to be captured, and they are sent to the
rear, and required to keep out of all the operations that follow. Then
the umpires, who are high officers in the regular army, decide according
to the positions that are taken which side has the best chance of
success. That is, if two brigades, of different sides, line up for
action, and get into the best tactical positions possible, the umpires
decide which of them would win if they were really engaged in a true
war, and the side that gets their decision is supposed to win. The other
brigade is beaten, or destroyed, as the case may be."

"Then how about the whole affair?"

"Well, each commanding general works out his strategy, and does his best
to bring about a winning position, just as they would at chess, as I
said. There is a time limit, you see, and when the time is up the
umpires get together, inspect the whole theatre of war, and make their
decision."

"It's a regular game, isn't it, Jack?"

"Yes. The Germans call it Krug-spiel--which means war-game, and that
term has been adopted all over the world. It's played with maps and
pins, too, in the war colleges, both for sea and land, and that's how
officers get training for war in time of peace. It isn't an easy game to
learn, either."

"Where do we come in, Jack? What is it we're supposed to do?"

"Obey orders, in the first place, absolutely. And I don't know what the
orders will be, and neither does anyone else, so I can't tell you just
what we'll do. But, generally speaking, we'll just have to do regular
scout duty. It will be up to us to detect the movements of the enemy,
and report, through Scout-Master Durland, who'll be Captain Durland,
during the maneuvers, to the staff."

"General Harkness's staff, you mean, Jack? Just what is a staff,
anyhow?"

"The headquarters staff during a campaign is a sort of extra supply of
arms and legs and eyes for the commanding general. The staff officers
carry his orders, and represent him in different parts of the field.
They carry orders, and receive reports, and they take just as much
routine work as possible off the hands of the general, so that he'll be
free to make his plans. You see the general never does any actual
fighting. He's too valuable to risk his life that way. He's supposed to
stay behind, and be ready to take advantage of any chance he sees."

"Times have changed, haven't they, Jack? In the old histories we used to
read about generals who led charges and did a