away with a hot iron, which would convert the cane into a long,
slender, wooden tube, very hard, very light, and straight as an arrow.

Tom went to work at once to burn out the joints, a work which occupied
a good deal of time, as the iron had to be re-heated a great many
times. He worked very steadily, however with the assistance of two or
three of the boys, and managed during that first evening to get two of
the blow guns burned out.

Meantime Sam made an arrow, very small and only about ten inches long,
out of some dry cedar.

"Now," he said, "I want those of you who are not busy burning out the
canes, to go to work making arrows just like that, while I do
something else."

The boys went to work with a will, while Sam, going into the nearest
thicket, cut a green stick about three quarters of an inch in
diameter. Returning to the fire, he split one end of this stick for a
little way, converting it into a sort of rude pincer. He then unrolled
his blanket, and revealed to the astonished gaze of his companions
several pounds of horse shoe nails.

"What on earth are you goin' to do with them horse shoe nails?" asked
Hilly Bowlegs, looking up from the cedar arrow on which he was
working.

"I'm going to make arrow heads out of them," answered Sam, thrusting
several of them into the bed of coals.