her on I must take the left fork. This road would take me straight
into Oxford, about a mile and three-quarters beyond the fork.

=Captain:= Sergeant Washington, do the contours about a half mile
north of the Maxey farm, on the Salem-Boling road, represent a hill or
a depression?

=Sergeant:= They represent a hill, because the inner contour has a
higher number 42, than the outer, marked 20. They represent sort of a
leg-of-mutton shaped hill about 42 feet higher than the surrounding
low ground.

Variety and interest may be added to the instruction by assuming that
the squad leader has been killed or wounded and then designate some
private to command the squad; or that a man has been wounded in a
certain part of the body and have a soldier actually apply his first
aid packet; or that a soldier has fainted or been bitten by a
rattlesnake and have a man actually render him first aid.

=958.= The privates may be given practical instruction in delivering
messages by giving them messages in one room and having them deliver
them to someone else in another room. It is a good plan to write out a
number of messages in advance on slips of paper or on cards, placing
them in unsealed envelopes. An officer or a noncommissioned officer in
one room reads one of the messages to a soldier, then seals it in an
envelope and gives it to the soldier to hand to the person in another
room to whom he is to deliver the message. The latter checks the
accuracy of the message by means of the written message. Of course,
this form of instruction should not be given during the solution of
map problems by the men. (For model messages, see par. 980.)

The same slips or cards may be used any number of times with different
soldiers. A soldier should never start on his way to deliver a message
unless he understands thoroughly the message he is to deliver.

CHAPTER IV

THE SERVICE OF INFORMATION

(Based on the Field Service Regulations.)

PATROLLING

=959. Patrols= are small bodies of infantry or cavalry, from two men
up to a company or troop, sent out from a command at any time to gain
information of the enemy and of the country, to drive off small
hostile bodies, to prevent them from observing the command or for
other stated objects, such as to blow up a bridge, destroy a railroad
track, communicate or keep in touch with friendly troops, etc. Patrols
are named according to their objects, reconnoitering, visiting,
connecting, exploring,