48 THE INLAND PASSAGE. 



cation between the North and the South. Seth 

 Green had reserved himself till, as he politely re- 

 marked, " the rest of you should be through your 

 mussing," then he began. But his efforts did not 

 last long unmolested, he had split open a duck, a fat 

 one had been especially selected for so unusual an 

 occasion. This he had laid between the wires of an 

 oyster broiler, then he opened the entire top of the 

 stove and proceeded to broil it upon the hot coals. 

 It is unnecessary to remark that such a proceeding 

 evolved an amount of smoke that filled the cabin full 

 in a moment. The rest of the party were busy at 

 their breakfeast enjoying the delicacies which had 

 already been prepared, when they were fairly suffo- 

 cated by this torrent of smoke and began to realize 

 as never before the sad fate of the inhabitants of 

 Pompeii. 



" Seth" I exclaimed, " can't you keep part of the 

 stove covered so as to let some of the smoke go up 

 the chimney ?" 



"Mr. Green, Mr. Green," came from the ladies 

 all at once, "please don't smother us." 



" Smoke and the gas of cooking" gasped the doc- 

 tor, his philosophy almost dissipated in it " are in- 

 jurious at meal times, there is such a thing as being 

 asphyxiated." 



"For heaven's sake," I implored, for by this 

 time the condition of the atmosphere was unbear- 

 able, " do throw that duck out of the companion 

 way." 



"Oh Mr. Green do stop cooking that horrid 



