Then came an
exclamation of satisfaction from the darkness, and Thede heard the
boy declaring that it was a dead tree they were in, and that there
was plenty of dry wood.
"All right, start your fire, then," suggested Thede, "and we'll see
if we can't burn the backs off some of those bears!"
"Perhaps we can break off enough dry limbs to make a rousing old
fire that will keep till morning," Sandy said in a moment. "If
this old tree is really dead to the heart, it'll make quite a
blaze."
Sandy gathered a great handful of twigs not more than a couple of
inches in length and placed them in a sheltered position in the lee
of the tree. Then he added dry boughs of larger size and made
ready to use the precious match.
"Now you know what'll happen if that match goes out!" said Thede.
"This match," said Sandy confidently, "is not the kind of a match
that goes out. I'd be a healthy old Boy Scout if I couldn't build
a fire in the top of a tree with one match!"
The boy waited until there came a brief lull in the wind, then with
the match protected as much as possible by his hat he struck it.
The flame spluttered for an instant, died down, crawled around to
the windward side of the stick, crawled back again, and then flared
up gloriously.
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