first.
Whale Hunt
The harpooner who first arrives within range of the whale drives his harpoon into it, and the boat promptly turns round and tows the whale to its harbour.
The second boat pursues, and when it overtakes the other, also harpoons the whale, turns around, and endeavours to tow the whale back to its harbour.
In this way the two boats have a tug-of-war, and eventually the better boat tows the whale, and possibly, the opposing boat into its harbour. (The game is similar to one described in Ernest Thompson Seton’s Birchbark of the Woodcraft Indians.)
CAMP FIRE YARN NO. 7
SIGNALS AND COMMANDS
Hidden Dispatches - Signal
Fires - Sound Signals
Words of Command- Whistle and Flag Signals
Scouts have to be clever at passing news secretly from one place to another, or in signalling to each other. Before the siege of Mafeking, which I told you about in my first yarn, I received a secret message from some unknown friend in the Transvaal, giving me news of the enemy’s plans, the number of his men, horses, and guns. This news came in a very small letter rolled up in a little ball the size of a pill, then put inside a tiny hole in a rough walking stick, and plugged in there with wax. The stick was given to a native, who merely had orders to come into Mafeking and give me the stick as a present. Naturally, when the black native brought me the stick and said it was from a white man, I guessed there must be something special about it, and soon found the hidden letter.
I received a secret letter from another friend once. He had written it in the Hindustani language, but in English lettering. Anybody else studying it would have been quite puzzled about the language in which it was written, but to me it was clear as daylight.
When we sent letters out from Mafeking during the siege, we gave them to natives, who were able to creep out between the Boer outposts. Once through the line of sentries, the Boers mistook the natives for their own, and took no further notice of them. They carried the messages in this way: The letters were written on thin paper, and half a dozen or more were crumpled up tightly into a little ball, then rolled up into a piece of lead paper, such as tea is packed in. The native scout would carry a number of these little balls in his hand, or hanging round his neck loosely on strings. If he saw he was in danger of being captured by an enemy, he would notice landmarks round about him and drop all the balls on the ground, where they looked like small stones. Then he would walk boldly on until accosted by the enemy, who, if he searched him, would find
nothing.
The messenger would wait around for perhaps a day or two, until the coast was clear, then come back to the spot where the landmarks told him the letters were lying. “Landmarks”, you may remember, mean any objects— trees, mounds, rocks, or other details—which act as sign-posts for
a Scout who notices and remembers them.
The natives of Australia often used signal fires to send messages.
SIGNALLING
Signalling is well worth knowing. It is good fun to be able to signal to your pal across the street without other people un- derstanding what you are talking about. But I found it really valuable for communicating with a friend out in the wild— once when we were on separate mountains, and another time when we were on opposite sides of a big river, and one of us had important news to communicate.
Signal Fires
Scouts of all countries use fires for signalling purposes—smoke fires by day and flame fires by night.
Smoke Signals—Three big puffs in slow succession mean “Danger”. A succession of small puffs means “Rally, come here”. A continued column of smoke means “Halt”.
To make a smoke fire, light your fire in the ordinary way with plenty of thin dry sticks and twigs, and as soon as it is burning well, put on green leaves and grass, or damped hay, to make it smoke.
Special drums are used in Africa to signal from village to village.
Cover the fire with a damp blanket. Take off the blanket to let up a puff of smoke, then put it over the fire again. The size of the puff depends on how long you lift the blanket. For a short puff, hold it up while you count two, then replace the blanket while you count eight. For a long puff hold up the blanket for about six seconds.
Flare Signals—Long or short flares at night mean the same as the above smoke signals by day.
You light a flare fire with dry sticks and brushwood, so as to make as bright a flame as possible.
Two Scouts hold up a blanket in front of the fire, that is, between it and those to whom you are signalling, so that your friends do not see the flame till you want them to. Then you drop the blanket while you count two for a short flash, or six for a long one, hiding the fire while you count four between each flash.
Sound Signals
