Many a tenderfoot has got lost in the veldt or forest, and has never been seen again, through not having learned a little scouting, or what is called "eye for a country," when a boy. I have known many instances of it myself.
In one case a man got off a coach, which was driving through the bush in Matabeleland, for a few minutes, while the mules were being changed. He apparently walked off a few yards into the bush, and when the coach was ready to start they called for him in every direction, and searched for him, but were unable to find him; and at last, the coach being unable to wait any longer, pursued its journey, leaving word for the lost man to be sought for. Full search was made for him; his tracks were followed as far as they could be, in the very difficult soil of that country, but he was not found for weeks afterwards, and then his dead body was discovered nearly fifteen miles away from where he started, and close to the road.
It often happens that when you are tramping along alone through the bush, or even in a town, you become careless in noticing what direction you are moving in; that is, you frequently change it to get round a fallen tree, or some rocks, or some other obstacle, and having passed it, you do not take up exactly the correct direction again, and a man's inclination somehow is to keep edging to his right, and the consequence is that when you think you are going straight, you are really not doing so at all; and unless you watch the sun, or your compass, or your landmarks, you are very apt to find yourself going round in a big circle after a short time.
In such a case a tenderfoot, when he suddenly finds himself out of his bearings, and lost alone in the desert or forest, at once loses his head and gets excited, and probably begins to run, when the right thing to do is to force yourself to keep cool and give yourself something useful to do—that is, to track your own spoor back again; or, if you fail, start getting firewood for making signal fires to direct those who are looking for you.
The main point is not to get lost in the first instance.
Every old scout on first turning out in the morning notices which way the wind is blowing.
When you start out for a walk or on patrol, you should notice which direction, by the compass, you start in, and also notice which direction the wind is blowing, as that would be a great help to you in keeping your direction, especially if you have not got a compass, or if the sun is not shining.
Then you should notice all landmarks for finding your way, that is, in the country notice any hills or prominent towers, steeples, curious trees, rocks, gates, mounds, bridges, and so on; any points, in fact, by which you could find your way back again, or by which you could instruct anyone to go the same line which you have gone. If you notice your landmarks going out you can always find your way back by them, but you should take care occasionally to look back at them after passing them, so that you get to know their appearance for your return journey. The same holds good when you are in a town, or when you arrive in a new town by train; the moment you step out from the station notice where the sun is, or which way the smoke is blowing. Also notice your landmarks, which would be prominent buildings, churches, factory chimneys, names of streets and shops, etc., so that when you have gone down numerous streets you can turn round and find your way back again to the station without any difficulty. It is wonderfully easy when you have practised it a little, yet many people get lost when they have turned a few corners in a town which they do not know.
The way to find which way the wind is blowing if there is only very light air is to throw up little bits of dry grass, or to hold up a handful of light dust and let it fall, or to suck your thumb and wet it all round and let the wind blow on it, and the cold side of it will then tell you which way the wind is blowing. When you are acting as scout to find the way for a party you should move ahead of them and fix your whole attention on what you are doing, because you have to go by the very smallest signs, and if you get talking and thinking of other things you are very apt to miss them. Old scouts are generally very silent people, from having got into this habit of fixing their attention on the work in hand. Very often you see a "tenderfoot" out for the first time, thinking that the leading scout looks lonely, will go and walk or ride alongside of him and begin a conversation, until the scout shows him by his manner or otherwise that he does not particularly want him there. On Thames steamers you see a notice, "Don't speak to the man at the wheel," and the same thing applies with a scout who is guiding a party. When acting as scout you must keep all your thoughts on the one subject, like Kim did when Lurgan tried to mesmerise him.