“I am—ker-chew—I think—ker-chew—” spluttered Link, and ended with a series of sneezes that brought all in the shelter to a sitting position. “Hullo, what’s the matter?” sang out Bart. “I-ker-chew! I think I’ve got the—ker-chew!” spluttered Harry. “I think so myself,” went on Bart. “Got ’em bad, too.” “Ker-chew!” exploded Link. “Ker-chew! Oh, my! Ker-chew!” “Well, I never,” came from Fred. “Is this a sneezing match?” “I’ll bet on the feller that wins,” piped up Teddy. “Now then, both start together.” “Ker-chew!” began Link. “Ker-chew!” came from Harry, directly afterwards. “Didn’t start together,” went on Teddy, calmly. “Try it over again and see——” “Ker-chew!” came from both. “Teddy Dugan, did you—ker-chew!” began Harry. “No, I didn’t ker-chew,” answered the Irish lad, with a wink at the others. “I don’t chew at all. My father won’t let me use tobacco, and so I——” “Ker-chew!” broke in both of the sufferers. “This is certainly queer,” said Joel Runnell, seriously. “What set you to sneezing?” “Perhaps they tickled their noses wid straws,” suggested the irrepressible Teddy. “I—I—ker-chew!—think there is pepper on my—ker-chew!—pillow,” spluttered Link. Harry caught up his pillow and smelt of it. “Sure as you—ker-chew! ker-chew!—are born,” he cried. “Now, who did this?” He and Link looked at first one and then another of the party. All but Teddy looked perplexed. The twinkle in the Irish lad’s eyes was brighter than ever. “Teddy Dugan, you did—ker-chew—this?” stormed Link, and made a dive for him. “It’s snazin’ Injuns ye are now,” returned Teddy. “Oh, I’ll fix you for this!” roared Harry, and catching up his pillow he hurled it at the Irish boy’s head. Link did the same, and down went Teddy flat on his back. “Oh, stop!” he yelled. “I—ker-chew! Oh! Oh!” He threw one of the pillows at Link. It struck Joe instead, and Joe sent it at Fred. Then the stout lad hurled it into the crowd. But it sailed too high, struck the fire, and the pillow burst open. “Hi! hi!” called out Joel Runnell. “Take that out of the fire!” “Can’t—it’s bursted,” answered Joe. He bent forward over the blaze. “Oh, what a smell! Ker-chew!” The pepper was now burning, and the smell speedily became so strong that everybody had to sneeze and rush for the doorway. Into the open tumbled the boys, one on top of the other. “Watch out; the shelter may get on fire!” said Fred. “Oh, don’t say that,” groaned Teddy, becoming frightened on the spot. “Sure an’ I didn’t mane to carry the joke so far.” “Then you did do it after all?” murmured Fred. “Well, it was a good joke all right enough.” From the doorway Joel Runnell watched the progress of the fire. The pine needles soon died out, and the camp-fire became as before. But it was some time before they could stand the smell of the burnt pepper. The unburnt pillow was thrown out into the snow. “It was only to git square for the Indian trick,” said Teddy. “Won’t you call it off now?”