the griddles and put in another "stick" of hay. Then he handed
one to Ollie, who was surprised to find it almost as heavy as a
stick of wood. "It makes a fairly good fire," said the man. "Come
outside and I'll show you how to twist it."

[Illustration: First Lesson in Hay Twisting]

They went out to a haystack near by, and the man twisted a
rope three or four inches in diameter, and about four feet long.
He kept hold of both ends till it was wound up tight; then he
brought the ends together, and it twisted itself into a hard
two-strand rope in the same way that a bit of string will do when
similarly treated. There was quite a pile of such twisted sticks
on the ground. "You see," said the man, "in this country, instead
of splitting up a pile of fuel we just twist up one." Ollie bade
the man good-bye, took another look at the queer house, and came
down to the wagon.

"So you saw a hay-stove, did you?" said Jack. "I could have
told you all about 'em. I once stayed all night with a man who
depended on a hay-stove for warmth. It was in the winter. Talk
about appetites! I never saw such an appetite as that stove had
for hay. Why, that stove had a worse appetite than Old Blacky. It
devoured hay all the time, just as Old Blacky would if he could;
and even then its stomach always seemed empty. The man twisted
all of the time, and I fed it constantly, and still it was never
satisfied."

"How did you sleep?" asked Ollie.