I know I kin learn.

I ain't so sure o' Jim Hart thar." Jim was also interested, so much so that he forgot to reply to Shif'less Sol.
"How'll you do it ?" he asked.
Paul's reply was to begin at once.

He cut a big square piece of white fanned deerskin, and upon this he marked the little squares with coal-black.

Then the three of them went to work with their sharp hunting knives, carving out the wooden figures.

The results were crude, but they had enough shape for identification, and then Paul began to teach the game itself.
Sol and Jim were really men of strong intellect, and they had plenty of patience.