the camp
and decided that our best plan was to take Tom there and dry his
clothes. Getting him between us, we tried to make him run, but he seemed
unable to move his feet.

"Run, run, Tom!" we shouted to him. "Run, or you'll freeze!"

He seemed not to hear or care. In our desperation we slapped him and
dragged him along between us. Finally his legs moved a little, and he
began to step.

"Run, run with us!" Addison kept urging.

At last we got him going, although he shook so hard that he shook us
with him. The exertion did him good. We hustled him along and, following
the brook, came presently to a disused lumber road that led to the
logging camp in the woods a few hundred yards from the shore of the
pond. All three of us were panting hard when we reached it, but our wet
clothes were frozen stiff.

We rushed Tom into the camp and, finding matches on a shelf behind the
stovepipe, kindled a fire of such dry stuff as we found at hand. Then,
as the place warmed up, we pulled off Tom's frozen outer coat and
waistcoat, got the water out of his boots, and set him behind the stove.

Still he shook and could speak only with difficulty. We kept a hot fire
and finally boiled water in a kettle and, gathering wintergreen leaves
from a knoll outside the camp, made a hot tea for him.

At last we put him into the bunk and covered him as best we could with
our own coats, which we did not miss, since the camp was now as hot as
an oven. For more than an hour longer, however, his tremors continued in
spite of the heat. Addison and I took turns rushing outside to cut wood
from dry spruces to keep the stove hot. A little later, as I came in
with an armful, I found Addison watching Tom.

"Sh!" he said. "He's asleep."

The afternoon was waning; a cold, windy night was coming on.

"What shall we do?" Addison whispered in perplexity. "I don't believe we
ought to take him out; his clothes aren't dry yet. We shall have to stay
here all night with him."

"But what will the folks at home think?" I exclaimed.

"Of course they will worry about us," Addison replied gloomily. "But I'm
afraid Tom will get his death o' cold if we take him out. We ought to
keep him warm."

Our own wet clothes had dried by that time, and, feeling hungry, we ate
a part of our luncheon. Night came on with snow squalls; the wind roared
in the forest. It was so bleak that we gave up all idea of going home;
and, after bringing in ten or a dozen armfuls of wood, we