The Cape Girardeau Democrat. (Cape Girardeau, Mo.) 1876-1909, 1900-10-27
A SCOUTS WORK
IN TIME OF WAR.
He Possesses All the Cunning of a
Sherlock Holmes and is the Eyes
of a Country's Army.

In an army of half a million men you
might find fifty frst-class scouts.
Good scouts are rarer than clever COM
manders, and are not to be produced
by any known process of training. Ex-
p~erience Is the only teacher.
The qualifications are SO numerous
that they are very rarely all in stock
at the same time. A really good scout
must have the powers of observation
and deduction of a Sherlock Holmes,
the tracking abilities of an Indian, the
resourcefulness of the hunter, the cum
ming Of the proverbial heather Chinee,
and an equal proportion of common
sense, pluck and self reliance. And
these are but a few. The others, as
the advertisement of a concert said Of
the reciters, are too tedious to mention.
As an instance of the Information
that a military detective can gather by
merely using his eyes. it may be said
that he can tell by the marks made by
horses hoofs whether the animals were
fresh or tired out. nov long g they
passed. at what rate they were trav-
cling, and whether they were carrying
a load or not: and he will be able to
follow the track Owe IN ground. He
toh tOA !" iiohJ SOiNANAo c. Pos'
ed. whether they were disciplined or
undisciplined troops. if they have trav-
elled far. and in what order they were
marching.
Civilized man may have many adj
vantages over the simple child of Ia
ture. but the savage is the scout par
excellence. His senses are far more
acute and he has something less falli-
hIo tha- rnaonp 70 Dt{Ia hirp- n-n
thing that for want of a better term We
call instinct.
Now to consider the duties of the
scout in actual warfare. First, he
probably goes out alone through coun-
try infested by the enemy with the full
knowledge that if he is captured he
will be shot. He travels miles away
from all help knowing that his retreat
may be cut off at any time, and, as a
rule. has no means of obtaining a fresh
supply of provisions until be gets back
to camp.
He must swim rivers, climb noun
tains, wade through marshes, force his
way through thick underground or
crawl from point to point over exposed
ground, taking advantage of the slight
est shelter that will screen him for a
moment from the eyes OIL the enemy.
Then when he discovers a camp or
finds men concentrating towards a GER
tain position, he must risk everything
to get as close as possible to obtain the
fullest Information of their strength
and resources.
Nothing must escape his notice-the
flash of a bayonet in the sun may dis
close the position of an army on a dis
tant hill, or at night the tiny flash of
a match may tell him that men are en-
camped not far away. An American
scout n the Philippines recently scout
Ing discovered the camp he was in
search of in this way. One of the sem
tries was smoking. and the tiny flame
as he lighted his pipe ould be seer at
a considerable distance through the
clear night air.
Very often it may happen that a
scout may be away for three or four !
days when he expected to be back in
camp within twenty-four hours, so he
must always carry enough food to sus-
tain him in the event of being delayed. |
The army emergency rations are espe-
cially valuable for this sort of work, |
Al a man can carry enough in his jack |
ct pockets to support him. or at any
rate to keep OF starvation, for four |
days.