by G. S. Ripley
Rival Dispatch Bearers
One of the best Scouting games given in the Canadian Scout Handbook, and described here by special permission, is The Rival Despatch Bearers. Two groups or patrols are selected and each group appoints a' despatch bearer. The Scoutmaster takes up a central position while one despatch bearer starts two miles north of him, say, and the other two miles south of him. Each starts at the same time to deliver the message, but the remaining men of his group try to intercept the rival runner and hold him. The two opposing cordons of men cannot come nearer than 200 yards either to the Scoutmaster or to the starting points of the runners.
The group wins whose runner first delivers the message to the Scoutmaster. If the runner tries to make too great a detour he may lose on time, and if he goes in too direct a route he may be ambushed, so that the game opens up several nice little questions of real Scouting.
