"We have waited as long as we could to see if Areskoui would turn a favoring face upon us, but his anger holds.

It will not avail, if in our endeavor to escape the tomahawk of Tandakora, we freeze to death." The fire decided upon, they took all risks and went about the task with eagerness.

Ordinary men could not have lighted it under such circumstances, but the three had uncommon skill upon which to draw.
They took the bark from dead wood, and shaved off many splinters, building up a little heap in the lee of a cliff, which they sheltered on the windward side with their bodies.

Then Willet, working a long time with his flint and steel, set to it the sparks that grew into a blaze.
Robert did not stop with the fire.

Noticing the vast amount of dead wood lying about, as was often the case in the wilderness, he dragged up many boughs and began to build a wall on the exposed side of the flames.