scherms

South Africa, where there is only a lot of small thorn bush and long grass, you can make "scherms," or loose thorn bushes piled in a heap and made into a small horse-shoe, arched over, back to wind, and covered or roughly thatched with grass.

Young Knights of the Empire : Their Code, and Further Scout Yarns Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell Baden-Powell of Gilwell 1899

At last, nearly at the other end of the vlei, having passed five sets of scherms, we came upon what seemed to be the

The Red True Story Book Andrew Lang 1900

Of course there was a great stir along the lines of the native scherms, for they did not know what to make of it.

The Red True Story Book Andrew Lang 1900

Coming out of the bush on the near edge of the vlei, before going down into it, I saw fires lit, and scherms and figures showing dark against the fires right along the opposite edge of the vlei.

The Red True Story Book Andrew Lang 1900

It was quite light now and they saw us from the scherms all the way, but they just looked at us and we at them, and so we went along.

The Red True Story Book Andrew Lang 1900

[Illustration: 'JUST AS HIS ARM WAS POISED I FIRED'] 'I went, and for a long, long time I heard only the dropping of the rain from the leaves and now and then a dog barking in the scherms, but at last, just as it got grey in the east, I heard a noise, and placing my ear close to the ground, made it out to be the tramp of horses.

The Red True Story Book Andrew Lang 1900

We retreated in close order into the bush on the opposite side of the vlei -- the other side from the scherms.

The Red True Story Book Andrew Lang 1900

We splashed through, and the first thing we scouts knew on the other side was that we were riding into the middle of a lot of Matabele among some scherms, or temporary shelters.

The Red True Story Book Andrew Lang 1900

We skirted the vlei to our left, got round the end of it, and at once rode through a lot of scherms containing hundreds of people.

The Red True Story Book Andrew Lang 1900