"Can you tell the height of a tree by its shadow?"
"Never thought of that. How do you do it?"
"Wait till your own shadow is the same length as yourself—that is, about eight in the morning or four in the afternoon—then measure the tree's shadow. That gives its length."
"You'd have to wait all day to work that, and you can't do it at all in the woods or on a dull day," objected Blackhawk. "I'd rather do it by guess."
[504] "I'll bet my scalp against yours I can tell the height of that tree right now without climbing it, and get closer than you can by guessing," said Little Beaver.
"No, I won't bet scalps on that—but I'll bet who's to wash the dishes."
"All right. To the top of that tree, how much is it?"
"Better not take the top, 'cause we can't get there to measure it, but say that knot," was the rejoinder. "Here, Woodpecker, you be judge."
"No, I want to be in this guessing. The loser takes the next turn of dishwashing for each of the others."
So Blackhawk studied the knot carefully and wrote down his guess—Thirty-eight feet.