Very bad: they give you in charge here.Very bad: they give you in charge here.
Very bad: they give you in charge here.
Very bad: they give you in charge here.
Too many tramps been here already.Too many tramps been here already.
Too many tramps been here already.
Too many tramps been here already.
No good.No good.
No good.
No good.
Bad people.Bad people.
Bad people.
Bad people.
There are very good native trackers in the Soudan and Egypt, and I saw some of their work there.
The Colonel of the Egyptian Cavalry had had some things stolen out of his house, so a tracker was sent for from the neighbouring Jaalin tribe.
He soon found the footprints of the thief and followed them a long way out on to the desert, and found the spot where he had buried the stolen goods. His tracks then came back to the barracks.
So the whole of the regiment was paraded without shoes on for the tracker to examine. And at the end when he had seen every man walk, he said, "No the thief is not there." Just then the Colonel's native servant came up to him with a message, and the tracker who was standing by said to the Colonel "That is the man who buried the stolen things."
The servant, surprised at being found out, then confessed that it was he who had stolen his master's property, thinking that he would be the last man to be suspected.
Mr. Deakin, the Premier of Australia, told me how he travelled on board ship with a number of natives of Australia who were on the sea for the first time in their lives.
When the ship got out to sea he noticed all these natives had got into the bows and were lying flat on the deck with their heads over the side staring intently into the water ahead of the ship. So interested were they inthe water that for some time he could not get any reply to his question as to what they were looking at, till at length one of them said: "We cannot understand how the ship is finding its way across the sea; we cannot see the trail that it is following; we know that our eyes are sharp enough on shore and often when we are guiding white men along a trail they say they cannot see the tracks which to us are clear enough—their eyes are different to ours. But here at sea the English sailors evidently can see tracks ahead of them, otherwise they would not know which way to send the ship, and yet we, who are so good at seeing on shore, cannot see any sign of a track or mark on the water."
When getting on to very fresh spoor of man or beast, the old scout will generally avoid following it closely because the hunted animal will frequently look back to see if it is being followed. The tracker therefore makes a circle, and comes back on to where he would expect to find the spoor again. If he finds it, he makes another circle further ahead till he finds no spoor. Then he knows he is ahead of his game, so he gradually circles nearer and nearer till he finds it. See diagram.
Some trackers of Scinde followed up a stolen camel from Karachi to Sehwan, 150 miles over sand and bare rock. The thieves, to escape detection, drove the camel up and down a crowded street, in order to get the trail mixed up with others—but the trackers foresaw this and made a "cast" round the town, and hit on the outgoing spoor on the far side, which they successfully followed up.
Tracking.Tracking.
Tracking.
Tracking.
In tracking where the spoor is difficult to see, such as on hard ground, or in grass, note the direction of the last foot-print that you can see, then look on in the same direction, but well ahead of you, say 20 or 30 yards, and in grass you will generally see the blades bent or trodden, and on hard ground, possibly stones displaced or scratched, and so on, small signs which, seen in a line one behind the other, give a kind of track that otherwisewould not be noticed. I once tracked a bicycle on a hard macadam road where it really made no impression at all, but by looking along the surface of the road for a long distance ahead of me, under the rising sun as it happened, the line it had taken was quite visible through the almost invisible coating of dew upon the ground. Standing on the track and looking upon it close to myfeet I could not see the slightest sign of it. The great thing is to look for a difficult trackagainstthe sun, so that the slightest dent in the ground throws a shadow.
If you lose sight of the track you must make a "cast" to find it again. To do this put your handkerchief, staff, or other mark at the first footmark that you noticed, then work round it in a wide circle, say 30, 50 or 100 yards away from it as a centre—choosing the most favourable ground, soft ground if possible, to find signs of the outward track. If you are with a patrol it is generally best for the patrol to halt while one or perhaps two men make the cast. If everybody starts trying to find the spoor they very soon defeat their object by treading it out or confusing it with their own footmarks—too many cooks easily spoil the broth in such a case.
In making a cast use your common-sense as to which direction the enemy has probably taken, and try it there. I remember an instance of tracking a boar which illustrates what I mean. The boar had been running through some muddy inundated fields, and was easy enough to follow until he turned off over some very hard and stony ground, where after a little while not a sign of his spoor was to be seen. A cast had accordingly to be made. The last footmark was marked, and the tracker moved round a wide circle, examining the ground most carefully, but not a sign was found. Then the tracker took a look round the country, and, putting himself in place of the pig, said "Now which direction would I have gone in?" Some distance to the front of him, as the original track led, stood a long hedge of prickly cactus; in it were two gaps. The tracker went to one of these as being the line the boar would probably take. Here the ground was still very hard, and no footmark was visible, but on a leaf of the cactus in the gap was a pellet of wet mud; and this gave the desired clue; there was no mud on this hard ground, but the pig had evidently brought some on his feet from the wet ground he had been travelling through. This one little sign enabled the tracker to work on in the right direction to another and another, until eventually he got on to thespoor again in favourable ground, and was able to follow up the boar to his resting place.
I have watched a tracker in the Soudan following tracks, where for a time they were quite invisible to the ordinary eye in this way. While the track was clear he made his own stride exactly to fit that of the track, so that he walked step for step with it, and he tapped the ground with his staff as he walked along—ticking off each footprint as it were. When the footprints disappeared on hard ground, or had been buried by drifting sand he still walked on at the same place tap-tapping the ground with his staff at the spot where there ought to have been a footprint. Occasionally one saw a slight depression or mark which showed that there had been a footprint there, and thus he knew he was still on the right line.
1.The Instructor should make his scouts prepare a well-rolled or flattened piece of ground (about ten or fifteen yards square) and make one boy walk across it, then run, and then bicycle across it. Part of the ground should be wet as if by rain, the other part dry.
He can then explain the difference in the tracks so that scouts can tell at once from any tracks they may see afterwards whether a person was walking or running.
If possible, a day later make fresh tracks alongside the old and notice the difference in appearance so that the scouts can learn to judge the age of tracks.
Then make tracks of various kinds overrunning each other such as a bicycle meeting a boy on foot, each going over the other's tracks, and let the scouts read the meaning.
2.Send out a boy with "Tracking Irons" on and let the patrol track him and notice when any other tracks override his, showing what people or animals have passed since.
N.B. Tracking irons are an invention of Mr. Thompson Seton's and can be strapped on to soles of scout's boots (like a pair of skates) so that wherever he goes he leaves a track similar to that of a deer.
TRACKING GAMES.PRACTICES AND GAMES IN SPOORING.
Make a patrol sit with their feet up so that other scouts can study them. Give the scouts, say, three minutes to study the boots. Then leaving the scouts in a room or out of sight let one of the patrol make some footmarks in a good bit of ground. Call up the scouts one by one and let them see the track and say who made it.
Take out a patrol; set them on to one foot-track. Award a prize to the scout who makes the most accurate drawing of one of the footprints of the track. The scouts should be allowed to follow up the track till they get to a bit of ground where a good impression of it can be found.
Get a stranger to make a track unseen by the scouts. The scouts study his track so as to know it again.
Then put the stranger among eight or ten others and let them all make their tracks for the boys to see, going by in rotation. Each scout then in turn whispers to the umpire which man made the original track—describing him by his number in filing past. The scout who answers correctly wins; if more than one answers correctly, the one who then draws the best diagram, from memory, of the foot-print wins.
This game may also be carried out as a test for marks towards a badge of honour. Correct detection of the thief counts two marks; if good diagram is also drawn another mark may be added.
"Smugglers Over the Border."
The "Border" is a certain line of country about four hundred yards long, preferably a road or wide path or bit of sand, on which foot-tracks can easily be seen. One patrol watches the border with sentries posted along this road, with a reserve posted further inland. This should be about half-way between the "border" and the "town," the "town" would be a base marked by trees, buildings, or flags, etc., about half a mile distant from the border. A hostile patrol of smugglers assembles about half a mile on the other side of the border. They will all cross the border, in any formation they please, either singly or together or scattered, and make for the town, either walking or running, or at scout's pace. Only one among them is supposed to be smuggling, and he wears tracking irons, so that the sentries walk up and down their beat (they may not run till after the 'alarm'), waiting for the tracks of the smuggler. Directly a sentry sees the track, he gives the alarm signal to the reserve and starts himself to follow up the track as fast as he can. The reserve thereupon co-operate with them and try to catch the smuggler before he can reach the town. Once within the boundary of the town he is safe and wins the game.
"Lectures on Tracking":Cavalry JournalOffice, Whitehall, S.W.
"Scouting and reconnaissance in Savage Countries": Captain. Stigand.
"Tracks of Wild Animals."
CAMP FIRE YARN.—No. 7.READING "SIGN" OR DEDUCTION.
Putting this and that together—Sherlock-Holmesism—Instances of Deduction—Hints to Instructors—Practice in Deduction—Books on Deduction.
When a scout has learned to notice "sign," he must then learn to "put this and that together," and so read ameaningfrom what he has seen. This is called "deduction." Here is an example of what I mean which was lately given in the "Forest and Stream," which shows how the young scout can read the meaning from "sign" when he has been trained to it.
A cavalry soldier had got lost and some of his comrades were hunting all over the country to find him, when they came across a native boy, and asked him if he had seen the lost man. He immediately said: "Do you mean a very tall soldier, riding a roan horse that was slightly lame?"
They said, "Yes; that was the man. Where did you see him?"
The boy replied "I have not seen him, but I know where he has gone."
Thereupon they arrested him, thinking that probably the man had been murdered and made away with, and that the boy had heard about it.
But eventually he explained that he had seen tracks of the man which he could point out to them.
Finally he brought them to a place where the signs showed that the man had made a halt. The horse had rubbed itself against a tree, and had left some of its hairs sticking to the bark which showed that it was a roan horse; its hoof marks showed that it was lame, that is, one foot was not so deeply indented on the ground and did not take so long a pace as the otherfeet. That the rider was a soldier was shown by the imprint of his boot which was an army boot. Then they asked the boy "How could you tell that he was a tall man?" and the boy pointed out to where the soldier had broken a branch from the tree which would have been out of reach of a man of ordinary height. Deduction exactly like reading a book.
A boy who has never been taught to read and who sees you reading from a book would ask "How do you do it?" and you would point out to him that a number of small signs on a page are letters; these letters when grouped form words; and words form sentences; and sentences give information.
Similarly a trained scout will see little signs and tracks, he puts them together in his mind and quickly reads a meaning from them such as an untrained man would never arrive at.
And from frequent practice he gets to read the meaning at a glance just as you do a book without the delay of spelling out each word, letter by letter.
I was one day, during the Matabele war [Show on map] with a native out scouting near to the Matopo Hills over a wide grassy plain. Suddenly we crossed a track freshly made in grass, where the blades of grass were still green and damp though pressed down; all were bending one way which showed the direction in which the people had been travelling; following up the track for a bit it got on to a patch of sand, and we then saw that it was the spoor of several women (small feet with straight edge, and short steps), and boys (small feet, curved edge and longer strides) walking not running, towards the hills, about five miles away; where we believed the enemy to be hiding.
Then we saw a leaf lying about ten yards off the track—There were no trees for miles, but we knew that trees having this kind of leaf grew at a village fifteen miles away, in the direction from which the footmarks were coming. It seemed likely therefore that the women had come from that village, bringing the leaf with them, and had gone to the hills.
From "Sketches in Mafeking and East Africa." By permission of Messrs. Smith & Elder.From "Sketches in Mafeking and East Africa." By permission of Messrs. Smith & Elder.
From "Sketches in Mafeking and East Africa." By permission of Messrs. Smith & Elder.
From "Sketches in Mafeking and East Africa." By permission of Messrs. Smith & Elder.
On picking up the leaf we found it was damp, and smelled of native beer. The short steps showed that the women were carrying loads. So we guessed that according to the custom they had been carrying pots of native beer on their heads, the mouths of the pots being stopped up with bunches of leaves. One of these leaves had fallen out; but we found it ten yards off the track, which showed that at the time it fell a wind was blowing. There was no wind now,i.e., seven o'clock, but there had been one about five o'clock.
So we guessed from all these little signs that a party of women and boys had brought beer during the night from the village 15 miles away and had taken it to the enemy on the hills, arriving there soon after six o'clock.
The men would probably start to drink the beer at once (as it goes sour in a few hours), and would, by the time we could get there, be getting sleepy and keeping a bad look-out, so we should have a favourable chance of looking at their position.
We accordingly followed the women's track, found the enemy, made our observations and got away with our information without any difficulty.
And it was chiefly done on the evidence of that one leaf. So you see the importance of noticing even a little thing like that.
Mr. Tighe Hopkins writing in "World's Work" describes how by noticing very small signs detectives have discovered crimes.
In one case a crime had been committed and a stranger's coat was found which gave no clue to the owner. The coat was put into a stout bag and beaten with a stick. The dust was collected from the bag and examined under a powerful magnifying glass and was found to consist of fine sawdust which showed that the owner of the coat was probably a carpenter, or sawyer, or joiner. The dust was then put under a more powerful magnifying glass—called a microscope—and it was then seen that it also contained some tiny grains of gelatine and powdered glue. These things are not used by carpenters or sawyers, so the coat was shown to belong to a joiner, and the police got on the track of the criminal.
Dust out of pockets, or in the recesses of a pocket-knife, and so on, if closely examined, tells a great deal.
Then on another occasion a murder was committed, and close by a cap was found which did not belong tothe victim, so probably it belonged to the murderer. Two hairs were found sticking to the lining of the cap; they were carefully taken to Dr. Emile Pfaff, a celebrated observer. He examined the hairs under a microscope and was able to read from them that the owner of the cap was "A man of middle age, strong, inclined to be fat; black hair with some grey among it, getting bald; lately had his hair cut."
In this way a clue was got to the appearance of the murderer.
Dr. Bell of Edinburgh is said to be the original from whom Sir Conan Doyle drew his idea of Sherlock Holmes.
The doctor was once teaching a class of medical students at a hospital how to doctor people. A patient was brought in, so that the doctor might show how an injured man should be treated. The patient in this case came limping in, and the doctor turned to one of the students and asked him:
"What is the matter with this man?"
The student replied, "I don't know, sir. I haven't asked him yet."
The doctor said, "Well, there is no need to ask him, you should see for yourself—he has injured his right knee; he is limping on that leg: he injured it by burning it in the fire; you see how his trouser is burnt away at the knee. This is Monday morning. Yesterday was fine; Saturday was wet and muddy. The man's trousers are muddy all over. He had a fall in the mud on Saturday night."
Then he turned to the man and said, "You drew your wages on Saturday and got drunk, and in trying to get your clothes dry by the fire when you got home you fell on the fire and burnt your knee—Isn't that so?"
"Yes, sir," replied the man.
I saw a case in the paper last week where a judge at the county court used his powers of "noticing little things," and "putting this and that together." He was trying a man as a debtor.
The man pleaded that he was out of work, and could get no employment.
The judge said—"Then what are you doing with that pencil behind your ear if you are not in business?"
The man had to admit that he had been helping his wife in her business, which, it turned out, was a very profitable one, and the judge thereupon ordered him to pay his debt.
Dr. Reiss, of the Police Department of the University of Lausanne, records how the police read the spoor.
A burglary had taken place in a house, and the thief's footprints were found in the garden. Those going towards the house were not so deeply impressed as those coming away from it nor were they so close together; from this the police gathered that the burglar had carried away with him a heavy load which made him take short steps and he was fully weighted down so that they sank deeply in the ground.
Read aloud a story in which a good amount of observation of details occur, with consequent deductions, such as in either the "Memoirs" or the "Adventures of Sherlock Holmes."
Then question the boys afterwards as to which details suggested certain solutions, to see that they really have grasped the method.
Follow up ordinary tracks and deduce their meaning. For examples of daily practice see my book of "Aids to Scouting."
A simple deduction from signs noticed in my walk one morning on a stony mountain path in Kashmir.
Sign Observed—Tree-stump, about three feet high, by the path. A stone about the size of a cocoanut lying near it, to which were sticking some bits of bruised walnut rind, dried up. Some walnut rind also lying onthe stump. Further along the path, 30 yards to the south of the stump, were lying bits of walnut shell of four walnuts. Close by was a high sloping rock, alongside the path. The only walnut tree in sight was 150 yards north of the stump.
At the foot of the stump was a cake of hardened mud which showed the impression of a grass shoe.
What would you make out from those signs? My solution of it was this:
A man had gone southward on a long journey along the path two days ago, carrying a load; and had rested at the rock while he ate walnuts.
My deductions were these:
It was a man carrying a load, because carriers when they want to rest do not sit down, but rest their load against a sloping rock and lean back. Had he had no load he would probably have sat down on the stump, but he preferred to go 30 yards further to where the rock was. Women do not carry loads there, so it was a man. But he first broke the shells of his walnuts on the tree-stump with the stone, having brought them from the tree 150 yards north. So he was travelling south, and he was on a long journey, as he was wearing shoes, and not going barefooted as he would be if only strolling near his home. Three days ago there was rain, the cake of mud had been picked up while the ground was still wet—but it had not been since rained upon and was now dry. The walnut rind was also dry and confirmed the time that had elapsed.
There is no important story attached to this, but it is just an example of everyday practice which should be carried out by scouts.
Get some people who are strangers to the boys to come along as passers-by in the street or road, and let the boys separately notice all about them; and after an interval ask each for a full description of each of the passers-by as to appearance, peculiar recognisable points, andwhat he guesses his business to be; or let each boy have two minutes' conversation with your friend and try to find out what he can about him in that time by questioning and observation.
Set a room or prepare a piece of ground with small signs, tracks, etc., read aloud the story of the crime up to that point and let each boy or each patrol in turn examine the scene for a given time and then privately give each his solution of it.
The very simplest, most elementary schemes should be given at first, and they can gradually be elaborated. For instance take a number of footmarks and spent matches by a tree showing where a man had difficulty in lighting his pipe, etc.
For a more finished theme take a mystery like that in "Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes" called "The Resident Patient." Set a room to represent the patient's room where he was found hanging, with footprints of muddy boots on the carpet, cigar ends bitten or cut in the fireplace, cigar ashes, screw-driver and screws, etc. Put down a strip or "stepping stones" of stuff, handkerchiefs, or paper on which the competitors shall walk (so as not to confuse existing tracks). Let each scout (or patrol) come in separately and have three minutes in which to investigate. Then to go out and give in his solution, written or verbal, half an hour later.
Let one patrol make tracks by carrying out such a series as that which D'Atagnan elucidated. The other patrol then acts as detectives and endeavours to unravel the mystery from the tracks and other sign.
Any one of Sherlock Holmes stories makes a good play.
"Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes."
"Adventures of Sherlock Holmes."
"The Thinking Machine" which contains a number of stories like Sherlock Holmes.
"Criminal Investigation" by Dr. Gross. Edited by J. Adam. (Published by Specialist Press, London.)
CHAPTER III.WOODCRAFT;
or,
Knowledge of Animals and Nature.
As an aid to Observation—How to hide yourself—How to learn Stalking—Games—Book on Stalking.
At some manoeuvres lately, two hostile patrols of soldiers were approaching, looking for each other, till the ground between them became very open, and it seemed hopeless for a scout to cross it without being seen. However, a small ditch about two feet deep and overgrown with bushes ran across part of the open plain from the point where one patrol was lying hidden. They noticed two calves which came out on to the plain from the opposite side and walked across the open till they got to the end of this ditch, and here they stopped and separated and began browsing.
A scout now started to make use of this ditch by crawling along it till he should get to the far end near the calves, and there he hoped to find some way of getting on further, or of at least peeping out and getting a nearer view of the possible position of the enemy. When about half-way along the ditch he was suddenly fired at by an enemy's scout already there, in the ditch.
When the umpire rode up and asked him how he had got there without being seen, the hostile scout said that finding he could not reach the ditch without being seen if he went across the plain, he seized two calves which he had found among the bushes where his patrol werehiding, and stepping between them, he drove the pair of them, by holding their tails across the open ditch; here he let them go and slid himself into the ditch without being noticed.
When you want to observe wild animals you have to stalk them, that is, to creep up to them without their seeing or smelling you.
A hunter when he is stalking wild animals keeps himself entirely hidden, so does the war scout when watching or looking for the enemy; a policeman does not catch pickpockets by standing about in uniform watching for them, he dresses like one of the crowd and as often as not gazes into a shop window and sees all that goes on behind him reflected as if in a looking-glass.
If a guilty person finds himself being watched it puts him on his guard, while an innocent person becomes annoyed. So when you are observing a person don't do so by openly staring at them but notice the details you want to at one glance or two, and if you want to study them more, walk behind them; you can learn just as much from a backview, in fact, more than you can from a frontview, and, unless they are scouts and look round frequently, they do not know that you are observing them.
War scouts and hunters stalking game always carry out two important things when they don't want to be seen.
One is—they take care that the ground behind them, or trees, or buildings, etc., are of the same colour as their clothes.
And the other is—if an enemy or a deer is seen looking for them they remain perfectly still without moving so long as he is there.
In that way a scout even though he is out in the open will often escape being noticed.
In choosing your background, consider the colour ofyour clothes; thus, if you are dressed in khaki, don't go and stand in front of a white-washed wall, or in front of a dark-shaded bush, but go where there is khaki-coloured sand or grass or rocks behind you—and remain perfectly still. It will be very difficult for an enemy to distinguish you even at a short distance.
If you are in dark clothes, get among dark bushes, or in the shadow of trees, or rocks, but be careful that the ground beyond you is also dark—if there is light-coloured ground beyond the trees under which you are standing, for instance, you will stand out clearly defined against it.
If you are in red, try and get against red brick buildings, or red earth or rocks, and so on.
Stalking Attitudes.Stalking Attitudes.
Stalking Attitudes.
Stalking Attitudes.
In making use of hills as lookout places be very careful not to show yourself on the top or sky-line. That is the fault which a Tenderfoot generally makes.
It is quite a lesson to watch a Zulu scout making use of a hill-top or rising ground as a look-out place. He will crawl up on all fours, lying flat in the grass; on reaching the top he will very slowly raise his head, inch by inch, till he can see the view. If he sees the enemy on beyond, he will have a good look, and, if he thinks they are watching him, will keep his head perfectly steadyfor an immense time, hoping that he will be mistaken for a stump or a stone. If he is not detected he will very gradually lower his head, inch by inch, into the grass again, and crawl quietly away. Any quick or sudden movement of the head on the sky-line would be very liable to attract attention, even at a considerable distance.
At night keep as much as possible in low ground, ditches, etc., so that you are down in the dark while an enemy who comes near will be visible to you outlined against the stars on higher ground.
By squatting low in the shadow of the bush at night, and keeping quite still, I have let an enemy's scout come and stand within three feet of me, so that when he turned his back towards me I was able to stand up where I was and fling my arms round him.
A point also to remember in keeping hidden while moving, especially at night, is to walk quietly; the thump of an ordinary man's heel on the ground can be heard a good distance off, but a scout or hunter always walks lightly, on the ball of his foot not on his heels; and this you should practise whenever you are walking by day or by night, indoors as well as out, so that it becomes a habit with you—so as to walk as lightly and silently as possible. You will find that as you grow into it your power of walking long distances will grow, you will not tire so soon as you would if clumping along in the heavy footed manner of most people.
Remember always that to stalk a wild animal, or a good scout you must keep down wind of him even if the wind is so slight as to be merely a slight air.
Before starting to stalk your enemy then you should be sure which way the wind is blowing, and work up against it. To find this out you should wet your thumb all round with your tongue, and then hold it up and see which side feels coldest, or you can throw some light dust, or dry grass or leaves in the air, and see which way they drift.
The Red Indian Scouts when they wanted to reconnoitre an enemy's camp, used to tie a wolf's skin ontheir backs and walk on all fours, and, imitating the howl of a wolf, prowled round the camps at night.
In Australia the natives stalk emus—which are great birds something like an ostrich—by putting an emu's skin over themselves and walking with body bent and one hand held up to represent the bird's head and neck.
American scouts when peeping over a ridge or any place where their head might be seen against the sky line put on a cap made of wolf's head skin with ears on it—so that they may be mistaken for a wolf if seen.
From "Sketches in Mafeking and East Africa." By permission of Messrs. Smith & Elder.From "Sketches in Mafeking and East Africa." By permission of Messrs. Smith & Elder.
From "Sketches in Mafeking and East Africa." By permission of Messrs. Smith & Elder.
From "Sketches in Mafeking and East Africa." By permission of Messrs. Smith & Elder.
Our scouts also when looking out among grass etc., tie a string or band round their head and stick a lot of grass in it, some upright some dropping over their face, so that their head is very invisible.
When hiding behind a big stone or mound, etc., they don't look over the top but round the side of it.
Demonstrate the value of adapting colour of clothes to background, by sending out one boy about 500 yards to stand against different backgrounds in turn, till he gets one similar in colour to his own clothes.
The rest of the patrol to watch and to notice how invisible he becomes when he gets a suitable background, e.g. a boy in a grey suit standing in front of darkbushes, etc., is quite visible—but becomes less so if he stands in front of a grey rock or house; a boy in dark suit is very visible in a green field but not when he stands in an open door-way against dark interior shadow.
One scout is given time to go out and hide himself, the remainder then start to find him, he wins if he is not found, or if he can get back to the starting point within a given time without being touched.
A scout is told to bring a note into a certain spot or house from a distance within a given time: other hostile scouts are told to prevent any message getting to this place and to hide themselves at different points to stop the despatch carrier getting in with it.
To count as a capture two scouts must touch the despatch runner before he reaches the spot for delivering the message.
Instructor acts as a deer—not hiding but standing, moving a little now and then if he likes.
Scouts go out to find and each in his own way tries to get up to him unseen.
Directly the instructor sees a scout he directs him to stand up as having failed. After a certain time the instructor calls "time," all stand up at the spot which they have reached and the nearest wins.
The same game may be played to test the scouts in stepping lightly—the umpire being blindfolded. The practice should preferably be carried out where there are dry twigs lying about, and gravel, etc. The scout maystart to stalk the blind enemy at 100 yards distance, and he must do it fairly fast—say in one minute and a half—to touch the blind man before he hears him.
The umpire places himself out in the open and sends each scout or pair of scouts away in different directions about half a mile off. When he waves a flag, which is the signal to begin, they all hide and then proceed to stalk him, creeping up and watching all he does. When he waves the flag again, they rise, come in, and report each in turn all that he did, either by handing in a written report or verbally as may be ordered. The umpire meantime has kept a look-out in each direction, and, every time he sees a scout, he takes two points off that scout's score. He, on his part, performs small actions, such as sitting down, kneeling up, and looking through glasses, using handkerchief, taking hat off for a bit, walking round in a circle a few times, to give scouts something to note and report about him. Scouts are given three points for each act reported correctly. It saves time if the umpire makes out a scoring card beforehand, giving the name of each scout, and a number of columns showing each act of his and what mark that scout wins, also a column of deducted marks for exposing themselves.
"Deer Stalking." Badminton Library Series.
CAMP FIRE YARN.—NO. 9.ANIMALS.
The calling of Wild Animals—Animals—Birds—Reptiles—Fish—Insects—Practical Instruction about Animals—Games—A Play about Animals—Books to read.
Scouts in many parts of the world use the calls of wild animals and birds for communicating with each other, especially at night or in thick bush, or in fog, etc., but it is also very useful to be able to imitate the calls if you want to watch the habits of the animals. You can begin by calling chickens; or by talking to dogs in dog language and you very soon find you can give the angry growl or the playing growl of a dog. Owls, woodpigeons, and curlews are very easily called.
In India I have seen a certain tribe of gipses who eat jackals. Now a jackal is one of the most suspicious animals that lives and is very difficult to catch in a trap, but these gipsies catch them by calling them in this way.
Several men with dogs hide themselves in a grass and bushes round a small field. In the middle of this open place one gipsy imitates the call of the jackals calling to each other; he gets louder and louder till they seem to come together; then they begin to growl and finally tackle each other with violent snapping, snarling and yelling, and at the same time he shakes a bundle of dried leaves which sounds like the animals dashing about among grass and reeds. Then he flings himself down on the ground and throws up dust in the air so that he is completely hidden in it, still growling and fighting. If any jackal is within sound of this he comes tearing out of the jungle and dashes into the dust to join in the fight. When he finds a man there he comes out again in ahurry; but meantime the dogs have been loosed from all sides, and they quickly catch him and kill him.
Mr. William Long in his very interesting book, called "Beasts of the Field," describes how he once called a moose. The moose is a very huge kind of stag with a ugly, bulging kind of nose. He lives in the forests of North America and Canada, and is very hard to get near; and is pretty dangerous when he is angry.
Indian Gipsy calling Jackals.Indian Gipsy calling Jackals.
Indian Gipsy calling Jackals.
Indian Gipsy calling Jackals.
Mr. Long was in a canoe fishing when he heard a moose bull calling in the forest—so just for fun he went ashore and cut a strip of bark of a birch tree and rolled it up into a cone or trumpet shape so as to make a kind of megaphone (about fifteen inches long, five inches wide at the larger end, and about an inch or two at the mouth-piece). With this he proceeded to imitate the roaring grunt of the bull-moose. The effect was tremendous; the old moose came tearing down and even came into the water and tried to get at him—and it was only by hard paddling that in the end he got away.
One of the best things in scouting is the hunting of big game—that is going after elephants, lions, rhino, wild boar, deer, and those kind of animals; and a fellow has to be a pretty good scout if he hopes to succeed at it.
You get plenty of excitement and plenty of dangertoo; and all that I have told you about observation and tracking and hiding yourself comes in here. And in addition to these you must know all about animals and their habits and ways if you want to be successful.
I have said the "hunting" or "going after big game is one of the best things in scouting." I did not say shooting or killing the game was the best part; for as you get to study animals you get to like them more and more, and you will soon find that you don't want to kill them for the mere sake of killing, and that the more you see of them the more you see the wonderful work of God in them.
All the fun of hunting lies in the adventurous life in the jungle, the chance in many cases of the animal huntingyouinstead of you hunting the animal, the interest of tracking him up, stalking him and watching all that he does and learning his habits. The actual shooting the animal that follows is only a very small part of the fun.
No scout should ever kill an animal unless there is some real reason for doing so, and in that case he should kill it quickly and effectively, so as to give it as little pain as possible.
In fact many big-game hunters nowadays prefer to shoot their game with the camera instead of with the rifle—which gives just as interesting results—except when you and your natives are hungry, then you must, of course, kill your game.
My brother was lately big game shooting in East Africa and had very good sport with the camera, living in the wilds, and tracking and stalking and finally snap-shotting elephants, rhinoceros and other big animals.
One day he had crept up near to an elephant and had set up his camera and had got his head under the cloth focussing it, when his native cried, "Look out, sir!" and started to run. My brother poked his head out from under the cloth and found a great elephant coming for him, only a few yards off. So he just pressed the button, and then lit out and ran too. The elephant rushed up to the camera, stopped, and seemed to recognise that itwas only a camera after all and smiling at his own irritability lurched off into the jungle again.
Mr. Schillings' book "With Flashlight and Rifle in Africa" is a most interesting collection of instantaneous photos of wild animals, most of them taken by night by means of flashlight, which was set going by the animals themselves striking against wires which he had put out for the purpose. He got splendid photos of lions, hyænas, deer of all sorts, zebras, and other beasts. There is one of a lion actually in the air springing on to a buck.
The boar is certainly the bravest of all animals; he is the real "King of Jungle," and the other animals all know it. If you watch a drinking pool in the jungle at night, you will see the animals that come to it all creeping down nervously, looking out in every direction for hidden enemies. But when the boar comes he simply swaggers down with his great head and its shiny tusks swinging from side to side: he cares for nobody, but everybody cares for him; even a tiger drinking at the pool will give a snarl and sneak quickly out of sight.
I have often lain out on moonlight nights to watch the animals, especially wild boars, in the jungle; and it is just as good fun as merely going after them to kill them.
And I have caught and kept a young wild boar and a young panther, and found them most amusing and interesting little beggars. The boar used to live in my garden, and he never became really tame though I got him as a baby.
He would come to me when I called him—but very warily; he would never come to a stranger, and a native he would "go for" and try and cut him with his little tusks.
He used to practise the use of his tusks while turning at full speed round on old tree stump in the garden, and he would gallop at this and round it in a figure-of-eight continuously for over five minutes at a time, and then fling himself down on his side, panting with his exertions.
My panther was also a beautiful and delightfullyplayful beast, and used to go about with me like a dog; but he was very uncertain with his dealings with strangers.
I think one gets to know more about animals and to understand them better by keeping them as pets at first, and then going and watching them in their wild natural life.
But before going to study big game in the jungles everybody must study all animals wild and tame at home. It would be a very good thing if every scout kept some kind of animal such as a pony or a dog, or even birds, rabbits, or even live butterflies.
Every boy scout ought to know all about the tame animals which he sees every day. You ought to know all about grooming, feeding, and watering a horse, about putting him into harness or taking him out of harness and putting him in the stable, and know when he is going lame and should not therefore be worked.
And when you harness a horse I hope you will show more knowledge of the animal and more kindness towards him than do half the carriage coachmen in London—by not putting bearing reins on him.
Prince Edward of Wales was reported a short time ago to have said as follows:—
"When I am King I shall make three laws:
1. That no one shall cut puppies' tails, because it must hurt them so.
2. That there shall be no more sin in the country.
3. That nobody shall use bearing-reins because they hurt the horses."
These laws not only show us that King Edward VIII. will be a kind and humane monarch, but that he is farseeing, for the last one at any rate might well be a law of the country now. It is much needed.
Bearing reins are small extra reins which are hooked on to the horse's collar to hold up his head. They are generally put on so tightly as to cause him pain the moment he droops his head at all; when put on loosely they do not cause him to hold up his head and therefore are not of any use.
There are no better drivers than the London cabbies and 'busmen, and they do not use bearing reins, and their horses are more handy than those usually seen in carriages.
Sometimes you see them used on horses in heavy carts; they are then called "Hame-reins"—but they are cruel on the horse if tightly tied. A horse when pulling a heavy cart wants to lean forward with his head down, just as you or I would do when pulling a garden roller—but this hame-rein pulls at the corners of his mouth and forces him to keep his head up.