Tied to the Tracks (Scout Skit)

(Cast: the Narrator, the VILLAIN Silas Snarl, Sweet NELL, the HERO Hal Hartwell, and two to five Scouts in a line as the TRAIN. The Narrator teaches the four audience parts before the skit begins.)

[Narrator:] Our story begins on a lonely prairie, beside the railroad tracks, where lives our sweet heroine, NELL.

(NELL enters, sweeping the porch and humming.)

[Narrator:] But what's this? Creeping across the prairie comes the meanest, lowest, slimiest snake in the territory. The VILLAIN, Silas Snarl!

(The VILLAIN sneaks in, twirling his mustache.)

[Silas:] Good morning, my pretty. Sign over the deed to your farm, or else!

[Nell:] Never, Silas Snarl! My granny left me this farm, and I'll never sign!

[Silas:] Then you leave me no choice! (He loops the rope around her loosely, ties a big floppy knot, and lays her down across the tracks.) The noon TRAIN will be along any minute. Nyah-ha-ha-ha!

(The VILLAIN slinks off.)

[Narrator:] Oh, peril! In the distance, we hear the TRAIN!

(The TRAIN chugs slowly onto the far side of the stage.)

[Nell:] Help! Help! Oh, where is my HERO?

[Narrator:] And where is our HERO, Hal Hartwell? Brave, handsome, and pure of heart.

(The HERO gallops across the back of the stage on his stick horse, going the wrong way, waves cheerfully, and gallops off.)

[Narrator:] Not much help. Closer comes the TRAIN!

(NELL stops struggling and looks down at the knot.)

[Nell:] Wait just a minute. This is a granny knot! Silas Snarl, you never even made Tenderfoot! (She pulls one end, the rope falls away, and she stands up and dusts herself off.)

[Narrator:] Our NELL is free! And not a moment too soon, for here comes the TRAIN!

(NELL steps off the tracks. The TRAIN chugs right past her and stops.)

(The VILLAIN sneaks back in, rubbing his hands together, and doesn't see NELL standing right behind him.)

[Silas:] Nyah-ha-ha! Now that farm is mine, all mine!

[Nell:] (tapping him on the shoulder) Looking for this? (She holds up the rope.)

(NELL quickly ties the VILLAIN to a Scout standing in as a tree, with a big, clear knot.)

[Nell:] That's two half hitches, Silas. Look it up.

(The HERO gallops in at last, out of breath.)

[Hal:] Fear not, my darling NELL! I've come to save you!

[Nell:] Save yourself the trouble, Hal. It's handled.

[Hal:] (to the audience) Then can I at least get a cheer?

(The audience cheers for the HERO.)

(NELL gives the HERO a peck on the cheek anyway. SMOOCH!)

[Silas:] Curses! Foiled again!

[Train leader:] (leaning out) Tickets, please! All aboard!

[Narrator:] And so NELL kept her farm, our HERO got his cheer, and the VILLAIN learned the most important lesson of all.

[Silas:] (still tied up) Learn your knots!

Tips: the Narrator keeps the pace up and leads the audience, so point at them on every cue word. The VILLAIN can't be too mean or too hammy. The TRAIN should chug slowly and get a little closer each time it's mentioned, so the audience's Woo-woo! builds the suspense.

Swap the knots for any your troop is learning. The joke works with whatever the newest Scouts just mastered.