TRUE SCOUTING STORIES.
Interesting examples of the great value of scouting have, of course, occurred many times. Here are a few—unavoidably omitted from a previous part of "Scouting for Boys."
Captain Stigand in "Scouting and Reconnaissance in Savage Countries" gives the following instances of scouts reading important meaning from small signs.
When he was going round outside his camp one morning he noticed fresh spoor of a horse which had been walking. He knew that all his horses only went at a jog-trot, so it must have been a stranger's horse.
So he recognised that a mounted scout of the enemy had been quietly looking at his camp in the night.
Coming to a village in Central Africa from which the inhabitants had fled, he could not tell what tribe it belonged to till he found a crocodile's foot in one of the huts, which showed that the village belonged to the Awisa tribe, as they eat crocodiles, and the neighbouring tribes do not.
A man was seen riding a camel over half a mile away. A native who was watching him said, "It is a man of slave blood." "How can you tell at this distance." "Because he is swinging his leg. A true Arab rides with his leg close to the camel's side."
General Joubert, who was Commander-in-Chief of the Boer Army in the Boer War, 1900, told me (some years before that) that in the previous Boer War, 1881, it was his wife who first noticed the British troops were occupying Majuba Mountain. The Boers were at that time camped near the foot of the mountain, and they generally had a small party of men on the top as a look-out. On this particular day they had intended moving away early in the morning so the usual picquet had not been sent up on to the mountain.
While they were getting ready to start, Mrs. Joubert, who evidently had the eyes of a scout, looked up and said, "Why, there is an Englishman on the top of Majuba!" The Boers said "No—it must be our own men who have gone up there, after all." ButMrs. Joubert stuck to it and said, "Look at the way he walks, that is no Boer—it is an Englishman." And so it was; she was right. An English force had climbed the mountain during the night, but by the stupidity of this man showing himself up on the sky-line their presence was immediately detected by the Boers who, instead of being surprised by them, climbed up the mountain unseen under the steep crags and surprised the British, and drove them off with heavy loss.
An officer lost his field-glasses during some manoeuvres on the desert five miles from Cairo and he sent for the native trackers to look for them.
They came and asked to see the tracks of his horse; so the horse was brought out and led about so that they could see his footprints. These they carried in their minds and went out to where the manoeuvres had been: there, among the hundreds of hoof marks of the cavalry and artillery, they very soon found those of the officer's horse, and followed them up wherever he had ridden, till they found the field-glasses lying where they had dropped out of their case on the desert.
These trackers are particularly good at spooring camels. To anyone not accustomed to them the footmark of one camel looks very like that of any other camel, but to a trained eye they are all as different as people's faces, and these trackers remember them very much as you would remember the faces of people you had seen.
About a year ago a camel was stolen near Cairo. The police tracker was sent for and shown its spoor. He followed it for a long way until it got into some streets where it was entirely lost among other footmarks. But the other day, a year later, this police tracker suddenly came on the fresh track of this camel; he had remembered its appearance all that time. It had evidently been walking with another camel whose footmark he knew was one which belonged to a well-known camel thief. So without trying to follow the tracks when they got into the city he went with a policeman straight to the man's stable and there found the long-missing camel.
CORRECTIONS.
Owing to difficulties in getting out this handbook punctually in fortnightly parts, I am afraid a number of inaccuracies have crept in, which I hope you will excuse.
These are some of them:
Page 45.—In the colour for the "Wolf" patrol, for "Yellow" read "Yellow and Black."
" 171.—For "Mr. Seton Thompson" read "Mr. Thompson Seton."
" 188 (line 19).—For "365 feet" read "365 yards."
" 202.—Sign Y read semaphore
" 259.—For "Self-Employment" read "Self-Improvement."
" 267 (line 19).—Heading "Luck" should be the heading of the next paragraph, before the words "If you," etc.
" 281 (line 8).—For "we will" read "you must."
" 296 (last line).—For "Two Scouts in Mafeking" read "Marksmanship." Colonial boys think more of their rifle shooting than of their games. See page 322.
(Pictures from "Sketches in Mafeking," by the Author. By permission of Messrs. Smith, Elder & Co.)
" 301 (last line).—For "An actual experience of mine" read "An incident in Kashmir. See page 230."
" 332 (last line but one).—For "made known" read "remedied."
" 334 (line 21).—After "we are" insert "or should be." After King add "for the good of our country."
READY MAY 1st. IN BOOK FORM.Scoutingfor Boys.A HANDBOOK FOR INSTRUCTIONINGOOD CITIZENSHIPBYLieut.-General R. S. S. BADEN-POWELL,C.B., F.R.G.S.Price 2s. Cloth Bound.Published by HORACE COX, Windsor House,Bream's Buildings, London, E.C.Copyrighted 1908.All rights reserved.All communications regarding Boy Scouts shouldbe addressed to—THE QUARTERMASTER,Boy Scouts,Bedford Mansions,Henrietta Street,LONDON, W.C.
READY MAY 1st. IN BOOK FORM.Scoutingfor Boys.A HANDBOOK FOR INSTRUCTIONINGOOD CITIZENSHIPBYLieut.-General R. S. S. BADEN-POWELL,C.B., F.R.G.S.Price 2s. Cloth Bound.Published by HORACE COX, Windsor House,Bream's Buildings, London, E.C.Copyrighted 1908.All rights reserved.All communications regarding Boy Scouts shouldbe addressed to—THE QUARTERMASTER,Boy Scouts,Bedford Mansions,Henrietta Street,LONDON, W.C.
READY MAY 1st. IN BOOK FORM.
Scouting
for Boys.
A HANDBOOK FOR INSTRUCTION
IN
GOOD CITIZENSHIP
BY
Lieut.-General R. S. S. BADEN-POWELL,C.B., F.R.G.S.
Price 2s. Cloth Bound.
Published by HORACE COX, Windsor House,
Bream's Buildings, London, E.C.
Copyrighted 1908.All rights reserved.
All communications regarding Boy Scouts should
be addressed to—
THE QUARTERMASTER,
Boy Scouts,
Bedford Mansions,
Henrietta Street,
LONDON, W.C.
This Part VI. of "Scouting for Boys" is the concluding one of the Series.
The book has met with unexpected success.
Its work of imparting suggestions and knowledge of Peace-Scouting will therefore now be continued and amplified in
THE SCOUT,
a weekly newspaper, at One Penny, which will appear on 14th April, and every succeeding Thursday.
"The Scout" is founded by Lieut.-General Baden-Powell, with a view to keeping touch among the very large number of those already interested in Boys' Scouting in every part of the country, and also as appealing to all British young men and lads of honour, grit, and spirit.
The founder will write in its pages each week, and the services of a number of known writers have been secured.
THE SCOUT
will be fully illustrated and up-to-date. Its publication will be in the hands of
Messrs. C. ARTHUR PEARSON LTD.
Transcriber's Notes:Archaic and colloquial spelling and punctuation was retained.Missing or obscured punctuation was corrected.
Transcriber's Notes:
Archaic and colloquial spelling and punctuation was retained.
Missing or obscured punctuation was corrected.