d'ye expect to see up there, Lub?" asked Ethan, who had also it
seemed been watching the other. "This isn't the time for old Santa Claus
to come down with his pack of toys. His reindeer need snow for their
sledge, you know."

"Will you let the fire go out when we turn in, Phil?" asked Lub,
ignoring all such little annoyances as this.

"Why, I suppose so," he was told. "If it was cold weather it might be a
different thing; but to-night is pretty warm, and we'll get little air
in here, with the door closed. Yes, the last wood has been thrown on the
fire; and to tell the truth there's only a handful more in the house,
which we'll save to start things with in the morning."

"What did you ask that for, Lub?"

X-Ray made this inquiry. He realized that the other must have something
on his mind, or he would not have spoken as he did. And X-Ray was
curious to know what its character might turn out to be.

"Oh, nothing much; only it strikes me that's a whopping big chimney,
that's all," replied the other, a little confused.

"I see what you mean," said Phil; "you're thinking that even if we do
close the door as we intend, if a thief wanted to get in here he could
creep down such a wide-throated chimney? Well, I shouldn't be at all
surprised if he could, providing he took the notion."

"I hate to think of being sound asleep, and not know a single thing
about it," pursued Lub, "You know how I caught that darky stealing our
chickens last winter? I set a trap for him, and gave him such a scare
that he just crouched in a corner of the coop with all the hens cackling
like mad, till father went out and got him by the scruff of the neck."

"Mebbe you'd like to set one of your fine traps here then, Lub,"
suggested Ethan.

"I think I could do it, if the rest of you didn't object," Lub pursued.

"Please yourself," said Phil.

"I'm off to bed right now," added X-Ray Tyson, "so you c'n have the
whole blooming field to yourself. Be sure you don't get nabbed in your
own contraption, Lub. Now, you may smile at my saying that, but it
wouldn't be the first time a bitter got bitten."

Both Phil and Ethan began to stretch, and exhibited other positive signs
of being ready to turn in. It would appear that none of the rest of them
gave much thought to the possibility of their having unwelcome visitors
during the night. Lub envied them their calm indifference; but he felt
that he would not be doing his whole duty unless he carried out that