Neck Grip
For the grip around the swimmer's neck from the front, for both arms around the shoulders, and for a grip in which the drowning man had the other over one shoulder and under the other arm, the break is much the same. As soon as the rescuer feels the hold, he covers the other's mouth with the palm of his hand, clasping the nostrils tightly between his first two fingers, at the same time pulling the drowning man to him with the left hand in the small of the back, treading water in the meantime. Then, taking a full breath, he applies his knee {284}
in the other's stomach, forcing him to expel the air in his lungs and at the same time preventing him from getting more by pressure on the nostrils and mouth. Should the pressure of the grip around the body be too great to allow freedom of the arms, the preliminary move in that case would be to bring both arms to the level of the shoulder, thus sliding the other's arms to the neck, leaving the rescuer's arms to cover the nose.
Back Strangle
The back strangle hold is an awkward one to break and one which must be broken without an instant's delay, or the would-be rescuer himself will be in great need of help. In practice it will be found that, by grasping the encircling arms at the wrists and pushing back with the buttocks against the other's abdomen, room to slip out can be obtained. In a life and death struggle, sharper measures are needed, and if the rescuer throws his head suddenly back against the nose of the drowning man, he will secure his freedom very readily and have him under control by the time he has recovered from his dazed condition.
Rescue From Shore or Boat
It is not always necessary to go into the water to attempt a rescue, and in many cases, when some one has fallen off a bridge or dock, a line or buoy or boat can be used to advantage without placing more lives in danger than the one in the water. Discretion in such matters is worthy of recognition rather than too much recklessness in swimming out. Use a boat when possible. Practice in throwing a life buoy should be indulged in where possible, and a good scout should always leave the line coiled over pegs and the buoy hanging on top to bind it in place for instant use in an emergency.
Diving From the Surface
When a bather or victim from a boating accident sinks to the bottom of a river or pond of from seven to twenty feet in depth, prompt rescue methods may bring him to the surface, and resuscitation methods, promptly applied, will restore breath. If there is no current in the pond or lake, bubbles from the body will indicate its whereabouts directly beneath the place where it sank. Should there be tide or currents, the bubbles are carried at an angle with the streams and the searcher must go from the spot where the person disappeared and look along {285} the bottom going with the current. When a drowning man gives up his struggle and goes down, his body sinks a little way and is brought up again by the buoyancy within it and the air is expelled. It sinks again and next rises less high and air is again expelled. This happens several times until enough water is taken into the stomach and air passages to offset the floating capacity. The floating capacity is barely overcome, so the body weighs but little. It is very simple, as almost any youthful swimmer knows, to go to the bottom if one can dive from a float, pier, or boat, but to be able to dive down ten feet from the surface requires practice. In most cases to go deeper would require a weight after the manner of the Southern sponge and pearl fishers. Grasp a ten or fifteen pound stone and dive in; to come up the swimmer lets go and rises to the top.
Throwing feet for dive from surface
Diving For Lost Objects
In covering a considerable area in search for bodies or lost objects, several ropes can be anchored with grapnels or rocks in squares and a systematic search thus maintained by divers. Going down from the surface is not so simple and the knack is attained by practice, especially by athletic lads. The secret is to swim to a point where a sounding is to be made, and to plunge the head and shoulders under, elevating the hips above the surface to drive the shoulders deep and give chance for a few strokes--breast stroke preferred--until the whole body in a vertical position is headed for the bottom. The elevation of the feet and lower legs in the air gives the body additional {286}
impetus downward, and when the object is attained a push-off from the bottom with both feet sends the swimmer to the surface in quick order. To carry any weight ashore, it is necessary to carry it low on the body, hugged close to the waist line, allowing one hand and both feet for swimming, or if on the back, hold by both hands using the feet as propellers.
Artificial respiration (a)
Artificial respiration (b)
Restoring Breathing
Knowledge of resuscitation of the apparently drowned is an important part of the equipment of a first-class scout, and a great many lives could have been saved had it been more general. To be effective no time must be lost in getting the apparently drowned person out of the water and getting the {287} water out of him. The Schaefer or prone method requires but one operator at a time and no waste of time in preliminaries.
When taken from the water the patient is laid on the ground face downward, arms extended above the head, face a little to one side, so as not to prevent the free passage of air. The operator kneels astride or beside the prone figure and lets his hands fall into the spaces between the short ribs. By letting the weight of the upper body fall upon his hands resting on the prone man, the air is forced out of the lungs; by relaxing the pressure, the chest cavity enlarges and air is drawn in to take the place of that forced out. By effecting this change of air--pressing and relaxing, twelve to fifteen times a minute (time it by watch at first, and then count) artificial breathing is performed. Sometimes it is necessary to work an hour or two before the flicker of an eyelid or a gasp from the patient rewards the life saver's efforts, and then he must carefully "piece in" the breathing until natural breathing is resumed. When breathing starts, then promote circulation by rubbing the legs and body toward the heart.
Do not attempt to stimulate by the throat until the patient can swallow.
Give a teaspoonful of aromatic spirits of ammonia, in half a glass of water.
Remember that by laying the patient face downward fluids in the air passages will run or be forced out and the tongue will drop forward, and require no holding, always an awkward task.
Treatment After Respiration Begins
The after treatment is important. Put the patient to bed, keep quiet and warm. Always get the services of a physician as soon as possible, but do not wait for him to come. Start work instantly. The patient needs oxygen, so keep spectators away. They are robbing the man of the life-giving properties of the air. For this reason, in all but the most severe weather, it is well to work on the patient in the open.
Life Buoys
If one is to place a life buoy for instant use in emergencies it should be hung upon four pegs driven into holes in two pieces of wood nailed together in the form of the diameter of a two-foot square or three pegs in strips of wood arranged in the form of a T, about eighteen or twenty inches high, the two pegs at either side of the top bar of the T and the other one on the upright near the bottom. Most life buoys used on shore have fifty or seventy-five feet of light line attached to draw the {288} rescued person ashore or to recover the buoy after a faulty throw. Commencing at the free end of the line, where a small wooden float is often attached, the rope should first be coiled on the pegs, hanging the buoy outside the coil to bind it in place so wind or jars will not loosen it.
Life buoy and ice ball
Then, when the buoy is needed, the ring is grasped by the throwing hand which clasps the buoy itself, and the coil is clasped in the free hand, the end of the rope being secured ashore by standing upon it with one foot. After each use or practice the buoy line should be restored to its pegs for instant use.
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Notes
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Notes
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CHAPTER VIII GAMES AND ATHLETIC STANDARDS THE
GAMES By Ernest Thompson Seton, Chief Scout Deer Hunting
The deer hunt has proved one of our most successful games.
The deer is a dummy, best made with a wire frame, on which soft hay is wrapped till it is of proper size and shape, then all is covered with open burlap. A few touches of white and black make it very realistic.
If time does not admit of a well-finished deer, one can be made of a sack stuffed with hay, decorated at one end with a smaller sack for head and neck, and set on four thin sticks.
The side of the deer is marked with a large oval, and over the heart is a smaller one.
Bows and arrows only are used to shoot this deer.
A pocketful of corn, peas, or other large grain is now needed for scent. The boy who is the deer for the first hunt takes the dummy under his arm and runs off, getting ten minutes' start, or until he comes back and shouts "ready!" He leaves a trail of corn, dropping two or three grains for every yard and making the trail as crooked as he likes, playing such tricks as a deer would do to baffle his pursuers.
Then he hides the deer in any place he fancies, but not among rocks or on the top of a ridge, because in one case many arrows would be broken, and in the other, lost.
The hunters now hunt for this deer just as for a real deer, either following the trail or watching the woods ahead; the {292} best hunters combine the two. If at any time the trail is quite lost the one in charge shouts: "Lost Trail!" After that the one who finds the trail scores two. Anyone giving a false alarm by shouting "Deer" is fined five.
Thus they go till some one finds the deer. He shouts: " Deer! " and scores ten for finding it. The others shout: " Second," " Third," etc., in order of seeing it, but they do not score.
The finder must shoot at the deer with his bow and arrow from the very spot whence he saw it. If he misses, the second hunter may step up five paces, and have his shot. If he misses, the third one goes five, and so on till some one hits the deer, or until the ten-yard limit is reached. If the finder is within ten yards on sighting the deer, and misses his shot, the other hunters go back to the ten-yard limit. Once the deer is hit, all the shooting must be from the exact spot whence the successful shot was fired.
A shot in the big oval is a body wound; that scores five. A shot outside that is a scratch; that scores two. A shot in the small oval or heart is a heart wound; it scores ten, and ends the hunt. Arrows which do not stick do not count, unless it can be proved that they passed right through, in which case they take the highest score that they pierced.
If all the arrows are used, and none in the heart, the deer escapes, and the boy who was deer scores twenty-five.
The one who found the dummy is deer for the next hunt. A clever deer can add greatly to the excitement of the game.
Originally we used paper for scent, but found it bad. It littered the woods; yesterday's trail was confused with that of {293} to-day, etc.
Corn proved better, because the birds and the squirrels kept it cleaned up from day to day, and thus the ground was always ready for a fresh start. But the best of all is the hoof mark for the shoe.
These iron hoof marks are fast to a pair of shoes, and leave a trail much like a real deer. This has several advantages. It gives the hunter a chance to tell where the trail doubled, and which way the deer was going, It is more realistic, and the boy who can follow this skillfully can follow a living deer. In actual practice it is found well to use a little corn with this on the hard places, a plan quite consistent with realism, as every hunter will recall.
It is strictly forbidden to any hunter to stand in front of the firing line; all must be back of the line on which the shooter stands.
There is no limit to the situations and curious combinations in this hunt. The deer may be left standing or lying. There is no law why it should not be hidden behind a solid tree trunk. The game develops as one follows it. After it has been played for some time with the iron hoof mark as above, the boys grow so skilful on the trail that we can dispense with even the corn. The iron mark like a deer hoof leaves a very realistic "slot" or track, which the more skilful boys readily follow through the woods. A hunt is usually for three, five, or more deer, according to agreement and the result is reckoned by points on the whole chase.
The Bear Hunt
This is played by half a dozen or more boys. Each has a club about the size and shape of a baseball club, but made of straw {294} tied around two or three switches and tightly sewn up in burlap.--One big fellow is selected for the bear. He has a school bag tightly strapped on his back, and in that a toy balloon fully blown up. This is his heart.
On his neck is a bear-claw necklace of wooden beads and claws.
(See cut.)
He has three dens about one hundred yards apart in a triangle. While in his den the bear is safe. If the den is a tree or rock, he is safe while touching it. He is obliged to come out when the chief hunter counts one hundred, and must go the rounds of the three till the hunt is settled.
The object of the hunters is to break the balloon or heart; that is, to kill the bear. He must drop dead when the heart bursts. The hunter who kills him claims the necklace.
But the bear also has a club for defence. Each hunter must wear a hat, and once the bear knocks a hunter's hat off, that one is dead and out of this hunt. He must drop where his hat falls.
Tackling of any kind is forbidden.
The bear wins by killing or putting to flight all the hunters. In this case he keeps the necklace.
The savageness of these big bears is indescribable. Many lives are lost in each hunt, and it has several times happened that the whole party of hunters has been exterminated by some monster of unusual ferocity.
This game has also been developed into a play.
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Spearing the Great Sturgeon
This water game is exceedingly popular and is especially good for public exhibition, being spectacular and full of amusement and excitement.
The outfit needed is:
(1) A sturgeon roughly formed of soft wood; it should be about three feet long and nearly a foot thick at the head. It may be made realistic, or a small log pointed at both ends will serve.
(2) Two spears with six-inch steel heads and wooden handles (about three feet long). The points should be sharp, but not the barbs.
Sometimes the barbs are omitted altogether. Each head should have an eye to which is attached twenty feet of one-quarter inch rope. On each rope, six feet from the spearhead, is a fathom mark made by tying on a rag or cord.
(3) Two boats with crews. Each crew consists of a spearman, who is captain, and one or two oarsmen or paddlers, of whom the after one is the pilot. All should be expert swimmers or else wear life-belts during the game.
The Game.--Each boat has a base or harbor; this is usually part of the shore opposite that of the enemy; or it obviates all danger of collision if the boats start from the same side. The sturgeon is left by the referee's canoe at a point midway between the bases. At the word "Go!" each boat leaves its base and, making for the sturgeon, tries to spear it, then drag it by the line to his base. When both get their spears into it the contest becomes a tug of war until one of the spears pulls out.
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The sturgeon is landed when the prow of the boat that has it in tow touches its proper base, even though the spear of the enemy is then in the fish: or it is landed when the fish itself touches base. The boats change bases after each heat.
Matches are usually for one, three, or five sturgeon. Points are counted only for the landing of the fish, but the referee may give the decision on a foul or a succession of fouls, or the delinquent may be set back one or more boat lengths.
Sometimes the game is played in canoes or boats, with one man as spearman and crew.
Rules. --It is not allowable to push the sturgeon into a new position with the spear or paddle before striking.
It is allowable to pull the sturgeon under the boat or pass it around by using the line after spearing.
It is allowable to lay hands on the other boat to prevent a collision, but otherwise it is forbidden to touch the other boat or crew or paddle or spear or line, or to lay hands on the fish, or to touch it with the paddle or oar, or touch your own spear while it is in the fish, or to tie the line around the fish except so far as this may be accidentally done in spearing.
It is allowable to dislodge the enemy's spear by throwing your own over it. The purpose of the barbs is to assist in this.
It is allowable to run on to the sturgeon with the boat It is absolutely forbidden to throw the spear over the other boat or over the heads of your crew.
In towing the sturgeon the fathom mark must be over the gunwale--at least six feet of line should be out when the fish is in tow. It is not a foul to have less, but the spearman must at once let it out if the umpire or the other crew cries "fathom!"
The spearman is allowed to drop the spear and use the paddle or oar at will, but not to resign his spear to another of the crew. The spearman must be in his boat when the spear is thrown.
If the boat is upset the referee's canoe helps them to right. Each crew must accept the backset of its accidents.
Tilting In The Water
For this we usually have two boats or war canoes manned by four men each. These are a spearman, who is also a captain, a pilot, and two oarsmen.
The spearman is armed with a light pole or bamboo eight or ten feet long, with a soft pad on the end. Sometimes this is {297} further provided with a hook. This is a forked branch with limbs a foot long; one is lashed to the bamboo, the other projecting out a foot, and slightly backward. The end of the spear and the fork are now thoroughly padded with burlap to the shape of a duck's head and bill.
And it must be cased in waterproof, to keep it from getting wet and heavy. The object of the hook is to change suddenly from pushing, and to pull the enemy by hooking round his neck. Each boat should have a quarter-deck or raised platform at one end, on which the spearman stands.
Tilting spear
The battle is fought in rounds and by points.
To put your opponent back into the canoe with one foot counts you five; two feet, ten. If he loses his spear you count five (excepting when he is put overboard). If you put him down on one knee on the fighting deck, you count five; two knees, ten. If you put him overboard it counts twenty-five. One hundred points is a round.
A battle is for one or more rounds, as agreed on. It is forbidden to hook or strike below the belt. The umpire may dock for fouls.
Canoe Tag
Any number of canoes or boats may engage in this. A rubber cushion, a hot-water bag full of air, any rubber football, {298} or a cotton bag with a lot of corks in it is needed. The game is to tag the other canoe by throwing this into it.
The rules are as in ordinary cross-tag.
Scouting
Scouts are sent out in pairs or singly. A number of points are marked on the map at equal distances from camp, and the scouts draw straws to see where each goes. If one place is obviously hard, the scout is allowed a fair number of points as handicap. All set out at same time, go direct, and return as soon as possible.
Points are thus allowed:
Last back, zero for travelling.
The others count one for each minute they are ahead of the last.
Points up to one hundred are allowed for their story on return.
Sometimes we allow ten points for each turtle they have seen; ten for each owl seen and properly named; five for each hawk, and one each for other wild birds; also two for a cat one for a dog.
No information is given the scout; he is told to go to such a point and do so and so, but is fined points if he hesitates or asks how or why, etc.
Quicksight Game
The Game of Quicksight
Make two boards about a foot square, divide each into twenty-five squares; get ten nuts and ten pebbles. Give to one player one board, five nuts, and five pebbles. He places {299} these on the squares in any pattern he fancies, and when ready the other player is allowed to see it for five seconds. Then it is covered up, and from the memory of what he saw the second player must reproduce the pattern on his own board. He counts one for each that was right, and takes off one for each that was wrong. They take turn and turn about.
This game is a wonderful developer of the power to see and memorize quickly.
Farsight, or Spot the Rabbit
Take two six-inch squares of stiff white pasteboard or whitened wood.
On each of these draw an outline rabbit, one an exact duplicate of the other. Make twenty round black wafers or spots, each half an inch across. Let one player stick a few of these on one rabbit-board and set it up in full light. The other, beginning at one hundred yards, draws near till he can see the spots well enough to reproduce the pattern on the other which he carries. If he can do it at seventy-five yards he has wonderful eyes. Down even to seventy (done three times out of five), he counts high honor; from seventy to sixty counts honor. Below that does not count at all.
Pole-star
Each competitor is given a long straight stick in daytime, and told to lay it due north and south. In doing this he may guide himself by sun, moss, or anything he can find in nature--anything, indeed, except a compass.
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The direction is checked by a good compass corrected for the locality. The one who comes nearest wins.
It is optional with the judges whether the use of a timepiece is to be allowed.
Rabbit Hunt
The game of rabbit hunting is suited for two hunters in limited grounds.
Three little sacks of brown burlap, each about eight inches by twelve, are stuffed with hay.
At any given place in the woods the two hunters stand in a ten-foot circle with their bows and arrows. One boy is blindfolded; the other, without leaving the circle, throws the rabbits into good hiding places on the ground. Then the second hunter has to find the rabbits and shoot them without leaving the circle. The lowest number of points wins, as in golf. If the hunter has to leave the circle he gets one point for every step he takes outside. After he sees the rabbit he must keep to that spot and shoot till it is hit once. One shot kills it, no matter where struck. For every shot he misses he gets five points.
After his first shot at each rabbit the hider takes alternate shots with him.
If it is the hider who kills the rabbit, the hunter adds ten points to his score. If the hunter hits it, he takes ten off his score.
If the hunter fails to find all the rabbits, he scores twenty-five for each one he gives up.
The hider cannot score at all. He can only help his friend into trouble.
Next time the two change places.
A match is usually for two brace of rabbits.
Hostile Spy
Hanging from the totem pole is a red or yellow horse-tail. This is the grand medicine scalp of the band. The hostile spy has to steal it. The leader goes around on the morning of the day and whispers to the various braves, "Look out--there's a spy in camp." At length he gets secretly near the one he has selected for spy and whispers, "Look out, there's a spy in camp, and you are it." He gives him at the same time some bright-coloured badge, that he must wear as soon as he has secured the medicine scalp. He must not hide the scalp on his person, but keep it in view. He has all day till sunset {301} to get away with it. If he gets across the river or other limit, with warriors in close pursuit, they give him ten arrow heads (two and one half cents each), or other ransom agreed on. If he gets away safely and hides it, he can come back and claim fifteen arrow heads from the council as ransom for the scalp. If he is caught, he pays his captor ten arrow heads ransom for his life.
The Man-Hunt
This is played with a scout and ten or more hostiles, or hounds, according to the country, more when it is rough or wooded.
The scout is given a letter addressed to the "Military Commandant"
(usually the lady of the house that he gets to) of any given place a mile or two away. He is told to take the letter to anyone of three given houses, and get it endorsed, with the hour when he arrived, then return to the starting-point within a certain time.
The hostiles are sent to a point half-way, and let go by a starter at the same time as the scout leaves the camp. They are to intercept him.
If they catch him before he delivers the letter he must ransom his life by paying each two arrow heads (or other forfeit) and his captor keeps the letter as a trophy. If he gets through, but is caught on the road back, he pays half as much for his life. If he gets through, but is over time, it is a draw. If he gets through successfully on time he claims three arrow heads from each hostile and keeps the letter as a trophy.
They may not follow him into the house (that is, the fort), but may surround it at one hundred yards distance. They do not know which three houses he is free to enter, but they do know that these are within certain limits.
The scout should wear a conspicuous badge (hat, shirt, coat, or feather), and may ride a wheel or go in a wagon, etc., as long as his badge is clearly visible.
To "tag" the scout is not to capture. "The blockade to be binding must be effectual."
Hunt the Coon
This is an in-door game, founded on the familiar "Hunt the Thimble."
We use a little dummy coon; either make it or turn a ready-made toy rabbit into one by adding tail and black mask, and cropping the ears.
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All the players but one go out of the room. That one places the coon anywhere in sight, high or low, but in plain view; all come in and seek.
The first to find it, sits down silently, and scores one. Each sits down, on seeing it, giving no clue to the others.
The first to score three coons is winner, usually. Sometimes we play till everyone but one has a coon; that one is the booby. The others are first, second, etc.