[XII]
Indian Signs And Getting Lost
"What do you mean when you say Indian signs, Mr. Clark?"
"Pretty near anything that shows there's Injuns round: a moccasin track, a smell of smoke, a twig bent, a village, one stone a-top of another or a white settlement scalped and burned—they all are Injun signs. They all mean something, and the Injuns read them an' make them, too, jest as you would writing."
"You remember the other day you told us three smokes meant you were coming back with scalps."
"Well, no; it don't har'ly mean that. It means 'Good news'—that is, with some tribes. Different tribes uses 'em different."
"Well, what does one smoke mean?"
"As a rule just simply 'Camp is here'"
"And two smokes?"
"Two smokes means 'Trouble'—may mean, 'I am lost.'"