Mrs. Walter Smithson, when travelling in Kas hmir, was following up, with some native Indian trackers, the “pugs” of a panther which had killed and carried off a young buck. He had crossed a wide bare slab of rock which, of course, gave no mark of his soft feet. The tracker went at once to the far side of the rock where it came to a sharp edge. He wetted his finger, and just passed it along the edge till he found a few buck’s hairs sticking to it. This showed him where the panther had passed down off the rock, dragging the buck with him. Those few hairs were what Scouts call “sign”.
Mrs. Smithson’s tracker also found bears by noticing small “signs”. On one occasion he noticed a fresh scratch in the bark of a tree evidently made by a bear’s claw, and on the other he found a single black hair sticking to the bark of a tree, which told him that a bear had rubbed against it.
Noticing “Signs”
One of the most important things that a Scout has to learn, whether he is a war scout or a hunter or peace scout, is to let nothing escape his attention. He must notice small points and signs, and then make out the meaning of them. It takes a good deal of practice before a tenderfoot gets into the habit of really noting everything and letting nothing escape his eye. It can be learnt just as well in a town as in the country.
And in the same way you should notice any strange sound or any peculiar smell and think for yourself what it may mean. Unless you learn to notice “signs” you will have very little of “this and that” to put together, and so you will be of no use as a Scout.
Remember, a Scout always considers it a great disgrace if an outsider discovers a thing before he has seen
it for himself, whether that thing is far away in the distance or close by under his feet.
If you go out with a really trained Scout you will see that his eyes are constantly moving, looking out in every direction near and far, noticing everything that is going on.
Once I was walking with one in Hyde Park in London. He presently remarked, “T hat horse is going a little lame”. There was no horse near us, but I found he was looking at one far away across the Serpentine Lake. The next moment he picked up a peculiar button lying by the path. His eyes, you see, were looking both far away and near.
“Have You Seen a Man?”
In the streets of a strange town a Scout will notice his way by the principal buildings and side-streets, and by what shops he passes and what is in their windows ; also what vehicles pass him.
Most especially he will notice people—what their faces are like, their dress, their boots, their way of walking—so that if, for instance, he should be asked by a policeman, “Have you seen a man with dark overhanging eyebrows, dressed in a blue suit, going down this Street?” he should be able to give some such answer as “Yes—he was walking a little lame with the right foot, wore foreign-looking boots, was carrying a parcel in his hand. He turned down Gold Street, the second turning on the left from
here, about three minutes ago.”
Information of that kind has often been of the greatest value in tracing out a criminal.
You remember in the story of Kim how Kim was taught observation by means of a game in which he had to describe from memory a trayful of small objects shown to him for a minute and then covered over.
We use this “Kim’s Game”, because it is excellent practice for Scouts.
There was a revolutionary society in Italy called the Camorra, that used to train its boys to be quick at noticing and remembering things. When walking through the street of the city, the Camorrist would suddenly stop and ask his boy:
“How was the woman dressed who sat at the door of the fourth house on the right in the last street?” or, “What were the two men talking about at the corner three streets back?” or, “Where was the cab ordered to drive to, and what was its number?” or, “What is the height of that house and what is the width of its upper-floor window?” and so on. Or the boy was given a minute to look in a shop window, and then describe all that was in it.
It is easy enough to disguise yourself with simple means, if you know how. How many things did this man change to alter his appearance? Notice that the thing that makes the main difference is his changed posture.
A Scout must also have his eyes on the ground, especially along the edge of the pavement against the houses of the gutter. I have often found valuable trinkets that have been dropped, and which have been walked over by numbers of people, and kicked to one side without being noticed.
Every town Scout should know, as a matter of course, where the nearest chemist’s shop or drug store is (in case of accidents), and the nearest police “fixed point”, police station, doctor, hospital, fire alarm, telephone, ambulance station, etc.
Details of People
When you are travelling by train or bus, always notice every little thing about your fellow-travellers. Notice their faces, dress, way of talking, and so on, so that you could describe them each pretty accurately afterwards. And try to make out from their appearance and behaviour whether they are rich or poor (which you can generally tell from their boots), and what is their probable business, whether they are happy, or ill, or in need of help.
Notice the faces of people so that you will be able to recognize them.
But in doing this you must not let them see you are watching them, else it puts them on their guard. Remember the shepherd-boy I told you about in Yarn No. 2, who noticed the gipsy’s boots, but did not look at him, and so did not make the gipsy suspicious of him.
Close observation of people and ability to read their character and their thoughts are of immense value in trade and commerce, especially for a shop-assistant or salesman in persuading people to buy goods, or in detecting would-be swindlers.
It is said that you can tell a man’s character from the way he wears his hat. If it is slightly on one side, the wearer is supposed to be good-natured; if it is worn very much on one side, he is a swaggerer; if on the back of his
