To that end I asked Harut to select seventy-five of the boldest and most intelligent young men among his people, and to hand them over to me and Hans for instruction in musketry.

We had only fifty rifles but I drilled seventy-five men, or fifty per cent.

more, that some might be ready to replace any who fell.
From dawn to dark each day Hans and I worked at trying to convert these Kendah into sharpshooters.

It was no easy task with men, however willing, who till then had never held a gun, especially as I must be very sparing of the ammunition necessary to practice, of which of course our supply was limited.

Still we taught them how to take cover, how to fire and to cease from firing at a word of command, also to hold the rifles low and waste no shot.