Part 42 (2/2)

”Keep away,” or ”No.” Hold up the blanket, grasping the two upper corners. Cross the arms, still with hands grasping the corners. Bring right arm back to front and right, almost opening the blanket again.

Repeat.

”Go back” or ”Hide.” Hold up blanket by two corners opposite right shoulder, and swing it to right and down, several times.

”Alarm!” Toss the blanket several times, as high as possible.

”Something (or somebody) in sight.” Hold up blanket by the two corners opposite right shoulder. Then swing the right corner around to left and to right. Repeat.

”Come on” or ”Approach.” Hold blanket up by two upper corners in front of the body. Swing the right arm and corner to the left. Repeat.

Pony-running signals are usually in a circle, or forward and backward, on the side of a hill or the crest. If the movements are fast, then the news is exciting and important. If they are made in full view of the surrounding country, then the danger is not close. If they are made under cover, then the danger is near. If they are made under cover and the rider suddenly stops and hides, then everybody must hide, or retreat, for the enemy is too strong. The bigger the movements, the more the enemy or the more the game. A dodging zigzag course shows that the scout is pursued or apt to be pursued. A furious riding back and forth along a crest means that a war party is returning successful. Boy Scouts can make the motions on foot, and by a code of circles and figure eights, etc., can signal many things.

Signals by the hand and arm alone are convenient to know.

”Who are you?” is made by waving the right hand to right and to left in quick succession.

”We are friends” is made by raising both hands and grasping the left with the right, as if shaking hands.

”We are enemies” is made by placing the right fist against the forehead, and turning it from side to side.

”Halt” or ”Keep away” is made by raising the right hand, palm to the front, and moving it forward and back.

”Come” is made by raising right hand, back to front, and beckoning with a wide sweep forward and in again, repeating.

For distance two-arm signals are better than one-arm; and Scouts should have a short code in two-arms. Both arms stretched wide may mean ”Go back” or ”Halt”; both arms partly dropped may mean ”No,” partly raised may mean ”Yes.” And so on. These were plain signals.

Note 49, page 141: A sprain, such as a sprained wrist or ankle, for instance, is a serious injury, and must not be made light of or neglected. If not properly and promptly treated, it is likely to leave the cords or ligaments permanently weak. When treatment may begin at once, the injured joint should be laid bare, even if by cutting the shoe instead of unlacing it and pulling it off, and the coldest water should be applied lavishly. The joint may well be plunged into an icy spring or stream, or held under a running faucet. If the joint can be kept elevated, so that the blood will not flow into it so readily, so much the better.

If some distance has to be covered before the injured person arrives in reach of treatment, the shoe might as well remain on, to act as a bandage and a support--although it probably will have to be cut off later. If the joint is not the ankle joint, a tight, stout bandage should be fastened around. n.o.body should try to step upon his sprained ankle or use his sprained wrist, or whatever joint it may be.

After swelling has set in very hot water is said to be superior to very cold water; the very hot and the very cold have much the same effect, anyway. But the water application should be kept up for at least twenty-four hours, and the wounded place must not be moved one particle for several days. When the time comes to move it, it should be wrapped with a supporting bandage.

General Ashley probably had a hard time with his neglected ankle.

CHAPTER XIII

Note 50, page 147: The cache (which is a French word and is p.r.o.nounced ”cash”) or hiding-place is a genuine scout invention. Long ago the trappers and traders of the plains and mountains, when they had more pelts or more supplies than they could readily carry, would ”cache”

them. The favorite way was to dig a hole, and gradually enlarge it underground, like a jug. The dirt was laid upon a blanket and emptied into a stream, so that it would not be noticed. Then the hole was lined with dry sticks or with blankets, the pelts or supplies were packed inside, and covered with buffalo robe or tarpaulin; and the earth was tamped in solidly. Next a fire was built on top, that the ashes might deceive Indians and animals. Or the tent or lodge was erected over the spot for a few days. At any rate, all traces of the hiding-place were wiped out, and landmarks were noted well.

It was considered a serious offense for one white man to molest the cache of another white man, unless to save his own life. And to rob a cache of the furs was worse than stealing horses.

All caches were not alike. Some were holes, others were caves into banks. When Scouts of to-day make a cache, they must record the location exceedingly well and close, or they are apt to lose the spot. It seems very easy to remember trees and rocks and all; but anybody who has laid a rabbit down, while he chased another, and then has thought to go straight and pick it up again--or anybody who has searched for a golf-ball when he knew exactly where it lit--will realize that a cache may be very tricky.

Note 51, page 152: The homeopathic preparation of aconite is highly recommended by many woodsmen and other travelers as a good thing to have in the trail medicine kit. A few drops will kill a fever or a cold.

Dover's Powder (in small doses, by causing perspiration and thus checking a fever or throwing off a cold), quinine, calomel (for biliousness and to clean out the intestines when they are clogged with waste and mucus), Epsom salts or castor oil (to clean out the bowels also), an emetic, like sirup of ipecac (to empty the stomach quickly in case of emergency), some mustard for making a plaster for the chest (in croupiness or cold inside the chest), or for mixing with warm water to make an emetic, extract of ginger or sirup of ginger (for summer complaint and griping looseness of the bowels if long continued), perhaps some soda mint tablets (for sour stomach caused by overeating), are other simple remedies. Of course the Scout should learn to read the little clinical thermometer, and one should be carried in the trail kit.

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