The Indian grinned and, without a word, turned and slipped silently into the forest with the two boys at his heels. For a short distance he led the way among the trees and then, turning towards the river, came out upon a jutting rocky point. Raising his hand as a signal for caution, he stopped, fitted a six-foot arrow to his bow, and stepped silently towards the water’s edge. Intently the two boys watched, utterly at a loss as to what Joseph intended to do. Then they saw him suddenly straighten up and quickly draw the huge bow. Like a streak of light the long arrow darted into the river. The next instant he threw aside his bow, rushed forward, and, seizing the floating arrow, dragged a big silvery fish upon the rocks.
“Gosh!” exclaimed Tom, as the two boys rushed forward to where the Indian was extracting a barbed iron arrow point from the fish. “I never saw anything like that! Why, he shot the fish with his arrow.”
“Say, that is a new way of fishing!” cried Frank, as he examined the weapon. “This arrow’s just like a harpoon with a head fastened to a line and not to the shaft. Gee, I wish Mr. Rawlins could have seen that.”
Joseph grinned, picked up his bow and arrow, and a moment later had shot a second fish. Absolutely fascinated, the boys watched him as fish after fish was secured in this novel manner and then, as darkness was rapidly coming on, the three made their way back to camp.
Mr. Thorne chuckled as the boys enthusiatically related what they had seen. “I forgot to tell you about that,” he said. “You should see them shoot fish in the rapids. That’s really exciting. And they call them too.”
“Oh, now you’re fooling!” exclaimed Frank. “How can they call fish?”
“I don’t know how they can, but I know they do,” replied the explorer. “They stand near the water and wiggle their fingers and whistle and the fish come up. I’ve seen it scores of times and I’ll wager you’ll see it done too.”
“Well, I suppose we’ll have to believe it, if you say it’s true,” said Tom, “but it does sound like a fish story.”
Sam’s cooking proved highly successful, and as they were busily eating, Colcord suddenly jumped up and stood listening attentively. The next moment the boys heard a slight splash and a grating noise and one of the Indians uttered a low cry in his native tongue. Immediately from the river came an answering call and a moment later, a canoe appeared in the reflection of the firelight on the river. About it the Indians gathered.
“By glory, we’ve got visitors!” exclaimed Rawlins. “Wonder who they are.”