e time the others returned he had the
bark and boughs ready and had prepared a stick with which to push down
the moss-filled sweater. If he should push this too far it would drop
down into the fireplace. On the other hand he wanted to get it far
enough down so that the flames from the bark would not immediately fire
the fir boughs on top. Breaking through the snow-crust he mixed snow
with the moss and also rolled the sweater in snow. The boys had brought
more moss than was needed for stuffing the sweater and this Upton also
mixed with snow and placed in a loose mass at the foot of the chimney.

When all was ready he had Hal and Sparrer each light a couple of the
birch rolls ready to hand to him. As soon as these were going he stuffed
the sweater down the chimney, pushing it down with the stick as far as
he dared. Then seizing the burning bark rolls he tossed them down on
top, crammed the loose moss in, and clapped the fir boughs over all. On
top of the latter he tossed some snow. Meanwhile Pat had created a
diversion in front of the cabin by shouting threats of what they would
do to the redskin if he didn't come out and surrender.

Upton had worked quickly and was through before the outlaw fully sensed
what was up. At first he evidently thought that they had merely covered
the top of the chimney to smoke him out with his own fire, and a
hissing sound which came up to them through the chimney proclaimed the
quenching of this with water. Then discovering that the smoke was
increasing instead of decreasing he did exactly what Pat had
foreseen--attempted to blow the chimney clear by firing his rifle up it.
However he only succeeded in setting fire to the sweater from underneath
and this, because of its nature, merely smouldered. It was now merely a
question of whether the sweater and moss would burn and drop before the
smoke in the cabin became too dense for a human being to live in it.

Birch bark, as every Boy Scout knows, is one of the most inflammable of
materials. It burns like fat, and also like fat it throws off a thick
smoke. This was working up now in little puffs through the fir boughs,
but the great bulk of it must be pouring into the cabin, for Upton had
taken care in stuffing the sweater down not to wholly block the passage.
Now and then a little tongue of flame licked up through the fir boughs
and was promptly extinguished with a handful of snow. The snow-damp moss
shoved down on top of the bark was adding to