Young Knights of the Empire | Page 7

and when asked why he had
done this, said:
"I am doing a good turn to some other Scout by giving him the opportunity of doing his
good turn by removing that orange peel so that people will not slip on it!"
* * * * *
"AN AWFUL ACCIDENT."
A poor fellow was lying pretty badly hurt when I came upon him one afternoon. His left
leg was broken, and an artery in his right arm was cut through, while he was evidently
badly burnt about the chest.
How it all happened I didn't stop to inquire--I merely looked at the steps which had

already been taken to doctor him. His arm was bound up with a handkerchief
"tourniquet," twisted tight with a stick, to stop the blood squirting from the artery; his leg
was bound between two straight bits of wood; and his tummy was covered with a mixture
of wool, oil, and flour, which suggested that with a little more roasting the patient would
have made a good pie!
I need scarcely add there was not much the matter with him except that he belonged to a
patrol of Boy Scouts who were practising "first aid."
In the same troop another patrol were cooking a very savoury Irish stew, mixing dough
on a haversack (which, I think, is quite as good as my way of doing it inside my coat!),
and baking bread in an oven made out of an old biscuit tin, and roasting "twists" made on
stakes planted near the fire. (For "Tenderfoots," anxious for details as to how these things
are done, I recommend a study of the chapter on camp cooking in Scouting for Boys.)
The point about this cooking was that the food was being really well cooked, and fit for
anyone to eat with enjoyment.
In the same troop signallers were at work sending and receiving messages. And also one
of their horsemen was there to act as mounted dispatch rider, with a smart pony which he
was able to saddle and look after as well as to ride. Nearly every Scout in this troop was a
First Class Scout, of an average age of thirteen.
Two hundred yards from their little camp was another troop of younger Scouts, of about
eleven years of age. All were busy cooking their teas at numerous little camp fires at the
time when I saw them, and made a most picturesque scene.
Then a third troop had its camp in a different spot, where three patrols of boys of about
fifteen years of age were collected. Fine, strapping, long-limbed types of Britons. It was a
pleasure to see them going "Scout pace" across the grass, and a still greater pleasure
when I found that they were as good Scouts as they looked. Nearly all were First Class
Scouts. I was invited to hand out to them the Efficiency Badges they had been winning.
These included quite a number of First Class, Cyclists', Firemen's, Musicians',
Electricians', Cooks', etc.
I had just said a few words to the troop of my pleasure at seeing them so smart and so
efficient, when the alarm was given that the school buildings were on fire. A few brief
words of command were given by the Scoutmaster, and each patrol streaked off in a
different direction at a great pace. We hurried to the scene of the outbreak, and had just
time to see (in our mind's eye only) dense clouds of smoke with tongues of flame and
showers of sparks bursting from the doomed building, while the windows were alive with
terrified women and screaming children--that is what we were picturing--when out came
a knot of Scouts running the fire-hose into position, and joining it up from one part of the
building, while from another there came a second patrol trundling along the great
giraffe-like fire-escape. Within four minutes of the alarm the leading fireman was up on
the ladder directing the nozzle of the hose-pipe with a strong jet of water on the windows
of the (supposed) burning chamber.

It was all very smartly, quickly, and quietly carried out, and the patrols thoroughly
deserved the Firemen's Badges which they had won.
Denstone College, where I saw all this, is one of the great schools which have taken up
scouting as a sport and training for their boys; and the results, according to the masters
who act as Scoutmasters, are most satisfactory.
* * * * *
SCOUTS' GOOD TURNS.
Recently, all in the one day, I came across three cases of Scouts doing their duty.
One lady told me that when travelling in a crowded train she and her daughter were put
into a carriage which was already crammed full of boys.
She did not like it a bit at