iable snakebite cure, discovered by Columbus when he
discovered the rattlesnake over here and my mind naturally reverted to it
at the first jump. The worst of it is that the Injun won't be of much use
for a couple of days and I'm afraid all the other Siwashes will quit work
and go to huntin' rattlesnakes."

The work of building the sod house began soon after the morning meal, and
by night had made substantial progress. One of the side walls was built
higher than the other, and a roof of rough boards was laid on top of thick
planks which formed the top course of the walls. On this roof was laid a
course of sod, the grass of which began in a few days to grow lustily.

"'Taint everywhere," said Swiftwater, with a smile, "that a man can have
his lawn on the roof of his house."

CHAPTER IX.

AN HEIRLOOM RETURNED.

Rand, whose inquiring turn of mind was scarcely inferior to that of Jack,
but of a more profound and less transitory nature, had shown a strong
interest in the Indian boatmen from the beginning of their journey and had
struck up an especial friendship with the Indian whose dog had tackled the
wild cat and had been later crushed by the Kodiak bear. The red man, while
not morose, was taciturn, and replied to all questions with monosyllables
and scarcely a smile. He showed friendliness in other ways, and as he
became better acquainted with the boys responded to the young Scout
leader's approaches. Day by day and word by word he inducted Rand into the
mysteries of the "pigeon," or jargon used as a language of communication
with the natives. It was made up of half Siwash, half English words, the
latter so amputated and distorted as scarcely to be recognizable. It was
rather automatic in character, as it could be changed or added to as
circumstances required, and Rand found it easy to use after he had
mastered the first few principles of it, if it may be said to have had
any.

One evening, after the day's work was over, Rand strolled over to the
shack where the Indians lived and found his erstwhile friend sitting on a
stone, engaged in slowly carving with a sharp knife the soft wood of a
sycamore spar that had been carefully cleared of its branches and smoothed
to comparative symmetry. The worker had begun at the butt end of the pole
and had worked his way carefully upward. The carvings were weird, goggle
eyed, snouted and saw-toothed creatures, the like of which could only have
originated in the brain of t