My Adventures as a Spy 



Bv Lt.-Gen. Sir Robert Baden-Powell 



The author of this article is a famous British officer. Having joined the i^th 

 Hussars at the age of nineteen, he served in India and South Africa, became dis- 

 tinguished in the Matabele campaign in 1896-7, atid won fame in the Boer War for 

 his brilliant defense of Maf eking in spite of famine, sickness a7id the lack of troops. 

 None of his varied experiences are more interesting, however, than his exploits as a 

 spy. Many of these episodes are related in his latest book (''My Adventures As a 

 Spy," J. B. Lippincott Co.), from which this article is taken. — Editor. 



IT has been difficult to write in peace- 

 time on the deUcate subject of spies 

 and spying, but now that the war is 

 in progress and the methods of those 

 much abused gentry have been disclosed, 

 there is no harm in going more fully into 

 the question, and to relate some of my 

 own personal experiences. 



^ N These hieroglyphics contain a secret 



yv^ <Ii message which can be easily read by 



those who know the semaphore sig- 



^L. S, naling code, which consists of swing- 



~^ ^ ing two arms in different positions, 



^^ ? either singly or together. The dots 



-^ I indicate where the letters join. For 



, example: The semaphore sign for N 



^^ S consists of both arms pointing down- 



E wards at an angle of 90°. The letter 



/ X I is shown by both arms pointing to 



J ^ the left at the same angle. The next 



^ ^ N is shown again, and the letter E is 



/^ I a single arm pointing upwards on the 



T right at an angle of 45°. In each word 



'■^'^-'-^ \ you read downwards. 



As a first step it is well to disabuse 

 one's mind of the idea that every spy 

 is necessarily the base and despicable 

 fellow he is generally held to be. He is 

 often both clever and brave. Let us for 

 the moment change the terms "spy" to 

 "investigator" or "military agent." For 

 war purposes these agents may be di- 

 vided into: 



1. Strategical and diplomatic agents, 

 who study the political and military con- 

 ditions in peace time of all other coun- 

 tries which might eventually be in op- 

 position to their own in war. These also 

 create political disaffection and organize 

 outbreaks, in order to create confusion 

 and draw off troops in time of war. 



2. Tactical, military, or naval agents, 

 who look into minor details of armament 

 and terrain in peace-time. These also 

 make tactical preparations on the spot, 

 such as material for extra bridges, gun 



emplacements, interruption of communi- 

 cations, etc. 



3. Field spies. Those who act as 

 scouts in disguise to reconnoiter positions 

 and to report moves of the enemy in the 

 field of war. Amongst these are residen- 

 tial spies and officer agents. There are 

 also traitor spies. For these, I allow, I 

 have not a good word. They are men 

 who sell their countries' secrets for money. 



Tactical Agents 



In addition to 

 finding out mili- 

 tary details about 

 a country, such as 

 its preparedness 

 in men, supplies, 

 efficiency, and so 

 on, spies have to 

 study the tactical 

 features of hills 

 and plains, roads 

 and railways, rivers and woods, and even 

 the probable battlefields and their artil- 

 lery positions, and so on. The Germans 

 in the present war have been using the 



This sketch of a but- 

 terfly contains the 

 outline of a fortress, 

 position and power 

 of guns. Only the 

 marks on the lines 

 are significant 



>^^^^y^ 



The marks oa tha 

 wings re%'eal the 

 shape of the fort- 

 shown here and 

 of the guas. 



The position of each gun is at the place 

 inside the outline of the fort on the but- 

 terfly where the line marked with the 

 spot ends. The head of the butterfly 

 points towards the north 



huge guns whose shells, owing to their 

 i^lack, smoky explosions, have been nick- 

 named "Black Marias" or "Jack John- 

 sons." These guns require strong con- 



590 



