Then I went to Holland, where I saw plenty more Scouts, both at
Amsterdam, Amersfoort, and The Hague; and fine, smart, clean-looking
fellows they were, too.
[Illustration: Most of the Amsterdam Boy Scouts carry lassoes with
which they are very handy.]
One thing which they did especially well was throwing the lasso. They
all carried light cord-lassoes on them. These came in useful for
hundreds of things, like making bridges, rope-ladders, rescuing people
from burning houses, and so on. But the Scouts also used them for
lassoing each other, and many of them were awfully good at it.
The Dutch Scouts also had an excellent stretcher, which I think would
be very useful for some of our ambulance patrols. With its help, one
Scout alone could take an injured man to hospital. In the first place,
it was flat on the ground, without any feet to it, so the Scout could
roll or drag his patient on to it.
[Illustration: THE DUTCH SCOUTS' STRETCHER.]
Then it had two pairs of canvas flaps, which could lace across the
patient's chest and loins, with sort of pockets for his feet, so that
after the patient had been fastened on to it he could, if necessary,
be stood upright. This is sometimes useful in a narrow place like a
tunnel or a mine or a passage. Then, with a short chain and hook to
each corner, the stretcher was slung underneath a pair of wheels (a
Scout's hand-cart would do equally well), and the Scout was able to
wheel his patient away.
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