But while Baden-Powell was continuing his old pranks and cultivating his old spirit of laughter, he lost no opportunity of learning his trade as a soldier. It is characteristic of the man that though until he entered the army he had cherished no very definite notion of a military career, he had no sooner taken the final step than he began to devote himself to his profession with all his might. He speedily became a perfect horseman, made himself fully acquainted with regimental duties and details, and began to read systematically. He took a first class and special certificate for topography in the Garrison Class Examination of 1878. Coming back to England soon afterwards for musketry instruction at Hythe, he soon took a first class extra certificate, and on his return to India was appointed Musketry Instructor at Quetta. His advancement in his profession, indeed, if not extraordinarily rapid, was sure and certain. It is not pertinent to the character of such a necessarily brief sketch of his life as this to lay too much stress on all that he did ere he came into special prominence some few years ago. But when one considers the brief facts of his military career one easily sees how thoroughly Baden-Powell--to use a well-understood phrase--learnt his trade. He served with his regiment (of which he was adjutant for many years) in India, Afghanistan, and South Africa; he was on the Staff as Assistant Military Secretary in South Africa in 1887-89; he was in the operations in Zululand in 1888, and was mentioned in despatches; he acted as Assistant Military Secretary at Malta from 1890 to 1893; he went on special service to Ashanti in 1895, and was Chief Staff Officer in the Matabele Campaign of 1896, and was promoted from his old regiment to the command of the 5th Dragoon Guards in 1897. It required little knowledge of military life and matters to realize how thoroughly the future hero of Mafeking had made himself acquainted with the duties of the perfectly-equipped soldier during the twenty-one years dealt with in this brief outline of his doings. Such an outline is indeed less than brief, for it records scarcely anything but the main facts of his military advancement. When one comes to remember that in addition to all the active service here mentioned he contrived to find time to write books, some of them about Tactics, some about Sport, some describing his participation in or conduct of important military operations, one is amazed to find that a single brain can compass so many things. But the amazement deepens when it is remembered that in addition to all this Baden-Powell also found time to do many other things--to act, sing, paint, etch, make innumerable sketches, hunt, shoot, yacht, get up theatrical entertainments and stage-manage them, attend foreign military evolutions, and travel extensively. To an ordinary mortal the question must needs occur,--How does he manage to do it all? To that the only possible answer can be that Baden-Powell, in addition to possessing many qualities denied to other men, is blessed with yet another of which most men are not so keen to take advantage--that of always being occupied, and of being thoroughly absorbed in the thing that occupies him. He has never shown this quality more thoroughly, perhaps, than during those portions of his career when duty called him to play--or rather, work--the part of regimental officer. Most of us know how such a part may be played--how the officer in barracks may spend his time in doing a minimum of duty and a maximum of pleasure, how he may ignore the men under him, and generally behave as if the service were a bore and all its surroundings unpalatable. Some officers do order their lives after such a fashion; others again affect a languid indifference to things in general, which is scarcely less hurtful to the best interests of the service. Baden-Powell, as regimental officer, was neither bored nor indifferent. He was always doing something for his men, interesting himself in games and amusements, lecturing to them, acting, reciting, and making fun for them, and there was not a man in his troop who did not feel that he had a friend in his energetic captain. It is not difficult to realise what all this means. The man who can command the respect and affection of those serving under him to such an extent that they would go anywhere and do anything at his lightest word must needs possess a personal magnetism which proves him worthy of leading not merely a troop but an army.