"The Science Year Book," by Major Baden-Powell. 5s. King, Sell & Olding, 27, Chancery Lane.
"An Easy Guide to the Constellations," by the Rev. James Gall. 1s. (Gall & Inglis.) Contains diagrams of the constellations.
"Astronomy for Everybody," by Simon Newcomb. 6s. (Publisher, Isbister.) Also books on astronomy by Professors Ball, Heath, Maunder, and Flammarion.
CAMP FIRE YARN.—No. 16.
INFORMATION BY SIGNAL.
Hidden Despatches—Signalling—Whistle and Flag-Signals.
Scouts have to be very clever at passing news secretly from one place to another, or signalling to each other; and if it should ever happen that an enemy got into England, the Boy Scouts would be of greatest value if they have practised this art.
Before the siege of Mafeking commenced, I received a secret message from some unknown friend in the Transvaal, who sent me news of the Boers' plans against the place, and the numbers that they were getting together of men, horses, and guns. This news came to me by means of a very small letter which was rolled up in a little ball, the size of a pill, and put inside a tiny hole in a rough walking stick, and plugged in there with wax. The stick was given to a native, who merely had orders to come into Mafeking and give me the stick as a present. Naturally, when he brought me this stick, and said it was from another white man, I guessed there must be something inside it, and soon found this very important letter.
Also I received another letter from a friend, which was written in Hindustani language, but in English writing, so that anybody reading would be quite puzzled as to what language it was written in; but to me it was all as clear as daylight.
Then when we sent letters out from Mafeking, we used to give them to natives, who were able to creep out between the Boer outposts, and once through the line of sentries, the Boers mistook them for their own natives, and took no further notice of them. They carried their letters in this way. The letters were all written on thin paper in small envelopes, and half a dozen letters or more would be crumpled up tightly into a little ball, and then rolled up into a piece of lead paper, such as tea is packed in. The native scout would carry a number of these little balls in his hand, and hanging round his neck loosely by strings. Then, if he saw he was in danger of being captured by a Boer, he would drop all his balls on the ground, where they looked exactly like so many stones, and he would notice landmarks from two or three points round about him, by which he would be able again to find the exact spot where the letters were lying; then he would walk boldly on until accosted by the Boer, who, if he searched him, would have found nothing suspicious about him. He would then wait about for perhaps a day or two until the coast was clear, and come back to the spot where the landmarks told him the letters were lying.
"Landmarks," you may remember, mean any objects, like trees, mounds, rocks, or other details which do not move away, and act as signposts for a scout who notices and remembers them.