y of hostiles appear to have separated, the tall man and the one who
is groggy, together with the dog, going off toward the east; while the
others keep on straight. And you can see that our friend chooses to
follow the three, for some reason of his own."

"Here's another picket fence," remarked Davy; "this time only four
miles."

"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 to
have glimpsed that before. They've got to a river, and found a boat
there. But what do all these funny marks on the river stand for? Looks
like 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 it
great fun to have his comrades guessing at the explanation of his crude
chart. "Here you see them standing up in the boat, and all of them are
holding their hands over their heads. That is the Indian's idea of
showing fright."

"And just beyond, the boat seems to have broken in two; that shows
something happened, I reckon," Davy hastened to remark.

"Well, here the three of them are swimming like ducks, and the boat
doesn't appear again, so something _did_ happen. Go on Allan, this is
just as fine as any illustrated rebus I ever struck," Thad said, himself
deeply interested.

"Perhaps the one who writes this birch bark message was himself
responsible for the sinking of the boat. You failed to notice that just
before the accident happened there was a _dot_ on the water close to the
boat. That may have been his head, and he managed to cut a hole in the
birch bark canoe."

"But see here, a little further on you forgot to mark the whole three
again; I can only see two, all told," Davy declared.

"Well, evidently then the scout wants to convey the impression that
there were only two of the enemy at that time," Allan went on. "He must
have found some means of disposing of one, either in the water, or from
the 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 what
looks like a trail, leading toward the west, which is marked by a
setting su