Even this would have been sufficient to stifle them where they were; but the fumes now entering their nostrils were of a kind to cause suffocation almost instantaneously.
The faggots set on fire were the stalks of the creosote plant--the _ideodondo_ of the Mexican table lands, well known for its power to cause asphyxia.

Walt Wilder recognised it at the first whiff.
"It's the stink-weed!" he exclaimed.

"That darned stink-weed o' New Mexico! It'll kill us if we can't keep it out.

Off wi' your coat, Frank; it are bigger than my hunting skirt.

Let's spread it across the hole, an' see if that'll do." His companion obeyed with alacrity, stripping off his coat as quickly as the circumscribed space would permit.