Page:The Moral Pirates.djvu/74

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58
The Moral Pirates.

the time be jumped in the Harlem for me," added Joe.

"It won't do to stand here and talk about it," said Tom. "We've got to have a fire or we'll freeze to death. Look at the way Joe's teeth are chattering. The blankets and clothes are all wet, and the sooner we dry them the sooner we'll get warm."

There happened to be a dead tree near by, and it was soon converted into firewood. The boys built a roaring fire on a large flat rock, and after it had burnt for a little while they pushed it about six feet from the place where they had started it, and, after piling fresh fuel on it, laid down on the hot rock with their feet to the flames. The fire had heated the rock so that they could hardly bear to touch it, but the heat dried their wet clothes rapidly, and kept them from taking severe colds. Meanwhile their blankets had been spread out near the fire, and in half an hour were very nearly dry, and pretty severely scorched. Two large logs were then rolled on the fire, and when they were in a blaze the