Читать книгу Scouting for Boys - Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell Baron Baden-Powell of Gilwell - Страница 51

A scout has to be able to notice small details just as much by night as by day and this he has to do chiefly by listening, occasionally by feeling or smelling.

In the stillness of the night sounds carry further than by day. If you put your ear to the ground or place it against a stick, or especially against a drum, which is touching the ground, you will hear the shake of horses' hoofs or the thud of a man's footfall a long way off. Another way is to open a knife with a blade at each end, stick one blade into the ground and hold the other between your teeth and you will hear all the better. The human voice, even though talking low, carries to a great distance and is not likely to be mistaken for any other sound.

I have often passed through outposts at night after having found where the picquets were posted by hearing the low talking of the men or the snoring of those asleep.