Scouting for Boys

by Robert Baden-Powell

  There was the case of a learned old gentleman who was found dead in his bedroom with a wound in his forehead and another in his left temple.

  Very often after a murder, the murderer, with his hands bloody from the deed and running away, may catch hold of the door, or a jug of water to wash his hands.

  In the present case a newspaper lying on the table had the marks of three blood-stained fingers on it. The son of the dead man was suspected and was arrested by the police. But careful examination of the room and the prints of the finger-marks showed that the old gentleman had become ill in the night. He had got out of bed to get some medicine, but near the table a new spasm seized him and he fell, striking his head violently against the corner of the table, and made the wound on his temple, which just fitted the corner. In trying to get up he had caught hold of the table and had made the bloody finger-marks on the newspaper lying on it. Then he had fallen again, cutting his head a second time on the foot of the bed.

  The finger-prints were compared with the dead man’s fingers and were found to be exactly the same. Well, you don’t find two men in 64,000,000,000,000 with the same pattern on the skin of their fingers. So it was evident there had been no murder, and the dead man’s son was released as innocent.

  Other Marks

  In a Russian city a banker was found murdered. Near the body was discovered a cigar-holder with an amber mouthpiece. This mouthpiece was of peculiar shape and could only be held in the mouth in one position, and it had two teeth marks in it. The marks showed that the two teeth were of different lengths.

  The teeth of the murdered man were quite regular, so the cigar-holder was evidently not his. But his nephew had teeth which corresponded to the marks on the mouthpiece. He was arrested, and then further proof came up and showed that he was the murderer.

  There is a similar story in Sherlock Holmes’ Memoirs called “The Resident Patient”. Here a man was found hanging and was considered to be a suicide till Sherlock Holmes came in and showed by various signs—such as cigar ends bitten by different teeth, footprints—that three men had been in the room with the man for some time previous to his death and had hanged him.

  Details in the Country

  If you are in the country you should notice landmarks, that is, objects which help you to find your way or prevent you getting lost, such as distant hills, church towers, and nearer objects such as peculiar buildings, trees, gates, rocks, etc.

  And remember, in noticing such landmarks, that you may want to use your knowledge of them some day for telling someone else how to find his way, so you must notice them pretty closely to be able to describe them unmistakably and in their proper order. You must notice and remember every by-road and foot-path.

  Then you must also notice smaller signs, such as birds getting up and flying hurriedly, which means somebody or some animal is there. Rising dust shows animals, men, or vehicles moving.

  Of course, when in the country, you should notice just as much as in town, all passers-by very carefully—how they are dressed, what their faces are like, their way of walking—and examine their footmarks and

  jot down sketches of them in your notebook, so that you would know the footmarks again if you found them somewhere else, as the shepherd boy did in the story at the beginning of this book.

  A great deal of dust does not always mean many people. Here is a ruse that was used to draw the attention of the enemy: Branches of trees were towed along a dusty road, to i mitate moving cavalry.

  Also notice tracks of animals, birds, wheels, etc., for from these you can read valuable information.

  Track reading is of such importance that I shall give you a yarn on that subject by itself.

  Using Your Eyes

  Let nothing be too small for your notice. A button, a match, the ash from a cigar, a feather, or a leaf, might be of great importance.

  A Scout must not only look to his front, but also to either side and behind him; he must have “eyes at the back of his head”, as the saying is.

  Often, by suddenly looking back, you will see an enemy’s scout or a thief showing himself in a way that he would not have done had he thought you would look round.

  There is an interesting story by Fenimore Cooper called The Pathfinder, in which the action of a Red Indian scout is well described. He had “eyes at the back of his head”, and, after passing some bushes, caught sight of a withered leaf or two among the fres h ones. This made him suspect that somebody had put the leaves there to make a better hiding-place, and so he discovered some hidden fugitives.

  Night Scouting

  A Scout has to be able to notice small details by night as well as by day.

  At night he has to do it chiefly by listening, occasionally by feeling or smelling.

  In the stillness of the night, sounds carry farther than by day. If you put your ear to the ground or place it against a stick, or especially against a drum, which is touching the ground, you will hear the shake of horses’ hoofs or the thud of a man’s footfall a long way off.

  Another way is to open a knife with a blade at each end; stick one blade into the ground, hold the other carefully between your teeth and you will hear all the better.

  The human voice, even though talking low, carries to a great distance, and is not likely to be mistaken for any other sound.

  I have often passed through outposts at night after having found where the pickets were posted by hearing the low talking of the men or the snoring of those asleep.

  PATROL PRACTICES IN OBSERVATION

  IN TOWN: Teach your boys first, in walking down a street, to notice the different kinds of shops they pass and to remember them in their proper order. Then to notice and remember the names on the shops. Then to notice and remember the contents of a shop window after two minutes’ gaze. Finally to notice the contents of several shop windows in succession with half a minute at each.

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  Make the boys notice prominent buildings as landmarks, the number of turnings off the street they are using, names of other streets, details of cars passing by, and especially, details of people as to dress, features and way of walking. Take them out the first time to show them how to do it. After that send them out and question them on their return.

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  Make the Scouts learn for themselves to notice and remember the whereabouts of all fire alarms, police points, hospitals, etc.

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  IN THE COUNTRY: Take the Patrol out for a walk and teach the boys to notice distant prominent features as landmarks, such as hills, church steeples, and the like, and as nearer landmarks such things as peculiar buildings, trees, rocks, gates, etc. Also have them notice by-roads or paths, different kinds of trees, birds, animals, tracks, and also people and vehicles.

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  Send the boys out on a walk. On their return examine them one by one, or have them all in and let them write their ans wers on, say, six questions which you give them with reference to certain points which they should have noticed. It adds to the value of the practice if you make certain small marks in the ground beforehand, or leave buttons or matches, etc., for the boys to notice or to pick up and bring in, as a means of making them examine the ground close to them, as well as distant objects.

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  At Troop meeting, arrange for an “incident” to take place without warning, such as this: A man rus hes in, “knocks down” the Scoutmaster, and escapes. Then each Patrol writes a report of what happened, a description of the man, etc.

  GAMES IN OBSERVATION

  Send the Patrol out of the room.

  Thimble Finding

  (Indoors)

  Take a thimble, ring, coin, bit of paper, or any small article, and place it where it is perfectly visible, but in a spot where it is not likely to be noticed. Let the Patrol come in and look for it. When one of the Scout sees it, he should go and quietly sit down without indicating to the others where it is.

  After a fair time he should be told to poi
nt it out to those who have not succeeded in finding it.

  Far and Near

  (For town or country)

  Umpire goes along a given road or line of country with a Patrol in patrolling formation. He carries a scoring card with the name of each Scout on it.

  Each Scout looks out for the details required, and, directly he notices one, he runs to the umpire and informs him or hands in the article, if it is an article he finds. The umpire enters a mark accordingly against his name. The Scout who gains most marks in the walk wins.

  Details like the following should be chosen, to develop the Scout’s observation and to encourage him to look far and near, up and down. The details should be varied every time the game is played; and about eight or ten should be given at a time.

  Every match found................................1 point

  Every button found ...............................1 point

  Bird’s tracks .........................................2 points

  Grey horse seen....................................2 points

  Pigeon flying........................................2 points

  Sparrow sitting .....................................1 point

  Ash tree ...............................................2 points

  Broken window ....................................1 point

  (And so on)

  Shop Window

  (Outdoors in town)

  Umpire takes a Patrol down a street past six shops and gives them half a minute at each shop. Then, after moving them off to some distance, he gives each boy a pencil and card, and tells him to write from memory what he noticed in, say, the third and fifth shops. The Scout who sets down most articles correctly wins. It is useful practice to match one boy against another in heats—the losers competing again, till you arrive at the worst. This gives the worst Scouts the most practice.

  Room Observation

  (Indoors)

  Send each Scout in turn into a room for half a minute. When he comes out, take down a list of furniture and articles which he has noticed. The boy who notices most wins.

  The simplest way of scoring is to make a list of the articles in the room on your scoring paper, with a column against them for marks for each Scout. The marks can then easily be totalled up.

  “Old Spotty-Face” is a good game for practising observation. It also helps to sharpen the eye sight.

  Old Spotty-face

  Prepare squares of cardboard divided into about a dozen or more small squares. Each Scout should take one, and should have a pencil and go off a few hundred yards.

  The leader then takes a large sheet of cardboard, with the same number of squares ruled on it of about three inch sides. The leader has a number of black paper discs, half an inch in diameter, and pins ready, and sticks about half a dozen on to his

  card, dotted about where he likes. He holds up his card so that it can be seen by the

  Scouts. They then gradually approach, and as they get within sight they mark their cards with the same pattern of spots. The one who does so at the farthest distance from the leader wins.

  Give five points for every spot correctly shown, deduct one point for every two inches nearer than the furthest man.

  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 farther inland, about half-way between the “border” and the “town”. The “town” would be a base marked by a tree, building, or flags, 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 Pace. Only one among them is supposed to be smuggling, and he wears tracking irons. 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-operates with him and they all 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.

  Kim’s Game

  Place about twenty or thirty s mall articles on a tray, or on the table or floor, such as two or three different kinds of buttons, pencils, corks, rags, nuts, stones, knives, string, photos—anything you can find—and cover them over with a cloth or coat.

  Make a list of these, and make a column opposite the list for each boy’s replies. Like this:

  Then uncover the articles for one minute by your watch, or while you count slowly to sixty. Then cover them again.

  Take each boy separately and let him whisper to you each of the articles that he can remember—or have him write a list of them—and mark them off on your scoring sheet.

  The boy who remembers the greatest number wins the game.

  Fugitives

  Each Scout in the Patrol has a round disc of white cardboard with a number printed plainly upon it, pinned on to the back of his shirt.

  One member of the Patrol is then chosen as the “fugitive”, while the rest act as hunters.

  The “fugitive”, who wears tracking-irons, or leaves some kind of trail behind him, is given, say, ten minutes’ start. The rest of the Patrol then start out and endeavour to track him down.

  As soon as a “hunter” can get near enough to the “fugitive”, without being seen, to take down his number, the latter is caught. But if the “fugitive” can, by any means, turn the tables and get any of his pursuers’ numbers, the latter are out of action.

  As soon as a number is taken down, the Scout who takes it must call it out, to let his captive know he is out of action.

  This game necessitates some careful stalking. A sharp Scout in the Patrol should be chosen for the “fugitive”, as he has not only to elude perhaps six or seven pursuers, but he must also endeavour to “capture” them, unless he wishes to get killed himself.

  CAMP FIRE YARN NO. 12

  SPOORING

  Men’s Tracks - Animals’ Tracks - The Age of Tracks

  Hints on “Spooring”

  GENERAL DODGE, OF THE AMERICAN ARMY, describes how he once had to pursue a party of Red Indians who had murdered some people.

  The murderers had nearly a week’s start, and had gone away on horseback. Except for one, they were all riding unshod horses.

  General Dodge got a splendid tracking-scout named Espinosa to help him. After tracking the Indians for many miles, Espinosa suddenly got off his horse and pulled four horseshoes out of a hidden crevice in the rocks. The rider of the shod horse had evidently pulled them off so that they should not leave a track.

  For six days Dodge and his men pursued the band, and for a great part of the time there was no sign visible to an ordinary eye. After going for 150 miles they eventually overtook and captured the whole party. It was entirely due to Espinosa ~ good tracking.

  Tracking by Night

  On another occasion some American troops were following up a number of Indians, who had been raiding and murdering whites. They had some other Red Indian scouts to assist them in tracking.

  In order to make a successful attack, the troops marched by night, and the trackers found the way in the darkness by feeling the tracks of the enemy with their fingers. They led on at a fairly good pace for many miles ; but suddenly they halted and reported that the track they had been following had been crossed by a fresh track. When the commanding officer came up, he found the Indians still holding the track with their hands, so that there should be no mistake.

  A light was brought and it was found that the new track was that of a bear which had walked across the trail of the enemy! The march continued without further incident, and the enemy was surprised and
caught in the early hours of the morning.

  The American Scout, Frederick Burnham, who was with Wilson’s men in South Africa when they were massacred on the Shangani River in Matabeleland, was sent away with a dispatch shortly before they were surrounded. He travelled during the night to escape the observation of the enemy. He found his way by feeling for the tracks left in the mud by the column when it marched up there in the morning.

  I myself led a column through an intricate part of the Matopo Mountains in Rhodesia by night to attack the enemy’s stronghold which I had reconnoitred the previous day. I found the way by feeling my own tracks, sometimes with my hands and sometimes through the soles of my shoes, which had worn very thin. I never had any difficulty in finding the line.