Two Little Savages

by Ernest Thompson Seton

  XII

  Indian Signs And Getting Lost

  "What do you mean when you say Indian signs, Mr. Clark?"

  "Pretty near anything that shows there's Injuns round: a moccasintrack, a smell of smoke, a twig bent, a village, one stone a-top ofanother or a white settlement scalped and burned--they all are Injunsigns. They all mean something, and the Injuns read them an' makethem, too, jest as you would writing."

  "You remember the other day you told us three smokes meant you werecoming back with scalps."

  "Well, no; it don't har'ly mean that. It means 'Good news'--that is,with some tribes. Different tribes uses 'em different."

  "Well, what does one smoke mean?"

  "As a rule just simply '_Camp is here_'"

  "And two smokes?"

  "Two smokes means '_Trouble_'--may mean, _'I am lost.'_"

  "I'll remember that; _double for trouble_."

  "Three means good news. _There's luck in odd numbers_."

  "And what is four?"

  "Well, it ain't har'ly ever used. If I seen four smokes in camp I'dknow _something big_ was on--maybe a Grand Council."

  "Well, if you saw five smokes what would you think?"

  "I'd think some blame fool was settin' the hull place a-blaze," Calebreplied with the sniff end of a laugh.

  "Just now you said one stone on another was a sign. What does itmean?"

  "Course I can't speak for all Injuns. Some has it for one thing an'some for another, but usually in the West two stones or 'Buffalochips' settin' one on the other means 'This is the trail'; and alittle stone at the left of the two would mean 'Here we turned off tothe left'; and at the other side, 'Here we turned to the right.' Threestones settin' one on top of another means, 'This is sure enough thetrail,' 'Special' or 'Particular' or 'Look out'; an' a pile of stonesjust throwed together means 'We camped here 'cause some one was sick.'They'd be the stones used for giving the sick one a steam bath."

  "Well, what would they do if there were no stones?"

  "Ye mean in the woods?"

  "Yes, or smooth prairie."

  "Well, I pretty near forget, it's so long ago, but le's see now," andYan worried Caleb and Caleb threshed his memory till they got out ageneral scheme, or Indian code, though Caleb was careful to say that"some Injuns done it differently."

  INDIAN SIGNS]

  Yan must needs set about making a signal fire at once, and wasdisappointed to find that a hundred yards away the smoke could not beseen above the tree-tops, till Caleb showed him the difference betweena clear fire and a smoke or smudge fire.

  "Begin with a clear fire to get the heat, then smother it with greengrass and rotten wood. There, now you see the difference," and a greatcrooked, angling pillar of smoke rolled upward as soon as the grassand punk began to sizzle in the glow of embers.

  "I bet ye kin see that ten miles away if ye'r on a high place to lookfor it."

  "I bet I could see it twenty miles," chirped in Guy.

  "Mr. Clark, were you ever lost?" continued the tireless asker.

  "Why, course I was, an' more than once. Every one that goes in thewoods is bound to get lost once in awhile."

  "What--do the Indians?"

  "Of course! Why not? They're human, an' I tell you when you hear a manbrag that he never was lost, I know he never was far from his mother'sapron string. Every one is bound to get lost, but the real woodsmangets out all right; that's the difference."

  "Well, what would you do if you got lost?"

  "Depends on where. If it was a country that I didn't know, and I hadfriends in camp, after I'd tried my best I'd jest set right down andmake two smoke fires. 'Course, if I was alone I'd try to make a beeline in the likeliest direction, an' this is easy to make if ye kinsee the sun and stars, but stormy weather 'tain't possible. No man kindo it, an' if ye don't know the country ye have to follow some stream;but I'm sorry for ye if ever ye have to do that, for it's the worstwalking on earth. It will surely bring ye out some place--that is, itwill keep ye from walking in a circle--but ye can't make more thanfour or five miles a day on it."

  "The Two Smokes"]

  "Can't you get your direction from moss on the tree trunks?"

  "_Naw!_ Jest try it an' see; moss on the north side of a treeand rock; biggest branches on the south of a trunk; top of a Hemlockpointing to east; the biggest rings of growth on the south side ofa stump, an' so on. It fits a tree standin' out by itself in theopen--the biggest ring is in the south, but it don't fit a tree on thesouth side of an opening; then the biggest rings is on the north. Ifye have a compass in hand it's all kind o' half true--that is, justa little bit true; but it ain't true; it's on'y a big lie, when ye'rscared out o' your wits an' needin' to know. I never seen but one goodcompass plant, an' that was the prairie Golden Rod. Get a bunch ofthem in the open and the most of them point north, but under cover oftaller truck they jest point every which way for Sunday.

  "If ye find a beaten game trail, ye follow that an it'll bring ye towater--that is, if ye go the right way, an' that ye know by its gettin'stronger. If it's peterin' out, ye'r goin' in the wrong direction. Aflock of Ducks or a Loon going over is sure to be pointing for water.Y're safe to follow.

  "If ye have a Dog or a Horse with ye he kin bring ye home all right.Never knew them to fail but oncet, an' that was a fool Horse; there issech oncet in awhile, though there's more fool Dogs.

  "But come right down to it, the compass is the safest thing. The sunand stars is next, an' if ye know your friends will come ye'r bestplan is to set right down and make two smoke fires, keep them a-going,holler every little while, and keep calm. Ye won't come to no harmunless ye'r a blame fool, an' such ought to stay to hum, where they'llbe nursed."