"Never mind the salt. Hurry! How are you going to make salt?"
"Mr. Vaughn says that the Indians use the ashes of hickory bark as a substitute for salt, and that it is fine. To obtain the ash he says the stem and leaves are first rolled up into balls while green, and, after being carefully dried, are placed on a very small fire on a rock and burned."
"Huh! I am mighty glad you aren't going to stop to make salt before breakfast," answered Chunky. "Give me that trout."
"It isn't done yet."
"I can't help that. Give it to me."
"Oh, if you want to be a wild animal, why dip in."
Chunky did. He devoured the fish, bones and all, though he did decide not to eat the head. He ate the other end, though. While Stacy was thus enjoying himself, Butler cooked the other fish. By that time the coffee was ready and the two lost boys sat down to their breakfast, while the forest resounded with the shrill "ah, te-te, te-te, te" of the white-throated sparrow, the songs of the chickadee and blue-jay, the thrumming of the pigeon woodpecker, the cries of the whistler-duck and the scream of the fish-hawk and the eagle.
[CHAPTER XXIV]
THE SIGNAL SMOKE
There was silence in the camp until the last of the fish had disappeared down the throats of the hungry boys. After breakfast Tad ordered Stacy to clear away the things and set the camp to rights while he went out to look for the ponies.