OUT-DOOB COOKERY 63 



little dumpling. Then he dug out a small oven- 

 like hole under the broadest part of the fire, into 

 which he put the Grouse, covered them with ashes, 

 and raked the live coals back over the spot. 



"Won't they be all burned and dirty?" whispered 

 Dodo to Olive. 



" Wait and see," was her answer. 



While the dinner was cooking, Nez led the party, 

 all except the cook, about his clearing, as he called it. 



At first the cabin seemed very dark, but they soon 

 saw that it had two rooms separated by a great chim- 

 ney piled up of broad rough stones. One room was 

 the kitchen and living room, and the other the bed- 

 room. This had berths nailed to the wall, not unlike 

 those in a ship or sleeping car. The bedding con- 

 sisted of coarse gray blankets, spread over fresh hem- 

 lock boughs and straw. 



The fireplace was open and wide, and on the living- 

 room side some long logs were piled one on top of the 

 other, with smaller sticks and kindlings in front. 



" We keep er sort uv campfire in here cold nights, 

 yer see. Doctor. When once you've been uster sleepin' 

 by a fire, you miss it dredful. I've got a stove in 

 here," he said, pointing to the kitchen ; " but in warm 

 weather we cook outside on the logs. When you've 

 spent twenty or thirty years sleepin' mostly under 

 tha sky, any kind \iv a roof seems crampy, so in sum- 

 mer season I lie out yet." 



" Did yo" ever sleep all night outdoors, like daddy 

 and uncle, Avith no tent or anything?" asked Dodo, 

 in an awe-struck tone, leaving the boys, who were look- 

 ing at the strange assortment of things that hung from 



