otherwise of your position, look at it
from the enemy's point of view.

FIFTH DREAM.

"A trifling sum of misery
New added to the foot of thy account."
DRYDEN.

"Jack Frost looked forth one still clear night,
And he said, 'Now I shall be out of sight;
So over the valley and over the height
In silence I'll take my way.'"
GOULD.

Again I faced the same task with a fresh mind and fresh hopes, all
that remained with me of my former attempts being _nineteen_ lessons.

Having detailed the two patrols and the guard on Waschout Hill as
already described, I spent some twenty minutes--whilst the stores,
etc., were being arranged--in walking about to choose a position to
hold in the light of my nineteen lessons.

I came to the conclusion that it was not any good being near the top
of a hill and yet not _at_ the top. I would make my post on the top of
Waschout Hill, where I could not be overlooked from any place within
rifle-range, and where I should, I believed, have "command." I was not
quite certain what "command" meant, but I knew it was important--it
says so in the book; besides, in all the manoeuvres I had attended
and tactical schemes I had seen, the "defence" always held a position
on top of a hill or ridge. My duty was plain: Waschout Hill seemed the
only place which did not contravene any of the nineteen lessons I had
learnt, and up it I walked. As I stood near one of the huts