“What does all this mean, my boys?” asked the captain, looking puzzled.
“We met with an accident in the rapids, and had to swim out,” replied Dick. “Then, on the way back to camp, we came upon this Sioux brave in a tree with a dozen hungry wolves jumping up at him. We chased the wolves off, and looked after his wounds, when to our surprise he handed us this message from his chief, Beaver Tail.”
The captain examined the picture writing with considerable interest. He had been taking considerable pains since mingling with the Mandans to understand their ways, and this crude but effective method of communication had aroused his curiosity on numerous occasions.
“Read it to me, if you managed to make it out, Dick,” he told the boy, who only too willingly complied.
The captain frowned upon learning that, despite his solemn warning, the French trader had returned to the neighborhood. That look boded ill for François Lascelles, should he ever have the hard luck to be caught in the vicinity of the camp.
The captain’s own communication from the Sioux chief was merely meant for an expression of goodwill. Two figures, one plainly a Sioux chieftain, and the other a soldier, were seen to be grasping hands as though in greeting. Beaver Tail by this crude method of picture writing evidently intended to convey the meaning that he had not forgotten his friend, the white chief, and, also, that he had kept his word that the Sioux should remain on peaceful terms with the travelers.
“But you spoke of meeting with an accident in the rapids,” Captain Lewis presently remarked. “That is something strange for clever boys like you to experience. Did you miscalculate the danger, or was it something that could not be helped?”
“We closely examined our buffalo hide canoe yesterday, and it was in perfect condition, Captain,” said Dick. “Yet, with only a slight blow against a perfectly smooth rock, it split open, and we had to jump overboard. We managed to get through the rough water safely, and drew the damaged boat ashore. Imagine our surprise and consternation, sir, when we found that a sharp-pointed knife blade had been run along the bottom of the canoe, making a deep cut that had easily given way when we struck the rock.”
“You startle me when you say that, Dick,” remarked the captain, looking uneasy, though almost immediately afterward his jaws became set in a determined fashion, while his eyes gleamed angrily. “It must mean that we have a traitor in the camp; some one who has been bought by the gold of François Lascelles.”