Pluck on the Long Trail
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Edwin L. Sabin >> Pluck on the Long Trail
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CHAPTER II
Note 13, page 11: The sign for "Bird flying" is the sign for wings. The
two hands are raised opposite the shoulders, palms to the front, fingers
extended and together. Then the hands are waved forward and back, like
wings--slowly for large birds, fast for little birds, to imitate the
bird itself.
Note 14, page 13: A good way to spread the Scout or cowboy tarpaulin bed
is to lay the tarpaulin out at full length, on the smooth place chosen,
and to lay the blankets and quilts, open, full length on top. Both ends
of the tarp are left bare, of course, for the bedding is shorter than
the tarp. Then the whole is turned back upon itself at the middle; one
edge of the tarp is tucked under, and part of the other edge, making a
bag, with leeway enough so that the sleeper can crawl in. Now there is
as much bedding under as over, which is the proper condition when
sleeping out upon the ground. The bare end of the tarp, under, will keep
the pillow off the dirt; the bare end which comes over will cover the
face in case of storm. The Scout has a low, flat bed, which will shed
wind and rain.
Note 15, page 13: A reflector is a handy baker. It is a bright-lined box
like half of a pyramid or half of an oven. The dough is put into it, and
it is set upon its base, open to the fire. The heat strikes it and
reflects upon the dough and the dough bakes. It is simple, and can be
made to fold together, so that it packs easily. Another trapper and
scout method is to smear dough upon a shovel or even a flat, smooth
board, and set it up against the fire. The Mexicans bake their
tortillas, or thin flour cakes, by smearing them upon smooth stones.
Note 16, page 17: Scouts can readily invent a whistle code of their own.
The Western Indians used whistles of bone, in war, and the United States
Army can drill by whistle signals.
CHAPTER III
Note 17, page 21: The teeth are a very important item in Scout service.
If Scouts will notice the soldiers of the United States Army, and the
sailors of the United States Navy, they will notice also that their
teeth are always kept clean and sound. Scouts, no matter where they are,
should brush their teeth well with tooth powder every morning at least;
and should keep them free from particles of food, and should wash their
mouths with a dental antiseptic to kill microbes. Brushed teeth and
combed and brushed hair after the wet rub make the Scout fit for the
day's work. He feels decent.
Note 18, page 25: Scouts who are in camp or on the trail without
fish-hooks and are hard-put to catch fish, may try an old Indian and
scout method. A bent pin sometimes does not work, with large fish; but
the Indians tied a cord or sinew to the end of a small, slender bone,
and again, with a loop, to the middle of the bone.
When the fish swallowed the bait impaled upon the bone, the cord or
sinew hauled the bone by the middle so that it usually snagged in the
fish's throat or gills. A sharp, tough splinter or a small nail will do
the same. Thus:
[Illustration]
CHAPTER IV
Note 19, page 33: Newspaper stuffed into wet boots or shoes helps them
to dry by holding them open and by absorbing the moisture. Of course,
the newspaper should be changed frequently. Warm pebbles poured into wet
boots or shoes dry them quickly, too. A stuffing of dead grass is
another Scouty scheme.
Note 20, page 36: For a leader of a Scouts' party to write up the chief
events of each day's march in a notebook, and to sketch the country
traversed, teaches order and disciplines the memory, and oftentimes will
prove a valuable record.
Note 21, page 38: The right-handed or the left-handed person usually is
right-sided or left-sided, all the way down, but not always. So because
a person is right-handed or left-handed he _probably_ is right-footed or
left-footed, but not _necessarily_ so. Some persons use their left hands
to write with, but throw with their right hands, and are likely to use
either foot. And some may be left-handed but right-footed. A Scout
should learn to use both hands and both feet alike. And he also will
learn not to be cocksure and jump at conclusions. All rules have
exceptions.
CHAPTER V
Note 22, page 39: Scouts will find that weather-signs among the high
mountains are very different from those of the low or the flatter
country. The easiest sign of storm is the night-caps. For when in the
morning the mountains still have their night-caps on, and the clouds
rest like shattered fog in the draws and hollows, the day will surely
have rain, by noon. But among the Rockies there usually is a
thunder-storm in the middle of every day during the summer.
No one wind for all localities brings rain. The weather is interfered
with by the peaks and the valleys. However, here are a few signs to be
noted:
When by day the air is extra clear, so that very distant ridges stand
out sharply, a storm is apt to be brewing.
When the camp-fire smoke bends down, in the still air of midday or
afternoon, a storm is apt to be brewing.
When by night the stars are extra sharp and twinkle less than usual,
overhead, but are dim around the horizon, a storm is apt to be brewing.
When there is a halo or ring around the moon, a storm is apt to be
brewing; and it is claimed that the larger the circle, the nearer the
storm.
When the canvas of the tent stays tight or damp, showing a gathering
dampness, a storm is apt to be brewing.
When ants are noted dragging leaves or twigs across the entrance to
their nest, a storm is near.
The change of the moon is claimed to change the weather also. And an old
maxim says that the third day before the new moon is the sign of the
weather for that moon month. If the new moon comes upon the 10th, then
the weather of the 8th is to be the general weather of the next thirty
days.
Of course, in winter time, or in the late fall or early spring, when the
sun-dogs appear, that is a pretty sure sign of cold weather. The Indians
say that the "sun is painting both cheeks," or that the "sun has built
fires to warm himself."
But Scouts will have difficulty in predicting mountain weather, because
storms are diverted by the peaks, and swing off or are broken up; and
besides, many mountain trails and mountain camps are one mile and two
miles high--above ordinary conditions. The saying is that only fools and
Indians predict weather, in the mountains!
Note 23, page 39: Scouts as well as anybody else should have their teeth
approved of by a dentist, before starting out on the long trail. The
tooth-ache saps the strength, and a cavity might result in a serious
abscess, far from proper treatment.
Note 24, page 40: In the thick timber where there are many trees the
chance of course is less that the tree which you are under will be
struck by the lightning. But to seek refuge under any tree, in a field
or other open place, is dangerous. Many persons are killed, every
summer, by seeking some lone tree or small clump of trees, or a
high-standing tree, in a thunder-storm.
Note 25, page 47: The low soft spot is not so good as the high hard
spot, to sleep on. Green grass is damp, and softness gathers dampness.
Cowboys and rangers always spread their beds on a little elevation,
where the ground is drier and where there is a breeze for ventilation
and to keep the insects away.
Note 26, page 49: Nobody can cook by a big fire, without cooking himself
too! The smaller the fire the better, as long as it is enough. Just a
handful of twigs at a time will cook coffee or roast a chunk of meat. It
is an old scout saying that "Little wood feeds the fire, much wood puts
it out." Cook by coals rather than by flame. In the West cedar makes the
best coals, the cleanest flame; sage makes a very hot fire, and burns to
ashes which hold the fire, but it does not give hard coals. Anything
pitchy smokes the camp.
In the mountains meat wrapped in a gunnysack or a tarpaulin, to protect
from the flies, and hung in the shade and particularly in a tree where
the air circulates, will keep a long, long time.
Note 27, page 49: The brass eyes in the edges of the Elk Scouts' tarps
here would come into good use for stretching the tarp as a low "A"
shelter-tent or dog-tent. The small shelter-tents of the United States
Army are called by the soldiers "pup" tents.
Note 28, page 53: The notion that many persons have, of taking guns with
them into the mountains or the hills, for protection from wild animals,
is a foolish notion. In this day and age the wild animals have been so
disciplined by man that they are afraid of him. They would rather run
than fight; and throughout the greater part of the United States in
North America the animals who _could_ be dangerous are scarce. Guns do
much more harm than the animals themselves; and it is the wounded animal
which _is_ dangerous. To pack a big gun on the ordinary trail through
the wilderness country West or East is the mark of a tenderfoot, unless
the gun is needed for meat. Many and many a seasoned wilderness
dweller--ranger, cowboy, rancher, prospector--travels afoot or horseback
day after day, night after night, and never carries a gun, never needs a
gun.
CHAPTER VI
Note 29, page 61: One of the regulations of the United States Army Pack
Transportation Department says that packers must treat all the mules
kindly, for a mule remembers kindness and never forgets injury. Packers
must not even throw stones, to drive a mule into line. Of course, Boy
Scouts know that kindness with animals always wins out over harshness,
and that there is no greater cowardliness than the abuse of a helpless
beast.
Note 30, page 62: Highness and dryness, wood and water, and grazing for
the animals are the requirements of the Scouts' camp on the pack trail.
Note 31, page 63: By camp law bird or four-foot or other harmless
animals within say two hundred yards of camp is safe from injury by man.
This also prevents reckless shooting about camp. The wild life near camp
is one of the chief charms of camping in the wilderness. No Scout wishes
to leave a trail of blood and murder and suffering, to mark his progress
through meadow and timber.
Note 32, page 67: This division of watches or guards should be noted by
Scouts. Bed-mates or bunkies should not follow one another on guard; for
A wakes B when he crawls out; and after he has changed with B, and has
slept two or three hours, he is waked again by B crawling in. But each
Scout listed for guard duty should so be listed that he is not disturbed
through at least two of the watches.
CHAPTER VII
Note 33, page 72: A "trail" is made up of "sign" or marks which show
that something has passed that way. The overturning of pebbles and
sticks, dryness and wetness of the spots where they were, dryness and
hardness of the edges of footprints, grass pressed down, twigs of bushes
broken, dew disturbed, water muddied, ant-hills crushed--all tell a tale
to the Scout. He must be able to figure out what was the condition of
the trail when the person or animal passed--and that will tell him how
long ago the marks or sign were made. And the shape of the sign, and the
way in which it is laid, tell what manner of person or animal passed,
and how fast. Steps vary in size, and in pressure and in distance apart.
A man at a very hurried walk is apt to leave a deeper toe-print, and a
loaded horse sinks deeper than a light one. A good trailer is a good
guesser, but he is a good guesser because he puts two and two together
and knows that they make four.
Note 34, page 74: A portion of a patrol on a scout should think to leave
private signs, by marks in the dirt or on trees or by twigs bent or by
little heaps of stones, which will tell their comrades what has been
occurring. This the Indians were accustomed to do, especially in a
strange country. To this day little stone-heaps are seen, in the plains
and mountains of the West, marking where Indians had laid a trail.
Note 35, page 77: Great generals and captains make it a point not to do
what the enemy wants them to do or expects them to do, and never to
think that the enemy is less smart than they are themselves. To despise
the enemy is to give him an advantage.
CHAPTER VIII
Note 36, page 88: "Parole" means word of honor not to attempt escape;
and in war when a prisoner of rank gives this promise he is permitted
his freedom within certain limits. Sometimes he is released entirely
upon his promise or parole not to fight again during the war. Paroles
are deemed serious matters, and few men are so reckless and deceitful as
to break them. But of course there are two sides to a parole; and if it
is not accepted as honestly as it is given, then there is no bargain.
But if there is the slightest doubt or argument, then the Scout ought to
stay a prisoner, rather than escape with dishonor, charged with breaking
his word. That the other fellow is dishonest is no excuse for the Scout
being dishonest, too.
Note 37, page 89: The sign for escape is this: Bridger crossed his
wrists, with his fists doubled, and wrenched them apart, upward, as if
breaking a cord binding them. He may have used the "Go" sign, which is
the hand extended, edge up, in front of the hip, and pushed forward with
an upward motion, as if climbing a trail.
Note 38, page 94: An old scout method of tying a prisoner's arms behind
his back is to place the hands there with their backs together, and to
tie the thumbs and the little fingers! This requires only ordinary cord
and not much of it, and even a strip from a handkerchief will do. To
prevent the prisoner from running away, he may be stood up against a
tree and his arms passed behind that, before the hands are tied.
CHAPTER IX
Note 39, page 100: Persons who are lost and are going it blindly on foot
usually keep inclining to the left, because they step a little farther
with the right foot than with the left. After a time they complete a
circle. Scouts should watch themselves and note whether they are making
toward the left or not. Horses, too, are supposed to circle toward the
left. But all this applies chiefly to the level country. In the
mountains and hills the course is irregular, as the person or horse
climbs up and down, picking the easier way. And on a slope anybody is
always slipping downward a little, on a slant toward the bottom, unless
he lines his trail by a tree or rock.
Scouts when they think that they are lost should hold to their good
sense. If they feel themselves growing panicky, they had better sit down
and wait until they can reason things out. The Scout who takes matters
easy can get along for a couple of days until he is found or has worked
himself free; but the Scout who runs and chases and sobs and shrieks
wears himself down so that he is no good.
To be lost among the hills or mountains is much less serious than to be
lost upon the flat plains. The mountains and hills have landmarks; the
plains have maybe none. In the mountains and hills the Scout who is
looking for camp or companions should get up on a ridge, and make a
smoke--the two-smoke "lost" signal--and wait, and look for other smokes.
If he feels that he must travel, because camp is too far or cannot see
his smoke, or does not suspect that he is lost, his best plan is to
strike a stream and stick to it until it brings him out. Travel by a
stream is sometimes jungly; but in the mountains, ranches and cabins are
located beside streams. Downstream is of course the easier direction.
It is a bad plan to try short cuts, when finding a way. The Scout may
think that by leaving a trail or a stream and striking off up a draw or
over a point he will save distance. But there is the chance that he will
not come out where he expects to come out, and that he will be in a
worse fix than before. When a course is once decided upon, the Scout
should follow it through, taking it as easy as possible.
Note 40, page 106: Old-time scouts had to make all their fires by flint
and steel; and it is well for modern Scouts to practice this. When the
ground is too wet, and would be apt to put out the little blaze, the
fire can be started in a frying-pan. Matches are very convenient, but
they must be warded from dampness. They can be carried in a corked
bottle; they can be dipped, before leaving home, in melted paraffin,
which will coat them water-proof; and dampness can be rubbed out of them
by friction by rolling them rapidly between the palms of the hands and
scratching them quick. When every object is soaked through, matches (if
dry) may be lighted upon a stone which has been rubbed violently against
another stone.
If the Scout has a rifle or pistol or gun, then he can make a fire by
shooting powder into a bunch of tinder--raveled handkerchief or coat
lining, or frazzled cedar bark. The bullet or the shot should be drawn
out of the cartridge, and the powder made loose, and the tinder should
be fastened so that it will not be blown away.
In the rain a blanket or coat or hat should be held over the little
blaze, until the flames are strong.
It was the old-time scouts who taught even the Indians to make fire by
flint and steel, or by two flints. Two chunks of granite, especially
when iron is contained, will answer. The Indians previously had used
fire-sticks and were very careful to save coals. But they saw that
"knocking fire out of rocks" was much easier.
Note 41, page 108: Scouts of course know the Big Dipper or the Great
Bear, and the Little Dipper or the Little Bear, in the sky. The Big
Dipper points to the North Star or Pole Star, and the North Star or
Pole Star is the star in the end of the handle of the Little Dipper.
These two formations up above are the Clock of the Heavens.
The "Guardians of the Pole" are the two stars which make the bottom of
the cup of the Big Dipper. They are supposed to be sentinels marching
around and around the tent of the North Star, as they are carried along
by the Big Dipper. For the stars of the Big and the Little Dipper, like
all the other stars, circuit the North Star once in about every
twenty-four hours.
But the old-time scouts of plains and mountains told time by the
"Pointers," which are the two bright stars forming the end of the cup of
the Big Dipper. These point to the Pole Star, and they move just as the
"Guardians of the Pole" move. They are easier to watch than the
"Guardians of the Pole," and are more like an hour-hand. With every hour
they, and the "Guardians of the Pole," and all the Dipper stars move in
the same direction as the sun one and one-half the distance between the
stars forming the top of the Big Dipper's cup. The Scout with a good
memory and a good eye for distance can guess pretty nearly how time
passes.
He has another method, too. The circuit of the stars is not quite the
same as the circuit of the sun; for the stars swing about from
starting-place to starting-place in about four minutes less than
twenty-four hours, so that every month they gain 120 minutes, or two
hours. On May 1, at nine in the evening, the "Pointers" of the Big
Dipper are straight overhead, and point downward at the Pole Star, and
if we could see them twelve hours later, or at nine in the morning, we
should find them opposite, below the Pole Star, and pointing up at it.
On June 1, they would arrive overhead two hours earlier, or at seven in
the evening, and by nine o'clock would be west of overhead, while at
seven and nine in the morning they would be opposite, or halfway around.
On August 1 their halfway places would be at three in the afternoon and
three in the morning.
So, figuring each month, and knowing where the "Pointers" are at nine,
or at midnight, or at three in the morning, the Scout can read, for
several nights running without appreciable change, what time it is. And
on the plains the old trappers were accustomed to look up out of their
buffalo-robes and say, "By the Pointers it is midnight."
The Big Dipper swings on such a wide circle that sometimes it drops into
the hills or into mist. The Little Dipper stays high in the sky.
Therefore sailors choose the two brighter stars in the end of the cup of
the Little Dipper, and watch them, for an hour-hand.
The Blackfeet Indians call the Big Dipper the Seven Brothers, and they,
and also other plains people such as sheep-herders and cowboys, tell the
time by the "Last Brother," which is the star in the end of the handle.
"The Last Brother is pointing to the east," or "The Last Brother is
pointing downwards to the prairie," say the Indians. And by that they
mean the hour is so and so.
Note 42, page 109: The "Papoose on the old Squaw's Back" is a tiny star,
Alcor, very close to the star Mizar which forms the bend in the handle
of the Big Dipper. To see this tiny star is a test for eyesight. The
Sioux Indians say that the Big Dipper is four warriors carrying a
funeral bier, followed by a train of mourners. The second star in the
train (or the star in the bend) is the widow of the slain brave, with
her little child, or the Little Sister, weeping beside her!
The Blackfeet and other Indians say that the Pole Star (which does not
move) is a hole in the sky, through which streams the light from the
magical country beyond. They call it "the star that stands still."
By the "Lost Children" Jim Bridger meant the Pleiades. These stars,
forming a cluster or nebula, sink below the western horizon in the
spring and do not appear in the sky again until autumn; and the
following is the reason why. They were once six children in a Blackfeet
camp. The Blackfeet hunters had killed many buffalo, and among them some
buffalo calves. The little yellow hides of the buffalo calves were given
to the children of the camp to play with, but six of the children were
poor and did not get any. The other children made much fun of the six,
and plagued them so that they drove them out of the camp. After
wandering ashamed and afraid on the prairie, the six finally were taken
up into the sky. So they are not seen in the spring and summer, when the
buffalo calves are yellow; but in the autumn and winter, when the
buffalo calves are black, they come out.
Nearly everybody can see the six stars of the Pleiades, and good
eyesight can make out seven. By turning the head and gazing sideways the
seven are made plainer. An English girl has eyesight so remarkable that
she has counted twelve.
The Western Indians have had names for many of the stars and the planets
and the constellations, and the night sky has been of much company and
use to them and to the old plainsmen and mountaineers, just as it was to
Jim Bridger at this time.
Mars is "Big-Fire-Star"; Jupiter is "Morning Star," or when evening star
is "The Lance"; Venus is "Day Star," because sometimes it is so bright
that it can be seen in the day. Scouts should know by the almanac what
is the morning star, and then when it rises over the camp or the trail
they are told that morning is at hand.
Note 43, page 110: Sunday comes to the trail, to the mountains and
plains and field and forest, just as often as to the town and the farm.
The Scout will feel much better, mentally and physically, when he
observes Sunday. This one day in the seven can be made different by a
change from the ordinary routine: by a good cleaning up; by only a short
march, just enough for exercise; by a whole day in camp, if possible; by
an avoidance of harm to bird or beast; by some _especial_ arrangement,
which will say, "This is Sunday." The real Jedediah Smith, fur-hunter
and explorer, found as much profit in his Bible as in his rifle, amidst
the wilderness; and the Scout of to-day should include the Bible in the
outfit. It reads well out in the great open, it is full of nature lore
of sky and water and earth, and it is a great comforter and sweetener of
trail and camp.
CHAPTER X
Note 44, page 112: The smoke signal has been in use for many, many
years. The Indians of the West used it much, and whenever an army
detachment or other strangers traversed the plains and the hills their
course was marked by the smoke signals of Indian scouts. To make smoke
signals, first a moderate blaze is started; then damp or green stuff is
piled on, for a smudge; and the column of smoke is cut into puffs by a
blanket or coat held over like a cup and suddenly jerked off. A high
place should be selected for the smoke signal, so as to distinguish it
from the ordinary camp-fire, which is not as a rule made on a high
place,--that is, in hostile country. A still day is necessary for
accurate smoke signaling. This signaling is being recommended for the
United States Forestry Service, so that Rangers and Guards can
telegraph warnings and news by the Morse or the Army and Navy alphabet.
A short puff would be the dot, a long puff the dash; or one short puff
would be "1," two short puffs close together "2," and a long puff "3."
This Army and Navy code is explained under Note 48.
The Indians had secret codes, for the smoke signals; and used dense
smokes and thin smokes, both. Green pine and spruce and fire boughs
raise a thick black smoke.
In army scouting on the plains the following signals were customary:
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