CHAPTER VI.
ENDURANCE for SCOUTS;
or,
How to be Strong.
CAMP FIRE YARN.—No. 17.
HOW TO GROW STRONG.
Need for Scouts to be strong—Exercises—Care of Body—Nose—Ears—Eyes—Teeth—Practices.
A SCOUT'S ENDURANCE.
A scout lay sick in hospital in India with that most fatal disease called cholera. The doctor told the native man in attendance on him that the only chance of saving his life was to violently warm up his feet and keep the blood moving in his body by constantly rubbing him. The moment the doctor's back was turned the native gave up rubbing and squatted down to have a quiet smoke. The poor patient, though he could not speak, understood all that was going on—and he was so enraged at the conduct of his native attendant, that he resolved then and there that he would get well if only to give the native a lesson. Having made up his mind to get well he got well.
A scout's motto is "Never say die till you're dead"—and if he acts up to this it will pull him out of many a bad place when everything seems to be going wrong for him. It means a mixture of pluck, patience, and strength, which we call "Endurance."
The great South African hunter and scout, F. C. Selous, gave a great example of scout's endurance when on a hunting expedition in Barotseland north of the Zambesi River some years ago. In the middle of the night his camp was suddenly attacked by a hostile tribe who fired into it at close range and charged in.
He and his small party of natives scattered at once into the darkness and hid themselves away in the long grass. Selous himself had snatched up his rifle and a few cartridges and got safely into the grass. But he could not find any of his men, and seeing that the enemy had got possession of his camp and that there were still a few hours of darkness before him in which to make his escape, he started off southward, using the stars of the Southern Cross as his guide.