kept his animal spirits in a delightful simmer, and found favour for him in the eyes of his superior officers.  How they discovered B.-P.’s quality as a humourist happened in this way.  A day or two after he joined there was an entertainment of some sort going on in barracks, and during a pause Sir Baker Russell turned round to Baden-Powell, and said, “Here, young ’un, you can play a bit, I’m sure”; and up went Baden-Powell to the piano, as if obeying an order.  In a few minutes the whole place was in a roar, and, as one of the officers told me, the regiment recognised that in B.-P. they had got “a born buffoon, but a devilish clever fellow.”

[Illustration:  The Dashing Hussar. 
    (B.-P. at 21.)]

Concerning B.-P. as an actor, it is characteristic of the thoroughness with which he does everything that he always draws and redraws any character he may be playing until he is perfectly satisfied with the dress and make-up; some of these drawings have been captured by his brother-officers, and are greatly treasured.

Soon after joining he began to show his quality as a sportsman.  In that regiment of fine riders it has always been hard to shine at polo or tent-pegging, or heads-and-posts, but there was no mistaking the perfect horseman in B.-P. when he got into the saddle, with the eyes of the regiment upon him.  Few men ride more gracefully.  His seat, of course, is entirely free from that ramrod stiffness which some of the Irregular Cavalry cultivate with such painful assiduity; he sits easily and gracefully, so easily that you might fancy a rough horse would set him bobbing and slipping like a cockney astride a donkey on the sands.  But with all the ease and grace, there is strength there, such as would wear down the nastiest of bad brutes.  The leg that looks so lightly and gracefully posed grips like steel, and the pressure increases relentlessly the more the horse quarrels with his rider.  Many a time has Baden-Powell taken in hand young horses which have defied the efforts of the rough-riding Sergeant-Major, and so far as I can gather there was never a case of the horse beating the rider.  His skill as a breaker of horses deserves especial mention because of the characteristic manner in which it is done.  By simply sticking in the saddle, and gripping with his legs, he wears down the horse’s opposition, silently matching his powers of endurance against the tricks and tempers of the unruly member.  Seldom does whip or spur come into play when Baden-Powell is fighting for the mastery with an undisciplined horse.

But while he was proving himself a good sportsman, B.-P. was getting to know about soldiering, paying great attention to regimental work and loyally working to please his captains.  Not only did he devote himself to the ordinary routine of regimental work, but in spare moments he began to read up special subjects, and it seems only natural that one of the first of these subjects should be Topography.  The result