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.