With all these articles the bicycle will be heavily loaded, and one of
the points which the authorities especially wish to prove is whether it
is possible for men to make any distance on wheels when they are so
heavily weighted.

The baggage that we have described is the very least that a soldier can
carry, and if no great distance can be accomplished with such a load,
the wheel is of little value for purposes of war.

The military authorities are also desirous of proving just how reliable
the bicycle itself is. Every one knows what the wheel can do on a level
road or smooth track, but it has not been demonstrated how a troop of
wheels will last on rough country roads.

Company E has taken no tents; the men are to sleep under such cover as
they may find on the way. No food has been taken, or provided for; the
men will have to forage, or seek for their own rations.

Their one extra is a bicycle ambulance. This is a very novel affair, and
is made of a covered stretcher slung between two tandems. The men have
been allowed to put kettles and coffee-pots inside the stretcher at the
start, but if in case of illness the ambulance is needed, even these
small comforts will be left behind.

They have with them an engineer to make maps, and a photographer, who
has a camera slung under his saddle instead of a musket.

The experiment is to be made on Long Island. When the Shinnecock Hills
are reached, two days will be spent in scouting and reconnoitring, with
skirmishes and sham fights to follow.