In a moment the rag was burning, and before many minutes had passed, Sam had a good fire burning in and over the hole he had dug.

He then skinned and dressed the opossum, stopping now and then to replenish the fire and to throw all the live coals into the hole as they formed.

Within an hour the hole was full of burning coals, and hot enough, Sam thought, for his purpose.

He cut a number of green twigs and collected a quantity of the long gray moss.

He then removed all the fire from the hole, the sides and bottom of which were almost red hot, and passing a twig through the opossum, lowered it to the middle of the hole, where the twig rested on ledges provided for that purpose.