"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 sun. An Indian always designates a setting sun by the spurs that stand up like spokes; while the sun rising is simply a half circle on the horizon."