No sooner had he left the open country, and entered the woods, than he
began to instruct the men in their new duties. The whole of them were
thrown out as skirmishers, and taught to advance in Indian fashion,
each man sheltering himself behind a tree, scanning the woods carefully
ahead, and then, fixing his eyes on another tree ahead, to advance to
it at a sharp run, and shelter there.
All this was new to the soldiers, hitherto drilled only in solid
formation, or in skirmishing in the open, and when, at the end of ten
miles skirmishing through the wood, they were halted and ordered to
bivouac for the night, James felt that his men were beginning to have
some idea of forest fighting. The men themselves were greatly pleased
with their day's work. It was a welcome change after the long monotony
of life in a standing camp, and the day's work had given them a high
opinion of the fitness of their young officer for command.
But the work and instruction was not over for the day. Hitherto, none
of the men had had any experience in camping in the open. James now
showed them how to make comfortable shelters against the cold, with two
forked sticks and one laid across them, and with a few boughs and a
blanket laid over them, with dead leaves heaped round the bottom and
ends; and how best to arrange their fires and cook their food.
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