ce."_

_"Let heat enter our heads, Let heat enter our eyes, Let heat
enter our ears, Let heat enter our nostrils---"_

Up to this time no sounds had come from the interior of the to-hol-woh.
But now the fat boy half rolled out, gasping for breath. Ned, having
picked up a paddle that lay near this impromptu Turkish bath,
administered a resounding slap on Stacy's anatomy, while Tad and
Walter threw him back roughly into the to-hol-woh.

Chunky moaned dismally.

"I'm being burned alive," he groaned. "They're torturing me to death."

_"Let heat enter the feet, Let heat enter the knees, Let heat enter
the legs---"_

"Lemme out of here!" yelled the sick boy, thrusting a tousled head
through between the blankets covering the opening.

They pushed him back.

"It's the paddle for yours, and hard, if you come out before we tell
you," cried Ned.

"Stay in as long as you can, Stacy. I am satisfied the treatment will
benefit you," advised the Professor.

"I'm cooking," wailed Chunky.

"That's what you need. You've been underdone all your life," jeered
Rector.

Throughout all of this the Havasus had sat about apparently taking
no particular interest in the performance. They had all seen it
before so many, many times. But Jim Nance's sides were shaking with
laughter, and the Pony Rider Boys were dancing about in high glee.
They did not get such a chance at Stacy Brown every day in the year,
and were not going to miss a single second of this sort of fun.

"A brave lion tamer ought not to be afraid of a little heat," suggested
Walt.

"That's so," agreed Ned.

"For heat alone gives life and force," crooned the Medicine Man.

He repeated the words of his chant twice over, naming pretty much every
member in the body. It was a long process, but no one save Stacy
Brown himself wearied of it.

At the conclusion of the second round of the chant, the Medicine Man,
stooping over, sprinkled water upon the hot stones, reaching in under
the blankets to do so.

Instantly the to-hol-woh was filled with a cloud of fierce, biting
steam, that made each breath seem a breath of fire.

The Pony Rider Boys, understanding what this meant to the boy inside,
unable to restrain themselves longer, gave vent to ear-splitting shouts
of glee. Even the Indians turned to gaze at them in mild surprise.

"Take me out! I'm on fire!" yelled the fat boy lustily.

The Medicine Man thrust half a dozen other hot stones in, then sprinkled