Every Boy's Book: A Complete Encyclopædia of Sports and Amusements — Context and Discussion

change places by running to the opposite ends, and Puss must endeavour to get into one of the vacant places before the opposite player is able to reach it; if he can do so, the player left out becomes Puss.

RED-CAP AND BLACK-CAP.

The players sit round in a circle, each taking a colour. Thus one is red-cap, another black-cap, and so on. One of them, who takes the place of master, and has no colour, taking up a cap says: “Hullo, here’s a false stitch. Who made it, blue-cap?” Blue-cap then answers, “Who, sir? I, sir?” “Yes, you, sir!” “Not I, sir.” “Who then, sir?” “Yellow-cap, sir.” Yellow-cap then starts up and says, “Who, sir? I, sir?” and goes through the dialogues, giving another colour. The player who neglects to start up when his colour is mentioned, or who does not repeat the question correctly, pays a forfeit.

Shadow Buff differs very materially from Blind Man’s Buff, but it is equally amusing. A large piece of white linen should be fastened neatly up at one end of room, so that it hangs quite smooth; Buff (not blinded) seats himself on a low stool with his face to the linen, and a table, on which is a lighted candle, should be placed about four or five feet behind him, and the rest of the lights in the room extinguished. Buffy’s playfellows next pass in succession, between the candle and him, distorting their features in as grotesque a manner as possible--hopping, limping, and performing various odd antics, so as to make their _shadows_ very unlike their usual looks. Buffy must then try to guess to whom the shadows belong, and if he guesses correctly, the player whose shadow he recognises takes his place. Buff is allowed only one guess for each person, and must not turn his head either to the right or left to see who passes.

_Birds, Beasts, and Fishes._--“Now, Tom,” said Harry, “get your slate and pencil, and I’ll show you such a jolly game. Well now, look here, I have put down h × × × a. Now that stands for a beast’s name, the first and last letters of which are _h_ and _a_, with three letters between, represented by the crosses.”

“Let’s see,” replied Tom, scratching his head, “I know--Hare.”

“You muff! There are only four letters in ‘hare,’ and five in my word. Try again--mind you have only three guesses; so look out.”

Tom wondered again for a minute, and then suddenly blurted out, “I know--Horse.”

“Wrong again,” replied Harry; “the last letter of Horse is _e_ and not _a_. Now be careful, Tom, for this is your last turn.”

Again Tom scratched his head, bit his fingers, and after meditating for at least two minutes and a half, shouted out in a moment of inspiration--“Hyena!”

As he was right, it now became his turn to put down a name. So he wrote on the slate s × × × × × w, at the same time telling Harry it was a bird; for according to the rules of this game you must say whether this name represents a beast, a fish, a bird, an insect, or a reptile.

Harry in a minute shouted “Sparrow!” and so the game went on; and such a capital game did Tom and Harry have, that they sent this account of it to us in the hope that we would make it known to the world in “Every Boy’s Book.”

_French and English._--On the slate should be drawn a plan somewhat like the following. The dots represent soldiers, one side being termed French and the other English. Each player is provided with a sharply pointed pencil, and the game is played as follows:--English, keeping the point of his pencil on a spot denoted by a cannon, draws it quickly across the slate in the direction of the other army. The pencil naturally leaves a line to mark his track, and if this mark passes through any of the men belonging to the other side, they are considered dead. The game is over as soon as all the men on one side are dead. Each player has a certain space on the slate allotted to him, and he may dispose his men in whatever part of it he pleases. The track of the pencil must be straight or curved; any shot in which there is an angle does not count. In p. 38 we give a battle-field where the strife is ended. In this the English side has killed all the opposite side in eight shots, while the French in eight have only been able to kill nine men.