It often happens that in prosperous public enterprises the applause of the nation and the rewards of the sovereign are bestowed¹ on those whose offices are splendid and whose duties have been dramatic. Others whose labours were no less difficult, responsible, and vital to success are unnoticed. If this be true of men, it is also true of things. In a tale of war the reader's mind is filled with the fighting. The battle—with its vivid scenes, its moving incidents, its plain and tremendous results—excites imagination and commands attention. The eye is fixed² on the fighting brigades as they move amid the smoke; on the swarming³ figures of the enemy; on the General, serene⁴ and determined⁵, mounted in the middle of his Staff. The long trailing line of communications is unnoticed. The fierce glory that plays on red, triumphant⁶ bayonets dazzles the observer; nor does he care to look behind to where, along a thousand miles of rail, road, and river, the convoys⁸ are crawling to the front in uninterrupted succession. Victory is the beautiful, bright-coloured flower. Transport is the stem without which it could never have blossomed. Yet even the military student, in his zeal⁹ to master the fascinating combinations of the actual conflict, often forgets the far more intricate complications of supply.