Page:Boy Scouts and What They Do.djvu/72

 and the gathering took place under ideal conditions. No better spot could have been chosen for the Rally than Perry Hall Park. The gentle, well-wooded slopes with which it is surrounded made a charming background for the picture on which the eye rested when the last troop had marched on to the ground, and taken up their position. The "gathering" itself was a wonderful sight to witness. Shortly before three o'clock the spectators caught the sound of fifes and drums, of bugles, and the skirling of the pipes; and then, from each side of the parade ground the Scouts marched on, and the Rally had commenced. Troop after troop, with banners and flags waving, made to their positions, and it was not until nearly an hour had passed that the foreground was filled in, and the picture was complete. The great feature of the Rally was its cosmopolitan character. Not only was every part of the United Kingdom represented, but Australia, South Africa, Canada, Gibraltar, and the Straits Settlements; the United States, France, Germany, Italy, Austria, Poland, Sweden, Holland, and China. The representatives of these widely separated countries had with them their national, as well as their troop flags, and these made brilliant points of colour against the fresh green of the background, and formed a striking contrast to the khaki-coloured mass. The most prominent and beautiful flag of all was that carried at the head of the Shanghai troop—a dark blue flag, on which was worked a great golden dragon, a present to the troop from the Chinese ladies who had made it.

It was shortly after half-past-three that the Prince rode on to the parade ground, attended by his equerry, and accompanied by the Chief Scout, the Chief Commissioner,