But if you have only one, do not trust even that to
light your fire directly. Use it first to touch off a roll of
birch-bark which you hold in your hand. Then, when the bark is well
alight, crinkling and curling, push it under the heap of kindlings,
give the flame time to take a good hold, and lay your wood over it,
a stick at a time, until the whole pile is blazing. Now your fire
is started. Your friendly little red-haired gnome is ready to serve
you through the night.
He will dry your clothes if you are wet. He will cheer you up if
you are despondent. He will diffuse an air of sociability through
the camp, and draw the men together in a half circle for
storytelling and jokes and singing. He will hold a flambeau for you
while you spread your blankets on the boughs and dress for bed. He
will keep you warm while you sleep,--at least till about three
o'clock in the morning, when you dream that you are out sleighing in
your pajamas, and wake up with a shiver.
"HOLA, FERDINAND, FRANCOIS!" you call out from your bed, pulling the
blankets over your ears; "RAMANCHEZ LE FEU, S'IL VOUS PLAIT. C'EST
UN FREITE DE CHIEN."
III
THE COOKING-FIRE
Of course such a fire as I have been describing can be used for
cooking, when it has burned down a little, and there is a bed of hot
embers in front of the backlog.
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