310 THE DRAMA OF THE FORESTS 



'a' been built in a hat. But that night the sight o' so much wood 

 fairly set the Archdeacon crazy with delight, an' nothin' would 

 do but we must have a great roarin' fire to sleep by. I would 

 have enjoyed a good warmin' as well as any one, but I was 

 mighty leary about havin' a big fire. So I cautioned the 

 Archdeacon not to use much wood as there was likely to be 

 bears about, an' that no matter how far off they was, if they 

 saw that fire they would make for it — even if they was five or six 

 miles out on the ice floes. He wouldn't listen to me. The 

 Captain backed him up, an' they both set to an' built a fire 

 as big as a tepee. 



"We was pretty well tuckered out from the day's walkin'. 

 So after supper we dried our moccasins an' was about to 

 turn in early when — lo an' behold! — the Archdeacon got up 

 an' piled more wood upon the fire. That made me mad; for 

 unless he was huntin' for trouble he couldn't 'a' done a thing 

 more foolish, an' I says somethin' to that effect. He comes 

 back at me as though I was afraid o' me own shadder, an' says : 

 'Billy Brass, I'm s'prised that a man like you doesn't put 

 more faith in prayin' an' trustin' hisself in the hands o' the 

 Almighty.' 



" I was so hot over the foolishness of havin' such a big fire that 

 I ups an' says: 



" 'That may be all right for you, sir, but I prefer to use my 

 wits first, an' trust in Providence afterwards.' 



"Nothin' more was said, an' we all turns in. I didn't like 

 the idea of every one goin' to sleep with a fire so big that it was 

 showin' itself for miles aroun', so I kep' myself awake. I 

 wasn't exactly thinkin' that somethin' really serious was goin' 

 to happen, but I was just wishin' it would, just to teach the 

 Archdeacon a lesson. As time went on I must 'a' done a 

 little dozin'; for when I looks up at the Dipper again, I learns 

 from its angle with the North Star that it was already after 

 midnight. An' — would you believe it? — that fire was still 



