“Then I think we can manage.”

“Manage what, sir?” the man asked in surprise.

“Manage to make a fire, Stanislas.  First of all, we will crawl out towards the ends of the branches as far as we can get, and break off twigs and small boughs.  If we can’t get enough, we can cut chips off, and we will pile them all where these three big boughs branch off from the trunk.  We have both our tinderboxes with us, and I see no reason why we should not be able to light a fire up here.”

“So we might,” Stanislas said eagerly.  “But if we did, we might set the whole tree on fire.”

“No bad thing, either,” Charlie rejoined.  “You may be sure the fire will keep the wolves at a respectful distance, and we could get down and enjoy the heat without fear.”

“I believe your idea will save our lives, sir.  Ten minutes ago I would not have given a crown for our chances.”

They at once crawled out upon two of the great branches, and a renewed chorus of snarls from below showed that their foes were watchful.  The snapping of the small branches excited a certain amount of uneasiness among them, and they drew off a short distance.  In ten minutes Charlie and his companion worked themselves back to the main trunk, each carrying an armful of twigs.  They first cut off a number of small dry chips, and made a pile of these at the junction of one of the branches with the trunk.  They then got out their tinderboxes and bunches of rags, shook a few grains of powder from one of the horns among the chips, and then got the tinder alight.  A shred of rag, that had been rubbed with damp powder, was applied to the spark and then placed among the shavings.  A flash of light sprang up, followed by a steady blaze, as the dried chips caught.  One by one at first, and then, as the fire gained strength, several sticks at a time were laid over the burning splinters, and in five minutes a large fire was blazing.

Charlie and his companion took their seats where the other two big branches shot out from the trunk.  These were two or three feet higher than that on which the fire had been lighted, and, ere long, a sensation of genial warmth began to steal over them.  Fresh sticks were lighted as the first were consumed, and before long the trunk, where the flames played on it, began to glow.  Light tongues of flame rose higher and higher, until the trunk was alight ten or twelve feet up.

“The wolves are all gone,” Charlie said, looking down.

“I don’t suppose they have gone very far, sir.  But when the tree once gets fairly alight, you may be sure they won’t venture anywhere near it.”

They had already been forced to move some little distance away from the trunk, by the heat, and as the flames rose higher and higher, embracing in the course of half an hour the whole of the trunk and upper branches, they felt that it was perfectly safe to drop off into the snow beneath them.

Blazing brands soon began to fall.  They stood a short distance away, so as to be beyond the risk of accident, but, at Charlie’s suggestion, they ran in from time to time, gathered up the brands and laid them at the foot of the trunk, and in a short time a second fire was kindled here.