feet.  Seven-eighths of 70 equals 61-1/4 feet.  The width of the pond—­they measured it with tape line—­was found to be 60 feet, so Yan was nearest, but Guy claimed that 50 feet was within 10 feet of it, which was allowed.  Thus there were two winners—­two who escaped dishwashing; and Hawkeye’s bragging became insufferable.  He never again got so close in a guess, but no number of failures could daunt him after such a success.

Sam was interested in the White-man’s Woodcraft chiefly on Yan’s account, but Blackhawk was evidently impressed with the study itself, and said: 

“Little Beaver, I’ll give you one more to do.  Can you measure how far apart those two trees are on that bank, without crossing?”

“Yes,” said Yan; “easily.”  So he cut three poles 6, 8 and 10 feet long and pegged them together in a triangle (in diagram).  “Now,” said he, “A B C is a right angle; it must be, when the legs of the triangle are 6, 8 and 10; that’s a law.”

He placed this on the shore, the side A B pointing to the inner side of the first tree, and the side B C as nearly as possible parallel with the line between the two trees.  Then he put in a stake at B, another at C, and continued this line toward K.  Now he slid his triangle along this till the side G F pointed to E, and the side H G in line with C B.  The distance from D to E, of course, is equal to B G, which can be measured, and again the tape line showed Yan to be nearly right.

This White-man’s Woodcraft was easy for him, and he volunteered to teach the other Indians, but they thought it looked “too much like school.”  They voted him a coup on finding how well he could do it.  But when Raften heard of it he exclaimed in wonder and admiration, “My, but that’s mightiful!” and would not be satisfied till the coup was made a grand coup.

“Say, Beaver,” said Woodpecker sadly, harking back, “if a Dog’s front foot is 3-1/2 inches long and 3 inches wide, what colour is the end of his tail?”

“White,” was the prompt reply; “’cause a Dog with feet that size and shape is most likely to be a yaller Dog, and a yaller Dog always has some white hairs in the end of his tail.”

“Well, this ’un hadn’t, ’cause his tail was cut off in the days of his youth!”

XXIX

The Long Swamp

The union of the tribes, however, was far from complete.  Blackhawk was inclined to be turbulent.  He was heavier than Beaver.  He could not understand how that slighter, younger boy could throw him, and he wished to try again.  Now Yan was growing stronger every day.  He was quick and of very wiry build.  In the first battle, which was entirely fisty, he was worsted; on the try-over, which cost him such an effort, he had arranged “a rough-and-tumble,” as they called it, and had won chiefly by working his only trick.  But now Blackhawk was not satisfied, and while he did not care to offer another deadly challenge, by way of a feeler he offered, some days after the peace, to try a friendly throw for scalps.