caught fire, but this had been pulled down and
it was thought that the engine and boiler were undamaged. These details
were discussed while Roy ate a late supper and drank with more relish
than ever before his tin of black tea. Norman was so improved by morning
that he was early astir, eager for a view of the still roaring volume of
gas. He found that Colonel Howell had also taken advantage of the first
daylight to inventory the possible damage.

While the twisting yellow flame of the uncapped well was less inspiring
as day broke, the roar of the escaping flame fascinated the young
aviator.

"It's a gusher, and a dandy," explained Colonel Howell as he and Norman
stood close by it in the melting snow. "But I think we're prepared for it
and we'll try to cap it to-day."

All else, the clearing, the camp structures and the banks of the river,
were peaceful and white under the untracked mantle of new-fallen snow.
The wind had died out and the gas camp at Fort McMurray stood on the
verge of the almost Arctic winter.

The excitement attendant upon the wonderful discovery and the attempt
made at once to control the fiery shaft again interfered with Colonel
Howell's real plans of active prospecting. For days the experienced oil
men made futile efforts to extinguish the gusher and to cap the shaft.
When they were of no assistance in this work, Norman and Roy overhauled
the airship and substituted the ski-like runners in place of the
aluminum-cased rubber-tired landing wheels.

It seemed as if every trader, trapper and prospector within fifty miles
visited the camp. A week after the discovery, somewhat to the surprise of
all, although apparently not so much to Ewen and Miller, the long missing
Chandler appeared at the clearing late one evening. If he had any apology
to make to Colonel Howell, the boys did not hear it. But he was sober
enough this time and somewhat emaciated. He had come to settle with his
old employer and explained his long delay in doing this by saying: "I
knew my money was good any time," and that he had been trapping farther
down the river.

He lounged about the camp the greater part of the day and even
volunteered his services in the still unsuccessful attack of the flaming
gas. But Colonel Howell seemed without any interest in his offers. The
man was invited, however, to eat in the camp and spend the night there.

When the boys retired, Colonel Howell, the visitor, and Ewen and Miller
were still smoki