Fig. 151. The Signal for Letter “B.” which means that the flag must be swept to the left and back twice. B is represented by the combination 2112, that is, a sweep to the left, two sweeps to the right and a final sweep to the left, as shown in Fig. 151. The end of a word was represented by a sweep forward and back; the end of a sentence by two sweeps forward and back, and the end of a message by three sweeps forward and back. It will be noticed that the same combinations are used for 2 and Z, 3 and tion, 4 and F, 5 and J, 6 and G, 7 and V, 9 and M, and 0 and B. The following abbreviations were given in the Manual:
Abbreviations.
| a | after | n | not | ur | your |
| b | before | r | are | w | word |
| c | can | t | the | wi | with |
| h | have | u | you | y | yes |
These abbreviations saved a lot of time, for when we wanted to signal the word after instead of spelling it out–22-2221-2-12-211-3–we used the signal for A–22–followed by 3 to signify that it was the end of the word. Before was represented by 2112-3, your by 111-211-3, etc. It took quite a little practice to learn the different combinations. Fred and Reddy soon became experts, and could flash the signals back and forth at a great rate.
Wigwagging at Night.
Fig. 152.
Wigwagging at
Night.
At night we used a torch in place of a flag. The torch consisted of a roll of dried birch bark tied with wire to the end of a staff. It was found necessary to place another torch on the ground directly in front of the signaler so as to fix a central point and enable one to determine whether the moving torch was swung to the left or right. A later improvement was to use three lanterns, one in each hand and one attached to the waist to fix the central position. It was quite an advantage to have a lantern in each hand, for it saved changing over from one to the other when a second movement followed a first or a first movement a second.
The Heliograph.