CHAPTER XVI.
THE PICTURES THAT TALKED.
"What's that Allan's got in his hand?" asked Davy Jones, as the littleparty reached an open spot, and the Maine boy came to a halt.
"Looks like a strip of fresh birch bark," remarked Giraffe.
"Just what it is," Allan spoke up, "and if you watch me, you'll see howthe poor Indian, not carrying a hammer and nails along, finds a way toleave his message so that it attracts the attention he wants, just aswell as if he nailed it against the trunk of a tree."
He bent down, broke off a long wand from a bush, and seemed to partlysplit one end of this. Into the crotch he inserted the birch bark. Theother end he pushed into the ground.
"There you are, fellows," Allan went on. "When you reach this pointalong the trail of your friend, you find that he has left this messagefor you. Being an Indian, or a border man used to the ways of theIndians, you take the strip of bark in your hands, and examine it. Tothe eye of the experienced one it is as plain as so many words would beto all of us. Here, look at what I've written, boys."
"Say, it's a cute little boy's idea of a procession," remarked Step-hen;"for I take it that all these figures must be meant for men."
"And I can see a fire burning, right here," declared Giraffe, eagerly.
"What's this four-legged critter, a wolf or a dog?" asked Step-hen,pointing to the object he had in mind.
"What would you say, Thad?" asked Allan, smiling.
"Well, it strikes me that it must be a dog, because you've made it havea curly tail; and no wolf was ever known to possess such a thing.Besides, it always appears close to the heels of one of the men, and thesame one too; so I should say it belongs to that fellow."
"Just exactly what I wanted to convey," Allan went on, nodding his headin approval. "Now, if you'll pay close attention, fellows, I'll show youhow easy it is to write messages this way. Just as Step-hen said, it'slike a boy trying to show his first skill in drawing; but in this caseevery little mark has its meaning."
"It's interesting, all right, Allan," observed Davy Jones.
"That's right, it is," echoed Smithy, who had apparently never beforerealized what a delightful thing it was to get out in the woods with aparcel of chums, and discover what strange things can be found there.
"Now, here is what the man in advance is telling the one who comesafter," continued the boy who knew. "He is himself following on thetrack of a party of enemies, and has discovered certain facts connectedwith their movements, which he wishes to communicate to his comradecoming after, so as to gave him the trouble of wasting time ininvestigating for himself. And here's the way he does it."
He held the birch bark up so all could see. Six pair of eager eyes wereimmediately glued upon the marks which he had made on the smooth browninside bark, with possibly the point of his knife, just as the realIndian might.
"First, you see, here are five figures represented," Allan began.
"That means the total number of the enemy, don't it?" asked Davy,quickly.
"Just what it does, and I'm glad to see how you catch on," continuedAllan. "Now, after telling how many foes they have ahead, the scouttries to mark each one in some way so they can be distinguished allthrough the letter. Here's a fellow who seems to be one-armed, for healways appears that way. A second is very tall, you notice, while athird is a dwarf, and a fourth limps a little, for his leg is bent somein every picture. The fifth wears a hat; and as for the sixth, he mustbe feeling the effects of looking into a bottle too many times; becausehe wobbles some as he pursues his way. Got all that, fellows?"
"Sure, and it's some interesting, Allan," declared Step-hen.
"Well, they've been in camp here, for you can see the remains of a fire,but with very little smoke ascending, showing that it is nearly dead.They have gone due northeast after breaking camp. Here are five markslike the pickets on a fence, just alongside this cross. Now, what wouldyou think those meant?"
"Looks to me as if the men had gone five miles up to that cross," Thadremarked.
"Just what I was going to say," said Davy, disappointed to come insecond.
"Both of you have hit the nail on the head," laughed Allan; "for that iswhat the Indian wants to say. And here at the five mile station theparty of hostiles appear to have separated, the tall man and the one whois groggy, together with the dog, going off toward the east; while theothers keep on straight. And you can see that our friend chooses tofollow the three, for some reason of his own."
"Here's another picket fence," remarked Davy; "this time only fourmiles."
"Then what?" asked Allan.
"There's a crooked line running across. Can't be a snake they've struck,because it's too big for that," mused Davy.
"I know," remarked Smithy. "That must be a river, because here's a boat;anyhow, it looks like one to me."
"Why, of course," broke in Bob White; "and I must have been blind not tohave glimpsed that before. They've got to a river, and found a boatthere. But what do all these funny marks on the river stand for? Lookslike the three chaps might be in swimming. Is that what it means,Allan?"
"In one way, yes," replied the other, laughing again, for he found itgreat fun to have his comrades guessing at the explanation of his crudechart. "Here you see them standing up in the boat, and all of them areholding their hands over their heads. That is the Indian's idea ofshowing fright."
"And just beyond, the boat seems to have broken in two; that showssomething happened, I reckon," Davy hastened to remark.
"Well, here the three of them are swimming like ducks, and the boatdoesn't appear again, so something _did_ happen. Go on Allan, this isjust as fine as any illustrated rebus I ever struck," Thad said, himselfdeeply interested.
"Perhaps the one who writes this birch bark message was himselfresponsible for the sinking of the boat. You failed to notice that justbefore the accident happened there was a _dot_ on the water close to theboat. That may have been his head, and he managed to cut a hole in thebirch bark canoe."
"But see here, a little further on you forgot to mark the whole threeagain; I can only see two, all told," Davy declared.
"Well, evidently then the scout wants to convey the impression thatthere were only two of the enemy at that time," Allan went on. "He musthave found some means of disposing of one, either in the water, or fromthe shore with his gun while they were floundering there."
"I guess the two chaps crawled out here on the bank," said Step-hen,pointing.
"And plunged into the woods too, for here are trees again, and whatlooks like a trail, leading toward the west, which is marked by asetting sun. An Indian always designates a _setting_ sun by the spursthat stand up like spokes; while the sun rising is simply a half circleon the horizon."
"Well," remarked Davy, his eyes round with eagerness; "I declare, thisis mighty interesting; and I must get the hang of this Indian picturewriting as quick as I can. You'll see what stunts I'll do after a littlewhile. I'll sure have the rest of you guessing at the puzzles I get up."
"You're near the end of the picture, Allan," remarked Thad; "and as Ican see only one figure ahead now, I think something must have happenedto our friend Limpy, because he doesn't appear again."
"I suppose that the scout who follows must have found a chance to cutdown the number of the enemy in advance to one," remarked Allan; "and hewants to let his friend know he is still on the trail of that fellow.Here the pursued one must have spent the night, for you can see anotherdead fire. Away off here it looks like a village, for there are lodgesand dogs and squaws. He marks that as ten miles off, and evidentlyexpects to overtake the lone warrior before he reaches the shelter ofthe tepees. And so you see he has managed to tell the story of hisadventure, crudely of course, yet just as well as any one of us mightwrite it out. And once you've got the knack of reading this sort oftalk, you can manage it just as fast as you would hand-writing. That'sall I'm going to tell you about it to-day; but if you feel that wayanother time, I'll show you a lot more that is interest
ing."
Davy Jones declared that he would keep the Maine boy to his promise.This queer way of communicating a whole story without writing a singleletter seemed to appeal to him especially. And all that evening he wasscribbling away upon a pad of paper he had brought along, drawing allmanner of remarkable figures, which he jumbled up in such a way that heactually forgot the key to the combinations; and had to get Allan's helpin solving some of them, which the others considered a rich joke.
During the balance of the afternoon the boys amused themselves invarious ways. Several tried the fishing, with the result that there wasa good mess of gamey bass caught for supper.
Thad, Allan and Bob White lay in the shade for a long time, talking. TheSouthern boy was eagerly telling his chums various things in connectionwith his old home away off in the distant Blue Ridge; and from the waythe others asked questions it was evident that the proposition to havethe Silver Fox Patrol visit the mountain region where Bob had once livedmust have sunk deeply into their minds.
"I know one thing sure," remarked Thad; "if we're lucky enough to gothere, I'm going to carry my shotgun along. A Boy Scout as a rule isseldom seen bearing arms; but there's nothing in the rules of theorganization that I can find to prevent a member from enjoying a huntwhen he has the chance. Besides, if we camp out, as we expect to, wemust depend on getting game for part of our supplies."
"And as for the money part," remarked Bob, "while a scout is required toearn the money for his suit and outfit, there's nothing to prevent himfrom accepting a railroad ticket from his folks, or any other cash toprovide him with a summer's outing. So far as I can see it, suh, thewhole intention of the organization is to make its members manly,independent, helpful to others, and thrifty. I hope, suh, all of us aretrying to carry out those rules. And it would please me more than I cantell you, if you decided to accompany me to that mountain country wherethey grow men; because I am compelled to go there for my mother, andwould be the happiest fellow alive if my seven chums went along to keepme company."
"Don't tell it around, Bob," said Thad, quietly, "but really it's asgood as settled that if we get back from this first little camping tripin good shape, we're going to get the chance to make a bigger tour," andthen the three exultant scouts shook hands, as they saw a gloriousfuture prospect opening before them.
The Boy Scouts' First Camp Fire; or, Scouting with the Silver Fox Patrol Page 16