"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," continued Allan. "Now, after telling how many foes they have ahead, the scout tries to mark each one in some way so they can be distinguished all through the letter. Here's a fellow who seems to be one-armed, for he always appears that way. A second is very tall, you notice, while a third is a dwarf, and a fourth limps a little, for his leg is bent some in every picture. The fifth wears a hat; and as for the sixth, he must be feeling the effects of looking into a bottle too many times; because he 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 marks like the pickets on a fence, just alongside this cross. Now, what would you think those meant?"
"Looks to me as if the men had gone five miles up to that cross," Thad remarked.
"Just what I was going to say," said Davy, disappointed to come in second.
"Both of you have hit the nail on the head," laughed Allan; "for that is what the Indian wants to say. And here at the five mile station the party 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.