CAMP VIEW. 65 



quietly seating himself said, " yes, it will burn in two, 

 but it will fall t'other way." I must confess, this 

 cool reply was not wholly satisfactory, for burning 

 trees sometimes take curious whims, — however, there 

 was no help, and so I lay down to sleep. The storm 

 which had been slowly gathering soon commenced, 

 and all night long the rain fell, but the good fire kept 

 crackling and blazing away, and I was so completely 

 fagged out that I slept deliciously. I awoke but 

 once, and then enjoyed such a long and hearty laugh, 

 that I felt quite refreshed. The immense logs in 

 front of us, became in time a mass of lurid coals send 

 ing forth a scorching heat. Hence, as we lay packed 

 together like a row of pickled fish, those in the centre 

 took the full force of the fire. First a sleeper would 

 strike his hand upon his thigh and roll over — then 

 give the other a slap, dreaming, doubtless, of being 

 boiled like a turkey, till at length the heat waked him 

 up, when he rose and shot like an arrow into the 

 woods. The next went through the same operation — 

 the third, and so on, till all but the two " outsiders," 

 of which I was one, were in the woods cooling them- 

 selves off in the rain. Not a word was spoken for 

 some time, for they were not fairly awake, but as one 



