"Fill up the chimney with snow."
This was a good idea and soon, by forcing the snow down the chimney, they had the fire all but out. Of course it smoked a great deal, but this did little damage.
It was three o'clock in the morning and the snow was coming down as thickly as ever. They scarcely knew what to do, until Jed Sanborn suggested they build a camp-fire outside.
"So long as you've got plenty of firewood why not use it?" said he.
"We want a light, too."
"Here is the acetylene gas lamp," said Snap, picking it up from where it had fallen, near the doorway.
"And the can of carbide," added Shep. "This will help us to start a fresh fire, even if the wood is wet," he continued.
"How?" questioned Jed Sanborn, who had never used such a "new-fangled consarn," as he called the bicycle lamp.
"I'll show you," answered Shep. "Just heap up some of the wood, with the little sticks on the bottom."
The wood was heaped up and then, in a hollow in the snow underneath, Shep dumped out some of the carbide from the can. Then he lit a match, held it to the snow, to melt the latter a little, and up blazed the gas, at first slowly and then more furiously, until the fire was roaring.
"Why, how is that!" cried the old hunter. "Never knew snow to set fire to anything in my life."