TOEPRINTS IN THE SAND
For a moment the boys stood silent and uncertain. Hawk Eye was the first
to speak. "Follow me," he cried, and ran down the bank of the little
stream. He soon came to a sandy point where its waters mingled with
those of the Minnesota.
"Look," he said. "One of our heavy loaded canoes went aground here," and
he pointed to deep marks in the sand. "And here are the toeprints of the
thief who pushed them off."
"He has gone downstream with them," said Raven Wing. "His canoe was
probably caught in the swift current as it rounded the point and was
carried downstream before he could tow the canoes into the big river,
and his towline tightened across the point and grounded our first canoe
here. Then he came back and pushed it off and around the point."
"We must follow," said Hawk Eye. Keeping as close to the river as was
possible, the boys set off at an easy lope. Presently they were forced
to change their course, for the willows, cottonwoods, elms and soft
maples that lined the banks made progress slow and difficult.
Leaving the narrow valley through which the river made continuous twists
and turns, they hurried up the slope and soon found themselves on the
treeless prairie, which stretched far away to the sky. As far as eye
could reach not a tree could be seen. Except for great boulders of
granite and limestone which dotted it here and there, the plain was
covered with grass.
As they turned to follow a course parallel with that of the river, Raven
Wing thoughtfully remarked:
"We are not sure that our canoes are being taken downstream."
"The thief," answered Hawk Eye, "would have to pass many Sioux villages
on the banks of the river if he did otherwise. He will take the pelts to
the trading post at Mendota."
"Yes, you are right," answered Raven Wing. "Why should he tow our heavy
laden canoes upstream? And how would he account for their possession
should he meet with any of our own people? We are two birds with broken
wings. Paddles and current will carry the canoes faster than we can hope
to run for any length of time."
"But we must get back our canoes," answered Hawk Eye.
Raven Wing made no answer. He slowly loosened the leather thong about
his neck and opened a small doeskin bag that hung by a leather thong
about his neck. Squatting down he took out the wing of a crow.
"I will make medicine," he said. After some little time he replaced the
crow's wing in the doeskin bag and fastened the leather thong about his
neck.
"The Great Mystery bids me remember how the river runs," he said.
[Illustration: "THE GREAT MYSTERY BIDS ME REMEMBER HOW THE RIVER RUNS,"
HE SAID.]
"And how does it run?" asked Hawk Eye.
Tightening its string until the bow was shaped like a half moon, Raven
Wing laid it upon the ground. Placing an arrow, pointed outward, at the
center of the curved ash wood, he said, "This arrow points to the Ever
Summer Land."
Setting another arrow, with feathered end against the bowstring at a
point half way between the tips, he dropped a pebble beside it and said;
"This arrow points to the Land of Snows."
When a third arrow, pointed outward, with two pebbles beside it, had
been placed at one tip of the bow, he said;
"Thither lies the Land of the Rising Sun."
The fourth and last arrow he laid with stone head pointing outward, at
the other tip of the bow. Then, having placed three pebbles beside it,
he said;
"Thither lies the Land of the Setting Sun."
"The Great Mystery is kind," remarked Hawk Eye.
"He has bid me remember my stepfather's description of the Minnesota's
course," answered Raven Wing.
"And now what do you propose to do?" asked Hawk Eye.
"We will make a trail across the prairie towards the rising sun straight
as the flight of an arrow. Come; let us start," answered Raven Wing.
At once both boys set off at an easy lope. Ohitika bounded ahead,
flushing a flock of ground sparrows which chattered loudly at the
interruption to their grassy nest building. But to the clamor of their
voices and whirring wings the dog failed to see a badger which was
burrowing in the sod.
As the boys pressed on, larks and blue birds filled the air with song;
prairie wolves skulked away to grove and swale, and rattlesnakes glided
over moist places to rocky shelter.
High up in the sky a sand-hill crane, northward bound in lonely flight,
sounded a far off call.
"'Tis a good omen," cried Hawk Eye.
[Illustration: {Brave.}]